Lil' Bill's Backyard Deer!

Lil' Bill and Butta'Ball Bill finally bagged a nice 10 point that had been coming into their backyard. Lil' Bill got him with his bow!

Lil' Bill takes a nice 4x4 Sika

Bill's pics don't do it justice.... what a magnificent animal. They got him at #3. Way to go!

October White Tail

One of Lance's friend got a nice White Tail at #1!

Darryl Gets an Aoudad

Darryl, AKA Ms. Chloe, bagged an Aoudad Labor Day weekend. He was hunting the Death Star when a herd of Aoudad stepped out near the brush line on his left. He took a good bit of time, but the largest one finally gave Darryl a shot. The Aoudad ran off into the brush and was finished a few yards in. His 25 WSSM did the trick.

For some reason, Mario and I ended up carrying it back up the steep incline with Darryl admiring it's rear end the whole time. It weighed 247 pounds and measured 25".

Another fine Axis from Hackberry

Kevin Lyssy is no stranger to big bucks. His ranch in Encinal is a few miles from Los Cazadores, home of the big buck contest. But to bag an Axis buck, he had to hoof it west to Hackberry. On Saturday morning, Kevin met up with one of our specimens on the road to the #3 feeder. After corning the road the day before, the 31 inch Axis stood 165 yards from where Kevin took the shot with his .300 Mag.

Coffey Deer

Here's a picture of a nice Axis that Bill and Bill JR took together - look at those Brow Tines! 14"!

Of course, you will have to guess the following:

A. They left the cooler open with corn, waited for it, and shot it!

B. Bill is getting better at pics - he is at least taking them now and is getting lower, but forgot to take the picture before placing it in the cooler!

C. We should all be happy that Bill figured out how to actually use a digital camera, so does it really matter that the deer is in the cooler!

D. Forget the picture, at least Bill field dressed his animal before placing it in the cooler - unlike Landon and his Aoudad.

The Correct Answer is: D

Congrats on an awesome Axis!

Finally! South Africa 2006 Journal

10 Separate entries covering my trip to South Africa in 2006 including pictures.

Enjoy!

http://austinhunter.blogspot.com/

Monster Axis Buck!

Here's the new #4 SCI rifle Axis from the Hackberry! WOW! What a trophy! We've been seeing this deer for the past 12-14 months - and all of us trying to get him. Congrats to Leroy for finally bagging him!

Bwana Landon's Aoudad and Axis!!

Here are two of Landon's excellent trophies from the Hackberry. The Aoudad scored #74 Fair Chase in SCI. The Axis is excellent as well - especially with his daughter Ava in the picture - her first time to the ranch!

Alek Finally Gets His Axis Buck!!!

Alek finally got his Axis buck! Free range, spot and stalk, and no bait (not even corn thrown out on the ground!) - so it was worth it! This will make the fourth Axis that I successfully guided someone on without feeders or bait - so it can be done! Also, with regards to rifle hunting and the need for camo - I had a blue shirt on - the easiest color for deer to see.

We started Saturday with a two hour stalk on a herd of Axis bedded up in the bowl between the Wood Blind and Death Star. We came down from the Death Star feeder ridge and managed through some large cliffs and thick cover. We got to within 80 yards, but unfortunately spooked them as were sizing them up. We saw two really nice Bucks in the herd... darn!!

Saturday evening, all of us went into town to eat. We got back to the cabin at 8:26 PM and I told Alek we were heading South for a quick look. Once we arrived, we walked around glassing for any Axis. We spotted a herd on the Spring Blind ridge, but didn't see any large bucks. We started walking towards the gate to leave when we heard an Axis doe barking, but we knew we hadn't spooked anything.

We looked into a field and saw a single Axis Doe and then a single Axis buck. We slowly made our way to within about 200 yards. The Axis buck would never give Alek a clean shot - it kept facing away from him or lying down. Eventually he turned and Alek took a shot. The Axis took the shot low behind the shoulder and was dazed and stumbling. I told Alek to shoot again and he hit his right leg and brisket. He fell down on his front legs, but popped back up and ran off (not full speed) into the brush.

By the time we got to the brush line, it was completely dark. We looked around for a few minutes for blood, but couldn't find any. We decided not to pressure him and went back to get Darryl to help and some good flashlights.

We were back within 30 minutes and quickly found a heavy blood trail. We tracked him about 200 yards into the brush and found him alive, but lying down. He took a finishing shot. Had we waited an hour before we came back, he would have been expired for sure!

He weighed in at 200 lbs exactly (I actually weigh any animal over 100 lbs to avoid guessing - which most people do and typically overestimate by 30-50%). He had a huge neck! A rough measurement showed his left side to be 32-33" with a 14" brown tine, and his right side to be 30-31" with a 12-13" brown tine. The cottle tines were average length with the left being longer. His antlers were also extremely heavy - some parts you could barely get your hand around!!

And thanks to Darryl! He left a day before us and dropped the deer off at Rhodes since the cooler wasn't getting below 45-50 degrees!

Adrian Ground Checks a Nice Axis Buck!

Attached is the pic of Adrian's Axis buck from last weekend. He's writing up a story and I will post it here. Needless to say, a nice animal!

I got my first deer - A WT BUCK!!!

As you may know I got my first deer over the weekend of 11/30/07 through 12/3/07 and it was my lucky weekend here is the story. Lance had told us about a nice WT buck at the north blind so dad went to check it out. When he came back he said it was a nice blind so we decided to hunt it. We both got up about 5:15 and got dressed to go hunting . We rode in my dad’s truck because of his bad decision to not take the mule. We finally got to the gate and set off for the long walk to get to the blind. We saw the blind and got in to have a good hunt. It took us a while to get settled and I just had to wait while my dad did all the work. Dad and I were finally finished so we just had to wait. After we waited a while a nice WT buck came to the feeder and I did not think it was very tall. Even though it looked kind of short to me dad said it was a nice buck so we chambered a round! I waited a bit to see if anything bigger came out but nope. I picked up my gun and dad told me to aim strait for the heart so I looked through the scope and found a good shot….. BANG! The buck flipped on the ground got up and sprinted away. Dad said “did you get him” ? I think so I said. Dad said what did it do I said it just flipped like this BONG as I hit my head on the top of the blind. That’s pretty convincing if it flipped I said yea. We waited 30 minutes and put the stuff in the truck to track my deer. 5 minutes later…… Ok Cameron look for blood. I did not see any blood but then I heard “hey Cameron look at this” (this was my dad). “WET BLOOD!” I said, very excided. I followed the blood trail looking and saw the deer up against the tree when I was about 8 feet away from it ( dad apparently saw it at the top of the hill). I told dad to see if it was dead because I did not want it to jump up in front of me. He checked IT WAS DOWN! So I went up to it pulled it out a bit for dad to get a picture with his phone. After all the pictures we pulled the buck up the hill and under the feeder and left him there. We went to the truck and drove back to camp to get the guys to help us. We waited a while and no one came so we decided to go and try and get it into the truck. As we were pulling out we saw Erik and we told him I got my first deer so he went with us to get it. When we got there Erik said it was a nice buck and I said that I knew it was. We pulled it up onto a rock to take pictures and nice Erik got on the ground into the blood to take pictures of me with my deer.

I think Erik is really nice. So we loaded up the deer and took it back to camp. Bill was there when we got back he was all happy for me and said my first deer was a lot better than his. We cleaned the deer and loaded him up for a trip back home and he is now at Rhodes Taxidermy waiting to be a trophy on my wall.

MY FIRST DEER,

LITTLEREDWOLFE

Backyard Harvest

Thought ya'll might be interested in my local hunt. Last year a friend of mine told me about a nice buck hanging around the Falconhead properties in Bee Cave. He gave me permission to hunt it. After a few attempts last year, I gave up. I saw him once, but could not get close enough for a shot with the bow.

This year I got serious. I ended up putting a 15 ft ladder stand up next to the field where they were coming to. I also set up a game cam to track times. After three weekends, he gave me a broadside 30 yard shot.

Finally a WT buck for the bowhunter

Someday, I'll be posting about my Aoudad successes, but today it's all about an 8pt WT. I've been sitting back in Aoudad Canyon on the last few trips to Hackberry. I know for sure there's a herd of Aoudads that come through there.

On Saturday morning, the fog was heavy. I was in the invisi-blind which is now tucked inside the clump of cedars about 30 yards from the feeder. Before it was light enough to see without glasses, this buck came into feed. I had never seen a WT buck at this feeder before. As I convinced myself to not let this deer go, it got spooked by soemthing and took off.

About 30 minutes later he was back. Since I had not heard any Aoudad footsteps on the rocks or cliffs and since I was not sure if I was going to get another chance at a WT this year, I decided to shoot. He gave me a broadside shot at 25 yards. After buckling immediately, he fell into the draw about 20 yards from the spot I hit him.

I estimated 4 1/2 years while Darryl said 4 years. Is that close enough? In any case, it's my first buck bowkill. Brett's way ahead of me.

I Stand Corrected!

Contrary to my previous post, there are good representative trophies of Corsican sheep on the ranch! At least one!

I was filling and checking feeders Friday morning around 11:30 am and was driving from the Doghouse to the Cave Blind. About one third of the way down the steep hill to the Cave Blind, a herd of Corsican crossed the road about 80 yards in front of me. I have seen this herd many, many times in this area - all females. However, I looked closer and saw horns and realized a ram was in the herd. I quickly glassed him (a good reason to always wear binoculars on the ranch) and realized he was a good trophy.

My buggy was on a steep slope and thanks to a previous (and last) use of it by Bill, the parking brake was broken. I placed my right foot on the brake and stood up and reached back for my rifle. While I was chambering a round, the herd starting running. I brought the rifle up just in time to see the ram pause for a second or so to look back before he went into the brush - BANG! He was on the ground. From when I saw them until now, about 7 seconds.

Brad gets his buck

This past weekend proved to be a good hunting. We got to camp on Friday evening, too late to get to the blinds. Instead we had a nice evening talking with Brian and Amanda. Brad White and Mike Stauffacher came as guests of me. Saturday morning began with a doe taken by Brian at the Photo Blind. He saw a few bucks, but could not get the right one at the right spot for a shot.

I got busted in Aoudad Canyon after seeing a herd of them approaching but never getting to the feeder. I had heard that Bill and Ron set up a ground blind, but when I got there, the blind was turned over on its roof so I snuck in a hole in the trees next to it. After I got busted, I managed to get the blind into the natural hole in the trees. You'll see the blind if you walk up the road to the feeder. It's 35 yards from the feeder.

Brad saw an 8pt at #3 that morning chasing a doe. The rut is on.

On Saturday evening, I sat in the wood blind (the ground blind) and didn't see anything. Brad and Mike hunted together at the double feeder and saw a spike and a couple of does. Brian hunted the far north feeder and ended up shooting a mature 8 pt that we estimated to be 6 years old.

The fog rolled on Sunday morning. I didn't see a thing in Aoudad canyon. A couple of axis does were feeding at Darryl's feeder halfway back in Aoudad canyon. Brad on the other hand had all the action at #3. He ended up shooting this nice 3x3 Sika. It came in early, fed, and actually bedded down for a while. Once he moved, Brad dropped him on the spot with his 243.

I'll be beack next weekend still on the hunt for that elusive Aoudad.

Brett got his buck

After the frustrating hunt for the seven point at the photo blind, Brett finally got to bring home a buck from Hackberry. It was an evening hunt. Brett's first venture was down to the spring blind. When he got there, however, he was disappointed with the double bull location. Not only was it a little close to the action, it is set up on a downslope and was very uncomfortable to sit in for a long time. Instead of putting up with that situation, he left and headed back to the bunkhouse with the truck. It was after the feeders went off when he snuck into the photo blind, hoping to see the eight pointer he had seen earlier that morning.

There were deer already feeding in front of the blind when he got there. In a addition to the small bucks, the doe, and the axis doe, he saw a nice axis buck come in. Brett hasn't seen enough axis to make a call as to whether or not to take it. He was just about to give up on the hunt when the wide eight came in. The buck eventually ventured towards the blind and ended up giving Brett a 25 yard broad side shot. Brett pulled back on his Bowtech Allegiance. He steadied and released. He knew he'd hit it.

Having had a bad experience a week before, see comments, he knew not to push the deer. He exited the blind and went back to camp to wait for me and for more time before we tracked. We had a great dinner of axis rump steak and wild pig loin. Thank you Darryl. It occupied about an hour and a half. Time to track. We found the blood trail and started following it towards the dump. He wandered through the cedars. We were nervous about stirring him up if he was not dead yet. On our right, we heard a deer trot off. Now we were very worried. I recommended to go back to camp to wait for morning. We followed the blood about 20 feet further when Brett turned around and saw his buck dead and laying under a cedar.

He's now at Game Tracks in Oak Hill waiting for Terry to mount. 19 inches inside spread. Way to go Brett.

Here's the 7 point that got away from us.

Rachel's First Hog

Rachel finally got her hog! She has been desparately wanting to shoot a hog since the fall of 2005.

We were hunting #9 in the morning for Sika. I had to let a big bodied Sika walk because it was to dark to judge his antlers, but he looked like a whopper! Rachel was with me in the blind, but asleep. I watched two other Sika stags play around for about an hour and waited for the big guy came back - no luck.

Eventually two hogs came in, but Rachel didn't feel comfortable shooting 100 yards with a red dot scope with no magnification. We decided to leave and got out of the blind. We looked back and now saw around 10-12 hogs at the feeder! Since the wind was blowing towards us pretty hard and the sun was at our backs, we decided to stalk up to the hogs!

We moved from cedar bush to cedar bush - getting closer and closer. Eventually we got within 10 yards, stepped out from behind a bush, and Rachel shot the closest hog! There were some bigger ones, around 200+lbs, back in the brush, but it was probably a good thing we didn't shoot one of these with a .223!

She made a clean shot and dropped the hog on the spot - it took out the spine. It was a sow and weighed 75 lbs. We cleaned it back at the cabin and kept the rump meat and backstraps!

Congratulations Rachel!

Darryl's Axis

I hunted the Cave Blind Saturday morning by myself and saw a big herd of Axis bucks and two White Tail bucks. One of the Axis bucks was very large and mature, with dark coloring. He was teaching the younger bucks in the herd to how to fight. There were no females present. It was pretty cool to watch. He also chased the White Tail away from the feeder so his buddies and he could eat. I decided that he was a nice mature buck that Darryl might be interested. Save the shot for your buddy!!!

We came back that evening and positioned ourselves on the ridge overlooking the floor of the canyon. We were not hunting the normal "Cave Blind" location, but an area that Darryl and I found and picked out almost 13 months ago. Luckily we had marked it well because it is very hard to find. The feeder was about 180 yards away. We waited. Nothing showed up that night except for a white tail doe, small 4 point buck, and an axis doe. Oh well.

We came back Sunday morning and got into position around 6:20 AM. It was pitch dark. Around 6:45 AM we could make out many dark figures around the feeder. At the same time, Sika started bugling - they were very close!!!

We had enough light by 6:55 to see the large buck chasing a white tail buck away, but wanted to wait until the feeder went off at 7:00 AM in case there was a larger one in the herd I had not seen the day before. We watched until about 7:15 AM and decided no more Axis, or any Sika, were going to come in. We had 8 Axis bucks at this feeder at this point.

Darryl took the shot at 180 yards with his Browning Stainless Synthetic Stalker. The 120 grain .25 WSSM entered perfectly behind the shoulder! (We would later find no exit wound - perfect).

You could hear the bullet impact the animal - WHAM! He took off running to his left, jumped the hog fence, and then his front legs collapsed underneath him. He regained his footing and continued to run with two of the other bucks. I watched them run under a large group of oaks and I watched the two other deer exit, but not him. He had ran about 40 yards and fallen. Awesome!

He was very old and mature and weighed 225 pounds. He was 31" long and very heavy.

Nice deer Darryl!

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