Predatortc First Hill Country Buck (Story added)

[PredatorTC]

Bright and early Tuesday morning Robert and I drove a few hours to an area with a number of properties that we located on a map. We picked one and headed in during grey light. The sign was there, but it was super windy that day. After that hunt, we drove around checking out a number of different spots we could be in, looking at maps and talking to landowners to confirm boundaries. In these areas, you don’t see many deer off the roads, but we came to a spot where there were a number of doe that we could see up on a ridge. We noticed that huntable land butted right up to this ridge. When we talked to that landowner of this ridge, he told us we were welcome on his properly as well. This property received minimal weekend pressure, close to the crop fields. Yesterday morning we headed to this ridge in grey light. The ridge was a shelf with a rock ledge that dropped off. We sat close to where we saw the does the day before. Being a newbie to hill country, I think that this part is key. To physically be able to see does in/on a ridge during daylight is a must for an area like this that gets good pressure. Last year I almost killed a 140 in hill country and the scenario was the same. I kicked does up on the way in. It sounds simple to hunt the doe bedding, but I think it’s especially important for young hunters like us to actually see the does. We found a lot of ridges with hot sign but we couldn’t interpret when the sign was made. A week ago? At night? When? By seeing does there, it gave us confidence that the bucks would be checking the bedding especially on a virgin sit after the does were just there hours ago.
To make a long story short, we both got setup on the ridge in different spots and probably only sat for a half hour when I caught a glimpse of this buck cursing an adjacent ridge transition line of a small opening 100 yards out. We think he was headed back to bedding more so than anything. I made some horrific sounds with my grunt call to get his attention and then a few short bursts when he looked my way. He came right over, I swung the camera where I thought he would be, and hit record. He stood quartering forward looking around and acting aggressive. If he turned back to where he came from, it would be over. I kept looking in front of him and couldn’t find an opening that he might walk to because of how thick it was. He moved just a step which opened up the front half of his body. I had a tiny opening and sent the arrow through it. He ran 80 yards and I watched him crash. Robert ran over to me and the rest is history.
One of my biggest take aways is paying attention. I just caught a flicker of his tail and had I been looking at my phone (which I do often) I would have missed it.

If a moderator reads this, Can you add (Story Added) to the thread title?

[Dewey]

Title changed

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[PredatorTC]

Title changed

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Thanks Dewey!

[Bowhunter4life]

Great job TC. I know a lot of guys that have hunted hill country their whole life and still haven't picked up on what you did in just a few times of hunting the hills. Most of the guys just go set up over a rub or scrape and pay very little attention to anything else. Basically most have no strategy at all, it seems they are just randomly setting up. Way to plan ahead and go get the job done! Great buck

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[U.P. bownut]

Great job Predator!

[Jackson Marsh]

Nice write up TC! Congrats again

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[AntlerAddiction]

Beautiful Buck! I love that pig body and the mass!

[Bigburner]

Great job! Congrats!

[Edcyclopedia]

What do you consider the differences of the two different types of terrain and styles.
Ex. - isolating food sources, bedding, pinch-points verses saddles, etc...?

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I think that's a tough comparison for me to make because if I hunted hill country during the early season, I would struggle a bit more. The biggest thing for us was to find the doe bedding. We tried what looked like funnels and saddles and it didn't seem to make a difference. The bucks we did see ran where they did for more what seemed like scent checking purposes. Its way more exhausting climbing ridges than trudging through swamps. I hope that answers your question. I'm still a newbie at this, but with a fresh perspective, I'm trying not to miss what's working and what's not.

Very Good Joe - thanks for the reply!

Was this big timber land or was it hill country surrounded by crop field below?

[PredatorTC]

What do you consider the differences of the two different types of terrain and styles.
Ex. - isolating food sources, bedding, pinch-points verses saddles, etc...?

[ Post made via Android ]

I think that's a tough comparison for me to make because if I hunted hill country during the early season, I would struggle a bit more. The biggest thing for us was to find the doe bedding. We tried what looked like funnels and saddles and it didn't seem to make a difference. The bucks we did see ran where they did for more what seemed like scent checking purposes. Its way more exhausting climbing ridges than trudging through swamps. I hope that answers your question. I'm still a newbie at this, but with a fresh perspective, I'm trying not to miss what's working and what's not.

Very Good Joe - thanks for the reply!

Was this big timber land or was it hill country surrounded by crop field below?

It was big timber land, but this buck was cruising timber inside a crop field.

[fishlips]

Great buck. Congrats

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[hunter_mike]

Great story to go with a great buck. My biggest takeaway from this thread is the doe thing you mentioned and also, how interactive you were with the surrounding landowners. Coming into a property blind like that, seems like a smart thing to do just to get a feel for who hunts, who doesn't and where the pressure is. Congrats again, thanks for posting the story, there is much to be learned here.

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[PredatorTC]

Great story to go with a great buck. My biggest takeaway from this thread is the doe thing you mentioned and also, how interactive you were with the surrounding landowners. Coming into a property blind like that, seems like a smart thing to do just to get a feel for who hunts, who doesn't and where the pressure is. Congrats again, thanks for posting the story, there is much to be learned here.

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Thanks. I definitely have to give robert credit for talking to landowners. He knows the right questions to ask and is very personalable. Fortunately we only ran into one guy that tried making a fuss with us. I hate talking to landowners ever since I had one pull a gun on me.

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[hunter_mike]

stories like that are what keeps me from asking permission on private land around me

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[PredatorTC]

This landowner had a mental condition so no worries.

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