I just love whitetail antlers especially symmetrical antlers, what we call “Typical” antlers. Non- Typical Antlers are often a mish-mash of points having little symmetry. Some like it, but I am not one of them.

I have taken bucks that were 8 or 9 points and a number of lesser bucks and many does. We eat everything we kill and so do my hunting friends.

I am not a quote unquote trophy hunter per se but when I run across a big buck, I don’t hesitate.

I am going to the Lone Star State to try to bag a big-un’ according to Boone and Crockett where the average mature whitetail antler rack is much larger in size on average. This is due to great management practices which include three factors, age, genetics and food.

https://wildlifesystems.com/whitetail.html

I get to bring home the meat too and have 2 doe management tags.

These deer are older and wiser at 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 years and sport average racks of 130 points and there are enough deer to see a few 150 and 160 class deer. It is up to you to be ready if or when the chance arrives.

So here you are on the hunt and you are in pop-up blind and it is an hour from sunset. The does are coming from all around to feed in the field you are in. There are two nice bucks in the 130 class that are feeding with the does and check them out. Your thinking about taking one of these…

Your guide say’s hold on, there may be a  bigger buck coming. What!

Your heart-rate just jumped and adrenaline is pouring into your body. Now only 1/2 hour to darkness and two more deer enter the field. Are they bucks? Yep. They look the same you say?

Maybe not!  It is here that homework may help in quickly judging your trophy deer before the last photons of light are swallowed by the night.

Field and Stream has a great article to help you quickly judge;

https://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/kentucky/2006/07/how-judge-buck-can-you-guess-score-these-10-bc-trophies#page-6

Outdoor Life has a great article too; https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/game-changers/deer-hunting-4-things-look-when-snap-judging-buck-field

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Maybe look like this buck from the same ranch last year, all smiles by Randy Bailey.   Photo from Wildlife Systems website above.

Or maybe this one taken by Bill Ewanis! Photo from Wildlife Systems website above.

Maybe me this fall with my Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard in 6.5 Creedmoor, Nosler AccuBonds and my favorite scope, a Leupold VX-6.

Good Hunting!

© 2018

The importance of a campfire in a camping experience was brought to my attention as a boy growing up and later on my African Hunting Safari years ago. In Africa, the campfire had true meaning to hold at bay the creatures of the night who wanted to eat you. Just out of the light they lurked, a twig or branch that snapped really got your attention. “Hurry, put another log on the fire!” you said! The campfire gave you a measure of safety from the night and a place to cook your food.

To look into the flaming pulsating embers of a campfire, is to look back in time nearly a million years ago when our ancestors used the fire not just for light and protection from the night, but also for story telling, dreaming, reminiscing and entertainment.

Hunters who gather after a day afield get to tell the story of their day. This is true for most all outdoor people as well but my focus is on the Hunter. It is here that humor is created at a missed shot and the dumb things we sometimes do. It is also a place to revere bravery or a clean shot on wild game by the hunter. In essence it can be a place to bond and unwind from the day as well as protect you from the night.

Here in New England during my childhood, my family like all others at the time did not have air conditioning or could not afford it. Families often cooked and lived outside in the heat of summer. It was a social time that was essential for my outdoor upbringing. At night as kids we often ate marshmallows, made samoas with chocolate and graham cracker sandwiches of a warm and often burned marshmallow over an open campfire. We told stories too.

Later as a downhill skier in the back woods of New Hampshire we created a fire for warmth and food at night deep in the backfield slopes of my neighborhood. I loved to cook my hot dogs on a branch that I cut with my own knife. A basic woodsman’s skill my dad taught me.

As a father and grandfather it is a pleasurable experience with grandchildren to sit around a campfire, cook marshmallows and hot dogs and grin a happy grin.

So don’t forget the value of having a campfire for yourself or your family. It is a place also to grow and dream about far off places and adventure.

Good Hunting!

© 2018

Most whitetail hunters go to Texas for a chance at a Big Rack Buck, me too, I hope, but not to the detriment of the hunt itself which should be a challenge. I hear and see on video that the elevated stand challenge in many cases is in choosing the right buck and having him in a position for a kill shot without injuring other deer. It does seem simple but after watching 40 deer over the hunt, adrenaline has been rushing all over the hunter for most of the trip just as it was on my South Africa hunt. It is just not that easy! The hunter must maintain control and remain outwardly calm to make the shot. Perhaps so, but I want more…I want to call in a BIG BUCK with rattling antlers and a grunt call in such a way that his eyes are wide and nostrils flared and ready to fight to the death for rights to mate.

Lets say for fun that you were a large handsome 10 point buck and you have been hearing other bucks spar lightly with each other for days in early October. Sparring is a half-hearted fight to see who is bigger or badder and no one is injured. So you (the 10 point) continue to lay there in your bed chewing your cud, but instead of hearing tines tick you hear grunts followed by smashing antlers “big antlers” with all heck breaking loose. Then you hear silence…nothing! So you the big 10 point get up out of your bed to see what all the fuss is about… and walk towards the sound of the fight from a downwind angle to catch scent. And you smell buck tarsal gland and some doe in estrous perhaps. What does that 10 point think? A. that the bucks stink. or B. that a doe is in estrous and the bucks are fighting over her. I would certainly choose B.

What this means to the 10 point is that two other bucks have found one of “his” does in estrous and are fighting to the death for mating rights.

Scents can do this without antler rattling too as I killed a large NH 8 point just this way near his bedding area. Stiff legged the 10 point lowers his antlers and walk at the sounds determined to intervene. I killed my second NH 8 pointer and shot him at 20 yards as he came at me after a rattle grunt sequence with fight in his eyes till a 300 grain bullet from my muzzleloader struck his shoulder.

I may have to rethink a large racked Texas deer though and just attract him with a large set of  rattling antlers and no calls. If antlers smashing together are large, then this, some say will keep the lesser bucks away and draw in larger racked deer.

Your guide is your expert! And you need to listen to your guide.

In New Hampshire just getting any buck is a good deal and a lesser set of rattling antlers can work.

The first does come into estrous in mid to late October in this Texas area and increase in mating activity as November ensues.

November or more exactly mid- November is the near the peak of the whitetail rut. More importantly hunters want to know when it begins in earnest. My research in Texas finds that different areas; North, South, East and West have different start and peak times according to Texas Wildlife Biologists. I believe strategically that the best time to hunt and get the drop on your buck is just as the rut begins and does each day increasingly come into estrous. Often a cold snap or weather front can influence its start but is largely dependent on when the doe comes into estrous.

Instead of being wary, bucks are obsessed with finding a doe to mate with, and some caution goes out the window.

In my Texas hunt area the beginning of the estrous rut is measured at around October 15th and peaks around November 18th according to biological studies.  This is just as it is in my home state of New Hampshire give or take a few days. My hunt dates can’t be any more perfect in late October.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/planning/rut_whitetailed_deer/table/#prairies

Your best bet in finding a nice buck in Texas is to locate the does, just like New Hampshire.

The largest antlered bucks did not get large by being stupid.

They will often wait till the does are feeding in an open area and as darkness begins, they will come out, often at last light if at all. Many of the largest antlered bucks are nearly nocturnal. So the hunter gets exposed to lesser bucks, 6 and 8 point and must pass on them to get an opportunity at a larger antlered deer. Deer that I would shoot at home at 6 and 8 point, should likely be passed up if possible.

The chase, is important to me so rattling from a blind or camo set-up makes good sense for me and the lesser yet nice 8 point bucks may end up on my meatpole. Getting the drop on’em unaware that you are not another buck is really exciting and YOU ARE the hunter.

Before you arrived your guides know where the big bucks are seen and it is often the case to follow your guides strategy given your desires.

Scentless Body Sprays etc. – In prep for a ground hunt you need be scentless. Shower and keep hunt clothing and boots in a plastic container. Use state of the art scent removing products that destroy odor and gasses from bacteria, new products with silver in suspension are some I would consider. Most work pretty well, but it is what you eat and breath that also contribute to smell and body odor too.

Breathing and Throat Clearing – So breath issues perhaps should be considered l if I am in a ground blind. “Dead Down Wind ® makes a mouth spray that eliminates odor yet reduces coughing and the tendency to clear your throat. I use a bite of tart granny smith apple chunks to bath my throat and keep from coughing and clearing my throat. This should be addressed as vitally important.

Wind detection spray powder helps in a setup and to understand wind patterns around you. Get some for your pocket!

Binoculars are a must. I am a fan of Leupold products. I like the BX-2 Tioga 12×50. They are cost effective. https://www.leupold.com/binoculars/hd-binoculars/bx-2-tioga-hd-12x50mm

Good Hunting!

© 2018 All Rights Reserved.

Whether I have a taxidermist mounted deer or just kept the antlers, the memory of the hunt surfaces and replays itself when I gaze at the antlers or my deer mount. As some know, I had a home fire many years ago which destroyed my deer mounts. I mourn their loss. I have killed NH bucks since but none I deemed mountable. Of those I mounted none were really big, just average size but they were mine and taken by me, making them special trophies and memories in my life.

I am not your classic trophy hunter always looking to shoot a big one, I meat hunt more often than not. On occasion I have been blessed as I said, with nice New Hampshire bucks…but a nicer buck is out there for me and perhaps not in New Hampshire this year or next, I keep at it never the less.

I have placed my chips on the table for a chance at a real wall hanger as part of my Texas Hunt this year so we shall see. The key here for me is “The Hunt” is fair chase and I can select the deer and antlers of my choice as I will see dozens a day so they say.

I have a great passion for symmetrical racks of a typical whitetail and not so much for a non-typical of points going every which way. Symmetrical racks are perhaps part of my DNA make-up as they have balance and beauty. So my goal is to harvest the largest, oldest in size and typical antler configuration. And attempt to rattle and grunt in a buck of a lifetime and take him home. Texas is one of the best places on the Planet to do it. The low fence ranch I will hunt is called Rocky Creek Ranch as I said in my recent article. It is one ranch, of many that are super large, that you can hunt. I chose this one in particular because of its size, (25, 000 acres /40 sq miles) management style and if Mr. Whitetail (Larry Weishuhn) likes it, i’m gonna like it for sure.  I have hunted Africa successfully and have my mounts to spur memories of “The Hunt”  but I just have to try for a big racked whitetail buck! Perhaps you do too or not. I am not getting any younger.

The fire in my gut burns brightly to keep hunting as it is part of my core being. I may bring two rifles so we shall see. They do not recommend rifles below 6mm or .243 caliber. A wounded un-recovered deer counts as your hunt animal.

On Rattling Whitetails I have seen video’s of those who tine tick in late October. That is fine for any buck and that is what usually shows up. But it is my belief that if there is a large racked buck nearby then you must give the rattle sequence with large antlers your very all. I think Larry will say similar. Banging and thrashing and grunting as if death was the outcome of the battle. The message sent is that a doe is nearby in estrous and the battle is life or death. I like to make this real and if I have access to tarsal gland I will use that smell in the battle royal. I took a nice 8 point in Exeter, NH years ago with this sequence but with lesser antlers as I figured there were no monsters lurking nearby and did not want to scare the lesser bucks.

A ground blind can be used here but my druthers is full camo and face mask like a turkey hunter would against a tree and be clean and use the best no-scent spray on the market.

Practice like I hunt will be my best friend.

Listen to the advice of your guide is best…

Good Shooting!