A 17-point With Drop Tine?

About the only “prenuptial” agreement my husband Johnnie discussed with me before we married more than 22 years ago was that I would hunt with him on the first day of deer season in South Texas. I think he has missed only two openers in something like 50 years. One to attend our daughter’s basketball game and another to help get me delivered to the proper location to attend a church missions meeting in Dallas.

The evening of Nov. 30, 2013, found me sitting in a nice blind on a small Frio County place the Rosenauer family has owned since 1938. We have always had a “real” deer lease or two besides this family place that we call The Farm. Granddad Rosenauer killed the first deer there in the late ’60s and populations have existed pretty much since then. We have “settled” into a long-term lease not far away from The Farm so we can drive our tractor and equipment between the places in an hour or so. Much of our hunting has been done over there for more than 15 years, but The Farm is a nice break and we use it some, depending on the wind conditions and deer sign.

Our 15-year-old son Corban was with me that day. He and I enjoy our deer blind time together. We are a bit more “relaxed” than someone else in our household when it comes to the whole hunting experience thing, visiting and talking about whatever is on our minds that day. We were in the blind called the Pursch Palace, given that title for our long-time friend John Pursch who has hunted with my husband for more than 40 years. John was not hunting that day and the wind was perfect for the location.

We first saw a middle-aged eight-point come weaving in and out of the brush towards the feeder. There were a few does around, but the buck kept moving around a good bit. I figured he was 3 or 4 years old and in texting Johnnie, he said to just enjoy watching him because the buck needed a few more years of age. It was pre-rut in South Texas and a buck that age was not yet willing to fully show himself long before dark.

In another hour or so, when it was getting pretty late, a buck came out nearly 400 yards away and was walking along the edge of a 100-foot sendero where we plant oats when rain allows. The grass had come back pretty tall after a September mowing due to good rains and he was hard to see clearly. Something about his antlers looked odd, but until he got closer I could not figure it out. The buck moved toward the feeder area but stayed in the brush. I was having Corban text his dad to tell him the buck had a long drop tine. I could not believe it. Somehow the text came out, “We have a 17-point with a drop tine.” Johnnie immediately texted back, “SHOOT HIM!”

The buck was very coy and did not present himself for a clear shot for what seemed like an eternity. I knew that a shoulder shot was the order of the day for such a nice trophy. The distance was a bit over 100 yards when he finally squared up and stood still for a moment. This playing cat and mouse had worked me over in terms of my nerves and I dared not focus too much on the drop tine or the rest of the antlers on his head. After the shot, which was a solid hit, Corban texted his dad and said that Mom was still shaking.

It was then that I had a moment to review the texts to and from, only to discover Corban had said 17 points. Two thoughts ran through my mind almost at the same time. One, Johnnie will know I could not count that many points so late in the day. Two, he is going to think I thought this buck has 17 points! It was not 10 minutes before Johnnie pulled up in the truck. He had been hunting about a ½ mile away with one of Corban’s classmates, Ethan, who is new to hunting and very interested in learning. They had hurried over after walking to the vehicle.

Well, as it turned out the buck was not a 17-point. We are still not sure how Corban got that number in his head, but he is a 15-year-old teenager after all. Nonetheless, the buck was a great looking nine-point and my husband was delighted for me. The buck carried G1s that are 5 1/2 and 6 inches long with his G2s and G3s measuring 8-10 inches long. His drop measured out at over 6 1/2 inches, coming off his right main beam. He is going to look really good in our vaulted ceiling living room along with some of our other special trophies.

The weird part of this story is that we have NEVER seen any hint of a drop tine characteristic at The Farm before. Johnnie has been responsible for the game management out there since 1976 and this was a big surprise to all of us. In going back through the 2013 early fall deer pics, we do have one shot of this guy as part of a bachelor club group. It is not a good picture of him and we had failed to notice the drop, thinking it was part of the brush in the background of the picture. So my story is a good reminder that when it comes to deer hunting, you just never know what might walk out of the brush. Or, what text might come from the mind of a 15-year-old.