“Team” Buck

My husband Elliott and I hunt on Dennis Williams’ ranch. This Hill Country ranch has unbelievable views of the countryside. This deer lease has so many deer. It is just beautiful and awesome. Normally we have 20 to 30 deer at our feeders. Sometimes we might have 50 deer. Heck, I have counted over a 100 deer in view from a bow stand.

Dennis’ great grandfather goal was to own all the property all the way to San Marcos, and he almost accomplished it! The ranch is certainly breath taking! This particular year was really hard hunting. It had a lot of rain, acorns were very abundant, and there was the small green grass that deer just love. So the deer were not coming to our feeders. You could see them and they were grazing and just walking, sort of like cows do.

We sat in our No. 5 blind and weren’t seeing much. I was playing a game on the cell phone because it was really slow and boring. I looked up and to my left I saw a doe. I told Elliott. All of a sudden he said, “Oh my gosh, look at that buck. I’m fixing to shoot a great buck.” So I watched!  I saw the buck, but it wasn’t a real good look, and the next thing I knew Elliott had taken a shot! Normally we would wait at least 30 minutes in the blind before we would get out and go to look for a blood trail; but oh, no—Elliott was ready to get out of the blind and go look immediately. I chose to stay in the blind.

As he was walking to spot where he shot the buck, I saw a couple more bucks running off. Elliott went to the spot and found nothing. As he was looking, he could see bucks among the trees, but real soon after he did, they just ran off. There was no blood trail. There was nothing! The bucks that were running off had nothing wrong with them. Elliott had just broken all the hunting rules that we live by and teach our grandkids. He had become excited too fast. As a result, he was really disappointed and disheartened.

Two weeks later, I had determined that blind No. 5 was close to a ridge, and down below that ridge was a ravine. I figured the bigger bucks were sleeping down in the ravine and were coming out to chase the does during rut. So I wanted to hunt from blind No. 5. Elliott went back to the blind to hunt with me. All of a sudden we saw six big mature does come trotting out. Elliott had the binocular up and said, “Oh my gosh, look at that buck. It’s the buck that I missed!”  I was so excited.

I had my .243 we call the Bone Collector gun (it has a Bone Collector sticker on it) out the window and I had the great buck in my sights. The 10-point was standing at the edge of the same woods where all the does ran. I wanted to take my shot but Elliott said, “NO—wait till he turns sideways.” I told Elliott if the buck turns he would run into the woods after the does. Elliott said,  “That’s okay; just wait.” So I did. As soon as the buck turned, I took my shot. But exactly at the time I shot, the buck had moved and my shot landed right in his guts.

I was so upset! We saw an opening in the woods and also saw my buck tiptoeing through the opening. I knew this was not good.  He was an excellent Hill Country buck and I had just shot him in the guts. I was just sick! Elliott and I decided we would wait 30 minutes before we would go and trail him. About five minutes into this 30-minute period, the old buck stepped back through the opening.

I just could not believe it!  Elliott told me, “Shoot again!” I did and my buck fell right where he stood.  My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears. We gave the buck some time, then we went to where he lay. He was an AWESOME BUCK for our lease! I was on cloud nine. I realized my buck was a “team” buck, and I was so glad Elliott was with me to take this great Hill Country buck. We rough scored him, and to our best knowledge, he scored 126 B&C. I was in heaven! And I was so thankful that I have such a wonderful husband who hunts with me. He may have missed, but I do not think I would have taken this great 10-point without his help.