It has been a tough year for the most part due to the drought, high winds, abundant acorn crop etc but the old motto hunt hard and hunt often has finally paid off for me and a young fella that works around our ranch for us.
This first buck and my favorite of the year was killed in our back pasture at home. I had gone down to check the cattle and while riding along the back tree line I noticed a buck and doe had been working a scrape line, fresh buck tracks and fresh doe droppings in 2 separate scrapes. I worked the scrapes with a long stick and poured doe in heat on them and went home and called Wesley and Logan (who works around our place in trade for hunting rights) and told them that they needed to come out and hunt these deer. Keep in mind our little ranch or farm is only 50 acres but it holds some good deer. I had to leave and returned on Sunday after running some fishing trips at Whitney and noticed there truck parked and knew they were on stand, a little later they came up and had seen him and was going to run home and would return, they left and returned in about an hour and stayed on stand the rest of the day. Right after sundown they knocked on the door and had exciting news, Logan had shot the buck and he was down in my pasture, a big bodied 7 point with busted off brow tines that would have made him a nine, he had an 18” inside spread.
The Yellow Rose Ranch Buck #1

Fast forward to Nemo, Tx. And a buck I killed, hunted hard and as often as I could here but with running fishing trips and helping the wife at the paper (Lake Whitney Views) haven’t had just a lot of time to hunt. Had been bow hunting hard and had some close encounters but this morning I grabbed up my 300, a thermos of coffee and went and sat in a box blind. This 9 point buck came out at a little over 200 yards and I dropped him in his tracks.
The Wind-Swept Ranch Buck!

Buck #3 is my 10 minute Yellow Rose Ranch Buck.
I was down checking a new born calf in my back pasture one evening and went by and worked the now gone cold scrapes. I walked back through the woods and made a scent trail using doe in heat scent up through the woods along a game trail spraying the limbs and ground as I walked and came out of the woods and worked the scrapes using a long stick so as not to leave too much of my scent and poured doe in heat on them. The next morning I was sitting in my chair drinking coffee watching the news with the wife as the sun was coming up when it dawned on me, heck I was going to hunt this morning. Threw my boots on, grabbed my hat, a gun and slipped out the back door. My stand is about 300 yards directly behind my back door, across the cattle guard trying to be quite as a mouse keeping the blind between me and the scrape line, as I crept up to my blind I peaked around and there 157 yards away, on a scrape working the overhead branches was this buck. I never even got in the stand, set down my cup of coffee, took a rest on a H brace post waited for him to turn and squeezed of a round and heard the thump of my bullet hit home. Buck down in my back yard yoo-hoo!!! I was calling my wife to bring the Mule so I could load it up and a big 8 pointer stepped out and walked across the pasture checking out the buck I just killed while I was talking on the phone. Pretty neat hunt! Not my best buck but this one is going on the wall, a big 5 x 3 if you count the 1” points on the crab claw, old chocolate horned buck.
My 10 minute Buck! Yellow Rose buck #2

Congrats on some great bucks! Nice write up also.

Congrats, nice deer and great stories.

congrats

Nice bucks.

Just how exactly do you tell doe droppings from buck droppings?

Nice

The doe droppings will all be seperate due to there forage, bucks tend to eat a little different forage making theres clump up so to speak. This is all based on forage.

Nice bucks!!! Congrats!!!

Nice!

Good write up and great deer. I even know where Oceola is located. Had relatives there until they retired and moved to Whitney. One was a taxadermist and mounted my first 8 pt about 1965.

Nice bucks, congrats

Very nice, congrats Randy.

nice write up, and very nice bucks. congrats

Thanks everyone. I guess all the deer in Hill county are hitting my pasture. For grins I went out wednesday and freshened up the old cold scrapes and checked em yesterday and I have deer working these scrapes again. Talk about getting a feller hooked on hunting scrapes and mock scrapes. Now if I can get my grandson for a few days maybe I can put him on one. That would make the season.

Thanks, small world, I have a cabin and run a guide service at Whitney. Most peoply say WHERE? We have some good genetics in our area I have game cam pics of bucks with both G 2's split.

Great story and and deer. Congratulations. I drive through Nemo often. See lots of deer near the turnoff to the Boy Scout camp. There are some Dandies near the Brazos.

very nice job