I got to my lease close to midnight Friday and got everything unloaded and ready for in the morning. Chatted with a couple of the guys hanging out in camp before heading in for the night.

Opening morning came after what seemed like just laying my head down. I loaded up my gear and made my 5 miles ride on the 4 wheeler on a nice cool opening morning. I get to my area and make the walk to my stand with a bucket of corn throwing it out as I make my way down a road in my area towards my stand to hopefully hold a few deer away from the feeder. I make it to the stand and get settled in. First of all checking for any creepy crawlies and luckily all I had was a pile of yellow jackets from my previous trip and throwing a bug bomb before I had left.

Just as it starts to get light enough to make out the road I can tell I have a pretty decent bodied deer standing in the hand tossed corn on the road. A little bit later I see another body working the road. Both deer make their way to my North feeder but disappear before I can make out any details with the binoculars. All I knew was one of them looked mature and had a decent rack but couldn't make out points.

As it got lighter and able to see clearly I can see deer at my South feeder. There are a couple of does standing there under the feeder when a small 8 pt comes out and checks them out. I keep glancing to my North feeder and the corned road and spot a buck walking out. It's a nice 3yo I call "tear duct". He got his name from a swollen tear duct he developed last year on his left eye. This is gonna be a shooter next year if he makes it.

I watch "tear duct" for a little bit then turn my attention back to my South feeder and I spot another buck coming in. This buck has a messed up left antler due to a broken right front hoof he got last season. As he came in I thought I was going to see a fight with the other 8 that was there. Both of those bucks started running the does from the feeder and all the comotion got the attention of "tear duct" and he disappeared into the brush and made his way towards my South feeder.

"tear duct" makes his way to my South feeder and runs off the other bucks and the does. He feeds at the feeder a few minutes before heading into the brush. All I could do at this point was wonder what the buck looked like at my North feeder before daylight. As I started getting discouraged and thinking my chances of seeing a shooter opening morning was pretty slim I started looking around for any movement.

I catch a glimpse on my right side of some movement. I see antlers and quickly get the binoculars on him. Immediately I knew this was my #1 buck and began to get into position. I get my chair moved to the window and start grabbing for my jacket to use as a rest on the window frame from my chair. It gets hunt on the seat back and I start tugging on it trying not to make too much noise. I watch as the buck crosses the road and gets behind some bushes.

Finally I get my jacket off the chair and get my rifle into position. I glass him one more time and then put the crosshairs on him. He is standing behind a small mesquite before walking towards the feeder. I click the safety off and make a grunt sound to stop him. I squeeze the trigger and watch as he runs off around a cedar and into the brush.

I make my way to the area he was standing and don't really see any blood but start tracking in the direction I saw him run off. Finally I see a small spec of red and then another. I follow it past my feeder and camera and think to myself "maybe I got him on camera as he ran by" and continue following the blood trail and hoof marks he left behind. I walked about 45 yards and look down a trail and there he is. BBD baby!!!

I walk up to him and am thanking the lord for an awesome morning and allowing me to make a clean kill and opportunity to harvest the buck I was after.



First glimpse of my buck.








This is only my second year on the lease and I already had a small history with this buck. I got on this lease in late January 2012 so I was able to get some pictures of some bucks with the previous seasons antlers. This was the first buck I got pictures of and was able to recognize him the following season. I only got a couple of pictures of him in velvet and didn't see him again until October and only a couple pics. As the season ended and the new year began I got some pics of him and was relieved he had made it through and was hoping I would see him again this season.

As this season got started and I got a new blind and feeder setup I got some pictures of him in velvet. As I could make it to the lease and check the cards I had more and more pics of him. I even started getting pictures of him at my bow setup and my South feeder. This had me encouraged and excited. But as bow season neared he disappeared after the first week and had no new pictures of him.

As the end of bow season was coming to an end my #2 buck was taken and my #3 buck moved up the hitlist. Honestly I figured #3 would be my best chance at bagging a shooter this season based on last years experience with my #1 and #3 bucks. Needless to say I was extremely shocked and excited when he stepped out of the brush opening morning

One of the first pictures I got of this buck in early 2012.



last year.



I was able to take a nice boar opening day evening close to sundown as well.

Great story!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!

Great story

Excellent. Great buck congratulations

Man that first glimpse is priceless! Congratulations!

Great story and deer. Congratulations.

Great deer congrats

Great story , thanks for sharing

Thanks guys!!

Good job Dustin!!! Good looking buck, now you can coast the rest of the season!!

Congrats man!

Thanks! I actualy slept in this morning A lot better luck than last year that almost ended without a shot at a buck.

Nice buck! Congrats!

Good write up and nice buck.

Congrats!!!

Good Job! Thanks for taking the time to write and share your story.

Congrats!

Nice deer and hog

In detail, Its like I was there..Awesome!!! Great pics to man

great story and great deer...congrats

Hey Dustin, Congrats again on the Buck and Pig!!! Excellent pictures!!! It was a GREAT Opening Weekend!!!

Thanks again Lynn!! It was an awesome weekend. Can't believe the turnout we had for lunch and we missed y'all at the Saturday night cookout.

Congrats again. You had a heck of a opening day for sure!

Things just work out sometimes