Hey everyone. I was fortunate to be able to tag 2 different bucks during Thanksgiving week. Here are the stories for both of them...

This first deer has been named Hollywood due to his love of the camera. I have more history with him than any other buck on the ranch. I've hunted him for 3 yrs and had a shot at 30 yds with a bow last year but had a button buck jump in front of the arrow (got it on video or I wouldn't have believed it either) and saved Hollywood. My first time shed hunting this past spring, I found his set of antlers from 2 yrs ago. Thanksgiving morning during my first sit of the trip, I passed on the biggest deer I've ever passed, a big 3.5 yr old 8 point and about 45 mins later, Hollywood stepped out. I'm very happy to have taken this deer and plan on mounting his sheds next to a euro of him. Here are his picks from the past few years.
2012

Sheds

2013

2014



Next is the best buck I've ever killed. When we got to the ranch on Tues, I had a chance to run over to a portion of the property that hasn't been hunted in years and do some glassing of the winter wheat field to see what was coming out in the evenings. I saw lots of deer including a few shooters and this deer that I eventually killed the morning after Thanksgiving. I came back to the house and told everyone I'd seen the biggest buck I'd ever seen in person at about 450 yds. I made a plan based on that scouting and snuck to a tree that I thought would be about 200 yds from where I saw him but still give me a shot at a large portion of the field. At the start of first light, I could see a good buck on the edge of the field but he left the field before shooting light. 15-20 mins later, a big buck walks back into the field in the same area. It took what felt like forever before I could get a good enough look at him to determine if he was a shooter or not. Eventually it was obvious he was and I got into a comfortable position to get a good solid rest on my shooting sticks for the 210 yd shot. I took some extra time to calm myself down and then squeezed off the shot. Watching the buck leave the field, I felt like the shot was good and it appeared that he was acting hit. After a 10 min wait, I quietly walked down to look for blood and after an hr, still hadn't found a drop. I was really starting to doubt my shot and decided to drop some of the heavy clothes as I was getting hot and then start a search pattern in the direction he ran. After hanging all the extra clothes on a fence, I turned around to start looking and there he was, 20 yds from me, stuck in a tree. I could not believe it. I had walked within 10 yds of him 4 times searching the gravel road I knew he had crossed for blood. I then realized he was bigger than I originally thought. I feel so blessed to have inlaws that allow me to hunt a place like this. I still can't believe it happened. I put a tape to him yesterday and rough scored him at 148 4/8 gross with 40" of mass. I can't wait to see him on my wall in the future. Here he is...






Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoyed the stories.

Great hunt! Great deer! Certainly better than the rest of us!

Yup, getting it done there, good job. That big one is rutted down on his weight pretty good.

Awesome.

Congrats!!!

Great write up to a great story. And a couple of beautiful bucks. You definitely married into the right family, for sure....Given the choice , I'd always pick the right family over the diametrically opposed one.

Great stories man. Congrats on both of the deer!

Haha thanks. It wasn't always sunshine and daisies but we're all doing well now and I'm very thankful to be a part of their family.

Great bucks and story to go with them. Congrats

Couple of great deer, what a weekend

nicely done! I really like the second buck!

Damn!

I like my inlaws and after this I'm just a tad bit jealous!

Good write-ups! How many acres do your in-laws own?

congrats!

Two great bucks, congrats! Aint no land like Family land.

nice looking bucks.

They have about 900 behind their house and another 320 about 10 mins away. The old deer was shot behind the house and the big one on the separate piece that hadn't been hunted in a long time.

Congrats on both bucks. That second one has some good-looking mass.

Thanks everyone. Finally decided on a taxidermist. Taking him to Wild West Taxi in Amarillo. Can't wait to see the biggun on the wall!

That makes for a good week