Well I will right a short story regarding this deer. First off I took Friday off at the last minute so I could get an extra hunt in before Christmas. Friday morning the alarm went off at 5am and it was pouring down rain. I reset the alarm for 530am and the same result, rain and lots of it. Finally at 6am I got up to get something to eat as I knew there was no reason to go to the stand until the rain let up. Finally about 1030am the rain slacked up to just a sprinkle so I grab my gear and head to the stand.

Once in the stand I get settle in for the remainder of the day. All season long we have seen very few deer in comparison to years past. We feed protein and crops year round along with corn feeders and the corn has just been piling up. All game camera pictures have been at night. So as the day wears on I stay alert as the rain has stopped and the wind has stopped. It was so quiet and peaceful out there with nature.

Here is the view looking out my front window down a 180 yard lane.



It is starting to get late in the afternoon and the feeder is set to go off at 410pm. I have seen no deer up to this point, not even a squirrel or rabbit. Then all of a sudden out of no where this deer comes trotting up my lane from the very end. I know it has a big body just from my naked eye so I get my scope up and sure enough, this was a shooter in my book. He continued up the lane towards me getting closer and closer. By this time I have confirmed he is 13" wide and I am waiting for a shot opportunity. After he gets to about 50-60 yards from me he stops and looks in my directions for a few seconds and then he turns to enter the woods. I take the slack up in the trigger of my 1903A3 Springfield that my daddy had given me several years earlier and squeeze it full. NOTHING, no click, no boom, no nothing. The deer disappears into the tree line. I am about to puke as I notice that while walking to the stand with my rifle slung over my shoulder I had raised the bolt handle. Rifle wont fire without the bolt being fully closed for good reasons obviously.

I try to grunt, bleat, and pray that he steps back out. After about a minute I decided he wasn't coming back out into that lane. But the direction he was headed led me to believe he might come out in a very small opening I have out the North side of my stand. So I get my rifle repositioned into this window and wait. It seemed like an eternity but after only about another minute or so he emerged into the opening. He had no plans to stop!!! I gave him a quick "BAAAA" and he stop in his tracks. This time around the 30-06 my dad gave me that he had named Betsy so many years before let out a BOOM. Through the smoke I could see the deer jump and kick as it ran off.

After 30 minutes of pure agony waiting to go look for my deer I finally climbed down and started the search. I went to where he was standing and found the ground disruption from when he ran. Look around and no blood. I set into the tree line 5 feet and still no blood. I go 5 more feet and still nothing, so I am asking myself, how did you miss this deer at 40 yards. Well after 5 more feet and still no blood and got down low and started skimming he ground and then I seen him laying about 20 yards from me.

As big as I thought this deer was he did have some ground shrinkage but I will take it all day long. His one broke brow is a bummer but again I can live with it. Deer weighed 177 pounds. I could not be more proud of this East Texas brute. Taxi cut his jaw off and aged him 6+ and 18 7/8 inside spread

Sorry I said short story.

I wished this would have not been blurry, I had to take my own pics as I was alone.

Beautiful buck!

That's a great buck!

Great buck!

Congrats on a great looking buck. Great story also.

stxranchman, will he go 130"?

Great buck and story! Congrats!

Really nice!

Awesome!
What county?

Anderson

Well done, and Semper Fi.

Very nice buck no matter what part of the state he was killed. Well done sir. Baker

that's a heck of a deer, glad you got him!

Great looking rack! Congrats to you!

I love East Texas bucks like this one. He's a cool looking buck. He is over 130" IMO.

Congratulations and Semper Fi

I'm in Tyler and was out in my blind over the weekend and didn't see a thing. My cameras show them still running around at night, and nothing even close to being as nice as yours. That's a keeper for our area for sure!!!

Eddie

Good job!!!

He will make 130. That a way to stick it out and keep hunting.

What ground shrinkage Damn nice buck