July 30th

Departure - We packed up and sighted the bows in on the 30th of July and we were set to head to Texas in the morning around 3AM. My buddy Corey, his newly-wed wife and myself went down. We drove through Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and almost touched Arkansas on the way back up.





All I remember was it was HOT, I believe the temp. this week was 95-105 Degrees.







Stopped by and checked out the Bass Pro and the Arena while we were in Oklahoma City.



We rolled into the small south Texas town around 9pm and got some things unhitched and settled into our hotel for the night since our guide wasn't ready for us yet. Never been in a hotel that only cost $45 for the night with two beds, let's just say that was an experience I won't be wanting to have again couldn't ask for a nicer people though. Morning couldn't come fast enough!

July 31st -

First sit...




Woke up super early and headed toward a town called Del Rio. This area was less populated than where I went in Colorado, and the ranches were huge tracts of land. Thousands of acres and we had to go through private roads and gates to get to our destination. We finally arrived after hitting a couple jack rabbits because those things were EVERYWHERE.

EXAMPLE:



I was settled into my blind before the sun came up and I wasn't in the blind 5 SECONDS and I saw 4 buck whitetail and 2 doe whitetail walking around. I realized I forgot my camera in the Jeep and went back to grab it, figuring my hunt was over for the morning. Boy, I was wrong! I got back up into the tower blind and all of them were still there waiting for the feeder to go off. At this point in time I didn't know they'd wait for the feeder to go off. I sat there watching these deer for a while and heard a strange sound. Something I had only heard on TV and crummy calls. I saw two Cow elk moving along the fence and I thought "Man, sure wish I had an elk tag." I had a couple Axis come through and it was pretty neat seeing them!




This place has WAY too many whitetail, I'm talking I saw 30 deer EASY every morning. Anyway, I get back to camp and I tell my guide I saw two cow elk...he informs me I could have shot one of them and that Texas doesn't have elk tags. I should have definitely read my regulations a little better. Oh well!

August 1st - This day was boring, hot, long, and only saw 100+ deer and turkey.

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August 2nd -

Took this picture during the morning, it was pretty neat.

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Today I was tired of sitting in those other blinds and asked my guide if there was any place I could move to. He told me I should go over to the water or another feeder right of a private road. I decided to hit the feeder and see what was there, I started setting up my blind and the feeder went off. Not thinking much of it, I was putting a few things in the blind with my Jeep on and me right there two little 2 year old bucks step out and start feeding 10 yards from me. I grabbed my camera and recorded it (One of these years I'll edit it). It was super funny and I drove my Jeep back and hid it on the road. I went back and those deer were still standing there just minding their own business. The bucks where I was at were super small, smaller than our does and not as tall. As I sat there and the night went on I had a horse come through and then leave, 10 minutes after the horse left I had 5 cows come in. I spooked them off and about 30 minutes later I had a group of hogs start coming in. I turned my camera on and the hogs were just messing around, then they took of and left. I figured they just saw me. I grabbed my gun and then it happened. They came back in, but one didn't stay very long!

Watch the video below:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10205750194288847&id=1075719817


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Went back into a different town and grabbed some King Burger!
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Here's the crazy story, we were minding our own business checking trail cameras and we had a bull elk come to one of the feeders we were just looking at those pictures when I noticed smoked outside and I freaked out because I thought my Jeep was going to be set on fire. We get out there and we have a fire going nuts, it's dry and over 100 degrees out and the fire didn't help anything. We were afraid the entire ranch, cabin, and vehicles might go up. The first thing I did was grab the truck and my Jeep and move them and just in time too. Took us an entire 4 minutes to get it out.

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August 3rd -

Went back to the tower blinds and sat there for over 24 hours because he had little lights on the feeder and I could shoot anything with those lights running. I had a couple hogs and a ton of whitetail and turkey come in but never connected with an Axis, Fallow, Sika, or Aoudad. I think I'm going to head back out in March.

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(EARLIER IN THE YEAR)
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Saw a small Axis and a Black Buck on this day and a ton of whitetail. I went up and made a blind out of a tarp, pieces of wood, and a windmill. Worked great! But nothing I wanted to shoot and eat came in.

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August 4th - Just hunted 24/7 and headed home, picked up some show rabbits on my way home too.

Great story and awesome pics!

It's a little different from Iowa down here, but hope yall enjoyed it!

Welcome to Texas. It looks like you guys had a nice time. Hopefully next time you will get what you are looking for. As for Texas deer, yes, they are smaller but they can still sport some awesome racks.

Glad to see you make it down for a visit. I'm sure you have your sights set on some big deer this year.

You last season was outstanding. How is this season shaping up for you?

Great pics and story.