Saturday Morning Success

The story starts when this deer showed up on camera for the first time 2 weeks ago. He got there mid-day on a Saturday, ate for an hour or so, then moved on.





As things typically work out, I arrived at the ranch the day after he was was caught on the camera. I hunted that blind all day, but he never made an appearance while I was there, leaving me with 2 weeks to obsess over the game camera pictures and wonder if he was still around or if he was just a buck stopping for a bite on his way to chase a hot doe in some other pasture. Either way, I wasn't going to hunt anywhere else this weekend. I got to the blind early on Saturday morning. 6:30 am, an hour before sunrise. Conditions were perfect. Temperatures in the low 30s, winds out of the NE at 3 to 5 MPH, and clouds building on the horizon for what would be an overcast day. At about 6:40 the sun started casting light on the horizon. It was one of those sunrises that, no matter how the hunt turned out, it was going to be a good day because you had been able to see it. I pulled the camera out and took some pictures.





That's venus rising with the sun, which I thought was pretty cool at the time and still do. After taking the sunrise pictures, I settled into the blind, focused really hard on every shadow that looked like a deer and waited for the feeder to go off. At 7:20 I heard the sound that no hunter wants to here. "Whiirrrrr..." The feeder went off, but the sound of corn being flung by the spinner was absent. I was beside myself. How could I let the feeder go empty at this point in the season? It was the longest 2 minutes of my life until 2 does walked out of the brush looking at the feeder pen, wondering why there was no corn on the ground. I thought to myself that I would wait for them to move on, then go get the rattling horns and take a different approach. Not another 2 minutes went by before my buck came charging out of the brush, nose down, hot on the trail of these does. I took one look through the binoculars and knew it was him. As he pushed these does around the field for another minute or 2, I got the gun up and waited for the shot. He gave me one broadside at 130 yards, and I made it count. The old warrior tried to run, but only made it 10 yards or so before his shoulders gave out and he took a dive. The whole thing was done by 7:35.





I haven't put the tape to him yet, but feel free to throw out some guesses as to what you think he'll go. He's very easily my biggest buck ever. I sure do love a big 8.

Very nice.

Great story. Great buck. Great pictures.

Great buck. Congratulations

In the third pic is that a chip out of his left side antler. Is so someone took a shot and lucky for you missed. Wall hanger for sure

Awesome buck
Congrats on that 8 point stud

Absolute stud of a buck!

Great story and I also love a Big8!

Beautiful

Very nice 8, pushing upper 130s to low 140s would be my estimate...

Congrats

He does have a chip off his left G3, but I suppose he probably had a split tine or kicker that broke off over the possibility of someone hitting that antler with some lead. I don’t have a picture of him with any other tines, so this is all conjecture. I had the taxidermist leave as is.

Nice deer, congrats!

Nice wide, thick, 8 point...what rifle, cartridge, and ammunition did you use to take that monarch?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

As a fellow Throckmorton County hunter, it’s a great place. Congratulations!!!

Great pics sir

Very nice deer, congrats

Weatherby .300 Win Mag, 163 grain custom load given to me by a buddy a little more than 10 years ago.

49 up, 86 down puts him at 135 but it could be closer to 140. Great buck, pics, and story! Congratulations!

Awesome buck congrats

That’s a great 8!! Congrats!!

Stud of an 8 for sure. Congrats!

great buck

Very nice, he's pushing 140" really hard.

Beautiful buck and a great write up. Welldone!

pretty deer for sure!

Congrats

Congrats on the buck and great write-up!

Great Story! Love me a big 8 as well, Congrats.

Great buck... I think he’s 142

Great pics and buck...love big 8's.

A hammer...nice.

Congrats on a great buck. I’ve got him right around 140.

Wow
Great story, pictures, and a fantastic 8 point!
Congrats.

He looks bigger to me than most are posting here.

I have him at:
94-96" down
47-48" up

141-144

Beautiful deer, love those sweeping beams and curved tines. Unless, I am just completely seeing it wrong, that deer is closer to 150" than he is to 140".

My guess lines up with yours. Here's one more picture of a straight on shot. I asked the taxidermist to put the tape to him since I wasn't able to at deer camp. Hopefully I'll have the results back soon.

Nice buck - Congrats!

Awesome pictures and one heck of a buck! Love the character and the mass, old warrior for sure. Congratulations!!!!!!!

Loved the story. Congrats on a great buck

Well I got this deer back from the taxidermist last week, and I couldn't be more impressed with the work of Cow Creek Taxidermy in Boerne. When I took him in, they said it would be 8 to 9 months, but they knocked it out in under 4. I'm also impressed with all of the score guesses, as most of the guess were pretty close. I taped him out at 141 on the mark.