Success in the panhandle

It took 4 days of sitting in between a hay field and a wheat field, but I finally filled my buck tag on my last morning of hunting at 9am. Due to the setup and wind, I hunted the south end of his bedroom (shelter belt). It wasn’t an ideal setup for me, mainly because he was sharing it with 3 or 4 young bucks and about 30 does. The likelihood of getting busted was very high, and I did get busted on the first few sits (lays). This is family property and there was no blind and only two access points that made sense. I saw him crossing at about 250yds in front of me at about 8am. I tried to stop him for a shot, but he didn’t even notice. After that I watched him through my scope for about 45 minutes. He would stop at a scrape/rub, graze for a bit, then walk a little closer. At one point he spotted me adjusting my position and we had a stare-off for 10 minutes or so before he relaxed again and started moving toward me. I had a few shot opportunities, but wanted to be 100% he was the buck I was after and had a legal spread. I was looking through a lot of brush, and had a hard time getting a front-facing, alert, antler view. I really started getting nervous as does started filing in just downwind from me, coming to bed. I was laying prone and very still, and they just circled around me and didn’t make a fuss (at less than 10yds). Well, I finally got a good look at 40yds. He turned to jump the fence onto the neighbors, so I took the shot and dropped him (.308 Win 168gr Barnes Vortex).

Anyway, here he is. Not a monster but I’m happy with him. Probably 5.5-6+ year old. 21” spread (little closer than I thought).

Nice buck.

Dang nice Mulie congrats on the hunt and a great buck

Great buck! Congrats Sir!!

Nice Mulie buck! Patience paid off, congrats!

Nice

Nice deer. Congrats!

Very nice sir

Congrats! Love the Panhandle.

What processor did you go with?

Congratulations, way to hunt!

Dropped it off at Whitaker’s in Iowa Park. Seemed like a good operation.

Should've let him walk. That buck's a baby.

Hardy har har. Get to work Steven.

Congrats

Whitaker's is great. I've used them for years. I mentioned that I picked up mine a few days ago, actually cooked some last night. I've had a few bad experiences with others over the years. Even with Whitakers, I always plan the first cook to be with ground meat. Thaw, smell test. Should smell like, nothing. Cook with no seasoning, smell test again. Nothing suspect should be detected. Taste unseasoned, cooked ground meat. Mild, clean flavor. As always they nailed it. Add taco seasoning, simmer, eat and not have to worry about the rest of it.

I'm glad to hear that! My last experience with a processor wasn't great and I committed myself to doing my own processing. The way this trip worked out, I needed to get the deer refrigerated and the processor was the only way to go. I was pretty impressed with their facilities, but dadgum the price of basic processing has gone up!

I looked at my receipt. I paid $185.00 for basic processing, $40.00 for 10lbs of breakfast sausage, $225.00 total.