I have been meaning to post this pic for a while now, haven't had time to edit the hunters face out until this morning. We had hunted this animal for several days with another guy, who couldn't get to the blind quietly, nor make any kind of a stalk, conditioning and the number of other animals (does) that busted us were both issues.
We started on Friday afternoon, I told him we were walking in and going to sit in that blind come hell or high water. I know this animal walks past it once a day, if not molested. Trying to chase him around just makes him go somewhere we are not. Sure enough, first afternoon, he walks out about 400 yards away, down the canyon, on the other side. Until the hunter saw him, he was like, "lets shoot that one over there", since there were several nice 150 class and up shooters to be seen.
When he saw this one, he changed his mind. Hardest part was getting him to wait for the shot, as the animal got closer. HE wandered up the whole length of the canyon towards us, with his harem of does in front. Around 150 yds out, I had him get ready, and steady, we had already practiced this before and had a plan to stabilize him. As some of you are aware, shooting frmo a box blind is not as stable a shooting position as is commonly thought. At 85 yards, one shot, critter down, all smiles. Ranch record, over 190 pts, with at least 10-15" of antler broken off thru fighting other bucks. That was the reason this guy was being removed instead of left to breed, he had killed another 180+, and wounded several others.
I did jinx myself after this though. In the skinning shed later on, I told the guy that had worked very hard to get the previous hunter on this deer ( who is a professional PH by the way), " there's nothing to this guide business Andrew, you are overpaid! All it takes is a plan and perserverance!". Well, another one of my guys had a want for an axis deer, at my place there is usually no problem finding a trophy axis. Well, apparently, if you open your pie hole, your foot can find it's way inside. We hunted 4 solid days, and did not see a shootable axis. Saw some just in the trees, but not coming out. Every concievable bit of bad luck found us, including a couple wild dogs that were running loose from a neighbors ranch. The other guys on the hunt all got what they wanted, except the guy I had..... oh well, it was a great excuse to invite him back again next month.
Hope ya'll enjoy the pics, and yes, before anyone asks, it IS highfenced, but it is over 2000 acres inside that fence. The fence isn't just to keep the animals in, but to keep unwanted animals out too. Keep the "not fair chase" comments to yourself.
Mikee
We started on Friday afternoon, I told him we were walking in and going to sit in that blind come hell or high water. I know this animal walks past it once a day, if not molested. Trying to chase him around just makes him go somewhere we are not. Sure enough, first afternoon, he walks out about 400 yards away, down the canyon, on the other side. Until the hunter saw him, he was like, "lets shoot that one over there", since there were several nice 150 class and up shooters to be seen.
When he saw this one, he changed his mind. Hardest part was getting him to wait for the shot, as the animal got closer. HE wandered up the whole length of the canyon towards us, with his harem of does in front. Around 150 yds out, I had him get ready, and steady, we had already practiced this before and had a plan to stabilize him. As some of you are aware, shooting frmo a box blind is not as stable a shooting position as is commonly thought. At 85 yards, one shot, critter down, all smiles. Ranch record, over 190 pts, with at least 10-15" of antler broken off thru fighting other bucks. That was the reason this guy was being removed instead of left to breed, he had killed another 180+, and wounded several others.
I did jinx myself after this though. In the skinning shed later on, I told the guy that had worked very hard to get the previous hunter on this deer ( who is a professional PH by the way), " there's nothing to this guide business Andrew, you are overpaid! All it takes is a plan and perserverance!". Well, another one of my guys had a want for an axis deer, at my place there is usually no problem finding a trophy axis. Well, apparently, if you open your pie hole, your foot can find it's way inside. We hunted 4 solid days, and did not see a shootable axis. Saw some just in the trees, but not coming out. Every concievable bit of bad luck found us, including a couple wild dogs that were running loose from a neighbors ranch. The other guys on the hunt all got what they wanted, except the guy I had..... oh well, it was a great excuse to invite him back again next month.
Hope ya'll enjoy the pics, and yes, before anyone asks, it IS highfenced, but it is over 2000 acres inside that fence. The fence isn't just to keep the animals in, but to keep unwanted animals out too. Keep the "not fair chase" comments to yourself.
Mikee
