tulsaburnside
FNG
We had a whitetail season to remember in Oklahoma this past fall; for the first time, all four family members got their whitetail bucks in the same season. My daughter Kenzi started it off on the evening before Thanksgiving with a young 9 pointer on our 80 acres. Her mom helped her with the vacuum tube and safety while I aimed the rifle. We had a ground blind set up and we were fighting boredom until just at last light this buck came through at 80 yards; I was familiar with him as I had seen him during the fall with a bad limp that had really gotten worse over the last week. That didn't stop him from stopping to check a scrape and work over the overhead branch as his last acts. Kenzi fired the rifle and the buck dropped quickly. During gutting, I found that his right shoulder and leg were broken in several places most likely from a glancing automobile collision. It was a great buck for her and a great buck to end his prolonged suffering.
I convinced my wife to go out the following Friday morning after Thanksgiving; she hadn't been hunting in quite a few years and she finally gave in and said she would go. She had a respectable 8 pointer come by at 110 yards and she made a great heart shot on the buck.
My son and I went to some lifelong friends ranch on the OK/KS border for hunting Saturday and Sunday. I've had the privilege of hunting there for years as they are like family. He hates deer and would like to have me shoot them all but I haven't been able to in the 31 years I've hunted there. On the edge of a large prairie grass draw at first light, I spotted many deer moving in different locations. I finally spied a doe with what looked like a good buck with several satellite bucks. Hoping they were going to travel up the draw and passing by within 200 yards, I would have a great shot in the gusty conditions (wind from the SW at 30 mph with gust to 40). They finally settled down into one location at 579 yards and I knew they would never move towards me during the day. I crawled and duck walked as I was in eyesight of them but the moving waist high grass gave great cover. I closed the distance to 129 yards and enjoyed the show of the dominant buck sleeping and moving to keep the 4 satellite buck away from the doe. When he moved up 30' in elevation from the bottom of the draw to ward off another buck, I finally decided that the time was right. I had been enjoying the complete scenario for 3 hr 45 minutes from the time of seeing them until the time of the shot. A great prairie 8 point that gave me such a memorable hunt.
And 1 1/2 hours later, my son ended it with a 9 point that was busy hanging around with other bucks after a doe.
We may be hard pressed to have such good success for all family members in the same season for quite awhile.
I convinced my wife to go out the following Friday morning after Thanksgiving; she hadn't been hunting in quite a few years and she finally gave in and said she would go. She had a respectable 8 pointer come by at 110 yards and she made a great heart shot on the buck.
My son and I went to some lifelong friends ranch on the OK/KS border for hunting Saturday and Sunday. I've had the privilege of hunting there for years as they are like family. He hates deer and would like to have me shoot them all but I haven't been able to in the 31 years I've hunted there. On the edge of a large prairie grass draw at first light, I spotted many deer moving in different locations. I finally spied a doe with what looked like a good buck with several satellite bucks. Hoping they were going to travel up the draw and passing by within 200 yards, I would have a great shot in the gusty conditions (wind from the SW at 30 mph with gust to 40). They finally settled down into one location at 579 yards and I knew they would never move towards me during the day. I crawled and duck walked as I was in eyesight of them but the moving waist high grass gave great cover. I closed the distance to 129 yards and enjoyed the show of the dominant buck sleeping and moving to keep the 4 satellite buck away from the doe. When he moved up 30' in elevation from the bottom of the draw to ward off another buck, I finally decided that the time was right. I had been enjoying the complete scenario for 3 hr 45 minutes from the time of seeing them until the time of the shot. A great prairie 8 point that gave me such a memorable hunt.
And 1 1/2 hours later, my son ended it with a 9 point that was busy hanging around with other bucks after a doe.
We may be hard pressed to have such good success for all family members in the same season for quite awhile.
