Good luck out there! Looking forward to some more pics.

Just wanted to check in and say hello to everyone. Seem to always be crazy busy these days but I’m still managing to get out as much as I can.

Hunted a few times during bow season and passed a decent mule deer that just didn’t quite meet the 20” antler spread restrictions where I’m hunting. Ever since the camo army hit the countryside, the whitetails have all but disappeared around my neck of the woods. I’m hoping a few good hard freezes and hunter participation waning as the season goes on will bring the WT movement back to preseason levels. I know for a fact from the cameras there are a few bruisers out there.

Now for the good news! Took my first ever mulie buck last weekend on opening day of rifle for that season. I was using my 257 Weathermark shooting 110 Accubonds. I’m running a Sightmark Wraith daytime/nighttime optic on there. The shot was in the neighborhood of 150 yards or so. Fighting through a bit of excitement the shot was quality and hit double lung, close to broadside, quartering away ever so slightly. The deer went less than 30 yards and piled up DRT.

I do have a short video of the shot I’ll try to upload when I get it off the SD card. Fair warning though, it’s not a great video. Between elevated blood pressure and focusing solely on taking my first great shot opportunity, the video is pretty short and choppy. I’ll attach a couple of pics below.

This deer ended up coming in right at the legal 20” but had cool character (IMO) to go along with it. I hunted this area almost twenty years ago and never saw a mulie anywhere close to this one. Based on at least four bucks I’ve seen this year and talking to local hunters and landowners, it would seem there’s almost overwhelming evidence that the antler restriction for the mule deer is working working great.

The buck is at the taxidermist as we speak and I dropped the meat off with a local processor who is making steaks, a few roasts, burger, and summer sausage. The deer was definitely the biggest body deer I have ever shot. He had pockets of fat in places I had never seen when I was dressing him out. It was a chore to load him in the truck by myself!

Did you install some cams at the troughs?

Zoom in directly behind the second picture and you can see one. Surprisingly little action throughout the summer. Definitely some, just not as much as I’d have thought at first. There has to be a good pond somewhere close that’s not on this property and I just can’t see it.

Congrats! How big was the ranch y’all hunted? In Junction or did y’all have to travel a bit?

That is a big body deer, is he considered a shooter where you are at?

Just about any hunter I know around Childress would think that is a very good deer, but he may not be legal with the new in the restrictions on mule deer in this county. Must have a 20 inch spread on all mule deer bucks now

Of the two blinds that overlook the open crop country, do you know if you get much activity there?

Not as much, but yes, consistent activity on both. One is very new and is attracting primarily pigs right now, but has already started getting deer here and there, both WT and Mule. The other sees heavy activity from deer and pigs, just not as consistently as the two spots in cover.

I am curious to see how these spots play out as the weather gets colder and movement picks up a bit. There have been a few minor cold fronts move through this summer and activity noticeably picks up on the established one during both.

I like the spots b/c it allows you to glass for well over a mile in multiple directions. Even though it’s not all my land, i think it’s fun to just watch that much land on occasion.

DW, how far is the feeder from the blind, and how far is that hole from the feeder?

The feeder from the blind with the large hole is only about 65 yards away. The blind sits up top of a draw and the feeder is down in it as far away as you can get it from the blind and still see the feeder and be able to access it to maintain it. The large hole is maybe 30ish yards away up on top of the draw’s ridge.

The first hole in the first pic is only several yards away from the feeder, it was 15-20 yards away originally but I realized the feeder should be moved a little from my hasty original setup day (Had A LOT to get to that day with not a lot of time). That feeder is 100 or so yards away from the stand.

Both of these stands are set up on the part of the lease that has what cover there is on the place. Think some mesquite trees and elevation changes. I have two more stands set up overlooking much more open crop country. Those feeders are both 150 yards or so.