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!

Here’s a big sow I took a few weekends back. She was with quite a few friends. Way she was acting I thought she was a boar!


https://youtu.be/Qbp6ElUxDLk

Will hopefully be headed up to the new lease for some pig hunting this weekend. Gotta decide if I’m going to sit for a whole sounder or and go after this large boar. I like hunting the solo boars because there is way less chance of getting busted.

Here are a few pictures of the new place. There are already three pretty decent wooden blinds on there built by some previous hunters who left them. I really haven’t had a lot of time to get to know the place at all so I just have feeders and cams out right now in the same general areas it seems they old hunters had them. May move them/add more as I learn the place better. At least I have corn spinning for the moment though.

Also, as far as the move goes, it is just about 4 1/2 to 5 hrs basically due north of the old place. From where I am located in TX, it is actually about a 50 minute shorter drive to the new place. Mileage isn’t all that different, though a little less, but this new drive has way less little towns and stop lights to slow you down. More boring of a drive however.

Opening weekend was definitely action packed. Saw more deer and more bucks than what was normal on my old place. Dad or myself did not shoot anything but it was not for lack of opportunity. We each passed on a few what would definitely be considered "shooters" on the old place.

Dad saw some early signs of chasing from his stand and held off thinking the rut may be just around the corner and knowing there are a few larger bucks than he was seeing based on camera evidence. I made it out early enough on Friday afternoon to take my bow out one more time. I saw an 8pt that I had never seen before that afternoon that was big enough it had me holding off hoping to see him again. He was too far for a crossbow but would easily have been in rifle range. He never came back out. He did have me pass on two nice 8's and solid 9pt though.

The neighbor has recently high fenced his place and it has the deer somewhat out of sorts. It does not seem to have hampered us too bad, however. Hopefully once they settle in to this new normal and the rut kicks in, I'll see one of those larger bucks I was seeing on camera during August/September.

One thing that is having a great impact as well is the drought they are experiencing down there. Between lack of acorns on the ground this year and everything dead from lack of rain, it has made the feeders very popular. When one goes off, does and young bucks literally come running in, almost the way a buck would when he responds to rattling antlers. They pick it dry within in no time as well. Dad even took a plastic grocery sack full of corn with him Saturday evening and spread it out in front of his feeder. This was several pound worth of corn, way more than would be thrown during a normal spin from a feeder. They ate it all as soon as they found it.

I may go back for a solo hunt next Friday evening before potentially joining some family at the other lease for the rest of the weekend. I need to fill a feeder I learned was quite a bit closer to empty than I thought and It would be nice to see if the rut is on. Stopping by this place would only add a little over an hour to my trip to the other one, so we shall see!

Hopefully these post

After researching a bit a talking withs fella who run this, I decided to give it a go. Hopefully it works out well! If anyone had any experience, let me know!


https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1008762137

Long Post, just a warning...

Went out today and shot three rifles. The Vanguard Custom .300 WSM that now has the KDF muzzle brake, the .257 Weathermark now running the Sightmark Wraith, and the Savage MSR .223 Wylde.

1. The 300 shot as good as ever, and, excuse my language but, Hot Dang! that KDF didn’t just tame (eliminate) the muzzle jump that was irritating me, it now has this rifle recoiling (felt recoil to me) less than any of my .257 bees... Wow is all I can say as far as my impression goes with KDF.

2. The .257 now sporting the Wraith. Rifle shoots as good and sweet as ever, maybe a little smoother with the added weight of the Wraith. The Wraith easily beats my wildest expectations. IMO, by far the simplest Sightmark night vision scope I’ve ever used and the daytime capabilities far exceeded anything I was hoping for. Two caveats... 1. I have no idea how this will preform at night in a hunting situation, all I’ve done is test it out to 200 yards visually.   2. I have no idea how it will record and translate to sharing, quality wise, at hunting distances. If my preliminary tests are any indications, I think both will be great. I’ll post once I find out.

Now for the bad news... I think the Leupold scope on the .223 Wylde is broken badly. It was tracking/shooting great the first two or three shots of the day. After that, I began to get bad random fliers every second shot. I could write another three or four paragraphs on everything it did/I tried the rest of the day, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions anyone has but, I’ve come to the conclusion the scope broken internally and I’ll be calling Leupold Monday to send it back.

All in all, I’m happy with the day! Now have two rifle I’m very excited to get in the field and one I have no doubt... 1. I really like, and 2. I’ll have up and running in short order.