Texas Hunting Leases

Quality deer management does not just occur by chance.  Good hunters know that preparation, scouting and patience are just the first ingredients before proper selection.  Recently, a LeaseHunter.com member took this buck out of his deer population in and was kind enough to tell the story which we have included here (with some liberties taken to condense it for our readers).

Recently, a hunter on my lease spotted this buck while doe hunting and told me about it.  The age of the deer and the picture of the jaw bone is kind of interesting.  The hunter watched the deer for about twenty minutes at twenty or so yards and, to occupy his time, figured a field score (gross) of 156.  I have not measured it completely yet but I am pretty sure the dry net score will be above the 125 minimum for Pope and Young.

After I heard about this buck, I went out to the same tripod and the buck showed up.  He arrived too late for a bow shot and he stopped about 75 yards short of the feeder and laid down.  I had to sit in the tripod until full dark and sneak away.  The next morning, I was in the tripod thirty minutes before light and he showed up ten minutes later.  Eventually, I could make out the big kicker on the left G2 and then had to wait a little longer so that I could see him in my sights and took the shot.  When I hit him, he trotted off about twenty yards, turned and looked at the arrow stuck in the ground for a few seconds and collapsed.

When I was gutting him, I noticed that he did not have a lot of body fat for the amount of age in his posture and he seemed to have a lot of guts.  He only weighed 112 lbs. dressed.  When I pulled his jaw, the fourth tooth was worn almost to the gum line.  Both jaws had equal wear and he looked to be around for a long time.

I took my aging tool that I use for deer up to 8 1/2 years old which I think this deer is.  It has a dual color scheme so that the dentin and the enamel are easy to distinguish on the actual deer’s jaw bone.  I also use a jaw spreader and removal tool as well as charts put out by the Quality Deer Management Association which are very good. 

The inside spread was 21 4/8, one main beam was 22 4/8, the other was 22 5/8.  I have not sat down and measured him completely yet - just what I needed for the harvest log.

Thanks for the story and congrats on a nice buck!

For more information on aging deer, see this guide from TP&W.

If you are not hunter and have some sort of image of “Bambi” when you think of a deer, think again when you see these pictures.  To establish dominance, a buck will fight to the death.  This deer may have won an exceptional battle but the outcome was most likely a horrible death for the loser and another soon to be horrible death for the winner.  Painful deaths are the norm for deer when their populations are not properly managed.  Too many bucks, not enough does, not enough food, not enough room; All of these contribute to the pressures brought on by a “let them be” mentality.  What a waste it would have been if not for a hunter who at least took this deer out of his misery and put food on the table.

Do you know the story behind these pictures or have some thoughts on the subject?  If so, let everyone know about them by posting a comment here in the blog. 

Marko Barrett of San Antonio made Muy Grande Deer Contest history with this record breaking Webb County buck entered in the All-Around Men’s Division.  The deer scored about 273 gross B&C points with 34 points and a 25 1/2-inch spread. The buck was still in velvet when it was harvested off his 4,000 acre, high-fenced ranch under a Managed Lands Deer Permit.  The deer was harvested via rifle from a brush blind at about 120 yards.

On his website, Barrett describes the deer as a 7 year old that he had been watching for years.  This year, the ranch received “56 inches of rain and counting” which pushed this deer well over his historical best score.  Barrett thinks that he will score somewhere in the 270’s when “he is stripped of velvet and dry”. 

Barrett describes the ranch’s management program as an “all native deer” operation with no breeding.  They feed protein year-round and “use multiple feeders so the dominant buck won’t keep the others from the feed.”

Barrett says things have been crazy since he shot the buck with all of the emails and phone calls.  However, that is what “buck fever” is all about.