Saturday A.M.
 I passed up this Fallow buck, hoping for an Axis to appear This morning I sat in a tripod that was buried up in the brush near where two senderos intersecting through the brush created a small clearing. I was expecting to see only exotics this morning, but the first thing I saw was hogs. There were six of them, three very small and the rest in the 40-75 lb. range. They came out to the opposite side of the clearing from me and started feeding on corn. They were about 40 yards away. I don't normally like to shoot more than 25 yards, so I just waited for them to get closer. Unfortunately, the wind started swirling and they caught my scent and took off running. Wild hogs have an extremely keen sense of smell, more developed than even a whitetail's. I would have gotten a picture of them but I had left my pack on the ground and accidentally left my camera in there instead of in my pocket. Shortly after the hogs left, some fallow deer showed up, including a young Fallow buck. I was really hoping to hold out for an Axis, Sika or Red Deer, so I passed up this buck. By this time I had retrieved my camera from my pack, as you can see the photo of him above.  here was my tripod set-up this morning  this Fallow doe cruised by me on the back side I got out of my stand about 9:30 to head back to camp. On my way back I saw two young Red Deer stags down a long sendero. They were just crossing through. A little bit later, while walking past another sendero, I spied a big group of Axis and Fallow deer, including a few nice Axis bucks. They were by a small water hole and were feeding on the road, so I guessed that was one area where J.J. had fed corn. They seemed to be slowly moving into the brush to bed for the day, so I didn't bother them. I did, however, intend to come back and check out the spot during the middle of the day to see if it was suitable to put up a stand for an evening hunt. Saturday P.M. When I got back to camp I asked J.J. about the spot where I had seen the Axis deer and he said he already had a tripod set up at that spot, and had been feeding it regularly. That would work out perfect, I would just sit there this evening. He said in addition to the fact that he has been feeding there, the waterhole gets a lot of activity, both by exotics and by hogs.  a view of the water hole from my tripod I got set-up in the tripod about 2 hours before dark, around 6:30 p.m. The tripod was set-up with the little water hole in front of me and the sendero in front and to my right. I had been there about an hour when animals started coming out of the brush to feed. The first animals I saw were a group of Axis deer, with three bucks in the group and a few does, probably the same ones I saw feeding here at a distance this morning. When I first saw them they were about 40-50 yards away, and they slowly fed closer.  the Axis deer first come into view, on the other side of the water hole After about 15-20 minutes the lead buck (the biggest of the group) came within 25 yards, but was quartering hard towards me, and I held off on taking a shot. Then he dropped down off the road and went to the water hole to take a drink. At this point he was only about 15 yards from me, but it happened that right where he decided to take a drink, there was a big mesquite limb with full foliage right between me and most of his body. All I could really see was his head and antlers, as you can see in the photo below.  this Axis buck was only 15 yards away but notice the limb cluster in the way of a shot the second buck in the photo was also a decent one He drank for a few minutes, and then started working back to the sendero to eat some more. As he started to come out from behind the mesquite limb, I sat up a little more in my tripod in anticipation of the shot. I was just getting ready to draw when one of the Axis does spied me and didn't ask questions before she took off like a shot, taking the whole group with her before I could get a clear shot at the buck. I've always heard Axis deer are extremely wary, and now I know it's true. I was hoping they might come back out before dark, but they didn't. I also saw some Fallow deer and a Red deer cow at the water hole this evening. The Red deer was quite wary as well. It saw me move to take a picture of it while it was getting a drink, and immediately it barked. If you have ever heard a Red deer bark, you know it is NOT quiet. It is sharp and high-pitched, and usually followed by a quick exit, as it was in this instance. Unbeknownst to me, the Red deer came back a little while later, after dark, and when less than 10 yards away from me, barked at full volume. When one is not expecting such an action it is quite exciting/startling, especially after dark. The deer was in the brush so I couldn't see it, but it apparently knew I was there. About an hour after dark I could hear hogs grunting and snuffling down the road to my right. I knew before they even came into the open for a shot, though, that this was going to be a short visit. The wind was blowing back over my right shoulder, and the hogs would have to walk right through it to get to the water hole. They got to within 15 yards, behind some bushes from me, hit my wind, growled once or twice and were gone, just like that. Oh well, it just wasn't my night, I guess. I hung out in the stand until about 11 p.m. and then got tired and came back to camp. I'm going to sit this spot again tomorrow morning, but I think I'm going to bring my Double Bull ICE blind and set it up in a different spot, since that Axis doe pegged me in the tripod. Check back for tomorrow's hunt!
Joshua Flournoy owns and manages the Livehunts.com web site. He also arranges exciting hunts through his business Longleaf Hunting Adventures. Joshua resides in east Texas with his wife and four children. |
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