Mature deer rare at this year's hunt as big bucks kept around for future seasons
CAMP VERDE — There was almost zero visibility when the mature nine-pointer strolled out of the woods 250 yards away from the blind where I sat with my old friend Jim Ethridge.
The blind was Hotel California and we had front windows open to catch the odd north wind that was rocking the tower. The weather was hot and windy and all we had to look forward to during the hunt when two of my college baseball teammates — Ethridge and David Kirkpatrick — came down to help control does and management bucks on Bobby Parker’s Camp Verde Ranch.
I watched as the buck meandered through chest high grass on his way toward us. He mostly kept his head buried in the grass, but when he raised it up to check in front of him, I was kind of stunned when I saw how wide and heavy he was.
Leggett: 'Groucho' still off the mark for Camp Verde hunters, should be back bigger next season
It was plain this buck, with about 23 inches of inside spread — wide for Parker’s ranch and especially the Hill Country — was the eight-pointer that I had seen in this area several times the past couple of years. The only difference was that he had grown a ninth point on his left side.
He no longer was a trophy eight-pointer, but with his width and mass he was a buck we needed to keep around through the rut for sure. Ethridge took his hand off his rifle and we watched as the brute arrived at the feeder at almost the same time as a 3-year-old 10-pointer. That deer came in from the west, across a food plot.
I joked with Ethridge that he wasn’t a good enough friend to get to kill this buck. He took it with good humor, though, and we watched for a good 20 minutes and the older buck did all he could to keep the younger deer away from the feeder.
Leggett:New Great Pyrenees a gentle giant protecting the yard from hawks, owls
It was a display as old as time and kept us entertained. Finally, the older buck raised his head and began trotting toward a hill to the west beyond the food plot, followed about a minute later by the young 10-point.
“They act like they hear a fight up on the hill,” I whispered to Ethridge, as I opened a side window to try to hear what had attracted them toward the cedar brush.
And quickly he was gone, the only mature buck any of us would see during the three days we hunted. The deer were not showing up on trail cameras and appeared to be spending most of their time feeding on acorns beneath some of the live oaks that stand around the ranch.
The guys wait till next year for another shot and we will hope that the old buck gets to leave some of his wide genes in the herd for the future.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Large bucks left unhunted to protect future seasons, deer population
