A Blind Hog Will Find An Acorn Once And A While

[BilletHead]

Shot a meat doe around the first of the month. Got that out of the way. Kept watching the trail cams behind the house. Sure enough some nice bucks started making rounds. All were at night. Been out hunting and seeing does and fawns. Nothing yesterday morning. Cool enough with this front to go yesterday afternoon hoping sooner than later one of these nice bucks would slip up and show up in the daylight hours. Sure enough this one did. Here are a couple of cam pictures of him,

Then the one of him on the ground.

By the time I got him gutted and back to the house I was hurting so bad I was dreading skinning and quartering him up. Mrs. BilletHead says lets let someone else do it. We have done our own for over thirty years but not this time. Had to use a block and tackle to get him into the truck,

BilletHead

[Bird Watcher]

Blind hog my butt. I've seen your collection. Nice Deer Marty! Love the forked brow.

[sms_alum]

Awesome deer, congrats. I hope I can post one after this weekend.

[fishinwrench]

Nice! That starboard side brow tine is impressive.

[Flysmallie]

That's really cool. Congrats Marty.

How you liking that crossbow?

[BilletHead]

Thanks fellows,

and yes that split brow pulls the eyes towards it. I kept staring at it as he came in and had to keep telling myself to quit before the shot. I am very lucky to live where I hunt. Over thirty years in the same spot so I can TRY to keep tabs on the deer. I just deer hunt behind the house on 79 acres. I have two out of the eighty. Landowner says to keep on doing as I want here. May change someday but it has been a good ride. I have seen some good times and bad. Several years back when we had a big hit of that stuff they call blue tongue. Caused by a biting midge near water sources during drought conditions I found thirteen dead deer on this place. We took quite a hit. You could just follow your nose and find dead deer. We still don't have the numbers we once had. Farmers are happy though.

Ronnie,

I like it a lot and it is fun to shoot. Heavy though and with the bum shoulder I cannot just hold it and shoot very accurate standing. Sitting where I can brace with my elbow on my leg it is fine. No quick loading like I could do with my self bow. Heck I could get off two dozen shots before I could get this thing cocked. BUT I could miss those two dozen shots to the one with this thing

[Feathers and Fins]

Great Buck my friends but now what are you going to do for your lovely wife

And more to the point Whats the Duck Park looking like?

[mhowerton]

Great Buck!

[rps]

Thank you for sharing! I have never hunted anything but small birds and squirrels/rabbits. However, I do appreciate what a trophy that is. This is an ignorance question not intended to be an insult. With large older bucks like this, do you ask the processor to do anything other than tenderloins and burger?

[Feathers and Fins]

Randy I cant speak for Marty but when I shoot anything I want the backstraps left alone to be cooked by themselves, the Hind quarters I will typically make in to strip steaks on one side roast on the other, the ribs depending on amount of meat will get served as ribs or made in to hamburger with the neck and the front quarters I make Jerky with.

If I plan to shoot multiple one will always become mostly hamburger and summer sausage though, I try to take at least 3 a year to hold me over for the off season.