October 27, 2017 - The growing inclination to bridle in those itchy trigger fingers and the use of game cameras to monitor deer movements continues to pay off with some handsome whitetail bucks across eastern Texas.
Nearly a half dozen bucks with gross Boone and Crockett scores upwards of 155 inches have been reported by hunters in four different counties during the last couple of weeks and another was reportedly hit and killed crossing a roadway by a vehicle - a good indication that the big boys are on the prowl and beginning to make some stupid mistakes in the process.
The mesmerizing powers of the rut will do that to mature white-tailed buck. The rut is the breeding period when does come in estrus, causing inherently wary bucks to throw caution to the wind and do silly stuff they normally would not do and visit places where they normally would not go.
What's spooky about the whole deal is the rut is just now in the early stages and there hasn't been whole lot of hunters in the woods other than those participating in the Archery only and early Managed Lands Deer seasons that run through Nov. 3.
MLD properties are those operating under a deer management plan approved by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. One of the big benefits of an upper level MLD program is it allows hunters to get the woods with rifles a few of weeks ahead the Nov. 4 general season opener. That's when Texas' army of 700,000-plus rifle hunters will head to field.
If the early reports are indication, the upcoming general season should be an outstanding one across East Texas. Some true giants have already fallen, including a bruiser of a nine-pointer brought down on open range by 19 year-old Hemphill native, Travis Neal.
Neal was rifle hunting on MLD property on the afternoon of Oct. 14 when a buck that he and his dad had been watching closely over the last couple of seasons came strolling down a shooting lane roughly 80 yards from his box blind.
Both hunters said they could have shot the buck multiple times last season but they elected to let him walk in exchange for another critical year of age. The younger Neal is particularly glad they did.
"Last season he was an 11 pointer and probably scored somewhere in the 140s," he said. "He lost two points year, but he definitely made up for it."
A main frame eight pointer, Neal's 223-pound buck carries main beams topping 26 inches, G2 and G3 measurements of 11 inches on both antlers and an inside spread better than 21 inches. The buck unofficially gross scores 162 4/8 as a non-typical.
"I actually had my sights on a hog when he stepped out," Neal said. "It didn't phase the hog when I shot the buck, so I ended up getting it, too. It was pretty good hunt."
Like Neal, Jake Crisp of Central Heights knows from experience that patience can be virtue when you know a big buck is hanging around your hunting area.
Crisp, 18, was bowhunting on 130-acres of family land in northern Nacogdoches County when he arrowed a remarkable 14 pointer that has been rough scored at 156 7/8 gross. It's his second buck with a bow and by far the largest he's taken by any means.
The young hunter said the buck was no stranger to neighborhood. He and a couple of adjacent property owners knew about the deer prior to the Sept. 30 archery season opener, but the crafty animal suddenly went off the radar until the afternoon of Oct. 7.
"I had several night pictures of him in September, but nothing once the season started," Crisp said. "It was the first time I'd hunted that stand this year. I saw him go across a clear cut about 5:15 p.m. and he disappeared. About 1 1/2 hours later I saw a deer staring my direction from the brush about 80 yards away, but I couldn't tell what it was until about 6:45 p.m., when he walked out into a little opening. That's when I shot him about 10 yards away. I didn't have much time to think about it."
That's hardly the case with Angelina County hunter Bradley Henson. Henson, 35, has spent the last two years chasing a big buck that first showed up on his lease during the 2015-16 season. Another hunter missed the 130-inch deer that year and several members on the MLD club have been watching him blossom on game camera ever since. Henson said he actually missed the big, basket-rack buck with his bow last year when his arrow clipped a limb.
"Everybody called him "Stickers," he said. "He had been on camera at about 10 different stands and there were six other hunters after him this year. My dad and had him on camera at several of our stands. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
Henson said he shot the free-ranging 11 pointer at about 6:10 p.m. on Oct. 15 when it came barreling across a hardwood bottom on the heels of a doe, about 140 yards away. TPWD wildlife biologist Micah Poteet scored the non-typical for Texas Big Game Awards at 169 1/8 gross, 164 6/8 net. A main frame eight pointer, the buck also scores well as a typical, 164 gross and 155 4/8 net.
Two more outstanding whitetails surfaced in mid-October, including a free-ranging 12 pointer taken in Cherokee County by bowhunter Craig Yates and tall-tined 11-pointer shot by rifle behind high fence in Nacogdoches County by Johnny Cole, Jr.
Yates' buck, his first-ever deer with a bow, was fairly well-known around his hunting lease. The deer had shown up on several game cameras leading up to the season.
"Me and 2-3 other hunters had pictures of him," said Yates, 39. "Then the hogs showed up. They ran him out of my area for about two weeks."
Yates didn't see any more signs of the buck until Oct. 14, when he came slipping into a corn pile at about 7:40 a.m. The deer was all alone.
Yates drilled the non-typical buck and subsequently had it scored for TBGA by Nacogdoches taxidermist Lee Richards. The final tally is 163 4/8 gross, 156 4/8. "I'm definitely tickled with him," Yates said. "I've been bow hunting off and on for about 10 years. To take something like this for my my first bow deer makes it pretty special."
Richards also taped the Cole buck, a main frame 10 pointer that scores exceptionally well both ways. The gross non-typical score is 164; 161 6/8 net. The rack grosses 162 4/8 as a typical; 158 6/8 net.
Cole, 29, said the big Nacogdoches County whitetail pretty showed up out of the blue in is hunting area sometime around Oct. 11. To his knowledge, nobody else had seen or knew anything about the buck.
"I got a few pictures of him at night after that and I could tell he was a really nice buck," Cole said. "That's when I started hunting him."
Cole got a big break on Oct. 17, when a cool front passed through the region and dropped temperatures into the low 40s. He shot the buck the following morning, right at dawn.
"It was just breaking day and I could barely see," Cole said. "I think the cool front got him going. I honestly believe he had just finished checking a ground scape and was on his way back to his bedding area. I think something got him out of his routine and he was running a few minutes late. Whatever it was he messed up. It was kind of a weird deal. I've never got on a big deer and killed it that quickly. I've chased some bucks as long as two years."
The rut can be a magical time in East Texas, indeed.
Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.
