Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Good Times: A Few Days with Paw Paw and The Boy

Last season was one where I didn't get to hunt as much as I would have liked, but my son and I did get away for a little deer hunting with my Dad on his lease in West Texas around Thanksgiving.

This place is really fun to hunt for lots of reasons. It is big, and we usually have it to ourselves when we go. Even if we don't, it feels like we do. I like the country - lots of cover, but enough elevation to get above it and glass it for deer - especially after some hard freezes knock off some leaves.



There's lots of game - always a good chance of a coyote or pig showing up to add a little action to the long search for that Granddaddy buck my Dad's always looking for. Killed this one with my Dad last year - running away at a couple hundred yard - angle was just right to swing with him and hold on his nose and ear hole him. He was going straight enough to make it a reasonable shot - but it looked harder from Dad's angle, I think - pretty fun to pull one off in front of him every once in a while...grin.



Around Thanksgiving, the bucks are usually really on the move. Can be found most of the day on does and cruising for does, and a man can sure rattle one in if he catches him on the prowl.



The bigger bucks are generally spotted on the move, though...



Looking for these...



Even if they are good ones, Dad is always trying to find one to top his best, so even this one got to walk on...



Of course, it's pretty tough to top his 2006 buck - last one he shot, by the way...

[img:center]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c150/djtex/FaithFreeedomTourPlymouth2006Sun-2.jpg[/img]

Of course, knowing this country can grow deer like this makes it pretty easy to be patient and keep looking and let the younger ones keep growing. Plus, hunt's over & work starts when we pull the trigger. And, of course, other opportunities come along to keep things interesting.

On this hunt, we didn't find the bull of the woods, but we had lots of fun looking for him! We rattled in some deer and had a few dry runs. We spotted some that we thought were shooters, tried to bail off the mountain and go find them, but didn't get them killed or found they weren't what we wanted when we got close. All in all, a great time, made a little more special by taking this nice bobcat as we were moving from one rattling spot to another one.

Paw Paw spotted him first as he squirted out of a brushy fence line. He wasn't positive what he'd seen, but we all saw the cat break out of cover a few seconds later and knew what it was. He was telling me to shoot him and I knew it was going to happen too fast to argue about it (when we're helping him look for deer, he likes to let us let fly at varmints and hogs - although he busts his share of those too when he's in the best position to shoot). Well, I was just automatically ready to shoot in a hurry (just seems to happen...grin), and I knew my son couldn't pull off the offhand shot through the tall weeds and wouldn't have time to set up, so I didn't argue. Really a pretty cat, and everyone was tickled we got him.

[img:center]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c150/djtex/Bobcat/BioHannahBdayBobcatAlbany2009149.jpg[/img]

[img:center]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c150/djtex/Bobcat/BioHannahBdayBobcatAlbany2009163.jpg[/img]

[img:center]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c150/djtex/Bobcat/BioHannahBdayBobcatAlbany2009160.jpg[/img]

Will tan the hide and try a Euro on the skull and see how it turns out. Will be reminders of a special few days with Paw Paw and The Boy.

Good times...Mighty good times.

DJ

The smiles on the faces tells the whole story!

DJ...this last pic is my absolute favorite of any pic Ive ever seen posted on the fire.....


Ingwe

Great looking place you have there.

Your son is a lucky boy.

Thanks for posting.

As usual great pics and story, but I think this one may be the best yet.

Have to agree with ingwe on the last pic!

What county is that DJ?

Bill

You're having too much fun!

They are tough too!!!! Pop's is sitting knee deep in cactus just-a-smiling with his trophy....

Great pics! The last one is a classic!

maddog

D.J.,

Great post and wonderful pictures. The future of hunting would be more secure if more families followed the trails you're taking your son down. Great job!

Great read DJ. The pics are a pleasure to see. I agree with CoonCreek but would add not only security of the future of hunting, but of our whole culture.
By the way we didn't get to ride any colts the other day. Chencho couldn't make it. We're getting a pretty good shower right now, waiting in the office for it to pass. Hope we have to wait a while.
Good job.
Amigo

looks like a great day that you will remember for a long time

About the only times I don't have to coax either one of them to smile and look at the camera for a picture!

I don't think I could get a picture of a scowling hunter unless I snapped one after they missed something! Even then, my son would be insisting he hit it and my Dad would be saying, "You've seen a miracle...there runs a dead deer!"

I've heard that one a time or two, but usually about dove that are still flying while he's reloading...grin.

DJ

Thanks, Ingwe. I remembered how much you enjoyed it when I snuck it onto the bobcat thread a while back.

I'm glad you like it, and your opinion on it really means a lot given many of the incredible images guys put up on the 'Fire. Hard for me to sanction that one being in a league with many I've seen, especially with my ugly mug handicapping it. The boy's carrying me, as usual...

It ain't hard to look happy - especially with 3 generations bumping around chasing critters!!

DJ

Thank you!

We are blessed to have a spot on it. A good friend of ours oversees the lease. My Dad won't hardly spend any money on himself, and I don't think he'd be on this place if it wasn't for all of us going up there together.

He's killed a couple of nice deer up there, but he usually just hunts a good bit and lets lots of deer grow for another year.

The year after he killed the big one I posted above, we found another really good buck that was mature, but not as big as his last one. We passed him and hunted several more days, and the last day Dad said, "If we don't find a bigger one today, lets go see if we can find that big 10."

I agreed, and sure enough, we found him again back in the corner of the ranch. He was leaving, and Dad said, "I want you to kill him." We argued for about 15 seconds as the deer traveled down a draw toward the neighboring fence line, and I realized Dad really wasn't going to shoot him. He finally said, "You better kill that deer or he's going to get away from us!"

It was the last few minutes of the last day we were hunting, so I got on him and, he stopped at the just the right time for me to bust him. Best buck I've killed, in more ways than one...



DJ