Returned from the Texas Panhandle after hunting whitetails for 9 days. My 3 coonass buddies have been meeting me up there for 22 years now. Had a great hunt, nothing exceptional killed, just some great hunting, fun, food, and fellowship. We've been real lucky to have this great ranch to hunt for so long.

It was 62* when I snapped this pic of an approaching cold front. Temps dropped to 33* in the next 10 minutes, chill factor in single digits. Thought this was a really cool pic of approaching weather over deer camp.



These buck's field dressed weights from 160-182lbs. Coonasses' did good.......



Shot my buck that would score between 135-140 and quite frankly misjudged him a bit down in the creekbottom. Shot him from a hill overlooking the creek at 349 yards with my newly chopped 7-08 and 120 BT's running 2975'. The 2-12x Helos performed beautifully and is a great hunting scope.
It accounted for this buck, 4 hogs, and 3 does that the ranch foreman took and gave away to those who were really excited to get it. I'll see if I can get a field photo of the buck but mine didn't turn out at all. Exit hole perfection IMO out of left shoulder.



Edited to add.......I greatly underestimated the usefulness, usability, reliability, and optics of a new to me Vortex Fury 5000 AB. I verified drops at our local range before this hunt, and shot rocks out to 675 yards at the ranch. They remained spot on, got ranges reliably out to 3375 yards more than once in bright sunshine, overcast, and in-between conditions. So far so good.....mule deer hunts coming up.

Congrats - all nice bucks! And that 1st picture is really something, good stuff!!

Great pics.

The fellowship is the best part….

Good stuff Johnny. That buck has got some fat on it. Are there more mule deer or whitetail in the Panhandle?

Looks like a grand time was had by all

Thanks guys. Paul, way more whitetails than muleys up there except for a very few select spots. We also see antelope on this place from time to time.

Growing up in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, there were no deer in the Panhandle, literally zero, at least in the northeast part They were wiped out by the Dust Bowl and subsistence hunting in the Depression.

Seeing them come back is a real achievement for conservation.

Great photos, thanks for sharing and congratulations. 👍

beautiful bucks...

Congrats to your buds and that is a very cool pic.

Great job JG. I love hunting that TX Panhandle country. Seen some nice Mulies and whitetails while hunting Antelope.

Your Storm photo reminds me of what granddad used to call a “blue norther” rolling in.
Always amazed at the quick temperature drops they caused.

Nice

Haven't hunted the PH myself much
Too windy and cold for me

Congratulations!!

Cool pics, and sounds like a good time shooting at bucks and practicing on long range rocks. I hope your buds cooked up some good cajun food.

Dandy bucks and good friends. It doesn't get any better than that.
Congrats.
Anxious for the Mule Deer pics here as well

Congrats to you and your buddies. Great story about hunting together, nice Bucks. That phot of the storm is wicked.

Congratulations, nice looking bucks.

Nice bucks, JG.

some really nice bucks.

Great bucks considering the ones I've seen come out of TX, not many keep in mind. A BIG one down south around El Dorado would be around 120-130". That seem like the norm?

Our avg field dressed buck up in the area I hunt is 170lbs. You're right about the bucks around El Dorado....probably 130-150lbs live weight.

You boys are stacking them like cord wood!

We gotta add all of our inches up to equal one of yours and roundoak's.

Congratulations, looks like a great hunt to me and thanks for the pics.

Sounds like a great tradition and a great trip this year. Nice bucks all the way around.

Nice bucks, can get cold there quick. We used to quail hunt in Paducah, would see white tails and mule deer on that 30,000 acre place. We would be out running dogs in 10 degree weather, had to have vest on them to keep them from getting too cold.

Awesome pics Mr Johnny! Can’t wait for your muley report as well!!

Cool buck.

AWESOME pic if that storm coming in

Nice bucks! Love hunting the panhandle.

Lou

Looks like y'all did good, congrats

Great bucks. Thanks for sharing.

Great bucks. We just came back from the Panhandle (Wheeler/Shamrock area) and went 4 for 4. One member on this site shot a non-typical12 pointer that hog dressed at 235 lbs., biggest whitetail I ever saw!

Great area for sure. Gotta love that Eastern edge up there.

Yes great area, it looks like your racks were bigger than ours. Being from New Jersey we tend to shoot fast!