Dudleys Diary

on his ranch southwest of Uvalde. My son Frank and I were targeting two big mature 8 point bucks.  Rusty had sent us Game Cam pics of the bucks we were going to hunt for.  We arrived at the Lodge which had everything you could ask for around 230 Friday and visited a while and then loaded up and went out to our stands. Frank and Jimmy Kimbrell went to a tower blind and Rusty and I went to a new Popup blind he had set up.  I have Muscular Dystrophy and have to hunt on the ground. Frank and Jimmy saw his 8 point for a brief time but the buck did not give him a clear shot. My target buck did not show up but we saw a lot of deer and another nice 8 point. We went back to camp with high hopes for the next mornings hunt.  Rusty grilled thick Ribeye Steaks for dinner with grilled Quail stuffed with Cheese and Jalapeño Peppers as an appetizer. We got up early Saturday and went back to the same stands. A little after 700 AM we heard Frank shoot. We got a text saying it looked like he had hit his buck that disappeared into the brush after the shot. About twenty minutes later Rusty said there he is! I looked through the scope and saw my buck walk up behind the feeder and stop. The big 8 point stopped and raised his head up and I could see that big rack sky lighted against the blue sky. He was facing us straight on. I considered taking a shot at the base of his neck but there was a feeder leg in the way so I held off. Suddenly we heard a rifle shot from the bordering ranch and my buck disappeared into the brush. Rusty said this buck was 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 years old and was pretty wary and he was afraid he might not show back up.  I said that's Ok as I said a little prayer and was hopeful he would give me another chance. Two or three minutes later I heard Rusty say "There he is!" on the right side of the feeder. He turned broadside and stopped and I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. At the shot the buck ran into the brush. I told Rusty the sight picture looked good and I felt good about the 110 yard shot. We waited for about 30 minutes and Rusty went and got the Polaris and came back and got me and we rode up the sendero to the feeder. Rusty went and looked for sign and went into the brush while I waited. I heard Rusty holler that he had found my buck about 20 yards away. He drug him back into the sendero so I could get a look at him. What a buck, it is the biggest I have taken in almost 35 years of hunting. We then went to where Frank and Jimmy were looking for Franks buck. They found blood and bone and it looked like the deer had a broken front leg. They decided to back off and called Roy Hindes to see if he could come out with his tracking dogs to search for Franks buck. Roy was not able to come but after Rusty explained what they had found he said his son in law John could bring the dogs out and he thought he would be able to find the buck. John showed up after about an hour and one half and he and his two dogs and Frank and Jimmy and Johns young son took off on the trail. After about twenty minutes one of the dogs barked and John said they found the buck. They went to where the dogs were barking and John went up and dispatched the mortally wounded buck with one shot from his lever action rifle. What an adventure! It was money well spent and Frank was relieved when he walked up to his big 8 point!  Later that evening, Frank and I went and sat in the ground blind and Rusty and Jimmy put corn out in the sendero. Frank was able to shoot a big doe with his Matthews Bow, his first ever Bow Kill!  

I can not say enough good things about Rusty Kimbrell and Bigironranchadventures.com and his brother Jimmy. They went out to the ranch several days before our arrival to check the deer cams, make sure everything was in order and went and sat in the stands to get sightings of the bucks we were after. These were wild native whitetail deer in the South Texas Brush and mature bucks can be unpredictable but Rusty and Jimmy put in the time and effort to make our hunt a success. Rusty and Jimmy got video of both of our rifle kills and Rusty loaned me his video camera and I was able to video Franks first bow kill! Frank and I both got our personal best bucks on this hunt and made a couple of new friends in the process!

working on Jeff's Deerstand. They moved it a while back and it needed leveled up on the concrete blocks it is sitting on. They got that job completed and put on a new coat of paint. Dudleys late Father In Law helped them build this stand a few years ago. Glad to see Frank and Jeff working to preserve it. They also did some brush clearing with Franks chain saw. Getting ready for opening day of the rifle season in less than three weeks.