Pine Donkey

Nice pig, nice pictures.

What a crock of $&%#!!!

Way to get back in the game. Sounds like it was a good time.

Great write up, can't wait for the next part. Matthew, great buck!!!

For the last several months Mark (MJE1) and my son Garrett have worked hard in preparation for the archery season. These two work harder to harvest their animals, than anybody I know. The area they have concentrated on is the one where they each killed a buck last January. It is about a 3 ½ mile pack from where the trucks are parked. They have made the trip in and out many times, hunting sheds, checking cameras, setting up ground blinds, and glassing. Their blinds are less than 100 yards apart, but due to the thick mesquites, they may as well be a mile apart. They have pictures of several large bucks, scores of javelina, troops of coati, and the occasional lion. In the predawn chill of Saturday morning, they made their way to the blinds; it was time for all the hard work to pay off. Surely each of those big deer would soon make their way past the blind. As everybody who ever sat a blind knows, sometimes the animals just seem to disappeared. This was the case for Mark and Garrett…until 3:05. Mark heard a strange, soft noise. Was that a bird? Maybe that calf that they have pictures of? No, it must be something else. Then the lion appeared. Mark clipped on his release and slowly drew his bow. Just before Mark released the arrow, the big tom caught the movement and bolted, the arrow flew harmlessly behind the cat. Excited, upset, and disappointed, Mark sent a text to Garrett telling him what had just happened. The two exchanged several texts of versions of what could have been… Now fast forward to the next morning. When Garrett arrived at his stand he first pulled the SD card from the camera. As he scrolled through the pictures he could not believe what he saw. There, 15 yards out his front window, at 3:06PM was the same lion Mark had missed. How did it sneak by unseen? It turns out that the lion walked past Garrett as he was texting Mark about the lion. Sort of Mother Nature’s way of saying “up yours” With that little snafu behind them, surely the rest of Sunday would go much better. At least that was their state of mind until about 1:30. All of the sudden Garrett heard a commotion in the distance. A sharp noise followed by “son of a b%&$#”,” What the %#$&”. Mother Nature again decided to show them that she has a great sense of humor. She sent a 100+ inch buck walking past Mark’s blind. He was ready, came to full draw, and just as he settled the pin behind its shoulder, Marks 3-legged Primos chair broke, rolling him backwards onto the ground. Needless to say, the buck was spared. Sometimes hard work pays off, and sometimes it just gives your hunting buddies a good laugh. Mark and Garrett, I can hardly wait to see what you post in reply to this, but I am sure we will all enjoy it. (yeah yeah I know, you were out hunting while I was at home watching football). I am also sure that you and Garrett will soon be posting pictures of large bucks you took from this spot, maybe even a lion. Until then, hunt hard, and thanks for a good laugh.

Way to start the new year!

+1

Great story and very nice buck.

It is a special thing when the thrill of the hunt temporarily over comes the reality of aging. However, it is always temporary and the realities of life soon come crashing back. I loved your story. It brought back memories of trying to make it down a steep hillside with dislocated ribs after a fall with a heard of pigs as witness.

Nice loking buck, and great timing. Hope you top iit in 2011

Every year that we get to go hunting with family and friends is a good year. It is amazing to watch these kids as they develop into the quality hunters they are becoming. It seems like just yesterday we were all looking at hunt dates and how they might conflict with preganacies...time sure flies. Heres hoping 2011 brings health, happiness, quality tags, and more time hunting with friends and family.

WoW!!! is right. Thats a great buck. Congratulations

That is a great buck. I love to see kids get nice trophies. Congratulations.

203

Thats wonderful. Congratulations to you and your wife.

Lark, make sure you pick out the cute one for Casey. You would not want him feeling self conscience.

Just a lump of coal, and some cash I can give to the taxidermist.

The cabelas 4 section carbon tripod may be what you are looking for. The parts of your description that do not fit are: it is carbon, not aluminum, and price (currently 199 in the bargain cave). I am 6'2" and it is plenty tall. I have been very happy with the two we own.

That buck is a stud! Congratulations

I was shooting my son's .270 today and had a couple cartridges "blow out" around the base. I am not sure what is the cause. The gun is newly built on a Mauser 98 action. It has a douglas barrel, and we shoot reloads. The reloads are in winchester brass, 54 grains of IMR4350, CCI 200 primers, and speer 130 grain boat tail soft points. The brass has been shot 3 or 4 times and the gun has had only about 100 rounds through it. Below is a picture of one of the cases, the crack goes about half way around the case. Only 2 of 12 shells did this. Thanks to all who are willing to give some input on the situation.

I was pushing the shoulder back too far when reloading. Many people we very helpful and taught me how to adjust the dies to just "bump" the shoulders. I also checked the chamber with a go-no go gauge. They gun is fine, it was just my adjustments to the dies that was off. This gun is a very good shooting gun out to 600 yards. It also performed well on my buck last week. Thanks to all who gave advice.

If he is only 95 then you are a master at posing him for a picture. Congratulations, great buck.

Thats a great buck.

That is a great buck. Congratulations

I have been on several coues hunts this year with friends and we have see multiple bucks just about everyday. This includes a hunt in a different unit where we saw the biggest buck I have ever seen; we spotted it several times over a two week period. With all this, I was pumped for my December hunt. I had put in a lot of time hiking, glassing, hanging and checking cameras. I was confident and ready to hunt hard in a few different areas and get a good buck. Opening weekend arrived and we struggled to find deer. In three days of hard hunting we were only able to find two small bucks. A friend was looking to fill his tag on the first weekend so on Sunday we took him into our backup buck, a 90ish buck we always find in the same spot begging to be shot. We could not even find this buck. Some friends scouted throughout the week with the same pathetic results. Thursday was rainy and cold so we hoped it would get the animals moving. Saturday morning Mark (MJE1), Garrett and I started out before first light. We rode mountain bikes for 1.8 miles, then hiked almost another mile. As we approached the area we wanted to hunt, Garrett glassed up a buck. Mark set up his swarovskis and said, "Thats a good buck, you need to take a look at him". One quick look and we decided to get closer. Mark stayed back to spot as Garrett and I closed about 500 yards to get on the next ridge. We set up on the buck and began to debate his size. "he is not very wide, inside his ears" I said, "look at his g3's" Garrett said, "yeah, but weak G2's" I replied. It went like this for a couple minutes when Garrett finally said "dad, if you pass this deer, you're a fool". Not wanting to look like a fool to my 16 year old son, and really liking the symetry of this buck, I decided to take the shot. I guess he help up his part of the bargain by carrying the buck all the way to the bikes, then riding the bike pulling the equipment trailer, with buck in it, most the way. Mark also worked pretty hard once this deer was down. He rode back to the trucks, hooked up the trailer, brought it in, and pulled it out for the part of the trail that Garrett did not. Thanks to both of them for making it a great day.