East Fork Ranch » Hunting Journal

The Stalker – By Jeff Bottcher

Dustin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:09:32 +0000

On the 22nd day of October, hunting conditions were a little less than ideal. Ryan Miller and myself had decided to sit at the Old Car stand. Ryan was a second year hunter at East Fork from North Carolina. The year before, Ryan had a successful spot and stalk hunt on an awesome 163” six by five. Had this big mature buck not have broken off his G-4, he would have been over 170”! I thought that hunt would have been hard to beat, but on this rainy day in October, I would have a new favorite hunt with Ryan Miller.

We were sitting at the Old Car stand and not seeing much activity. Fellow guide Jeremy Turner and I had talked about how if he saw anything big enough for Ryan to shoot, he would call me. Getting close to dark, Ryan and I had not seen much when I received a text message from Jeremy- “Big Buck!” I gave him a call and he said it was a big forked G-2 buck that we had seen in September.

Ryan and I were instantly on a mission making a mad dash to the plum thicket stand. The wind was perfect for a stalk being out of the North- Northwest. Ryan and I snuck up the west side of a really long draw. As soon as we got close to where we should have been, I told Ryan to hang tight and catch his breath while I snuck up to a lone hay bale to see if I could see the buck. I spotted him and called for Ryan to come. Unfortunately, all we could see was his head and rack, which was not enough for an ethical shot. We then decided to move to another stack of hay bales to get a better shot.
The giant buck grossed 176, an awesome whitetail. What looked like an uneventful evening hunt on a bad day, turned out to be one of the most memorable hunts that I have been on at the East Fork Ranch. Many thanks to Ryan and all the other spectacular hunters that came to the ranch for memorable hunts of their own. Hope to see all of you again next year!

Mr. SwoleNeck – By Jeremy Turner

Dustin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:07:09 +0000

It was October 9th and I was hunting with Cyndi Herrin from Dallas, Texas. We had seen several deer from the blind that day including some good bucks, but we didn’t see the one we were looking for. The next day we hunted a different location called the “Hole”. It was one of the longer shots on the ranch at 168 yards, but I was confident that Cyndi could make the shot. We were watching the deer in field hoping for a mature buck to show up, when movement caught our eye. It was a great buck that we had not seen since the 2007 season. Both excited and nervous, due to the elusiveness of the buck, I told Cyndi that this was the deer we were looking for. She got her rifle up and pulled the trigger, dropping him in his tracks.
With no tracking necessary, we got down out of the stand to look at him. He was a beautiful 8 point with tall tines, lots of mass, and long main beams. We took some pictures of her buck and headed back to the lodge to show him off to everyone. Once we got back, the contest started. Cyndi insisted that her buck would score more that her husband Bill’s buck that scored 150 5/8”. With tension building, we put the tape on her buck coming up with a score of 150 3/8”- narrowly missing the mark bill had set. It was a great night back at camp and I felt fortunate to share this great hunt with her.

This buck was one of the biggest necked bucks we have ever taken at EFR. It’s neck measured 29” at behind the ears and 31” in the middle. He weighed in at 275 pounds and was truly a great trophy.

The Big Nine – By Josh Turner

Dustin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:03:15 +0000

Some bucks that reside in the oaks and hills of East Fork Ranch become somewhat notorious as the days of the season unfold, that is where the story of the “Big nine” begins. It was unseasonably warm in mid October, hunting buddy Jimmy Sills and I were found ourselves relaxing in the pot belly blind at the top field where the story of the big nine had just been told. Waiting in anticipation that this big deer would appear like it had just days before when hunting with good friend Rodney Passow. Rodney and I had been hunting this location the first day of his hunt when three great bucks appeared. We discussed taking any of the deer including the nine point which sported unusually long brow tines. Being the first day of his hunt we regrettably decided to pass, only to hunt this buck the rest of the week with no luck.
As Jimmy and I finished our evening hunt we were disappointed to get no glimpse of the deer we were looking for. The next few days proved to be very tough hunting with warm temperatures and lack of deer movement we were struggling to say the least. On the third evening of the hunt we decided to try a stand known as the “Hole” which usually produces sightings of some big deer. We settled in to our blind glassing intently hoping for some luck. As the night progressed we watched as many young bucks chased does and fed in front of us. Then as the light faded I caught movement at the left of our stand, with one glance I told Jimmy “It’s him, it’s the big nine”. As the deer moved across our field of view it didn’t take long for us to decide to shoot, but as he moved into position the buck unexpectedly passed all the other deer in the field and headed into the opposite timber. Just as Jimmy settled onto the buck he had one step before it entered the brush, the shot was fired. Appearing to be a good hit we gave the buck a few minutes to expire before taking up the trail.

Making our way to the place we last saw the buck we quickly spotted the blood trail. Marking the first drop of blood we took up the trail with Jimmy in the lead, only twenty yards into the timber we spotted the bedded buck, he appeared to be hit, without knowing for sure a second shot was taken to ensure the fate of the deer. Once down a sense of excitement and accomplishment overwhelmed me knowing we had just harvested a deer that eluded us all season. As the hunt ended we discussed the events that unfolded that day agreeing that the “Big Nine” might not have been the largest taken that week it was definitely the most memorable.