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| October 26, 2008 -
The 2008-2009 Season is HERE!
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click images to enlarge
It's finally here! I have been scouting since July trying to make this one of our best hunting seasons yet. Last year is going to be hard to top but the quality of bucks looks to be very high overall. I have added scouting pictures from trailcams to the gallery and several photos that I have taken in the field. Please go check them out.
From Left to Right:
This is a young 12 pointer (11 with a forked G-3 that probably scores in the mid to high 60's. He made a pretty good jump this year. I like how the sun is glinting off of his horns here.
This next buck is a 6 year old who we are probably going to give one more year. He looks to be in the low 70's. He didn't put on much extra frame from last year, but did add a little bit of mass. Straight up typical 12's with no extras are VERY rare on this ranch and it is always a pleasure to see one.
Rick took this ~160" 10 point this weekend with brows nearly 8 inches long. These are some of the biggest G-1's we have ever seen on the ranch.
Bill Cross yet again hit another home run with this ~172" 10 pointer with a common base G-2 and G-3. Bob who is pictured as well guided both Rick and Bill to their deer. I'm still hearing about how much better he is at guiding than I am...
Congratulations Rick and Bill...
...and Bob
Happy Hunting!
:: posted by Marko
:: 1:30 PM
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| February 12, 2008 -
In the News
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Check out a good looking deer and an ugly mug on the cover of Texas Trophy Hunters and the same good looking deer as a 5 year old on the cover of the Texas Sporting Journal in the Jan/Feb Issues.
:: posted by Marko
:: 12:14 PM
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| January 30, 2008 -
January Update!
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click images to enlarge
We had a great end of the year hunting, with some monster bucks coming in just under the wire, and some great older deer that have eluded us for years finally having their luck run out!
From Left to Right:
Ben Ralston with "The Tongue Deer"... This deer had eluded us for years. Ben finally connected this year. Called "Tongue" because he had damaged a nerve that made his tongue always hang out of his mouth, he gross scored ~187
The women in the second picture here were the two best shots that hunted on the ranch all year, male or female. Sara killed her buck with a shot in a 30mph headwind at over 450 yards and Catherine connected with a Coyote at closer to 500.
Romeo took this beautiful basic 10 point with 3 kickers that grossed ~172. The deer had been seen in years prior and had been somewhat regular, but this year after heavy hunting for several months by five different people Romeo ended up with the prize that had eluded so many.
The Crawfords had another great hunt at the ranch this year. The best deer was taken by Scott. He was a white-faced old 13 pointer that we caught with a doe while cruising around in the top drive.
Congratulations to all these lucky hunters and to everyone else who hunted with us this year!
Happy Hunting!
:: posted by Marko
:: 11:45 AM
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| December 04, 2007 -
Some November Big Ones
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click images to enlarge
From Left to Right:
Bill Cross with his 176 basic 12 point currently second place in the Los Cazadores Heavy Weight division for High Fence.
Bubba with his biggest deer ever, a basic 11 point with a kicker on one G-3. The deer scored ~163 and has beautiful red antlers with Ivory tips.
Rick Friedrich with a monster deer that scores 187. This deer had 40" of mass and nearly 12" G-3's. He is currently in Los Cazadores 185+ high fence category and is leading Muy Grande for Heaviest Buck.
Jesse with a HUGE 8 pointer with a broken drop. WITHOUT the drop added back the deer scored 167 2/8. The 4" drop this deer had broken would have pushed him up over 170. He has 7+" G-1's, 11+" G-2's, 5+" H-1's and H-2's and over 27" beams to help add up to an amazing score for an 8 pointer.
Thanks to everyone who came hunting with us in November! Go see even MORE big deer taken this last month in the Photos section.
Happy Hunting!
:: posted by Marko
:: 8:27 AM
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| November 04, 2007 -
The REALLY amazing thing about this year.
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click images to enlarge
The truly amazing story this year really isn't how much the deer that I took grew from last year. The deer that scored ~230 and was taken by my father had a much bigger hill to climb.
He was first a "standout" in 2003-2004 as a 4 year old basic 10 with some trash. The jump from 4-5 was almost comical. He didn't even look real. His beams were super long and heavy with big tall thick points. With a monster frame and just a few abnormal inches the deer scored nearly 200" as a 5 year old. At 6 he carried even more mass and frame, lost a little point length and some abnormal inches, but scored probably about the same.
As the 2006-2007 season approached, we were excited to see what the deer would look like, but apprehensive because of the horrible drought conditions. Horrified as a word to describe us when we saw the deer would have been an understatement. At 7 he had many more abnormal points on his right beam, with a nice set of double row points, but his left side was the problem. It had a G-1 with several splits, and then an 18" long spike. The deer looked sick. We decided since there wasn't anything that any of us could do, he would be left until the next year. The deer was seen late that season and appeared to have gotten better. He didn't look nearly as bad as he had 4 months earlier.
You know the rest. The deer that had a spike on his left side last year improved to his largest score this year with the rain and lack of illness.
When his skull was boiled we made an interesting discovery. The 4th top molar from the front on his right side was broken in half and had absessed then healed over. He was very lucky to live past even his 6th year.
click images to enlarge
Here are pictures from 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 (spike year). These pictures, combined with the others at the top give his progression from a 4 (when we first noticed him) to 8 year old .
Happy Hunting!
:: posted by Marko
:: 11:21 AM
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| October 30, 2007 -
The Gallery is BACK!
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Our Gallery is back up! This means you can go to the Photos section and view hunts and deer from this year and previous years. I recently added a new album called 2007-2008 Season with many of the hunts that have taken place so far this year!
Go check it out!
Happy Hunting
:: posted by Marko
:: 4:20 PM
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| October 28, 2007 -
Second Buck Down!
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click images to enlarge
It only took 24 days of hunting for Mark Barrett to collect this ~230 inch buck this past Tuesday evening. After being seen 3 times before the MLD season, the deer went into hiding. Only recently had glimpses of him been reported just before dark. 40 total sits (he counted) was the right number for Dad to get his biggest buck ever. The score really doesn't reflect how big this deer is. The bases are 6+. He has over 27 inch beams, is over 30 inches wide outside and at one point past his G-3 his beam is 2 inches ACROSS. I think he put out more total antler than my deer, which we will check with water displacement.
Currently this deer is ranked #3 in Texas Big Game Awards, #3 in Los Cazadores, and #2 in Muy Grande Overall. He is the second largest overall score in Muy Grande history. With a net over 220, he ranks pretty high in Texas Big Game Awards history as well.
Congratulations Dad!
:: posted by Marko
:: 6:23 PM
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