"Whitetail Hollow" - 90 Acres NE Oklahoma.
- Thread starter OkieKubota
- Start date
My most recent update to our land tour...I hunted yesterday morning till about 11:00 and then I wanted to drive to an auction site 3 towns over to see if they had any heavy equipment. It’s about an hour drive so I went over and looked but all they had in so far was a skid steer and a few worn out farm implements so I stopped at a burger joint and got lunch and headed home so I could get in my stand. As many of you know I pick deer I would like to take through camera surveys every year and I had 3 this year to choose from. I took one of them on October 17th.
I killed a very large, heavy racked, 8 point in November of 2018 that was very dominant and almost immediately a new big dominant buck moved in that I tried many time to get last year but due to other commitments I wasn’t able to spend the time on stand required.
To my delight he showed up on camera again this fall. He summered somewhere else but when these white oaks began dropping he came back. I have several photos of him on a feeder at night.
These really give an impression of his size. He is a giant among ridge runner deer!
He started daywalking a bit in late October and then again on November 4th...
As I was sitting about 3:45 pm a nice up and comer 9 point came by and I videoed him on all 4 sides of me.
I didn’t see any other deer till right at 5:00 I heard a deer walking up out of the creek bottom and it looked to be a young doe. I could hear another deer following her but I figured it was probably her mother or another doe so I didn’t even take my bow off the hanger. The doe went on past me headed south and I was trying to make out the second deer because there was a large white oak between me and it. All of a sudden I could se tines and at first I thought it may be one of the larger 8 pointers I have seen in the past. I decided to get my bow ready just in case and I am glad I did. He walked out and when I saw the body size and those upswept main beam tips I knew exactly who I was looking at. He was 20 yards and broadside and looking at the doe. I drew and released immediately and when I released I saw sparks just past the deer and under him in the low light. I first thought I missed low but he ran into a down tree and had a hard time getting through it and then he barreled down into our creek bottom. I thought I heard him crash but I am always skeptical...I waited 20 minutes or so and could hear a deer walking around down in the area he ran. I thought I am just gonna ease over and look for blood and as soon as I got close to the impact site I had a deer running and blowing from down there but the blood was phenomenal so I figured it had to be the doe he was with. I walked about 20 yards from where I hit him and I could vaguely make out a white belly. I was elated!
He is my largest bodied buck to date and is a no brained shoe in for P&Y and for the Oklahoma Record book...as a matter of fact both bow deer are for 2019! Blessed!
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I killed a very large, heavy racked, 8 point in November of 2018 that was very dominant and almost immediately a new big dominant buck moved in that I tried many time to get last year but due to other commitments I wasn’t able to spend the time on stand required.
To my delight he showed up on camera again this fall. He summered somewhere else but when these white oaks began dropping he came back. I have several photos of him on a feeder at night.
These really give an impression of his size. He is a giant among ridge runner deer!
He started daywalking a bit in late October and then again on November 4th...
As I was sitting about 3:45 pm a nice up and comer 9 point came by and I videoed him on all 4 sides of me.
I didn’t see any other deer till right at 5:00 I heard a deer walking up out of the creek bottom and it looked to be a young doe. I could hear another deer following her but I figured it was probably her mother or another doe so I didn’t even take my bow off the hanger. The doe went on past me headed south and I was trying to make out the second deer because there was a large white oak between me and it. All of a sudden I could se tines and at first I thought it may be one of the larger 8 pointers I have seen in the past. I decided to get my bow ready just in case and I am glad I did. He walked out and when I saw the body size and those upswept main beam tips I knew exactly who I was looking at. He was 20 yards and broadside and looking at the doe. I drew and released immediately and when I released I saw sparks just past the deer and under him in the low light. I first thought I missed low but he ran into a down tree and had a hard time getting through it and then he barreled down into our creek bottom. I thought I heard him crash but I am always skeptical...I waited 20 minutes or so and could hear a deer walking around down in the area he ran. I thought I am just gonna ease over and look for blood and as soon as I got close to the impact site I had a deer running and blowing from down there but the blood was phenomenal so I figured it had to be the doe he was with. I walked about 20 yards from where I hit him and I could vaguely make out a white belly. I was elated!
He is my largest bodied buck to date and is a no brained shoe in for P&Y and for the Oklahoma Record book...as a matter of fact both bow deer are for 2019! Blessed!
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Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
Great story and pictures. Love the high racks you get there. You are blessed and lucky also Okie but you are also one of a very small handful of people that puts in serious effort and lets go so many respectable bucks. Looking forward to hearing the score on this one, he's a real beauty!
Thank you Chainsaw...I will take blessed and lucky any day! No sure on score yet. Gonna be good. I had a tape and last night I made 3 measurements because I wasn’t sure...24” main beam, 5” mass, 12” G2...his only weak point I can see is brow tines but I wouldn’t even care if he had none...lol. Pretty sure if I could have killed him a couple weeks ago we would have dressed over 200. He stunk of rut horribly!
catscratch
Well-Known Member
Congrats on the great season Okie! Sure got it done this yr.
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Thanks. It’s scary what a guy who has time can do...lol. Living on your deer property helps as well...
Thank you. Been a great year and I hope to help my grandson and wife now...I got some sweet rifle stand sets that haven’t been sat yet!
Gravel Road
Well-Known Member
The genetics on your property is amazing. Congrats on a fantastic deer!
pinetag
Well-Known Member
Super nice deer! Congrats Okie!My most recent update to our land tour...I hunted yesterday morning till about 11:00 and then I wanted to drive to an auction site 3 towns over to see if they had any heavy equipment. It’s about an hour drive so I went over and looked but all they had in so far was a skid steer and a few worn out farm implements so I stopped at a burger joint and got lunch and headed home so I could get in my stand. As many of you know I pick deer I would like to take through camera surveys every year and I had 3 this year to choose from. I took one of them on October 17th.
I killed a very large, heavy racked, 8 point in November of 2018 that was very dominant and almost immediately a new big dominant buck moved in that I tried many time to get last year but due to other commitments I wasn’t able to spend the time on stand required.
To my delight he showed up on camera again this fall. He summered somewhere else but when these white oaks began dropping he came back. I have several photos of him on a feeder at night.
These really give an impression of his size. He is a giant among ridge runner deer!
He started daywalking a bit in late October and then again on November 4th...
As I was sitting about 3:45 pm a nice up and comer 9 point came by and I videoed him on all 4 sides of me.
I didn’t see any other deer till right at 5:00 I heard a deer walking up out of the creek bottom and it looked to be a young doe. I could hear another deer following her but I figured it was probably her mother or another doe so I didn’t even take my bow off the hanger. The doe went on past me headed south and I was trying to make out the second deer because there was a large white oak between me and it. All of a sudden I could se tines and at first I thought it may be one of the larger 8 pointers I have seen in the past. I decided to get my bow ready just in case and I am glad I did. He walked out and when I saw the body size and those upswept main beam tips I knew exactly who I was looking at. He was 20 yards and broadside and looking at the doe. I drew and released immediately and when I released I saw sparks just past the deer and under him in the low light. I first thought I missed low but he ran into a down tree and had a hard time getting through it and then he barreled down into our creek bottom. I thought I heard him crash but I am always skeptical...I waited 20 minutes or so and could hear a deer walking around down in the area he ran. I thought I am just gonna ease over and look for blood and as soon as I got close to the impact site I had a deer running and blowing from down there but the blood was phenomenal so I figured it had to be the doe he was with. I walked about 20 yards from where I hit him and I could vaguely make out a white belly. I was elated!
He is my largest bodied buck to date and is a no brained shoe in for P&Y and for the Oklahoma Record book...as a matter of fact both bow deer are for 2019! Blessed!
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Thanks Cat...that was the deer I was mentioned I was chasing. Got his head skinned out today. I saved the cape just in case...he has a 21” neck girth just under the Jaw and 28” at the swell and a 7.5” eye to nose measurement...big dude!
That is something 8 have noticed is different about the deer we have here and the deer you are hunting. A 12” tine here is not terribly unusual here but the deer in NY state seem to have shorter times. I wonder why that is because the deer in NY seem to have a lot to eat to attain the body weights they do. I think it won’t be too long before you guys are only targeting 4.5 and older deer. Thank you!
I have certainly noticed that. We have owned this place almost 6 years now and our average buck here is at least 10 points scoring 135-165 with body weights 150 and up once they reach 4.5 years old. Most of the rest of this county the average weight dressed is 120 lbs dressed at 4 and 118 -125” of antler...
I spend a lot of time and effort for sure...I go all out on whatever I decide to do. Thank you!
Thank you Pinetag!
It Is easier to pass deer on your own dirt...the reward is after all the seasons are over and you see the bucks you let go start shedding antlers and know that they made it and more than likely you get to see them again next fall. Some of those deer I have seen for 5 years now. Another neat thing I have noticed when you have a really great big bodied deer is if you take out the most dominant deer another one moves in because the territory is just too good for just the rif raff...lol. We both thank you for the kudos!
Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
The body weights here are extraordinary Okie but it is not available food that makes body weights but rather the genes. Deer that are smaller can not reach high enough for food and also do not maintain body warmth when temps hit minus twenty-five to thirty-five and those that do not maintain body warmth or can not reach for food die and are thus removed from the gene pool.Thus only the deer with huge bodies survive. Those genes make more larger bodied deer and thus the larger average "normal" size.
I have never witnessed a 12 inch tine to date on our property; eight to ten is pretty huge here and not at all common.
Personally the target is 4 1/2 for me but I can't see it being a goal for all of us just yet. 3 1/2 is the property goal. There is still a lot of cross tagging and other illegal activities in this area that are holding the area back from achieving the best the area can produce. We and many other landowner groups are addressing the challenge. We have a long way to go but as a group we have come a long way as well.
Gravel Road
Well-Known Member
What is amazing to me is how the deer survive your neighbors, considering all the small hunting parcels that surround you and the poaching, etc. You would think every deer with horns would get whacked each year, but they manage to find a way and even thrive on your medium size property. I could understand it if you had 500 or a 1000 acres of cover and they were hiding out, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It appears that you have quite a bit of mature oak trees, not thick stuff. Any thoughts on why your property holds so many bucks? Less hunting pressure?
