The first game camera pictures from August showed these two bucks in velvet. One was Mr. Big and the other was the Old N.T., as this old Non-Typical was thought to be 10 1/2 years old. Both these bucks were semi-regular showing up at a blind tabbed as the Northwest(NW), in a low fence pasture of about 1300 acres. After my 2019 hunt, I had expressed an interest in a buck that would make the Boone & Crockett record book, which is a minimum net score of 170″. We thought Mr. Big, as a mainframe 11, with only two abnormal points might achieve this lofty goal. The best experts guessed him at 182″ gross and 172″ net, based on several pictures. After 6 1/2 days hunting during October and November not seeing Mr. Big, he was renamed Mr. No Show He was actually absent from any game camera pictures from October 24 until Christmas. When I returned in December, Doss Summers noted that the hunter that was hunting Old N.T. would not be able to return to hunt. “Was I interested in him?” I said, “Just let him show up!” We had briefly seen him about the 4th day of hunting, well before sunrise and only for a short time. He was not prone to hang around. That morning, he was the other hunter’s buck. At an estimated 10 1/2 years old, he was problematic to survive another year. With the extreme cold that all of Texas experienced in the middle of February, it is doubtful that he would have survived it. Exotic game, native game and livestock all died during this cold spell. The morning of December 15 was cloudy, overcast, and nearly foggy. So, at 10 minutes into legal shooting time(20 minutes before sunrise) and it was pretty difficult to see. He steps out of the brush and Doss immediately identifies him as the Old N.T.! I had my Joe Clayton Classic Ruger No.1 in 280 Ackley Improved with me. There was no seeing the reticule on the deer; just kind of centering him in the scope. I shot-and he ran off! Doss and I sat there a few minutes. Doss asked, “How do you feel about the shot?” “I don’t feel worth a damn about it”. I did not hear the impact of a hit, and as he ran off, I could see no indication that he was hit. It was dark though! Doss remarked that the run he observed appeared more of a startled run than an injured run. We sat there an hour and 15 minutes; talking very little. “Well, let’s go look!” When we got to where we thought he was standing at the shot-nothing! (We were
in the wrong place we saw later) It didn’t take long to find him piled up in a prickly pear patch, A near-perfect shot; he was able to run 40 yards, just out of our sight. To quantify the Old N. T., he is a mainframe 10, with 11 extra scoreable points and grossed 189 3/8″. I was still determined to hunt the B&C Typical. When Mr. No Show appeared on camera again, he had moved about a mile to a blind dubbed the Shooting Gallery(SG for short)We spent another 12 days hunting Mr. No Show at the SG and only laid eyes on him once. He was 475 yards away, in a road and mounting a doe! Doss and I just watched. We stayed in that blind near all day and he never showed again, He would be on camera the day before I arrived to hunt or the afternoon that I had left. In the end, he was back at NW. During all these hunts during January and February, a major pipeline was being laid about 200 yards from the SG. He moved back to NW and we hunted there until February 11 and I went home that afternoon. This was when the Texas Blizzard came through. It was the 22nd before I could even consider going back to Cotulla. We decided there was too much risk of him losing a horn(s)- shedding! By now, Mr. No Show has become Old SOB! He is showing up regularly now and has not shed yet. It is a Vendetta now and I will be back in October 2021!!
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That’s Him!
“That’s him!” whispered Doss as soon as he put the spotting scope on this buck. We were hunting this one specific buck and I did not want to make the mistake of shooting the wrong one! My long time young friend Doss Summers and Guide on this trip knows every shootable and NON shootable buck on this 13,000 acre low fence Ranch in LaSalle County, Texas. This Ranch has only been hunted in the past by family, charity and youth hunts, and Military and Wounded Warriors. This last Summer, Doss had told me that for the first time ever that a very few hunts would be sold. I asked him to put me on the list for a good buck!
The Hixon Ranch is MLD permitted so we could have started hunting in October, but other Ranch commitments and the weather put off this hunt until the weekend before Thanksgiving. We also needed a North wind. I had been watching the weather forecast for weeks and finally it looked like a strong enough front would come through Thursday night, November 21st. I drove the the 5 hour trip on Thursday and we hunted a different location that afternoon. We saw a big Axis buck and a nice young 10 point buck-on the NO Shoot list. Overnight, the wind turned to out of the North; we went to the stand where this buck was most likely to be seen. A long morning and a long afternoon in the blind and this buck was not there today. Again, Saturday morning, we were in the blind at 5:50 AM and we both took a nap. Legal shooting time in Texas is 30 minutes before sunrise, which would be 6:35 AM. I woke Doss up at 6:30 and we looked out.There were 2 small bucks right in front of us. About 6:35, I saw a buck come out on the road about 200 yards in front of us. Not him. I think Doss dozed off again, because at about 6:40 I said “ there is another deer coming in from the right”. As Doss put the spotting scope on him-immediately, he said “That’s him”. I still could barely tell it was a buck with my binoculars. Both these bucks were moving slowly down the road towards us, slowly getting closer. Now 170 yards. Doss suggested I put the binoculars down and get him in the scope. “Can you see him well enough to shoot?”. “Yes”. “Then, you need to be shooting first good opportunity”. Well, first, the little 8 point is in the way; then my buck is facing us; then facing away; then the 8 point is in the way. After 10 minutes of this, he turns broadside. I shoot; he runs off. I was sure he was hit, but I was not sure how well. He runs to the left and within 10 yards is behind trees. We did not see him come out anywhere.
Doss suggests we wait 20 minutes before going to look. For 20 minutes we scanned every inch with binoculars and spotting scope. We could not see any downed deer. We started out about 10 minutes after sunrise; went to where he was standing and no blood and no dead buck in sight. I walked about 40 yards the way I thought he had run and no buck. Now, go back to where he was standing and look for blood; finally, about 2 drops! I take off that way again and no dead buck. Another circle and we are not finding any more blood or a deer. I am getting anxious and just about ready to ask Doss to text Mike, the Ranch Manager, and tell him to bring Charlie, the ranch blood dog. Then about 20 yards away, where we are not looking, I spot an antler tip sticking out above the knee high grass. “There he is”. What a relief! A heart/lung shot and he ran the 40 yards- just at a right angle to the direction we thought he went. All this only took about 10-12 minutes, but it seemed like an hour.
We get our pictures and get this buck off to the cooler.
Hunting a very specific buck is a different kind of challenge. You have to know what he looks like and be able to recognize him on sight.
Now, about the very special rifle I was using- the Joe Clayton Classic; a Ruger No.1A in 280 Ackley Improved with a 25” barrel. I was able to get Ruger to make a 125 rifle run to honor my long time friend and Ruger No.1 mentor- Joe Clayton. They are serially numbered JDC-001 through -125. Joe wrote the book on Ruger No.1 rifles in 1983 and was the first serious collector of these classic rifles.
