Deer hunting in Stonewall County, near Aspermont on the 5G Ranch

Written by Ben Carter

Friday, 21 December 2007

Photo by Ben Carter I took fellow DSC member Larry Hansard on a trophy whitetail hunt on the 5G Ranch in Stonewall County the weekend of December 9. Larry, who has hunted in Africa a number of times, had never harvested a trophy whitetail buck. We had a nice buck on the place and had seen him several times over the last several years. The weekend was supposed to be warm on Saturday (not so good for trophy deer hunting), but the weather changed, starting in the low 40s and dropping rather than warming up. We went to a blind where the deer had been seen a few times over the last few years and waited for it to get light. The time was the primary peak of the rut on this place, so I felt a mature buck would come in to check for does. At first light, there was a mature buck under the feeder. I told Larry to get ready, because the buck was alone and if a doe came to the feeder, he might leave. I still didn’t know how good he was, but judging his body size, fullness and length of his neck, and sagging stomach, I knew he was probably 5 1/2 years old or older. Within about 10 minutes it was light enough to see, and I recognized the deer and told Larry he was a shooter. Then a doe came into the feeder and the buck moved toward her. She took off and he took off after her. I told Larry it was a very good buck and that we may or may not see him again, but if he came back he should probably shoot fast – he was not going to stay around too long. Luckily, in about 10 minutes the buck did come back. When he turned broadside, Larry made a perfect shot on the buck on the front shoulder. He ran from the feeder back into the brush, and after waiting 20 minutes we got down and went to see if he had fallen close by. The buck was about 50 yards from the feeder in the brush. Perfect shot. The buck would have scored 155 if the left G1 had not been broken, and even deducting that he scored more than 150 with more than 35 inches of mass, and field dressed about 160 lbs. The body size was a little small for the size of deer we find on the 5G once they have reached 5 1/2 years of age. Ben Carter Deputy Director Dallas Safari Club

 

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