Shooting Star Buck

We arrived at Brazos Archery Outfitters in Newcastle, Texas around 9:00 p.m. Friday night and they were taking photos of a buck that a day hunter had just taken before our arrival.

Like usual our host, John Shelley, was anxiously awaiting our arrival. Between the 3 of us we had everything unloaded in about 15 minutes and inside we went to get settled in and discuss what the morning would have in store for us.

John already had a spot picked out for us – the Red Stand a/k/a the Ferguson Stand. You will know why the Red stand is also called the Ferguson stand before long!.

Saturday morning came early – 5:00 a.m. to be exact. I’m not much for mornings either, but I managed to NOT bite anyone’s head off this morning. It seemed this may be a good weekend for us. I got up and got dressed in my new Max-1 camouflage and I was ready to go.

We got settled into the stand about 6:00 a.m. No sooner than we sat down we heard something walking in the leaves around the tree. Apparently we had trespassed on someone’s territory. It became quiet apparent whose territory it was when the sun came up. That’s right, there was a nice wide and heavy 8-point buck in the neighborhood. He seemed to like the Wildlife Research Center Buck Nip attractant we had placed in a tree nearby. We watched him for a few minutes before he just turned and walked straight away from the area. He never gave me an opportunity to take a shot at him. It was as if he knew he was safe until the sun came up.

We saw several more deer in the area, but none of the bucks were shooters and none of the does gave me a shot. Well except for one. She gave me enough time to TRY and pull my bow back, but for some reason I was shaking uncontrollably and was unable to pull my bow back. Upon my second attempt I hit a limb that was hanging overhead with my bow and that was about all she was going to take. She ran off and never looked back. About 10:00 a.m. we decided to call it quits for the morning hunt and head back to camp to see if anyone else had gotten anything.

Upon arriving back at camp we learning that one of the season hunter had gotten a nice P&Y buck. Sure enough Jim Beadle scored on a nice 10 point that scored 133 P&Y. Way to go Jim, NICE BUCK.

Saturday evening was James’ turn to take the stand and mine to handle the camera. We decided to hunt a different stand for the evening hunt. Once settled in I noticed some turkeys walking down the roadway heading towards our stand. Sure enough it was a mature hen and her 6 babies. They paraded by us one by one, but James decided to pass up the hen.

Soon thereafter, I saw several large hogs in the field behind us. They were running like they knew where they were going and never even thought about coming our way.

A small 8 point buck made his way to our stand. He was a young, nice looking buck, but NOT a shooter. He stood broad sided at 15 yards for what seemed like an eternity before jumping the fence and walking off into the sunset. I feel certain it took a lot of patience for James to pass this buck up, but he managed to do so. Shortly after the 8 pointer walked away it was time to call it quits for the evening hunt.

I know James was disappointed that he wasn’t able to get anything, but I was ready to get back to camp because I knew what John had in store for dinner – Filet mignon, baked potato, corn on the cob and chocolate pie. There just isn’t any place like Brazos Archery Outfitters as far as hunting and eating goes.

Ok back to hunting. Sunday morning came bright and early for me. Too early to be exact and this morning my Grumpy was showing. That’s a bad thing! I was tired, grumpy and had nasty bags under my eyes. Which isn’t a good thing when you’re the one being filmed.

We headed back to the Red stand a/k/a the Ferguson stand for our final hunt for the weekend. Once we got out of the Jeep to start our journey to the stand I noticed a shooting star. Can you guess what I wished for? If you guessed a nice buck, you were right. Anyways, back to the story. It was my turn again to hunt. Again, we got settled in to the stand and almost instantly the sounds of something walking around our area started. I was excited about that. I just knew this was going to be the morning that I got the big buck. He was wondering around in the area, I know for about 30 minutes or so until the worst noise you can imagine occurred, a deer blew from behind us. The wind was in our face and blowing straight to where the deer blew from! I thought to myself great, lets just go on back to camp and go back to bed. We are wasting prime sleeping time now. Of course I didn’t say that out loud because I was trying to be the optimistic hunter. The key word is trying. Which was extremely hard for me especially since I heard about 4 different deer blow at us before the sun even came up.

So I’m sitting in the tree stand half asleep wishing I was still in my warm bed when I noticed something in the corner of my eye. I thought great there’s rabbit heading towards my shooting lane. Joy and happiness! But to my surprise it was a buck! It wasn’t just any buck, it was a nice 8 point buck and he was heading right towards my shooting lane. I just couldn’t believe it! Of course, just like everyone else, I started shaking on the inside. I thought great, I’m not going to get my bow pulled back because I can’t stop shaking. It took the buck a few minutes to get in place, so I was able to calm myself down enough to gain composure and get my bow. I clipped on my Tru-Fire release and stuck my Mathews Swithchback out in front of me and was just about to draw, when the buck stops dead in his tracks and turns and looks straight at me. I froze! The buck turned his head back to the other direction and when he did I drew my bow, settled my Trophy Ridge sight pin on target and gave it too him! My Wac’em tipped Carbon Express arrow found its mark! I made a good quartering away shot! The buck walked off with part of my arrow hanging out of him and the Lumenok was still glowing. He went about 60 yards and crashed. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was going to recover an animal WITHOUT a blood trailing job. YES!!!

We gave him about an hour before going to take a look. You know waiting that hour was killing me. This was my first whitetail buck with a bow and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on him. He was even better close up than he was out in front of me. I am really proud of this deer. I truly owe it all to my husband, James. If it weren’t for him none of this would have been possible. Also, John Shelley should take some credit for this buck. He put us in a spot where he knew there were big bucks hanging out. Brazos Archery Outfitters is the place to hunt – the animals are good, the food is wonderful and the camaraderie you will find there is out of this world.

Donna Ferguson

Vice President

Bowhunting North America, LLC

This hunt was made possible in part by our sponsors:

Mathews, Inc., Carbon Express,

The Gean-Edwards Company, Rynoskin, Trophy Ridge, North Starr Tree Stands,

Shed Hunter Co., Fieldline, DoskoSport, Lumenok, Tru Fire Corp., Rocket Aeroheads, Quake Industries,

Limbsaver, Bushnell, Huntin' Hoist, Wac'em Broadheads,, Beard Buster, The Beckham Group, Sure Grip Gun & Bow Racks