Trever Williams
11-22-2010, 2:33 PM
I got my dad a trail cam for Christmas last year. In September him and my brother set it up out at the place where we deer hunt in the Oklahoma panhandle. We knew there were big bucks out there but we hardly ever get see them because they’re so nocturnal. There’s a large corn field that we knew the deer liked to go to so they strapped the camera to one of the few trees in the area and dumped a bucket of cull apples out in front of it. They went back out about a week later and were disappointed to find that there weren’t any tracks and it didn’t look like the apples had been touched. So they took the camera down and headed home but when they checked the pictures they revealed this:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/AppleBuck.jpg
They nick named him Apple Buck and rushed back out there to set the camera back up and dump out a fresh bucket of apples. The next week when they checked the camera again there was more pictures of Apple Buck and there were two other big ten pointers that were coming around.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/AppleBuck2.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/HorseBuck.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/ShedBuckandAppleBuck.jpg
It became my their routine to go out every few days to check the camera and dump out another bucket of apples. The same bucks kept coming back. My dad was calling all the people he knew that have apple trees to see if he could have their cull apples. Eventually the apples ran out so they started using pears and the deer liked them just as much. The funny thing was only bucks came to the fruit. We never got any pictures of does.
I went up to visit in October and we did some scouting and dug some pit blinds where we thought we might be able to ambush the deer. The thing about hunting in that area is you can throw most of what people think they know about hunting whitetails out the window. You can see in the pictures below how wide open and flat the terrain is. There’s virtually no trees, the deer usually only move at night, and they cover and extremely wide territory. Also you can do all the preseason scouting you want and get the deer’s routine down pat but then they harvest the corn right before hunting season and it changes everything. Eventually they cut the corn field and the bucks stopped coming around.
Hunting season started last week and we sat in our pit blinds for a couple of days and didn’t see a thing. Then one day around noon we spotted Apple Buck chasing a doe out in a weedy field about 800 yards away. I’m the best shot of the 3 of us so they elected me to take my rifle and try to sneak up close enough for a shot. There was a shallow depression that went out into the field and I got down in it and started crawling through the weeds on my hands and knees. My dad and brother stood in the back of their pickup and watched all the action. I kept raising up on my knees to look around but Apple Buck had bedded down and I was never able to see him.
After I had crawled for about 600 yards I was getting pretty tired and was starting to think that I must have scared him off and this was all a big waste of time; but my dad and brother were on pins and needles watching me crawl directly towards where they had seen him bed down. Eventually he must have heard me coming because he stood up. I saw him looking right at me from about 200 yards away. All I could see was from his shoulders up because of the weeds, so I laid my crosshairs on his neck and squeezed the trigger. He fell dead in his tracks.
That evening we grilled up some Apple Buck steaks. They were extra tender and flavorful… from all the apples he had been eating.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/2.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/6.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/3.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/91.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/8.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/7.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/DadTrevChad.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/AppleBuck.jpg
They nick named him Apple Buck and rushed back out there to set the camera back up and dump out a fresh bucket of apples. The next week when they checked the camera again there was more pictures of Apple Buck and there were two other big ten pointers that were coming around.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/AppleBuck2.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/HorseBuck.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/ShedBuckandAppleBuck.jpg
It became my their routine to go out every few days to check the camera and dump out another bucket of apples. The same bucks kept coming back. My dad was calling all the people he knew that have apple trees to see if he could have their cull apples. Eventually the apples ran out so they started using pears and the deer liked them just as much. The funny thing was only bucks came to the fruit. We never got any pictures of does.
I went up to visit in October and we did some scouting and dug some pit blinds where we thought we might be able to ambush the deer. The thing about hunting in that area is you can throw most of what people think they know about hunting whitetails out the window. You can see in the pictures below how wide open and flat the terrain is. There’s virtually no trees, the deer usually only move at night, and they cover and extremely wide territory. Also you can do all the preseason scouting you want and get the deer’s routine down pat but then they harvest the corn right before hunting season and it changes everything. Eventually they cut the corn field and the bucks stopped coming around.
Hunting season started last week and we sat in our pit blinds for a couple of days and didn’t see a thing. Then one day around noon we spotted Apple Buck chasing a doe out in a weedy field about 800 yards away. I’m the best shot of the 3 of us so they elected me to take my rifle and try to sneak up close enough for a shot. There was a shallow depression that went out into the field and I got down in it and started crawling through the weeds on my hands and knees. My dad and brother stood in the back of their pickup and watched all the action. I kept raising up on my knees to look around but Apple Buck had bedded down and I was never able to see him.
After I had crawled for about 600 yards I was getting pretty tired and was starting to think that I must have scared him off and this was all a big waste of time; but my dad and brother were on pins and needles watching me crawl directly towards where they had seen him bed down. Eventually he must have heard me coming because he stood up. I saw him looking right at me from about 200 yards away. All I could see was from his shoulders up because of the weeds, so I laid my crosshairs on his neck and squeezed the trigger. He fell dead in his tracks.
That evening we grilled up some Apple Buck steaks. They were extra tender and flavorful… from all the apples he had been eating.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/2.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/6.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/3.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/91.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/8.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/7.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/tall_texan/Apple%20Buck/DadTrevChad.jpg