Camo | December 31, 2008
“Bumps” was only seen twice in 2007. I passed him due to a lack of good mass, even though he was long tined with his distinctive “bumps” on his G-2’s. He stuck his head and neck out at 17-yards for Col. Hill, but instinct took over and he backed away into the brush. Trail camera photos showed he had gotten more mass and still maintained his length and his bumps. I decided to take a closer look at him this year. Easier said than done– he was only seen a few times by other hunters and never presented any shots. I first saw him around December 1st, coming to a feeder, but it was too dark. I pursued him daily around the various feed areas, but he never showed up, for me or any of the other hunters.
On December 12th, I looked at our aerial map. It was a full moon and the wind was blowing over 30mph. Where would a hungry, post rut, heavily hunted, near nocturnal trophy buck be in this wind?
I decided it must be in the valley at the far back end of one of our large wheat fields. There was a brush blind built under a large spreading live oak in this back corner. I went in, spread some corn and hunted. 35 deer came onto the field and to my corn, but not him. There were some good bucks, just not “Bumps”.
I thought about hunting elsewhere, but I knew my strategy was sound. I came back next evening, spread my corn, and waited. There was not much activity; the wind was howling. Six does and some yearlings finally came in about 5:00. I knew I had not been spotted the day before and these deer were unaware of my presence due to the well constructed brush blind. Suddenly, four big does came out of a steep, tight little valley bed area and ran onto the wheat field. Their actions made me believe at least one of these does was coming into the second phase of rut. I was watching where they came from when out of the cedars came “Bumps”, following them. I grabbed my video camera while he was 150-yards away and started filming. He paused, looked around, and then broke into a run straight toward me. Enough video! He stopped abruptly on my first corn line at 22-yards, eating hungrily. 
I waited for several hours (actually about five minutes), with him head on toward me before he started to turn. I drew, and he promptly turned right back head on eating. I let down and waited, heart pounding, until he finally turned broadside. I had him ranged at 22-yards, came to a full draw with my Matthews Switchback XT and delivered a Carbon Express Maxima tipped with a Spitfire mechanical right into his lungs. He ran off the field, circled through some cedars and back onto the open field before stopping on the edge at 150-yards. He calmly laid down and then laid over on his side with me watching through my Zeiss binocs. I had hunted him hard and stuck with my belief on where to find him.
I had “Bumps” on the ground. He scored 140 ¼ inches with almost 12-inch G-2’s.
Great buck with a bow. I aged him at minimum – six and a half years and can’t wait to see his sons.
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Camo | December 25, 2008
First, I want to thank Rick, Tammy and everyone at Buffalo Mountain Ranch for an exciting hunt. Two of my brother-in-laws, John and Henry, and my brother Artie and I booked a four-day hunt this year. We got to the ranch early that day. Some clouds started moving in, so I got to my cedar tree ground blind early. There was no feeder or field, just an area where Rick spread some corn on the ground with his truck feeder. As I was watching the corn straight in front, out of the corner of my right eye I saw something move. I slowly turned; it was a long spike deer looking straight at me, in a few minutes he left. A few minutes later, almost dark, I got spotted by a doe and her fawn, on the same side as the spike. So now I turned in that direction. It was about dark when all I could see coming out of the cedar, about 28 yards away, were antlers. So, I drew back, waiting for him to present himself, which seemed like forever. Finally he moved out of the cedar, as he did the arrow was on its way. He spun back the way he came. I listened the best I could and thought I heard him crash. It was dark, so I went back to camp, told Rick and the guys what had happened. Then it started to sprinkle. Rick said we needed to go so we could track him. When we got there the ground was already wet. We walked about 60 yards, then there were several trails going back into the trees. Well, Rick picked the right trail, he saw a speck of blood, I walked a little further and there was more blood. Yet a little further, there he was, crashed against a cedar tree. My first white tail buck with bow. Looking forward to next year. Thanks, Willie
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Camo | December 20, 2008
My dad, my buddy Eric and I were at Buffalo Mountain for a two day hunt. Rick told us he had been seeing a nice seven point at one of the food plots so I opted to try to hunt this deer. I saw the deer one time and had no shot at him and the deer were starting to become a little leery of the ground blind I was hunting. So my buddy and I decided to corn an area near the area and set up a tripod. That evening the wind was gusting 40 mph and I was getting beat to death in the tripod. I decided to move in the middle of the hunt and go back to the ground blind I was hunting in previously. I could see the area we had corned but it was well out of shooting range. Low and behold the big seven came in and made a bee line to the corn by the tripod. As frustrating as it was just sitting there watching the deer feed out of range I had no choice but to just sit there. About 30 min passed and some other deer began to come in, all of them fed on the corn we had put out by the tripod. I was sitting there thinking ‘man if I had just stayed in the tripod I’d have that buck’. Several more minutes passed and some yearlings began feeding at the feeder which was in range from the ground blind I was hunting. It was like the ‘grown-up table’ and the ‘kids table’, the only problem was that the kid’s table was the one within range of me. Finally, the big seven broke loose from the corn by the tripod and came over and snorted to scare all the yearling deer away. The small deer cleared and I arrowed the big seven at 32 yards. The shot caught lungs and the deer ran about 75 yards. It was an exciting weekend, Rick killed a huge eight point, my dad shot a doe and Eric shot a doe which we tracked clear across Taylor county but successfully found her due to the help of Pebbles, Rick and Tammy’s tracking dog. The weekend was action packed and one I am sure none of us will ever forget. Ryan Johnson
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Camo | December 20, 2008
I arrived at the cedar blind about 2:30 in the afternoon and already had several does within 15 yards. I would have taken one of them but I had already shot one that morning. I watched does the rest of the afternoon until my buck finally showed up. Rick had shown me some video footage of some deer he filmed earlier of some deer that were coming into the field, so I was ready for anything. The buck strutted on the field at 5:42 and took his time, or so it seemed. At that time my heart started pumping double time. When he presented the shot he was 21 yards away. I released my arrow at 5:48 and sat there replaying my shot over and over again in my head hoping I made a good shot. I sat there for about 10 minutes and decided to go find my arrow. I could not find it, so I went back to where I shot him to look for blood and I could not find any blood either. I thought I might have missed him, but I knew heard the arrow hit him. I decided to go back to camp and tell Rick what happened. He then called Tammy and told her to have Pebbles the “tracking dog” on stand by just in case we needed her. Then Cody and Larry showed up and we decided it was time to go track my deer. We started tracking the deer and at first we could not find any blood, so I thought I missed. Then Cody yelled “I see blood.” The blood trail started off small then gradually got bigger, at that time I knew I made a good shot. We finally found my deer about 120 yards from where I shot him. I was overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude for all their help. Because without Rick, Larry, and Cody, I never would I found that buck. This was my first buck with a bow and it was by far my biggest buck ever. I want to thank Rick and Tammy for the opportunity to be able to take such a magnificent animal. Tammy thank you for the quesadilla, it hit the spot. I look forward to hunting with ya’ll next year. Jason Simpson
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Camo | December 20, 2008
All I can say is thank God for Pebbles! I shot this old doe at about 32 yards and didn’t make the best of shot. The blood looked good when I first started tracking her so I thought it was a heart shot. I tracked about 50 yards and spooked her up so I left and went back to camp to wait on my buddies to help me out. Rick and Tammy came in with pebbles and we all went out there to find my kill. I’ll be the first to admit I have always been a little skeptical about tracking dogs, if they really worked. Well they do. Pebbles tracked this deer all over the country up, down, over, and under everything you could think of. She ran about a mile and saved me at least half the day looking. Pebbles found her in about an hour and a half. It was a great hunt we all got a kill and saw a lot of deer. This ranch has done a complete 180 on the deer hunting over last year and I am looking forward to coming back next year and getting the big boy. Thank you for a great hunt. Eric Clark
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