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Hunting
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WHlTEFOOT’S
BUCK
| By John Haggard
Deer hunting is supposed to be a cool season activity. Early October was anything but cool. There was not even a hint of fall with afternoon highs in the mid 90's, yet there I was perched in a live oak tree in search of a P & Y Whitetail Buck. In late September while scouting this area, I had seen a huge buck with the largest body I had ever seen in Northern Erath County. He sported a heavy 10 pt. frame with dual kickers on his G-2's and long tines. I knew he would make P&Y and the Big Game Awards. I had also seen a couple of other nice bucks. One, a young 10 pt. and a wide racked 6 pt. with a light colored coat. Numerous other bucks from spikes to a young 7 pt. I had seen lots of does but very few fawns because of the drought. Three mornings into bow season I had my first choice at the monster buck. He had followed some young bucks into the clearing at 8:30 am. He walked by at 35 yards just out of my bow range. He later went back by at 9:30 am still remaining just out of bow range. What a thrill to see such a magnificent animal! Two days later on an evening hunt, the young 10 pt came in early and was soon joined by several young bucks. With 20 minutes of light left 7 does trailed into the clearing. Following 50 ft. behind the last doe was my buck. I had been taking pictures of the young bucks, but I never had a chance for a picture of this monster buck. I was afraid the click of the shutter would spook him. He was huge, towering over the other bucks by 6 inches. He worked in to about 25 yards then spooked and ran about 10 yards. The wind was blowing straight from me to where he stood. He lowered his head and worked back in to 25 yards. Boy was I rattled. I drew my Bow and put my 25 yard sight right behind his shoulder. Just as I released, I flinched, pulling my shot to the back of his rib cage and angling through his hind leg. I was sick, the last thing I wanted to do was to wound such a beautiful animal. I retrieved my arrow, it had some hair and a little blood on it. I went back to the house to wait for an hour and to get Whitefoot, my loyal companion for the past 13 years. She is a Heinz 57, but one of the smartest dogs I have ever seen. She is a little older and slower than she used to be, but I hoped she was up to the challenge. She could smell the blood from the arrow and let out an excited growl. After a long hour wait, we returned to the spot that the buck had stood. I put a rope around Whitefoot’s neck so if the buck was still alive she would not run it out of the country. She picked up the scent of the buck and about 100 yards into the trail, I started seeing little drops of blood. We found a large pool of blood about 300 yards from where the buck had stood. He now went into some heavy briars along Lost Creek. At some places I was on hands and knees crawling through the briars, with Whitefoot anxiously pulling on the rope. Some places she seemed to drag me through. This was prime Rattlesnake country but I had to trust that my dog would smell them. After 100 yards we jumped the buck. Back to the house we went to wait for another hour. Whitefoot did not want to leave but finally conceded. About 10 PM we went back to the spot that we had jumped the buck. There were 2 large pools of blood. I knew he was close. Whitefoot found the trail and found him about 100 ft from where we had jumped him an hour before. I thanked her and then inspected the buck. Heavy antlers, long tines and matching kickers, nice buck! I grabbed an antler and started dragging him. Boy was he heavy. Back up out of the creek bottom, through the briars. It was a long drag back to the truck. I could kick myself
for making a bad shot, but I was thankful to have a dog as talented as
Whitefoot. The buck field-dressed 148 lbs. and grossed over 144 P&Y.
Whitefoot, this deer is for you!
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