Overall, a pretty good weekend. As stated above, Saturday started out with a scare, but ended well.

It's always been a habit of mine to check under, in, and around the blind before i get in. When I was younger, I remember dad always teaching me to take a good look espcially when we were down in the Falfurias area. Well, it paid off this time and I was greeted by a 3ft rattler.
Sorry for the poor quality, but i wasnt really in the picture taking mood.


Good Snake Now! Side note, this was the first in several years anyone had ever seen a rattlesnake.



I didnt want to make a lot of noise, so i decided to high step it over to another blind of mine and deal with the snake later on.
8:20 AM, a group of my regulars show up including one of the two i decided to take this year. Made about a 100 yard shot and found him after a short track.
Now, based on ranch definition, 8 pts and up is considered a trophy, and he is a trophy to me with all the hard work, time and money put into it, but from a genetics/age perspective, he was one I chose to harvest for those reasons. Couldn't be happier!


Feel free to guess age, score, weight... (hint, this is hill country and the angle makes him look pretty good!

Pressure was off so i baited the 5 DP's around my two blinds which produced these results Sunday morning.



Had to show off results from a couple weeks prior.. 8 of 10 traps went off.


Greedy little booger. Had to get both hands stuck.


Overall, a great trip and good times with great friends.

I gotta ask. Is it an MLD property where you can rifle hunt early? Nice buck though regardless. Dark horns are nice.

Yep, MLD 3. Makes the decision to pick up a bow vs. a rifle very difficult, but i did not take the time to get my bow ready this year.

dude great trappin pics!!!

Congrats on a nice buck.

What you baiting the coon traps with? Looks like it is working. We just got a few of them but haven't set them yet.

I just ordered 3 Duke DP traps. I hope to start having fun with them.

Nice buck. Nice trapping.

Congrats on a good buck

If y'all need proof that those Dukes DP's work, well there you go.

First time, I used about a tablespoon of tuna and topped with small marshmallows. This time I only used the marshmallows. Put a few around the trap for a visual. The key is to put plenty of bait below that lever on the inside.

Awesome pics. What kind of traps are those? Great deer too!

Dukes dog proof traps

nice deer

Congrats on a great weekend and buck.

Outstanding on the buck and the coons

Great looking buck!! I'd be thrilled too!!

Great write up steven. It was a great weekend and was glad to share the experience with ya. Im fixing to order some more of those traps. You have made me a believer. That makes around 15 coons since you put them out a month ago. Glad you decided to take this buck after passing that stud opening day last year and never seeing it again. Saturday morning was horrible at my stand with all the skeeters but sunday the rain and cooler weather sure was nice. See you next weekend!!

DP's are awesome. Caught a few myself this weekend.

Congrats on the buck and keep the traps going.

Nice Pics!

Congrats

Congrats.

A friend told me to use sweets instead of tuna or sardines. Of course, that was after I had a skunk in the trap.

Congrats!!!

Congrats again Steven! You got us started off right for the season.

With this weekends haul you are catching up or getting ahead of me on the coon count. I'll try to do something about that this weekend.