I finished up my whitetail season Monday morning. Sunday was one of the most perfect hunting weather days I have ever experienced in South Texas. I wound up hunting from a tripod over a 200 acre coastal pasture and 10 acre foot plot. I was pretty satisfied just watching deer and guiding some good friends of mine on a cull and some does, but on that last beautiful evening a true giant made his way to the coastal field. He was 700-800 yards away, so I attempted a very long stalk. Amazingly I was able to close to within 150 yards at last shooting light. I quickly confirmed that he was as big as I thought he was and moved to the prone position for a shot...only to watch my shot hit a mound of sand just past him and erupt in a cloud of dust and see the buck run away seemingly untouched. I knew I'd rushed the shot and missed low. It was very calm and the dust cloud lingered long enough for me to clearly mark the spot where he was standing. After picking up my buddies and celebrating another buck kill (a career best for my good buddy from Atlanta), we searched long and hard to ensure there was no hit. The next morning we searched again and found no blood or other sign. However, I did spot a group of buzzards about half a mile away in a dry creek bed. As we got closer I could see that they were on a carcass. For a moment I thought maybe I hit him after all, but quickly discovered it was an 8 pointer I had never seen. It looked like a fresh kill and a buck that might have been targeted as a cull, so I called a few neighbors and quickly found the rightful shooter. Glad I could at least make someone's day.

I'll reply with a pick of my buddy's management 8 pointer and a pick of the 8 we found dead.

Edited to add pics:

We've killed 7 bucks, all culls, and 27 does so far. Have 3 more culls, 5 spikes and 12 more does to kill. Three of the culls we shot last week, with the largest being a 158 4/8 8+ year old buck that was in the 130's last year. What made that so great is a nine year old boy killed him. We're MLD III so we've got until the end of February.

My wife killed a 176 7/8, 170 4/8 net typical 10 point last week but it was on a friend's 5,000 acre high-fenced ranch, so can't book (not that I care).

Excited about the next several years as we have some very nice up-and-comers in all age classes.

Only one taken from my lease webb co 2600 acres i was hunting for a 14 point but never showed up only in cam pics this one was a surprise never saw him on cam

One of the worst seasons for me and I have myself to blame for it. Simply put, I was lazy this year and limited my hunting to watching a food plot and feeders from the relative comfort of ground blinds. Not once did I climb into a ladder stand to watch a trail or crossing. In fact, I only put up one ladder stand this year but ever hunted from it. I also rode the ATV more and walked less. It should have come as no surprise that the only legal buck I saw all year was yesterday when I made a long walk to hunt a ladder stand that I let my son-in-law borrow from me to use with his feeder.

I did take a cow horn spike about mid season meaning it wasn't a complete strike out.

I had a great season. A nice 10 point, quite a few pigs, a turkey hen, ducks, dove... what more can I ask for?

Well done!