GRONG Report post Posted January 31, 2012 First of all I just gotta say that Jim Reynolds is the man! I consider him a good friend and I feel fortunate to get to hunt with him yet again! We had so much fun down south this year, it was amazing. Opening morning my buddy Dave Mathews and I tried a spot I hadn't been to last year and it paid off bigtime! First buck we saw was a big low to mid 90's 2pt!! An absolute stud of a buck for sure! Once at the top of the hill we started seeing deer immediately. Some as close as 200 yards and many many bucks out to a mile. Around 11:00 we watched as about 3 bucks were hot on a doe but one was the biggest for sure. As he ran sideways both Dave and I looked at each other as if we'd just seen a 120" buck. The deer were about 3/4 of a mile away but from the look we got we knew we needed a closer look somehow. The deer were rutting in some really low country with no real way to get any elevation to shoot from. Dave chose to sit on a rock knob about a half mile away and I decided to see what it was like up close and personal. Once I crawled into position into the edge of a big pasture that was about 450 yards wide and about 150-180 yards across and mashed down a 6' square area to sit where I could look both east and west across it and strait to the south less than 200 yards where most of the deer action had been that morning. I hadn't been there a half hour and a buck walked out of the weeds and to my left at 130 yards. I had my video camera set up and was taking video of it. To put this spot into some sort of perspective, it was nearly exactly like sitting on the edge of a field in the midwest somewhere. Not one bit of obstruction to block my views and I just had to sit and wait. Dave radio'd to me and said I bet that big buck comes out right at dark. Needless to say, I had deer activity out in the pasture nearly the entire afternoon. There was a few button bucks, a couple does and the bigger bucks just kept cruising thru. I had bucks from 50 yards as close as 10 yards many times. Here's a few pics to show what what was going on. This is the view I had looking SE across the pasture. All buck pics were taken thru the 15's. Even at 30 yards I was able to get fantastic pictures thru them! This buck just posed for all sorts of pics. So as I'm taking these pictures Dave is callin me on the radio flippin his LID!!! He asked me if I had time to run about a half mile to another clearing because there was an absolute MONSTER of a buck, that he swore would be in the 130's, standing there watching it's doe take a drink. I'm not kidding you when I say he was losing his mind! I couldn't do anything about it cause it was getting dark and I had bucks less than 20 yards from me at the time. What an evening! So it's getting dark and I just had to start packing my stuff in my pack even though I had one buck staring at me from 30 yards away. As I'm nearly done packing and about to leave I catch a glimpse of something across the flat. I snap my head over and here's the big 3x4 from that morning standing there looking around. I threw the gun up on top of my Outdoorsmans pack and held steady. I looked him over for no more than 5 seconds and made the decision to shoot not really even knowing how big the buck was. One shot and he never moved again! This the heaviest buck I've shot at 30 1/2" of mass. It grosses 109 3/8". Here's a pic of both Tim and me with our bucks. We saw lots of bucks in the 105-110 range and a couple in the mid teens we should've shot but didn't or couldn't. COME ON NEXT YEAR ALREADY!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pine Donkey Report post Posted January 31, 2012 Josh, that's a stud buck! Sounds like a great trip. I love the mass on that unique, high 2x3 that kept posing for you. Congratulations to both of you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted January 31, 2012 Way to go Josh. I'm happy for you on the success. Looks like it was over as soon as it started! Great buck, congratulations! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted January 31, 2012 Congrats on that stud! Nice pics too from the 15's Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cramerhunts Report post Posted January 31, 2012 Congratulations again buddy on a super sweet buck! Awesome job on the pics and write up of your hunt! Looks and sounds like a blast! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lucky2hunt Report post Posted January 31, 2012 That's an awesome buck! I love his eye guards! It's incredible you had deer so close to you, I need to find a field like that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gotcoues Report post Posted January 31, 2012 That's a great buck Josh, that middle pic looks like a big ol eastern w a coues rack. Kinda funny, sent Tim a pm asking where the other bucks were from your guys' trip. You posted this big guy right after. Hoping the other gents were successful as well, sounds like a great ranch! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GRONG Report post Posted January 31, 2012 That's an awesome buck! I love his eye guards! It's incredible you had deer so close to you, I need to find a field like that! Oh yeah.... You could've sat this field any day and shot at bucks with your bow! No telling what could walk thru at any time. I was only set up for rifle, had I been bowhunting I would've been on the opposite side in a blind under that big lone green tree in the first picture Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted January 31, 2012 Them are some nice bucks for sure and I could feel your excitement as I read your post. Congratulations to the both of you. Thanks for sharing. Ilene.....before I saw your reply I was thinking of you sitting in a blind next to that field. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TAM Report post Posted January 31, 2012 Congrats again Josh!!! Several days after Josh killed his buck out of that field we glassed it from a knob about 3/4 of a mile away and there was almost always deer hanging out in the middle of it all day long. The numbers of deer and rutting action in that area was amazing! I'm already starting to think about next year Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ernesto C Report post Posted January 31, 2012 AWESOME Josh!! Very nice and yes massive buck! Congrats to all of you. Ernesto C Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Payne Report post Posted February 1, 2012 Great bucks! It would definately be a privilage to hunt with Jim. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Antlerdog Report post Posted February 4, 2012 Congrats GRONG!!! The nice thing about having Josh in camp, is that he will find a good buck sooner or later. ( 3 years 3 good bucks ) He is also a very responsible and respectful hunter to both the animal he is hunting, and to other hunters. Congrats again buddy. Next year will be here before you know it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OpticNerd Report post Posted February 6, 2012 Good stuff! Really digging the live deer pics. Awesome job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunting6 Report post Posted February 6, 2012 Nice Job with some very nice bucks !!! Jim knows the choicest Ranches down there, no doubt about it.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
