When my phone alarm went crazy at 5am this Sunday morning, I laid there for a minute and remembered that it was already July 9th, just 12 weeks away from the kickoff of Whitetail season here in the middle of Texas. Is anyone else wondering where the time has gone this summer? After filling up my mug with some extremely potent coffee, I loaded up the Polaris and headed on my way south about an hour. One of the places that I'm hunting this season is an area that hasn't been hunted at all over the last number of years and though I'm over the moon excited about that, it also means that I have to start from scratch when it comes to buck inventory and what's going on there. I've been to this spot in the past to hunt coyotes, but never really to seriously pursue big Texas bucks.
Like a kid on Christmas morning, I unloaded the machine, packed up my gear and set out in search of a new spot. This location is a typical Hill Country ranch with terrain that seriously varies between meadows and river bottoms to steep rock ledges; oh and did I mention, plenty of cedar? After hunting coyotes here for a couple of seasons, I've had my eye on a small meadow that backs up to a bedding area and has two runs that converge on either end of it. During the early season this spot should produce between feeding and bedding times and during the rut, I'm hoping that the sheer amount of space between the sendero and the meadow will offer a good shot opportunity if a buck should come cruising through.
Not long after deciding on this location, I put out two of my favorite things, Big & J and a Cuddeback camera. I couldn't help myself so I decided to park the Polaris back in the brush and set up for a couple of hours to glass the area. What do you know, it literally took 30 minutes before settling to watch a few does and a couple of up and coming velvet bucks to walk on by. Hopefully this week some bigger bucks will find the spot and get caught on the Cuddeback.
Let the scouting begin!
