End of the year I felt good...had a couple deer right at the 160 mark within bowrange but decided to let em go. Both of those I was ready to see next year but I still remember thinking a lot about that youngster. Guessed him in the 30s then.
2018 rolls around and the main frame 11 with split brows I had passed had turned into a 12 but he was missing his splits and his horns had gotten a tad smaller. Looked at his head closer and could tell he was an old deer on the way down and I had miss aged him the year before. The youngster though stayed a 10 but he grew splits on both brows. His tines didn’t seem to get much taller but his main beams seemed to rise taller off his head and he got tagged the name High Beams. His horns that year also turned a beautiful dark brown with ivory at the the tips of his tines. I can honestly say he made the loudest grunt that year I’ve ever heard...was in the cottonwood and across the hill on the neighbors I heard it and started second guessing cause it was that loud and deep. There was cows over there...so for a split second thought maybe a bull. Then pops a doe over with him behind...he chased her beside me and eventually they went back the way they came. End of the year I knew my goal of not shooting them till they’re 5 was going to be tested the following year. He was 3 and right around the 150 mark.
Late summer of 2019 I find myself taking the card out of the camera facing the hole I had put some salt in. Got back to the house up there and put the computer on the table and with anticipation started going through the card. Didn’t take too long and there he was...instantly I knew I was probably going to have to forgive myself for trying to take one out early. He looked upper 70s maybe reaching 80s with the trash. Also had a cool looking curved little droptine. Got back south and tried to sleep at night and be patient. But when the velvet came off he got a tad smaller and then I started questioning it....I was guessing right at 170 and kept remembering he’s only 4.
Couldn’t make up my mind totally so at the 1st of October I ran up there. Told myself I was going sit and if he came out I would make up my mind then with eyes on him. If he took my breath away I was going to take him...if not then he was walking.
Didn’t see him that trip but at the end of October I was back...had to wait 3 or 4 days for the wind to change direction but when it did I was finally back in the cottonwood. Never forget that day... it got cold and snow started blowing from my left to the right. Just felt really good that day and sure enough a young buck pops out a little earlier than I was expecting and my bow was still on the hook. A few seconds later and behind him there he stood...the same draw I took a video of him coming out a couple years earlier. Really slow I reach for my bow...but then he looks like he’s looking right at me. Still remember thinking no way he could have seen that...no way. But there he stood seemingly forever but then the slow walk coming forward. Got my bow ready and then he stops again...but this time his manner seems relaxed. He’s about 45 yards and he stares for a little bit and does the head wag.
Now up to that point I had never seen a 170 class buck do a head wag in blowing snow. Yep never forget that one. Now not quite sure if I was still in awe of the head wag but as he started getting closer I could still feel myself breathing which in the beginning that meant...this deer gets a pass. At 20 yards he gets broadside standing there and I’m thinking and studying his chocolate tines...his ivory tipped tines nearly blending in with the driving snow. My decision didn’t take long since I was still breathing so I reached into my pocket to at least get some more video of him.
Just at that time a cow next door let’s out a bellow and he trots off about 15 yards and turns around and stares at the cows direction. Decides he doesn’t like the situation and trots back where he came from. Since I knew I wasn’t going to shoot him that year I stopped sitting there until the last 3 days. A big older 10 had showed up and looked like he was on the downward path so I wanted him. On December 31st High Beams again graced me with his appearance and one point walked right underneath the same limb he did 2 years prior. Got some video of him this time...although it was short cause the cold killed my phone pretty quickly after taking it out.
2020 and again I get velvet pics but this time I get a couple a little earlier in June and I can tell he’s blowing up. His tines are still short but he’s adding some incredible stuff. Late summer confirms it...lots more trash and it’s long. The mass seems even thicker as well. Now at 5 he’s right at 190.
By now even though I thought his age was right enough to shoot I was nearly getting too close to him. Mr. Braun on here would probably attest to that cause I was talking to him some and by this point it was nearly going to be a sad thing to shoot him. But I think the style I use to hunt sometimes was starting to backfire on me. Also it doesn’t help when someone on here keeps calling you by the name of Michelle. But trust me I still wanted him and I’m pretty sure if he would have stepped out in range I would have no problem trying to put an arrow through him.
Speed things up...he didn’t and some other things happened that year. He went nocturnal or so I thought but later found out that he was out traveling. Ended up shooting a decent one but later in the year found out High Beams had made it through the year. Mr. Braun kindly told me that maybe if I wanted to kill him the next year I might needed to change my tactics...should have listened to him earlier in the year.
Spring of 2021 I walked my butt off and got lucky and found one of his sheds. My guess was right on....even with 2 points broken off totally about 7 inches he still went 91 on that side with no spread.
Again at the hunter house up there this past summer going through the card. Really expecting to see High Beams in velvet exceeding 200. Well I’m wrong and can’t hardly believe it...at 6 he has dropped about 20 inches. Remember him looking really worn down and skinny at the end of last year and then had that really cold spell in February. That probably kicked his butt and I bet he didn’t recover quick enough...don’t know just guessing cause usually I thought they still grew some at 6.
This season not many pics of him at all. Then later y’all know what happened when disaster struck me up in the hills...call the therapist...what the .... did I do type of situation.
Before Thanksgiving I learned that one hunter by the way he described him had seen High Beams but didn’t get a shot. Few days later another one takes a video of him and sends it to me but the deer didn’t get close enough. Got another area there I can hunt close by so on the way up there I tell my son High Beams could show up there. A few more old enough but maybe not impressive in horns including another wide 8pt with a droptine.
Saturday morning is his last sit...he always likes to get back for church on Sunday morning. He calls me and says he’s ready to be picked up...right before I get there I noticed the neighbor’s truck is parked different and I look and thought I seen maybe they was pulling something. Very nice older gentleman I met last year. Picked up my son and on the way back I noticed a deer cart at the back of the truck with big horns...oh wow.
Jumped out with greetings and there at the back lays the droptine buck that his sweet wife had just shot. Told them how good she did and how that was a very old deer...which I’m sure they already knew. Got to talking and she said something about how tall the one her husband shot...and then he asked me if I had pics of it. Told him way down the road I had one I had been watching which had gotten smaller this year but lately had been seen in the area. After describing the deer I knew he just had gotten High Beams about a week a half earlier. Helped them load the buck and put the deer cart in the back of my truck...he said I could stop by and see the rack.
On the way I called my friend from Iowa and said well High Beams is no longer. Told him how if there was somebody else that was going to get him I was sure glad it was this guy. A local guy that was born in Kansas and just a very nice and humble man.
Now I’m not going to say it didn’t sting a little when he walked around the back of that shed holding High Beam’s horns and he handed them to me. But holding them felt good and in the presence of this man I knew he belonged there. My heart warmed when he took me into his house and where he had 3 other deer mounted there was a trail cam pic of High Beams the year before on his wall. He said that was the first pic he had ever gotten of the deer and that year that was all he got so he developed it, enlarged it and framed it. That made me feel really good to know that he thought enough of this deer to do that.
When we stopped back by there a few minutes later right before our trip back they were out together cleaning her deer which I thought was really neat. Got their address so I could send him pics of High Beams that I have developed as well throughout his years.
Called him today to learn a little more about them and they are very good people. Been married for 40 something years. Started hunting together right after they got married and been hunting together ever since. I could have told you their hunting style without asking them but wanted to confirm it...they both like to hunt from the ground backed up into a cedar tree. He said on High Beams though he noticed a pretty good trail though in the CRP so took out a pop up since nothing was there and blended it in with the background and covered it in. Hope to make it up there for 2 or 3 days on Christmas break...they said maybe one evening we could come over for dinner. I’m so glad now how this turned out and where High Beams is at.
So long High Beams and you rest easy Ole Timer cause you’re in good hands now. Thank you for all the memories...the sunlit walk out of the draw, the bull grunt roar you let out, the head wag in the snow, the cow scaring you away, the wide circle you made around that badger cause you didn’t like the look of him. Those I’ll never forget and plus all the thoughts about you.
One last thing High Beams...the Ole Timer that you are this should make you feel at ease. When you were taking your last walk through that CRP and you heard that fake grunt to get you stopped? That fake grunt didn’t come from me...you know the person that was involved with the inches on your head and was trying to lure you in with something. That fake grunt didn’t come from an outfitter...you know the person that wants to profit off the inches on your head. That fake grunt didn’t come from a hunter with a TV guy behind him...you know the guy again trying to profit and turn you into some kind of a sport. That fake grunt didn’t come from a sporting guy...you know the so called new generation of bowhunters with jacked up egos trying to outdo each other just to look down on others not realizing their ways causes sometimes jacked up shots. That fake grunt didn’t come from a poacher...you know the guy that doesn’t seem to respect not only you but anybody else as well.
I’m here to tell you High Beams that the person that was tucked into those weeds that day was a lot better than me and all of this. When you strolled by that day and you heard your last fake grunt...it came from an Ole Timer.
Well I gathered some pics here...not going to show the Ole Timers face just yet. Thinking he told me yesterday it was probably alright but I’m going to err on the safe side...he doesn’t seem to be a showboat guy. Notice how he’s not holding the horns way out to make them appear larger.
Pretty sure several were guilty of the "name game" back then too ;?)
