On the Hunt for Low-Cost Bucks
Tips, tactics and overlooked places that may produce a whitetail buck of a lifetime.
Story and Photography By Robert Sloan
Just how big is deer hunting in Texas? Well, you can start by figuring that there are more than a million folks gearing up for the Nov. 5 opener. What’s more you can calculate that all those hunters generate more than 2 billion dollars to the state’s economy – each season.
It’s almost a fanatical day when deer season opens. The night before the opener there are literally traffic jams in major metropolitan areas caused by deer hunters exiting civilization. You can tell they are going hunting because all those SUV’s and pickups are towing trailers that are loaded with ATV’s, coolers, and enough food and gear to outfit them for days.
The weeks prior to the opener you can bet your last box of ammo that thousands of hunters have been hanging out at the gun range, making multiple trips to sporting goods or gun stores and are more than ready when the alarm goes off at 4 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5. There is one thing on the minds of so many hunters – it’s getting a shot at that elusive wall hanger that can show up any time at just about any place in the woods, brush and senderos of the Lone Star State.
What are your chances of shooting a deer? Better than 50 percent. That’s because there is an estimated 3.6 million deer running wild across this here state. But what are your chances of getting a shot at a trophy? Well, consider this. First of all you don’t always need a gun to score big on a record setting buck. Second, you don’t have to be hunting on a sprawling ranch to get the shot of a lifetime.
One of the all-time highest scoring bucks in Texas history was shot on a tiny piece of land in Grayson County. That non-typical buck scored just over 260 B&C points. Robert Taylor took the deer on his 4.7 acre property with his bow in December of 2012.
And then there’s A.J. Downs’ state record open range archery buck taken in 2012 in San Jacinto County. The 28-pointer scored just over 256 B&C points.
Sometimes persistence is the key to being a successful trophy buck hunter.
