There are several things to consider to increase the chance of seeing a trophy caliber buck in December.

Story and Photography by Bob Zaiglin

As the sun dipped below the horizon I was stealthily making my way towards a small oats patch established in the middle of a dense stand of South Texas thorn scrub.  The chilly winter air smacking me squarely in the face insured me that the blue norther arriving would disperse my scent southward, providing me an excellent opportunity to observe a mature buck or two from a concealed vantage point I had previously established on the south end of the field.

Crawling on hands and knees, pausing only occasionally to remove the ubiquitous sticker burrs from my hands, I covertly reached the field’s edge and a curtain of brush that prevented deer from seeing me.  Peering around the side of the wilted, partially defoliated bush, I noticed a cloud of dust near one of the persimmon mottes within the red, sandy field.

Abruptly, a doe dashed into the open only to come to an abrupt halt, staring back in the direction from which she came.  Seconds later she darted back around the motte as a mature, heavy-bodied buck, head down, hazed her around the only protection she had.  With a substantial number of tines on long, sweeping beams, with a lot of air between them, my heart raced as I critiqued the rack through my binoculars each time it paused long enough for me to do so.