Fellas, Here's the write up I did on another crazy hunt at Legends. As I said before, it's a high fence ranch where they grow stupid big deer. It's not for everyone, but I had a great time again and it's fun to see so many monsters in a week. I went to get a droptine...and got one...scored at 303 and some change. Not as big as the last one, but exactly what I hoped for!
WARNING: LONG READ
This is the story of the year I passed up a world record typical whitetail and killed a deer while wearing no pants.
I got a call from my Uncle earlier in the year. He asked if my brother, Joel and I would like to hunt at Legends again this year. I have been twice to this amazing ranch, but this year we were coming off of losing our brother and going through one of the toughest seasons of life since we lost Ava. I could not possibly have been more grateful at the mere thought of being far away from Orlando in a lodge in the woods. The only hitch in the plan was that Joel was scheduled to have a daughter born really close to that date, so after some thought and conversation with my uncle he just told me to "have a friend go with me". It didn't take me long to figure out who that should be because there aren't many people I know who would appreciate a trip like this more than my cousin Aaron. Between that and knowing that Isaac would have wanted Aaron to go in that situation, I asked my cousin Aaron to go with me. As we got closer to the trip, it appeared that one of my other uncles, Mark (who is a world class photographer and friends with the owners of Legends) would be able to come and spend some time at the lodge and in the field with us to document the trip. I was incredibly excited about this because I knew that would mean I would get to have really good quality memories of an awesome week. One thing I have learned at this stage of my life is that pictures matter. I cherish every picture I have of family.
Two weeks prior to the hunt there was an email sent that the ownership at Legends was changing the week before the hunt. After sorting out that little bump in the road I was reassured that the hunt would actually happen and that the week I had been thinking about for months was going to still be great. It was a little dicey for a few days...but all great stuff has it's challenges so I just assumed that was happening and my week was going to be even better because of it! It was... I was right.
I flew in to Grand Rapids on Monday and landed around noon. I was picked up at the airport by my friend (and Legends taxidermist) Randy. On the way there he told me of bucks they had seen that were well over 300" of antler. I had a hard time containing my excitement and felt myself getting buck fever in the passenger seat as we headed to the ranch.
When we arrived at the ranch, I saw many of the old friendly faces that I had met in years past. Among those were the other guys that hunt that particular week each year for the "invitational". John Eddie and Carson were among the guys I had met before. They are great guys with incredible stories of business success and they are always willing to talk about what they learned. It is great to learn from them and I was looking forward to the time spent with them as much as the time spent in the field. I then met the guy who would become my favorite to hang out with all week. Kenny Jones is a tall man from southern Georgia with a drawl so thick that it would have helped if he came with subtitles that floated above his head when spoke. He brought his wife, LIla Jones and they entertained all week. The had bigger than life personalities and he was a self made man who went from pipe welder to billionaire by building relationships and tool boxes for the back of pick up trucks.
I spent considerable time with Kenny over the week. He entertained me a lot and left me with quotes like, "I told that sonofabitch to go f$#* himself, Ain't nobody love Jesus more than Kenny Jones"--this was in response to a business deal where a man was questioning his integrity. I could write a book of these from my week. That one just happened to be one of my favorites...
So, on to the actual hunting---
My guide, Corey asked me what I was hoping to get this week and if I liked anything in particular that we could hold out for or look for. I told him that I'd always loved big nasty antlers and I really wanted to have a buck with a "droptine". He let me know there were a few of them on the ranch that they see occasionally and that we would try to get on one. He told me later that the one I would eventually get was the one that he had in mind, but he had not seen him for weeks...
We headed out on Monday night to a blind they call "stump". It sits over an open grass field surrounded by woods and high grasses. The deer come from all sides to that area and we saw a few "smaller" bucks in the first hour.
Following those guys into the field as the sun began to set, a monster of a typical buck walked into the field. Corey let me know that it was one of the best bucks he's ever seen and that if there was any way I wanted to shoot a typical then I should definitely take that buck. I watched him for 20 minutes through my binoculars and just couldn't pull the trigger knowing that there were big gnarly droptine bucks out there and it was only the first night. So, I let him walk. Upon returning to camp, I let Carson (seafood dude) know that I saw what he was after. He wanted a big typical really bad. So, he spent the rest of the week hunting that blind to try to get him. Later in the week, he got him. He hugged me when he came into camp that night. It was hilarious to watch a grown man look like a 2 year old on Christmas..big deer do that to these guys.
When all the dust settled and they had scored Carson's deer that I passed up, he scored over 300" when counting all antler and scored 247" as a typical rack. Which by the way, is a world record for a typical buck in SCI's trophy book. So, I let a world record deer walk by me without a shot...because I wanted a droptine...hahaha
Back to my hunt. Fast forward to Tuesday night and me having let many deer walk that I could have taken. I could tell that Corey knew I was going to hold out for a big droptine buck at this point. He didn't even bother asking about the clean big bucks that were walking in
We set up for the evening in a blind they call 15 mile. It is about 800 yards away from the location of my last Legends deer that scored 357". It was hot. So hot that I took off my pants and was just wearing a pair of tights in the blind! About 5:30 pm, after seeing a few 200" deer come in...
My buck walked in from the left. Without hesitation, Corey said, "There's your deer. You should shoot that one. That is exactly what you told me you are here for!!" I looked and knew in a split second he was exactly right. This deer had junk all over his rack and had a massive drop on his right side. Without even taking time to look closely, I raised my .257 Wby mag and put the crosshairs on the front shoulder at 125 yards. Upon report of the rifle I watched the buck raise to his hind legs and then plow forward for about 10 yards with both shoulders out of commission. Corey and I high-fived and looked back at the deer only to watch him get up using only his back legs and jump into the high grass...Corey kept yelling "stay down! don't make me look in that grass!!!" I chuckled and so did he knowing that there was no way that deer was going far. We saw the grass moving for about 30 seconds and then all went still. We knew he had expired. We took about 30 minutes to sit in the blind and soak up the moment. I spent most of that time shaking and trying to get my heart rate somewhere near normal again. It didn't work. I couldn't calm down. I had just shot exactly what I wanted and I knew the deer was awesome.
We left the blind to go find my deer. It was wonderfully uneventful. He was right inside the high grass exactly where we thought he was. I called Aaron and my Uncle Mark to come and take pictures. Since Aaron had shot his deer on the first day, I knew they were close and could come help me document the moment. We got a few great pictures...here are a couple of them:
I will leave you with this quote from Kenny Jones; "Everybody needs someone they can depend on, even if they are Mexican"
WARNING: LONG READ
This is the story of the year I passed up a world record typical whitetail and killed a deer while wearing no pants.
I got a call from my Uncle earlier in the year. He asked if my brother, Joel and I would like to hunt at Legends again this year. I have been twice to this amazing ranch, but this year we were coming off of losing our brother and going through one of the toughest seasons of life since we lost Ava. I could not possibly have been more grateful at the mere thought of being far away from Orlando in a lodge in the woods. The only hitch in the plan was that Joel was scheduled to have a daughter born really close to that date, so after some thought and conversation with my uncle he just told me to "have a friend go with me". It didn't take me long to figure out who that should be because there aren't many people I know who would appreciate a trip like this more than my cousin Aaron. Between that and knowing that Isaac would have wanted Aaron to go in that situation, I asked my cousin Aaron to go with me. As we got closer to the trip, it appeared that one of my other uncles, Mark (who is a world class photographer and friends with the owners of Legends) would be able to come and spend some time at the lodge and in the field with us to document the trip. I was incredibly excited about this because I knew that would mean I would get to have really good quality memories of an awesome week. One thing I have learned at this stage of my life is that pictures matter. I cherish every picture I have of family.
Two weeks prior to the hunt there was an email sent that the ownership at Legends was changing the week before the hunt. After sorting out that little bump in the road I was reassured that the hunt would actually happen and that the week I had been thinking about for months was going to still be great. It was a little dicey for a few days...but all great stuff has it's challenges so I just assumed that was happening and my week was going to be even better because of it! It was... I was right.
I flew in to Grand Rapids on Monday and landed around noon. I was picked up at the airport by my friend (and Legends taxidermist) Randy. On the way there he told me of bucks they had seen that were well over 300" of antler. I had a hard time containing my excitement and felt myself getting buck fever in the passenger seat as we headed to the ranch.
When we arrived at the ranch, I saw many of the old friendly faces that I had met in years past. Among those were the other guys that hunt that particular week each year for the "invitational". John Eddie and Carson were among the guys I had met before. They are great guys with incredible stories of business success and they are always willing to talk about what they learned. It is great to learn from them and I was looking forward to the time spent with them as much as the time spent in the field. I then met the guy who would become my favorite to hang out with all week. Kenny Jones is a tall man from southern Georgia with a drawl so thick that it would have helped if he came with subtitles that floated above his head when spoke. He brought his wife, LIla Jones and they entertained all week. The had bigger than life personalities and he was a self made man who went from pipe welder to billionaire by building relationships and tool boxes for the back of pick up trucks.
I spent considerable time with Kenny over the week. He entertained me a lot and left me with quotes like, "I told that sonofabitch to go f$#* himself, Ain't nobody love Jesus more than Kenny Jones"--this was in response to a business deal where a man was questioning his integrity. I could write a book of these from my week. That one just happened to be one of my favorites...
So, on to the actual hunting---
My guide, Corey asked me what I was hoping to get this week and if I liked anything in particular that we could hold out for or look for. I told him that I'd always loved big nasty antlers and I really wanted to have a buck with a "droptine". He let me know there were a few of them on the ranch that they see occasionally and that we would try to get on one. He told me later that the one I would eventually get was the one that he had in mind, but he had not seen him for weeks...
We headed out on Monday night to a blind they call "stump". It sits over an open grass field surrounded by woods and high grasses. The deer come from all sides to that area and we saw a few "smaller" bucks in the first hour.
Following those guys into the field as the sun began to set, a monster of a typical buck walked into the field. Corey let me know that it was one of the best bucks he's ever seen and that if there was any way I wanted to shoot a typical then I should definitely take that buck. I watched him for 20 minutes through my binoculars and just couldn't pull the trigger knowing that there were big gnarly droptine bucks out there and it was only the first night. So, I let him walk. Upon returning to camp, I let Carson (seafood dude) know that I saw what he was after. He wanted a big typical really bad. So, he spent the rest of the week hunting that blind to try to get him. Later in the week, he got him. He hugged me when he came into camp that night. It was hilarious to watch a grown man look like a 2 year old on Christmas..big deer do that to these guys.
When all the dust settled and they had scored Carson's deer that I passed up, he scored over 300" when counting all antler and scored 247" as a typical rack. Which by the way, is a world record for a typical buck in SCI's trophy book. So, I let a world record deer walk by me without a shot...because I wanted a droptine...hahaha
Back to my hunt. Fast forward to Tuesday night and me having let many deer walk that I could have taken. I could tell that Corey knew I was going to hold out for a big droptine buck at this point. He didn't even bother asking about the clean big bucks that were walking in
We set up for the evening in a blind they call 15 mile. It is about 800 yards away from the location of my last Legends deer that scored 357". It was hot. So hot that I took off my pants and was just wearing a pair of tights in the blind! About 5:30 pm, after seeing a few 200" deer come in...My buck walked in from the left. Without hesitation, Corey said, "There's your deer. You should shoot that one. That is exactly what you told me you are here for!!" I looked and knew in a split second he was exactly right. This deer had junk all over his rack and had a massive drop on his right side. Without even taking time to look closely, I raised my .257 Wby mag and put the crosshairs on the front shoulder at 125 yards. Upon report of the rifle I watched the buck raise to his hind legs and then plow forward for about 10 yards with both shoulders out of commission. Corey and I high-fived and looked back at the deer only to watch him get up using only his back legs and jump into the high grass...Corey kept yelling "stay down! don't make me look in that grass!!!" I chuckled and so did he knowing that there was no way that deer was going far. We saw the grass moving for about 30 seconds and then all went still. We knew he had expired. We took about 30 minutes to sit in the blind and soak up the moment. I spent most of that time shaking and trying to get my heart rate somewhere near normal again. It didn't work. I couldn't calm down. I had just shot exactly what I wanted and I knew the deer was awesome.
We left the blind to go find my deer. It was wonderfully uneventful. He was right inside the high grass exactly where we thought he was. I called Aaron and my Uncle Mark to come and take pictures. Since Aaron had shot his deer on the first day, I knew they were close and could come help me document the moment. We got a few great pictures...here are a couple of them:
I will leave you with this quote from Kenny Jones; "Everybody needs someone they can depend on, even if they are Mexican"
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