The South Texas Buck

December 22, 2017 | « back

By: Ted Nugent

It was kind of dark, another misty dusk, and it came from a tangle down below!

That is the opening stanza of the 3rd verse of my magical spirit song Fred Bear, and I cannot tell you how many times those real hunting world lyrics have unfolded for me and many other hunters.

And so it was on this magical, mystical, soggy, foggy, wet, cold December afternoon in the phenomenal South Texas whitetail deer paradise brushlands near Knippa, Sabinal and Uvalde Texas when it unfolded with a dynamo that is every deerhunters dream.

Of course for me, every hunt, every day, everywhere under every and all conditions is truly a dreamhunt for me no matter what, but as the afternoon progressed, a substantially increased dynamo would take place.

I was hunting the vast, wide open, freerange low-fence 4M Ranch with my buddy Greg Mosing, a gungho, all American we the people Make America Great Again activist if ever there was one. Greg had recommended one of the many old tower box blinds overlooking the eternal wildlife habitat, and ranch hand and guide Will had dropped my SpiritWild VidCamDude Kris and I off for an early and long vigil to see what we could see.

Now you know me, and I sure don’t need a trophy buck for the books, as any critter cleanly killed is all the trophy I will ever need. But with all the backstrappers harvested so far this season, I was getting rather picky with waiting for a bigger, badder, heftier, boneheaded mature buck since I was in what may very well be the best bigger, badder, heftier mature buck hunting grounds in America.

Booners weren’t the norm here, but they were taken on a pretty regular basis since the Mosing clan had chosen long ago to not kill younger bucks, while at the same time filling their Managed Land Deer Permits with bucks sporting racks on the low side of the regional genetics scales.

And since I was hunting this evening with my ultimate longrange sniper rig, I didn’t have to torture myself waiting for deer to get with range of my Mathews bow.

My Go-To sniper rig consists of an amazing custom .308 bolt rifle created by the mad-sniper-scientists at GA Precision out of Kansas City, Kansas.

Suppressed with a Silencerco suppressor, topped with 3.5X16 Bushnell glass and shooting my own 180 grain Sierra Game King Ted Nugent Ammo consistently under 1” MOA at around 2700fps, this rifle is a genuine 1000-yard sniper rig if need be.

I much prefer to keep my shots under 400 yards in most scenarios, but the confidence factor is lacking for nothing when I strap this baby on.

The drizzle and fog continued to increase off and on all afternoon, and we were rather surprised at the minimal activity for such a game-rich environment.

A big doe and fawn was nibbling away at corn a couple hundred yards out. A really huge bobcat emerged from the ultra-thick puckerbrush at one point and the old doe charged after the big tom and ran it off.

Another doe appeared farther out at one point, and when I again slowly turned to glance in the opposite direction, he was there!

Even in the light obscuring fog, his massive, bulky body and substantial crown of chocolate antlers stood out, and as I lifted my Bushnell binos to my eyes, he appeared to be staring a hole clean through me at about 150+ yards.

My lifetime of dealing with maniac spooky Michigan deer kicked in and I froze. Kris knew what this non-action meant and patiently remained statuesque with me for what seemed forever.

When the buck finally turned his head to join the doe, Kris and I carefully, slowly and invisibly made our stealthy move in the tiny box blind, he turning the vidcam into position while I rested my .308 on the blind windowsill, and but seconds later, phook went the suppressed round and WHOP went the 180 grains against muscled flesh as the buck lunged and pivoted hard with a direct hit to the shoulder.

I had no idea just how much bone this old boy had on his head, but I knew I had just killed a classic, South Texas brush country monarch, mature, old, big, bad, hefty and of truly trophy caliber.

My hunch was spot on, and when I grabbed the old boy by the beautiful brown antler to drag him out of the scrub, Kris and I immediately knew he was the one!

As we harvest the essential surplus number each hunting season, the vast majority of us are completely satisfied and happy with a doe and or the buck we individually decide to kill.

When you hunt as much as I do, much venison flows, and I always dream of killing a mature, quality specimen for the region I am hunting.

At my humble feet lay the epitome of a top 1% beast in the famous South Texas brush country, and Kris and I sighed and ogled this stunning animal for the longest time.

I mean, just look at him! Probably 7 years old, dark hide, darker face, gorgeous indigenous brown, tall, wide, hefty antlers, absolutely delicious, black, gooey, oozing, nostril flaring rutty tarsal glands, and truly a stud boss-daddy of a buck.

I arrowed a number of soul stirring beasts and sniped a few more with my trusty .308Sniper, and all in all I can honestly say I achieved the South Texas dream hunt of a lifetime.

No wonder this part of Texas all around Uvalde is alive and kicking with a flurry of hardcore deerhunters nonstop all fall and winter every year.

This buck surely represents a buck of a lifetime for this old rock-n-roll deerhunter, but as always, the expanse of the overall experience is magnified and maximized by the wonderful people that were such a positive part of this South Texas whitetail safari.

A big thank you to Greg Mosing and family for sharing their paradise, the great people at Ofelia’s and Fernando Rodriguez and crew at Live Oak Gorditas, my fellow sporters at The Oasis, Brent Oxley, Carlton Ross and Jason and everyone at the Ox Ranch, Phil and Josh Packer at the 3P Ranch, Nick, Michael and T-Bone and all the Bone Collector gang, Mike Stroff and all the wonderful people of Uvalde and South Texas.

Am I the luckiest deerhunter in America or what! May you all have a wonderful Christmas with family, friends, venbison and Holiday deerhunting FUN!