Whitetail Management: A Deer Named Darrell
Nick Powell and I were sitting in a blind on a Wednesday afternoon. We just met the night prior, so we were getting to know one another and solving all the world’s issues from the comforts of the blind. This was our second evening hunt during our Texas whitetail management hunt, so we both already had multiple deer\turkey in the coolers, including the deer we harvested earlier Wednesday morning. I harvested a cull buck from the same blind we were sitting in, just hours earlier. So, this was a very relaxing, no-pressure sit. Our goal was to get some decent footage and content as we were hoping we would get to share it with the group back at camp. We did okay. At times, during the hunt, it got a little hectic. When you have two really good looking 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 year old bucks that are only 30 yards away looking at you, as well as a herd of does that were hesitant and cautious but still eating the corn at 20 yards, it seems like forever for them to get broad side. We did end up both making very good shots and harvesting does by the end of the hunt. Nick recovered his doe and mine was found later while Darrell was hanging around.
The Deer Named Darrell
We first saw this little button buck hanging around the two corn piles that I placed within bow range. I "strategically" placed one at 20 yards and another at 30 yards for optimal harvesting opportunities. This button buck was going back and forth from one corn pile to the other. He kept getting pushed around by some pushy does and continuously got run off by some awesome looking bucks which he can only dream of being someday. He also got a little curious of the blind and walked past us at only five yards. One of the does left the herd and walked over to a set of low hanging trees, which put Nick in a great position to harvest the mature deer with a well placed shot. This scattered the deer from the area…for a little while.
We gave the doe a couple minutes and we used this time to come down a little from the rush. We recovered the doe and placed her next to the blind, and then got back in to see if I could get one down. With a little wait, more does started showing back up, along with the same button buck. We let the does get somewhat comfortable again and one gave me a great 20-yard broadside shot. I got a beautiful pass through shot on film. We were thinking this deer is no farther then 50 yards down the back side of the hill. Nick and I sat there, again trying to settle ourselves from the action. As we got out of the blind to get the recovery footage, we weren’t expecting to not find my deer. After finding and examining my arrow, which we could see from the blind, we thought there was no way this deer wasn’t down. The arrow was covered from tip to nock with bright red blood. It was all greased up. Well, two hours later and what felt like hundreds of yards, we still only found very little blood. How, with the arrow so greased up, was there such little blood on the ground? Nick and I searched for this deer with the company of the little button buck under the trees watching us. Sam also joined us after his own hunt. With no prevail, we called off the search until the morning as to not jump or push the deer farther out. We got back to the lodge, unloaded, ate dinner, and looked at the footage of my shot to see how good it was. The footage showed that it was a well-placed shot and that this should be a dead deer, but why such little blood and why no deer?
Darrell hanging with the big boys
The next morning, I went back to the same blind we sat in the evening before. I wanted to find my deer really badly, so it didn’t go to waste. My plan was to sit the morning and then again try to recover the deer. So, when I got to the blind Thursday morning I "strategically" placed my corn/Vapple mixture in the same spot. I was hoping for another show from mother nature and to put another deer down. As I was sitting in the blind watching the amazing sunrise in the South Texas sky, drinking my coffee, and eating my banana, I was thinking about how awesome this experience and opportunity had been, and took this time to soak it all in. Then, I see some movement from underneath the same set of low hanging trees that Nick shot his doe under the night before. So, I put my coffee down and strapped up my release. I’m thinking its game time, and the herd of does are coming back to the corn/Vapple mixture that I have placed for them. I was going to try to put one on the ground early so I could go search for my other deer from the night before. To my surprise, it was the same little button buck from the previous evening. He came back to eat before the pushy does got there. The cute little guy had the place all to himself. It was then that I gave him the name, Darrell.
I watched him go back and forth from the two different feeding areas for a while until a cull buck showed up to join him. I took the 30-yard shot on the cull buck with Darrell eating right next to him. When I shot, both deer scattered. I watched the buck I shot run up a hill, and as he hit the crest of the hill, he disappeared. I sat there second guessing my shot placement and hoping my deer went down at the top of the hill. I looked back towards the feeding areas, and there, once again the button buck stood, at the corn/Vapple recipe in the same spot like nothing ever happened. I waited for the sun to get higher for more light before I went to go track down two deer and to give the buck, that I shot, time to expire. Darrell was still alone in the area, the does never showed up all morning.
So, Darrell and I hung out for a while. He never cared what I was doing. I mean, I wasn’t quiet at all. I was standing up, stretching, moving around, refilling my coffee cup from my thermos, and playing on my phone. At about 9 am, I had enough waiting and it was time to go recover the two deer and my arrow. So, as Darrel stood 20 yards from me, I looked at him and said, “I'm going to come out of the blind now. You might want to run away.” I said this loud too. He didn’t move or look at me. So, I unzipped the blind to exit and I didn’t take my time at all, or do anything quietly because the coffee needed to come out, bad. I got out of the blind walked over to the side where Darrell was eating and took a pee right in front of him. He looked at me with not a care in the world. I started to walk toward where I saw my arrow fall from the deer I just shot. Darrell started to head towards the trees as I passed by him. I went around the big tree that the buck ran under after being shot and I couldn’t find my arrow or any blood again. So, I made my way to where I saw the deer crest the hill and as I hit the top, there was my buck.
Now, I'm dragging my deer back to the blind. I'm coming around a tree where the corn/Vapple feeding area was, and there he was. Darrell was standing over the corn/Vapple mixture, AGAIN, eating away. He stood there and watched me, as I drug that deer right in front of him. He didn’t move a muscle. I was amazed that nothing bothered this deer, he was like he was a pet, or he knew that he was safe because we weren’t there for him.
By the time I get the buck to the blind and get my stuff packed up and out of the blind, I could hear a side-by-side coming my way. It was Sam coming to help look for my deer from the evening before and to pick me up. By the way, Darrell was still standing at the feeding area when Sam pulled up. I was over by the area we last saw blood and was going to start working the trail again. Sam meets me where we left off last night. As he approached, he says “There is a deer at the corn.” I said, "Oh, Darrell is still here." Sam looked at me with a smile and said, "Darrell?" In my head I was thinking that he was probably wondering what this crazy Minnesotan guy is doing naming deer in Texas? We both had a good chuckle as I explained Darrell's story. He hung around while we looked for my deer. I cannot recall if he was there when we loaded both my deer up. We did end up finding my doe from the night before. She ended up in some tall grass, over a hundred yards away from where Nick and I left off. I was amazed that this deer made it that far. The night before, I didn’t check the area where we found her because it was a ways out. The bad thing is that we weren’t the first ones to find my deer. As I approached it, I noticed that the coyotes had eaten the back end off of the deer. Fortunately, some of it was still salvageable.
We get back to the lodge and get the deer unloaded, cleaned, and ready for the coolers. We were talking with the guys about the morning adventure, going over successes and missed opportunities. When the “Darrell” subject came up, Sam and I explained this little button buck and how tamed he seemed to be. Also, how I named the deer. Nick had a good laugh about it, as he got to enjoy Darrell’s company the afternoon before. After lunch and cleaning deer, everyone started to get ready to go out for the evening. It was time to figure out where everyone was sitting for the last evening hunt of the trip. I wasn’t going back to the blind where Darrell was because I had already harvested three deer out of that blind and I wanted different scenery. So, Pro Staffer Tim Berges said he would like to sit in the "Darrell Blind" and put one of those pushy does down. As we were explaining to Tim how the deer were going to come into the feed areas, with a smile on my face I said, “Tim, now DON'T SHOOT DARRELL! He's my buddy!” We all had a good laugh about it.
-Andy Meeks, Fall Obsession Field Staff