Nate "new breed" Esparza

Well good news, got down outta stand and shot bow at home. it was spot on i just shanked it. I left lease at 10, went home shot bow realized i dropped my SD card went back out and decided to move a cam over one of the mock scrapes i made last night. I had moved one but moved the other after i found this. . 99% sure tHis wasnt there at 10am as i walked right by it, and 100% sure it wasnt there last night, for this was a tree i looked at making a camera tree. also found a real scrape on my way out. I was back out at the place by 1pm.

well work and life in general has kept my feet grounded. I got to go out last week with my wife to our farm a few hours away saw alot of deer, just nothing in range or on our property. best shot i had was a 350 yd broadside shot on a 150"+ 3x3 mule deer. had him at 100 in the middle of a group of mule does and the one time he started to step clear, a doe went with and kept her head blocking the vitals. Woulda shot but mule deer does are off limit. will be making a long day trip sunday. 2.5 hour drive there, through deer infested roads, in the dark, then hunt all day, then drive back. LEave 3am and be back around 10pm.

drive safe and have fun

well yesterday was a long long day. left the house at 330 am, got home at 10pm. very little sleep yesterday during the day like i anticipated. Counted close to 40 different deer throughout the day. 2 nice bucks a ton of does, and a few younger bucks. watched one knock down drag out fight between some bucks over a doe. that was awesome. they were 500 yds away and could here em knocking antlers! i finally connected on my first deer of the year. a 90lb doe, thats big for down here, especially with the drought. a 275yd shot. firtst broke her back hip, guess i flinched, second was a double lung with a tad bit of heart. so now i got some meat for the freezer, i;ll get some pics up in a bit, also shot 2 coyotes, but dont have pics of them as i couldnt find either. but on a bright note i did find the coyote i shot in muzzle loader season. went a direction i wasnt expecting.

congrats on the doe and the coyote

what a morning! finally laid eyes on my big 8 ive been after for 2 years. Havent seen him since september. i was bored and gave a few grunts on my grunt tube and about 10 minutes later he showed up. Had at least 1 tine busted off, his g3. He came in from behnd and wouldnt come to my good side, everything was on my off side. i had to literaly wrap around the tree to get off my shot. it felt good and everything, tried to fit it through a pie plate size hole in the branches, he was at 20yds. I MISSED! dont know how or what happened but i'm pissed and upset, i kinda hurried my shot, as he came in and started to leave. ht that hole and tried. oh wel bright side is hes alive. andi have a month and half to hunt him some more. he had no idea where i was, or what happened i think. i heard him run about 40, 50 yds off. and mill around and then leave. i found my arrow with no blood or anything, trailed his tracks for 50 yds or so and no blood. oh well i'll be back at it tonight. I Hope he will be back.

good luck with him and dont feel bad.. I missed the biggest buck ive ever had an encounter with on November 11th..

i shot my bow for about an hour today when i got home. couldn;t get my magnus broadheads to group right. nothing smaller than a 6" circle at 20 yds, not good enough for me. tipped my arrows with rages, and had several groups that were touching vanes, thats what I like. so now im ready again.

well had a good day yesterday. Went with Donny of DKM and went to go look for a big boy making these rubs. well last day of rifle season started off a little slow, hunted some really thick bedding stuff hoping to catch him and couldnt see much, moved to a spot that opened up a litttle and within 5 minutes of sitting down a small group of does moved by, let them go and they milled around at about 50 to 70 yds for about 15 to 20 min, decided to take one as it was already 930am and deer would probably start disappearing till the afternoon. Probably a two year old doe,. well that night we went back to the same area, sat in a tree stand and at about 5pm catch movement out in front of me and its a nice mature doe, debate on taking her for a while as shes not going anywhere in a hurry i look around and catch a deer trying to sneak by in some really heavy stuff. I pull up the binos and all i can see is butt. I keep looking and the deer steps out from behind this 4ft tree and can see antler, alot of antler, i need two more steps to get a good behind the shoulder shot as all i can see is head at this point. he takes one then as the other step is coming a guy in our group shoots, as we were only about 300 yds apart, the deer spooks. talk about horrible timing, i needed one more second,(had i have known id of taken the shot i was given). well as the deer runs off i get a good look at it, it was a 160" deer easy, if not bigger. nice and wide lots of mass, and had some nice chocolate horns. well 530 comes and a group of 9 does comes out from the direction the buck took off, and one mature doe kept looking over her shoulder, and i had high hopes that there was that monster trailing one of em, but alas, it was just another yearling(the population is outta control, saw 16 deer all day 4 mature deer, and the rest were 2 yrs old at best), went to go take another doe for the day, but got busted. oh well, had a great day, and some good memories, it is my biggest buck to ever see alive to date, and was just awestruck at how big he was. ready to go back with the bow now!

oh and the backraps off that deer were amazing, so tender i could cut em with a fork! also gave butchering a shot for the first time, wasnt to bad, may have to start doing it more, as it only took me 40 minutes to skin, pull out the straps, tender loins, and one roast, then the rest went to the processor for jerky and burger.

congrats on the doe man, (sucks about the buck though)