Deer Friends,
Now THIS IS A TROPHY! Congratulations Bob LeGrand: Waiting 21 years for a "Trophy Whitetail Buck" has advantages! View the pictures, then read the account of that day in the following story.
Can you believe this? A monster west Texas low-fenced trophy buck harvested on the LeGrand Headwaters Ranch in Sutton County.
Bob's hunting buddy, guide for the day, and step-son, Jamon Hohensee.
Bob and Jamon had "Buck Fever"- truly the shaking hands and beating heart!
Dropped on the spot.
Massive antlers for a west Texas low-fenced white tailed deer.
It all started 21 years ago,
in 1994, with the purchase of this beautiful Sutton County, Texas low-fenced
ranch. Bob enjoyed the outdoors and
hunting. For years prior to the purchase, this ranch had been over-hunted
by many hunters through an outfitter, and as a result no large-antlered bucks
were left on the ranch. It was decided not to lease the lands to outside hunters. The family decided to implement a self-imposed management
program. Harvest restrictions were placed on our family of
hunters. Eventually, antlers grew past
the basket 8’s typically seen during the first years. Although Bob continued to hunt, a big buck
did not appear.
Jamon was the first to harvest a big buck in
2002, eight years after the initial purchase of the 3,500 acre ranch. This deer had never been seen before.
In fact, we did not believe Jamon when he
said it looked like one from a hunting magazine. It scored a 160 4/8BC gross and was a total surprise. With a low-fenced ranch, you never know when
some big animal will cross your path.
Bob was excited for Jamon. Then the drought came, and in 2005 the ranch
only had five inches of rain. The deer antler growth suffered. It was two years later
before another nice buck appeared. He
was captured on camera in 2007, and it was decided to allow him to age one more
year. Bob decided that Jean Ann, his wife, should have the opportunity to harvest that
buck. After hunting for days, then sitting in a tree stand in
freezing 28 degree weather, she finally killed the deer. That buck scored a 160BC
gross.
In that same year, and in
subsequent years, additional ranch land was purchased to make the totals over 22 sections or over 14,200 acres of contiguous land.
With the help of the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department and the Managed Lands Deer Permit program, our
antlered deer saw an increase in size and mass.
We had hired a ranch manager, started a genuine year-round feeding
program, implemented range management practices, provided water every one-half
mile, and started using trail cameras to document the improvement of deer on the
ranch.
We were determined to maintain
a great deer habitat. The phrase, “build
it and they shall come” became our motto.
In 2009 another son, Jared harvested a huge 8 point buck at 152BC gross.
Another son Clay harvested a beautiful 150BC gross on January 1, 2011, and on the same day,
Ernie, the ranch manager, harvested a 148BC gross buck with bow and arrow.
Bob was happy for all of them. What a vast
difference from the mid 1990’s. Things
were looking up.
In 2009 a large antlered buck
was spotted on our trail cameras. He was named “Cinco”. Being a low-fenced
ranch this buck was seen on two ranches.
In 2010, he was captured on camera in velvet on our ranch eating
protein. During the hunting season,
unfortunately for us, he jumped the fence, was not on our ranch and was
killed by another hunter. Cinco was a great trophy. We were told he scored a whopping 166BC gross! That is good genetics for all the ranches
around.
Now, four years later, it is
2014 and another big buck appears. He looked similar to Cinco with a wide
spread. He was certainly one of the
offspring of Cinco. It was decided to
allow him to age another year. Secretly,
Bob hoped he might have a chance at this buck.
In 2015 the buck was seen again in velvet and was 5 ½ years old and
named “Le Grande” by one of our sons. He
was spotted only a couple of times and had not been seen on our cameras since
October 15 of this year. The season
began, the rut started and is now almost over…and still no buck. Bob was very patient and had gone to the
blind several times without seeing this buck. He just wanted a glimpse of this
roaming monster. However, on a
Saturday morning in December 2015 “Le Grande” was spotted or so Bob thought. Bob had only seen pictures of the
buck in velvet, so he was not totally sure if this was “Le Grande.” He knew
this monster buck was old enough to harvest, the prime rut was almost over, and the question lingered, would this buck survive another year. All of these circumstances aided Bob and Jamon in the decision that if it was a great buck, now was the time.
Bob was super excited, and on
that afternoon, he decided to go to the blind early with Jamon. Four eyes would be better that two. The two crawled into the blind around
1:30PM. The strong wind was blowing from
the south. They decided to rattle and maybe see what was out there. An hour
passed and nothing. Off to their right at 270yds, down a long sendero, Jamon
spotted a deer for a brief second before the buck walked back into some brush.
"Bob, there is a huge buck down there, get your gun ready in case he walks
out the other side of that brush!" Both of them kept a close eye on those
bushes, but the deer did not return. It could be “Le Grande”. “Le Grande”,
hopefully, had been spreading his genes for the last month. If it wasn’t "Le Grande", it was certainly old
enough to harvest and this buck had whopper antlers. Another smaller buck appeared. It took about thirty minutes for him to
leave. Disappointed, both hunters settled down and kept watching down that long
sendero. Twenty minutes passed and Jamon spotted a smaller buck with a broken main
beam in front of the blind at about fifty yards past the feeder. Thinking
nothing of it, he continued the search down the sendero. Not two seconds later,
movement in front of them caught his eye again "Holy Cow!! Bob, THERE HE
IS!! He's right in front of us!!"
There he was, one of the most massive deer either of them had ever seen.
And getting a gun out of one window and into another with a buck like that
staring you down is no easy task.
By the time Bob had the gun out the window
"Le Grande" had moved into the brush. Both cursed themselves for
missing that opportunity, knowing they might never see that massive rack again.
Jamon grabbed the horns and rattled to try and peak the buck's interest but only
the broken-antlered buck seemed intrigued and darted around the feeder. Their hearts
sank again. Although it seemed that “Le Grande” wasn't interested, he didn't
leave the area. This time, not two minutes
later, they spotted him about sixty yards away to their left. He was making a
loop around the blind! The dilemma was the same, wrong position for the hunter. This time Jamon was in the seat Bob needed. Bob seemed to always be in
the wrong position. With no time to
maneuver the gun, “Le Grande” gave them a short look and again walked back into
the brush. Without a moment’s hesitation the two hunters switched places and
Bob perched his rifle out the small window to the left. The two experienced
hunters should have figured out by now “Le Grande's” tricks and guessed that he
would have made a full circle to the rear of the blind, because that’s exactly
where he popped up next.
Having gained speed and confidence from the previous musical windows charade, Bob eased his gun from the left window and settled it out the back. The massive antlered buck was standing straight on to the blind. This time, at only sixty yards, “Le Grande” stood his ground long enough for Bob to take the shot 21 years in the making. Bob was in position to shoot…Jamon with video, and in that moment, 3:06PM the decision was made…bang. As the boom was heard, “Le Grande” hit the dirt and never moved from that spot. Down went the buck. Bob was so excited that he actually started shaking, and had to put his head down to calm.
Having gained speed and confidence from the previous musical windows charade, Bob eased his gun from the left window and settled it out the back. The massive antlered buck was standing straight on to the blind. This time, at only sixty yards, “Le Grande” stood his ground long enough for Bob to take the shot 21 years in the making. Bob was in position to shoot…Jamon with video, and in that moment, 3:06PM the decision was made…bang. As the boom was heard, “Le Grande” hit the dirt and never moved from that spot. Down went the buck. Bob was so excited that he actually started shaking, and had to put his head down to calm.
In that moment Bob and Jamon reverted to
children as they laughed, shouted, and gave high-fives reflecting in disbelief
the events that just took place. Jamon
took a video of his own hand that was shaking also. Both came down with “Shaking buck
fever”. Bob could not believe the size
of the buck. He had waited patiently for
21 years! This had to be “Le
Grande”. The buck unofficially scored a
165 4/8BC gross and had 17 points with two points being broken off as evidenced by game camera and visual of the harvested antlers.
Ernie, the ranch manager, was
not at the ranch at the time. He was in
San Angelo at his daughter’s birthday party.
Bob and Jamon had set out on a mission that
weekend…to find a big buck. And that
they did!
