Deer Hunting 2020 in Texas Hill Country

Deer hunting 2020 in the Texas Hill Country started just like the previous 9 years with me setting up trail cameras to see what kind of activity we had on the lease.

Deer Hunting 2020 Prep Work

We had a lot of extra cameras, this year, so I wanted to add a couple new locations for more accurate MRI (most recent information) on the lease. I also set up a couple ground blinds for my buddy, Mike, as he was going to mainly hunt archery this year. Yes, he knows it’s gun season. :)

Beyond those changes, prep work on the Monday before opening day stayed pretty much the same. We did get a new stand in the field.

Also, the James River stand was repaired after being destroyed by birds during the deer hunting 2019 trip.

Both of these stands required a little more investigation and chairs, so I noted that I’d need to bring those out when we picked up the trail cameras.

I’ve been using the HuntStand app for all my hunting adventures for years. I love that I can see the boundaries to the properties I’m hunting and create waypoints with hunting icons for stands, feeder, trail cameras, rubs, scrapes, and more! You can also check the wind direction and see a safe wind graphic for your stands! This is great for picking the right stand for the wind. Click on the image to learn more.

Trail Camera Time!

After picking up the rest of the crew on Wednesday, we grabbed breakfast in town Thursday morning before heading back to the lease to pick up the trail cams.

Working our way around the property, we started at Rats Nest. The first card pull had over 3,000 pics! Wow! Things mellowed out from there, but still lots of deer to look at back at camp.

We found at least one shooter on the trail cameras and we named him Hollywood, because he likes to pose for the camera.

While gawking at Hollywood, Rodney stepped out on the front porch. He quickly came back in to say, “There’s a pig out there.” I thought he was messing with us. Joe took him so seriously that he stopped cooking dinner, grabbed his gun, threw on his Crocs, and started for the door in his drawers.

Joe managed to take down the hog from 245 yards away with his AR10! Wasn’t even opening day and we had a hog on the ground!

Opening Day

After looking at Hollywood a couple dozen more times over the next day and a half, it was time for opening day. I gave up my typical opening day stand, Rats Nest, and went to the new Field Stand. Rodney snatched up Rats Nest, Joe went to his favorite Water Trough, and Mike went to his typical opening day stand, James River — although he sat in a ground blind, since he was hunting archery.

The day started off with a bang! Rodney had a deer down, but he was being very quiet about which deer he had down and whether it was even a buck.

Mike tagged a hog from about 15 yards away while Joe and I saw a lot of deer, but nothing we felt like shooting.

I gave in around 11AM and headed over to Mike’s stand to help him find his hog. It took us a while, as she wasn’t dropping much blood. I had to get down on my hands and knees to follow the trail. Eventually, we found her dug in under a mess of mesquite bushes. It was a perfect shot, but the broadhead didn’t make her bleed much.

Hollywood Buck

Joe had given up and was headed over to help Rodney with his deer. Mike and I got in the truck and headed over to Rats Nest to inspect his quarry. We talked about our curiosity about what deer he might have shot. We suspected it might be Hollywood, since he was being so quiet about it.

Mike and I rounded the corner to head in to Rats Nest and saw Rodney standing next to Hollywood. The shooter was down! Rodney tagged him right after dawn and had him dressed and ready for travel.

We thought Hollywood was an 11 point from the trail cam pics, but turns out he had a kicker on his left G2, so he turned out to be a 12 pointer! We got him back to camp, took measurements, and brought him into town for the processor. A very successful opening day.

Joe’s Buck

Opening day held no additional excitement in the afternoon hunt. Lots of deer, just no shooters.

Day two would present a different story.

Just after sunrise, I heard and shot from James River stand where Joe had gone for the morning hunt. He quickly came on the radio to let me know he had a buck down.

This meant it was time for me to take a doe, as that was the agreement we had in order to manage the herd and reduce trips to the processor.

I quickly took a nice, mature doe, but the rest of the deer just wouldn’t leave my area. So, I sat for almost an hour before I could leave the stand.

Meanwhile, Joe had dropped the deer where he stood, so he made quick work of the field dressing and dragged him out the road for pics and pick up.

That afternoon, Joe and I decided to go back to James River; trying to double up on hogs, since they were plentiful that morning.

We had no luck, though. I think the hogs have figured us out.

My Buck: The Long Tine Buck

That night at camp, I reviewed the trail camera pictures trying to find a buck for me to chase. The Water Trough (my day two morning stand) had a nice 3.5 to 4.5 year old buck that came by that had very long main beams. He was an eight point, but had enough tine left at the end of his main beams for another set of tines.

He was a cool looking buck. Very unique. I felt called to chase him and the rest of the crew agreed.

Day three, I headed back to the Water Trough hoping to see him in the morning, again. I was left disappointed.

I didn’t give up, though. In fact, I decided to just remain in the stand and hope he returned in the evening.

The afternoon dragged on with activity almost throughout the day with no appearances from the Long Tine Buck. The sun had actually set and I thought I’d be chasing him on day four, as well.

Sitting in the stand a bit despondent that he hadn’t shown up, I saw movement to my right. I slowly peeked to my right and out of the corner of the stand window, I saw Long Tine Buck trotting into the field!

With the light waning, I was just hoping I could get a shot before I lost my chance. He wasted no time heading for the water, so I took my window of opportunity and grunted at him to stop him. BOOM! Long Tine Buck dropped where I stopped him!

Mike’s Final Day Buck

3 out of 4 hunters now had bucks on the ground. The only one left was my buddy, Mike who was determined to get a buck with his new bow. I truly admire his determination. Unfortunately, his grind didn’t pay off — with the bow.

On the last day available for hunting the lease, Mike switched to a rifle. We also found a new buck while reviewing trail camera pictures. We found him coming to the Dam Stand and the Hill Stand. It seemed he was starting at the Hill Stand and working his way to the Dam Stand, later in the morning.

So, Mike made his way to the Hill Stand on the last day of deer hunting 2020 very early in the morning. He debated about which way to get to the stand and finally settled on walking down from camp to the feeder while spreading some corn towards the stand. This strategy paid off!

Shortly after first light, the buck made his way into the field. He didn’t eat too much corn at the feeder, but instead seemed to like Mike’s fresh corn. This brought him towards the Hill Stand and provided Mike with a perfect shot. He wasted no time taking advantage of his luck and took a beautiful buck to end our 2020 Texas deer hunt.

Deer Hunting 2020 in the Texas Hill Country

It was another very successful year hunting the elusive whitetail deer in the Texas Hill Country. Tons of new memories created and old memories shared. I can’t wait to do it all again in 2021.