We've got a family place in Cooke county that in the past few years has produced, or at least let me see (via trailcam, since I've never seen some of them in person) some huge deer that definitely have KS genes, since we are just south of the Red. Deer are different up here, since for the longest time there were no deer, until they filtered south. And I've shot enough panhandle deer and standard Texas deer to be able to see the difference between the two.

That being said, we have a ton of turds. Crazy racks on one side, normal on the other, both left and right side, going back to 2004 when I first hung a homebrew trailcam. And I typically don't see them in person, which is a bit frustrating. I don't sit in a stand, so I end up walking 15,000 Fitbit steps on a regular Saturday morning. Covering every available piece of habitat/cover and not running across a shootable deer, or one you have multiple pics of, can become frustrating at times.

That being said, this week everything came together. In North Texas, the rut typically kicks in hard the second week of November. This year, a crazy strong cold front was blowing in Monday evening. I knew Tuesday morning was going to be the primest of prime. 20 F, no wind, hot does,and cold bucks that were wanting to move to get warm and get some love.

Then, Monday evening, I heard those immortal words: "I'm in labor".

@#@$&!#*$%

Maybe it's a false alarm? Nope. Lincoln Keith arrived 1 month early on 11/12 at ~11:30 a.m. He's only slightly early and in the NICU so he can figure out how to breath, and once he gets that down, how to nurse. He's doing really good though.
[url=https://imgur.com/KsM76ui][/url]

That being said, the spousal unit told me yesterday "You should go up to the farm and hunt tomorrow morning." OKAY! Seeing how there's not much I can really do at the hospital other than wait (I've got nipples, can you milk me ****er?), the farm is only an hour away, kid is stable, the NICU nurses are complete slave drivers (in a respectful sense; they are so on top of things, it's ridiculous), and I needed to check pipes since the hard freeze, I jumped. Called my mom (who grew up at the farm), she came over to spend the night and watch Minion #1, and I headed up to the farm at 5 a.m. Figured I'd be done and on the road back to the hospital to pick up momma by 9:30 a.m.

Well, at 6:52 a.m., I ran across this dude, who was on my hit list, but never expected to see him. He was hot and looking for love. Ground check, even though I knew he was freezer material.

[url=https://imgur.com/9vDkJq2][/url]
[url=https://imgur.com/xs231CJ][/url]

So, point being, I last shot a turd in 2017, at about this same date. Minion #1, Augustus, aka Gus, aka Crazy Man, was born about a week later. Those antlers are currently mounted on some barnwood with a decent 8 I took off our place in 2015. However, they will shortly be re-mounted on a new pieced of barnwood with a label of "Gus" on the 2017, and "Link" on the 2019, since both boys decided to arrive right around the best part of the rut, and dad got a crazy looking buck. Aesthetics of the buck don't count, and that's a lesson I plan on passing on. It's the process, not the outcome, and everything doesn't always work out how you want it. Matching wits with a mature deer and winning the battle of wits is a skill and I want to instill that in my boys. Gus will be 3 next fall, and I'm hoping he's got the stamina to tag along on my hunting hikes so he can start to experience the outdoors.

So, this turd will eat well and forever be known as "Lincoln", just like his predecessor "Gus".

Great story.

It's funny how stories and memories mean more as we get older.

I've never hunted north of central Texas for White tail and hunted most of my life in South Texas. I think it would be cool to hunt up north and see the difference in strategy.

Is there any high points to glass or river bottoms to hunt? Or are you just covering farm land and tree / fence rows on foot?

Love the story and appreciate the time/effort it must've taken for you to pull bandwidth away from the your family and new kill to share it. Congrats on the buck, and for providing for the family. Take notes, new army.