Tracking East Texas trophies
Hunters recollect lifetime bucks
By MATT WILLIAMS
Outdoors Writer
Monday, November 24, 2008
 The 2008-09 deer season is still young, but a few lucky East Texas hunters have already brought down lifetime bucks. One of the best belongs to 48-year old Brian Bender of Brenham.
 Bender owns 350 acres of low fence property in Burleson County and he leases a tract of the same size that joins it. He intensively manages the 700 acres and the deer herd that lives there.
 Contributed Photo Brian Bender?s Burleson County 19 pointer gross scored 181 2/8 Boone and Crockett inches, yet it was barely a legal shooter according to TPWD?s antler restriction regulation.  Contributed Photo Jerry Childers of Madisonville collected this impressive 10 pointer off a recently acquired deer lease in Madison County. The rack grosses 167 4/8.  Contributed Photo James Hilliard of Lufkin shot a San Augustine County 11 pointer that grosses 162 7/8. |
Among other things, Bender plants food plots to keep the deer fat during rough times and feeds mineral year-round to promote quality antler growth. More importantly, he is very selective about the bucks he shoots.
 Bender's management strategies paid off in a big way on Nov. 15 with a whopper whitetail that is sure to rank among top scoring bucks reported in East Texas this season. Amazingly, the deer was barely a legal shooter under antler restrictions implemented countywide by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 2006.
The antler restriction, which is currently in effect in dozens of East Texas counties, defines a legal buck as one with an inside spread of at least 13 inches, or at least one unbranched antler.
 The greatest inside measurement on Bender' buck is only 14 inches. Remarkably, the rack grosses 181 2/8 Boone and Crockett inches and nets 176 3/8 as a non-typical. Nearly 40 inches of mass measurements and 19 points greater than one inch played a huge role in running up the score. The smallest mass measurement on rack was 4 2/8 inches.
 "I am serious about feeding protein and I am really careful about what I shoot out there," Bender said. "This deer just goes to show you what can happen if you let them grow and get some age on them. I saw this buck last year and I estimated he was probably 145-150 B&C. He really busted out this year."
 James Hilliard of Lufkin knows a good deer when he sees one. That's why he wasted no time pulling the trigger on the big 11 pointer that stepped into one of his shooting lanes on the afternoon of Nov. 15.
 Hilliard's buck, a main frame 10 pointer with a single kicker, grosses 162 7/8 and net 154 7/8 as a non-typical. He shot the deer while hunting a dense pine plantation at his 800-acre open range lease in San Augustine County.
 Madison County along the I-45 corridor has produced a handful of good bucks over the years, but great bucks like the 10 pointer harvested on Nov. 4 by Jerry Childers of Madisonville are a virtual rarity — anywhere.
Childers buck grosses 167 4/8, 163 3/8. It will likely be among the top Region 5 typicals reported to the Texas Big Game Awards program this season, if not the biggest.
Childers, 70, said the morning he shot the deer was not his first encounter with the impressive Madison County whitetail. He believes he saw the deer on opening morning, but was unable to get a shot because of heavy fog.
 "I'm pretty sure he came in to my feeder (about 100 yards away) with a couple of does, but I couldn't see well enough to be positive," Childers said. "I couldn't even see my feeder — all I could see was a big, dark silhouette down there. By the time the fog lifted he had drifted away out of sight."
Childers hunted the stand the following day hoping the deer might return. When the deer didn't show, he elected to give the spot a rest for a day.
 "I went back in there the next morning and watched several does and small bucks," Childers said. "About 7:30 a.m. all the deer left. It was dead out there. Nothing was moving. Then, about 8 a.m. he came walking in. That's about all there was to it."
 Childers shot the buck off a 750-acre tract he and his son leased earlier this year. He said the lease is part of the Bedias Creek Wildlife Management Coop. The coop is comprised of several adjoining tracts with like goals aimed at producing quality deer.
 "We try not to shoot any bucks younger than 4 1/2-years old or one that scores under 140 B&C," Childers said. "It looks like the management program is beginning to pay off."
 The Los Cazadores Big Buck Contest based in Pearsall has checked in some giants this season. The popular contest (www.loscazadores.com) has divisions for High Fence, Low Fence, Archery, Mexico, Handgun, Open, Special Youth, 160 Club and Freak of the Year.
 The contest is typically dominated by South Texas deer, but there are couple of East Texas on the leaderboard in the Open division.
The Open division is designated for low fence, high fence or archery hunters who harvest a deer that has been previously been used in a deer breeder program and subsequently released for hunting. Any deer that has a state unique number tattoo, ear tag or tag hole is only eligible for entry in the contest's Open division.
 The two deer in question were taken at Venado Creek Ranch in San Augustine County. VCR is a high fence facility that spans 1,500 acres.
 The largest of the deer is 252 4/8-inch monster taken by Lonnie Fox of Granbury. Fox's deer, a 19 pointer, has 49 5/8 inches of mass measurements. Austin Marrs of Lipan harvested the second buck, a 22 pointer with 40 inches of mass measurements. Marrs buck grosses 223 1/8 B&C.
 Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwilliams@netdot.com.
