They changed their feeding program to benefit every deer. That change uncovered the sweet tooth in one finicky buck and provided an opportunity this hunter had been waiting for.

All my hunting buddies and I had great expectations going into the new season after coming off a great 2007-’08 season. We were fortunate to have taken six deer, all scoring 165-plus Boone and Crockett (B&C), and topping it off with Butch Alanis’ huge 10-pointer scoring 178. Anyway, managing 10,000-acre pastures on the Junco Ranch to produce these monster bucks takes lots of hard work, and it helps being under MLD to help with culling. We use a strict feed program that includes protein, and for the first time, cottonseed, which my good friend Rene Barientos suggested. He uses it at his personal ranch, La Golondrina, and highly recommended it for our Junco program. One thing I noticed about the cottonseed on Rene’s ranch was that the deer body-weights were high, as well as the antler mass and their non-typical points. Coming into this season I was looking for one particular deer that we’d passed, a typical 12-point with seven kickers scoring around 190 B&C that we named “Picket.”

During the off-season, we looked for his sheds every chance we had, but had never found them. Since the first time I found Picket when he was 21⁄2, he has never jumped into any feed pen. At the end of last season, Jeff Humbird suggested putting up a feed pen in an area where Picket had always been seen. Despite having numerous cameras in the pens, we never got any pictures of him. When September rolled around, I took my whole family to the ranch for dove season. Since the bird hunting wasn’t so hot, I decided to leave corn along the senderos where Picket lived. On September 14, my wife and daughter sat in the blind with me. The air was hot and the gnats were bad. We saw a few does and a few small bucks and about five minutes before dark, a big deer stepped out 300 yards away. I looked through my binocular and instantly recognized Picket. I picked up the video camera and spotting scope at the same time. I only got 45 seconds worth of video on him, but was able to study him through the scope before it became dark.

I had noticed he’d grown into a typical 7x7, but only saw one kicker. I also noticed he’d come out of velvet and had red horns. After viewing the video with Butch and then on the next day with Rene, James Newport, Scott Garza, Mike Hayman, and other friends, we estimated him at 190 to 200 inches. I came back the next couple weekends hoping for a better video, but he never showed. I even came back for the opening of MLD season, and the day before season, I hunted the same blind from morning to evening. He was still a no-show.

On the way out of the pasture, I decided to stop at the feed pen we’d built for him and picked up the camera we had set up. After getting back to camp, I gave the pictures to Butch and Jeff to see. They noticed a big 14-pointer on a few of them, and after looking at one deer at different angles (which turned out to be Picket), we saw all the kickers. We were shocked we had 20 photos of Picket in a feed pen because we never had any before in four years. Almost every picture showed him feeding from the cottonseed basket. That next morning when we went out, we were surrounded by fog from camp all the way to the blind. I thought the morning could be a wash, as Butch dropped me off at the blind. But when daylight finally broke, the fog lifted to reveal 15 deer feeding along the sendero. As I glassed the deer there, I also saw a few does, hogs, and some nice bucks when Picket appeared at the end of the line at 400 yards. I decided to take a chance and go after him. As I went through the brush, I came out on the road, still 250 yards away, but had noticed a big boar pushing Picket my way. I thought everything was working in my favor when I got into position for the shot, but at 200 yards, the boar ran him off the road, only to have Picket come out behind the boar that had started pushing him away from me. When Picket stopped to look back at the hog, I took the quartering-away shot. I heard the whomp it made and saw him stagger off. I waited for 30 minutes before walking back to the blind and call Butch to pick me up. As we approached the area where I’d last saw him, I noticed white hair on the road and told Butch that this wasn’t a good sign. We noticed blood 10 yards into the brush. As we tracked it, we heard a deer hit the barbed wire fence and then take off back into the brush, as I ran towards the fence hoping to get another shot.

Along the fence I saw more blood and told Butch we had to back off and call in Roy and Cuatro Hines. When Roy and Cuatro arrived, the dogs immediately jumped out of the truck and took off, only to return a few minutes later. As we walked through the brush, Cuatro got a fix on the dogs with his GPS. Roy couldn’t believe the amount of blood we found, and that ensured us we’d eventually find the deer, although it would take some time.

I had a bad feeling in my stomach about everything, especially when the dogs just hung around while we walked. I asked Roy why Jed and Otis were acting like that, and he told me the deer might already be dead with coyotes on him. The dogs wouldn’t get close if this were the case. Cuatro walked a few yards ahead of us when we heard him shout that the dogs were under the tree with the deer. As we pulled the deer out, all we could hear Roy say was, “Man, what a deer!” over and over. That’s when I realized just what a big deer Picket had become.

The dogs had done their job. They’d done so from the moment they left the truck. As we loaded the truck with Picket, I told Roy that I’d shot the buck only 200 yards away from the spot where I’d originally saw him when he was 21⁄2 years old. I took him to Kenny Pullin with El Monstruo Del Monte in Dilley for scoring. Picket turned out to have 20 scorable points on a typical 7x7 frame and scored 1942⁄8 B&C. As I reflect on that morning, I couldn’t have had a better group of people to share this experience with. I believe everyone who knows the Hines family would agree with me in saying they are a class-act family, professional in every way. And you cannot say enough about those dogs, Jed and Otis.