TEXAS SWEAT 06 ...Tales of the Hunts...Clips start pg 8

[the Ferret]

neat Terry, just neat. Shows once again not all arrow hit game dies as obviously yours was out feeding again. Glad to got a 2nd chance at him and a little better arrow placement on the 2nd go round.Congrats!

Chad you are going to have so much fun if the sun/heat doesn't kill ya.LOL

[Whip]

As I sat on the plane on its way toward San Antonio Sunday morning nagging thoughts were creeping into my head.  What was I getting myself into?  I had never even met any of these guys.  Before leaving, when I told people at home what I was going to be doing the usual response was a puzzled look an the question, "Oh, Really? You're flying down to Texas to go hunting on a ranch in the middle of the desert with a bunch of guys you have only met on the internet?  Why?" I would soon find out.

[Whip]

I raced south in the rental car, and arrived at the ranch just in time to hurriedly met a few of the stranglers on their way out the door to go hunt for the first afternoon.  Everyone else had arrived last night and had a jump on me.

Curtis came back to the ranch after dropping a hunter off somewhere, and by then I had unpacked enough for an afternoon hunt and followed him off to an area containing small pond.  We corned the road, and Curtis bid me good luck and left me to my own devices.

I slowly walked down the road, and climbed a deer tower stand to get a perspective of the terrain.
 
This was certainly different than anything I had ever been in before.

[Whip]

Eventually I ended up sneaking in to the pond to see if I might be able to catch something near the water.  As I eased around the shore checking out the tracks I noticed what looked like an old antler tine sticking up a few inches out of the mud right at the edge of the water.  Near it was another.  When I pulled on them both this is what emerged from the muck.
 
What an awesome find the first night of my hunt!  

I cleaned the rack off a bit in the water, and then worked my way back to the road to see if any javis may have discovered the corn trail.  From the tracks in the road it was obvious there were plenty of animals around, but nothing other than a lone coyote showed.  

It was difficult to sit still on the first night of the hunt, so I eased back toward the pond.  I came into it at the same place I had found the whitetail rack earlier, and not 10 feet away from the first find noticed more antler tines.  As I approached to investigate these I suddenly froze in place when I saw a bobcat laying in the mud next to the antler.  I had walked up to within 15 yards of him, and he just layed there staring at me, obviously hoping that he blended in.  After a 30 second stare down, and he finally jumped up and ran off.  I had missed the initial camp meeting, but I was thankful that Shaun Webb had taken the time to give me a breifing earlier and he had mentioned that the ranch managers did not want bobcats shot during our hunt, or that if we did the cost would be $500.  I didn't need one that badly, but the experience of seeing him was a treat.

[cjones]

Mickey, I'm looking foreward to it. I ain't much on heat. Dick has agreed to give me piggy back rides everywhere since my knee is shot. If i have a heat stroke he can tote me back to camp.LOL

[Scott G]

For you guys heading back out there, Shawn Web had an excellent tip once you get a hog or javie down.

Tie rope to critter.
Sprinkle with Seven Dust
Flip critter
Sprinkle with Seven Dust
Drag critter off leaving fleas and ticks behind.

If you do that before bringing animal back to camp you won't have nearly as many vermin hopping around your camp.  I think a lot of the bites Charlie and Curtis got were from having their tents too close to the cleaning station.

[Whip]

After the bobcat left, I turned my attention back to the antler laying nearby.  I bent over and picked up a beautiful 5 point shed.  How could I have missed this earlier?  Impossible!  There was only one explanation - in the 1 1/2 hours I had been gone, a buck had stopped by for a drink and left a gift for me to find.  
 
I had been looking closely before, and had been able to see the two small portions of tines sticking out of the mud.  There is just no way that I could have missed this shed.  The picture below shows the point of my arrow laying in my boot track I left as I walked over to investigate on my first trip to the pond.  The shed lay no more than 20 inches away.
 
 
My evening ended without a single hog or javelina sighting, but somehow the experiences left me feeling more than satisfied.  I could only take it all as a sign that this was going to be a very special trip indeed!
 

[bayoulongbowman]

Great tip Scott, had ranch hand share that with me hunting SW Texas once...So how is Javie for table fair...

[Terry Green]

Tell it Joe!...I snuck down to that pond the 1st day myself I think.  I'm pretty sure that's the area Krister terrorized.  :D

[rabbitman]

Originally posted by cjones:
Mickey, I'm looking foreward to it. I ain't much on heat. Dick has agreed to give me piggy back rides everywhere since my knee is shot. If i have a heat stroke he can tote me back to camp.LOL

Chad...I only agreed to that for one of the following reasons:
1...I wanted you close by if a big tusker boar started after us.  I figure you'll be one of the few guys in camp I can outrun.
2...I'm just a super nice guy.
3...I lied to ya. (and remember I use to lie for a living and I'm really not that nice)
   

[hunt it]

Guys,

Just got my pictures back and have them on a disk. If any of you talented guys would be kind enough to post a few for me, I know how to email em but thats the extent of my picture posting skills.

[Terry Green]

Dave...send them to me and I'll email ya back the addys so you can post them at will.

[tippit]

Well, I'm back from the dead.  Got home monday after an overnight delay in San Antonio.  On tuesday I thought all those illegals that I saw on my sendaros had beat me up with baseball bats...Mexican Flu!  For 72 hours everything was sore even my hair.

I also want to thank Curtis & Charlie for allowing me to participate in one of the most exciting/fun hunts I've had in years.  You guys made it so easy for us to just slide in and begin hunting.  I can't think of anything to complain about except having to leave!


My last post was tracking the javie I shot on the second day with Dave, Scott, and Bob.  The arrow was a pass thru high in the shoulder but we didn't find any blood.  What we did find was a large rattler.  Dave yelled it out just as I saw this snake slithering in front of me.  Scott got it cornered while Bob (the only one with a bow) shot it.  That was enough excitement to hold me over til next year!  Lesson 2--Javies don't bleed much!

The last night Curtis droped me off near a deer feeder and I got to see my first big black hog.  Never got close enough for a shot.  Just seeing him plus all the javies, cayotes, and bobcats was amasing.  Even though I didn't have my thing on the ground I was awe struck by my surroundings.

Down to the eleventh hour, sunday morning Terry said he thought I might get a chance at a javie where JC shot his attack javie!  So we head off to a spot where 4 senderos came together.  Terry corned the roads while I picked the down wind corner.  I nesetled back in with 2 shooting lanes cut open and waited.  At about 7am they started coming out & kept coming...15+ javies were milling around me.  Now if they would just pick one of the 2 sendaros that I had covered.  Finally one was coming my way.  As he started in to my opening I came to half draw but when he stepped out he must have scenced something was wrong.  He was only 15 feet with the wind in my favor and I was well hidden, still He knew enough to get going.  Lesson 3--get ready quicker.
Well finally another one come the exact way and stopped at the same small bush in the senderos.  This time I was at full draw when he stepped out.  My WW went thru him so quick all I saw was a silver dollar size round pink/white spot on his chest.  Now the waiting game.  We had so many Javies hit and no blood to find them and we had to be back at the ranch to pack up by 9am.  I decided to sneak out and walk toward Terry.  When I got about a 1/4 mile to him I got witness his stalk on a big hog.  Unfortunitely that stalk ended up in favor of the hog.  So Terry came down to pick me up and we walked down the sendaros.  I walked the road and Terry started searching the cover.  About 10 yards down the road I saw blood, now just spots but lots.  We had a great blood trail for about 40 yards ending at my javie.  So much for lesson 2, sometimes you get a good blood trail.  My whole experience was great but this was the cream.  Thanks Terry!!

FYI that's a Morrison Shawnee with Dakota limbs 51#@28.  One of the many Morrisons in camp and Yes I did hide it from JC when we were packing up...tippit
 
 

[Littlefeather]

Congrats Doc! CK

[Guru]

Good for you Jeff,great pix,CONGRATS!!!

[bayoulongbowman]

Jeff , thanks very much for sharing...marco#78          :D

[TexMex]

"Mexican Flu", ha, we don't have no stinking flu we got Tequila.    

Glad you back, great picutres.  

[Huntrdfk]

Yeah!  Way to go Jeff!    


David

[tippit]

Who got the pictures of Charlie with his hog hanging in 2 different sizes?  tippit

[JC]

Bout time Doc, you'd think you were busy with a practice or something!