St. Jude's Solana Ranch Hunt Officially Underway!!

[Terry Green]

This guy was WIDE....and its hard to make out his tines in the pics due to the grass.....

   
   

 

Check this dude out.....told ya we were conservative.....

   

[S. Brant Osborn]

Come on Bill, tell us how you realy feel.
Glad you had a great time.
What kind of bow did you take your nanny with?
Brant

[Arrowslinger]

Looking forward to this one.        

[DW]

I think a lot of people visit Trad Gang to hang out and learn from others who THINK like they do themselves. Can you imagine spending 5 days in Texas, at a place as un-believable as Solana Ranch, with 14 fellow TG'ers.....It was a pleasure to met everyone and I really enjoyed the short time we had after dinner each night, we had some great conversations and didn't get a lot of sleep........Skyler is going next year and we can't wait.....        

[tippit]

The best part of the hunt was spending time with All my fellow Trad Gangers!  Meeting and making new friends plus seeing old friends was what the hunt was for me...But the Solana Ranch ain't a bad place to hand out    

For this Northern boy (notice I didn't say Yankee...not a good term around Boston  :D  it was a real learning experience in hunting Texas deer.  It took me a while to figure out why there were so many fawns with the big does...then I saw the real fawns.  They are are much smaller bodied deer than up here.  The numbers of deer were amazing.  Just a lot of fun to watch their interactions around a feeder (another new experience).  Speaking of the feeders, I was warned about how spooky they can be around them...that was an understatement.  More on that later, I got in last night at 1:30 am and still trying to clear the cob webs...Doc

 

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

[Rob DiStefano]

I'll second tippit's comment about the spooky deer - man, they weren't just spooky, they were WIRED SILLY!  More than a few times I'd seen does grazing around a feeder with their tails raised - never seen that before.  I saw does and bucks grazing very sparse corn around the perimeter of the feeder and wouldn't come near the larger corn piles right under the feeder - and sometimes it was the reverse.  These deer were wicked alert.  

The general rule of thumb was to aim low, really LOW - like at the belly white or even below that (Terry will comment on that doe he shot).  Most of the time the deer would drop low at the string release and maybe a bit forward - just in time to connect with yer arra.  

I made a good shot on a fat doe as she chomped corn to the far right of a feeder and about 25-30 yards out ... after a picture perfect release the 575gr AD carbon and WW head sped true to the mark ... WELL, she sprung UP off her hind legs, front legs high in the air, the arra whistled right under her belly white, and while in the air she twisted 90 degrees to her right, and in two huge bounds disappeared into the brush.  ACK!!!  I just sat there, stunned, 15 feet up in my tree stand, shaking my head, looking at, well, NOTHING ...  

 

[DW]

[Huntrdfk]

Looking forward to the stories and pics on this one guys.....    


David

[BTH]

Well...I won this hunt on the St Jude's auction. I'm glad I did. The kids got the money and I got to meet other trad gangers and hunt whitetail deer for the first time.
This was very much a great experience for me. As a matter of fact I enjoyed it so much that I talked it over with the wife and got permission (yeah, I know  :rolleyes:  ) to make this an annual trip for me. So I'll be sending in my deposit for next year!
As I said I've never hunted whitetails. I've never hunted from elevated stands or over feeders. I was excited to try something new and was pleased with the experience.
I didn't come away with any kills. Well, that's hunting. Sometimes things just don't happen as planned. I had opportunites; missed a doe when she did her version of the Solana Shuffle on me when I dropped the string on her. I also started lots of shots but had to stop for one reason or another. Me, Jeff, and Bill all hunted out of a barn over a feeder and experienced the little five pointer from hell who just wouldn't leave and would goose all the does that came in, usually just about when I was about to shoot the doe!      
My group hunted with a new guide who was filling in for an injured veteran hand...Don Wilson, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, Micheal Langehans, and Jeff Berberick. We had a good time and saw a lot of animals. Ask Don about the "day the pigs died".
The first day we all strung our bows, went into the front yard of the bunk house, set some prickly pear ears on the grass and let fly for a while. (Sorry about your AD trad lite Rob; really, I wasn't aiming for it...really)   :p  
Me and the Ranch Manager, Peanut, hit it off well. We're both firemen and have interests, and some people, in common. He gave me some info on my current chief, who used to work in Texas, that I can use against him sometime  :cool:  He also gave me a flyer on a public safety pig hunt he puts together in May. If I can get a few other of my fireman friends to pull it off I may go back for that, or at least send my friends!
I've never gotten so little sleep in a hunting camp. We were up late jaw jacking and up early hunting. Of course my bunk was in the "living room" of the bunk house where the jaw jacking was taking place, and I don't care how good your earplugs are, you can't block out Terry when he's on a roll    :D          
Seriously, a good time had by all. I told Peanut I'd be back to get that Texas whitetail and thanked him for donating the hunt. Sounds like we're gonna try and buy out the hunt for trad gang next year and I'm glad I won't miss that.

[IB]

I'll bet the FOOD was good TOO HU          

[jesse cales]

great stories guys!  

[BTH]

Yeah, we ate well. A few of us met up in Austin the the night before the hunt started. Stayed in a hotel and went to the Texas Land and Cattle Company for steak and beer.
We'd get up early and have first breakfast. Just coffee, pastries, toast, that kind of thing. After the first hunt we'd come back for second breakfast...bacon or sausage, mexican eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, pancakes. Dinners were enchiladas, steak, pork ribs, smoked brisket...Oh yeah, we ate well.  

[JC]

Great read so far fellas!

Don, who's left handed widow has your arrow on it...I know it's not yours cause it's not a longbow  :rolleyes:  Love the pics.

Pretty fletching there Doc   :D  

"Terry on a roll", yep, get that redhead in gear and you'll be up late laughing.

Never cared much for Texas deer...don't like to aim at something I don't intend to hit (under them)...but them hog pics have my attention!

[vermonster13]

Great pics. When do we get to see some of the hero shots you all are holding out on us?

[Bill Turner]

Hay Brant, good to hear from ya. You know I hunted with a Massie, just not the one I got from you. Shot my doe with a Massie "Longhorn", 55@28 and WW heads. 2008 was the year of the longbow. I havn't shot a recurve since December, 2007.
For those TradGangers out there who have never experienced Texas whitetail hunting pay close attention to the threads stating how wired the deer are around feeders/stand areas. This is not like shooting fish in a barrel. My new friend from Mass. "Tippit" will vouch for that. It is meeting and sharing the traditional bowhunting experience with people like him and the other guys that made the trip that make this type of experience so enjoyable.  

[Bob Walker]

I need all of the Solana Vets from this years hunt to check the Solana forum and post to my thread on next years hunt as soon as possible.
Thanks....

[S. Brant Osborn]

Ha, just checking on the gal Bill.  Might not have sold her to the other side of the Sabine if she was going to get neglected. Ha.  

I feel like a real chump for not getting in on this hunt.

One Day!
Brant

[JEFF B]

real great pics guys  

[Terry Green]

I had a lone doe come in on the 2nd morning and give me a 15 yard shot...and I aimed to cut off the far leg at the base of the body....and she dropped right into the arrow perfect.  Odd for everywhere but TX, the exit wound after blasting the shoulder was 3 inches HIGHER than the exit wound, and I was 15 feet up a tree.  I should have taken a pic of that exit wound, but just forgot when I got hooked back up with the gang.