Hunting in the 'New Year' @ Solana Ranch....

[DBerrard]

So many animals taken..so many stories. Good stuff    

[Charlie Lamb]

As the witching hour of 3 P.M. drew closer the gang quietly (right) gathered under the pavillion behind the office.

We'd meet our guides for the first time there and it would be the staging area for the entire hunt period.
Like soldiers loading up for battle we boarded our troop carriers. Raucus chatter faded in hushed anticipation as each guide rallied his men.
 

Ultimately they'd be seen loaded in and on the trucks heading out the driveway to there respective fates. Unlike going into battle each man wore a smile that couldn't have been wiped off with a farrier's rasp.

[Mike Gerardi]

                           

[zipper bowss]

Im realy enjoying this.
Bill

[Guru]

Ahhhh....the master has begun      

Nobody tells it like Mr. Lamb....


I'll be back....

[allanburden]

Man, that looks like an awesome hunt.  Congratulations guys.

[Guru]

As you can see in this pic taken by Don two days before I killed him....he was a stud!  Look at his body, and short wide head.....

 

So cool to have that pic of him alive!

By looking at the pix you can see how busted up he was. Most every buck seen and killed was busted up to some degree. I don't know how many bucks I saw with half racks......Some more pix of my "Freak Nasty"......

 


The guy who makes this all happen......

 


 


 


In these you can really get an idea of how wide he is.....

 


Look at the base of his right antler,who knows what busted off of there, would love to have seen it......

 

 

[Glenn Carl]

Originally posted by Guru:
Ahhhh....the master has begun        

Nobody tells it like Mr. Lamb....


Guru as good as all the story have been so far I was thinking exactly what you said. Nobody spins it like Mr. Lamb.
Congrats on a great trip guys and thanks for taking us along

[Guru]

He was a true old warrior...every point on him was broken to some degree or completely gone, except that big brow tine on his right side. Nobody was real sure how old he was, but we figured at least 5 1/2. I'm also convinced that there wasn't a better looking deer walking the ranch(I don't mean bigger),look at the face, head markings. I've been very fortunate to kill bigger deer, but never one with so much character, and I'm pretty sure he's the oldest buck I've ever killed.....Like I said before, "I wouldn't be any happier if he was a 150incher".....I'm still on cloud nine!!

 


My favorite pic.....our whole "posse" together with two great bucks....it just doesn't get any better!!!

 


After another great brunch...it was time for the group pic...and like was mentioned earlier, this was only after the third quarter...we still had and evening and morning to go.....

[Shaun]

As the witching hour approached, I started to hear the tentative footfalls of deer nearby. A fork horn came down the road and then bounded back the way he'd arrived. Soon a fine looking 8 walked nearly under my tree and into the clearing.

Several factors combined to keep my osage selfbow hanging on the hook. The first was that I have had a much better than average deer season at home and my freezer is full. Second was that this is a totally different type of deer for me and I wanted to observe. Third was he really looked like a 2 1/2 year old and I have spent years trying to discipline myself to pass on younger bucks.

For comparison, here is a picture taken this week of an Iowa deer. Totally different body and horn structure. These hill country deer are one of the 21 or so subspecies of white tails and I really wanted to look and learn.

 

[Shaun]

A few minutes later a 6 followed into the clearing and sure enough he was much larger in body and mass than the first 8. I could hear the sounder of hogs returning with much grunting and squealing but they remained out of sight in the brush. After several minutes watching the deer feed, the hogs could not stand it any more and just as dusk crept in the hogs made a rush for the feeder.

Hogs are above deer in the food pecking order and the bucks gave way to the noisy pig charge. I had really wanted to add some feral hog to my larder and the bow came to hand. I resisted the temptation to fling an arrow into the mass of hogs under the feeder. It was a perfect flock shot, but I waited. Eventually they spread out and I picked a fine 90 pounder as it came broadside. As my arrow sailed just over the back of my chosen target, Lady Luck stepped in and put a tasty 40 pound hog's 12 ring in the line. He did a cartwheel as the sounder raced away without him.

 

[Shaun]

By the end of the hunt I had seen enough of these local deer to begin to sort out mature from young and quality racks from still improving. These deer have small bodies and fine bones. A large rack is 100-120 inch range. They are the quickest deer I have ever seen. At 25 yards they will sometimes not react to the shot, but under that range and they will drop and roll a foot or more. I never had a close shot but if one had presented I was prepared to aim 6" below the belly line. Several of the guides said, "You can't shoot under these deer."

With the pressure off after the first evening, I was able to fully enjoy rekindling old friendships and making new ones. I had very much been looking forward to sharing a hunt with Curt (Guru) and he is one true gentlemen of our sport. Thanks to the TG site and all who attended this hunt, it was one for the memory banks.

Our guide John told me that the previous archery group had consisted of 22 wheelie shooters. He said our group took much more game with a much lower wounding rate. I was pleased to be a part of this hunt and humbled by the shooting and hunting skills of the assembled gang. Already thinking about next year...

[Guru]

Congrats again buddy!! It was cool hearing that story when you told it that night at dinner.....


The cooler after the group photo.....

 


One more of that super cool right side.....

 

 So far, so good...

 


But I wasn't done yet....there was still does and hogs to get after.......

[Guru]

Thank you for the kind words Shaun....the feelings mutual my friend  

[Shaun]

Sunny hill archer (Michael) in a tree

 

A little closer

 

Stubby at work with Charlie's doe. This is one high quality blood tracking dog. He stays cool and calm on track and even us geezers could keep up. When the bell stopped it was time to haul deer.

 

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by tradtusker:
nice going guys.

Interesting that you'r aiming Low on all the deer they must be pretty Jumpy, do they get shot at a lot?

Don't know if this got answered yet or not, but....no, they don't nessesarily get shot at a lot....this ranch only has one hunt a month.  One in Oct, Nov, Dec, and Jan.  I think its just the nature of the feeders and the TX deer.

OK...gotta get back a couple of pages.....

[Shaun]

Some bow builder from Ohio. He was responsible for many the bows on the hunt. Most of his bows seemed to include the accuracy package option.

 

Tony with his Morrison bow. "Next time there is a small hog and a big hog, I'm shootin' the small one."

 

Guru style

 

[beachbowhunter]

They're after me lucky charms!    

  [/QB][/QUOTE]
 Man, I'm bummed I couldn't be there. Shaun you've had quite a season! Congrats to all!
N

[Mike Gerardi]

Thank you to all involved with the hunt for your pics and stories.  This is a great thread.

[Terry Green]

"Alright Skyler, you can shoot all the does you want this evening out of this stand.....AFTER 6:15" - David Shepard