Saturday, November 19, 2005 was a good day. It started at 4:30 AM, when Ron Denison picked me up for his first deer hunt. We proceed to a ranch near Hamilton Pool where Ron had been invited to hunt by the landowner. By 5:45 AM we were in a double deer blind, sitting on office chairs.
About four minutes before legal shooting time a deer suddenly snorted at us from our left (about 25 yards from us and 40 yards from the feeder). This was surprising because there was no wind and we weren’t making any noise to speak of. We also were wearing full camo including mesh facemasks. They were probably used to looking at the blind and not seeing anything inside of it. We found two deer in our binoculars. One or both continued to snort at us intermittently. It became legal shooting time but it was still quite dark because of heavy cloud cover. I had a clear shot at one of the deer.
Now I had a dilemma. The deer were on my side of the blind but our primary mission was to get Ron a deer. If I were going to shoot it we would need to switch guns (Ron had my Browning with the Burris scope with electrodot). If Ron were going to shoot it he would need to lean over me. Either way would probably make a lot of noise. As I debated with myself on what to do the deer walked off.
In about five minutes they returned, again on my side of the blind. One would present a perfect broadside shot but the other would face us and look straight at us. We dared not move. Finally, the more alert deer went ahead of the other. I would have a shot at the other deer but Ron would not. I’d wait for the deer to take a few steps and present a shot for Ron but then I’d lose the shot because if would go behind brush and Ron couldn’t see it because of the brush. I could have shot at least three times. Finally it went behind heavy brush and disappeared.
In about 10 minutes we saw movement again. It was our friend. She was behind heavy brush/trees but she once again gave me a couple of shots. Again I waited for Ron to find her in his scope but either the angle was not good or he would be shooting through heavy brush. The doe walked back and forth towards the feeder (she was about 20 yards away from it). It was like she was pacing; it was obvious that she was very skittish. She once again stood where there was a two-foot gap in the trees. I felt that we might not get another shot and asked Ron if I could shoot. He answered yes and I took the shot. The doe dropped like a rock where she stood.
Suddenly the other doe took two steps out from the brush/trees and gave Ron a perfect broadside shot in the open. He took it. The deer jumped from the impact and ran with its front legs low away from us. I lost sight of it in the heavy brush 10 yards behind the feeder.
The gun had gone off sooner than Ron expected. In fact he originally thought that I had shot again (he’s not used to the trigger on a Browning A-bolt). We waited 30 minutes, as I wanted his deer not be pressured and run further.
After half an hour (which always seem like eternity) we went to find our deer. Mine had indeed not taken a step (her heart was Jell-O). We went to where Ron shot his deer and found a very heavy blood trail (that a blind man could follow). We found Ron’s doe about 10 yards past where I lost sight of her. She was also heart shot and one of her front legs was destroyed.
We dragged them, tagged them, took pictures, and went to get Ron’s truck. We stopped by the blind first and got our stuff. Ron left the motor running and we had all four doors open. We unloaded the rifles and put them in their case. As we were putting the other things in the truck I heard what I thought was a snort. I said to myself “no way!” In about five seconds we heard another snort and Ron asked, “What was that.” My answer – “deer!”
We got the rifles, loaded a round, both leaned against Ron’s truck and waited. The deer continued to snort intermittently. All of a sudden she walked right out in the open. I had a 45-degree angle shot. She started to walk towards heavy brush. I had decided to give Ron two more seconds and then I would shoot. All of a sudden – BOOM!!! Ron had shot. The deer ran straight away but I saw her fall behind a bush. It looked like she fell and then got up and ran again. I was pretty sure that she was down so we didn’t wait this time. She had indeed fallen did but didn’t go far. She was only about 10 yards from where I saw her fall.
Again we took pictures and then loaded the deer. Within an hour or so we had the three deer in ice chests. We put the guts and hides in large heavy duty trash bags (the land owner did not have any gut buckets). We loaded the bags and drove off to dump them.
We decided to go by the other blind and feeder first (we had tried to find it in the dark but couldn’t locate it). As we drove down a dirt road I saw some dark shapes in a grove of trees. They were too short for deer and could only be one thing – turkeys! I asked Ron to stop and back up. Sure enough there were at least two turkeys. We quickly got our guns. I got mine loaded first and was quickly leaning on the hood of Ron’s truck. I had a shot at a bird that was walking away but was waiting for Ron to pick one out also. However, from Ron’s location he couldn’t get one in his scope.
My turkey turned around and went into brush. In about 15 seconds it returned (or another one came out). I once again had a shot but as I waited for Ron, the bird went into heavy grass and I lost sight of it. In about 10 seconds I located what I thought was the first Tom and now he had another Tom right behind him. They were walking away from us. There was only about a one-foot gap in a group of trees and brush and I told Ron that I had a shot. He still couldn’t find them in his scope and said to take the shot. I did. A turkey flew to the left and another to the right. I feared that I had missed.
We first went to where the left bird landed and didn’t find anything. Ron went further left and I went to where the bird was when I shot. As I walked across the field I saw a dark shape that looked like a burnt log. When I was about 20 yards from it I recognized feathers. The bird hadn’t taken a step and was over 100 yards from the truck. It weighed over 20 pounds and had about a nine-inch long beard. In retrospect the turkey that I lost sight of in the tall grass probably continued on away from me. I picked up his two friends in my scope shortly thereafter. When I shot (the middle gobbler) the lead gobbler flew to the right and the tail end gobbler flew to the left. I wish that I hadn't lost sight of the first gobbler because, as the lead gobbler, he was probably the biggest.
I wanted to fan mount the bird (including it's breast) and didn’t want to risk damaging it so I didn’t gut it. We drove over towards where we had been instructed to dump the guts. There was a cliff overlooking a gulley and creek. We stopped for a picture and walked to the edge of the cliff. All of a sudden we heard the unmistakable sounds of a large animal walking fast in the gulley below. I knew that it wasn’t a turkey and deer usually are much quieter. I suspected that it was my favorite quarry – hogs!
I got my rifle and as I walked over to the ledge I found a lot of hog scat. It was in the open and under the trees. I worked my way down to a lower ledge and leaned against a tree. Ron and I heard lots of rocks that sounded like an animal had kicked them down from the far cliff. We waited for a good half hour but nothing showed. I decided to go down into the gulley and carefully crawled down the rocky hill. Ron went and got his rifle. I heard what sounded to be more than one animal running away. I waited but nothing came my way. Ron went about 100 yards further down and then went down into the gulley. He saw two running turkeys and a running deer but couldn’t get a shot off.
We took the deer to Hudson’s on Congress for processing, tried to take my turkey to Martinez Brothers on Oltorf (but they had a “Be back in 30 minutes” sign on their door but we couldn't wait because we had an appointment with Mark Dillow and Dick Matteson), and then went to change clothes at my house.
We then met Mark at Great Hills and picked up Dick at Barton Creek Mall. We headed out past Burnet to scout Upland Bird Hunting, Inc. We met Mike Tyson, his dad, and business partners. They are Christians and great people. In addition to the hunting they have Victory Youth Ranch and Camp Agape ministries. These are non-profit organizations operating in support of children who are grieving the loss of a loved one as well as abused children. They buy pen-raised birds and charge $200/person for Quail/Pheasant/Chuckar. This includes the guide/dog fee. They also have trap and wobble trap range and are working on a five stand and eight station sporting clays range. They have 1000 acres. They have pointing dogs and flushing dogs. They are finishing a nice lodge. Memberships go for $1000 person. The drive there and back was good fellowship time.
I’ve had better days afield but not many. Believe it or not, this was my first harvested turkey. I tried to head shoot one at the Appletree Ranch on our second B&P Club hunt but missed. I also tried to body shoot turkeys three times (twice on one hunt) at the Hymeadow Ranch (that was managed by Paul Wilson) but each shot was at least 250 yards away. But the best part of the day was hunting with a good friend and seeing the birth of a deer hunter.