In September I went to the Bar E ranch in S. Texas with buddies Mix Williams, Kelby McCoy, David Reasoner to hunt Exotics and hogs. I had never been on an exotic hunt so this would be a real exciting trip for me. I had only one exotic I was after, the elusive Axis deer. Hearing stories about how hard they are to bowhunt and how excellent their meat is I wouldn't except anything other than an Axis. On the second morning of the hunt I was caught in the open by a gorup of 7-10 Axis bucks, several of which were trophy quality and one who was incredibly huge! (Pictured in the video frame below) As they fed only 8 yards from me I was unable to move to try and get a shot. Finally with all of their heads down feeding I had an opportunity at the first two bucks which were nice, but not huge as the 3rd one which was the biggest of the group. I then decided that I can't shoot big bucks if I shoot small ones so I reluctantly waited for an opportunity at the biggest buck. After a couple of minutes the lead buck lifted his head and spotted me and barked. Needless to say my hunt was over and they all disappered into the brush. In the video still below the Axis herd I am referring to is this one and the biggest one I was after is on the left.
On the last hunt of the trip I had a big trophy white Fallow deer come to feed at 18 yards and a small Axis buck. I still wanted the Axis deer so I opted to pass on the Fallow and took a shot at the Axis. He traveled about 60 yards and expired. As I blood trailed him he fell 50 yards from a meadow in which the group of big Axis bucks were feeding and sparring. I stalked up and saw the monster Axis buck feeding only 34 yards away! As I came to full draw I thought to myself, I only have permission to take one buck. It was the hardest let down I have made on my bow. However, as bad as it felt, it was the right thing to do.
Me and my Aoudad Ram in the pouring rain.
In November I went back to South Texas and took this nice Auodad ram. This trip was marred with a strong Northern storm that came through and brought a ton of rain and heavy winds. I decided to make the most of it and still hunted as I walked back to camp in the 40 degree rain. As I chased hogs in and out of the thick brush I walked up on this ram seeking shelter from the storm under a huge oak tree. He spooked and took off toward another tree about 75 yards away.
The wind was in his face so I circled downwind and stalked my way to within 12 yards behind him. As I came to full draw I realized the shot wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be due to the rain hitting me in the face at a pretty hard pace. Concentrating harder to place the pin on his vitals I made a very careful shot making sure not to let the rain affect my vision. The Muzzy zipped through him and he only ran 15 yards before succumbing to the shot. This was the only opportunity I had to arrow an animal on that trip and it felt good to me that I had made the most of that bad situation.
I traveled back to the Bar E in December hoping at one last try at a trophy Whitetail buck. I had seen bucks that range from the 120's to the upper 140's on that ranch on the two previous trips and I was hoping for one of them to slip up and offer me a shot. None did. I did manage to arrow a nice Fallow deer on that trip so all wasn't lost. My hunting season for 2001 ended with with 3 trips to South Texas and 3 Exotics taken. Not bad, but my heart was still missing the taste of Whitetail backstraps.
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