I’ve often been asked what I like best, hunting or fishing. I have often pondered question and have finally come to realize that whether I’m engaged in tug of war with a big catfish or striper, running a trotline, fishing a creek for spawning white bass or settling my sights on a wild hog with intentions of putting the meat on my smoker, I like most what I’m engaged in at the moment!
A famous outdoors writer once said that you don’t really have to ‘be there’ to enjoy hunting and fishing. He was alluding to the fact that once experienced, an outdoor adventure can be relived many times simply by recalling the event in one’s memory.
Oh, some trips I’ve enjoyed in the past remain etched in my memory, such as fishing remote fly-in lakes up in Saskatchewan, waters where the fish have never seen a lure and catching is as easy as getting a bait in the water or possibly setting in a bow stand on the end of a shelter belt in North Dakota within a few yards of a heavily used deer trail with a harvest moon as big as Texas rising in the east.
But, looking back, were these experiences any more fun than spending a few solo hours after dark with my rifle and thermal scope in my ‘hog blind’ situated a half mile from my home on a friends place? I understand not
everyone loves the thrill of pursuing fish and game as much as I and I truly consider these ‘born in’ traits
a blessing.
My love of the outdoors has helped me through some challenging times such as the many hours I spent in heavy traffic in the Metroplex driving 27 miles one way to work on one of the busiest freeways in the state. I remember well those days when I would focus on the tail lights in front of me but my thoughts would be far away. I would be thinking about a past hunt or upcoming fishing trip rather than the fact that I had to ‘put in’ X number of years until I could retire.
At age 51 I was able to cash in on my retirement and for the past 24 years, have been able to focus on what I truly love, enjoying a career as an outdoors writer, radio show host and for the past several years, part of the weekly outdoor TV show, “A Sportsmans Life” on Carbon TV and YouTube.
If you were to ask me last week what I enjoy most about the outdoors and I would have replied, “Being right here in far West Texas with my good buddies Larry Weishuhn and Jeff Rice hunting deer!”
Larry is on a huge lease out in Sterling County that is under the Texas Parks and Wildlife managed lands program where biologist set a quota of bucks and doe to be removed each year to keep the deer herd in balance with the habitat. Larry has had a busy fall and early winter with hunts and speaking engagements and he still had several deer permits to use. This was our second year to enjoy what I named our yearly ‘venison procurement’ hunt.
With the warm weather we have experienced early in
deer season the past couple years, I have come to enjoy late season hunting more than ever. The old camphouse we used for headquarters reeked with nostalgia. The concrete block structure was constructed back fifty or sixty years ago and has been headquarters for not only many hunters in the fall but as lodging for cowboys working cattle on the ranch. Equipped with a kitchen, old army bunks to sleep on and a bathroom, the old structure made and ideal headquarters for the three of us.
Jeff and I were hunting ‘management bucks’ which consisted of mature deer with less than 10 points and doe. Through the years, I’ve hunted all sorts of ranches, sometimes targeting a specific trophy buck which can be somewhat challenging. I’ve killed a good number of what is considered trophy class whitetail and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to hunt any buck with less than ten points that had some age.
Deer numbers are extremely high on this ranch and on the first hunt, I saw a total of 7 bucks that were coming to the feeder and the grape hull based Vineyard Max deer attract that I had placed strategically around my hunting blind. I spotted a big-eight point that never presented the broadside shot I was looking for. I felt completely confident out to several hundred yards with my 6.5 PRC CVA Cascade rifle topped with a Stealth Vision Scope loaded with Hornady bullets, but the fat eight-point weaving through the juniper trees never gave me the shot I needed on the first hunt.
Our first evening meal consisted of barbeque chicken and pork ribs with camp beans and potato salad and as usual at hunting camp we were all extra hungry after a day in the field. Do I need to tell you we all ate way too much? Jeff had taken a fat doe and back at camp we made fast work of hanging the venison to chill in the cold West Texas night air.
During the course of our two-and-one-half-day hunt, Larry managed to take a fine ten-point buck and Jeff
made a good shot on an old eight-pointer that was still in prime condition even this late in the season. The general consensus was that the buck was past breeding age and had not lost body weight during the rut.
On the last afternoon of the hunt, I again spotted the eight-point that I hoped to take and made a good shot at 130 yards. The buck ran about 125 yards as is often the case. I watched the deer running through the brush but lost sight of him in the thick cover. I did see two other deer he was with running to the left which is the direction I went in pursuit.
Reading signs and trailing is a necessary part of deer hunting. It was interesting taking Larry Weishuhn to
the spot where I shot the buck. He read the signs on the ground perfectly and very accurately described
to me where the buck was hit and insured me it was a lethal shot that would result in venison.
With so many deer tracks in the area, it was impossible to trail the buck and after about 50 yards there was no signs to follow. The buck had taken a trail off to the right instead of to the left as I had guessed. When we began searching that area, Jeff Rice quickly found my buck.
Back at camp we discussed the importance of never assuming a shot made at game was not a good one until every effort to find the game is exhausted. With a combined 175 years of deer hunting under our belts (none of us are spring chickens) we had all been on recoveries of deer that might have seemed more luck than skill but persistence is the key and staying positive is a must. May this lifestyle go on forever!
Listen to Luke’s weekly radio show on www.catfishradio.org, one of the many stations that airs the show or the podcast just about everywhere. “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends”
