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Home Camp
2011 Hunt Reports and Photos of All Bucks
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The large number of photos causes a longer download time. Please be patient.
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Also Please Note: Hunt reports are posted in reverse order with the most recent hunt at the top of the page. To follow our season in chronological order, scroll to the bottom and work your way to the top.
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Hunt E January 4 - 8
It doesn't happen often, but every now and then, we'll have an almost perfect hunt. Hunt E was such an event. What a great way to end the season.
The weather could not have been more perfect. From around freezing at daylight to near seventy and sunny by early afternoon, there was little to no wind. The three first-ever buck hunters were all successful and our hearty congratulations go to each of them for their fruitful initiation into our wide world of hunters. The two veteran hunters were similarly successful. All five deer hunters harvested very nice bucks as you will see in the collection of photos below.
The first-ever buck hunters included Marie Boehler, accompanied and assisted by her husband, Craig, who had hunted here with their son, Justin, back on Hunt 2 earlier this season. Both curious and perhaps a bit envious about her husband's/son's wild accounts of the fun they always found here, Marie resolved to become a hunter herself to find out just what is so special about our brand of Texas hunting. Now she knows and might have contracted a terminal case of "Adobe Lodge Fever". No pills or vaccines have yet been found for this disease. For her first-ever whitetail, Marie collected one heck of an eight point. Come to think of it, Marie admitted that her buck was the first animal of any kind she has ever taken. The Boehler family lives in Amsterdam, NY, near Albany.
Another New Yorker, Pat Keough, having a wealth of hunting experience all over North America and Africa, was eager to introduce his college-age son, Don, to the sport. Don, on his first-ever rifle hunt of any kind, set the bar pretty darned high for any future whitetail hunting he might do. Wait until you see Don's first-ever trophy below. The handsome dude had a couple of matching inch-long kickers on the outside of both main beams. On the outside, mind you, and on the main beams, at that - not on the tines as is usually the case with kickers. Don's luck was bubbling over that morning. Here's why. When Don had shot, the buck appeared to be hit, but he ran off. After calling his guide, Jerry Watts for instructions over his cell phone, Don followed the buck's path finding no blood trail of any kind along the way. But he pressed on in the direction the buck seemed to have taken. After at least 300 yards, Don heard the mortally wounded buck. A bit further on, he saw him trying to regain his feet. Don, having a fair amount of experience in wing shooting, lost no time in sending a second, and this time, fatal, bullet his way. It was an incredibly lucky find.
On that very same morning, dad, Pat, also harvested for himself one beautiful whitetail. Pat's buck was an honest main-frame eleven pointer but had lost his left G-2, probably in a battle somewhere. When a father/son pair both collect bucks on the same outing, spirits are off-the-charts once they are back in camp.
Come to find out, Pat lives at Rye, NY, just a few miles away from where both Craig and Marie were reared. The two pairs of hunters hadn't known each other before, but it was a reunion of sorts as they discussed that area's attractions and happenings. Don Keough is currently a student at Notre Dame.
The third first-ever hunter was Brian Newberry from Marrero, LA. Brian was accompanied by his business partner in their electrical contracting company, Mark McCullough. Brian's first, early attempt at a buck was a downer. He missed. No sign of blood/hair anywhere. Rest assured, "Buck Fever" is alive and well. This dreaded plague which has affected all of us from time to time will never, ever be eradicated. But thankfully, on the second day of the hunt, Brian collected for his first-ever buck a most unusual specimen. This old boy, who had yet to be seen by anyone all season, has two long tines (in addition to a somewhat-normal antler) protruding upward from the base of his left antler - one in the front and one in the rear. Once again, you gotta see his photo below. It's almost as if the buck had extra sets of antlers instead of only a pair.
Brian's partner, Mark McCullough, experienced a strange event on his first afternoon. He put his bullet right smack into the shoulder of a nice doe, knocking her right to the ground in her tracks. Down she stayed for several minutes, apparently totally lifeless. But wait. She staggered to her feet, crawled around a nearby bush, and disappeared, as Mark watched in horror from the blind, marveling at the miracle that had unfolded before his very eyes. The tough old hussy had come back to life. Believe it or not, when guide Albert Zapata arrived on the scene, neither guide nor hunter was able to find even a speck of blood at the crime scene. We had to chalk her up as a DNF, but her recovery will forever be a conundrum/riddle/mystery. Mark went on to collect one mighty nice buck plus a handsome javelina. Mark and Brian clocked-out of camp a full day early, intent on getting back to New Orleans for the Saints playoff game where they had front-row seats. Can you believe they would forego our legendary rib-eye steak night for this?
We even had a varmint-only hunter in camp. Several weeks ago, Duane Kingston from Kearney, NB had inquired about a possible varmint hunt. With Hunt E having less-than a full slate of hunters, he was invited to come along for the ride since the lodge was open with a cook on staff and everything ready. Duane has plenty of experience and knowledge in the art of calling varmints. He knows Texas like the back of his hand, having hunted Lone Star critters from numerous locales. He's even called and hunted varmints in Africa. (This could be scary. In that part of the world, you might call-up something that is hunting YOU, instead of the other way around.)
Strangely (or so it seemed to those of us who assume varmint hunters ply their trade only during the night), Duane would leave out on his four-wheeler about daylight to hunt all the live-long day. Returning about dark-thirty, we could then get caught up on what his experiences of the day might have been. The initial day-and-a-half he was unsuccessful and saw few signs of varmints on the first area he hunted. He was then relocated about eight miles to the south to prowl another ranch we hunt. A couple of deer carcasses were placed there as bait in likely places. Sure enough, said bait attracted a nice bobcat, but doggone the luck, Duane missed him. Later that day, he called in a couple of foxes, as you will see in the photos below. That same area has some coyotes, and Duane was hopeful to get one of these predators to respond to his call. He said the foxes had responded best to his distressed-baby-rabbit call.
So the final hunt of our 2011 season produced a 100% success on bucks with all five hunters collecting good ones. Three does were brought into camp but we'll call it four with that DNF which came back to life. Then there was the season's final javelina, too. With the success of the three first-ever buck hunters, and with the two veteran also putting-up bucks on our tally board, we ended the season on a high note, indeed.
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Hunt 10 December 27 - 31
Back around '04 - '06, we got to know Craig Broussard when he hunted with us several times. In those days, he was accompanied by business friends, all employed somehow in the off-shore oil industry. The company Craig works for does all manner of things to oil wells which are thousands of feet under the surface of the ocean. It is hard enough for us West Texas cowboys to hook up a joint of pipe that is right there in the ditch.
Back in October, an email from Craig came asking about hunt dates. Seems he had polled his two college-age daughters about vacation options during their holiday break. Both girls voted for a hunting trip. (Any student that smart will surely do quite well in college.) Come to find out, Craig and his wife, Cindy, are now living in London, England, of all places. So you might say that we had international hunters for Hunt 10. The girls, Colby and Casey, are attending LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. Cindy, the mom, came as a non-hunter.
It's unfortunate that we were unable to get any other hunters booked on this date. Being in camp with these mobile folks was an educational experience if there ever was one. The family has lived all around the world the past two decades as Craig followed his under-sea trade - Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, and now, England. You wouldn't believe some of the tales we got to hear.
Both girls had taken a couple/three deer each in their short hunting careers, and their hunting goals for this trip were to set new personal-best records. Craig wanted to accompany each girl, in turn, to help them properly identify potential shooters. With two female clients in camp then, it seemed like a good idea to have a female guide. So daughter-in-law, Jennifer Holt, who now lives on the Duncan Ranch about a hundred yards away from the Home Camp lodge, was pressed into service. Originally from Oregon, Jen, under the careful tutelage of her dad, has been a hunter all her life, mainly for elk with a long-bow. You can't get any more pure-dee hunting than that. Jennifer and husband, Jim and son, Cody, had moved to Texas from Oregon last spring so Jim could get himself a good job in the booming oil industry here in West Texas.
So another first happened on this hunt. We had our first-ever girl guide with our first international hunter of the decade.
For the entire four days of the hunt, the weather could not have been more beautiful: chilly-to-almost frosty in the early morning, but 65 - 70 in the afternoons with a perfectly clear sky and virtually no wind.
So with all this as a background, how did the hunting go? With Craig hunting under our "Trophy Option" plan, naturally he had his sights set on something exceptional, but his initial goal was to help each girl learn the finer points of hunting whitetails. With Craig accompanying one girl and Jennifer the other, switching back-and-forth each half day, only two blinds got hunted on each outing. Hunting two different ranches totaling near 12,500 acres with almost two dozen different blinds, the game plan was to hunt a new location each time.
Despite the almost perfect weather during this first quarter of the moon, the reports from the field listed numerous small, immature bucks being seen near our corn feeders, but there was an utter lack of mature candidates. Essentially, zero females were being seen, as well. For the first two full days, not one deer found its way to the skinning shed. What in the world was this? Who can predict the habits of whitetails? A logical explanation might be the meager amount of winter weeds which are barely growing from the modest amount of moisture a few weeks ago. For way over a year now, deer have been deprived of any green forage whatsoever. So their current cravings don't point them toward corn, strange as that might seem.
Satisfied with his initial orientation of his girls, Craig decided to hunt on his own. A good idea, because now three blinds would be hunted each outing instead of only two. It was a "spread out and surround them" kind of deal. And finally, Craig began to see a few interesting candidates. He admitted that on a couple of occasions, his butter softened a bit but failed to melt.
The third evening, Colby got lucky. Not only did she harvest her first-ever ten-pointer, she also assassinated a porcupine, a feat welcomed by all us lovers and keepers of ranch dogs. The next morning, sister Casey collected a dandy javelina which weighed a respectable fifty-five pounds. And to top things off for the day, dad Craig got himself one heck of a Rio Grande turkey. The dude had a paint-brush-like ten-inch beard and a set of spurs,each of which taped an incredible 1 5/16th inch. Old-pros in the turkey wars call these kinds of hooks "Limb-Hangers".
Having been hunting solo now in his "scouting" mode, Craig had been finding potential candidates. So Casey was taken to the blind where Craig's butter had softened a bit, in hopes that she, too, might see that buck. She did, but the rascal gave her no decent opportunity the first time she saw him.
For the final couple of afternoons, our inimitable skinner, David Gonzales, an outdoorsman if there ever was one, took Craig on a couple of walking-hunts. Sure enough, after seeing several smaller bucks, David said they spooked-up a potential "Buck-of-the-Year". The same afternoon, while looking for possible blood from a shot Casey had missed at that earlier-mentioned buck, Jennifer, too, jumped-up a brand-new buck that she described as being "huge". Where had this old boy been all this time?
So the evidence as gathered on Hunt 10 seems to be this: the big ones are here for sure, but they have become reclusive. Or, perhaps, they have joined some branch of a "Corn-Anonymous" group. The rut is over and bucks are intent on finding quality groceries after expending all that energy in pursuit of romance. They now crave green, not yellow.
As the hunt ended, the three hunters had taken one buck, one turkey, one javelina and let's not forget that porcupine. Casey's missed shot was one more to add to the "bad-luck" list to which every hunter can claim membership.
Happy New Year. We have one final hunt scheduled during the first week of January. The Fat Lady is warming up, but ain't singing yet. The year's final hunt report will be posted around/about January 9. Shortly after that, a summary of the entire year will be added to this website.
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Hunt 8 December 11 - 15
Overcast skies and intermittent drizzle dominated on Hunt # 8. Not much moisture accumulated, but at least the ground stayed damp and wasn't drying out.
Four hunters were on hand for the event. Illinois hunters John Newsome and Myron Woomer stayed over from the previous hunt to get in a few more days pursuing whitetails. From Virginia came Warren Widmyer (Orange) and H. B. Lantz, Jr. (Basye). Both parties of two have hunted with us countless times. Indeed, Buck of the Year honors were awarded to Myron back in 1996 and to Warren in 1999. But this was the first time both pairs have been on the same hunt date at the same time.
Success came quickly for John Newsome. The first drizzly night, he brought a heck of a ten-pointer into camp, taken from the same blind where he had been so successful back on the previous hunt. John loves that location and despite our misgivings, continued to hunt from "Old Faithful" for the duration of his stay.
Almost always, our prescription is to move hunters around every outing. Hardly ever does a blind get hunted two times in a row, and especially not every single half-day as John was doing. But what he learned from staying-put was interesting and quite surprising: John said that of the many bucks which visited the feeder during the first three days, brand-new bucks which had not been observed heretofore would be seen.
But there was an additional reason John wanted to hunt from that particular blind. The area had been "baited" with a doe's carcass on the previous hunt in hopes of maybe getting John a shot at a bobcat. In an effort to see if the bobcat-baiting might be successful, John and his guide, Charlie Bowers, put up John's trail camera near the carcass to monitor the situation. The camera had a time/date feature to pinpoint possible cat-visits. Sure enough, after only one day, a dandy, almost obese, bobcat got his/her photo made lurking around the carcass. Some of the photos were in the dead of night as you would expect. But several were not. The kitty-cat was filmed just after daybreak. These photos only stoked the resolve of John to continue hunting that same blind. But doggone the luck anyway - the bobcat never gave John a good look until the time clock ran out on the hunt.
Meanwhile, both H.B. Lantz and Warren, with their long-time guide and amigo, Buryl Williams, were hunting from different blinds every outing. Their years and years of experience hunting with us has taught them a thing or two about what to look for. As expected, they were holding out for the best they could find. Nothing close to their goals was being seen, despite Buryl's efforts. The two hunters were casting a wide net over a couple of ranches totaling some 8000 acres.
But both hunters had an additional goal -each also wanted to collect a Rio Grande turkey. Turkeys are harder to pattern than you might think. Some days, especially when your focus is on deer, turkeys will overrun a feeder, gobbling up all the corn and running off the deer. Next day, same-time/same-place, another hunter will see nary a bird and a flock of long-beards will show up at a brand new location.
Finally on the third day, both H.B. and Warren put tags on a pair of fine toms. Warren's bird was the larger of the two at 19.2 lbs. But H. B.'s gobbler had four beards, as you will see in the collection of photos below.
Myron Woomer also visited numerous blinds on his quest to find a good buck. He admittedly took a last-day type buck (for him, anyway) but the rascal was the widest of the hunt at 19".
Finally, on the final night, both H.B. and Warren got lucky. Both brought bucks to camp that were virtual twins - 17" nine pointers with handsome antlers, but, sadly, somewhat broken by recent fighting - a common situation as the bucks are moving into the post-rut time of their year. Taxidermist Henry Dusek assured both customers that repairing such damage was entirely possible - kind of like fixing a dent in your fender, so to speak. Both bucks will make impressive mounts.
The big event of Hunt 8 was having some local t.v. news people visit our camp. They had called asking about the progress of the hunting season. Trying to shift them over to another area outfitter or perhaps to some knowledgeable biologist for an analysis, the local "info-babe" was not to be denied. The tenacious lady and her camera man showed up about midday. Graciously, we fed them lunch before submitting to their on-camera questions. They interviewed any in camp who would stand still for the ordeal. Little did they know there were others, both guides and hunters, lurking behind the lodge to avoid being found.
They wanted photos of deer. Believe it or not, Charlie Bowers took them to that favorite blind of John Newsome's. They filmed H.B. acting his part in the drama of entering a blind. If you can believe it, Charlie, using a remote control device (like a garage-door opener), and in the middle of the day, mind you, was able to coax-in a small buck for the staged event. Of course H.B. wasn't about to shoot the hapless buck, but the film crew got the footage they needed for their show.
After supper that night, all us t.v. stars had to stay up extra late just to see ourselves on the news. To date, Hollywood has yet to call, but we are all keeping our phones charged up, just in case. Maybe you can see their footage. Here is a link that might work:
http://conchovalleyhomepage.com/search-fulltext?nxd_id=150977&shr=addthis
Hunt 8 ended with these results: four hunters collected four bucks, two does and two turkeys. The weather was mostly overcast with some periods of light drizzle. Amazingly, the temperature at daybreak on the second morning was 65 degrees - more like spring turkey weather than your basic mid-December deer season.
Our next hunt will be December 27-31. Time is short, but this is a perfect date for family groups or fathers with kids out of school for the holidays. Come to think of it, the next Home Camp hunt report won't be up until NEXT YEAR, on or about January 1, 2012.
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Hunt 7 December 6 - 10
When it comes to having experience in Adobe Lodge-style hunting, no one has more of it than John Newsome from Shumway, IL. If you reviewed our picture books and archives all the way back into the mid-1990's, there is no telling how many times you would find his photo.
This season, once again, John played host to numerous employees and friends from back home around the Effingham, IL area. Also, let's not omit John A. Newsome, John's son, a.k.a. "Johnny" or "Junior", to keep them properly identified. Faithful readers will recall that John Jr. collected our "Buck of the Year" on the first hunt last season. His photo is at the top of the Home Page of this website.
Included in the "friends" category was a father/son pair from Canada, Mike and ten-year-old Jordyn Pinheiro, the only two of the ten in camp not from Illinois. Mike, in addition to being a law enforcement officer back home, also runs hunting and fishing camps based in Ontario and Manitoba. So we had a professional outfitter in camp to check out our Texas hunting operation. Talk about being on pins and needles - it was as intimidating as playing a five-string banjo for Earl Scruggs. His son, Jordyn, impressed one and all with his shooting skills during the "sighting-in" ceremony. It wasn't just beginner's luck. After putting two or three bullets right smack into the target's bulls-eye on the shooting range, Jordyn managed to drill a perfect hole into his first-ever buck when they finally found the one they liked. Somehow or the other, Jordyn has acquired real shooting skills in his ten-brief years. He could fill in as a "designated shooter" around here anytime. Asked about the differences in our Texas hunting with what he offers back home, Mike said you'll see lots more deer in Texas.
When the hunt kicked off on Tuesday, a cold north wind forced our orientation meeting into the lodge for the first time this season. But since eight of the ten hunters have hunted with us many times (only Mike and Jordyn were new), we zipped through the process easily and got everyone out hunting on time.
Surprisingly, that first evening was a busy one in the photo studio and skinning shed. John Sr. is always allowed to take two bucks in appreciation of his many years of faithful business. He lost no time in doing so, bringing in a couple from his all-time favorite blind up on the side of a hill overlooking a cedar-choked valley. Surprisingly, John's faithful sidekick, Myron Woomer, who rarely takes anything until the last day, also tagged out that first night with a nice buck. Be alert for more news from these two since they are staying over for the following Hunt # 8 after this one.
Wednesday morning, after that cold front of the day before, we had our lowest temperature of the season so far - 16 degrees. Mighty cold to be sitting in a lonely deer blind, but thankfully, the wind had now laid. It warmed quickly enough and Rick Jones brought in a ten pointer taken that chilly morning and Jordyn, guided by his dad, got his photo made with that first-ever buck.
Tom Rentfro finally tagged the largest buck of the hunt but missed the first deer he shot at when the darndest thing happened to his gun. The screws holding his scope mount were totally sheared-off by the recoil of that .300 Win Mag. It is widely acknowledged that these big cannons will kick a bit if you are brave enough to pull the trigger. Some of us would rather be pounded by a NFL linebacker. Maybe the phrase "breaking off the mount screws" will replace the old saying of "knock your socks off". Myron Woomer, who knows more than a little bit about such things, blamed Tom's extra-large, range-finding scope being mounted with # 6 screws instead of with stronger # 8 screws. Why not weld the thing on the barrel and be done with it?
But for you aficionados of big guns, the simple truth is this: any caliber will kill a whitetail if you can get the bullet where it needs to go. And, conversely, a huge gun is no guarantee of getting your buck on the ground if he's hit in the wrong place. It takes one heck of a steady nerve to SQUEEZE THAT TRIGGER when you know a mule's kick is coming. Over our many years in the hunting arena, we've seen many bucks poorly hit with huge guns. There is really no mystery to it.
Speaking of shooting - John Jr. made one heck of a shot on the final night. With Bill Frese already tagged out and acting as his spotter, John Jr. was in that blind which overlooks the alfalfa patch discussed on this page in an earlier report. A decent candidate was located at a distance, and as the sun went down, he just wasn't coming any closer. So crunch time had come. John's range finder had him at 538 yards; Bill's showed him to be standing at 542. Split the difference - call it 540. John took hold of his .300 Ultra Mag, touched one off, and the buck went down. But clearly wasn't dead. Three more bullets were cast his way from that distance, with none finding the target. A new battle plan was quickly drawn up. Bill stayed in the elevated blind, and Johnny, with his one remaining bullet, (Good Grief - are bullets all that heavy?) put a stalk on the old boy to put his lights out for good. Communication between the two was by cell phone. (You have to wonder if buffalos would have been hunted to extinction sooner if Indians had been so-equipped?) Finally able to get only within 180 yards, Johnny did it. Got his buck with only moments of time left. Shooting off-hand, too. And with zero ammunition left in his pocket. Talk about kicking a field goal with only a couple of seconds left.
So the hunt came to a conclusion with the most packed tally board of the season. Eleven bucks were taken by the ten hunters with six does plus a DNF doe being tabulated. Two javelinas were taken by John Newsome Sr. plus David Frailey. Varmint hunting produced the sighting of only one fox, which managed to escape. Myron Woomer earned our thanks and praise when he killed a porcupine.
With everyone tagged out, the hunt concluded leaving a half-day to spare as the several trucks were loaded for the drive back to central Illinois. Sadly, we also big good-by to Bill Scott who has been guiding for us over the past several hunts. Bill, a retired Illinois game warden from that same area, originally hunted here as a guest of John Newsome. His great spirit and personality fit our operation to a "T", and when he accepted our offer to act as an Adobe Lodge guide, it has been our pleasure to have him on our team.
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Hunt 6 December 1 - 5
With six of the eight hunters in camp having been Adobe Lodge deer hunters for a total of fifty-three times, collectively they know all our old tricks about as well as we do. The six veterans and their respective years of hunting with us were: Bill Knapp, (15), Ray Reynolds (13), and Eric Knapp (7) - all from Wethersfield, CT; Brad Milner, Atlanta, GA (12 - and that doesn't count all his turkey hunts in the spring); and finally, Roger and Wayne Schantz from Round Rock, TX (6/each).
The two newcomers, both from Connecticut, came on the urging of their back-home-bretheren. They were John Palazzo from East Hampton and Mac MacPherson from East Hartford. Being newcomers, naturally they tagged out first - Mac with a wide eight point and John with a 9 pointer. Both also succeeded in taking a doe each.
To a man, the veterans elected to hunt under our "Trophy Option" pricing system - a wise choice in this drought-stricken year. From the git-go, it was a cinch that each would hold out for a top-ten candidate. The benefits of our unique pricing offer are discussed in full elsewhere on this website. After several years now of essentially having two prices to choose from for the same hunt, the deal has been an unqualified success. Hunters like it. We like it. Young, last-day-type bucks like it. What's to NOT like about it?
Speaking of success, we judge our operation's success not by a tape measurement of a deer's antlers but instead by how many hunters re-book. So you-dang-right - this hunt was an unqualified success because all eight hunters on Hunt 6 re-booked for the same date next season.
Despite the aforementioned droughty year, five of the eight hunters found bucks they liked. Eric Knapp got himself a good eight pointer, and Brad Milner, on the final night, got his picture taken with a ten pointer.
But who can ever explain the habits of a whitetail deer? Hunt Six overlapped the first quarter of the moon (mostly dark nights) and coincided with the annual rut. And yet. And yet. On more than one occasion, it was learned that some of the hunters would see not one living deer during an outing, all the while hunting from some of our most historically productive blinds, to boot. Disconcerting to be sure. Entirely inexplicable. Was it the weather? Could be, but it is all too tempting to blame the weather when a deer's habits become abnormal.
More bad news concerned the buck that had appealed to Ray Reynolds. Having put a couple of bullets right smack into the bulls-eye on our shooting range at the outset of the hunt, and having more than a normal working relationship with firearms in his career as a law enforcement officer back home, Ray's abilities with his rifle are unquestioned. But sometimes, as we all come to accept sooner or later, bad things happen to good people. Ray's clear, unobstructed 100 yard shot one afternoon left only a couple of bones and maybe a few more drops of blood as clues for the trackers. Despite their extensive search, nothing was found by the assembled search party. Ray suffered the damnable DNF on our tally board.
Well now, that's not quite the sum total of the story. A prize was indeed found by the search crew, and guess who got the credit? Yep, it was the inimitable David "Chihuahua" Gonzales, once again for the umpteenth time this season. After the two-plus hour search for the buck by the several people involved, and when the decision was made to abandon the quest, and as the remaining search party made their collective ways back to their assembled trucks, Eagle-eye David noticed something and called together all his companions and invited them to look closely at the ground where he was pointing. No one (except David, of course) could see anything but dirt and drought-stricken forage. When finally satisfied that no other was going to see what his keen eyes had spotted, to the amazement of the entire group, David bent over to claim his prize - a perfect arrowhead. Truly, his eyes are blessed with super-powers unknown to the rest of us. When it comes to the subtle art of "noticing things", David has no peer. It would be no surprise to see him step into a phone booth and emerge in a cape-adorned red and blue suit with a big "S" on the chest.
The weather for most of the duration of the four days, except for the first Thursday afternoon of the hunt and again on Saturday afternoon, could be described as "almost-drizzle". Precious little moisture accumulated. You could scrape away the top inch of so of "almost-mud" to find powder-dry soil below. But after supper on the final night in camp, and after the rib eyes and rye bald presentations were made, rain began to fall. It rained all night and when the trip was made to the airport with those who had to catch that early flight, the road was blessedly muddy for the first time in a long time. A few flakes of snow were even seen. The moisture will be a big help to our valuable winter weeds and wheat crop, all of which were on life-support and not expected to last beyond Christmas. Now, maybe, the deer and wildlife will get a bit of something to eat if the winter doesn't turn out to be too terribly bad.
So as the hunt concluded, neither Bill Knapp nor either of the Schantz pair, had seen the kind of buck they had in mind. They left happy and eager to give'er another go in 2012.
Four bucks and the DNF appeared in the buck column. Six does were harvested by the group of eight, but a doe DNF and a missed shot were tabulated, as well. And let's not forget Eric's javelina as we total the results of Hunt Six. With six of the eight in camp clocking-out on that final morning to catch airplanes and missing an eighth of the hunt, you have to wonder if additional critters might have been taken if we had our full team playing on the field for the entire contest.
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Hunt 5 November 26 - 30
A "corporate group" from down on the Gulf Coast was back for the third year in a row. We call them "The Shrimpers" since almost every one of them is tied somehow to that industry. They live in deep-east Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
We West Texans, knowing almost nothing about their business, get a real education every time they are here. The best part: they bring pounds and pounds of their products when they head this way. Our staff almost foundered on shrimp and oysters. Gout will be a clear and present danger for the next few days from the quantity of shellfish consumed.
The shrimpers are headed-up by Trey Pearson who hails from Groves, TX, near Port Arthur. Trey's hunting partner this year was Blake Hemmenway, also from Groves. Both are very experienced in hunting Texas deer. What with Trey and Blake on a quest only for "the best of the best" of exceptional animals, our "Trophy Option" plan was a perfect fit for these two. As things turned out during the four days, neither found a buck that met his high standards. Instead they acted as scouts for the rest of their amigos. And good scouts they turned out to be. Especially for Clinton Jones.
Acting on their tip, Clinton found a good one they'd seen. Clinton lost no time in putting him on the ground. This 20 1/2" ten pointer was one handsome dude. The non-typical configuration of his headgear could be measured a couple different ways. His G-2 on his left side either has a giant kicker which originates right from its base, or some might argue that the kicker ain't no kicker at all but is, instead, a G-3. So therefore, the third circumference measurement would be much different. All these technicalities are way above the pay-grade of anyone in our skinning shed. Some called him either a 134 and change; others said he was a 137. Either way, he's the best of the season to date.
Unfortunately, Clinton used up all his luck in taking this buck. For the rest of the hunt, his recurring back pain almost put him down for the count, and he spent most of the rest of the time hanging out in the lodge. When his pills were finally Fed-Ex'ed to San Angelo, he began to get a bit of relief, thank goodness. Clinton prevailed on Jens Sunde to take his doe for him, a task for which Jens was well suited and accomplished with great skill. Jens love to hunt deer.
Want evidence?
The number of "Shrimpers" was nine, but just at the last minute, there was a cancellation. Therefore, an extra buck could be taken. It is unclear how Jens was awarded that prize, but he cowboyed-up and got'er done. After taking a twelve pointer, his second buck was a good eight. With Clinton out of the chase with his medical deferment, Jens had their guide, Jerry Watts, all to himself. While these two were doe hunting, Jerry amazed Jens by "whispering-up" a 95 pound doe, almost to within bow range. Watts uses a fawn bleat for the trick. He is somehow able to put an extra degree of urgency in the plaintive call, and Mother Doe just can't stand it. He claims to have "rattled-up" several does in such a manner over the years. Jen's second doe was taken with a 240 yard shot when he, being stage-managed by Watts via their cell phones, was able to sneak up on the old girl who thought she was entirely safe way out there in that wheat field.
On earlier hunts, the deer finding/tracking skills of our skinner, David Gonzales, have been duly noted and reported. Dog-goned if "Chihuahua Gonzales" didn't do it again. One afternoon, the father/son Stringfellow pair was hunting an alfalfa field, now overgrown by small mesquites. Son Lance, who has plenty of experience in hunting such clearcut-types of terrain back home in the South, spotted an exceptionally heavy-horned buck. He cast his bullet when he had a decent shot. The buck tumbled. And stayed down, out of sight in that thicket of mesquites, for a quarter-hour or more. Finally, with dad, Jimi, scouting and spotting from the elevated blind, Lance went out to take a look at the area where the buck went down. He was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Now what?
Finally, 75 yards away, he jumped to his feet and took off. Lance quickly fired two more bullets toward the running whitetail, a challenging task if there ever was one, especially in that tangle of brush. Both hunters saw the buck jump the perimeter fence and disappear. When their guide, Charles Fleming appeared in due course, their search for blood that night was fruitless. Next morning, after an exhaustive search, they suffered the same unsuccessful result. No blood, no hair, no tracks. No runs. No hits. No errors.
But such a drama is never over until Chihuahua (Sherlock) Gonzales has made his review. After lunch and before even embarking on the quest, David claimed he knew right where the buck would be on that adjacent ranch. Honest to goodness, this is just what he said before leaving the lodge. Sure enough, once arrived at the scene, it took him all of five minutes to walk right to the dead buck. And what a good one he was. Check out his photo below. He's one heavy-horned rascal since, no doubt, he had been feasting on that alfalfa all during our droughty summer and fall. Lance's buck has eleven points on a very unusual rack. He's a beauty, and once again, the famous Mexican tracking dog, Chihuahua, is credited with the find.
Mike Cichowski, who comes every year with this group, is the only non-shrimper. Instead, he is their company lawyer and proudly admits that the shrimp business sent his kids to nice schools over the years. Mike took a high-horned eight point with extra-long G-2's, in addition to a good doe. Mike was fortunate to see numerous bucks later on, several of which he judged to be definite shooters. Mike's hunting companion, Stormy Spellmeyer, was the only first-timer in the group and he put his tag on a dandy buck with nine points on a 17 3/4" wide rack.
We almost got a rain before the hunt started, but it passed us by once again. Blustery, almost chilly weather dominated first afternoon and all the next day of the hunt. That second night, temperatures fell close to freezing. But by noon of that day, it was shirt-sleeve weather and one hunter was even seen in shorts. Thankfully, the wind left and wasn't a factor for the rest of the hunt.
Deer movement was good, despite the wind. Indeed, four of the bucks were taken during the spell. The rut seems to be on. Bucks are being seen in unlikely places at unusual times of the day. Evidence: on the last morning, a gun was being sighted-in on our rifle range about 11 a.m. Across the field of fire came a definite shooter and stopped for a full minute mid-way between the 100 yard and the 250 yard target, right smack in the shooting lane, . Yep, he was allowed to go on about his business with no bullets fired until he was safe and out of sight.
Hunt Five, with the one cancelled hunter and the red-shirted hunter with the bad back, is a bit of a jumble to summarize easily. But here's an attempt. Eight hunters in camp collected seven bucks. Five took one/each. One took two. Two took none. Regarding does, four hunters took the limit of one/each. One took his doe and his friend's doe, for a total of two, making six does taken by the entire group. Neither varmints nor hogs were seen. One turkey gobbler was a DNF (did not find).
The Shrimpers already booked back for 2012 before they left camp. Our hunt right after Thanksgiving fits all their complicated work schedules. Already, our guides and staff, in anticipation of another opportunity at a bountiful "surf and turf" cuisine during Hunt Five next season, are reminding themselves to start taking their gout medicine several weeks beforehand.
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Hunt 4 November 19 - 23
When Hunt Four kicked-off at noon on Saturday, we counted a full slate of eight hunters for the first time this season. On hand was one "Extreme Vet" (Lyle Olson, Chapin, SC - back for his ninth year in a row), plus four other vets consisting of Ed McFarland, Anderson,SC; John Romine, Oklahoma City,OK; Frank Kollar, Crozet, VA; and Bob Baker, Pierson, FL.
The three new faces in the group were Bob's son, Mike McDaniel from Deland, FL and a pair of fellows who do lots of business together - Craig Moran from Mooresville, NC and Mike Miller from Highland City, FL.
The five vets have been here on this same hunt date for the past several seasons, and it is fair to say they have bonded as a band of Adobe Lodge brothers. Lyle Olson, originally coming as a single those many years ago, was finally able to persuade his old hunting buddy Ed McFarland to join him on the adventure after a few years of coming alone. All the other vets, like Lyle, first came as singles. This fact underscores the point we make over and over - lifelong friendships have their origin right here in our camp. Lyle continues to stay in touch with another memorable name out of antiquity - one Andy Young from Nazareth, PA, a character of the first order, who hunted several times on Hunt # 4 in days gone by.
Ed finally collected a 17" eight pointer late in the hunt. Lyle, hunting under our "Trophy Option" plan, never saw a buck he judged to be worth the trophy fee. As we tell everyone who will listen: sometimes we can show you one you'll like and sometimes we simply cannot. Our "Trophy Option" is a perfect fit for hunters going after only the best of the best. At the end of the four days, Lyle was quite content to go home empty-handed claiming to have had one heck of a good time. Both Lyle and Ed will be back next season and we are already looking forward to seeing these two guys again.
The deer hunting, despite the fact that the rut seems to be well underway in this area at least, was sometimes hot and sometimes cold. Hunters mostly saw decent numbers of deer on each outing, but there were a couple of reports of almost no deer around the feeders on occasions. Maybe it had something to do with the weather and that approaching front? Rain had been predicted for Monday night (we had our fingers crossed), but alas, when the moisture arrived, windshield wipers set on the slowest, intermittent setting were even too fast for the meager drizzle which briefly fell then quickly moved to the east. An optimist would boast that at least, the ground got damp and bits of dirt got tracked into the lodge as a result. A pessimist would note that there was damn little of it. We really hoped for large amounts of mud on the floor.
We need "A Good Rain Bad", to borrow a phrase from amigo and sculptor, Garland Weeks (garlandweeks.com). Our wheat and winter weeds are on life-support.
Craig Moran gets the honors for the season's longest shot to date. Sitting in a "half-high" blind (maybe four feet off the ground), he spotted a keeper way out past the feeder, standing on the side of a rocky hill. Guides always try to remind their hunters to look all around the area from your blind. Sometimes, good bucks never come anywhere close to a feeder.
This was the case as the wary buck Craig had spotted was "cruising for hot girls" and had no interest in the corn. It was unlikely he would be coming closer. When finally presented with a decent opportunity, Craig put him down with a 205 yard shot (measured by his range finder, and don't fail to count the last five yards, please. Such a figure is of major importance to any shooter worth his salt). Craig and his partner, Mike Miller, both being tagged out on the final afternoon, tried their skills at varmint calling with their guide, Bill Scott. It worked. Craig was credited with a nice fox, but it was actually a team effort and our congratulations go to all of them.
Oklahoman John Romine, who has developed a terminal case of "Adobe Lodge Fever" even to the point of taking up turkey hunting so he can double each year's trips to hunt with us, took a dandy buck with good kicker's on both G-2's. But John has other skills, as well. He has an extraordinary talent for putting handles on knives. He presented one of his creations to us as a gift. Since the beautiful knife (shown below) is far too handsome to ever use for cutting even hot butter, it will be displayed somewhere in the lodge when an appropriate hanging-device can be procured. Regarding John's short career as a turkey hunter (last season being his first), John is proud of the fact that he is getting better daily with his diaphragm call since he finally learned he had been trying to play the device sitting backwards in his mouth. You'd think that the call-makers could come up with a design that would work in any position, even up-side-down because turkey hunters come untrained in the presence of long-beards and no telling which way that call will be positioned in their mouth. By next spring, no doubt, John will be able to entice gobblers to sit in his lap. Now having learned the trick of the thing, he is sure to drive everyone crazy back home. Turkey hunters love to play their calls by the hours.
Newcomer Mike McDaniel took a good eight point and a doe but had to clock-out a day early to tend to business back home in Florida. Dadgummit - Mike missed rib eye night, too.
Mike's dad, Bob Baker, back for his third hunt, suffered every hunter's nightmare. He drew blood and bone from his buck, but an extensive search of the vast, brushy area by numerous scouts (including "Chihuahua Gonzales") failed to find a speck of further evidence beyond the exact point at which the buck was hit. Another DNF goes on our tally board, and truly, it is never easy to record this dismal disappointment. But Bob, ever the sportsman, is returning next year, bringing not only Mike, but his grandson, as well. You have to admire this kind of spirit.
Frank Kollar was almost a different person this season. Heretofore, he has been tied to his computer during the non-hunting times of the day, catching up on his office work from back home in VA. (Note: our Home Camp is equipped with wireless internet. Are we on the cutting edge, or what?) But now having taught his daughter the tricks of his trade, Frank was able to spend more quality time around the fire pit than ever before. His buck, an eight pointer, was the heaviest of all the bucks taken. Frank was only seen to be on his computer for one, brief time by the camp webmaster. A first.
The Thanksgiving break in the hunting season which follows Hunt # 4 is a good time to reflect on where we stand so far. Quite frankly, the bucks have been much better than anyone thought they would be as we suffered through the one hundred days of the 100+ degree temperatures back during the summer. And, at least until this hunt, the body conditions of the deer have been "not all that bad". We've even seen some almost-fat deer, and how that came about in this brutal drought is a mystery. But in handling the bucks on Hunt 4 that were being positioned for their photograph, a couple/three of them were beginning to show protruding backbones and evidence of nutritional stress. From here on, things will surely get worse for the deer living on those portions of our vast rangeland which missed some of the rains back in August and October.
Hunt Four can be summarized thusly: eight hunters put six bucks on our tally board, plus that DNF. Only one hunter failed to find a buck he liked. Seven does were taken by the group. With the decline in our deer numbers, we are forced to limit the harvest to one doe per hunter. And don't forget that fox. All in all, it was a great hunt, the evidence of which is that among the eight hunters, they re-booked seven slots for 2012.
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Hunt 3 November 14 - 18
We've said it before. We'll say it again: "Life-long friendships can originate on an Adobe Lodge hunt."
Five seasons ago, a group from North Carolina just happened to be in camp for the first time with another bunch of first-time hunters from the Shreveport, LA area. The fun and the frolic which came forth from this chance amalgamation was instantly infectious. Everyone in both parties agreed to a reunion the next year. And the same thing has happened over and over, year after year. Yep, they'll all be back next year, and we can hardly wait. By then, our sides will have quit hurting from all the belly-laughs from this trip.
The core members of the NC delegation to this conference are the Linebergers, Carroll Sr. and Junior. Before finally finding us, they had several years of experience in hunting Texas . They now claim to have established a permanent home for their annual trek to the Lone Star state. And what a treat it is for all us in camp when they show up. They are loaded down with all kinds of goodies for everyone - bags of peanuts, caps for everyone, and boxes and boxes of Senior's several varieties of snake-bite remedies - all home-brewed back home.
The Louisiana guys are hosted by Rick Pierce who brings several of his customers, all of whom are somehow tied to petroleum fluids of bewildering names and uses. The group changes by a name or two each year, but this time, all on hand had been here sometime in the past - Mitch Perdue, Matt Vienne, and Todd Davison. It's always great to see them.
Even though we always caution hunters that, in this area, gun hunting is much more productive and preferable to bow hunting, nevertheless, a couple of the LA guys were determined to use arrows for at least a part of their hunt. During the "sighting-in" ritual which precedes each hunt, crossbows were even being adjusted and tested.
Matt Vienne took that weapon on his first outing. Sitting high in a tripod which overlooks a feeder near the river, he located a possible shooter, but by being so close, he found it was impossible to get the weapon into firing position without alerting his potential victim. He did draw blood, however, by putting an arrow into a nice raccoon, and earned our everlasting thanks for taking out this malevolent "deer-feeder-terrorist". The next day, at another stand, Matt, using a conventional compound bow, took a nice doe with a well-placed shot. But when Matt had a good buck walk under him later on, he "got the shakes" as he drew on the buck and refused the risky shot. Finally, wisdom came. He got his gun. And succeeded in taking a good buck.
The other bow hunter, Rick Pierce, using a compound bow, hit his target late on the second afternoon. He and guide Charles Fleming wisely decided to trail the buck the following morning. "Give them plenty of time to bleed-out". That's our motto. Their adventures on this task will go into our history books as a classic tale to be recounted as long as there is an Adobe Lodge. Here is the way it came about:
When enough light finally came next morning to the crime scene, the search for the blood trail began. By then, Rich and Charles were joined by the other two guides, Greg Brawley and Snake Allen, who had already placed their respective hunters in blinds. Also along on the quest was Carroll Lineberger, Jr., who had already taken his buck. So the entire group spread out. There were plenty of eyes focused on the ground searching for blood.
About two hundred yards out, Greg Brawley found a speck. Yep, it was blood alright, right there in the caliche road and unmistakable. The entire group rose to the challenge and began searching again for another speck. Which was indeed found further out. This routine kept repeating itself. A blood find; a dispersal of the group searching for the next speck; a find; another scattering of the troops. Success came ever so slowly.
After almost a mile, a deer's tracks were clearly seen "skidding in the dust up to a cattleguard" and beyond that, more blood, still on the road. The trailing continued, well into the second mile. Who knows how many hours had now been invested? Charles Fleming backtracked down the long hill to bring up the pickup and some water for the searchers who kept faithfully to the task.
Every time blood was finally found, it was right in the road. HMMMMM??? Carroll Jr., in getting a bottle of water out of the cab of the truck, just happened to notice that a smear of blood was still in the bed of the truck, left from a deer hauled back to camp the previous night. He wondered aloud to the group: Do you suppose we have been trailing the blood which dripped out of the truck last night? All of a sudden, just like a cartoon, a light-bulb appeared in a bubble over the collective heads of all the searchers. Damn. They had been trailing a bleeding truck for miles and hours.
Hindsight being twenty/twenty, the searcher returned that afternoon and began anew. Even accompanied by the legendary David "Chihuahua" Gonzales, the only blood found at the original site was on Rick's arrow. No other blood (that didn't drip out of the back of the truck) was found. So, doggone the luck anyway. We had to credit Rick with a DNF, but he and the entire group get our applause for the best "truck-tracking/trailing" story that will ever be told.
Carroll Jr. and his guide Greg Brawley get credit for the season's first buck taken while rattling. After hitting the horns, Greg spotted the old boy a hundred or more yards out. Where had he been before? Did he stand up and reveal himself after hearing the racket? It is a moot point. Carroll's shot put him down for good. Later in the hunt, Junior went on to take a 110 lb doe and a 20 lb. gobbler. He berated himself for missing a bobcat, but heck-fire, that kitty was running at 200 yards. No penalty flag on that effort.
Carroll Senior's buck, before catching his bullet at about a hundred yards, had passed within his rifle's length of the blind where Carroll was sitting. Talk about an adrenelin-rush! It's a wonder he could hold his gun steady. Senior was still shaking while posing for his official photo back at camp. The best news, however, was that Carroll Senior won the contest created in the skinning shed to guess the weight of his buck. He came away with a handful of dollar bills and a big grin on his face. Now you don't suppose he somehow weighed that rascal out in the field, do you?
Todd Davison, who has a history of taking some darn-good bucks with us, outdid himself in 2011. He spotted the rest of the guys a day-and-a-half on both ends of the hunt and still managed to take the best buck. Yep, Todd, a busy guy if there ever was one, only hunted a morning and an afternoon. His 19", ten-pointer is one of the best of the season so far.
Mitch Perdue, who took an exceptional buck a few years ago with us, waited until the final afternoon before finally finding a buck he liked. His eight-point, only five-eighths of an inch less than Todd's, was the easily the heaviest buck of the hunt at 150 lbs.
The weather started out super-warm - over 80 degrees when the hunt kicked off. Later on, the mornings were a bit chilly, but the daytime temperatures were quite tolerable. The final morning was dominated by a gusty southwest wind kicking up dust, but by then, the hunting was all done and everyone was packing to leave.
To sum up the totals, here they be: six hunters were credited with five bucks plus a DNF (did not find). Three does were taken by three hunters. One turkey was taken. One bobcat was missed. Interestingly, even though a credible effort was made on varmints, their hunting was less productive on this hunt than on the previous hunt when we had a full moon. Go figure that one.
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Hunt 2 November 9 - 13
When it comes to the sport of whitetail deer hunting, countless things can go wrong. You almost come to expect it. So when potential disasters turn-around suddenly, and when the story ends happily-ever-after - we have a giant cause for celebration. Here is what happened on Hunt 2:
On hand for the event were three Adobe Lodge vets and three newcomers. Back for the fifth year in a row were Craig Boehler and son, Justin, from Amsterdam, NY. Faithful readers will recognize these names as being responsible for generously providing us with a super-accurate scale on which to weigh game. The other vet, Tony Rocco, from Tewksbury, MA, has similarly hunted here for the past several seasons. Tony is a particular favorite of the entire Adobe Lodge crew. When Tony, with his infectious, upbeat spirit, is in camp, every single person has the time of their life. These complimentary comments about Tony are made despite his favoring his beloved Patriots over our hapless Cowboys.
Two new-comers, also from New York (but from extreme-eastern Long Island) were Glen Gilmore and Charlie Coy (Jamesport and Cutchogue, respectively). Neither had actual experience hunting Texas, but both had hunted across the Rio Grande in Mexico on one of their adventures. This pair wasted no time in putting good bucks on our tally board. Glen got his the first afternoon; Charlie collected his buck by noon, the next day. Wait till you see their photos below.
The sixth hunter lives right up the road at Odessa, TX. Troy Walker brought along his wife, Crystal, as a non-hunting companion, which she remained for 2/3's of the hunt. Seeing all the fun the rest of the hunters were having, Crystal converted into a full-fledged hunter herself, and what an introduction to the sport it was. Details to follow below. Troy's whitetail experience was limited, having taken only a spike and a doe in prior years. Crystal had never been deer hunting before this trip.
Friday morning, after looking at several candidates, Troy finally found a buck that met his "good enough to put on the wall standards". He was taking careful aim at a respectable eight point when, all of a sudden, that poor fellow was the victim of a blind-sided hit that would have drawn a yellow penalty flag in the NFL. A ten-pointer plowed into the eight so violently that Troy thought he had heard a car-crash nearby. He quickly picked his new victim and put the bully ten-point on the ground in due course - to the delight and thanks of the bruised-up eight. In the photos below, you'll see that Troy's buck has a broken tine, probably as a result of the collision, although Troy was unable to find the lost piece of horn at the scene of the crime.
Meanwhile, on another part of the same hunting area, Tony Rocco cast a round at a good one, but neither he nor guide Mike Thomson was able to find the buck. Yes, yes - blood was there, but no buck. So Mike brought both hunters (but only Troy's buck) back to camp in midday. Plans were made to search for Tony's buck that afternoon, and our skinner, David Gonzales (who has an uncanny knack for finding all manner of things besides just arrowheads) was recruited for the search. Long story short: it took master-tracker David only a few minutes to locate Tony's buck. So, appreciative for David's capable help, Tony created a special presentation for David that night after supper.
When this ceremony began, and after a few introductory remarks, Tony concluded that David could beat any known tracking dog. The proof had been clearly demonstrated that very afternoon. And with David being of Mexican descent, the only Mexican dog-name Tony could think of was a Chihuahua. So for his unexcelled tracking skills, David should, according to Tony, be forever known as "Chihuahua Gonzales". With this speech and explanation out of the way, Tony presented David with a knife. If you could call it that. It was smaller than a quarter. By the conclusion of this momentous event, there wasn't a dry eye in the house from the peals of laughter throughout the lodge.
The next day, Crystal Walker - the heretofore non-hunter, converted herself and discarded the "non" prefix. She signed up to be the seventh hunter on Hunt Two. Husband Troy sat with her to coach. They had an eventful morning. Seems that Crystal missed a buck, but wounded a doe which they were unable to find. When these reports were unveiled back at camp, once again, the legendary David "Chihuahua" Gonzales was given the task of finding Crystal's doe. As with Tony's buck, it took only minutes (if not seconds) for "Chihuahua" to work his magic. But uh-oh. Instead of finding Crystal's doe, David found her buck instead. That buck wasn't missed after all. So Crystal got her first-ever buck just one day after her husband took his first-ever racked buck.
While all this was going on, the Boehler pair was busy. Hunting under our "Trophy Option" pricing system, Craig, the dad, turned down numerous fine specimens, looking for something extra special. Each day back at camp, Craig's computer was showing lots of images of what he was seeing. We hope to have a copy of Craig's photos before long. Anyway, he finally found a dandy and brought him to camp. The impressive set of antlers have a most unusual eye-guard (G-1) which, from a side view, is flat and wide. A straight-on photo doesn't do it justice, so two photos are shown below. Craig's buck, which tapes an impressive 135 inches in this droughty year, is the best of the season so far.
Son Justin had collected a nice buck early in the game and turned his attention to varmint hunting, which turned out to be very, very productive. Using an electronic call (Johnnie Stewart Prey Master), Justin managed to collect two grey foxes plus a bobtailed feral house cat (with a 139 yard shot). Altogether, over the course of the four day hunt, Justin called in 7 foxes, two bobcats, and the aforementioned feral cat. For his varmint hunting, Justin used a .222. Neither Craig nor Justin had any interest in harvesting a doe.
The weather warmed as the hunt unfolded. The first two mornings found near freezing temperatures, but by midday, it would be sixty or so. Wind blowing a gale made it seem colder, but thankfully, by late afternoon, the wind would lay and the evenings were quite pleasant. The final couple of days dawned quite balmy and no jacket was needed.
Given the fact that all seven hunters collected seven bucks for a 100% success, and the fact that the five hunters who elected to take a doe were successful, and the fact that all those varmints and a javelina were taken, such success disputes conventional wisdom which says that hunting isn't any good during a full moon. That giant moon came up right on schedule and kept each night bright and clear.
The only bump in the road was the lack of turkeys. Glen Gilmore and Charlie Coy hunted them in all our favorite places, too, and neither drew so much as a feather.
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Hunt 1 November 4 - 8
No doubt about it - father/son pairs are among our favorite hunters. And we had a triple-dip of them on this hunt. Yep, three pairs of sires and offspring.
Hunt # 1 is so named because it is our first hunt during the regular Texas deer season. Actually, we jumped the gun a bit by hunting Friday afternoon under the MLD program for early/late season hunting. On hand, as has become their tradition, was Tom and Hunter Biehl from Pennsylvania. Tom, from Fleetwood, was on his eleventh hunt in a row with us. Hunter, his son from Wyomissing, was on his sixth Adobe Lodge hunt. All the rest were first-timers to hunt with us.
From the east coast of Florida came Chappy Young (Palm City) and his son, Luke (Jensen Beach). Frank Hutcheon, from Riviera Beach, was the only hunter without a relative in camp, but all those Floridians claim that he and Luke might as well be brothers.
The final father/son pair was from Tupelo, MS. Chad Fletcher brought along his dad, Bud, as a non-hunter. Upon their arrival in camp, Bud said that he had hunted the Adobe Lodge back in the 80's, a fact not remembered by the camp owner/manager who is cursed with a rusty memory. Sure enough, in our first-ever picture book of those long-ago days, we found several photos of Bud. With our record-keeping being very ill-organized back during the infancy of our operation, our best guess was that Bud hunted here in 1986. Posted below are photos of the twenty-five year-old photos of Bud and the animals he took while here.
Upon finding these treasures in the archives, I accused Bud of getting old. He wasted no time in making the same charge when he found a photo of me a couple of pages later. Since Bud came as a non-hunter, he and I found plenty of time for good conversations around the campfire. We talked, among other things, about the hunters who had accompanied him back in those days. Old men reliving old memories of days gone by.
Chappy Young drew first blood of the hunt when he collected a dandy 17" eight pointer. But he was rewarded with a giant feather in his cap when he executed a coyote which is, as far as we know, the first-ever such critter to be taken by one of our hunters. Chappy and his guide, Charlie Bowers, were driving a ranch road in Charlie's Polaris Ranger just as it was getting dark. The coyote tried to make his get-away down the road instead of heading off at a right angle into the brush as is their habit. Big mistake. Loping along down the road, right on the edge of the vehicle's headlights, the coyote was stopped by Charlie making some kind of mouth-call. Chappy, riding shotgun but using his deer rifle, put him down with one shot. The poor varmint, showing evidence of our current lack of rabbits, was super-skinny. His backbone protruded a half-inch or more and his belly was as flat as a sheet of paper. But never mind his lack of groceries. That coyote was a trophy to us if there ever was one. Hopefully, more of his brethren will be harvested before the season comes to an end.
The second night of the hunt, which ended a super-windy day (when hunting is thought to be less-than ideal), Tom and Hunter Biehl both collected eighteen-inch bucks. In their many years of hunting here, they didn't remember ever taking bucks at the same time. Hunter's buck had eight points; Tom's had ten, but would be more accurately described as a 6 x 4. Both Biehls went on to take a doe/each.
On that same night, Luke Young brought a good buck and a good story back to camp. Sitting in a blind situated on a bluff, Luke spotted his buck (with forked G-2's, no less) headed in the direction of the corn feeder down below. But doggone the luck, just as the buck drew close to the corn dispenser, the time had come for it to go off. Peppered with kernels of corn, the buck high-tailed it out of the area and didn't return for a full hour. When he did, Luke, who had been hoping against hope to see him again, was ready. Or at least he thought he was. His first shot into the buck's shoulder only made the old boy run up the hill and to his left. Luke's second shot also found the shoulder, but the buck kept going. His third shot hit him in the hindquarters but still didn't stop him. With his fourth and last bullet to his name, Luke put him down by hitting the buck's right main-beam. Pole-axed now, so to speak, the buck was down but not dead. Trouble was, Luke had no more bullets. When his guide, Snake Allen and Frank finally arrived, they executed the buck but were unable to find the broken beam, despite an extensive search. The photo session back at camp had to be done without said beam. Next morning, thankfully, they found it. But in the daylight, they saw they had actually drug the dead buck right over the broken antler. When the broken piece was fitted into the stub end of the main beam, it was a perfect fit and clearly showed the path of the bullet. Maybe Luke's taxidermist can somehow repair the antler while keeping that hole.
Sometimes around a hunting camp, an unfortunate sportsman will suffer a run of back luck to make him think he's been "snake bit". It has happened to all of us at one time or the other. On Hunt # 1, it was Chad Fletcher's turn in the barrel. He missed a shot at one of a pair of bobcats. The next night, he drew one single, lone drop of blood from a buck which was never found, despite an extensive search by his guide, Charlie Bowers. Always, you'd give anything to know just where the buck might have been hit. Speculation among all the participants is lively, but sadly, no one knows for sure. If the wound didn't kill him, someone (a future guide or hunter) might get another look at him before the season is over. It has happened before. Understandably, Chad's spirit was tested, but he will come to understand, as do all the rest of us who have been plagued with a succession of missed shots, that for us participants in the sport of hunting, the high points always outweigh the low ones.
The opportunity to take a second buck was offered on this hunt. This policy varies from hunt to hunt and has to do with a variety of circumstances - what does the buck inventory look like on the group of ranches being hunted; how many hunts are scheduled; etc. etc. Supply and demand rules the issue. So since second-bucks were offered on this particular hunt, Frank Hutcheon and Luke Young were keenly interested. Exactly which of the two was to be the shooter wasn't quite clearly established, but when a likely candidate presented himself to the two hunters huddled in the same blind, the story was that Frank magnanimously allowed Luke to be the shooter. A role he eagerly accepted. This time, having Frank to coach him through his "Buck-Fever Shakes", he put the buck down with only one shot - far better than his previous venture. That earlier, broken-horned buck who took four bullets was like the energizer bunny who just kept on ticking. That second-buck was a dandy, too. Wait till you see his photo below. It wasn't fully established whether Luke took along more than four bullets for the second-buck hunt. Hopefully, he had learned his lesson about carrying a good supply of ammo.
With the camp limit on does now set at one/per hunter, all participants did an outstanding job of waiting for the big, mature, long-nosed females. We like to see those older hussies recorded in the doe column on our tally board. Each of the four does taken by Tom, Hunter, Chappy and Luke weighed a hundred pounds or more.
The weather was extra-windy on two of the hunting days, but absolutely perfect for one of them. On the final night in camp. a weather system moved through with plenty of thunder and lightening but precious little of the rain we so desperately need on our meager wheat crop and winter weeds. The rut is here, evidenced by the fact that mature bucks are being seen hot after does in unlikely places and times. With the rut coming fully two weeks early, Mother Nature is telling us that, for Her own good reasons, She want her fawns born early next spring.
Here, then, is the summary of Hunt One: six hunters collected six bucks. Four hunters took four bucks; one took two bucks; one took no buck; four collected one doe each. A coyote was taken and a bobcat was missed.
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Hunt C October 20-23
There is no more fun time around the old hunting camp than when a hunter takes his/her first-ever buck. So. Idea. Why not create a hunt just for those who have yet to take a whitetail buck? We did. They came. It was a great time for all of us.
We have come to learn that not all first-time buck hunters are youngsters. There are a surprising number of older hunters in that group, as well. In fact, of the six "rookies" who signed up for the hunt, four were mature men; only two were young. From New England came Rich Anastas and Bob Michalowski. Being long-time amigos and hunters, neither had ever taken a buck larger than a spike. Rich lives in upstate New Hampshire and has enjoyed some success in taking both caribou and moose. Bob, from Dedham, MA, has taken only whitetail does during his hunting career back home.
Driving down from Midland, Texas (right up the road about 120 miles), Gehl Mittelsted, a native of Minnesota, was similarly on his first-ever guided whitetail hunt. Gehl, who spent over a decade in the Marines as an artillery man, moved to Texas a few years ago to work in our booming oil industry, specializing in the "directional drilling" which has come to dominate the entire business. Just now finding time to hunt, he vows to make up for lost opportunities. As he was leaving camp, he talked about returning for a turkey hunt next spring and maybe another deer hunt next fall. We hope it comes to pass.
First-timers have been known to shoot the first racked buck they see, so at the kickoff meeting, all three were cautioned to expect to see numerous bucks and to wait for one which "melted their butter". Veteran Adobe Lodge guide, Albert Zapata, guided these three hunters. Rich, Bob and Gehl lost no time in getting good bucks on the ground. Indeed, they all collected mighty fine bucks on that very first afternoon of hunting. Wait until you see their photos below. Guides and staff were encouraged by the very respectable size of these early-season bucks. Maybe, just maybe, this dastardly Texas drought hasn't been as hard on the bucks as we had feared it might. Indeed, guide Jerry Watts spotted a buck that might rival last season's "Buck of the Year". Maybe someone will collect him before the season comes to an end.
The other three first-timers were a father and his two sons from Houston. Damon Diamantaras has introduced Evan (14) and Nick (11) to wing shooting and waterfowl hunting, but this just happened to be the first deer hunt for all three of them. With the hunt starting at noon on Thursday, Damon, showing all the signs of a dutiful dad, waited until the boys were out of school that day before boarding them and all their gear into his plane for the quick trip to San Angelo. The three late-comers arrived in camp just as the aforementioned hunters were unloading their three bucks for the legendary Adobe Lodge photo session. So the trio got a laboratory example of what to look for when they would begin hunting at daylight the next day.
Understandably, Damon wanted to be with each son in turn as that memorable first buck would be taken. He requested a guide for each boy. So Jerry Watts was called-in for guide duty at the last minute to help Jim (Snake) Allen guide the party of three. The plan was for Snake to accompany Damon and Evan while Bro. Watts guided Nick. But what if the Watts/Nick pair spotted a good'un without dad on hand? Damon said - go ahead and never mind his absence. That was a wise decision as both boys collected outstanding bucks on that very first morning. Indeed, the buck taken by Nick might wind up among the season's best.
The other two in camp were Steve Drake and his son, Preston. Preston had taken a fine buck with us back in 2008 so he couldn't be counted as a first-timer. But Steve, like Damon, waited until the Houston school day ended before embarking for San Angelo. Trouble was, they drove the distance and didn't get to camp until around midnight on that first day. With precious little sleep, Preston, just like the two Diamantaras boys, brought in one dandy buck on that fateful first morning of hunting. It was Steve who had told Damon Diamantaras about our Adobe Lodge operation, and as the time drew near for the hunt, Steve wanted to get in on all the fun so he signed Preston up for the hunt at the last minute. Well, maybe not the last minute. We had a few hours notice and that's all we needed to get things ready for them.
If you have been able to follow the story-line up to this point, we proudly make the claim that six hunters put bucks on the ground during the first half-day of their respective hunts. If that has ever happened before in our twenty-six year history, no one can remember it.
Then, as sometimes happens in the sport, things got slow. With six of the seven hunters already tagged-out on bucks, the focus turned to putting Damon on a nice buck and, for the others, the harvest of does. Speaking of which:
With the deer census work now mostly concluded, the evidence shows that the drought has already had a severe impact on deer numbers in our area. Fawn crops are mighty poor, and the several wildlife biologist with whom we consult are recommending a reduced doe harvest for the 2011 season. So for the time being, we are limiting each hunter to one doe/each. As the season rolls along, and as we keep running totals of where we stand, perhaps we can allow more does to be taken later on. The science of deer harvesting is inexact, to say the least. You do the best you can, but the situation can only be described as "fluid". The harvest quota on each succeeding hunt depends on what has happened on the earlier hunt dates.
With all this being said, we still expect hunters to see lots of deer. Indeed, those with experience in the sport were vowing that they'd never seen so many deer. Around the corn feeders, hunters will almost always see lots more bucks than does. For some reason, does don't frequent the feeders as readily as do the bucks.
But even with this fact, on that Friday afternoon, hardly any deer of any kind were seen. One hunting party saw zip, zero, nada and that just doesn't happen around here very often. Gehl Mittelsted, however, had plenty of action on almost every outing. He saw a coyote (but was a mite-too slow on the draw). He missed a shot at a bobcat. (Maybe he shot too fast this time?). Finally, he got everything put together just right when he was able to take-out a porcupine, and good for him. Those critters are bad news for any number of reasons. We're glad Gehl reduced their population, even if it was only a single. One less terrorist in the area to harass our ranch dogs and bird dogs.
The only remaining hunter who still lacked taking a buck was Damon. He got skunked until finally, on Saturday afternoon, he was able to find one he liked and put him on the ground with a well-placed shot. His sons, in their quest for does, saw nothing but bucks. Doesn't it always happen this way?
Steve Drake inquired about a possible exotic hunt for Preston. After several phone calls, it came to pass on a nearby exotic ranch we work with from time to time. Don't have too many of the details yet, but the word is that before leaving the area, Preston was able to collect a nice fallow deer. With the demands of school and with the seven hour drive back to Houston, Steve clocked-out even before the rib eye steaks were served on Saturday night. Too bad - they missed one heck of a good meal served up by Todd Varga, our cook.
With the exception of that first windy afternoon (when three nice bucks were taken anyway), the weather could not have been better. Not quite chilly in the mornings; not quite hot in the afternoons; not much wind. The harvest totals were these: seven hunters collected seven bucks and four does, plus a porcupine. But the most memorable part of the hunt is the fact that six hunters collected their first-ever whitetail bucks.
If there seems to be a demand for more first-ever buck hunting, we just might have a command performance in January this season, or even next season. If you haven't yet taken a buck, let us hear from you.
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Hunt A October 1 - 4
The first hunt of our 2011 season came early. Really early. Two New Hampshire hunters - Del Doyle from Stoddard and Chris McGuire from Hillsboro - wanted to be in the field hunting at the crack of dawn on the opening day of our season. Obliging such requests, if at all possible, is our policy. But try as we might, we were unable to get any interest from other hunters, so only the two New Englanders were in camp.
The bad news: with only two hunters on hand, we just can't afford to hire a cook or a guide. So these roles were filled by someone long-retired from either duty - yours truly, a.k.a. Webmaster Skipper Duncan. The good news: my wife, Jeri, cooked supper each night and she's a good'un. Orange rum cake, peach cobbler, King Ranch Chicken, ribs, lasagna, rib eye steaks, etc. etc. We all gained weight. Our daughter-in-law, Jennifer, helped out in the kitchen, as well.
Having borne the burdens of this dastardly drought for the past fifteen months, all of us were eager to see what effect it is having on our deer herd. Preliminary conclusions are as follows: Some, but not all, deer feeders are drawing lots of bucks. Both Del and Chris might have a dozen or more bucks in front of them on a given outing. But not too many does were seen. This isn't all that unusual. For whatever reason, fewer females frequent the feeders. Maybe they are afraid of getting run-off by the hungry bucks? On a couple of hunts, the guys saw only a small handful of deer. You'd think the corn would draw all-kinds of deer, with our range conditions being as stressed as they are.
Sadly, very few fawns were observed. Of the four ranches where the helicopter census has already been completed, two of them had only a 10-12% fawn crop. The particular ranch being hunted on this date won't be counted for another couple of weeks, but from the reports of Del and Chris, it is looking like its fawn-crop percentage will barely be in double-digits. This is bad news for future years. Deer flesh conditions aren't nearly so bad as what you might expect. The deer we've seen, and the few deer we butchered in our skinning shed, looked "normal". Not "fat", but "normal". The two bucks taken, both judged to be three-and-one-half years-old, weighed 150 and 145 pounds, about what you would expect to find on bucks of that age at this time of the year.
Until all the census-count numbers get in, the two hunters were asked to limit their doe-harvest to only one each. And that's what they did. Except there was one minor problem - Del collected two does all in one morning. His story is one for the books. We're blaming it on his gun.
Del's problems with that Savage .300 win-mag began on that first afternoon on our shooting range. He was putting bullets all over the target to the extent that we actually had to make a run to town to buy more ammo. His buddy, Chris, who is both mechanically inclined and a gun-nut to boot (the perfect companion for Del and his gun), found some tools in our shop to make needed adjustments here and there. But when Del flat-missed a doe on that first morning, drawing not one speck of blood nor hair, it was a cause for concern for all of us. There was a gun show in town over the weekend and we actually considered a trip there so Del could swap that bummer off for something more reliable.
But that very afternoon, Del, still using the unpredictable gun, drilled a nice hole right smack in the shoulder of a nine-point buck. It was a cause for celebration, but you had to ask: Were Del's troubles now over? Not exactly.
The third morning, Del was hunting a good blind (where our Buck of the Year was taken back in 1997) on the edge of a huge open area near a now-dry water pond. Here comes a nice covey of antler less deer. Rather than sticking his gun out the side window on the blind like he could have done, Del, for some reason, torques himself into a crazy position to shoot out the front window. Deer hunters do strange things, as most of you know. He put those cross-hairs on the largest one of the bunch and touched one off. At that exact moment, his clip fell out the bottom of that problematic gun onto the floor of the blind. Totally flustered now, Del barely recovers in time to see three does beating a retreat back to the brush on the far side of the pond. Damn, he thinks, I must have missed. So while he is waiting to maybe see another doe, he starts thinking about trading the gun off at the first opportunity.
As luck would have it, sure-enough, another candidate finally shows herself coming from the other direction. Del once more takes careful aim and lets'er fly. This doe runs off with a leg flopping. Del's search of the "scene of the crime" finds only one small piece of bone. He returns to the blind, fully disgusted now with his weapon.
Out the blind's side window where he'd earlier seen the herd of does, Del is now surprised to see an army of buzzards circling and descending to that patch of weeds where the does had been when he shot. What in the world is this? When he goes to look, there is his first doe, dead in her tracks, with a dandy hole right in the same spot where his buck had taken his own dose of lead poisoning. Del scatters the pesky buzzards to finally claim his prize.
Thankfully, David Gonzales, world-champion deer-skinner and accomplished tracker was on hand when Del was picked up after that eventful morning's hunt. David, nose to the ground, quickly found the second doe with another good hole in her shoulder. With that chip taken off her shoulder blade, it was uncertain how she had managed to run any distance at all. But thankfully, the story had a happy ending. Two shots; two does. Del just didn't realize his good fortune at the time.
And it will be even better when Del can sell that gun back home, honestly telling the hapless buyer that the last three bullets he fired with the thing produced three good deer.
So the 2011 season is off to a fine start. Both hunters collected bucks. With three does to their credit, they weren't but one over their limit, - a minor problem. The only negative news came on the second afternoon when Chris missed a shot at a coyote just at dark. Wish he'd have nailed him. Chris said there were two-three in the group, best he could tell. Del had heard, but not seen, coyotes the afternoon before. When the final shot of the 2011 season has been fired, we hope to have several of their pelts on the wall.
A dry front blew though our area on the day before the hunt started so on that first morning of the hunt, it was 49 degrees at daylight. After that, all four days found little or no wind with afternoon temperatures in the mid-80's and mid-50's at daylight. As we were packing for the final trip to the airport, it was raining just a bit. A wee-little bit. We are given a slight chance for moisture the next couple of days. My fingers are crossed, but it sure is hard to type this way.
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