Well, first let me say that my son Zachary and I have not been able to hunt for many years (except for a couple of dove hunts 2 years back).
Zack spent several years working and putting himself thru college and then went of to Alaska for a couple of years. He is now settled back here and working part time training with me to become a bow maker. His progress is commendable and he will some day take over my business.
Last time we were able to hunt deer together I think he was about 17. He shot his first (and only deer until this weekend) with the very first longbow I made. I was jumping up and down and all he had to say was "Finally".
This last weekend we were able to make time to go to the Fowler Ranch in Copperas Cove to try to help Frank Fowler remove some whitetail does.
Frankie and Susie are very old friends of mine and wonderful to be around. The ranch is like being in hill country heaven. Tons of oaks, other hardwoods and a few cedars. There is a natural spring with two creeks running thru the property.
Frank bought this land (200 plus acres under high fence) 7 years ago and has been steadily feeding exotics into it and has had very little hunting taking place. As a matter of fact he has far too many animals on it and needs to reduce his critter crop, so up we went.
Sunday evening had us sitting on our stand and returning with no luck. Not because of the lack of animals, but because of the abundance of them. Way too many eyeballs. We were treated to a great pot roast meal compliments of Frank and Suzie, then hitting the hay not long after.
Monday a.m. had Zach going to the stand that I had hunted the previous evening and me sitting in a different location in a makeship (made in the dark) ground blind. Zack had a nice doe kindly duck under his string and I spent the morning looking at big ol' red deer not being able to make a shot because of a little whitetail fawn looking into my hide from approximately 2 yds. It was fun.
Monday evening had Zach returning to the same stand but having no luck, again too many eyes. I went back to the same stand where we had installed a tripod and soon was feasting my eyes. I had 8 nice red deer hines, somewhere around 15 blackbuck of mixed sexes and 8 or nine whitetails all directly in front of me.
After awhile I decided I really wanted to shoot one of these big red deer. It took awhile for the one I had chosen to remove herself from the crowd and move into my shooting lane. At last she did and presented me with a 12 yd broadside shot. I lifted up my longbow (old #100 that I had recently brought out of retirement, pulling 45 lbs at 27") and drew back the ICS Bowhunter 500tipped with 100 grains of brass and 170 grains of Zwicky No Mercy.
Suddenly the four 4" yellow feathers appeared next to her skin slightly up (I was shooting downward) and behind her shoulder being sprayed with what looked like red paint. She and all the other beasts left like the house was on fire. I waited awhile and Frank came by and we followed the blood about 125 yds to where she lay. I was completely blown away by her size. She looked huge, her head like a horse. Frank said, "You gut her and I'll go get the quad and trailer bucket. He left and I stood there looking down at her thinking, "Man, that's a big gut."
Got that taken care of and got her back to the cleaning station and spent the next 2 hours skinning and quartering. Glad I brought my big cooler.
The next morning I slept in and Zachary shot a nice whitetail doe, which I have no pics of on my camera. I have got to say that I enjoyed myself more than I have in a long while and hope to hunt with Zach a lot more in the future.
The Fowler Ranch was great. If you would like to book a hunt just give me a call and I will fill you in on the details, all of which will soon be in the new Fowler Ranch website.
Zack spent several years working and putting himself thru college and then went of to Alaska for a couple of years. He is now settled back here and working part time training with me to become a bow maker. His progress is commendable and he will some day take over my business.
Last time we were able to hunt deer together I think he was about 17. He shot his first (and only deer until this weekend) with the very first longbow I made. I was jumping up and down and all he had to say was "Finally".
This last weekend we were able to make time to go to the Fowler Ranch in Copperas Cove to try to help Frank Fowler remove some whitetail does.
Frankie and Susie are very old friends of mine and wonderful to be around. The ranch is like being in hill country heaven. Tons of oaks, other hardwoods and a few cedars. There is a natural spring with two creeks running thru the property.
Frank bought this land (200 plus acres under high fence) 7 years ago and has been steadily feeding exotics into it and has had very little hunting taking place. As a matter of fact he has far too many animals on it and needs to reduce his critter crop, so up we went.
Sunday evening had us sitting on our stand and returning with no luck. Not because of the lack of animals, but because of the abundance of them. Way too many eyeballs. We were treated to a great pot roast meal compliments of Frank and Suzie, then hitting the hay not long after.
Monday a.m. had Zach going to the stand that I had hunted the previous evening and me sitting in a different location in a makeship (made in the dark) ground blind. Zack had a nice doe kindly duck under his string and I spent the morning looking at big ol' red deer not being able to make a shot because of a little whitetail fawn looking into my hide from approximately 2 yds. It was fun.
Monday evening had Zach returning to the same stand but having no luck, again too many eyes. I went back to the same stand where we had installed a tripod and soon was feasting my eyes. I had 8 nice red deer hines, somewhere around 15 blackbuck of mixed sexes and 8 or nine whitetails all directly in front of me.
After awhile I decided I really wanted to shoot one of these big red deer. It took awhile for the one I had chosen to remove herself from the crowd and move into my shooting lane. At last she did and presented me with a 12 yd broadside shot. I lifted up my longbow (old #100 that I had recently brought out of retirement, pulling 45 lbs at 27") and drew back the ICS Bowhunter 500tipped with 100 grains of brass and 170 grains of Zwicky No Mercy.
Suddenly the four 4" yellow feathers appeared next to her skin slightly up (I was shooting downward) and behind her shoulder being sprayed with what looked like red paint. She and all the other beasts left like the house was on fire. I waited awhile and Frank came by and we followed the blood about 125 yds to where she lay. I was completely blown away by her size. She looked huge, her head like a horse. Frank said, "You gut her and I'll go get the quad and trailer bucket. He left and I stood there looking down at her thinking, "Man, that's a big gut."
Got that taken care of and got her back to the cleaning station and spent the next 2 hours skinning and quartering. Glad I brought my big cooler.
The next morning I slept in and Zachary shot a nice whitetail doe, which I have no pics of on my camera. I have got to say that I enjoyed myself more than I have in a long while and hope to hunt with Zach a lot more in the future.
The Fowler Ranch was great. If you would like to book a hunt just give me a call and I will fill you in on the details, all of which will soon be in the new Fowler Ranch website.
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