Zach was fortunate enough to be drawn for the Lone Star Bowhunters Association Youth Hunt donated by Bryan and Debbie Keeling and held at the Bug Scuffle Ranch.
(view from the front porch of hunters' cabin)
What a GREAT weekend! Thank you, Bryin and Debbie for putting on such a fantastic hunt for our kids. With your help, we're bringing up the next generation of bowhunters and LSBA members and officers.
What an incredible hunt. Bryan and his helpers really worked hard to make it a great hunt for the kids. They set up a bunch of new blinds, all including 2 stands so dads could sit with the kids. They even got up WAY early yesterday morning to put up at least one more quad-pod in a different location so Zach and I would have a place to sit next to a feeder they wanted us to hunt by. They were at the cabin to pick up the hunters at 5:15 or so, and that was AFTER they had been working on the stand. Bryan, you and the guys are awesome!
The coolest part of the trip was getting to meet some new friends around the bunk house. The kids were all great kids. I imagine they wore the stuffing out of all the targets in the front yard. There were ALWAYS arrows flying. Denny Meckel is one HECK of a shot with his recurve. Zach and Hunter Kroesche were the youngest hunters - both 12. They had just about everything imaginable in common, so they had a lot of fun together.
The hunting was fantastic. Plenty of animals roaming around the ranch. You never knew what you were going to see. Getting them to come withing bow range is, of course, a different deal. They're wary critters, which makes for a super hunt.
Zach had a group of sheep come in Saturday morning at about sunrise. As we were sitting about 3-4 feet apart in quad-pods, the sheep were passing through the shooting lane. When a nice ram stood in the lane, Zach asked me if that was a shooter. I said 'yes', and Zach put an arrow through the heart of the sheep standing in front of the one I was looking at. From Zach's angle, he couldn't see the ram I was looking at. He could only see the front shoulder and back end of a small ewe that was standing in front of the ram I was looking at. She went about 8 yards and fell over dead.
I gave him HECK about shooting the wrong one (even though it was just as much my fault).
I was afraid he'd missed his chance on a good ram. I really hoped he'd get an axis buck, but Zach wanted a big ram more than anything. Well, about an hour later, another group of sheep cam in. This time, most of them were rams of all different kinds. The biggest of the group was an apricot-colored Texas Dall. Zach picked him out as they came in, and he was going to make sure he shot the right animal this time. The big ram came in and butted the other sheep away from the corn, and he fed right into the shooting lane and stood broadside. THWACK! Zach put an arrow into his shoulder. It looked like a great hit, but the arrow only penetrated about half way.
Long story short.....After over an hour, and with some of the other guys with us, we tracked blood until we found the woozy ram. We backed out and waited for Bryan to bring in Bowman The Wonder Dog. Bowman showed up and ran the ram down, Zach shot again - missed, shot again - hit low, and then Bryan and Zach (mostly Bryan) grabbed the horns while Brian Stein stuck him with a knife to finish him off. That was one tough ram.
After getting the animals back to the game pole and taking a few more pictures, Bryan proceeded to skin, cape and quarter the sheep for us. Again - WAY beyond the call of duty.
The ram rough scores 128" (SCI) and 98 2/8" (ROE) - at least that's what I came up with a little while ago. Horns were 31 4/8" and 31 6/8" long. Should make gold medal in both books after drying.
Oh, and this isn't bad for a hunt that was supposed to be a single doe hunt. When we got there, Bryan told the kids that they could shoot a buck/ram and two does if they could.
I hope everyone will continue to support the Bug Scuffle. Bryan and Debbie, as most of you know, are just salt-of-the-earth folks. They even cooked supper for us last night. Unbelievable hospitality.
Thanks again, y'all! And thank you too, Brad, for putting all this together. You guys have given Zach and I (and I hope everybody else) a lifelong memory of a great hunt.
Bryan, I'm gonna bring my 2wt and some flies next trip.
The End
From #8 last night....
(view from the front porch of hunters' cabin)
What a GREAT weekend! Thank you, Bryin and Debbie for putting on such a fantastic hunt for our kids. With your help, we're bringing up the next generation of bowhunters and LSBA members and officers.
What an incredible hunt. Bryan and his helpers really worked hard to make it a great hunt for the kids. They set up a bunch of new blinds, all including 2 stands so dads could sit with the kids. They even got up WAY early yesterday morning to put up at least one more quad-pod in a different location so Zach and I would have a place to sit next to a feeder they wanted us to hunt by. They were at the cabin to pick up the hunters at 5:15 or so, and that was AFTER they had been working on the stand. Bryan, you and the guys are awesome!
The coolest part of the trip was getting to meet some new friends around the bunk house. The kids were all great kids. I imagine they wore the stuffing out of all the targets in the front yard. There were ALWAYS arrows flying. Denny Meckel is one HECK of a shot with his recurve. Zach and Hunter Kroesche were the youngest hunters - both 12. They had just about everything imaginable in common, so they had a lot of fun together.
The hunting was fantastic. Plenty of animals roaming around the ranch. You never knew what you were going to see. Getting them to come withing bow range is, of course, a different deal. They're wary critters, which makes for a super hunt.
Zach had a group of sheep come in Saturday morning at about sunrise. As we were sitting about 3-4 feet apart in quad-pods, the sheep were passing through the shooting lane. When a nice ram stood in the lane, Zach asked me if that was a shooter. I said 'yes', and Zach put an arrow through the heart of the sheep standing in front of the one I was looking at. From Zach's angle, he couldn't see the ram I was looking at. He could only see the front shoulder and back end of a small ewe that was standing in front of the ram I was looking at. She went about 8 yards and fell over dead.
I gave him HECK about shooting the wrong one (even though it was just as much my fault).
I was afraid he'd missed his chance on a good ram. I really hoped he'd get an axis buck, but Zach wanted a big ram more than anything. Well, about an hour later, another group of sheep cam in. This time, most of them were rams of all different kinds. The biggest of the group was an apricot-colored Texas Dall. Zach picked him out as they came in, and he was going to make sure he shot the right animal this time. The big ram came in and butted the other sheep away from the corn, and he fed right into the shooting lane and stood broadside. THWACK! Zach put an arrow into his shoulder. It looked like a great hit, but the arrow only penetrated about half way.Long story short.....After over an hour, and with some of the other guys with us, we tracked blood until we found the woozy ram. We backed out and waited for Bryan to bring in Bowman The Wonder Dog. Bowman showed up and ran the ram down, Zach shot again - missed, shot again - hit low, and then Bryan and Zach (mostly Bryan) grabbed the horns while Brian Stein stuck him with a knife to finish him off. That was one tough ram.
After getting the animals back to the game pole and taking a few more pictures, Bryan proceeded to skin, cape and quarter the sheep for us. Again - WAY beyond the call of duty.
The ram rough scores 128" (SCI) and 98 2/8" (ROE) - at least that's what I came up with a little while ago. Horns were 31 4/8" and 31 6/8" long. Should make gold medal in both books after drying.
Oh, and this isn't bad for a hunt that was supposed to be a single doe hunt. When we got there, Bryan told the kids that they could shoot a buck/ram and two does if they could.
I hope everyone will continue to support the Bug Scuffle. Bryan and Debbie, as most of you know, are just salt-of-the-earth folks. They even cooked supper for us last night. Unbelievable hospitality.
Thanks again, y'all! And thank you too, Brad, for putting all this together. You guys have given Zach and I (and I hope everybody else) a lifelong memory of a great hunt.
Bryan, I'm gonna bring my 2wt and some flies next trip.
The End
From #8 last night....
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