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It all started off with a phone call from
CJ Winand, and when I got the message my first thought was one
of my friends was playing a joke on me. But later that evening, CJ had
called back. Then I started to believe it was true, that I had in fact
really won the FHFH Management Buck Hunt on the Tecomate Ranch.
Upon arriving at the Tecomate Ranch, it was a pleasure to see that the
ranch was wheelchair accessible, being confined to a wheelchair for
mobility. Arriving late the first evening, time was spent with
introductions of the guides and biologist of the ranch, meeting my
guide, Marc, and setting up the game plan for the morning hunt.
The first morning hunt produced one nice shooter buck, a wide ten
pointer. He seemed to have more broken tines than not, so we passed on
him. But we discovered, because I’m in a wheelchair, Marc’s jeep
needed to be modified a bit. And when he was done, his Jeep went from
being a normal looking jeep to one you saw on the TV show, Rat Patrol.
I can not express my thanks enough to Marc. He went above and beyond
the call of a guide to make this an enjoyable hunt for me.
On the second day of the hunt we watched a shooter buck come out on
the other end of the food plot we were hunting. He was heading our way
in between checking out the does in the field. He ever so slowly
continued on his path toward us getting into range when something
spooked him so he took off. Marc then started to blow on his predator
call which stopped him in his tracks. He was a nice eight pointer. I
squeezed the trigger and all I heard was the most dreaded sound a
hunter can hear, click. The shell did not go off. By then he was gone.
On the third and final day of the hunt we went back to the same area
to try to get him, but no luck. Suddenly a call buck that they were
after, stuck his head out of the brush giving me only his head and
neck as a target. One hundred yards down the road, laying the
crosshairs on his neck and squeezing, he went down on the spot. So we
loaded him up and took him back to the ranch’s walk-in cooler so that
the meat could be donated to FHFH.
Marc and I go out for the last evening of the
hunt. We were set up on a different food plot. The deer have been
filtering in for about an hour or so and bigger and bigger bucks were
coming in when Marc’s phone rang. It was Logan and the Rev. Will
Graham. They were in a blind on another area of the ranch and they
were watching a real nice shooter buck. So Marc turns to me and says,
“I can’t believe I am going to leave a food plot at 5:30 in the
evening, but let’s go.” We approached the blind where Logan and Rev.
Graham were. They were giving us hand signals but we didn’t know what
they meant, so we just keep going and passed the blind and turned down
another road where a buck was standing. Marc turns off the motor and
says for me to take him. No more than a couple of seconds later, I
shot making a clean kill at 270
yards.
I want to thank the North American Hunting Club for giving me this
hunt of a lifetime and for sponsoring such a fine organization as
Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry and for the opportunity to meet
and the pleasure of having hunted with the Rev. Will Graham. I also
want to thank CJ Winand and FHFH.
So to all the hunters out there, next hunting season think about
donating some of your meat to your local FHFH butcher and help to feed
some hungry Americans in your area, or go on their website,
www.fhfh.org, and donate some money.
I also wish to thank the Tecomate Ranch for an incredible hunting
experience. The Tecomate Ranch is truly a hunter’s paradise with fine
southern Texas hospitality. Whether you are able-bodied or disabled,
they will give you an experience of a lifetime.
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