Bowhunting
at Rancho Del Zorro
The
Digital Log Of A Bowhunt - by Robert Hoague
| Day
1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day
4 | Day 5 | Day 6 |
Plus: The Missing Pictures:
Day 1 | Day 2,
Fatneck series |
Day 1
(12:28pm)
I'm updating via cellular from the truck -- on the way to meet Chad Edwards
of the Rancho Del Zorro in Webb County, Texas for a late season whitetail
hunt. For starters, Webb county is one of the top ones in Texas for big
racked whitetails. But the real carrot on the string is the fact that this
ranch has not been hunted in 8 years and that formula equals mature bucks,
a formula I like. Look for the pictures and daily logs, right here, as
Jim Autrey and I hunt for the Texas Deer Hunter TV show.
(3:50pm)
Jim Autrey and I arrived at Rancho Del Zorro at 3:50pm. We are covering
this hunt on bowhunting.net as well as filming it for the Texas Deer Hunter
TV Show (TexasDeerHunter.com).
The main gate is directly across from George Strait's ranch. Chad Edwards,
the ranch foreman, was waiting for us a the gate. We followed him
7 miles to the ranch. Ranch Del Zorro is owned by Raymond & Jan Patschke.
The ranch is 8,225 acres in Webb county and has not been hunted in 6 years.
Jim Autrey is rifle hunting and he won the toss so so he hunts first.
Chad took us out
to a blind at the junction of three "T" shaped strips of oat fields bordered
by thick South Texas brush. The deer absolutely came out of the woodwork.
Chad was barely out
of sight when a couple dozen wild hogs came trotting down the road and
passed very close to the back of our blind. The fields are planted in strips.
The ranch plants a mixture of wheat, oats, rye and tritacale and it appears
to be a hit. There is no livestock on this ranch and the fields are munched
on hard.
In no time deer started
coming out of he brush. We were told the buck to doe ratio here is 1.2
does per buck. It may be true but it looked more like 4 bucks to every
doe. We saw a lot of bucks. Bucks came out of the woodwork. And a bunch
of them were mature whitetail bucks, 4 1/2 years old or better. I'm not
used to seeing so many "old" bucks, it was super.
A buck fight broke
out in the field to our right. Jim videoed the entire episode. They fought
back and forth, head to head, twisting and turning. A couple dozen deer
trotted right over to watch the fight.
Both were mature
bucks and they went at it full bore. Suddenly, the largest buck flipped
his opponent over on his back started gored him when he was down. The buck
regained his feet and decided he didn't want any more of this action and
he ran for the brush, closeby followed by the winner of the fight.
We saw over a dozen
exceptional bucks. We have them on video and I took pictures of them with
my digital camera.
Another buck fight started up, this time
in the brush 45 yards from our blind.
One of the bucks was a 10 point that, when
he saw the video of him, Chad estimated would score 177. The buck has a
23 inch spread and his longest tines are 12 inches. This is truly a magnificent
buck.
He got close enough to us for a shot but
he was a 3 1/2 year old and the ranch prefers we harvest a more mature
buck.
We also saw a big 12 point with 2 kickers
on his G2's, a drop tine 10-point and several more 10 point bucks. All
with blocky front bodies and fat necks.
When we returned
to the hunting lodge I had technical difficulties getting the pictures
out of my camera and tried every thing I know to do but I won't have them
until I get back home. We will have wait for the pictures of some of the
deer we took photos of today.
Tomorrow we will
use the backup digital camera and have the pics of what happens. To
Day #2...
For information:
about Rancho Del Zorro's whitetail, wild hog and javelina bow and rifle
hunts as well as quail and dove hunting, email them. Chad Edwards @ Rancho
del Zorro, email: ranchodelzorro@aciglobal.com,
or phone: 956-419-1906.
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