In early November Johnnie Hudman, the wildlife manager of the 24,000 acre Stasney’s Cook Ranch called me and ask if I would participate as a guide for Whitetails during an upcoming hunt in mid November.  This was a no brainer for me, asking an Emu if he would like to rattle up Whitetails for clients during the rut on one of the best managed ranches in the rolling mesquite brush land of north-central Texas is like asking a duck if he would like to swim in the ranches stock tanks!  For about a month each year the sex crazed  whitetail bucks throw caution to the wind and make mistakes in judgment they will never make during the other 11 months of the year!  Johnnie has managed the deer herd on this ranch for nearly 20 years and has the doe to buck ratio down to about 1.7 to 1 and this is the situation where bringing in bucks to the horns really shine!

   I arrived at the ranch several days before the clients to brush up on the deer movements even though I had guided on the ranch for over 15 years.  Getting an opportunity to photograph big whitetails up close and personal as they come to the rattling horns expecting to participate in or watch a fight over a hot doe is also an opportunity I seldom pass up.  Upon arriving at ranch headquarters, Johnnie was loading up a couple of professional videographers into the back of his pickup to take them around the ranch to get some B-roll footage for a “Benelli On Assignment” television show that was to be shot with the group of hunters coming in.  Johnnie told me which pastures I would be hunting on the ranch and said he would see me for supper.  After doing some scouting and photographing a couple of good bucks that afternoon I came back to the cook shack for supper and the evening of comparing notes with Johnnie and the cameramen.  That evening Johnnie asked me if I would like to guide famous African PH & the Benelli television host Joe Coogan and his crew for their hunt.  I enjoy showing avid hunters and “nonbelievers” in the rattling concept, that this game of clashing horns together simulating two bucks fighting over a doe in esteres does indeed work. I did know this would be a challenge though….moving quietly thru the pasture with several hunters and 2 cameramen in tow & then trying to be “invisible” while rattling.  I was lucky to have two big time hunters in Joe Coogan and outdoor writer Sheriff Jim Wilson plus 2 great cameramen who understood the game.  It is a chuckle though when you are crouching down trying to be stealthy moving into position and you happen to look behind and see 4 guys strung out for 10 yards, two with huge $100,000. cameras on their shoulders…..so much for trying to turn your 6’5” frame into a stealthy silhouette!  Then there are the added rules of the game when filming - you have to worry about more than just where the wind is blowing from and what cover you can hid in!  When filming a television show you have to worry about not setting up facing the sun as it will overload the camera lenses with light, you must have the deer on video for a while before you can take him & both camera men must be on the deer, one over the shooter’s shoulder and one shooting a long shot of him….plus you have to find enough cover to hide 5 people in while you are rattling……details, details, details

    To make a long story short I managed to rattle in 27 bucks in 3 days of hunting, but wanting to take a good buck and not just a dumb one……we took the hunt right down to the wire.  Sheriff Jim Wilson took a nice 9 pt the 2nd day of the hunt and then the weather turned to 85 degrees during the day and the deer were bedded up all but the first and last hour of the day.  We had all but given up on getting a buck for Joe about 9:00 the last morning and were working our way back to headquarters when we spooked two good bucks out of their beds in the heavy wild plum bushes.  They bailed over the ridge into a heavy mesquite and hackberry draw out of sight.  The prospects didn’t look good as it was about 75 degrees already and the wind was getting up pretty good, but the 13 years I was a closer in the Big Leagues gave me a lot of experience in saving the game in the 9th inning.  We worked our way across a prickly pear flat on top of the ridge and set up about 100 yds from where we had seen the two bucks that morning. We had a Hackberry tree at our backs and the brushy draw about 60 yds in front of us across an open Prickly Pear flat.  I mashed the rattling horns together for no more than 10 seconds and out of the brushy draw charged a mature 9 pt buck, hair bristling on his back looking for a fight!  The buck ran to within 15 yards of us and stopped to figure out just what was happening and Joe dropped him with a clean shot.  We all hooped it up as we had pulled victory from the jaws of defeat the last minutes of the hunt!

   You will be able to view our hunt on the “Benelli On Assignment” television show this summer or early fall.  We will keep you posted on the date the show will air and view my first “save” in 26 years while hunting with two legendary hunters and outdoorsmen!