The Lonestar State offered the author opportunities to take three different species during one hunt.
It was late November 2019 when my wife, Becca, and I pulled our camper down to Texas following a successful Iowa deer hunt. Our intention was to visit her aunt, step-uncle and cousins, but I couldn’t ignore the urge to hunt deer since the rut was likely still going. I talked with my wife’s step-uncle, and he mentioned that his employer is a developer. At the time, he owned a cattle ranch.
After a phone call, I had permission to hunt on a good-sized ranch along the banks of the stunning Brazos River. On the ranch were hogs and deer, and I’d later find out that a pile of coyotes roamed it, too. Just when I thought my fall 2019 hunting season was over, I was back at it and with opportunities to take three different species.
Getting Started
I made an initial scouting trip to learn the ranch boundaries and to see what it held for prospects. I cruised up and down the ranch roads, getting out and hiking at several points. I learned that the draws leading from the Brazos River up to the rolling hills held lots of acorn-producing oaks — there were acorns galore. There were also open pastures, cedar thickets and even some waterholes. The ranch had a mixture of livestock, but those were limited to specific pastures. So, I focused mostly on the areas void of livestock.
During that initial scouting mission, I found some deer and hog sign. I even saw a nice 4×4 buck chasing a doe around noon. If I’d had my bow or a rifle, I could’ve taken that buck pretty easily. But, I had neither, so I simply watched.
Getting Serious
Given what appeared to be sporadic movement, I decided to purchase some automatic bucket feeders from a local feed store. I hung three of them about equal distances apart, which was about three-fourths of a mile. I set trail cameras nearby and let the setups soak.
I started seeing hog action on the cameras within a short period of time. Soon, deer became regular visitors, too. I eventually was capturing more images of bucks than does, and at least four of the bucks were definite shooters. The problem was that the pictures were all at night, and I made the mistake of not hunting right away due to the nighttime movement. I thought it best to not pressure the spots until I captured daylight pictures, but that didn’t happen.
Eventually, my wife and I discussed it, and we decided that it was time to just hunt. Sure, the bucks weren’t coming to the feeders until after dark, but they no doubt had to be on their feet somewhere in the daylight because I was capturing some of the same bucks on opposite ends of the ranch about a mile and a half apart. That meant that they were still rutting even though it was now well into December.
Getting Game
On December 7, I did a morning hunt. I didn’t see any deer, but I noticed that a sounder of hogs was underneath one of my feeders and decided to move in with a borrowed .243 rifle. At about 100 yards, I propped the gun on my shooting sticks (fiberglass rods connected with a hair tie), took aim and squeezed the trigger. My shot was just a little bit far back, but it did the job, and I moved in and finished the hog with a follow-up shot. My wife and I love wild pork, so procuring that hog was a great thing.
A few days later, I was still-hunting through a few different likely hog haunts while also keeping my eyes peeled for deer. I walked around a corner and noticed a coyote standing about 40 yards away in the wide open. I took a knee, flipped the safety to the “off” position and floated the crosshair behind its shoulder. Carefully, I squeezed until the gun barked. The big coyote dropped on the spot and did not twitch. I’ve been hunting for many years, and while I’ve had a few fleeting opportunities to shoot at coyotes, I hadn’t previously killed one. I was pretty thrilled to get my first coyote.
One Elusive Species to Go
I believe it was the same day I shot the coyote when I was overlooking a field for the afternoon. I could see one of my bucket feeders, but I could also see hundreds of yards around it. There was a particular area where bucks had made a scrape line along a field edge. I assumed they were bedding along the Brazos River bed, then coming up the field edge to make scrapes, eat acorns and cruise for does.
Late that afternoon, a tremendous, wide-framed buck came across the field towards me. At about 150 yards, he turned broadside, and I got my gun on the sticks and acquired him in my scope. However, he didn’t stop when I mouth-grunted and went into a finger draw that juts out into the field. I anxiously grabbed at my grunt call and popped a few soft grunts toward the draw. I heard the buck walking in the leaves, but then all went silent. I feared that he had no interest in my challenge and had kept going.
A few anxious minutes passed, and then I looked off to the right from where I’d last seen the buck. As if a ghost, he stood right there in the field facing directly at me and trying to determine what I was. Slowly, I aimed the rifle his way, found him in the scope and carefully squeezed until the gun fired. I was sure that I’d hit him because the shot had broken well, but he was instantly gone. Did I get him? I wondered.
I left the property and got something to eat. After giving the buck some time, I returned. I found absolutely no indications of a hit on the oak leaves littering the ground along the field edge. I looked and looked but found no blood or hair. It’s always frustrating trying to find blood or hair with a flashlight. With no rain forecasted and the temperatures very cool, I elected to return the following morning, hoping the coyotes would leave the buck alone if indeed I had hit him.
That following morning, my wife and I looked diligently for blood and hair on the buck’s potential flee routes. Nothing. We searched for the body in case he’d bled internally — highly unlikely for a frontal chest hit. Zero indications of a hit were found. And in the coming nights, my trail camera caught a wide buck that I assumed was likely the buck I’d shot at. I was so dejected about the miss. I wished I’d been shooting my own rifle, but when we headed for Iowa, I simply hadn’t packed it because I hadn’t planned on gun hunting anywhere. Beggars can’t be choosers, so it was either the borrowed .243 or my bow, and I’d gone with the borrowed gun.
I spent quite a few additional outings chasing deer and was unsuccessful. On one afternoon, I had a slick, mature 5×5 cruise across the same field where I missed the wide buck, but when I mouth-grunted, he didn’t stop. Those darn Texas bucks are always on the move, it seems. I wasn’t about to take a moving shot since my confidence was low following the miss, and an oak draw swallowed him up. I never did get a crack at another whitetail. However, I did pass up a dandy 4×4 missing brow tines. At that point, I really had my heart set on the wide buck or the 5×5, but an opportunity didn’t materialize.
More Hogs
After mixing in a trip back to Wisconsin for Christmas and a trip to Arizona for mule deer and Coues deer, we returned to Texas to spend more time with my wife’s relatives, and if I’m being honest, to hunt hogs since deer season was closed. I got the feeders going again, and the hogs were primarily hitting them at night.
One evening after sitting near the feeder, we got very cold and decided to drive the ranch roads to see if we could turn up some hogs in various pastures where we observed tons of digging activity. As we rounded a bend, we saw a pasture holding probably 20-some pigs. I parked the truck, grabbed my .30-06 Springfield (I’d brought my personal rifle back since we’d gone home for Christmas), and stalked within 100 yards for an easy shot.
A huge sow was facing directly at me, and I got a solid rest and held the crosshair between its eyes and squeezed the trigger. That hog was dead on impact, and the other hogs took off. I picked out a spotted hog and took a running shot, which brought it down. I picked out a third one and shot, but I believe I missed that one as there were no indications of a hit. Running shots are pretty difficult.
No Place Like Texas
This was my first time hunting free-ranging game in Texas. They say that the only way to hunt in Texas is to get out your wallet, and that’s usually true. However, networking and relationships can sometimes land you an opportunity to hunt as it did for me.
Regardless, I’ve hunted in a lot of different states, and Texas ranks high up on the list given the vast amount of game it supports. I love the diverse landscapes, the people are generally nice, and there are great taco trucks all over the place. But what I really like is the Texas Trifecta, which is hunting for hogs, coyotes and wiley whitetails. I better go back soon and check that Texas whitetail off my list.
