| 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 | Day 2
During the first hour the deer were a good distance from us. Then a young 8-point came under the fence 80 yards to our left. Shortly after, a 10 point mature buck and two does came from the brush into the road. The does started eating oats. The 9-point trotted over to the does. The older buck "got in his face."  The 10-point hung closely to one of the does all the time he was in the area. Here is a closer look at him. Notice his short nose, fat head, very fat neck.. His estimated age is 6 1/2. .  Raymond had a buck. Chad, the ranch foreman, had seen a large 12-point buck by a stock tank called the "Milk Cow". Raymond wanted to check this out. (Raymond is the owner of the ranch and this is a rifle kill.) He drove to the Milk Cow tank in a ranch truck equipped with a High Lift hunting blind. He saw a big 12 point buck 20 minutes after he parked and set up the blind. He chased a doe into the brush and disappeared. A little later a 10 point entered the road.. The 12 point returned and walked over to the 10 point and the two of them walked down the road in Raymond's direction. At 140 yards Raymond put the cross hairs on the buck's vitals and pulled the trigger. The buck bounded 10 yards and fell. We all rode to the Milk Cow tank and I
took pictures of Raymond with his buck. (It's gotta be cool to take a buck
like this on your own place.)
(Scouting) Chad suggested I bowhunt near the ranch's airplane landing strip. A lot of bucks are in this area and the cover is good. We checked it out and I set up a Double Bull blind in the mesquite and cactus where several trails intersect. This place really looks "deerie". (Afternoon hunt) We arrived at the blind at 3:00. The first animals we saw were a group of javelinas. They spread out and ate prickly pear cactus and other browse.   Movement on my left caught my eye. A buck, a big one, 45 yards away, standing still on the trail that passed in front of my blind. He was very wide and had lots of points, but I didn't have time to check him out thoroughly. The buck wanted nothing to do with the wild boar and turned and walked away into the brush. The hog passed through our area and we waited, hoping the buck (or another one) would return on the trail. Instead, several different groups of javelinas came through and twice I spotted the wild boar in the distant brush. Several deer came into our immediate area, but each time javelinas were also somewhere around. Every deer spooked. When the light got low I unzipped the door to the blind and Jim started for the road. A lone javelina was standing behind the blind. Surprisingly he didn't run, he simply backed up to the edge of some cactus and watched me leave. 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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(Morning
hunt) We hunted the East Side blind again. This is a wooden
ground blind overlooking a recently planted 50 yard wide, half mile long
oat field. It's located in the corner of the woods. A fence line is behind
us and the rout to the blind is 20 to 30 yards wide and also planted with
wheat and oats. It was very foggy most of the morning with an occasional
drizzle. We started seeing deer early.
| More Bowhunts In 2000
My Deer Hunting Season in 2000 |