The Digital Log Of A Bowhunt With Venado Loco - by Robert Hoague

| Day 1 | Day 1a | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |

DAY #1, Venado Loco Deerhunt
Our groups total deer sightings today: 36 Deer, 15 were bucks.

The Dog Cactus Buck & The Duck

The other three bowhunters arrived a little after daylight. (There'll be more about them as soon as I can get caught up with the details so far.) The Duck and I went to the areas we hunted last year, 15, 21, 23 & 24. Our blinds were pretty much intact after a year's worth of Texas weather. We set up Double Bull blinds on 15 and 24. We trimmed a few branches and twigs that had grown up and we were good to go.. The picture on the masthead is a pic of my Double Bull blind on 15. (I looks pretty cool doesn't it, it blends right in.)

We returned to camp, ate lunch and, got ready to hunt, and went back out. I hunted 15 and the Duck went to 23. I brought my laptop with me so I could get caught up on my update, but the deer wouldn't let me. As the pictures of my blind uploaded from my card reader something caught my eye and I looked up. Through the the front mesh window I saw a doe was walking by. Carefully I picked up my camera and snapped it's pic a couple of steps before it disappeared into the cactus.

Truthfully, I wondered if I could get away with plunking down the blind and hunting it right away. It's pretty good size and certainly has to be noticeable at close range. 

More deer came throughout the afternoon. I took several on the spot  pictures, including a very cool new wallpaper for your computer, and have the hunting comments as things came down. Here's what happened.

Meanwhile, the Duck was having problems. We glued black fabric on the inside of his blind and the deer were smelling it and snorting the alert to other deer. However, two deer came downwind and did not scent him. A spike buck, and later, a 9-point buck. The Duck drew as the buck turned broadside and stood still. The arrow went in through the liver and and right lung and the buck ran into the thorny brush. In half an hour the Duck took up the trail. A hundred yards further he found the buck lying in the midst of a really big patch of Dog Cactus. Now, if you've ever been hunting in West Texas you're already saying, "Ouch," not once, but three times. Everything that grows here here has thorns and the Dog Cactus is the "King of Thorns." It has an inch-and-a-half razor sharp thorns and will smack through your boot and clothes, no problem. The Duck waded in to get his buck, Dog Cactus smacking him all the way. The buck was covered with them! Don knocked a bunch of the Dog burrs off the hind legs and pulled the buck out of the stickley mess. Then he came and got me.

Saturday Morning, Arrival at Venado Loco's Bowhunt: 
The Duck (Don Beckwith) and I got a late start on the way to Venado Loco's place. We stopped in Llano, TX and ate the town out of mexican food. Further along the way I phoned with my cell phone to see if we should stay in a motel tonight, because our arrival would be so late, or else come on in. The connection on Venado's end was full of static and he couldn't hear everything I said, but did hear that we were on the way, so he said to come on down and, "knock on the door when you get here." So right now we are in Del Rio and I'm uploading this and some other pages for Bowhunting.Net. We'll be at the ranch in half an hour. Tomorrow morning we will set up some blinds and start hunting in the afternoon.

Back To Where You Were At Bowhunting.Net

About this bowhunt & about Venado Loco

Venado Loco's web site: Deer Hunting In West Texas & Mexico

Bowhunting.Net

Deerhunting.Net