Bowhunting
With Zano
in
the Suburbs of San Antonio
Digital
Logs Of a Bowhunt With Zan Christensen - by Robert Hoague
2003
Hunt:
Day
1 | Day 2 Morning | Day #2 Afternoon
| Day 3 | Day 4
BOWHUNTING
WITH ZANO 2003
An Online Bowhunt
Zan
Christensen and I are bowhunting deer at Rancho Zano on the outskirts of
the suburbs of San Antonio.
Day #2 - January
3
The "Windy Meadow
Buck"
Afternoon - This afternoon
I hunted a stand Zan calls Meadow Grove. Early on a button buck walked
out of the woods in front of be and stopped by my stand. Noise in the same
direction caught my attention. A big doe walked out and stopped near the
button head. More noise! A spike buck came running out and charged at the
doe. She took off with him hot on her tail. They stopped abruptly in 80
yards. A minute or so passed and the spike charged the doe again and they
both took off out of sight.
After that I saw 10 more
does during the afternoon. Dusk came and I heard a deer walk behind
me and stop on my left side. Slowly I turned my head a bit and saw the
deer just before it stepped behind a cedar tree. It was a large bodied
buck only 10 yards away.
The buck waited in place.
Daylight clock kept clicking and things started getting dim. Finally the
buck moved forward.
In the dark shadows of the
forest I could not see its rack clearly. My sight pin was the next thing
to disappear. The buck stayed at the edge as darkness fell. In the contrast
of the open and his dark shadow I saw a wide, heavy rack with short tines.
 Zano:
Another hot afternoon, 80* and very muggy, not the best hunt'n weather.
At 5pm, movement in the brush 30yds out on a trail off to my right caught
my attention. The flash of antlers and the large body brought me
to full attention. When his head passed thru a hole in the brush,
my heart skipped a beat, the "Windy Meadow" buck! This guy is huge
and sports a massive rack, wide with thick beams and massive tines. He's
an easy 20" inside, maybe 22".
Although he walked down
the trail casually, he would stop occassionally and check things out.
With each flicker of his tail, I knew a shot was about to develop.
I passed on a quartering towards me shot at 17yds as he walked thru an
8" window between two of the six oak trees he was behind, knowing he would
break out in two more steps. As his head cleared the oaks, my heart
sake deep in my chest, for the dead calm evening was no more as a puff
of a breeze pushed against the back of my neck. Within a second he
stopped mid stide, lowered his head and froze for what seemed like an eternity.
Within a minute or so, he
turned and walked out on his back trail. I knew he smelled me (very
sweaty afternoon), but not so much as to blow him out, for he calmly walked
away, stopping and flicking his tail several times until he dissappeared
50yds out.
Thirty minutes later, two
does passed by, then minutes later two more passed thru, and behind them
Robert's "Blurry Buck" from yesterday followed in their steps. He
created quite a comotion as he pushed one of the does around the stand
area, with deer scattering and regrouping as he allowed. Although
this buck is a great buck with a rock'n rack, I passed on a couple of chip
shots hoping the Windy Meadow buck would join the train of deer.
Minutes later all was dark and very quiet. You know where I'll be
tomorrow afternoon.
About
Zan Christensen (Zano)
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