The 2nd Annual Bowhunt the Wild Horse Prairie Ranch was a success
to say the least.The ranch is
7,500 acres of prime habitat that holds an abundance of deer, wild hogs,
turkeys, and exotics.In the heart
of the Texas Hill Country it is an extremely beautiful setting with rolling
hills, mesquite and live oak trees in abundance.
The
hunt was an eight-day hunt and I was lucky to be able to hunt five of those
days.
For the opening day there were about 9 hunters in camp with my dear
friend Donald “The Duck” Beckwith being the chef.I knew that meant we would eat well.
The ranch is under strict game management and every time in your stand
you may have the opportunity to see a Pope and Young buck.Billy Don Van Cleave is the man that
makes this ranch work.A cattle
rancher and an avid outdoorsman himself, he is truly a professional that cares
about the game and if his hunters have a good and safe hunt.I must tell you that he and his staff
show Texas Hospitality at it’s best.
Opening
day found all of the hunters heading out to their stands in great
anticipation.Opening morning
everyone saw game.The one thing I
really like about the hunt is that Billy Don and his staff drive all the
hunters to their stands.All stand
locations over look heavily traveled game areas.I guess I am so used to having do everything my self that is
nice once in a while to only worry about getting in my tree or Double Bull
Blind and hunt.
All
enjoyed the hunt.We had hunters
from Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Montana.The camaraderie was excellent.All the hunters in camp were good guys and I can
honestly say the time sitting at camp and visiting was as much fun as the
actual hunt.I tried to calculate,
in all I think there were about 16 animals harvested.Which included hogs, turkeys, deer, and an exotic.Pretty good for an all archery hunt.
Probably the highlight of the hunt was when George Tague, a veteran bow
hunter from Pennsylvania ended his 35-year drought of bagging a turkey.He shot a nice tom the last morning of
his hunt.Talk about
excited!!!He was pumped!!!!
Also a
special thank you to WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTER for the care packages that all
the hunters received.The packages
included a variety of scents and sprays and other products that they
market.I am a regular user of
Wildlife Research Centers scent killer, liquid soap, and deodorant and I flat
out never get winded.Their
products WORK!
You can
go to bowhunting.net to read and see pictures of what happened daily on this hunt.
A final note of thanks to Billy Don Van Cleave and his staff for making
the second annual bowhunting.net hunt a huge success.
