Changing Tactics

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Mary and I were headed home after 6 days of hunting an outstanding ranch in south central Oklahoma and the back of the truck was empty.</div> <div> At the `95 Bowhunter Extravaganza     raid Carter made arrangements for a group of bowhunters to hunt the Blue River R anch, run by Blue River Outfitters out of Throckmorton, Texas. The hunt was scheduled during the rut just prior to the states rifle season opener. I had no knowledge of any of this at the time but was later asked if I wanted one of the spots by a friend in Austin, Bob Jones. It sounded like a promising hunt so I agreed to go.</div> <div> Once the hunt was over and we left the ranch empty handed I felt that I hadn't done everything possible to turn the odds in my favor. I tried all my old tricks, rattling, grunting, setting on scrapes, scents et. but had still failed to get within bow range of one of the many fine bucks on the ranch. I did see several from a distance as did the rest of my party, but we all failed to arrow one.</div> <div> There was no doubt in any of our minds as to the quality and quantity of bucks which called the 15,000 acre ranch home. One of their regular hunters, Steve Meyerdirk of Denton, Texas harvested a 141" 11 point earlier in the season with his bow and also took a 155" 11 point with his rifle the previous season. Another regular to the ranch, Gill Davis of Dallas, Texas, harvested a 131" 8 point buck with his rifle during the 9 day November rifle season in `95, then returned in December to take a 135" 8 point with his bow.</div> <div> The `95 season which was the first year for the ranch to be commercially hunted had yielded 12 bucks to an equal number of hunters.</div> <div> Hunter and writer, Ray Sasser wrote an editorial (11-5-95 Dallas Morning News ) on his hunt with James Kroll and Ken Christianson during the `95 muzzleloader season where they brought home a beautiful 145 class 6 x 4 as well as a 125 class 9 point.</div> <div> All of this, the great accommodations and the fine meals which were prepared and served by Joe Barrington, owner and operator of Blue River Outfitters, made me feel no better about the back of my truck being empty.</div> <div> I think Mary was quite surprised that I left without a struggle once my hunting time was up, but the fact that to hunt during the rifle season requires a rifle season tag coupled with financial restraints influenced me to leave quietly. After two hours of traveling in a homeward direction, silent with my thoughts, she didn't seem the least bit surprised when I wheeled to the side of the road and shrieked," I want to go back!!". Well, fly me home and go back she said     and I did.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Some of the best action which occurred during the hunt involved Daisy, my Flambeau doe decoy, which I purchased after my 21 day, failed struggle to harvest a trophy buck in Illinois during the `95 season. The bucks were totally unpredictable during that hunt. They failed to show up at food sources or scrapes during daylight hours, come to horns, grunt calls or scents. I was so frustrated at the end of that hunt that I could only conclude my bag of tricks was due for expansion. What always worked before was failing to produce. Maybe it was time to </FONT><I>change </I><I>tactics.</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >After six days of hunting in Oklahoma, my crystal clear hindsight was telling me the same thing I felt at the end of the Illinois hunt. The difference in this trip was that I had my decoy, Daisy, but lacked the confidence to use her regularly. I held fast to my</FONT><B> </B><B>o</B><B>ld tactics hoping they would produce. I should have </B><B>changed</B><B> </B><B>tactics</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial Black" >.</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >After all, I can remember when I lacked confidence to rattle antlers, use a grunt call or hunt in a ground blind.</FONT></div> <div> On the next to last morning, out of desperation, I placed Daisy 18 yards in front of my Taj Mahal ground blind and sure enough a seven point responded to rattling, crossed an open field and stood broadside 8 yards in front of my blind, licking his lips and staring lovingly at Daisy for several minutes until he decided he must not be man enough to even warrant an over the shoulder glance by such a lovely lady and walked away looking quite dejected.</div> <div> That night back at camp, Bob Jones told of rattling in several bucks including a hoss with forked back tines. Unfortunately the two bucks which were shooters wouldn't quite close to bow range. I offered the services of Daisy to help him with his problem and he readily agreed to give her a try. I also loaned him one of my overhead bowholders so he could keep his bow ready while rattling.</div> <div> The next night Bob relayed how his setup worked. Unfortunately he leaned my overhead bowholder up against the back of his Suburban when loading up that morning, backed over it and left not realizing what happened until he was ready to head out to the blind. Also unfortunately the shooter 10 point responded to the rattling/ decoy combination so quickly that Bob had no time to set the horns down and reach for his bow before the buck was standing behind the decoy. Apparently the buck detected movement before Bob could get his bow up and ready for the shot and pounced back to the other side of the decoy, still allowing a shot, but the situation had already began to deteriorate and continued to do so as the arrow flew harmlessly over the buck's shoulders.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >That and the one experience I had with the decoy the previous morning convinced me that my biggest mistake was my unwillingness to</FONT> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial Black" ><U>change </U></FONT><U>tactics and try something new.</U> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >I now felt that I should have had Daisy in front of me on every hunt, and now that I was getting a second chance I planned to do exactly that.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> By the time I arrived back at the ranch that night with my new rifle tag in my pocket, the rifle hunters had taken a 138" 8 point and a 144" 11 point. The 11 point was the buck Bob rattled in with the forked back tines.</div> <div> Shortly after I arrived, a mean winter storm did also bringing extremely low temperatures, high winds and rain which turned to ice and sleet by the following morning. The ice was so thick on the trucks the next morning that it was impossible to open North facing doors and the 40 MPH winds kept all hunters out of the blinds. The wind continued all Sunday night with a lot of sleet and by daylight Monday morning we were in a true winter wonderland. While the wind dropped to around 20 MPH the sleet and miserable conditions made us all a bit wary about venturing out.</div> <div> I was so restless after sitting out two days that I decided to drive out to my hunting area and check things out. I arrived in my area around 7:15 A.M. and got out of the truck to think about the situation. The wind didn't seem too bad in the bottom I would be hunting and I had some pretty good cold weather gear which I purchased during and after the Illinois hunt so I opted to give it a try. I made so much noise crunching through the ice getting to the blind, then setting up Daisy that I figured it would take quite some time for things to settle down. It</div> <bR> <bR> <div> didn't help when after getting in the frozen ladder blind which was thickly coated with ice, securing my overhead bowholder and getting my bow ready that I spotted some limbs which I felt had to be broken off to clear shooting lanes. I climbed back down, stepped gingerly on rocks to cross the creek where Daisy stood awaiting her suitors, and broke off the frozen branches. Back across the creek, carefully up the frozen ladder blind and I was ready. It was so quiet that I promptly clashed out a rattling sequence. As I hung the horns, I heard something and turned to see an 8 point bound in and stop broadside between Daisy and I. He was feverishly licking his lips and staring lovingly at Daisy when suddenly, he looked up the creek behind me and bounded for cover. I didn't need an interpreter to tell me what that meant and immediately eased one hand into my bow sling and grasped my release with the other while slowly turning my head to look back to my left. By the time I got turned enough to see the buck I had to begin my draw because he was coming on fast. By the time I got drawn, he was passing under me at 8 yards and the next thing I knew I released and the 10 point was standing at the decoy. I stared at the buck trying to figure out if I had missed when I noticed that he appeared to have 5 legs. The 5th leg was a steady stream of blood. He was mine!</div> <div> After 6 days of hunting without success, <I>changing tactics </I>resulted in a trophy after approximately 5 minutes in the blind.</div> <div> My bag of tricks has a new bulge now, as I will never lack confidence in decoys again.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>