http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/index/ en david@tecomate.com Copyright 2010 2010-01-14T15:40:01-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/january_2010_blog_location_south_texas/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/january_2010_blog_location_south_texas/#When:15:40:01Z Dateline: 1/12/10 – Wow!!! What a season we have just completed in South Texas. The Bucks of Tecomate cameras covered hunts on El Cazador, El Tecomate, La Perla and Campos Veijos ranches, all managed under the Tecomate Management System! And on those hunts, we shot MONSTERS!  So much happened, we’ll have to break it into two parts.  Dateline: 1/12/10 – Wow!!! What a season we have just completed in South Texas. The Bucks of Tecomate cameras covered hunts on El Cazador, El Tecomate, La Perla and Campos Veijos ranches, all managed under the Tecomate Management System! And on those hunts, we shot MONSTERS! So much happened, we’ll have to break it into two parts. Part 1 – Wild South Texas Season on BoT Where do I start? How about with the biggest buck I’ve ever shot, a whopping 205 on my own El Cazador Ranch! I first saw this buck on Reconyx camera photos back in August 2009. Then, I caught him again on the October camera survey … more than 2 miles from where he was photographed in August. Through I only had a handful of photos of him, I saw enough to know two things – 1) this buck was a giant and 2) I would devote my season to him. But, I also knew he would be tough to hunt since he could be anywhere in a two-plus mile swatch of countryside. From the photos, I figured he would score in the mid 180s. I was wrong! The deer on my ranch are well-fed and healthy. Over 240 acres of Tecomate food plots see to that. As I’ve often said, well-fed deer are hard to hunt. They move on their own time schedule. Outside the rut, that means at night … or at best, very early and late. That is certainly the case on my ranch. It is hardy worthwhile to hunt there before the rutting urge starts to take hold in early December. That’s the reason we don’t hold our guest hunts there until early December, when the first urgings of the rut spur the bucks to move and travel in daylight hours. Our first BoT hunts began on December 10 when Jamie Davis, president of Versus, and Jeff Macaluso, director of Field Sports for Versus, joined us for their second hunt on Cazador. I accompanied Jamie on what proved to be an eventful hunt. Jamie has boundless enthusiasm and is a fast learner. He savors all aspects of the experience and constantly seeks to improve his knowledge and skills. We had a great hunt and saw lots of good bucks. When the smoke cleared, Jamie had taken his best buck ever, a beautiful 150-plus 11-pointer! As always, Jamie is a delight to hunt with. It is great to know that the president of the network that is home to The Bucks of Tecomate is severely bitten with the whitetail bug! This will abundantly apparent when his hunt airs on The Bucks of Tecomate in the fall of 2010. Jamie Davis, president of Versus, has every reason to smile about his great 150-plus 11-pointer! Jeff Macaluso also shot a great buck, a classic 145 gross B&C 9-pointer. He hit the buck a bit low, and we had to call in the dogs. For that, we turned to Steve Scott in Edinburg, TX 78539 (956-369-2948). Three miles and much anxiety later, Steve’s dogs brought Jeff’s deer to bay and a memorable hunt was over. Like Jamie, Jeff is smitten by whitetails. He and most of the Versus folks love the sport and are committed to the industry, which is good news for all whitetail hunters. Versus’ Field Sports Program Director, Jeff Macaluso, proudly shows off his 145 9-pointer. With Jeff and Jamie both having bucks on the ground, I was anxious to start my hunt before the bucks started fighting and antlers started breaking. I knew which buck I wanted to hunt, but I had no idea where to hunt him. I figured the last place he was photographed on the Reconyx cameras back in October would be as good a place as any to start. That’s where I headed. My plan was to slip around, rattle, sneak the senderos and generally look over a lot of country in an attempt to find the buck I was after … or another monster buck that might usurp him, which is always a possibility on El Cazador. When I hit the ground, the weather was perfect – cold, overcast, light winds. I was immediately into rut-distracted bucks. Good ones. I was working an area of the ranch called the Sandy Romadero. “Romadero” is Spanish for a big, broad drainage. The Sandy Romadero runs north and south for about two miles across the ranch and is a major feature of the landscape … and a big thick, roadless area loaded with big bucks. My plan was to work the downwind fringes of the romadero to avoid overly pressuring the bedding/living areas in the quarter-mile-wide drainage itself. I hoped to catch bucks running does, checking scrapes, feeding on adjoining food plots or senderos, or just traveling or loitering. And of course, I hoped to bring them into range or otherwise make them expose themselves by rattling and grunting. Big, mature whitetails are seldom predictable. They just don’t play fair. But every once in a while, a plan works. This was one of those times. A couple of days into the hunt and after looking over a number of bucks I would have shot anywhere in the country (except on my ranch!), I caught a glimpse of a massive buck on the move. I got my Leupold binoculars on him just in time to know it was the buck I was after … before he disappeared into the thick romadero. I haunted the area the rest of the day, but he did not show himself again. I’ve often said that finding a big buck is half the battle. While “half” may be an exaggeration, locating a big buck gives you a huge leg up on eventually taking him. My hopes were high the next day as I waited for daybreak about 300 yards south of where I had seen the buck the day before. My plan was to ease into the northwest wind slowly and try to catch the buck on the move … without being seen by any of the many deer in the area. I began my stalk … slowly, carefully, quietly. Immediately, I began to see bucks. They were on the move, stirred by the rut and cold weather. I found myself “in the zone,” seeing deer before they saw me, getting the drop of them. As I neared the place I had seen the big buck the day before, I slowed the hunt even more. I eased along hardly daring to breathe. As I approached a sendero near the last place I had seen him, I scanned the brush with my Leupolds, hoping to see any nearby deer before bumping him or her with a careless move. The 10-power binoculars picked up the top part of a body, what seemed to be a big body, moving slowly through the brush and tall grass about 100 yards away. I held steady on the form. A few seconds later, a huge dark rack emerged from the grass, partially obscured by the brush. Though I wasn’t certain, I believed it was the buck I was after. I dropped to the ground to gather my wits and plan the hasty but careful approach I hoped would end in a shot. Moments later, I made my move, needing to cover about 40 yards. The buck was tending a doe so he held as I eased, indeed, crawled, into position for the shot. When I got to within a few feet of where I felt I could take the shot, I peaked up from my prone position to see him staring my way. Clearly, he had seen me … or the cameraman (go figure). It was time to commit. The ticker was running on the time he was going to stand there. I only had seconds. Whether 2, 5, or 10, I did not know, but I intended to use no more of them than necessary. I popped the BogPod Shooting Sticks into place, put the Sako A7 Tecomate in the “V”, centered the crosshairs on the buck’s broad chest and loosed the 140-grain Accubond from the .270 WSM … and the buck ran like he had not been touched! A sick feeling welded up in my stomach! I hurried to the place the buck was standing. Nothing … no blood, no hair, no nothing! I walked into the brush on the line the buck had taken. Still nothing. Twenty yards, 30 yards, 40, 50 and still nothing. I began to sweep the area. Still nothing, not for 75 yards around the spot the buck was standing. I was heart sick, knowing a fatally hit buck should not run more than 75 yards. Though I could picture the crosshairs on the buck’s chest, doubts flooded my mind. Had I hurried the shot? Had I jerked the shot off in my excitement? No, no … the sight picture was burned into my mind. With renewed conviction that I had hit the buck, I returned to the spot he was standing when I shot. I studied the spot more closely now. In moments, I found a clear running track … then another … and another. Slowly, I followed the running tracks, finding one at a time and not moving ahead until guided by another. Soon, I was beyond my previous search area, still tracking. At about 100 yards from the starting point, I glanced up to see a most beautiful sight … a huge chocolate-colored beam looming just above the grass. I ran to the buck and dropped to my knees in awe of the animal and in appreciation to God for delivering him to me! As I pulled the massive head clear of the grass, I knew instantly that I was looking at the biggest buck I had ever taken! Words cannot capture the feeling of awe I felt at that moment. Once again, I was a little boy in South Alabama, filled with the wonder of it all. The buck did indeed prove to be the biggest buck of a lifetime of hunting, a monster grossing over 205! Though I have been blessed to have taken over 30 bucks topping 170, this buck, grown and shot on MY ranch, will always be special … made even more so because I will share the experience with a few million of my closest friends next fall on The Bucks of Tecomate! David’s 205, his biggest buck ever! Part 2 – “Wild South Texas Season on BoT” to follow. David's Blog 2010-01-14T15:40:01-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/location_black_hills_of_wyoming/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/location_black_hills_of_wyoming/#When:20:55:00Z Location: Black Hills of Wyoming Dateline: 11/10/09 – Back when I was 12 years old, my mother and daddy took my cousin, Newt, and me on a two-week driving tour through the West that included a visit to South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore on the eastern edge of the famous Black Hills, so named because of the dark Ponderosa pines populating the hills. After visiting Mount Rushmore, we continued our drive westward through the Black Hills, where I saw more deer, mostly whitetails, than I ever knew existed. I never forgot that trip and all those deer and always harbored the hope of returning there someday to hunt. Location: Black Hills of Wyoming Dateline: 11/10/09 – Back when I was 12 years old, my mother and daddy took my cousin, Newt, and me on a two-week driving tour through the West that included a visit to South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore on the eastern edge of the famous Black Hills, so named because of the dark Ponderosa pines populating the hills. After visiting Mount Rushmore, we continued our drive westward through the Black Hills, where I saw more deer, mostly whitetails, than I ever knew existed. I never forgot that trip and all those deer and always harbored the hope of returning there someday to hunt. The opportunity to do just that came along when a young man named Jadee Kroeger approached me at the SHOT show in Las Vegas last year. Jadee is just starting out as an outfitter, and from his home base in Casper, Wyoming, he has lots of hunting options. When he mentioned ones of those options being whitetails in the Black Hills, I quickly began planning a hunt with Jadee. That trip became a reality on October 30, when cameraman Lance Tangen and I began our long drive up from Denver to Hulett, Wyoming … on the tail-end of a severe blizzard. With nearly all the northbound interstates closed, we had to travel east and try to make our way north on the backroads. Eleven hours later, after skating off the road twice on black ice in speculator fashion, Lance and I finally met up with Jadee just outside Hulett. He escorted us the final few miles to the beautiful Nuckolls Ranch owned by J.W. and Thea Nuckolls, who would be our hosts for the next several days. Greeting done, Thea treated us to a great home-cooked meal. Then, we sorted our gear and made plans for the coming days before hitting the sack. Early the next morning, we toured the Nuckolls Ranch, which lay virtually in the shadow of the famous Devil’s Tower National Monument, a remarkable monolith rising up vertically hundreds of feet to dominate the landscape. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever hunted whitetails. The mixture of pine-covered hills, natural openings, crop fields and spectacular rock bluffs was breathtaking. After sightseeing a couple of hours and scouting several likely hunting spots for the November 1 opening day of deer season, we headed north to the wide open plains and prairies to hunt one of my favorite animals– the pronghorn antelope. I soon saw that the antelope had figured out that it was best to keep lots of distance between them and people. They were wary and wild, having been hunted earlier in the season. Plus, the topography consisted on gently rolling hills and broad valleys, making stalking the keen-sighted critters very difficult. After several stalks that either ended in fleeting white rumps or thumbs down on bucks too small, thoughts of a quick antelope hunt passed from my mind. However, on that first antelope outing, I did see one particular standout buck, tall and heavy with good prongs. When I returned after I got my deer, I determined to go after that buck. Deer season opened with Lance, Jadee and me sitting on a high hill watching two draws running up from the alfalfa fields below into the wooded hills. By 9 a.m., we had seen several does, fawns and young bucks but nothing big. I broke out my rattling horns (I know they are really antlers). My purpose was not so much to rattle a buck “in” and as much to rattle one “out.” You see, I have shot many more bucks using rattling horns that have just “exposed” themselves than have come charging in. This is especially true when I have elevation and can look down “into” a lot of whitetail country … and when hunting the pre-rut, the time of this hunt. A minute after the short rattling sequence, a buck just appeared about 225 yards away, looking uphill straight at us for the “fight” he was trying to locate. His thick, blocky body told me immediately he was a mature buck. My Leupold HD binoculars told me he sported a good 10-point rack. Jadee recognized him as a buck he had seen a couple of weeks earlier on a scouting trip. He figured he was the biggest buck he had seen on the ranch. I decided to take him. While Lance moved the camera to get into position for better video, the buck decided he couldn’t reconcile what he was seeing with the expected “fight” and figured he’d be better off with more distance and cover between him and whatever was going on up that hill. He left just before the last few ounces of pressure broke the trigger and loosed the 140-grain Accubond from my .270 WSM. We caught nothing more than occasional glimpses of the buck as he worked his way up the hill. After waiting about five minutes, I rattled again, hoping to tease him back out for a shot. A minute later, a second big buck appeared in the meadow below, looking for the source of the ruckus. He was a mature 8-pointer, good but not what we were looking for. He was obviously excited by the prospects of a fight, and perhaps a nearby hot doe. He started posturing and quickly moved over to the edge of the timber, where he wet his hocks and began scent-marking and pawing. After a few minutes of this, he fixed his stare on the hill where the big 10-pointer I wanted had gone. Hackles up and bowed in the back, he began that stiff-legged walk of a posturing bucks, straight toward the place we had last seen my buck. I told Lance to get ready. Something was about to happen. Thirty seconds later, Jadee said he could see a buck moving down the hill toward the aggressive 8-pointer. My Leupold spotting scope told me it was the big 10-pointer. I traded the spotting scope for the BogPod shooting sticks … and waited. What happened next was wild and exciting … and a classic example of how rattling can help put a buck in your sights that had no intentions of actually coming “in” to the source of the bogus fight. You’ll have to see how it all played out on The Bucks of Tecomate. Yes, I did get the buck, a 6½-year-old 10-pointer scoring 145, a darn good buck for the Black Hills. Buck down, it was back to the open plains and prairies for a rematch with the antelope. For the better part of two days, the antelope won. They were wild as “March hares.” We did manage to make several successful stalks on herds that didn’t have what I wanted. On The Bucks of Tecomate, we go after MATURE animals that are BIG (trophies) for the AREA. After seeing the big antelope on the first day, I just wasn’t willing to settle for anything less. We kept going back to the area we had seen him. Two or three times, we found the herd he was in but they were always either in a place in which we couldn’t stalk them or running like a wild Banshee. Finally, Jadee and I came up with a plan to use their wildness against them – an antelope drive! Very slowly, we moved them into a position that we thought would allow us to predict their next move. Then, I hot-footed it about a mile to get out in front of them. At the agrees upon time, Jadee began his slow “drive”. An hour later, we had our antelope … not just any antelope but the very one we set our sights on the first day! You’re not going to believe this hunt! You’ll see antelope from a perspective you’ve likely never seen – running full out straight at you! With both the whitetail and pronghorn down, we wrapped up out TV video work and savored our success. This hunt was significant in many ways. One, we had a great The Bucks of Tecomate TV show in the can from a beautiful place. Two, the hunt was a good kick off for Jadee’s new venture, Kroeger Country Outfitters. Three, this marked the fulfillment of a dream that was born on a vacation with my mother and daddy over 40 years earlier. And finally, the deer and antelope I shot were the first ever taken with the new Sako A7 “Tecomate” rifle, a gun I had been working on for well over a year with Chip Klass, rifle manager for Beretta/Sako, and the gun experts at the Sako factory in Finland. The project had begun during a hunt at El Cazador Ranch in December of 2007, when Beretta’s head guy in the U.S, Christopher Merritt, and I began talking about what the “ideal” whitetail rifle would look like. I ran down a quick list of things I would want to see in such a rifle. After batting about ideas over the next few days, Christopher suggested that I get with Chip to plan a visit to the Sako factory in Finland to further develop the concept of the “ideal whitetail rifle.” The following October, after much continued discussions about the rifle, Chip and I, joined by Tecomate partner Gary Schwarz and our wives, boarded a jet bound for Finland. There, we toured the factory (amazing place and people), worked on the specifications for the new Sako/Tecomate rifle and hunted moose and whitetails. Yes, whitetails! When we left for home, the concept and specs for the new Sako A7 Tecomate were in place. All that remained was to build it! A year later almost to the date and 3 days before I headed to Wyoming for my hunt with Jadee, I received the first prototype of the rifle, which I immediately topped with a Leupold VX-3L 4.5-14x50 scope and sighted in using Winchester Supreme 140-grain Accubonds. Though the prototype had been assembled about two months earlier, Sako and Beretta wouldn’t release it to me for use in the field until it had passed all their testing and inspection requirements. The wait was worth it. This rifle is SOMETHING! I simply cannot imagine a better whitetail rifle … or a better rifle for just about anything in North America for that matter. With a fluted, free-floated barrel, top of the line synthetic stock (painted dark green with black spiderweb), aluminum integral bedding block, Pachmayr Decellerator recoil pad, cheek piece, sling studs, to name but a few features, this rifle, which is built on the strong, accurate Sako A7 action and chambered for the sizzling .270 Win. Short Mag, was designed from the ground up to be the best in the market! I could bore you with more of the technical specs, but suffice to say – it is one slick, well-balanced, flat-shooting, dependable, accurate and all-round good looking rifle! As Jadee says, “It’s a mean, green shooting (he actually said killing) machine!” The Tecomate A7 Sako is scheduled to be available sometimes before the 2010 hunting season at your local Beretta/Sako dealer. For information on hunting Wyoming with Jadee Kroeger, contact him at Kroeger Country Outfitters, 13251 Bessemer Bend Rd., Casper, WY 82604. (307) 277-1118. Jadee is a delight to work with and has a true passion for hunting. David's Blog 2009-11-10T20:55:00-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/location_eastern_colorado_whitetails/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/location_eastern_colorado_whitetails/#When:13:49:00Z Location: Eastern Colorado Dateline: 11/7/09 – After a slow start in Idaho, the next stop in the West put The Bucks of Tecomate in the winning column. On October 23th, I flew into Denver and was joined by my old hunting buddy of many years, David Shashy of Ocala, Florida, for a whitetail hunt in Eastern Colorado.  We drove from Denver International Airport southeast to near the small town of Kit Carson, right in the middle of the wide open spaces. During our two-hour drive, David and I kept asking each other where in the world could even an adaptable, wily whitetail find a hiding place in these high plains.  Location: Eastern Colorado Dateline: 11/7/09 – After a slow start in Idaho, the next stop in the West put The Bucks of Tecomate in the winning column. On October 23th, I flew into Denver and was joined by my old hunting buddy of many years, David Shashy of Ocala, Florida, for a whitetail hunt in Eastern Colorado. We drove from Denver International Airport southeast to near the small town of Kit Carson, right in the middle of the wide open spaces. During our two-hour drive, David and I kept asking each other where in the world could even an adaptable, wily whitetail find a hiding place in these high plains. When we finally meet our guide and booking agent, Aaron Neilson of Global Hunting Resources, he laughed at our doubts and assured us that big whitetails did indeed inhabit the seemingly empty spaces of Eastern Colorado. After meeting our outfitter, Sean Sander of Royal Mountain Adventures, and looking at photos of past hunts and listening to stories, we were believers and anxious to get out and see this strange whitetail country for ourselves. Since deer season didn’t open until the next day, we had time to sort our gear, check our rifles and spend the last three hours of the afternoon scouting. I’ve hunted whitetails from Mexico to northern Canada and Idaho to the Atlantic, but a stranger place to hunt whitetails I’ve never seen! As the day wound down, we found ourselves sitting in the bald open, looking over miles of wide open spaces for whitetails, not a tree in sight! As the sun dropped lower and my doubts grew higher, whitetails slowly began popping up here, there and yonder. Pretty soon we were zoomed in tight on several whitetails with the Leupold spotting scope. It wasn’t long before Aaron sounded the alert. “There’s a good buck. On that far hill, about a mile and half away. Wow! He’s a stud. Looks like … a big 10. Wide with long tines, maybe a sticker or two. Looks like he and that doe are headed up the hill, probably going to fed on the milo field up top.” As we watched the buck slowly make his way the last half-mile to the milo field in waning light, we were busy making a plan. A simple plan, really. Aaron had a strategy that had been tried and proven many times before – get in place the next morning well before daylight and watch for the buck to come out of the crop fields and move into the plains to bed down for the day. When he bedded down, the trick was to mark the spot as best we could, considering there were virtually no landmarks. Then, map out a route that would allow us to sneak undetected to within rifle range of the bedded buck. Then, now comes the next trick, get a decent shot at the buck without blowing him out of the country. Sounded simple enough, but I knew that success depended on 1) finding him the next morning (long odds, I figured); 2) seeing him bed down in a place that would allow us to make an unseen approach ( the gently rolling topography didn’t give me much encouragement); and 3) making what was sure to be a long and hurried shot (with a cameraman needing to capture at least 5 seconds of “pre-roll” and the killing shot!). No problem, right! With a big whitetail, the one thing I was sure of – things would NOT go according to plan! Well, I was wrong … almost! You’ll have watch the show to see exactly how the hunt unfolded, but I will say this – seldom does the end result a plan work turn out as well as ours. And not only did the plan work out for me, but we repeated the whole routine the next day with David Shashy … with the same BIG results. No, it didn’t all go without wrinkles. Never does. There were lots of up and down moments of doubts and panic intermingled with intense excitement on both my hunt and David’s. But in the end, we both shot great bucks in the high plains of Eastern Colorado, mine a whopping 173 basic 10-pointer with matching stickers on his G2s and David’s a heavy 10-pointer grossing 168 and carrying more mass than any buck he had ever taken. And most amazing of all , we took the bucks in the most open country I’ve ever hunted whitetails! I’ve hunted with lots of guides in my time. Most of which, frankly, I would have been much better off if they had stayed at home. Not so with Aaron! Seldom in my hunting career have I hunted with anyone as tuned in to his area and his deer as Aaron Neilson. He knows those high plains bucks … and they ain’t the same as any other whitetails I’ve ever hunted. My hat’s off the Aaron and Sean. They’ve done their homework and have great country and monster bucks, both whitetails and mulies! Indeed, The Bucks of Tecomate camera even captured a great hunt for a monster mule deer with father/son hunters Howard and Brian Ingram of California, who shared our camp with us. This is one show you don’t want to miss – two great whitetails and one 190-plus muley in the most alien place imaginable for cover-loving whitetails! For information on hunting Eastern Colorado with Sean Sander of Royal Mountain Adventures, contact Aaron Neilson, Global Hunting Resources, P.O. Box 620459, Littleton, Co. 80162 or call 303-932-0550 (office); 303-619-2872 (cell). Or you can drop Aaron an e-mail at globalhunts@aol.com and visit his website at www.globalhuntingresources.com Next up – The beautiful Black Hills of Northeastern Wyoming with Jadee Kroeger, Kroeger Country Outfitters, 13251 Bessemer Bend Rd., Casper, WY 82604. (307) 277-1118. Guaranteed to be fun! David's Blog 2009-11-07T13:49:00-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/1st_trip_of_2009_in_north_central_idaho/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/1st_trip_of_2009_in_north_central_idaho/#When:15:26:01Z Well, our first trip of 2009 is behind us. Debbie and I traveled to beautiful north-central Idaho and hunted with Chuck, Lana and Anderson Melgin on their South Fork River Ranch near Grangeville. What a wonderful week we had with them! The ranch lies along the South Fork of the Clearwater River, one of the best steelhead fishing rivers in the U.S.. It was, in Debbie’s words, “Spectacular!” Well, our first trip of 2009 is behind us. Debbie and I traveled to beautiful north-central Idaho and hunted with Chuck, Lana and Anderson Melgin on their South Fork River Ranch near Grangeville. What a wonderful week we had with them! The ranch lies along the South Fork of the Clearwater River, one of the best steelhead fishing rivers in the U.S.. It was, in Debbie’s words, “Spectacular!” The Melgin’s were a delight to be with. The food and accommodations were great. Lana can cook! And, Chuck worked harder to put us on a good buck that anybody I’ve ever hunted with. He put in countless miles of up and down hills (mostly up) trying to push a shootable buck by Debbie and me. This hunt was more like a sheep hunt than a whitetail hunt. How can you beat walking through some of the most beautiful country in North America, where a new magnificent vista awaits over every hill and around every corner, with rifle in tow and a whitetail tag in your pocket? You can’t! And thrown in new good friends like the Melgins, and you have a guaranteed good hunt! Our October hunt took place about month before the rut, meaning we were hunting pre-rut bucks. That’s always tough when you’re after big mature bucks. For the first couple of days, we still-hunted in hopes of catching bucks doing what they do naturally. After a day or two, hunting pressure, both ours and that of surrounding properties, curbed natural movement, and we realized that we were going to have to resort to forced movement to put mature bucks in our sights. That’s when Chuck went to work burning shoe leather and “pushing the bush”. He drove dozens of bucks by us, but in the end, we just could not find a buck we wanted to shoot. To be honest, it became apparent that the deer herd was overcrowded and that bucks of the size we were after were few and far between. That did not slow us down, though, especially not Chuck. We worked hard to the last hour of the last day, but in the end, we could not find a “Tecomate” buck and came home empty. Chuck and I spent a lot of time talking about what needed to be done to improve the quality of the deer there. It’s really simple – when you have too many deer for the available food, you can either reduce the deer to the available food or increase the food for the available deer, or a combination of the two. When possible, we at Tecomate prefer to increase the available food through management, mostly by using food plots, rather than reduce the number of deer. Give me more and bigger deer every time over fewer and smaller deer! Besides a beautiful ranch, one other thing Chuck and Lana have in spades is some of the finest steelhead (sea-run rainbows) fishing in America. The South Fork of the Clearwater River averages about 100 feet wide and is fairly shallow … and crystal clear. When the steelhead run is on, usually in February, March and April, there are monster trout in that river, many of which are over 20 pounds! I just could not get my mind around the idea of rainbow trout “averaging” 15 to 20 pounds being in that relatively small river, but they are … big time! On one red letter day, four fly fishermen connected with 84 steelheads, nearly all of which were in the 15-20 pound range! Many people feel these powerful sea-run trout are, pound for pound, among the fightingest gamefish in the world. I’ll let you know – I’ve already booked my return trip there for one of those giant steelheads. For information on the South Fork River Ranch, go to http://www.southforkriverranch.com. Next up – Colorado and Wyoming, back to back. Can’t wait! David's Blog 2009-10-19T15:26:01-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/el_cazador_2009_bucks/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/el_cazador_2009_bucks/#When:13:29:00Z A first glimpse into the what kind of bucks are on my EL Cazador Ranch this year. These photos were taken in late August. I’ll have new ones soon with the bucks out of velvet. A first glimpse into the what kind of bucks are on my EL Cazador Ranch this year. These photos were taken in late August. I'll have new ones soon with the bucks out of velvet. Photo gallery link here and a few videos below. You can also watch the videos on our YouTube account. David's Blog 2009-10-08T13:29:00-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/late_summer_afternoon_hotspots/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/late_summer_afternoon_hotspots/#When:20:25:00Z With summer winding down, the does are well along in rearing their fawns and the bachelor groups of bucks are fast on their summer feeding pattern. Late summer, especially late August and early September, is one of the best times to sit on major food sources (fields) in the waning minutes of the afternoon and get a good handle on your deer herd and what the coming season may bring. If hot agricultural food sources, like soybeans, alfalfa, or cowpeas, or warm-season food plots, especially legumes, are available, a few afternoons of judicious field watching should allow a good look at contented feeding bucks now sporting fully developed antlers. (Watch out for over-estimating the size of bucks still in velvet.) With summer winding down, the does are well along in rearing their fawns and the bachelor groups of bucks are fast on their summer feeding pattern. Late summer, especially late August and early September, is one of the best times to sit on major food sources (fields) in the waning minutes of the afternoon and get a good handle on your deer herd and what the coming season may bring. If hot agricultural food sources, like soybeans, alfalfa, or cowpeas, or warm-season food plots, especially legumes, are available, a few afternoons of judicious field watching should allow a good look at contented feeding bucks now sporting fully developed antlers. (Watch out for over-estimating the size of bucks still in velvet.) On many occasions, this is when I have found the buck I want to target in the fall, especially during the early archery season when bucks in many places are still on the tail end of the summer feeding pattern, before the bachelor groups breakup and the bucks scatter, only to become more nocturnal and invisible. The countdown for the breakup when the mature bucks start to again behave like mature whitetails, i.e., secretive and wary, is the shedding of their antler velvet and the return to the hard antlers of fall. Once this takes place, higher testosterone levels and mounting aggression cause the old pals of summer to start looking at each other crossways. They now view each other as competitors for breeding rights during the all-powerful coming rut and start vying for their place in the herd hierarchy. After bucks shed their velvet, it’s usually less than two weeks before the summer feeding pattern winds down, the bachelor groups breakup and mature whitetail bucks retreat to their secretive, solitary life. For those lucky enough to be able to hunt while the summer pattern is still underway, there’s a good chance to catch a wise old buck unaware and still on his predictable summer routine. Deer Manager's For the deer manager, this late summer feeding time is also one of the best times to gather herd data. The fawns are now old enough to follow their mothers to the food sources, allowing an observer to get a good idea of the reproductive success of the herd, expressed as a percentage based on the number of fawns per adult does. In other words, a total count of 6 fawns and 10 does means a 60% “recruitment rate”, meaning pretty good reproduction. Much less than that might indicate a problem with excessive predator loss, overcrowding or environmental stress. With the bucks heavy on the food sources, late summer is also a good time to gather data on both the buck:doe ratio (1 buck per 2 does is a 1:2 buck:doe ratio and about right for most areas with a reasonably balanced harvest) and the buck age structure (number of bucks within each year class). In herds that aren’t overhunted, you can expect at least 25% of the buck population to consist of bucks 3.5 years old and older. So right now is a very good time to get a leg up on the coming deer season and to gain a glimpse into the shape of your deer herd … and perhaps to find a big buck soon destined for your wall! Food Plot Tips and Articles 2009-08-26T20:25:00-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_viii/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_viii/#When:04:08:01Z A 24-Point Finale To An Awesome Season! Every now and then I see a young buck on my ranch that I know is going to be very special when he grows up. Such was the case with a buck we came to call “Stickers.” I first saw him two years ago when he was 4½ years old and made a mental note that I would go after him when he reached huntable age (that meant 6½ on my ranch). I didn’t see him at all in the field when he was 5½ but did get photos of him on StealthCam. When this season rolled around, he was one of the bucks we targeted ... if we could find him. In October, I once again got StealthCam photos of him and what a buck he was! As near as I could tell, he was a basic 13-pointer with at least 11 non-typical points. A 24-Point Finale To An Awesome Season! Every now and then I see a young buck on my ranch that I know is going to be very special when he grows up. Such was the case with a buck we came to call "Stickers." I first saw him two years ago when he was 4½ years old and made a mental note that I would go after him when he reached huntable age (that meant 6½ on my ranch). I didn’t see him at all in the field when he was 5½ but did get photos of him on StealthCam. When this season rolled around, he was one of the bucks we targeted ... if we could find him. In October, I once again got StealthCam photos of him and what a buck he was! As near as I could tell, he was a basic 13-pointer with at least 11 non-typical points. I figured he would score in the upper 180s! The problem was that he was almost impossible to see. It wasn’t until the rut was winding down that he finally showed. My daughter, Jennifer, videoed him the 2nd week of January. Jen had already shot her trophy buck, and I was still after my giant 16-pointer. My wife, Debbie, "offered" to put on hold the pursuit of her Big 10, which she had been hunting unsuccessfully for many days after "missing" (wounding) him, and go after Stickers. She and Jen hunted the buck for three days and had a couple of brief but exciting encounters. In the course hunting him, she came across and eventually shot an injured 11-pointer scoring 159 that we feared would succumb to his wound. While she was hunting Stickers, Marcus Luttrell and I happened to see Deb’s wounded Big 10 (three weeks after she shot him). She immediately returned to her hunt for the wounded Big 10-pointer, which she eventually got. I finally got my 200-class 16-pointer, filling out our family’s trophy quota. Since the family had all scored on big bucks, I sent Jeff Foxworthy after Stickers. He didn’t see him but saw another buck he liked and shot him, The Bull. Jeff’s kill marked the end of the official TV hunts. All the cameramen went home, and Debbie and I had the ranch to ourselves a day or two before I had to leave for the SHOT Show. I decided to go after Stickers myself. I really wanted this deer. He was a character buck unlike any I had ever taken. In the 11 years I’ve owned the ranch, I had never shot 2 trophies. I went after the ghost-like buck, not thinking I had any chance. Unbelievably, I got him ... after watching him come and go several times before the light was sufficient to video him for a shot. I videoed the hunt myself ... from a ground blind. Not only was this one of the best bucks I’ve ever taken, a 24-point 193 gross non-typical, the hunt was extremely satisfying and capped off the best season we’ve ever had on El Cazador Ranch. You don’t want to miss The Bucks of Tecomate 2009 Season starting in August on VERSUS network!!!! David's Blog 2009-03-03T04:08:01-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_vii/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_vii/#When:04:07:00Z Foxworthy’s Hog and Bull I love hunting with Jeff Foxworthy! He has fun and sees to it that everybody around him does too. This year was no exception. Jeff’s hunt really had its beginning a few days before his arrival, when Gary Schwarz took his wife, Marlee, hunting for a giant buck called Flatliner on Tecomate Ranch. As luck would have it, the buck, which Gary had not seen all year, showed up on the food plot they were hunting. But because of a shift in wind direction, they had moved from the permanent blind they wanted to hunt and had set up an impromptu ground blind. Marlee didn’t have a good rest and wisely held off the shot. They tried again the next day, but the buck came into the plot too late for a shot. Marlee had to end her hunt and couldn’t return for a week. The next day, Jeff arrived to hunt El Tecomate Ranch with the greenlight from Gary to shoot any buck on the ranch ... except Flatliner, now Marlee’s deer.  Foxworthy’s Hog and Bull I love hunting with Jeff Foxworthy! He has fun and sees to it that everybody around him does too. This year was no exception. Jeff’s hunt really had its beginning a few days before his arrival, when Gary Schwarz took his wife, Marlee, hunting for a giant buck called Flatliner on Tecomate Ranch. As luck would have it, the buck, which Gary had not seen all year, showed up on the food plot they were hunting. But because of a shift in wind direction, they had moved from the permanent blind they wanted to hunt and had set up an impromptu ground blind. Marlee didn’t have a good rest and wisely held off the shot. They tried again the next day, but the buck came into the plot too late for a shot. Marlee had to end her hunt and couldn’t return for a week. The next day, Jeff arrived to hunt El Tecomate Ranch with the greenlight from Gary to shoot any buck on the ranch ... except Flatliner, now Marlee’s deer. Jeff started off hunting a buck one of the guides had recently seen that looked to be a shooter. On the first afternoon, he saw the target buck, and being the manager he is, Jeff realized the buck is only 4½ years old (too young) and passed on him, though he was a 160-class buck, certainly big enough to shoot. The next morning, Jeff went to a new stand and shot a monster wild boar, a real trophy. In the meantime, on El Cazador Ranch, my daughter, Jennifer, saw a monster buck we dubbed "Stickers." I told Jeff he can go after him. In the course of hunting Stickers, Jeff saw several other good bucks, including a brute of a 10-pointer Jeff called "The Bull," which, after a great shot, ended up with a permanent home in Jeff’s trophy room. After hammering The Bull, Jeff had had a most memorable hunt, complete with lots of big bucks, but his hunt wasn’t quite over yet. Gary told Jeff that Marlee wanted him to go after Flatliner. With only one afternoon left, Gary and Jeff go after the for-sure record-book buck. A monster hog, The Bull and a hunt for a legendary buck ... you’ll have to watch the show to see how it all ends up. Besides Marcus and Jeff, my old friend Glenn Garner, Jeff’s farm manager and close friend, brought his BowTech for another run at South Texas bowhunting ... from the ground. Glenn is as good a bowhunter as there is and was neck-deep in bucks and javelina, but as you’ll see on the show, big old South Texas bucks are not easy to get within bow range, especially when you’ve got to age and judge them before loosing an arrow. If anybody can do it, it’s Glenn, but even the best sometimes come up short against mature whitetails. Javelinas, however, didn’t fare so well. More to come on The Bucks of Tecomate 2009 Season Hunts ... David's Blog 2009-03-01T04:07:00-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_vi/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_vi/#When:04:06:00Z A True American Hero Scores Big On our next hunt, I had the pleasure of sharing my ranch with a true American hero, Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL who was sole survivor of a SEAL mission in Afghanistan to kill or capture a Taliban leader responsible for many deaths. Jeff Foxworthy was also hunting with me at the time, and together, we had a great time of fellowship and a most memorable hunt with Marcus. Marcus showed his incredible long-range hunting skills en route to taking two great old bucks, one a unique 14-pointer grossing 162. It was very interesting seeing Marcus pit his SEAL training and skills against wild and wary whitetails. In the end, Marcus said SEAL training should include going one-on-one up close and in person with whitetails ...  A True American Hero Scores Big On our next hunt, I had the pleasure of sharing my ranch with a true American hero, Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL who was sole survivor of a SEAL mission in Afghanistan to kill or capture a Taliban leader responsible for many deaths. Jeff Foxworthy was also hunting with me at the time, and together, we had a great time of fellowship and a most memorable hunt with Marcus. Marcus showed his incredible long-range hunting skills en route to taking two great old bucks, one a unique 14-pointer grossing 162. It was very interesting seeing Marcus pit his SEAL training and skills against wild and wary whitetails. In the end, Marcus said SEAL training should include going one-on-one up close and in person with whitetails ... because if you can successfully get in close undetected on whitetails you’re ready for the bad guys! This is going to be one of the best shows of the year on The Bucks of Tecomate. What an honor to spend time with somebody who has paid such a high price for our freedom! Regular Americans like me get to pursue our dreams because people like Marcus are willing to do what they do to do to protect us and our freedom! Best of all, Marcus left a FRIEND. More to come on The Bucks of Tecomate 2009 Season Hunts ... 2009-02-26T04:06:00-06:00 http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_v/ http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/the_bucks_of_tecomate_2009_season_hunts_v/#When:04:05:01Z My Best Buck Ever! Starting on December 15th, I began an epic hunt for what I thought might be one of the biggest bucks I had ever killed and one of the biggest I’ve ever had on El Cazador Ranch. My head guide, Pete Gunderson, had videoed a remarkable buck very late one afternoon in early December. Though the video was dark and brief, I could tell he was a monster. I was pretty sure he was a buck I had seen two years earlier, when he was 4½, on a late-season Max-Attract food plot and then again the next August at dusk on a lablab food plot when he was in velvet. If it was that deer, he would now be 6½ years old (our minimum age to shoot as a trophy). And even though Pete’s video was dark, I knew he was even bigger than he was when I saw him in velvet the previous year on the lablab plot ... and he was a Boone & Crockett then! This was the buck I was going after.  My Best Buck Ever! Starting on December 15th, I began an epic hunt for what I thought might be one of the biggest bucks I had ever killed and one of the biggest I’ve ever had on El Cazador Ranch. My head guide, Pete Gunderson, had videoed a remarkable buck very late one afternoon in early December. Though the video was dark and brief, I could tell he was a monster. I was pretty sure he was a buck I had seen two years earlier, when he was 4½, on a late-season Max-Attract food plot and then again the next August at dusk on a lablab food plot when he was in velvet. If it was that deer, he would now be 6½ years old (our minimum age to shoot as a trophy). And even though Pete’s video was dark, I knew he was even bigger than he was when I saw him in velvet the previous year on the lablab plot ... and he was a Boone & Crockett then! This was the buck I was going after. I had no idea of the ups and downs I would face in my pursuit of that deer over the next month! During my chase, I almost swore off ever filming another big deer hunt. You see, I saw that buck four times in shooting light ... but NOT filming light. He was a nocturnal deer. Before I finally shot him, I did see him twice in shooting light, but he would not stay long enough to get both gun and camera set up for a kill shot. It was one of the most frustrating hunts of my filming career. I went through four cameramen over the month-long hunt, and finally, it was my daughter, Jennifer, who actually filmed the kill. This is one hunt I know cannot be fully told in a 30-minute show, but I promise it will be interesting, even in its abbreviated form! Oh, by the way, he was my biggest buck ever – a 200-plus 16-pointer! More to come on The Bucks of Tecomate 2009 Season Hunts ... David's Blog 2009-02-23T04:05:01-06:00