For months I have been waiting for this trip to Texas and finally October 29th came. Before this trip I never shot a buck before in my life and now I was hoping to do it with my bow. My friends bust on me all the time since I have missed a buck in the past with my bow. Now was the time to show them I can do it and will get my first buck. We flew from Philadelphia to Dallas then to Wichita Falls where we picked up our rental car to drive to the lodge.
While on the plane from Dallas to Wichita Falls the last three innings of the Phillies game was being played and we were missing it. Once we arrived in Wichita Falls we found out the Phillies won the World Series. Hearing this, I knew it would be a great trip with that great news.
At 10:30pm that evening we finally arrived at Longhorn Outfitters. The three other guys that went with me and grew up knowing Chip, who is the owner of the outfitting business. He originally grew up here in PA and loved to hunt. We stayed in a nice lodge behind his house and it was very accommodating. Every day we had amazing meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner which were made by his wife Carrie. Carrie made some incredible meals during the four days we were there. That night Chip explained to us how we will be hunting and what we can and cannot shoot. We were bow hunting for the first two days and on Saturday we could use a gun if we wanted to. We were able to harvest a buck, doe, hog, and a turkey during this trip.
The view from a box blind
The next morning came quickly and I was pumped to get into my tripod stand to hunt. I didn’t know what to expect since it was dark when we arrived and didn’t know what the landscape looked like. We drove up to the first ground blind to drop my buddy off, and to our surprise there stood a beautiful buck looking right at us standing near the feeder. Now I know we can’t hunt feeders here in PA, but down there they are legal since deer don’t roam the same patterns and they could pop up anywhere. I finally got to my stand and was so excited for the sun to come up. As I sat in my stand all I could hear were coyotes howling all around me. This was a little scary at first, but I got used to it during the next three days.
The sun finally came up and deer starting running right by me followed by a pack of coyotes. After thisevent deer kept popping out of know where. Every time I turned a different way there was a deer. It seemed to be like this the entire time I was in Texas. Finally at about 8:30 am a real nice 6 pointer showed up. This was a beautiful buck, but lacked tines so I passed on him. I knew there were bigger buck out there so I didn’t want to shoot the first buck. Later on another nice 8 pointer came in having tiny tines. I watched this buck feed till 11am until the guys came to pick me up. When they arrived I saw a nice 9 pointer in the back of the truck with an 18 ¾ in spread. This ended up being the same buck we saw that morning in the dark.
Jarrod’s 9 pointer with a 18 ¾ inch spread
During the week, the evening hunts were hot as it was 80 degrees everyday, but we always saw deer. I sat in the same stand for the first three hunts and I told myself on the second morning that this is the last time I sit in this stand and want to try other stands out. I knew big bucks were being spotted on other parts of the ranch, but had a good feeling about this stand. The morning started off with a coyote running right in front of me and started howling. At about 8:30 am two horses came into the feeder and started eating all the corn. On the ranches down there cattle and horses roam all around, but this really doesn’t bother the deer.
I figured these horses would hang around for a few minutes then move on. I was wrong and started getting frustrated. I was texting with a buddy about what we were seeing and told him about the horses. Finally the horses moved away around 9 am. It was only five minutes later and out came a nice 8 pointer from the mesquite 20 yards away from me. When I saw this buck I knew it was the buck I was looking for. I saw great tine length and knew that’s exactly what I wanted. He walked out to the feeder area 20 yards broadside. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to come out of my chest. I started taking deep breathes and knew I could shoot this buck. Finally I calmed down and let the arrow fly and all I heard and saw was a loud “smack.” The arrow went into the deer right behind the shoulder, but didn’t pass through. I knew the arrow was in him good, but couldn’t tell because he ran off so quickly. I kept and eye on which way the deer went, but once he got into the mesquite I couldn’t see him anymore.
I hurried up and texted my buddy back saying I just shot one. He responded by saying “you did what…you just shot one?” Here he thought I just shot one of the horses and I told him I shot a nice 8 pointer. Man was I pumped. I was nervous though because it wasn’t a complete pass through. There was no blood where I shot him, but knew I made a good shot. Time went by with me texting my buddies back and fourth talking about my buck. We were told not to go search for our animals and just wait for Chip.
Finally everyone came two hours later, which seemed a lot longer than that. We had seven guys out searching for my buck. We ended up finding the arrow about 50 yards away with good blood on it. One guy went way ahead and waved me up. He found my buck 100 yards from the stand and I was so pumped. I ran up to it with a huge smile on my face. My first buck ever and took it with a bow with some of my good friends with me. I ended up double lunging the buck and all the blood piled up inside of him. It wasn’t the biggest buck out there, but I was happy with it and that’s all that mattered to me.
My 8 pointer
Chip and I
The next day another guy ended up shooting a nice 11 pointer. After the trip was done we ended up shooting three nice bucks and a few coyotes also. I did see plenty of animals while we were there which included hogs, turkeys, bobcats, deer, coyotes, and a rattlesnake that we killed. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip. Chip and his family were so accommodating to us and helped us out with anything we needed. Chip knew his ranches well and knew exactly where the deer were going to be. The ranch we hunted was around 3,800 acres. He has a few other ranches to, but we hunted this ranch while we were there. I did end up seeing lots of huge bucks the rest of the week, but they were out in the distance and I already shot my buck anyways. This was defiantly an experience of a lifetime for me and I plan on going down for more deer hunts in the future. The guys and I are also headed back down in January for a 3 day duck hunt.
Bruce’s 11 pointer
Me and the dead rattlesnake
Here is Chips website for his outfitting business: www.longhornoutdoors.com. This was a beautiful place to go and the lodge was very accommodating. I can’t say how nice Chip and his family are and everything they did for us. They could be one of the nicest families I have met and will definitely keep in touch with them. I recommend checking his site out if you’re ever interested in hunting in Texas.
Sunset on a huge wheat field
Thanks for the great story and photos Bradely. You can send us your hunting or fishing story and if we use it on our web site we will send you a Pennsylvania Sportsmen Portal T-Shirt. The Pennsylvania Sportsmen Portal is all about folks who hunt and fish in PA and we love to feature our site visitors. Only criteria is, you must be a Pennsylvania resident. Stories can be from out of state adventures also, but we are really looking for stories that feature hunting and fishing in PA. Click Here For More Information.
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