On the Red

On the Red

During the past millennium, I was fortunate to spend time in northern Texas as a wildlife biologist and hunting in south-central Oklahoma a few miles north of the Red River, the border between our two states. Drawing from my experience as a biologist and as well as a...
An Unreal Buck

An Unreal Buck

“Y’all be inside our preserve, where we hunt whitetails before the opening of Oklahoma’s regular deer seasons,” said Dusty Vickrey, manager of the Choctaw Hunting Lodge. “The enclosure is big with a lot of hardwoods and pines, deep cuts, tall grass and extremely dense...
Single-shot Ground Hippo

Single-shot Ground Hippo

“I’ve been talking with Randall Pence at Ruger,” said my friend Lee Newton. “I’ve got a Ruger No. 1, chambered in .450-400 NE 3-inch, that we think you need to take to Africa and shoot something big! You interested? It’s a sweet-shooting rifle. You likely know a...
Got An Attitude?

Got An Attitude?

Next time you head to the deer woods, keeping a “proper” attitude can pay huge dividends! Deer movement had been slow. By now, the three of us in the South Texas Brush Country camp should have had a couple of bucks hanging or at least be talking about the bucks we...
A Short Gun for Long Horns

A Short Gun for Long Horns

“Got you set up to hunt with Don Richardson,” said Greg Simons with Wildlife Systems when we visited about my upcoming pronghorn hunt in western Texas. “Don knows the ranch you’ll be hunting and will have scouted it before you get there. When I did the annual game...
Nooners

Nooners

Over his 70 years of pursing whitetails, the author has shot a surprising number of mature bucks while his hunting partners were back in camp eating lunch.

Roaning Burkina Faso

Roaning Burkina Faso

Our tracker pointed his steel-tipped spear at the lion’s spoor. Pug marks indicated the big cat was headed toward the verdant creek bottom that starkly contrasted with the khaki and brown that surrounded us. Green trees indicated the serpentine creek flowed toward the...
El fatasma del cepillo… Or The Ghost of the Brush

El fatasma del cepillo… Or The Ghost of the Brush

“What do you mean he was a ghost deer?” TC inquired. Before Roberto could answer, TC asked: “Did you shoot at him and he disappeared when you thought the bullet should have hit him?” “Noooo! You weren’t listening, were you?” said Roberto. “I said that I watched him...
I’ll Take Desert Mule Deer… For a Lifetime

I’ll Take Desert Mule Deer… For a Lifetime

It started simple enough, a long time ago. Even now, after the passage of several decades, I am still caught in its clutches. And I love it! My lifelong addiction to hunting desert mule deer began even before I could read the high desert tales of hunting great stags...
A Slithery Bedmate

A Slithery Bedmate

Texas’ Wild Horse Desert is home to many things that stick, prick, bite and a few that “slither,” but also a land of “change.” It was here aboriginal tribes were forever changed with the arrival of the shipwrecked Spanish explorer, Cabeza de Vaca and a small handful...