We had a very special event this weekend. It's been my honor to serve as president of Methodist Men at our church for a couple years now and one of the annual events includes hosting kids from the Waco Methodist Children's Home for a Mills County deer hunt. The last three years the event has been cancelled due to fear of Covid but this year it happened.
Twenty-six boys and girls aged 11 to 18 arrived by bus at our church's family life center for a hearty brisket lunch, some safety instruction, and pairing up with their "guides." The church outdid itself as did the community. Methodist Men organize and fund the event but we couldn't make it happen without the support of Mills County - and Mills County showed up "big time." We had more places to hunt and available guides than we had kids. Plenty of our fine young ladies volunteered to guide our girl hunters and parishioners as well as land owners and lease holders from all over the county volunteered to take the boys out to their favorite hunting grounds.
The two boys my 17 year-old son Tai and I were set to host at the 2G Ranch turned into just one due to so many volunteers. No matter; a good problem to have. Santos, 15 years old, was our guest and we'd do our best by him. All the kids had hunter education certificates and hunting licenses and were outfitted with reasonable clothing considering the mild but windy conditions Saturday afternoon. I felt Tai and Santos would pair up better without me and had complete confidence in Tai's abilities to keep them safe, get on a deer, and have some fun together and Tai agreed.
Wind out of the north at 15 MPH gusting to 30. Not ideal but we played what we were dealt. First thing is rifle familiarization and seeing if your hunter can hit anything. We got lucky, or more likely the first God-incidence of the afternoon. Santos missed his first shot at an eight-inch metal plate at 100 yards but nailed the next two with our Stevens 200 bolt-action .308; he was good to go. By 2:00PM Santos and Tai were nestled into their blind 100 yards from a feeder, face into the formidable wind, snuggled down behind what was once a picnic table (that my cousin Jeff turned into a what looks like a duck blind six weeks ago). I was off to a nearby hunting stand where I'd be reasonably close by and attentive if they needed anything.
At 4:50PM fifteen wild hogs scurried into the killing zone at my location. Fourteen black ones and one white and gray splotched – much to her disadvantage. One down and 14 scattered and my deer hunt was over. I waited a few minutes to see if the pigs might return but, just like the deer, we've killed most of the stupid ones leaving only the smarter ones to breed.
During my wait I heard a single shot, about ten minutes after mine, that I'd bet came from the area of the boy's stand. I hoped it was Santos, hoped it was a deer, or perhaps a hog, and hoped something was DRT and not running wounded into the waxing dusk. That's a lot of hope. I waited a bit longer before I gathered my gear and walked the center of the ranch back to the cabin so as not to disturb any areas that might be hunted. Meanwhile Tai had walked to where I'd been, found it empty, saw the dead pig and rejoined Santos. I arrived back at the cabin and glassed the blind and did not see the boys. It was getting on towards dark and the next time I looked I saw them up near the feeder.
I fired up the Gator, loaded my tools, and drove the 350 meters to them. As I approached Tai made a "muscleman" flex pose and pointed to his right where I drove towards the largest doe we've ever seen on the 2G and she was DRT. Santos and Tai had seen three does moving from their right to left about 15 yards in front of the feeder about 85 yards from their stand and Tai helped Santos select the largest of the three. Santos placed one very nice shot that destroyed both lungs yet she still managed to run about 75 yards to the south. Tai and Santos, confident of a good shot based on the doe's reaction, waited 15 minutes before walking up to the place she stood when shot then followed a good blood trail and found her in the brush without difficulty. They had dragged her back to the clearing just before I saw them at the feeders.
Of the 26 youth hunters only six were successful and I am very happy to say Santos was one of them – his first deer. He was solid grin for the rest of the time we were together. Tai was giddy and genuinely happy for Santos and for having been part of such a memorable day. It's impossible to articulate how proud I am of Tai in situations like this – and they seem to happen more frequently all the time.
I provided a brief internal anatomy lesson, we loaded the doe in the Gator, the boys took off to my hunting area to drag my hog off, and I picked up their chairs on my walk back to the cabin. We rallied back at church where the Star, TX Methodist Church was providing a chili supper. Santos received the obligatory high-fives from his compadres and related his story never losing his grin. It was a pretty good day!
We haven't seen "that many" deer this season - I've taken two and been out a fair share. The game cams indicate plenty of them but their activity seems restricted to 2:00AM and Texas Parks & Wildlife frown on hunting them after dark. Like I said, we've killed all the foolish ones, and lots of other ranches report not "seeing" that may many this year despite indications of plenty of deer. So, there isn't any doubt God provided.
It takes a certain leap of faith to take a complete stranger, a young person with a somewhat troubled past, into your private domain with your family, hand him a high-powered rifle, and allow him to take a game animal off your property but God-incidences proliferated. It was a perfect day. All the kids had a successful day, whether they harvested a deer or not, and even more so for the guides and hosts. Our county Ministerial Alliance will distribute the meat to needy families in our community and we'll do our best to see Santos gets some sausage.
Bryan
Twenty-six boys and girls aged 11 to 18 arrived by bus at our church's family life center for a hearty brisket lunch, some safety instruction, and pairing up with their "guides." The church outdid itself as did the community. Methodist Men organize and fund the event but we couldn't make it happen without the support of Mills County - and Mills County showed up "big time." We had more places to hunt and available guides than we had kids. Plenty of our fine young ladies volunteered to guide our girl hunters and parishioners as well as land owners and lease holders from all over the county volunteered to take the boys out to their favorite hunting grounds.
The two boys my 17 year-old son Tai and I were set to host at the 2G Ranch turned into just one due to so many volunteers. No matter; a good problem to have. Santos, 15 years old, was our guest and we'd do our best by him. All the kids had hunter education certificates and hunting licenses and were outfitted with reasonable clothing considering the mild but windy conditions Saturday afternoon. I felt Tai and Santos would pair up better without me and had complete confidence in Tai's abilities to keep them safe, get on a deer, and have some fun together and Tai agreed.
Wind out of the north at 15 MPH gusting to 30. Not ideal but we played what we were dealt. First thing is rifle familiarization and seeing if your hunter can hit anything. We got lucky, or more likely the first God-incidence of the afternoon. Santos missed his first shot at an eight-inch metal plate at 100 yards but nailed the next two with our Stevens 200 bolt-action .308; he was good to go. By 2:00PM Santos and Tai were nestled into their blind 100 yards from a feeder, face into the formidable wind, snuggled down behind what was once a picnic table (that my cousin Jeff turned into a what looks like a duck blind six weeks ago). I was off to a nearby hunting stand where I'd be reasonably close by and attentive if they needed anything.
At 4:50PM fifteen wild hogs scurried into the killing zone at my location. Fourteen black ones and one white and gray splotched – much to her disadvantage. One down and 14 scattered and my deer hunt was over. I waited a few minutes to see if the pigs might return but, just like the deer, we've killed most of the stupid ones leaving only the smarter ones to breed.
During my wait I heard a single shot, about ten minutes after mine, that I'd bet came from the area of the boy's stand. I hoped it was Santos, hoped it was a deer, or perhaps a hog, and hoped something was DRT and not running wounded into the waxing dusk. That's a lot of hope. I waited a bit longer before I gathered my gear and walked the center of the ranch back to the cabin so as not to disturb any areas that might be hunted. Meanwhile Tai had walked to where I'd been, found it empty, saw the dead pig and rejoined Santos. I arrived back at the cabin and glassed the blind and did not see the boys. It was getting on towards dark and the next time I looked I saw them up near the feeder.
I fired up the Gator, loaded my tools, and drove the 350 meters to them. As I approached Tai made a "muscleman" flex pose and pointed to his right where I drove towards the largest doe we've ever seen on the 2G and she was DRT. Santos and Tai had seen three does moving from their right to left about 15 yards in front of the feeder about 85 yards from their stand and Tai helped Santos select the largest of the three. Santos placed one very nice shot that destroyed both lungs yet she still managed to run about 75 yards to the south. Tai and Santos, confident of a good shot based on the doe's reaction, waited 15 minutes before walking up to the place she stood when shot then followed a good blood trail and found her in the brush without difficulty. They had dragged her back to the clearing just before I saw them at the feeders.
Of the 26 youth hunters only six were successful and I am very happy to say Santos was one of them – his first deer. He was solid grin for the rest of the time we were together. Tai was giddy and genuinely happy for Santos and for having been part of such a memorable day. It's impossible to articulate how proud I am of Tai in situations like this – and they seem to happen more frequently all the time.
I provided a brief internal anatomy lesson, we loaded the doe in the Gator, the boys took off to my hunting area to drag my hog off, and I picked up their chairs on my walk back to the cabin. We rallied back at church where the Star, TX Methodist Church was providing a chili supper. Santos received the obligatory high-fives from his compadres and related his story never losing his grin. It was a pretty good day!
We haven't seen "that many" deer this season - I've taken two and been out a fair share. The game cams indicate plenty of them but their activity seems restricted to 2:00AM and Texas Parks & Wildlife frown on hunting them after dark. Like I said, we've killed all the foolish ones, and lots of other ranches report not "seeing" that may many this year despite indications of plenty of deer. So, there isn't any doubt God provided.
It takes a certain leap of faith to take a complete stranger, a young person with a somewhat troubled past, into your private domain with your family, hand him a high-powered rifle, and allow him to take a game animal off your property but God-incidences proliferated. It was a perfect day. All the kids had a successful day, whether they harvested a deer or not, and even more so for the guides and hosts. Our county Ministerial Alliance will distribute the meat to needy families in our community and we'll do our best to see Santos gets some sausage.
Bryan
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