A Youth Hunt to Remember!

[Deerhunter30]

Last weekend I took my nephew Christian along with his father Eddy on a special hunt for disabled kids at the Faulkner Ranch. This is the same hunt that Blaine has been on for several years. The hunt is put on by Turning Point (an organization that helps disabled people participate in recreational activities), The Faulkner Ranch, and TP&W. This will be a little long, but I want to give you the whole story. Eddy has just started hunting in the last few years. I submitted Christian for this hunt last year and was lucky enough to have him drawn. During the last summer I have had them both out to my place a few times to try and take some hogs, but things have just not worked out to get a kill.

Last Friday we loaded up after lunch and headed to the YO Resort in Kerrville. We arrived just prior to the evening’s activities. After unloading our gear into our hotel room we gathered in the hotel lobby for some socializing. I met a few celebrities.





There were a total of 13 disabled kids hunting and each was accompanied by a family member or two. After visiting for a short time we moved to a meeting room at the hotel and each disabled hunter was presented with a hooded sweatshirt courtesy of Cabelas and a blaze orange hat courtesy of TP&W. We were served a dinner of steak, chicken, and potatoes with a side of salad and some rolls.



Dinner was shortly followed by some apple pie and ice cream! Following dinner, me Eddy and Christian headed to McDonalds because Christian did not like the looks of the food that was served (kids can be so picky). I was not complaining as I got a chocolate shake while we were there. We then headed to our rooms to get some rest. We got up early on Saturday to meet for some more announcements and a catered breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and potatoes. Christian was having fun!



Following breakfast we made the beautiful drive from the YO Resort to the Faulkner Ranch. Once there we were greeted by the staff of the Faulkner Ranch along with various volunteers and TP&W staff. There were various activities such as a .22 shoot and a safety lesson given by TP&W. The weather was pretty rainy during the day on Saturday. The forecast was for a high of 74 and then during the evening the temps would drop to 50 by around 9:00 pm or so. The weather man missed this one! The temps started to drop by mid morning and got into the low 40s by 6:00 pm. Luckily I had brought enough clothes in the truck to keep warm. After the morning activities we gathered for a hamburger lunch. Christian liked the hamburgers more than the steak and chicken from the evening before……man kids are weird!



After the hamburgers they handed out candy bars for everyone. We then gathered and were sent out to our blinds. Most went out with the hunter, one parent, and a guide. I had talked to the ranch foreman and he agreed to let me be a guide for Christian. We were hunting close to the camp so we were some of the last to go out.

To be continued…..

[Jaspro]

Can't wait for the conclusion...

[Deerhunter30]

We got settled into our blind around 3:30. These blinds were awesome and built with handicapped people in mind. They have concrete floors that are even with the ground and full sized doors to help accommodate those who are in a wheelchair. The rain had subsided and a light fog rolled in. It was not long after we got settled in that a small buck and five does came in and began to eat on the hand thrown corn. By 4:15 the does had left and 7 bucks had filtered in. Most were younger bucks, but there was a 9 point that my nephew wanted to take.





The does had cleaned up most of the corn that was there and the bucks were pretty much waiting on the feeder to go off which was set to go off at 4:30. I told my nephew that the 9 point was only 3 ½ and I would like to wait for an older deer. We reached an agreement that if no other good bucks had come in ten minutes after the feeder had gone off that he could take this buck. I told him that since this buck had not eaten anything yet he would stick around and eat for a while after the feeder went off. Right before the feeder went off all seven bucks looked up a hill and then flagged and left. I could see that he was disappointed so I told him that I thought the bucks would come back shortly. I never did see what spooked them so I just hoped that they would come back. Twenty-five minutes passed and still no deer….Eddy and Christian were getting pretty dejected…...then I saw a deer coming through the trees. I looked at him with my binoculars and could see that it had a respectable eight point rack. I then focused on his body and guessed him at a minimum of 4 ½ years old. Since we only had one hunt and the other deer had already spooked, I told them to get ready to shoot the buck. One of the smaller of the other seven bucks began to come back in but was very nervous. I was worried that he would make the buck we were after nervous. He settled in to eat and I began to coach them on the shot.



It took a minute or two but the buck presented a good shot and they squeezed the trigger and the buck traveled a short 15 yards and went down



I told them to put another bullet in the gun and be ready in case he tried to get up. That was not necessary. After watching him for a few minutes the smiles and high fives began. We took some pictures….I think the smiles say it all!







Since I had not really studied this deer’s horns, there was actually “ground growth” on this deer. He has an inside spread around 18”, his G2’s are 9” & 8 ½”, and his G3’s are at or just under 7”. I think he will score between 125 & 128”. The deer was sent to a taxidermist so I did not get to put a tape measure to him. Tell me what you think he will score.

The biologist aged him by his teeth at 5 1/2 and the ranch Foreman told me that there were some deer on the ranch that were better but that was great kill since he was about as big as he would ever get.

Once we began to look closely at him we noticed a large gash in his nose from fighting



You could actually stick your finger down through the gash into his nasal cavities. I think it will make a very nice looking mount with that scar.

Back at the camp the hunters began to bring in their deer…..13 bucks and 3 does total if I remember correctly.



Between the taxidermist donating 3 mounts and Turning Point paying for the rest, all the hunter’s deer will be mounted free of charge to the hunters. We then ate some pizza and headed back to the hotel. In the morning we ate a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sausage, and bacon. After breakfast we picked up our deer meat and headed back home. I hope that all the hunters had safe trips home with some of the freezing weather in north Texas.

This was an awesome experience. I was able to be a part of a third hunter’s first deer this year, I was able to meat 13 extraordinary young people and was able to see how through help, adaptation, and hard effort they are doing things that others might think would be impossible for a disabled youth.

[aggie2000tx]

Wow. I am sure that it was a hunt you will never forget. Congrats to all the young hunters

[bwssr]

awesome!!!!!!

[Shooter]

That is a great story and a great cause. Congrats to everyone.

[KHo]

AWESOME. Great recap to a great weekend! Thanks for sharing.

[Tuffbroadhead]

That s is just simply AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

[Devin]

Awesome, job, Kevin! Congratulations again to Christian on his first of many to come. He's a great young man.

It was great meeting you, Christian and his dad. Great job capturing it in pics. BTW, It's official now, with this being Blaine's last year at Faulkner's I'm passing on TBH coverage of this event to you.

I need to pull a couple of pics off the video and I'll post Blaine's recap this evening.

[doncom]

That's great Kevin.

I know it was truly a high point of this year's season to be a part of it.

[Deerhunter30]

Ya'll just wait until you see Blaine's deer!

Devin,
It was great meeting you.

I forgot to mention that I met Doug as well.

[Mike D]

Good stuff right there!

[Snakelover]

Did Billy get a new hat?


Great thread, Kevin. Congrats to all the young hunters.

[Deerhunter30]

It was nice to share a campfire with Billy. Billy is a class act and a lot of fun to hang out with.

[A&M 90]

DH30 - Excellent photos and recap. Thanks for sharing...