I met Gerald by accident when he was looking for a new website for his ranch and I heard about it. After working on his site, I wanted to meet him and try and get some pictures of the place for possible future use.
When hcshooter said he was going down there to hunt, I decided to tag along and get a better feel for the place.
I'll describe my opinion of different parts of the ranch and the hunting experience:
Bunk house: The bunk house/cabin was nice and clean. The floors were clean, the bathrooms were clean, and the place had a nice look to it. All of the bunks were made up and there was plenty of room for all your gear. The kitchen had all of the amenities and would later prove sufficient for cooking roasts, breakfast, etc. The well water is pretty rough so bring plenty of store bought drinking/cooking water.
The skinning rack: The ranch has two winch up gambrels for cleaning over a concrete pad. There is water readily available and a cooler for hanging meat. There were no electric winches so if you're gonna be cranking up a Watusi bull, be prepared to grunt!
The terrain: Unfortunately the ranch is suffering from something that is out of Gerald's hands right now: drought! They haven't had rain in months and the green vegetation is pretty much non-existent. The terrain is typical S. Texas with thick mesquites and all of the typical S. Texas brush. There are several open areas and lot of thick stuff as well. He has several tanks that are holding water for the animals. They are in no danger of drying up because Gerald has hoses or pipe running to them. Due to the lack of native browse because of the drought, Gerald has several feeding stations set up with coastal hay. He has mineral blocks through out the ranch as well.
The animals: I saw whitetail deer, fallow, sika, hogs, axis, an assortment of rams, watusi, blackbuck, red deer (one that almost got an arrow but my wife would have killed me!
), and some other critters that I can't remember right now. I didn't see any huge hogs but saw several in the 100-125 lb. range with the majority being in the 50-80 lb. range.
The hunting setups: I chose to hunt off the ground in natural brush blinds, keeping the wind in mind at all times. I did this because of my past experiences in hunting small ranches where the animals were spooky around the permanent stands. I watched a group of axis and red deer walk past a tripod and not give it a second look. But I wanted to be on the safe side so I got on the ground. Gerald was very cognizant of the wind and made suggestions accordingly.
You won't be hunting over feeders. You'll be hunting the numerous roads that are cut through the ranch. After you are set up in your blind/stand, Gerald will run the feed route in his truck. The animals then feed up and down the roads. There's no telling what you'll see at any one sitting. I was sitting in a good hog spot hoping to stick a pig when a group of axis and red deer came by. I had no plans on shooting one until they came back by a second time and I couldn't resist!
You can use hand corn, but don't make a big deer lease pile in the road that looks like a termite mound. The animals will spook from it since it is out of the ordinary. Just lightly spread it around to supplement what is gonna be thrown out by the truck. Hogs have a superior nose so I wouldn't suggest walking around the road in your stinky shoes or boots and then throwing the corn with your bare hand. You might get the famous sow growl attitude from the group's leader and they will be gone (trust me!).
Gerald knows the ranch well but will be the first to tell you that the animals are unpredictable and it is really hard to pattern a specific one. The axis are grazers and may or may not be spotted in the morning or evening. You're just as likely to see them at noon. The hogs are predictable though...they'll feed 24/7 if they hear the feed truck go by.
Overall opinion: Other than the place being very dry (out of our hands), I had a very positive experience at Mesquite Bowhunting ranch. Gerald went of of his way to help hcshooter find the Watusi. He was quick to show up with a tractor to pick up the huge bull and get him gutted. When hcshooter's son shot a hog, he had him hanging up and quartered quickly.
When I shot an axis deer with my recurve and made a questionable shot (right in the shoulder), Gerald went above and beyond in helping me look for it. He trailed the blood trail at first, and when that ran out, he tracked him by the hoof prints in the dry soil. His tracking dog, Gator, was working the trail ahead of us and at one point it sounded like he bayed the axis or found him. We caught up to Gator but it appeared that he had jumped him up out of the brush. After going back to camp and getting a drink, we went back out and did a grid type search in all the likely places that he thought the deer might be. No luck. Then after packing up and getting ready to leave, we all got into the bed of Gerald's ranch truck and drove the place thoroughly to see if we could find the deer. Gerald got out of the truck several times when he spotted animals in the brush to see if he could find my axis. I would say he went above and beyond. He then reassured me that he would look for the deer and get me the horns and skull.
And yes, I paid the fee for an axis hunt. Yes it hurt to write that check for an animal I wasn't taking home, but those are the rules and it's the right thing to do.
I'm planning on taking a couple of my boys back there for a ram/hog hunt in the summer with some TBH'ers and their kids.
When hcshooter said he was going down there to hunt, I decided to tag along and get a better feel for the place.
I'll describe my opinion of different parts of the ranch and the hunting experience:
Bunk house: The bunk house/cabin was nice and clean. The floors were clean, the bathrooms were clean, and the place had a nice look to it. All of the bunks were made up and there was plenty of room for all your gear. The kitchen had all of the amenities and would later prove sufficient for cooking roasts, breakfast, etc. The well water is pretty rough so bring plenty of store bought drinking/cooking water.
The skinning rack: The ranch has two winch up gambrels for cleaning over a concrete pad. There is water readily available and a cooler for hanging meat. There were no electric winches so if you're gonna be cranking up a Watusi bull, be prepared to grunt!
The terrain: Unfortunately the ranch is suffering from something that is out of Gerald's hands right now: drought! They haven't had rain in months and the green vegetation is pretty much non-existent. The terrain is typical S. Texas with thick mesquites and all of the typical S. Texas brush. There are several open areas and lot of thick stuff as well. He has several tanks that are holding water for the animals. They are in no danger of drying up because Gerald has hoses or pipe running to them. Due to the lack of native browse because of the drought, Gerald has several feeding stations set up with coastal hay. He has mineral blocks through out the ranch as well.
The animals: I saw whitetail deer, fallow, sika, hogs, axis, an assortment of rams, watusi, blackbuck, red deer (one that almost got an arrow but my wife would have killed me!
), and some other critters that I can't remember right now. I didn't see any huge hogs but saw several in the 100-125 lb. range with the majority being in the 50-80 lb. range.The hunting setups: I chose to hunt off the ground in natural brush blinds, keeping the wind in mind at all times. I did this because of my past experiences in hunting small ranches where the animals were spooky around the permanent stands. I watched a group of axis and red deer walk past a tripod and not give it a second look. But I wanted to be on the safe side so I got on the ground. Gerald was very cognizant of the wind and made suggestions accordingly.
You won't be hunting over feeders. You'll be hunting the numerous roads that are cut through the ranch. After you are set up in your blind/stand, Gerald will run the feed route in his truck. The animals then feed up and down the roads. There's no telling what you'll see at any one sitting. I was sitting in a good hog spot hoping to stick a pig when a group of axis and red deer came by. I had no plans on shooting one until they came back by a second time and I couldn't resist!
You can use hand corn, but don't make a big deer lease pile in the road that looks like a termite mound. The animals will spook from it since it is out of the ordinary. Just lightly spread it around to supplement what is gonna be thrown out by the truck. Hogs have a superior nose so I wouldn't suggest walking around the road in your stinky shoes or boots and then throwing the corn with your bare hand. You might get the famous sow growl attitude from the group's leader and they will be gone (trust me!).
Gerald knows the ranch well but will be the first to tell you that the animals are unpredictable and it is really hard to pattern a specific one. The axis are grazers and may or may not be spotted in the morning or evening. You're just as likely to see them at noon. The hogs are predictable though...they'll feed 24/7 if they hear the feed truck go by.
Overall opinion: Other than the place being very dry (out of our hands), I had a very positive experience at Mesquite Bowhunting ranch. Gerald went of of his way to help hcshooter find the Watusi. He was quick to show up with a tractor to pick up the huge bull and get him gutted. When hcshooter's son shot a hog, he had him hanging up and quartered quickly.
When I shot an axis deer with my recurve and made a questionable shot (right in the shoulder), Gerald went above and beyond in helping me look for it. He trailed the blood trail at first, and when that ran out, he tracked him by the hoof prints in the dry soil. His tracking dog, Gator, was working the trail ahead of us and at one point it sounded like he bayed the axis or found him. We caught up to Gator but it appeared that he had jumped him up out of the brush. After going back to camp and getting a drink, we went back out and did a grid type search in all the likely places that he thought the deer might be. No luck. Then after packing up and getting ready to leave, we all got into the bed of Gerald's ranch truck and drove the place thoroughly to see if we could find the deer. Gerald got out of the truck several times when he spotted animals in the brush to see if he could find my axis. I would say he went above and beyond. He then reassured me that he would look for the deer and get me the horns and skull.
And yes, I paid the fee for an axis hunt. Yes it hurt to write that check for an animal I wasn't taking home, but those are the rules and it's the right thing to do.
I'm planning on taking a couple of my boys back there for a ram/hog hunt in the summer with some TBH'ers and their kids.
Comment