In December 1993 I found myself in an unusual and unexpected predicament. It all began quite innocently on October 16th '93 with the good fortune of harvesting my best buck ever with a bow. After 20 years of bow-hunting, my first Pope and Young! I refer to this deer as the "Mesquite Bean Buck" due to the events preceding the kill. I had noticed on our annual one day trip to the ranch in September for preparation that although the acorn crop looked fair, the mesquite bean crop was seriously lacking. Hunting near food sources had to be advantageous this year. Since our only opportunity to hunt the ranch is in October, the bucks are in their pre-rut patterns which include gorging themselves for the tough times to come. My wife and I spent several hours filling garbage bags full of mesquite beans from another area and stored them in our freezer. By the second weekend of the season, I was seeing very few deer out of my blind and decided to give the mesquite beans a try. It worked! The following Saturday morning the "Bean Buck" was feeding 15 yards from my tree blind shortly after daylight. When I caught view of the buck directly behind me, a second look at the rack was not necessary to confirm that this buck was a trophy. All that was needed was to try and maintain my composure just long enough to make the shot. After that, it would be O.K. to fall apart. A large set of antlers can make your body turn to jello and make a 10 yard shot tougher than any 60 yard shot at a 3-D target. It seemed like it took an eternity to slowly ...slowly...spin around for the shot and I must of repeated to myself 100 times "15 yard pin on the heart, 15 yard pin on the heart." By the time I was in position, the buck was broadside with his head turned away. I immediately eased my bow to full draw, lined up and released. The buck ran 10 yards, collapsed, got up and ran 20 yards, then fell over dead. My first P & Y buck had expired in less than 5 seconds and lay less than 30 yards from my blind.

had all the provisions to prevent excess boredom from a day in the woods. My wife and I had paper back novels, a children's book and a sack of Halloween candy for Kellie, drinks for all, a video camera for Mary and a bow for me. To prevent the cold wind and wet ground from taking its toll, we also brought a large pink blanket to sit on. It was all we could do to carry everything and the three of us were loaded with all the amenities. I had my usual hunting paraphernalia in addition to one of my hand-made ground-blind bow holders that my hunting buddies and I would never do without.

When we arrived at the dead-fall I discovered that the way the tree had fallen, it formed a natural triangular shaped area which would be plenty large enough to hold the three of us. Mary held the flashlight and I cleaned out the debris. We laid the pink blanket down and nestled in. The morning was outstanding with a rare snowfall blown by a firm north wind. We saw lots of game and got some fantastic video including a couple of large hogs making bacon. By ten a.m. (after the fun of playing with the camo make-up and the excitement of the snow wore off) Kellie became restless and we were all chilled to the bone so we decided to go back to camp, make sandwiches, dry out and return by noon for the remainder of the day. We got back in the blind at 12:10 p.m. and the first buck, a small ten point showed up at 12:15 p.m.. Around 4:30 p.m., after seeing many young bucks, I noticed a large bodied deer feeding on acorns 100 yards away. I got my binoculars on him and when he picked up his head, my heart lodged in my throat. What excited me the most was not the size of the antlers but the points projecting out off the bases over his eyes. 45 minutes later, he had closed the distance to 50 yards feeding contentedly. A large seven point was also feeding at 15 yards when I spotted hogs moving in the background. Knowing that this was the one thing that might move the deer around, I started easing myself into a shooting position and took my bow out of the holder in preparation for a shot. As I had anticipated, the big buck became nervous and moved down to our end of the oak grove to feed. When the big boy moved in, there was a short display of dominance directed towards the 7 point feeding in front of us.. The distraction provided the opportunity needed to draw my bow back but there were a few limbs blocking my shot. About this time I noticed that at the angle I would have to shoot, it was possible that my bottom bow limb would hit my sleeping daughter in the head. My legs were so numb that I had to put my bow back in the holder and use my hands to re-position myself further back in the blind. During this time, Kellie awakened and I signaled her to stay still. By her wide-eyed look I could tell that she knew what was happening. I had no sooner got into position when the big buck ran the seven point off again. It was at this opportunity that I took my shot. After it was over, Mary and I collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Mary was keeping the camera going until three seconds before the hit when the battery went dead .... Well you can't have everything.

After this event, the thought hit me that I could possibly become the first Texas bow-hunter to harvest three record book bucks in a single season. Thanks to the addition of a third buck tag for the first time in Texas history, my season wasn't over yet. In July '93, I had booked a hunt during the rut on the Martinena Ranch in Webb county. A good friend and neighbor, Ronnie McCarty had teamed up with Clayton Burns, wildlife manager for several south Texas ranches, to run a bow-hunting only operation on 5,000 acres just east of Encinal. Although this was the first year this ranch was open to bow-hunting whitetail's, my buddies and I had hunted hogs in the spring there for the past five years.

My plans were to hunt the ranch the week before and the week after Christmas with a couple of short trips in early December to set up. Although I found a good location for a north wind blind, I was unsuccessful at setting up for a south wind. Ronnie had shown me a couple of areas which looked good for south wind blinds but due to other hunters in these areas, I'd not had the opportunity to scout them further. Three days into my trip the week before Christmas, the wind shifted and since I did not have a blind that I could hunt confidently with a south wind, decided to call it quits and return after Christmas.

The day after Christmas I was back at the ranch and to my surprise and delight few hunters were there. Since there was a south wind, I decided to scout the areas Ronnie had shown me. I ended up in an area where the ranch owner had burnt pear a couple of weeks earlier (burning the thorns off prickly pear cactus is common in the brush country to feed cattle during the winter). Although it appeared like a nuclear bomb had gone off, there was an abundance of sign. It was obvious that a buck with an attitude traveled through the area recently tearing up every bush in his way. I built my blind in a large prickly pear patch which had been untouched during the burning operation and was situated at the edge of the burned area.

The following morning I was in the blind early anticipating an exciting day. I knew that the spot I was looking for had been found and that I stood a good chance at getting an opportunity at one of the bucks that came in the previous evening. Just before sun up, I heard a buck thrashing the brush close-by which prompted me to give a few tending grunts with my grunt call. Within moments, a large bodied buck was closing in and I prepared for a shot. About 40 yards away I saw that he was only an 8 point and put my bow in the holder and opted for the video. While obtaining some brief video prior to the bucks exit, I was awe-struck at the mass and tine length his rack possessed. An hour later, having second thoughts about not trying for the huge 8 point, I heard crunching. Easing forward to peer through my shooting hole I saw that the eight point had returned to feed. There was no doubt in my mind that though he was only 8 points, P & Y number three was standing

in front of me. I thought hard about shooting but he fled before I made up my mind. Although the buck was spooky, he would return hourly throughout the morning for a few bites of corn. At 1:00 p.m. after the buck had left again, I ejected my video and went back to camp. When my buddies saw the video they proceeded to slap me around and tell me how crazy I was. I agreed and told them I had wanted another look at the ten point, but that if he didn't show up quick there would be no tags left on my license. I was back in the blind by 2:00 p.m. and around 4:30 the huge buck returned. By 5:30 the sun was below the brushline in the west and the buck began feeling feisty and started chasing does around my blind. Making the decision not to argue with fate - as he eased through my shooting lane I took my shot. The arrow placement appeared perfect and I felt little doubt the buck would not travel far. Still, experience had taught me not to be overconfident so I went back to camp to get my best hounds, Gary Vaughn, Bob Pipe and James Lucas to take up the trail. An hour later the hounds were on the trail. Tracking was not easy in the barren ground with a sparse blood trail, but after the 45 minutes that it took to cover 200 yards we found my trophy. He looked like a horse with horns laying in the brush where he died in mid-stride.

The hooping and hollering began once he had been found. There was little doubt in any of our minds that he was P & Y number three. After some "in the field" photo's we loaded him up and returned to camp where the celebration continued. We green scored the buck at 134 0/8 gross and 131 3/8 net. This score was later confirmed by official P & Y scorer Ron Collier of Austin, Texas. I am very proud of all the bucks I had the good fortune of harvesting this season, but feel proudest of the third. I contribute my success to my past failures. All the mistakes and missed opportunity's of the past contributed to my success. It seems this final buck was fate. As if the season wasn't unbelievable enough, it turned out the big 8 point shed I mentioned earlier was off this buck and had not changed an inch!