Bowhunter's Heaven

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="088085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Saskatchewan Trophy Hunts</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Saskatchewan Trophy Hunts"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gone Western"><U>Gone Western</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Buck by a String"><U>Buck by a String</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Unbelievable Season"><U>The Unbelievable Season</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Quest"><U>The Quest</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Rock King"><U>The Rock King</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="One Great Week"><U>One Great Week</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Canadian Bacon"><U>Canadian Bacon</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ramblings From a Man"><U>Ramblings From a Man</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oklahomas OK"><U>Oklahoma's OK</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Buddys Buck"><U>My Buddy's Buck</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hunting the August Rut"><U>Hunting the August Rut</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Challenge"><U>The Challenge</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Still Rambling"><U>Still Rambling</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Changing Tactics"><U>Changing Tactics</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Blue Bulls of the Wild Horse Desert"><U>Blue Bulls of the Wild Horse Desert</U></A>   |   <B>Bowhunter's Heaven</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="089d2e83.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hunting Articles"><U><B>Back to Hunting articles</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Andys Photo Album"><U><B>Back to Andy's photo album</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="08a07073.jpg"> <div> <I>Bowhunter's Heaven</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2c1f6510.png" border=0 width="502" height="337" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>BOWHUNTER'S HEAVEN</B></div> <div> <B>By Andy Milam</B></div> <bR> <div> The monster ten point snapped to attention just as I was about to draw, the other big bucks around me followed suit, then disappeared into the early morning mist. Someone had spooked them, someone was honking their horn     </div> <div> Reaching over to swat the alarm clock, I realized that once again it was only a dream. The same dream I'd had many times since I was a young boy. Hunting in a land where big bucks seemed to be behind every bush. It was Bowhunter's Heaven, but it was just a dream.</div> <div> On October 16,1997, the dream came again. This time there really was someone blowing their horn. It was Butch Thompson, Wildlife Manager for the King Ranch ready for Mary and me to load up and take a ride through one of the many pastures he conducts hunts on. I won't bother going into detail about the legendary qualities of the 825,000 acre ranch since there are so few that haven't heard of it. Outfitters' Butch Thompson, and Wayne and Jarred Peeples of 4 ARROWS OUTFITTERS are famous worldwide for quality free ranging whitetail hunting on the ranch divisions they manage. What you might wonder is, "What's poor boy Andy Milam doing there?"</div> <div> My opportunity came when a great friend and fellow bowhunter, Johnnie Waiters saw fit for reasons still unknown, to present me with the gift of a lifetime, a whitetail hunt on the King Ranch. I did not have the will power to even consider refusal, but foolishly stuttered out something like WWWWHHHEENNNNN???</div> <div> For several years Johnnie and I have kept close contact on each others bowhunting pursuits. During the `93 season when I was blessed with three P. & Y. whitetail's ; Johnnie went on one of the first commercial whitetail hunts offered by the King Ranch. While he did not harvest a buck that year he did pass on opportunities at bucks the like of which I had never seen. He held out for too long passing on some awesome bucks, instead bringing home video which would make any whitetail hunter drool. The following season he connected and hasn't stopped since. Every season since, we have compared notes and he has proved that my sanity must be questioned. I would spend not days, but months pursuing monster bucks all over the U.S. and let my business suffer tremendously. He on the other hand would spend carefully planned vacation time hunting the best country available and bring home better bucks than I would even glimpse. Johnnie now has the best collection of bow bucks I have personally seen.</div> <div> <U>When,</U> turned out to be A.S.A.P.. The season's first strong cold front just pushed through dropping 13 to 18 inches of rain in the area. There would be mobility problems. Still the unseasonably cool weather coupled with the advancing rut and the busy schedule it would impose on Butch, promoted me to call and set a quick date.</div> <div> Butch wasted little time showing Mary and me some great bucks. We had no sooner gotten into the pasture when I exclaimed, "There's a good buck." Butch re-assured me that he wouldn't let me shoot a buck that small. In 24 years of bowhunting, I have seen few bucks that would match the size of the buck that he promised to restrain me from. He then took us to an area where he claimed an exceptional 10 point buck with a 22"+ inside spread was seen at a feeder late one afternoon. The only problem was that the feeder was dispersing corn in the middle of a large lake thanks to the heavy rains. On one of several passes through the area we observed the buck in a bachelor group containing several 140" bucks. I was absolutely awestruck. Not only did the buck have one of the largest bodies I had ever seen, but he had antlers to match. I knew the King Ranch was known for huge antlers, but didn't realize that some of the bucks had body weights to rival any ranch in the state.</div> <div> The tremendous ten point etched a permanent mark in my brain as so many before him have. Unfortunately most of the huge bucks etched in my brain died of old age rather than a lethal arrow.</div> <div> Over breakfast that first morning I made the mistake of telling Butch about the only two drop tine deer I have ever seen. Both lived to a ripe old age due to one mistake or the other on my part. At this he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are you interested in a drop tine deer?"</div> <div> After a look at the huge ten Butch spent most of the remainder of the morning trying to find the drop tine buck. He had only glimpsed the brute briefly and knew little of him other than the substantial drop. Finally, as we were heading in for lunch, a last pass through the area revealed the drop tine buck vigorously working a scrape under a mesquite tree. I peered through my Swavorsky 7x42 binoculars stating all sorts of intelligent comments such as, DDDDDamn what a buck, and ggggood enough for me. The buck had 6 straight-up points on the left along with excellent mass. The right side, which had the 6-7" drop was weaker. The G-2 was only a 1,112" character point. Then he matched up till the G-4 which was 7" on the left and only about 1 1/2" on the side with the drop. Never-the-less, I leaped out of the truck grabbing my bow only to see the all to familiar white flag.</div> <div> Over lunch we discussed the next move. The area where the huge ten resided, was under water and there was no blind either there or where the drop tine buck hung out. I had to make a decision which buck to go after and get a blind set up. He mentioned that there was another area where a couple of 150" bucks had been spotted which was less affected by the rain and already had a Taj Mahal Ground Blind in place.</div> <div> After much mental debate, I decided to set up a blind for the big ten. We drove back to the area and erected a new Bushlan Green Taj Mahal on one of the few pieces of dry ground we could find, then fed along the edge of the road.</div> <div> I told Butch I would rather let the new blind rest a little and preferred to hunt the blind where the two 150" bucks had been spotted that evening. Unless I saw a buck I liked better, I would go for the ten the following morning. He agreed that this was a good idea and dropped Mary and me off. We had an absolutely incredible hunt, and obtained more quality video footage than ever in a single hunt. However, as Butch advised, the 150" bucks, which did show up, didn't appear to be fully mature. Who knows what they may look like if they survive the season and have another year to grow.</div> <div> The following morning no alarm was necessary to get me up and going. The excitement of hunting such a quality ranch allows a person little sleep. I knew there was a strong possibility that I may soon be getting a shot at the biggest buck I had ever seen in the wild and couldn't wait to get started. After treating us to an early breakfast, Butch dropped us off at the blind, wished us good luck, fed the road in front of the blind and took off. While we were getting our video set on the tripod we heard splashing as several bucks showed up to feed. For the next hour we watched bucks I would have been happy to shoot on any other hunt feeding 20 yards away. Finally just as I was beginning to give up on the big boy, I spotted movement in the brush 60 yards to the left. It was him. He stared hard at the new bush that was our blind, but after detecting no danger came in for a bite. Although all the other bucks were milling around without a care in the world, he was much more cautious. For the next 45 minutes he would come in without presenting a shot, get a bite, then retreat to the brush.</div> <div> It was getting late and I was beginning to get concerned that all may retire to their beds for the day. Finally my opportunity came when one of the bucks walked past him. Temporarily distracted, he turned in behind the buck offering a nearly broadside shot. I drew back my High Country Ultra Force, and at the nod from Mary signaling the buck was in the viewfinder sent a Wasp tipped ACC on the way. The shot looked great.</div> <div> After settling down I rewound the camera and played the shot in slow motion. My great shot didn't look nearly as great as I watched the buck's front leg move forward and then his shoulder slowly rotate back. I could clearly see that I had made a liver shot. I knew the buck would be down but didn't feel that the usual 1 hour wait would be sufficient. We waited for Butch to pick us up, explained the situation and came back 4 hours later. We jumped the buck about 80 yards from the blind but the exertion of the run proved to be his last.</div> <div> As we drug the massive buck towards the blind for photo's, I gave thanks to the Lord and Johnnie Walters for the opportunity of a lifetime. A bow hunt in BOWHUNTER'S HEAVEN.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2bf58b10.png" border=0 width="600" height="433" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> My buddy Johnnie with his first 4 years of bowhunting the King Ranch. ( not counting his first year)</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>