ROB AND DAD'S MOST EXCELLENT DEER HUNT

Dear Family,

Well we had the long awaited deer hunt in the panhandle of Texas.  This was Rob's treat.  We wanted to go two years ago but I got a little sick and had to cancel so we finally scheduled for the week before Christmas.  We prepared the rifles and ammo and packed almost everything we owned.  Rob flew down from Spokane and we flew together to Oklahoma City and then drove over to Wheeler Texas.

We hunted from Tuesday through Friday.  The Texas hunts are done from blinds.  This is free ranging hunt and we hunted like we did in Michigan.  We got up and were in the blinds by 6:00 AM and waited for the deer to come out and feed.

Rob got up in a tree stand about 20 feet above the ground and had a good view of the edge of the woods and a field.  He had my sound enhancing ear protectors on and could hear the bucks fighting by the rattling of the horns.  He watched them fighting and sort of picked out the winner and bagged this nice deer at about 70 yards with the 300 WSM.  It was a real nice deer.  We got it back to the camp, dressed it and then drove about 50 miles to a butchery for processing.  We saw a lot of deer but tried to wait for the big one which was elusive this trip.

After spending a couple of days in blinds, we finally went back to the spot where Rob bagged his deer.  We had them set up a blind the way I did in Michigan, (my Taj Mahal).  Plywood floor so one would not sink into the sand, swivel seat and a little heater as it got very cold.

Rob had his deer so he came with me as my spotter in the blind.  Through those small slits, he watched with binoculars and we saw  the deer coming out of the woods into the field to feed late evening on the day before we left.  He looked them over and thought they were pretty good. He dropped the flaps so I would have a clear shot.  I decided to bring home a deer even if it was the the champ in the area.  I  got one with the 30-06.

Here is my buck which is an "eight pointer"  Rob took his deer to a processor to make sausage and jerky.  Since this was the last night of the hunt, we did not have time for this but they partially butchered this by cutting out the backstraps, tenderloins and hind quarters.  We froze this and brought them back on the plane with coolers.

Rob made a great dish of fresh deer liver, tenderloins, bacon and onions.  The whitetail deer is so much more tasty than the mule deer around here and will be much appreciated.

An ice storm came in and it was so bad, they named it.  We however throughout we would drive to Oklahoma city to catch our plane back.  Flights had been cancelled all over the place so we took a chance and drove over there slowly as the rain and ice formed.  There were plenty of big semi rigs upside down in the ditches as we made our way east.  The ice storm hit the Oklahoma City area the worst and the trees were broken and loaded with ice.  By the time we got to the Airport, the car was covered with ice.

We were glad we made it to the airport safely and here is our load: two rifle cases, two coolers with the deer meat, two huge duffel bags and two carry on bags.  All made it back to Salt Lake safely.  Rob was slated to return the next day but was able to get a late flight back to Spokane Saturday night a day ahead of schedule.

It was a most excellent deer hunt' we are mounting the horns and we brought back some venison.  Thanks Rob for this great time.

Now comes all the Christmas activity!

Love to all, Dad