by

Tom Nelson

     After what seemed to take an hour but in reality was no more than 5 minutes, I made it to the small clump of brush that stood between me and venison tenderloins. I hastily guessed the yardage at just under 20 and began to draw my Pearson Accu-Max bow. I was just about to my anchor point when the buck jumped to the left and retreated into the brush at break neck speed. "What the heck," I muttered to myself. There was no way that buck could have seen me, nor could he have winded me. I was a bit perplexed. Just then I heard a rustling in the thorn trees to my right and out stepped a large cow with her yearling calf. So, that's what spooked my buck. Deflated I pulled the nocked arrow from my string and returned it to the quiver. For revenge I will eat a steak tonight I told myself as I began the long walk back to the truck.

     I was bowhunting deer on the famous King Ranch in south Texas with Wayne Peeples of Four Arrows Outffitters. Wayne offers quality fair chase spot and stalk bowhunting for free ranging whitetails on several thousand acres of prime south Texas real estate. I was invited on this early December bowhunt by the folks at Sims Vibration Labs, the folks that produce the now famous Limbsavers and other quality bow silencing accessories. We were enjoying great hunting along with the warmer climate while field testing some of Sims newest products.

     The first day afield, Steve Sims, president of Sims, shot a beautiful 140 class 10 point. It was his first whitetail hunt and he was thrilled at his success. The second day director of marketing Alan Lotton scored on a fine 8 point that he had shot at a mere 10 yards on the ground stalking. This place was a deer hunters paradise. Now if only I could find a buck that would cooperate a little.

   Seeing deer was not a problem. Getting close in all the heavy cover and noisy conditions was.

     The third day of the hunt dawned cool and overcast. Now this is more like Michigan, my home state I thought to myself. After a quick breakfast Wayne loaded me in his truck and drove a short distance from the ranch to my hunt destination for the morning. With the dark eastern sky beginning to give way to the sun we began walking and glassing. It was not long before Wayne and I spotted a nice buck. Wayne told me that this buck deserved a stalk so we made a wide circle to get the wind in our favor and shifted into stealth mode. In short order we were 100 yards from the buck watching him as he chased a doe from our hiding place in some cedar trees. We figured that this buck was much too preoccupied with his girlfriend to worry about us. With Wayne observing from the cedars I began to stalk ever closer to the flirting whitetails. At 40 yards I ran out of cover and waited until the deer moved off into some thorn covered bushes. Bent over I hurried around to the opposite side of the brush to where I figured they may exit. Nocking an arrow I stood ready behind the largest bush I could find. Now if only they would play by the rules.

      Tom Nelson with his Texas Whitetail

Moments later the doe eased out of the thick tangles and trotted past me at 20 yards. But where was the buck. Time pasted and still no sign of him. I was about to give up thinking he had given me the slip, when I caught some movement to my right. There he was coming right at me. As I drew back the buck stepped into an opening and turned broadside. I placed my 20 yard pin on his chest and squeezed the trigger on my release. The buck exploded as the arrow passed through his boiler room running just out of sight before crumbling to the earth. My Texas buck was a nice 8 point that I was extremley pleased with. All the Sims products we had been testing had performed flawlessly. It had been a complete hunt. Good food, friends and plenty of big bucks. For your next winter vacation forget Florida, head down to south Texas ya'll.