One Heck Of A Ride

33 “There are bigger bucks here,” he said as I relaxed and watched the confused deer wander off. It had been standing less than seventy-five yards from our blind, searching for the battling bucks his ears had told him were there. We saw no shootable bucks the next day. However, we were moving quietly upwind through cactus and brush the third day when Fred and I both spotted a big buck in its bed. The deer hadn’t seen or scented us. When Fred nodded, I shot offhand and killed it before it could stand up. It was a good buck, a ten-pointer (four tines plus an eyeguard on each side) under the Texas method of counting every antler tine “you can hang a ring on.” When it was officially measured later, it scored 143 5/8 SCI points. It took only a quick up-close look at that buck for me to decide that my first whitetail was considerably more handsome than the blacktails and mule deer I’d taken. White facial markings and white underparts were a stark contrast to its grayish-brown coat. Its antlers were smooth and slender but wide with long tines. After I helped Fred load the buck into the bed of his pickup truck, we were driving on a dirt road to the ranch house when he stopped the truck for me to open a gate. “Let’s go get you a javelina,” he said when I climbed back into the truck. “A good idea!” I wasted no time in saying. Everyone’s Deer Fred took a fork in the road that led to the back of the ranch and another gate. I was opening it when I saw a javelina maybe a hundred yards down the two-track trail. I rushed back to the truck and was bolting a cartridge into my rifle’s chamber when I saw another javelina, then three or four more. “Shoot one,” Fred said, which I did. “Shoot another one,” he said and I shot a second animal when it stepped into an opening in the brush. “Shoot another,” Fred said again. “You sure?” “Yes, they’re vermin here.” “What’s the limit?” “Two per year, but the rancher wants them thinned out.” I had no intention of being charged under the U.S. Lacey Act for shooting more than the law allows, so I put my rifle away. The federal A quick, offhand shot gave author his first whitetail buck, a ten-pointer. Javelinas were considered vermin on the Texas ranch author hunted in 1983.