Hunting Cotulla - The Vesper Ranch

White Tail Buck Hunt: January 10, 2015

Texas White Tail Hunting is on Fire, especially if your final destination is South Texas. The Crew of Wide Open Outdoor Adventures traveled to Cotulla, Texas to hunt the Vesper Ranch. This turned out to be an amazing Whitetail hunt. The TV show that was shot will be one of the best the team has made to date. It was a stalk that worked out great.

   

It was a drizzly overcast day, just what the Whitetail like. Dave and his camera man, Troy LeBlanc arrived in the afternoon just in time to ride around and determine how they would film the hunt. They were set to have a morning hunt the following day. Kelly Vesper, the ranch owner, and Super Dave were mapping out a plan. 

Kelly and Dave decided to work the thick plant life of the South Texas Brush Country as cover and pop out on the edge of the open areas and grass for a deer to take.

The weather was down right COLD. The Mercury was no higher than 36 degrees, and the winds were light. The drizzle made it a little tough to see longer distances but they were determined to make the hunt a success. It was more work than was planned, and Kelly and Dave covered over 5 miles through the thick scrub brush that early January morning and afternoon. There were a lot of deer moving early and in the late morning as well. The cold weather kept them from bedding down early, but Kelly and Dave were looking for a trophy Whitetail; they passed on a lot of really good deer.

Quietly moving through the dense countryside is an art. You have to calculate every step and pre-determine a path so you don’t get boxed in. It can happen even for experienced hunters, but avoiding backtracking can 
save time and enable you to cover more terrain. They saw some really nice 8 and 10 points -- really nice big bodied deer and passed on the younger 3 ½ and 4 ½ aged deer. They were looking for an older mature shooter, a 5 ½ or 6 ½ year old deer - one that has had his time breeding, and now it’s time to let the younger deer have their turn. 

Wildlife management is a very important goal of many South Texas ranches. Wildlife Biologists will tell you that you need to cull your older does and cull your inferior male deer. You just don’t want them breeding in your herd. You want your best bulls breeding, just like in managing cattle on your ranches. It’s not really that complicated. If you want bigger deer on your property, it takes years to accomplish, but this ranch is a prime example of doing it effectively.

The Vesper Ranch is high fenced, and it’s quite large. They do some protein feeding but really very little. They cull their deer very carefully, and it has yielded some really great big animals with solid antlers. The deer that Dave passed on had heavy thick main beams, and the tine length was very solid for a ranch that does not protein feed much.

It turned out to be a marathon hunt. They were working through the Brush Country for just over 7 hours. Dave was carrying a Remington Model 700, 30:06 rifle with a Leopold scope and he was using Swarovski binoculars. Both the scope and binoculars had large light gathering capabilities so even on the overcast drizzly day he could see what was working out in those open senderas and tucked in among the Mesquite trees.

They saw some great shooters, 10s, 12s and 14s, but they were generally way off 400 plus yards; by the time Kelly and Dave stalked up on them, they had wandered off. It was a cat and mouse game to say the least.

Finally, it came together. A mature, big 10 point with massive dog catchers was walking down an open pipeline alley way and coming straight toward Kelly and Dave. This was it - the shot was getting better and better since the deer was walking toward the hunters, and the wind was at the deers’s back. He could not see, hear or smell them. As a result, he was just lumbering down the alley way.

The question was, would he stop and give Dave the shot? They got set up under cover and waited on him. Will he stop for a shot? Well, he did, but he did not stand broadside; he was quartering toward Dave and therefore, the shot placement had to be adjusted to make a clean kill and not damage any of the prime meat like the tenderloin or back strap. Shot placement is critical.

Dave set up in a kneeling position and used his left hand and arm as a rest. The drizzle got a little heavier and that made getting the video a bit harder. Dave and Kelly had to coordinate with Troy to make the hunt come together for TV.

There was no question that the 30:06 was ready to go since Dave sighted in the gun the day before on Kelly’s ranch. It was dead on. Confidence is everything when hunting.

This turned out to be a short shot, just over 100 yards. The scope was set on 7, and the deer was full framed, based on the deer's quartering toward Dave's position. Dave chose to take the shot for fear the deer would sense them and bolt off.

Dave chose an entry point just above the shoulder and close to his chest area; that way, the bullet would get at least one lung and preserve the meat. It would go diagonally through the animal.

A 30:06 is a Beast of a Gun; it will kick you like a mule. Dave set up and got steady and took the shot.   

It was a great shot, and the deer dropped in his tracks, fell to the ground, and did not move a muscle.   That is what every hunter wants, a clean kill - an ethical kill. 

  

Dave and Kelly gave him a few minutes to expire, and they approached the big Whitetail Buck. As he laid on the ground motionless, his antlers seemed to grow. He was an amazing Trophy Whitetail. 

  

Special thanks to Kelly Vesper for making this hunt great. She knew the ranch very well, and they covered a lot of terrain to find this Shooter Deer. Tenacity paid off. The harder things in life are even more sweet when they come together.

Thanks for your time and look for Dave and Kelly on KSAT Channel 12 Saturday Mornings on the Early Morning Outdoor Segment from 5:30 to 6:00 am.

We’ll see you in the Wide Open Outdoors!