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They say that hind-sight is 20/20 so a few lessons I can take away from the past couple of days are:

1. When you decide to blood a new rifle be sure you understand all of the possible implications.

2. Pink clothes and luggage and ballet slippers are okay in hunting camp depending solely on whose they are!

3. If the weather is going to be cold, take extra camera batteries and a charger for rechargeables because you will need them!

4. Don’t sweat the little things that go wrong and you will have a good time.

This has been a very busy last couple of months at work, with a lot of early mornings and late nights. Just before Christmas I realized that the kids had started their Christmas break and I had not made any plans to take them hunting. When I gave up the lease in south Texas I had promised that they would get to go hunting and time was running out if I wanted to take advantage of their vacation.

I called Wendell Reich of Hunter's Quest. Wendell had worked with me on my trip to Namibia and has the Red Bluff Ranch outside Quanah., Texas. I was looking for a doe hunt for my oldest but the time for taking whitetail does had passed in Hardeman County (without special permits). The ranch has some exotics and Wendell has more red deer hinds (females) than he needs for his management plans. We discussed whether my daughter could take one with her rifle in .22-250 and he felt she could with the proper shot. We planned the hunt for the 27-28 of December and I scrambled to get ready.

The weather did not cooperate and we ended up rescheduling for the 31st and the 1st. I knew my youngest was excited when she was the first to show up downstairs on Sunday in camo from head to toe – almost. I sent her upstairs to change out of the black shoes with sequins into some more suitable shoes and we loaded up and headed out. We had made a trip to the indoor range but needed to shoot our rifles at 100 yards to check them and Wendell said we could do that at the ranch. While we were en route and after a quick stop at the Bowie Wal-Mart to replace a missing hunting license Wendell called to say that there was no rush as the wind was blowing very hard and we would not be able to shoot until later in the afternoon. The wind was blowing so hard that I heard noises in the truck I have never heard before.

We arrived at the ranch and unloaded our gear. The lodge that Wendell is building is very nice and was a nice warm break from the cold wind. It is a work in progress and not quite finished but was comfortable.

You would have thought we were staying for a week with all we unloaded, but we were just staying one night. I had the girls dress warmly as the cool temperatures and high wind made it quite chilly. We headed out to shoot in the afternoon and discovered the guns both needed a bit of adjustment. Wendell was very patient while we got that done. Because I knew we could not fit all five of us in one blind I asked Wendell to take my oldest and put me in a separate blind with the other two. Because it took longer at the range than I expected I suggested he leave us at the lodge to improve Emily's chances of success. He showed me where a feeder was located a short ways down the hill from the lodge and we headed down the hill while he took Emily to the blind.

We watched the feeder and saw two whitetail bucks and five does/yearlings before Miranda and Mercedes got too cold.

We headed back up the hill to the lodge just before sunset. I took some pictures outside and heard a single shot just before dark.

Wendell and Emily returned and she had been successful on a pretty large hind.

After we (okay, Wendell) skinned the deer we had rib eyes and baked potatoes for our New Year's Eve dinner, followed later by sparkling grape juice to bring in the New Year. (I was tired so we celebrated that a couple of time zones early).

I decided to take a turn the next morning and when Wendell asked how I wanted to hunt I asked for a spot and stalk rather than a blind hunt. Clever me, that gave us extra time to sleep in the next the morning.

The girls all turned out to accompany me the next morning.

We quickly located a group of red deer feeding in a grassy area in the river bottom. We backtracked and Wendell, Emily and I climbed up a small hill to get a vantage point from which to shoot. I was having trouble getting a solid shooting position so Wendell suggested I shoot prone from a small mound of dirt at the edge of the bluff. That did the trick and I made the shot. I lost the hind in the recoil and as I cycled the action on the rifle I noticed my head was killing me. I looked up at Wendell and told him that the scope had gotten me. As I looked back down I saw blood on the scope – it was my first trip with the .375 H&H and I had blooded it in more ways than one on New Year's Day! Note to self – if you must shoot the .375 prone, do not crawl the stock to get a better view though the scope, and hold it very firmly…I knew better but forgot in the excitement of the moment.

My daughter loaned me a nice flowered handkerchief and we got back down to the others, cleaned me up and then took some pictures.

With Wendell doing most of the work we got both deer quartered and into the coolers. I had just over 200 quarts of coolers in the truck and all of them were full.

It seemed to take forever to pack all of our gear but we got loaded up and on the road before noon (after one more quick picture showing the view from the back of the lodge).

We made it back home in the late afternoon. It was a quick trip but all of the girls really enjoyed it. I made the run to Kuby's Sausage House this morning and the quarters, necks, ribs, backstraps, and tenders weighed almost 250 pounds in the aggregate. We have quite a bit of meat coming!

The pictures are not the best because my camera batteries were low, aggravated by the low temperatures. Despite the missing hunting license, the adverse weather, the camera problems, the rifle issues (for which I am solely responsible), and my involuntary blood donation, everyone had a great time.

A note on caliber selection, bullet choice and shot placement. Both my daughter's hind and mine dropped quickly even though we made radically different caliber choices.

She was shooting a .22-250 with the Federal Premium 60 grain Nosler Partition. She made the shot just behind the shoulder and the bullet exited after doing a great job. I was shooting the Remington green box 270-grain soft point load and it also exited after going though one shoulder and the heart. We spend a lot of time debating caliber choice and I would not recommend the .22-250 here (we had picked it for whitetail and hogs) but with proper shot placement and a quality bullet it did as good a job as my .375.

It was a great way to see 2006 end and 2007 begin and the girls are ready to go again any time.

[Click images for larger versions.]

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Some pictures from Namibia

Some pictures from Zimbabwe

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