Mickey would operate the camera and I’d rattle the 4n2s. We are both retired and have the luxury of spending lots of time in the woods; giving us a good chance of producing the winning video and the championship Game on!!!!!
Finding places to rattle in S Texas is not easy. Texas has very little public hunting land, and most of the ranches are large and only allow contract hunting. Not to be dissuaded, we went directly to the ranch owners and requested permission to rattle. We never imagined the warm reception we received. All of them opened their ranches to us with the only caveat ; that we would not kill anything or interfere with their hunters. They were so gracious that we had not one uncomfortable moment while on the ranches. All the ranches had historical significance making the opportunity before us priceless.
We started Nov.20th at the Dahlstrom Ranch in Buda TX, 2252 acres of limestone hills covered in Live Oaks ,with Onion Creek running through the middle. Founded in 1932 , it has remained in the family ever since. Here, Jack Dahlstrom operates Flatrock Wildlife, a well managed game ranch, offering hunters a wide range of exotics and upland game birds. Jack, a consummate professional hunter , having hunted every type of game. At Flatrock , no advertising is needed ; he has a steady stream of repeat clients. New hunters come on the recommendations of existing clientele. While talking rattling with Jack, we learned that all horned animals responded to rattling. Jack has rattled in every type of deer, elk, moose, etc. using rattling antlers. I was thrilled that after trying the 4n2s, he wanted to buy two sets. I refused to sell them but happily gave him two sets.
His ranch manager and hunting guide, Clint Freeman, gave us a tour of the ranch. I am not capable of describing the beauty of this Texas Hill Country, or the excitement we I felt seeing the wild game that ranged throughout the ranch. We were there for only two days but the memories will last a lifetime.
Fortunately for us, the other two ranches we would rattle, Dos Haches , and The Devisadero , were closer to home: so we were able to spend many days rattling on each of them.
Dos Haches, ( Spanish for 2 Hs’) ,is located in the heart of the Nueces Strip in Brooks Co Texas. It’s 10,000 acres are steeped in the History of South Texas. The same family has owned and operated the ranch for six generations. The current owner, Kappy Hopper, is a gracious Texas rancher who without hesitation opened her ranch to us with the only admonition; “don’t kill anything and drive slowly.” The ranch’s terrain is varied with wooded hills and open grassy fields, looking more like a wildlife refuge that a cattle ranch. Having raised cattle in my younger years; I was curious how it would be possible to round-up 400 head of cattle in this 10,000 acres of wilderness. I asked Amadeo, the ranch’s manager, how long it took, and how many vaqueros were necessary to roundup the cattle. He replied “Hago solo : Hay poco agua.”( I do it alone ; there is little water.) All he did was close off all but one of the watering holes and wait. South Texas ingenuity!
The whitetails of Dos Haches are big, aggressive, and plentiful. We rattled six days at Dos Haches over a six week period and rattled in bucks on all but one day
The last of the ranches , The Devisadero, originally part of the vast land holdings of Don Francisco Yturria, has been held in continuous family ownership since 1863, and is now owned and by Mike Garcia. Mike is the most hospitable person I know. Never have I met anyone more generous. After taking us on a tour of the ranch and hunting camp accommodations, he gave us the combinations to the gates, introduced us to this ranch manager, Armando Salinas, and said: “Mi casa es tu casa” ( My home is your home.):”anytime you want to come you are welcome.” Needless to say we took him up on his offer. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas there; maybe the best Christmas of my 66 years.
The ranch is a paradise of South Texas brush country, chock full of game. Everyday we went rattling, we saw turkeys, Javelinas, coyotes, whitetail, quail, and nilgai, and everyday we rattled, we rattled up buck after buck.
The days the paying hunters were on the ranches we went to a remote spot on the South Texas coast that was open to the public. We named it the” Blue Hole” an old Mississippi fishing term for “hot spot”. In all the times we were at the Blue Hole we only saw one other person, a hiker out for a stroll. The place teemed with wildlife. Each day was a new adventure, tracking , exploring, and of course rattling. We were lost in time with nothing to clutter our minds, only the sounds and sights of the outdoors commanded our attention. We were there so often, that if felt as though it was our private property.
Throughout this adventure, we kept a mental running total of the number of bucks we had rattled up. When we started we had no specific goal, but for some reason the goal of 100 bucks manifested itself, and from then on 100 was the number. We spent at least thirty days in the woods and rattled most of them.
Finally the time came when Mickey had to return home: so on Jan 19 we decided we had rattled the last one of the season. We both thought we were short of the 100, but our time had run out.
Later, in the process of reviewing the videos, I decided to make a still image of each buck that appeared in each rattling session video. When I finished going through all the videos , I was surprised the count was over 120 bucks rattled in, and that did not include the bucks we failed to get of video or the 15 on video that I erased accidentally.
One thing is for sure: whether we win or not, we feel like champs and have had one of the most amazing adventures of our lives. Topping this will be hard but we are already planning for 2010-11.
Got a place we can rattle?

bigbucktom
PS , WE WON!!!!