Bowhunting Wilson Whitetail Ranch

The southwest region of Texas is probably my favorite area of Texas to hunt. This is where the brush country meets the hill country. The rolling hills, mesquite flats, oak thickets, cactus, and rocky terrain just seem to have a mystic ore about them that is almost hypnotizing. I head to that part of Texas to bow hunt any time I get the chance.

On this trip we were heading down south to chase hogs. Turkey and bear season had come to an end so it was time to get back to chasing hogs and exotics. This trip we would be hunting with Wilson Whitetail Ranch and Hunting Supply. Don’t let the name fool you; they have a whole lot more than just magnificent whitetails to chase.

Wilson Whitetail Ranch is located in Sabinal, Texas. Sabinal is the wild hog capitol of Texas! This area of Texas seems to have more hogs per square inch than any other area in the Lone Star State.

Wilson Whitetail Ranch offers rifle and archery hunts for trophy whitetail deer, trophy exotics, and hogs of any size.

I had been looking forward to this hunt for quite some time. Donna managed to get off work early Friday so we picked up Michael early from school and we were headed south by 1:30 P.M. With all of the Memorial Day weekend traffic on Hwy 35, the trip was miserable. We bailed off of Hwy 35 in Waco and took the scenic route. Unfortunately, the traffic along this route was almost as bad. A 5-hour trip turned into a 7-hour trip and we arrived in Sabinal behind schedule.

We met Chris Laursen, the Hunting Operations Manager for Wilson Whitetail Ranch, at their office in Sabinal around 8:30. After some quick introductions and the usual paperwork, we were off to the ranch. Chris had waited to run the feed route so we could ride along and get a tour of the ranch.

We arrived at the ranch and when we pulled up to the 3-bedroom 2-bath cabin, there was a deer bedded down in some trees right in front of the cabin. If there was ever a good sign to be seen, that was it! I parked the truck, grabbed the cameras, the blinds and we loaded up in Chris’s truck for a little sight seeing trip. Darkness was approaching fast but Chris already had a few prospective locations in mind for us to set up our Double Bull blind.

As Chris began his feed route we immediately began seeing animals. It was a short drive to one of our prospective hunting areas and I immediately knew that Chris had picked out a good place for us to start.

This particular location was a small draw with a creek that ran through it in the bottom. Chris and I walked up and down the road looking for a place to hide one of our Double Bull blinds that would be good for filming as well. I managed to find numerous locations to stash a blind but I only found one were the grass was low enough to be a good place to film. Just remember if you think bow hunting is tough, throw a camera in the mix. To get good quality footage can be very challenging at times. Some of the best hunting locations are just not conducive to hunting with a camera!

After I finalized the location, Chris retrieved the truck with the blinds in it. As Chris was backing the truck up, 15 hogs ran across the road on the other side of the creek. What did I say earlier about a good sign?

I popped up a Double Bull BS5 blind in a small oak hammock, which had a hole just big enough to back a blind up into. After I had the blind in its new home, I grabbed my brush loppers and we were off to cut some brush to hide the front of the blind. It was not long until we were done. Since we were going to be pig hunting I only used a few pieces of brush just to break up the blind. Remember if you are whitetail hunting you better make that blind disappear!

We arrived back at the cabin around 10:00 P.M. and got our gear ready for the mornings hunt. 4:30 A.M. was going to come early and I wanted to be ready to go in the morning!

We awoke Saturday morning to the sound of raindrops on the roof. The weatherman had been calling for rain and he was right this time.

Chris arrived at the cabin early and said that the weatherman was reporting a 50% chance of rain all weekend. Light rain makes for good hunting so that was fine with me! I prepped the camera for rain, we gathered up our gear and we were off. Chris drove us to the blind and once we were settled in, he was off to run the feed route.

As the sun started to burn through the cloud cover the woods came alive. Birds began chirping and we heard noises of animals moving all around us. By 6:30, we had a group of Aoudad in front of our blind. There were 3 ewes, 2 youngsters, and one nice ram.

Since we were hog hunting, I did not put up the shoot through netting over the shooting ports on our blind and we paid the price for that. Just as the Aoudad began to feed into the shooting port Donna was filming from, the lead ewe stopped and looked right at our blind. She picked out the dark circles that a shooting port makes without the shoot through netting and she knew something was not right. The ewe tuned around and walked away taking the rest of the herd down the road towards the creek. I wanted to get the Aoudad on film but them leaving so abruptly left plenty of corn on the ground for the hogs.

Not much time had passed when we heard movement up the hill to our left. It was two huge Four Horned Sheep. These were true trophy rams! The rams never came in front of the blind but we did get to watch them from a distance most of the morning.

Chris arrived at the designated time to pick us up. The rain had stopped by now and it was starting to warm up. We went back to the cabin, changed out of our hunting clothes and we were off for a day light tour of the ranch. We saw tons of hog sign, several whitetails, and just about every type of exotic animal that anyone might want to hunt. You should have seen us; we were like kids in a candy store. We took so many pictures I thought our camera was going to overheat!

Chris showed us several other locations that would be good for us to hunt. It was hard making a decision where to put up our Double Bull T5 Import but we managed.

We selected a Y intersection in the road where three roads came together. There was a nice creek within view that was holding water and lots of huge old oak trees that made this spot a nice cool place to hang out. We saw lots of animals and animal sign in this area so we just had to hunt it.

Chris and I located a nice hole in some brush and trees just about the size of our T5 blind. In a few minutes we had the blind in place and brushed in. A few quick snips with the loppers and our shooting lanes were done. This time I went ahead and put up the shoot through netting on the window. I wanted everything in our favor.

Chris dropped us off at the cabin and he was off to the south ranch to work some for the afternoon. The south ranch is where most of the whitetail hunting is done.

Donna, the kids and I got us some lunch and discussed our afternoons hunting plans. After a short discussion, we mutually agreed that we wanted to hunt our new location. This spot was just one of those hunting locations that you fall in love with and cannot pass up.

The rain was gone and now it was nice and sun shinny. The mercury had climbed and it was now near 90 degrees. We were settled in our new hunting spot by 6:30 PM and it was still hot. The temperature inside the blind had to be pushing 100 degrees. Everyone was praying for a breeze to blow to cool us off inside of the blind but no such luck.

We did not have to wait long for some action. Four Fallow deer eased out onto the road to our right and began feeding our way. The Fallow deer hung out in our area for quite some time.

After the Fallow deer moved on we were graced with the presence of a Sable. The Sable did not hang out long; he had somewhere he wanted to go and was headed in that direction. The next visitor we had was a black buck but he too was headed to a predetermined destination. A turkey cruised through our area and finally a whitetail doe. We were covered up in animals except for the critter that we were after.

Chris picked us up at dark and informed us that he had saw about 15 pigs on his way out over by the first blind we set up. That’s just my luck!

As soon as we were inside the cabin, a storm blew in. The wind picked up and the bottom fell out. The storm was short lived and by the time we were ready for bed it had all but stopped raining.

Sunday morning on the way out to the blind, there were pigs’ tracks all over the road. The tracks confirmed my suspicions. The pigs are moving at night due to the hot temperatures. That is the bad part about hunting pigs this time of year; it is almost impossible to get on them during day light hours.

It was a muddy trip out to the blind but we managed to make it. We were settled in the blind just as it was light enough to film. After about 40 minutes of sitting, we decided to try to find the pigs since they seemed to be only moving at night.

As we eased through the Mesquite trees behind the blind I saw 3 Fallow deer walking down the road towards us. Michael, Morgan, and Donna were behind me and Donna had the camera. We backed up into a small pocket of Mesquite trees and knelt down and waited. In about 5 minutes I had shot opportunities on two nice Fallow deer. One was a chocolate Fallow still in velvet. He was a wide racked buck with a beautiful coat. The second buck that was a mere 12 yards away was a spotted Fallow. He was also still in velvet. This buck had some magnificent palms. Either one of those deer would make an excellent trophy; unfortunately they were not in the budget at this time. Isn’t that the way it always goes? I always seem to get shot opportunities on animals that I am not hunting!

We sat and watched the Fallow until we could not stay crouched any longer. I stood up and I caught the eye of one of the deer. He hit the cover like he had just seen a ghost with the other bucks in tow.

We eased through the brush looking for our game of choice but lady luck was not on our side. The sun was out and it was getting hot. We decided to still-hunt our way towards camp. My bad luck was still holding out! We made it all the way back to camp without locating any porkers.

After a relaxing afternoon in the cabin it was time to head back out for the last hunt of this trip. It was just as hot as it was Saturday afternoon so I decided to give the family a break and head out by myself. Donna and the kids had a cool afternoon at the cabin and it turned out that they saw quite a bit of game from the cabin.

Chris dropped me off at the first blind that I had set up. While I was making some last minute preparations to the blind, Chris dumped out some sour corn in an attempt to pull the porkers out of the thick cover before dark.

I did not have to wait long after Chris left before I had some visitors stop by to check out the pile of sour corn. Two trophy 4 horned sheep were the first visitors that graced my presence.

After the 4 horned sheep left I heard some trees crashing behind my blind. I peered out the side window in time to see a huge Axis buck working over a tree like he was really upset or frustrated. The buck worked on this tree for some time before he decided to move on.

The next critters that came my way were 4 huge Black Buck Antelope followed by a Fallow Doe.

The Fallow Doe was picking at some of the sour corn when she stopped eating and looked up the road and appeared nervous. I looked out the window and saw two huge Eland and one young Kudu bull heading towards the Fallow Doe. The Doe quickly vacated the area and the trio moved in and took over the corn pile. It was quite an experience to have three such massive animals so close. The Kudu bull even sniffed my blind at one point.

The last visitors to visit my location were two Whitetail bucks in velvet and two Whitetail does. I sat in the blind until dark but no pigs showed themselves. It was just too hot for the pigs to move before dark.

Chris pulled up to pick me up and my hunt was now over. Even though I did not see a pig this was one of the best hunts that I have been on in a long time. We saw tons of game every outing. Pig sign was everywhere it was just too stinking hot for them to move before dark. This is definitely one ranch anyone should consider for his or her next hunting adventure.

If pigs is what you are after book in the cooler months and I know you will see pigs! If you are after trophy exotics they are definitely available! I did not have a chance to get over to the other ranch where most of the Whitetail hunting is done but if it is set up like this ranch I know there are some quality animals waiting for an encounter with hunters.

Do not miss out on your chance to hunt on this quality ranch. I will definitely be hunting with Wilson Whitetail Ranch again in the near future! The bottom line is, this is one outstanding hunting operation with lots of game and great accommodations. You cannot go wrong hunting with Wilson Whitetail Ranch!

Until Next Time......

Shoot Straight and Happy Hunting!

James Ferguson

President/CEO

Bowhunting North America, LLC

This hunt was made possible in part by our sponsors:

Mathews, Inc. Bushlan Camouflage, Carbon Express,

The Gean-Edwards Company, Rynoskin, Trophy Ridge, VMASS, North Starr Tree Stands,

Shed Hunter Co., Fieldline, DoskoSport, Lumenok, Tru Fire Corp., Rocket Aeroheads, Quake Industries, Limbsaver, Bushnell,

Huntin' Hoist, Wac'em Broadheads, Wildgame Innovations, Beard Buster