Without any warning at all, Forks came back to my side of
the stand to...
Once again it was an awesome experience to bow hunt in Nuevo
Laredo, Mexico, with Dr. George Vogt and the Laredo Hunt
Club. My successful hunt taking this beautiful 10-point
was one of my most memorable bow hunts ever. One of my best
friends and huntin' buddies, Vance Williamson, had seen
this same deer the year before and actually got it on video
tape. The buck was only 3 1/2 years old then and scored
around 120, so he let it walk and just enjoyed photographing
the fine buck. It had split G-2s in 2001 as well, and Vance
nick named him Forks. Vance and I decided we would buddy
hunt for Forks on our 2002 trip because we both wanted a
successful bow hunt on video.
The desert and predators are so hard on the buck herd each
summer that we weren’t overly confident this buck would still
be around. To our pleasant surprise, on our first afternoon
hunt, Forks came to our agriculture plot chasing does really
hard. It was very exciting, but we were unsuccessful.
We decided to go back to the same stand the next morning
and hope he came back looking for the same group of does.
We didn’t see anything but a few young bucks until about
halfway through the morning. I was sitting on the right
side of the scaffold platform stand, and Vance was on the
left side. Both of us had our bows in one hand and video
cameras ready for our other hand. About 30 yards to the
right of our stand, three does came busting out of the cactus
brush into the road and then into the ag plot looking
behind them on almost every step.
Then all at once, Forks showed up in the middle of the road
and then into the ag plot about three big steps. While Forks
was chasing the does in the plot, Vance and I both stood
up to set up and to hopefully video a shot if Forks came
back by our stand on either side. Forks chased the does
hard for only a few minutes while two other smaller bucks
watched intensely. Without any warning at all, Forks came
back to my side of the stand to quickly eat a little. He
acted like he had been chasing does all night. Forks stood
facing our stand the whole time as he ate, and Vance was
video taping the whole time right over my shoulder for what
seemed like an eternity. My arms were getting like spaghetti
when the beautiful buck turned to walk back into the brush.
When Forks made the turn toward the brush, I was able to
draw my bow and my arrow hit him just right ... and Vance
got it all on video! I have always wanted to have one
of my successful bow hunts on video, and now I have a dream
come true thanks to Vance and his steady hand with a video
camera. Forks was 4 1/2 years old, live weight of approximately
225 pounds, and he scored 149 6/8 SCI. Thanks also to the
Laredo Hunt Club, www.laredohuntclub.com.
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