I have accomplished many things in my life, but taking my son hunting and seeing him shoot his first deer has to be one of the greatest moments ever for me.  We are so fortunate to be able to make a phone call to "Rancho Sueno Mio" owner Juan Marin and get permission to reserve some blind time.  This was a special weekend for the both of us, my son's select baseball state tournanment in Round Rock got rained out and we were able to make the drive down south to Edroy to visit the in laws.  It just so happened to be my father in laws birthday so you know the party was on.  We quickly made arrangements to spend all day Saturday hunting on the small hunt club just east of Lake Corpus Christi and if needed we would spend some more blind time on Sunday.

     Things started off good for us on Saturday, the rain had just let up after dropping nearly 5 inches of rain at the ranch.  As we drove into the property water was crossing the main road and covered half the property with water.  The first sign that things would be alright was seeing three large does feeding in a grassy field near the entrance of the ranch.  That morning no deer showed at up our blind and the back blind where my brother in law was patroling for a nice buck.  We hunted until about 9am and decieded to walk the property to see if we could sneak up on some deer.  The plan was successful as we spooked up two nice does, but they quickly disappeared into an oak mott.  We deceided to retreat and come back in the afternoon to see if any deer would make an apperance then.

      The plan almost worked to perfection as two young Does came out to feed on corn in the back sendero around 5pm, then just before dark we had some good deer movement, but before my son could shoot, it got too dark and decieded to come back Sunday at first light to try one more time for a nice deer.  Needless to say my on was upset knowing that deer were moving and present, but he was not able to fire a shot.  So we went home Saturday night to watch the Texas Longhorn foortball game, recharge the batteries and head out to the ranch at 5am.

     Sunday morning came and the tempature had dropped 10 degrees and was a cool 50 degrees.  We had a good feeling that the deer would be moving and the high water would be retreating fromt the property.  As soon as we walked down the main sendero to the blind we could hear deer busting and snorting away.  We made a great attempt to stay quiet in the blind and like clockwork the feeders went off at 6:45 am.  Shortly after that we could hear deer moving through the brush and clearly heard a deer grunt just 50 yeard away.  Around 7:30am one "fat" doe appeared, then another, and another.  I prepared my son to fire his first shot and the biggest doe in the sendero, he raised his .243 riffle and did what so many hunters have done, bumped against the blind.  All the deer disappeared and his heart was temporarily devasted.  But, I told him give it 5 minutes they might come back, sure enough, one by one they re-appeared in the sendero.

    He once again raised his riffle, took aim and then "BOOM" all the deer took off.  Did you get her, yeah I think so?  We waited for at least 20 minutes and I could see faint signs of a bright red substance on the ground where the doe was standing before the shot.  I told my son I think that's blood, she might have just ran a few yards into the brush to die.  So we got down, walked to the feeder and sure enough, we found a small blood trail that lead us about 30 yeards into the beautiful thick South Texas brush where we quickly found the nice "heavy" doe lying dead on the ground.  Then the celebration began, high fives, hugs and what not.  Me, my son and my brother in law shared an amazing moment, Jared's first deer on just one shot right through the heart, perfect shot.  We field dressed the deer and headed back home to suprise the Family who had been waiting eagerly at the house to see if we had any luck.  Photos were taken, and the day just got a whole lot better, the best part of it all is that we were able to drop the deer off at the local meat processor and get back home in time for some breakfast tacos and Dallas Cowboy football, what a great Sunday.  Then we celebrated some more that evening with a Texas Ribeye steak bar-b-que along with some great home made desert. 

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