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"My
First Ram"
By:
Debbie Mattucci
We got to Coyote Creek ranch after picking up the
2 other ladies , Cheri (from Colorado and Ann from Montana) at DFW. We
arrive about 5pm. Terry and Dawn get there about 40 min later (from Ill.
and stuck in Little Rock for a bit changing an alternator).
We split up into pairs, Randy filming Ann. Terry filming Dawn and I
filming Cheri.
Cheri and I get to a stand and get set up, camera ready, bow ready and
wait. 20 minutes later hogs come in. Now it's a matter of which one she
wants to shoot. Cheri warns me she does not mess around, when she picks
one out, be ready as she does not pussyfoot around about shooting (
unlike me, who can change her mind in a heart beat which one I want!!!).
She picks her hog, I'm zoomed enough and far enough to capture the arrow
in flight and on impact!!!! Cool!!! with in less than 5 minutes we have
a shot and a hog down. I lean over the stand to get a good capture of
Cheri's post shot and we hear the death moan. Not 15 yards away!!!! HOG
DOWN!!!!
We call/text Randy and he let's Donnie (the owner)
know. We get down, find the arrow, which is not hard to do, and shooting
FOB's we find the impact site as well very easily. We find good blood
and wait for Donnie to come. It had rained so much that the seat was
soaked and so was our butts. I was so excited for her, I swear I peed my
pants for her and she claims I probably did as she felt a little lighter
in the bladder area!!!!!!
Cheri got the only animal taken that night. Randy and Ann watched the
rams for some time. Terry and Dawn saw hogs, but, not what she wanted.
The next am, Cheri and I go to the same stand hoping the Rams would come
in. I again am filming. We get out and set up and wait. One lonesome
little hog comes in. Cheri already has her hog and it's not what I want
to take (I had my bow with me, just in case).
Then some African goats come in and we decide we want a Ram not a goat.
They proceed to hang around and even bed down. It's going on 9am and we
get a bit goofy watching these goats. I contemplate giving the camera to
Cheri with the thought of roping one, but, decide I :1) do not want to
be drug face first thru the mud and 2) I want a Ram. So we call it a
morning.
In the meantime, Dawn takes a 4 horned black
Ram--1st ram down, and Ann shoots a hog and as they are tracking the
hog, the Rams show up and she takes a nice Ram. (Ann prefers spot and
stalk as that is what she does in Montana and she did the same with the
hog)
We then get the animals back to camp, photos, interviews and caping/quartering
done. Dawn's is going to do a European mount so skinning out will be
done later. Ann's are caped out and both in the fridge
.
We eat a bit and Terry takes Cheri out for a spot and stalk on the Rams.
No Ram taken, but, they literally had hogs running between their legs.
They come in and we all have lunch. It is
now about 1pm. Sun high and bright. 80 something degrees
.
We then all decide to spot and stalk the Rams with the focus on me first
as I have not hunted yet, and then on Cheri for a Ram. We break up
in pairs with Terry and camera with me, Dawn and Randy and cameras, and
Ann and Cheri and camera.
We find the Rams, they are grazing and some are even bedded down. Terry
and I get on our hands and knees and crawl up within 50 yards of them.
The others (people) see where we are and they form a circle with us and
a fence (low) to the back side of the Rams. We all start closing in on
them. Terry and I are the only ones on our knees as we want to Rams to
see the others.
I get to 20 yards from the fence line with the Rams about 40 yards to my
right and moving towards me. Camera is set up and Terry is on them.
I am in front a bit and we're both ready to go. The Rams slowly work
their way to me from my right to left. I pick a different Ram each time
one moves out in front. The intent is to have them directly in front of
me and they are doing what I want. Then a ram takes a bit of a lead, 15
yards from me, I get the word from Terry to shot anytime I want and with
that I let one fly.
15 yard and a pass thru. Off the herd goes with
mine at the caboose and moving slower and heading away from the herd
(which they will do as the others will attack and kill it if not already
dead). Down he goes. I am up on my feet jumping up and down shaking my
bow and right fist like a school girl, "I got a Ram, I got a Ram",
completely forgetting my knee does not like that or crawling for that
matter!!!! It handled it well, though, and I was impressed.
Then all of the sudden, my ram gets up and starts towards the herd but
lagging away from them. My heart sunk. I thought he was dead. In the
meantime the herd is moving towards Cheri and she is ready to shoot if
the opportunity presents itself. The herd turns on a dime and
hauls butt in the opposite direction and between me/Terry and Ann/Dawn
and off they go. My ram is at the back of the pack, but, keeping up.
They all go to another field.
We move around to the far edge and skirt around a
tree lined seasonal creek with some water in it. As we come around
trying to sneak up (Terry/camera, me and Cheri) on them, I see my Ram
just inside the woods, hurting/bleeding and 15 yards away and completely
oblivious to me being there. Arrow already nocked. Terry setting up and
I'm awaiting his cue. I get it and now just wait a minute for the Ram to
take a step forward to clear the branches and let another arrow fly that
double lungs and cuts the aorta. Blood squirting from the entrance with
each heartbeat for about 5, then down and not getting up!!!!!!!!
We ran to get on the herd again to let Cheri get
on them. Which did not happen. We did get on one that was injured from
Ann's arrow passing thru and hitting another (Initially we thought it
was my 1st arrow, but the footage shows it was Ann's). Cheri decides she
does not want that one so, Randy, who had his bow too (Terry did not,
neither did Ann or Dawn) stalked up on him and put him down for good.
All this transpires over 3-4 hours. We then gather our animals and go in
for some much, much needed water.
We then snack, and it's time to put some clean clothes on and go out
again. The crawling and stalking on hands and knees was in wet, ground
and some standing water in the field, so we were a mess.
Cheri, Randy and I load up with the intent that Cheri would film me take
a hog. Randy was along for the ride with his camera just in case we saw
the Rams and Cheri wanted to try. She swore by now she would/could not
stalk any more and would take a goat if it came in again.
Low and behold, 100 yards down the road, there were the Rams looking as
tired and as beat as we were, but grazing.
"Cheri, you want your Ram?" her response was, she did not want to mess
up my hog hunt and getting to the site in time. I told her to go for it,
her best chance was now as they probably wouldn't move any faster than
we could now. So she and Randy got off the buggy and began their stalk.
They got into the cover of some trees. Randy gets the camera ready,
Cheri in front, he gives her the go ahead, she draws, moves up another
10 yards and takes a 35 yard double lung shot that brings him to the
ground in 30 yards!!!!!
WoooHoooo!!!!!! All the ladies now had their Rams!!!!!!!! A few pics and
then Cheri and I are taken to our site to see if I can get a hog with
Cheri filming.
I did get a good shot on a big hog 125-150lbs, but, after tracking for
quite some time--hours, Donnie said that's it, he needs to go home and
eat. So that ended the eve.
The next morning Randy and Terry were the only ones that went out, as
the rest of us were done and slept in a bit. Terry took a nice Ram and
Dawn got a huge hog.
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