Texas Game and Fish, Volume 9, Number 12, November 1951 Page: 24
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ALL my life, I've heard about :he
big mossback bucks that come
out at sundown during the last few
minutes before ccmple:e darkress
envelops the brush country. But I've
always taken that Sit of informatIon
with a handful of salt: fir in 15 years
o_ deer hunting, I've never seen any-
thing even resembling a large buck at
suncown; that is. until a couple years
ago.
In fact, now I'm convinced that
the largest bucks of the pasture,
the real monarchs, the mossbacks
frorr. the thickest mesquite, 1ui-
sache and cacti of the brush coun-
try of the Lower Rio Grande River
never show their huge racks unt=l at
or near dusk. Those deer :hat dc ven-
ture out a trifle ahead of sundown occa-
sionally get bagged, and make a
hun-er like myself or my hunting
partner, Tom Aycock, feel that he -ias
outwitted a crafty olc whitetail-one
with warts on his antlers and mos on
his back!
I have hunted bucks al- over South
Texas for the last 15 years. I have
hunted them at break of dawn; I've
hunted them at surdown. I've hunted
them at noon-and I've seen as many
at that time as any other part of the
day. I've hunted them _n the heat of
the mid-afternoon. I've hunted them
when it was so cold I couldn't stayon a sand. I've hunted there when it
was so hot I didn't enjoy it and couldn't
find any game either. Through
the years. I have killed nry share of
the bucks but none of them were easy.
I've earned them all. It remained for
the last season, however, for ne to
bag an outstanding trophy. One of
my hunting partners, Toni also got a
record head for this area . . . and
therein lies a tale. My ether hunting
partner, Sami Dramisino. didn't bring
in a trophy buck but he did bag two
that were worthy of any sportsman.
Sam, TPon and I were out on our
lease riot too far from the Rio Grande
River in Starr County late in the sea-
son. We had hunted hard, but none
of us had bagged any of the prize
game. All three of us had _.ad running
shots at bucks, but a running shot in
this brush country is about: like knock-
ing a Canadian honker cown at 100
yards--it is done every now and
then-but mostly then.
Sam and I elected to hint together
that morningg, while Ton: decided
to go lone wolf to a tr-e deep in
the brush which he ha-c found on a
previous hunt.
Sam and I took off at the crack of
dawn, working our way :autiously
through the mesquite and cacti, hop-
ing we would jump a buck moving
out .of his bed. We decided to headThe 8iq Ones
comE AT SUBDOUnTEXAS GAME AND FISH
toward a very dense thicket about
one-half mile deep in the brush, which
bordered a small grassy lake. We had
not gone far when we found fresh
signs, made either the day before or
during the night. As we worked our
way along, pulling back a branch here
and crawling there to keep from
breaking a twig, we soon found more
fresh signs made less than a half hour
before. We followed these signs to the
edge of the dense thicket. We had to get
down on our hands and knees and
crawl in order to get through without
making any unnecessary sounds. We
had made such a stealthy approach
up to that point, which would do
credit to an Indian, that neither of us
wanted to ruin it. After what seemed
an eternity of crawling, holding a
branch here, squirming through a
hole there, we saw a small aperture
ahead, which we hoped was our
destination the little grass covered
lake. In a matter of seconds, we found
ourselves on the edge of the dry lake
bed in the center of the pasture. It
was just good daylight-the ideal time
for a buck to be moving out of his
bed.
We both gave the lake a quick look
over----as much of it as we could see.
It was covered with small trees, bushes
and grass that was hip high in spots.
We moved ahead a few more steps in
order to see spots covered by trees or
bushes when all of a sudden, both of
us saw something moving on our side
of the lake. In the half light of the
early morning, visibility was poor, but
when we saw the moving object again,
both of us recognized it as a deer.
However, its head was down.
As the deer was passing through
some thin brush, Sam moved up a
few steps in order to get a better
look. Then the deer passed a narrow
opening and we both saw that it was
a buck--a small one-not too many
points, but enough. When he showed
himself the next time, Sam had the
sights of his .35 Remington on him
and quickly pulled the trigger. I was
behind a couple of steps and had my
gun up ready to shoot but the buck
went down like lightning had struck
him. We both ran up like kids to
their first kill. He was a fat, slick
five-pointer. He was small, even for
the brush country of South Texas, but
he was the first game of the season.By
LLOYD H. GLOVER24
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 9, Number 12, November 1951, periodical, November 1951; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588356/m1/25/?q=%221951~%22: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.