The tawny spotted hide was only occasionally visible in the thick Texas cedar puckerbrush. I donxe2x80x99t think any animal can disappear quite like a spotted fallow deer.
Skunked for more than twenty-one hard hunted days, for the life of me I just couldnxe2x80x99t figure these crazy spooky, ultra-elusive deer out, even on my own private Texas home ranch that I knew intimately.
By Ted Nugent
Whitetails seemed to be the 1st critters to showup each morning and afternoon at our chosen stands, but the whitetail season was still weeks away. We saw some sika deer once in a while, a rare distant super skittish axis deer, some beautiful blackbuck antelope here and there, stunning African Scimitar Horn Oryx, even the occasional fleeting glimpse at the ghost like African Aoudad sheep, but the fallow deer seemed to have our number.
So what else is new?
At about the time I was ready to call it quits and head back to the ranch house, the spotted hide reappeared and began to come our way through the impenetrable scrub.
Holy backstraps! What a beast!
This old cagey stag had evaded me for seven years on SpiritWild Ranch, and now he comes.
His velvet covered mega-antlers were enormous, moose-like!
His body was the biggest body I had ever seen on any deer this side of an elk, surely exceeding 300 pounds.
And still he cometh!
I was so cocked, locked and ready to rock that I thought I may explode right out of my quadstand.
I closed my eyes and literally repeated each step of my shot sequence as I did all in my power to calm myself down for the long awaited shot opportunity.
When I opened my eyes, this phenomenal animal was standing perfectly broadside with his head down and slightly turned as it chomped on some Primos Swamp Donkey feed.
With my entire being focused on the single spot leading to his pumpstation, my Mathews had a life of its own and instantly the orange glow of the Lumenok tipped zebra shaft disappeared into his crease as if on a mission from God.
Such moments are truly out of body. Spiritual. Eternal. I was that arrow.
The killshot afterglow is indescribable. Effervescent. Stimulating. Intoxicating. Surreal. Not of this earth.
In the immediate afterglow I watched as the mortally hit stag galloped a short 75 yards, made a circle and fell over dead, all in a matter of a few seconds.
The beast is dead, long live the beast!
Deer and deer hunting in America should be celebrated for all its worth. The mighty whitetail in all its fascinating varied sub-species and the always amazing American Muledeer will always occupy a most prestigious and revered place in our deerhunting hearts. But do not underestimate the equal glory of the sika, fallow, axis, Pere David, Barasinga and European red deer that can be found in Texas and elsewhere.
Deerhunting is deerhunting and backstraps are backstraps the way I look at it, and some of my most thrilling deerhunting moments have come from hard earned encounters with these non-native herbivores.
Like the phenomenal hunting excitement and conservation successes as provided by the importation of the Chinese Ringneck pheasant, Chuckars and Hungarian partridge, these alternative deer species provide real honest to God deerhunting dreams for millions of American deer hunting families each year.
The finely tuned strategies necessary to bring home whitetail and muledeer backstraps are the exact same challenges that are needed and celebrated for exotic species deerhunting.
You may hear the occasionally presumptuous clown squawk ignorantly about so called xe2x80x9ccanned huntsxe2x80x9d for exotic species, but you will never meet anyone who has actually hunted these deer say such baffoonish nonsense.
As we clamor with excitement into the 2016/17 deerseason, do not underestimate the continuing and expanded thrilling opportunities for these other deer. You want more FUN MEAT SPORT TROPHY beyond whitetails and muleys, think about a winter deer safari in Texas.
More deerhunting is always better than less deerhunting!
Multi-platinum guitar legend TED NUGENT announces a new full-length album THE MUSIC MADE ME DO IT, due out Friday, November 9, on Round Hill Records. The album is available now for preorder everywhere, and the title track xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d is available to download and stream wherever music is sold.
Ted Nugent xe2x80x93 xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d (Official Music Video)
With more than 40 million albums sold, rock legend Ted Nugent is equally well known as the nationxe2x80x99s most outspoken proponent of our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, conducting thousands of pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-American interviews in major media worldwide. Nugent is a New York Times best-selling author whose works include Ted, White & Blue xe2x80x94The Nugent Manifesto; God, Guns & Rock xe2x80x98nxe2x80x99 Roll and Kill It & Grill It.This year, his award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show celebrates its 500th episode! For all things Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com