Well it was a bit warmer than I really like for hunting but our young hunter was finally able to connect with the buck of his choice late Wednesday afternoon. Coby and his dad enjoyed a 3 day hunt on the Rio Bonito under the able guiding of Donnie Pope. While at the ranch they were able to view the regular inhabitants of the region such as whitetail deer, Rio Grande Turkeys, feral hogs, porcupines and various varmints. In addition to these locals they enjoyed the opportunity to view such strange new comers as scimitar horned oryx, axis deer, fallow deer, sika deer, blackbuck antelope, eland, Corsican rams and their various cousins, aoudad, impala, bison, and many more species that call the Rio Bonito home. At first Coby wanted to take that whitetail buck of his dreams but as he saw more and more of the different exotics which inhabit that part of the Lone Star state he changed his mind and began hunting for an axis or sika buck instead. Coby found the sika buck of his choice with barely an hour of daylight left on the last day of his hunt. After making a clean one shot kill, we had to really hold onto the ropes as we tried to prevent him from floating away on the clouds. After pictures and congratulations, ranch manager Gwen Hughes invited Coby to stick around for an extra day and try his hand at feral hog hunting. All in all we had a good trip and enjoyed the hospitality of the folks at the Rio Bonito.
