Anticipation and Doodles

Larry Weishuhn

“You didn’t get into camp last night until after everyone had turned in for the evening. Some tried to stay up, but when it approached mid-night, knowing breakfast would be at five, all abandoned the campfire.” Said the guide as he entered the camp’s well before dawn kitchen. I had coffee brewed and cast-iron skillets warming on the wood stove to start cooking breakfast.

“Took a lot longer to get here than I thought. Had I gotten here earlier I mostly likely would not have slept much anyway because of the excitement of what I hope this morning will bring.” The guide smiled. “You know me when it comes to hunting.  You and I both long ago learned, it doesn’t take either of us long to spend the night in a hunting camp!”

My long-time friend, rather than calling him my “old” friend, poured a cup of steaming hot “cowboy” coffee.  “I laid in bed tossing and turning going over plans where to put hunters this morning.  Guess that’s why I heard you come in about four.  I started to get up when you got here, but thought the better of it. We would have started talking and waked up the hunters long before they needed to be waked up to go hunting.” He continued after hesitating, “Since you’ve already made coffee, mind helping me with breakfast?’

“Thought you’d never ask! Breakfast taquitos?” He nodded yes. “I’ll cut up some bacon and onions to mix in scrambled eggs, then also cut up some tomatoes and avocado for them to add, if they want to.  I brought us some salsa from down near the Rio Bravo. It might be a little on the warm side for some. Remind me to caution those here who are from above Texas’ border.”  My old friend did his best to suppress a snicker; had a feeling he was not about to remind me.

I stoked the wood stove fire, added a couple sticks of dried oak, then started the breakfast process.  I heated flour tortillas on the wood stove’s surface – I detest tortillas warmed in a microwave, and refuse to serve such when doing anything resembling Tex-Mex food. Doing otherwise simply is not proper!

Eggs were made “fluffier” by adding a bit of warm water rather than milk as I stirred.  Doing so my mind drifted back to how this hunt had come about.  It started when I ran into my old friend/rancher/outfitter/guide who prefers not to be mentioned, at a DSC Convention and Outdoor Expo (www.biggame.org). For years he had a booth at DSC’s annual outdoor expo.

These days his hunts are fully booked years in advance.  He no longer has a booth at the show.  But he attends every year, is and has been extremely generous donating hunts to DSC, DSC Foundation and some DSC Chapters auctions.  Each year he retains two or three hunts for DSC/DSCF donations.  For the past many years he’s asked me to help host those donated hunts. If current game populations allow, based on his wildlife management program, I get to hunt as well. This was such a year.

I spent considerable time anxiously thinking about the hunt. They are always fun, and there is always a chance of seeing a monstrous whitetail that might knock on Boone and Crockett’s door.

Mid-summer, I started sending a case of Vineyard Max Deer Attractant (www.vineyardmax.net).  The property is in Texas where baiting is legal.  Primarily I wanted my friend to put out the attractant to entice and hold does in several specific locations on the ranch. I knew as the rut approached those does would attract bucks.  And, unlike many other bait attractants Vineyard Max’s additional fats, carbohydrates and energy were really good for the deer’s overall health.

My firearms preparations had started months earlier, not only for this hunr but others as well. Early summer, I spent time shooting at ranges at the Stealth Vision facility, the Choctaw Hunting Lodge, the Cotton Ranch and my own.  If you did not already know, I like to shoot.

My choice of rifles for the upcoming hunting season included Mossberg Patriot Predators chambered in .270, .30-06, 400 Legend, and my current favorite round, 7mm PRC.  I have two Mossberg Patriot Predators 7mm PRCs:  one with a factory beautiful wood stock 24-inch barrel.  The second has a 20-inch custom Avient Rapid Heat Releasing Barrel done for me by Thunder Valley Precision (www.thundervalleyprecision.com), with a muzzle brake.

I also planned on hunting some with my Rossi R95 lever-action rifles chambered in .30-30 Win and .45-70 Gov, and, a couple of vintage lever actions; a Savage Model 99 chambered in .300 Savage and a Winchester Model 1985 chambered in .30Govt06.  Not yet mentioning my Taurus Raging Hunter revolvers.  Thankfully I have access to hunting deer and other game on several properties, with generous bag limits, thanks to Texas’ Managed Land Deer Permits.

I had sighted-in my rifles with appropriate Hornady ammo, including some custom .400 Legend using Hornady bullets.  Incidentally, Hornady now produces ammo for that round.

I hunt with and shoot Hornady ammo because my rifles as well as my .44 Mag and .454 Casull Taurus Raging Hunter revolvers love Hornady ammunition, as their taglines suggests accurate, deadly and dependable.

A rifle I did not have at the time, heading into the 2025 hunting season, but now I do is Mossberg’s Patriot Carbine.  I plan on using it a lot because I really appreciate accurate, short barreled rifles and how well they “handle” while hunting.  Mine is a 7mm PRC cartridge.  Shot from the Mossberg’s 20-inch barrel the round does not lose any accuracy nor that much velocity or down-range energy when compared to a longer barrel.  More about the Mossberg Patriot Carbine in the future.  Sorry, I could not keep myself from mentioning it here because ever since Mossberg started chambering for the 7mm PRC, I have been asking and begging for a rifle with a 20-inch barrel.  They listened!

Back to last year, which is much like the upcoming months this Fall.  I was excited about the hunt with my friend, had been thinking about it since I had left the property the previous year.

Sitting in my office during the heat of the summer, comfortable because of air conditioning, aka “the world’s greatest ever invention”.  If you live in southern Texas as I do, not that far from the Gulf of America, you understand.  Sitting there I daydreamed and anticipated being back in camp with my old friend.  I imagined rattling up buck after buck, looking for that “perfect whitetail buck”. Well actually, either of two perfect bucks; one a massive, long-tined and wide typical 10-point with double drop-tines.  The other a long-tined, massive-beamed and wide typical 12-point. I often found and do find doing drawings of my dream bucks, hoping that if I did so a “sufficient” number of times those bucks will appear while hunting.  You gotta admit, it’s worth a try.

Have you got any hunts that are occupying your mind and anticipating with great hope?

Mmmmhuhhh!  I thought so!