Jake and I received an email from a man about a new place to run. This place was to me a fair chase ranch. Now that I have your attention... It is story time
We met up with the land owner a couple hours after daylight. After a few weeks of emailing back and forth we finaly met face to face. He was a tall man, not rough looking, but rather a simple blue collar looking man that looked like he could be George Straits brother. After greeting and talking for a bit we all went to the quarters where the hunting guests stay. When I walked in I was taken back a bit by the size of the deer mounted on the wall. We moved toward an arial map of the land and I tried to pay attention but it was hard to with the monster bucks both mounted and framed in pictures on the wall.
We came up with a game plan but before saddling up on the atv's and mini truck Mr. Bozeman led us in prayer, and it brought on a since of warmth in the chilly Mississippi morning air. We were being led through a pasture to a gravel road by Mr. Bozemans son Swazey. We came over the first hill and before we could shift into third gear 3 shooter bucks by any mans standards jumped and ran from a nearby fence line. The ten point and 2 eight points trotted over the next hill as we all froze to watch... All of us except for Swayze of course who must have grown accustomed to seeing these monsters on a regular basis. We reached the gravel road that led us to where we would meet with Mr. Bozeman again. On the way to meeting him we came across a group of 3 does that were grazing to the right of us in a valley. We continued on our way trying to look at the road but with the size and amount of deer on this place our eyes were everywhere but on the road. We came upon a hill on the gravel road and to our left was a doe and 2 yearlings who apparently thought it would be fun to chase us. The two yearlings quickly lost interest before reaching the fence line but the mom was interested... interested enough to let us enjoy seeing her chase us 10 feet away down the fence line for about 30 yards.
Finaly we met up with Mr. Bozeman and proceeded to the place where he had been seing some rooting. We got to the intersection of the main road and the road to the food plot and discussed the next move as we watch deer grazing in the food plot. We move on to the plot and saw old sign. Mr. Bozeman went ahead to look for "fresher" sign. After a phone call from him we moved on to a better place. The dogs hunted well but didnt catch a trail. This continued till we reached the last plot on the road. Some fresh rooting, some old rooting and no dogs could find a trail. At the last plot I decided to walk in the woods a bit and cast the dogs out. 2 of our big catahoulas bolted out and began trailing on old scent as they topped the first ridge and headed out of sight toward the swamp bottom two big does came off the same ridge and got within 15 yards of me. Our dogs made the loop and came back. One of our other partners dogs has an off and on problem with deer and is a jam up hog dog. We were hoping he would have an off day for deer but soon saw him chasing a buck across the road.
We continued to hunt through lunch as Mr. Bozeman and Swayze took a break to eat. We hit trail after tail and plot after plot and the sign got lesser the further we went. Another buck was spotted on the back side of an oxbow on a push by the river. After an hour or so Mr.Bozeman and Swaze showed up with lunch for us. We talked and ate and decided to make one last push. The dogs ended up getting on a good trial but it was in a cut over a few years old that a mouse would have a hard time walking through. The dogs lost the trial after a few hundred yards, so we packed up and headed to the trucks.
A dry run? yeah.... but the fellowship, good people, wildlife and the scenery were well worth the drive and the effort. Mr Bozeman and his family were some of the best people I have ever met, and would love to see it again... hopefully with better luck next time
-Cody
