June 08, 2016 by Jason Cross
Its been a great spring at the Cross Oaks Ranch this year. Weve been lucky to have lots of good rain so far, which will really help all the wildlife at the ranch. We have also been busy with several upgrades/improvements and are working on several more ideas before the end of summer. Best of all we had another great hunt with our friends from Colorado, for the 2nd straight spring.
Most of the hunters from last spring returned with their group, including 1 new hunter. They would be going after Turkey and Blackbuck, but this year everyone would be using a bow only. Using a gun for turkey is hard enough, but a bow is a true challenge. But this group has taken several nice trophies with a bow, including the ranch record whitetail and axis with a bow. So lots of experience within the group.
It was a long hard hunt this year. It seemed like they Gobblers hit their peak a little early this year with the warm weather. The response to the calls seemed to fluctuate contstantly. But luckily we were seeing and hearing birds for how slow it was. Jeremy Guillory was the first to take a Turkey, making a perfect shot. This was his first turkey and did it with a bow! The turkey was definetely interested in his guides decoy, making a great afternoon hunt successful.
One of the following mornings Jeremy Melichar also made a great shot and got his bird. This was also Jeremy's first turkey, accomplishing it with a bow! We really enjoyed having him out to the ranch for the first time, but glad to hear he will be joining us again this fall and next spring!
The group had bought a blackbuck together, splitting the cost and deciding whoever got the first turkey could then go after it. Well Jeremy Guillory was the winner of that and was hoping his luck would continue. That very first morning he went out and a really nice blackbuck that had been hanging out in the area came running in grunting as they do. Jeremy waited for an opportunity and made another perfect shot slinging the arrow right where he wanted it to go, getting him his first blackbuck! Congrats to Jeremy on two awesome animals with his bow! There is no doubt he is addicted to the bow now!
Also during the hunt Jesse Silva, Jeremy Guillory, Jeff Klassens, and Jeremy Melichar all took some good pigs. Each was a fun and exciting hunt!
As with the turkey hunt last year, there were some hard moments as well. Hunting turkey with a bow is a really difficult task, so lots of credit go to the hunters for trying it the hard way and refusing to use a gun even at the sake of not getting a bird. True bow hunters. We had a fair deal of misses on some oportunities, but lots of exciting times. Probably would have been several more dead toms if we had been shot gunning, but thats why bow hunting is so special!
It was another fun hunt with many good times and memories. We look forward to seeing them again this fall for Deer/Exotics and next spring to go after the turkey again!
As mentioned earlier, several projects have been in the works, with a few more to come before we start the new season. We look forward to sharing these with our hunters and in a future field notes post.
If you still havent made plans to see us this year, we still have 2 Trophy Blackbuck Hunts and 1 Iranian Red Sheep Hunt left for this season. There are also some blackbuck does still available. Let us know if you have an interest in a Texas Exotic Hunt!
We also have some limited dove hunting available.
Right now whitetail hunts are all sold out for this season. But let us know if you have an interest in case of a cancellation. We are also taking some limited reservations on whitetail hunts for the 2017-18 season.
We look forward to getting prepared for the coming season, before long it will be time for August Game Surveys and September Dove Hunting! Cant wait for what looks to be another great year.
Thanks for reading. If you need anything please give us a shout! 325-617-2550 or Info@CrossOaksRanch.com
Have a fun and safe summer!
