USA: More Fun At The Rockin G Ranch

[jduckhunter]

A few weeks ago, my wife and I headed south for another hunt with the great folks at the Rockin G Ranch @gizmo. After a little detour to Dallas on Friday to have dinner with Dailorsailor and his wife we continued our trip over to the ranch arriving Saturday morning. Got settled in took a quick nap and then Justin and Kelly took my wife and I for a ride around the hunting area, my wife really enjoyed seeing all of the different species they have there. We did manage to get a glimpse of my primary target critter, a rather large water buffalo bull that Gizmo really wanted gone. So, the next morning after a much-needed good night's sleep and a cup of coffee Justin and I took off to see if we could locate the bull and hopefully find him in an area where we could get to him and also get him out of. Well, that didn't work out we found him at the bottom of one of the deepest canyons so we went for a slow ride around the area to see what else we could see and to wait him out a bit. Maybe an hour later we circled back around and found him up out of the ditch and making his way along a game trail. We parked the rig and headed in his direction on foot stopping behind some small trees less then 100 yards from him and along his chosen path. When he got a bit closer, we stepped out from behind the trees and I got comfortable in my favorite shooting position, kneeling. The bull saw us right away, looked us over and continued directly at us, I kept an eye on him through my scope, which I think I had turned down to 1 1/2 or maybe 2 power. Even at that low power he seemed to be getting pretty big in my scope, so I gave a quick glance back at Justin who was kneeling directly behind me and I don't remember his exact reaction to my questioning glance, but I could sense that he wanted me to shoot and pretty soon. So at about 40 yards I took the only shot that was presented a full-on frontal shot. I was using my 375 Ruger and 300 gr. Woodleigh Weldcores left over from a Cape buffalo hunt some years ago. He took the first shot like a champ jumped and kicked a bit and wandered off of the path and gave me a perfect broadside shot. I hit him twice more with the first being a high shoulder shot and the second a low shoulder shot. He staggered off away from us a few yards and finally went down under some larger trees. Justin and I were both elated the bull was down and without a lot of additional drama. Pictures were taken and then the real work started.

More to come later.

 

[gillettehunter]

Congrats!!
That’s a lot of meat hanging there. Let us know how he tastes.
Bruce

 

[gizmo]

Love it! He was an awesome bull. Man those things are tough!

 

[gizmo]

 

[dailordasailor]

Awesome critter! Cant wait to hunt one of my own in 2024.

 

[Ragman]

Wow lots of burgers there! One day I’d love to go back to the Rockin G. What else did you get there?

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[jduckhunter]

So far all I can tell you is that the burger is awesome, and the bologna is pretty amazing too! My granddaughter came to visit Easter weekend and decided to give me a hand making 10 sticks of buffalo/cheddar.

 

[jduckhunter]

So, after the buffalo was taken care of, I decided that I wasn't ready to quit hunting yet. So, after a brief discussion with Justin and my wife it was decided that we should chase a Blackbuck around for a while. And boy oh boy that's what we did for the next day and a half, those little buggers seem to be able to read your mind and stay one step ahead of you. But on the last evening for whatever reason the buck that we were after decided to hesitate and take a look around after the rest had run out of pretty thick cover and disappeared. Justin and I spotted him about the same time, and he immediately threw the sticks up in front of me, I had no sooner settled on the sticks when the buck decided to take a few steps and into some thick cover. I grabbed the sticks and shifted a few steps left, when I got the scope back on him again, I could see his shoulder bracketed by two tree limbs one high and one low with just enough room I hoped to put a bullet between. After murmuring a one-word prayer "Please" I squeezed the trigger and saw him collapse through the scope. What a rush! After putting that much effort into something and then to finally connect on the last evening was, well it was almost too much. That boys and girls is the reason I hunt, not just for the kill but for the whole experience the highs and the lows. And to have been able to share the whole thing with a great guy like Justin that just made it that much more special.
At this point I would like to thank Erik for making the whole thing possible. I need to thank Justin also for making it a great hunting experience and thank you Kelly for doing your best to fatten me up with your delicious meals and also for keeping my wife company while I was out hunting. And also, thanks Billy for the great skinning and cutting job that you did on that buff.

 

[gizmo]

So, after the buffalo was taken care of, I decided that I wasn't ready to quit hunting yet. So, after a brief discussion with Justin and my wife it was decided that we should chase a Blackbuck around for a while. And boy oh boy that's what we did for the next day and a half, those little buggers seem to be able to read your mind and stay one step ahead of you. But on the last evening for whatever reason the buck that we were after decided to hesitate and take a look around after the rest had run out of pretty thick cover and disappeared. Justin and I spotted him about the same time, and he immediately threw the sticks up in front of me, I had no sooner settled on the sticks when the buck decided to take a few steps and into some thick cover. I grabbed the sticks and shifted a few steps left, when I got the scope back on him again, I could see his shoulder bracketed by two tree limbs one high and one low with just enough room I hoped to put a bullet between. After murmuring a one-word prayer "Please" I squeezed the trigger and saw him collapse through the scope. What a rush! After putting that much effort into something and then to finally connect on the last evening was, well it was almost too much. That boys and girls is the reason I hunt, not just for the kill but for the whole experience the highs and the lows. And to have been able to share the whole thing with a great guy like Justin that just made it that much more special.
At this point I would like to thank Erik for making the whole thing possible. I need to thank Justin also for making it a great hunting experience and thank you Kelly for doing your best to fatten me up with your delicious meals and also for keeping my wife company while I was out hunting. And also, thanks Billy for the great skinning and cutting job that you did on that buff.View attachment 529519

Thank you brother! We love having ya'll and hope to get to hunt together again soon. Be fun to plan a duck hunt together.

 

[RBurg44]

Nice work!