Think deer hunting’s hard for you? Well, it’s definitely a whole lot harder for 16-year-old Ben Fontenot, but that hasn’t stopped him from whacking some brutes.
Last week I had a chance to hunt two great places. Thursday through Friday I hunted Laguna Ranch, a 12,000-acre property in Laredo, Texas.
It was incredible. They have an enormous amount of game: lots of big deer and big hogs and javalena.
In South Texas, the rut is winding down and the big bucks have lost 30 to 40 pounds of body weight. This works well for the hunters because the deer need to eat and you can start to pattern them.
We had great hunts over corn we would spray in the sendaroes and feeders. The ranch only shoots 4-year-old management deer or 6 ½-year-old trophies.
In those two days I shot a 17-inch-wide 114-inch 8-pt that was 4 years old, a coyote and, unfortunately, I missed a 138-inch 6-year-old 11-point. I have been thinking about it every 10 minutes – big bummer.
The trip was great. I tell you what: The deer behave like deer are supposed to in Texas.
This past weekend I came back to Louisiana and was lucky enough to get invited by my good friends, Brennan Kean and John Waitz, to go to Lottie Hunting Club that encompasses 20,000 acres in the Morganza floodway. The rut is in full swing right now, and they have killed several nice bucks.
On Sunday alone, I saw a 140-inch buck killed in the morning and another mid-140s 10-point killed that afternoon. The best hunts at Lottie have been in places where you find lots of Does.
You just need to get lucky enough to run into the right one.
Good luck and shoot straight.
