As I will not be hunting Africa this year I decided decided to take my daughters, Ariel, age 11 and Bailey, age 9, on their first big game hunt as shooters and not observers. Along with a good friend and his son we hunted the Whitt Ranch near Mertzon, Texas last Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning. The girls have been around hunting and firearms all their lives and have posed with numerous dead critters over the years. The past 4 or 5 years they have been hunting with me during early fall deer hunts, spring turkey hunts and dove shoots and have been shooting air rifles and rimfires 22s and magnums. They had never fired a centerfire rifle prior to sighting in the afternoon we arrived at the ranch. They both hit the bullseye on the first shot and we went hunting. The first photo above is Ariel and the buck she spotted herself, set up for the shot on her own and made a perfect 50 yard heart shot. She hunted hard for 2.5 days and nearly all of one day in a stand to take a buck after her younger sister made it look easy the first evening. Ariel had to contend with bad luck, darkness, bad animal position and blown chances. She refused to take bad shot opportunities and past on animals that didn't come up to her standards even late in the hunt as she would not shoot a buck that didn't have 3 curls. She was very cool and collected until after the animal dropped. Then I don't think she left any tracks walking over to inspect her first trophy. The next photo is Bailey and her great buck. She made a shot nearer to 150 yards than 100 as I misjudged the distance on this small critter, but she put it down and hasn't stopped talking about it yet. I knew Bailey's buck was a good one, but had no idea the amount of abuse she was going to heap on me and her older sister about killing a better one than us. I almost had to put her in the back of the truck on the way home. The girls were shooting a 6mm Remington Mohawk rifle we borrowed from the ranch owner, Ronnie Whitt. It was his wife's first rifle and she and their kids and grandkids has used it for years to take deer and exotics from the ranch. It was a great little rifle that fit both my daughters and the recoil didn't seem to bother them, especially when they were shooting at game.



The Whitt ranch is a 3200 brushy, west Texas high fence whitetail and exotic hunting ranch. It is a first class operation with great guest rooms, dining hall and facilities. Ronnie and Rita Whitt feed you 3 big meals a day, a mid day snack if you want, all the soft drink and beer you want to drink and look after you ever need. They even provide coolers with snacks and drinks for the blinds morning and evening and skin, quarter, cape and cold store you animals. All this service at a rate of $100.00/day for adults and $50.00/day for children. I can't think of a better place to take beginners during the off season as the blinds are big and comfortable and hunting can also be done from a safari truck or on foot spot and stalk. The ranch is filled with quality deer, including some huge bucks, and a good assortment of naturally born exotics and a fledgling herd of Sable. If you would be interested in more information please look up the web site at www.Whittranch.com



Perry

PWN375 is the $100 a day on top of the $1200 for the Black buck.Their website is not clear to me on this and their E-mail doesn't work. Thanks

Rob,

The $100.00/day is in addition to the trophy fee of $1,200.00 for the blackbuck. I don't know what the difficulty is with their e-mail address. 2 of my messages have been bounced.

Perry

Perry, what a great story, and what a thrill for you to share this experience with your kids! Good going Pop and girls! Much Weidmannsheil to the fortunate and skillful hunters!
- mike