Double Diamond Outfitters

It's never to early to get your kids, or anyone for that matter, introduced to the outdoors and hunting.  We need all the help we can get at introducing more people to the outdoors and getting them interested in hunting.  I grew up on a farm and have been roaming around the woods since I was just a kid.  Some of my most fond memories are of my days spent on the farm with my parents and grandparents.  It was a great place to grow up and so much fun as a kid.  

Unfortunately, with the majority of the population now living in cities it's difficult to find the time and place to take your kids hunting.  That's why I was really happy to get an email from a friend of mine about a hog he shot this morning.  I know in Texas we kill a lot of hogs and take hog hunting for granted, so another hog picture/story isn't that exciting, but this time it's a little different.  He got up this morning and as he was helping get the kids ready for school he noticed a big hog under his feeder.  He shot the hog and his son helped track him.  How many other 5 year olds can say they got to trail a hog they watched their dad shoot before school this morning?? Take your kids hunting and keep our heritage alive!

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to kill a desert mule deer and free range, "native" elk here in Texas.  Sounds easy enough for someone that lives in Texas and ownes an outfitting company, right? Well it's not anywhere as easy as it sounds and good desert mule deer country is extreamly tough to find.  Add in free range, "native" elk and it's almost impossible.  But after years of looking I've finally found the ranch where both is not only possible but very probable.  

The name of the ranch is the Cerf Ranch and it's 12,000 acres between Ft. Stockton and Sanderson.  When I was out there last week I saw 7 bull elk and about 40 mule deer and about 10 whitetail.  The Cerf is in the heart of the highest density of desert mule deer in Texas.  Throw in the elk and whitetail and you quickly get one of the premier hunting ranches in the state.  I will be offering desert mule deer, elk and whitetail hunts on the Cerf this fall.  The desert mule deer hunts are $4500, the elk are $5000 and any whitetail we see during your hunt can be harvested for $1500.  As with all of my hunts, these hunts are fully guided and include meals, lodging, and field care of your animals.  We will be staying on the ranch in a 3 bedroom house.  Hunters should expect to harvest desert mule deer scoring 150-180", elk scoring 300-350" and whitetail scoring 120-150".  Desert mule deer and elk hunting is more challenging than hunting whitetail, so get to the range and be prepared before you head to the Cerf.  

We can legally hunt elk year around in Texas but will start our hunts, both rifle and/or archery hunts, in September during the bugling season.  The desert mule deer season is regulated by TPWD and runs from November 26th - December 12th.

If you or anyone you know is interested in hunting desert mule deer and or elk in Texas please let me know.  This is a great oppertunity and a great ranch and I'm very happy to be able to offer hunts on the Cerf.  It took many years to find a good desert mule deer and elk ranch, but it was well worth the wait!!! I can't wait until September!!

Last week Trueman came down from Indiana for his 1st ever hunt, a South Texas spring turkey hunt.  I really enjoy having 1st time hunters and Trueman was no exception.  Since Trueman was a 1st time turkey hunter I asked a friend, and my best turkey guide, Billy to come help call to make sure that Trueman went back to Indiana with 2 nice Rio Grande Turkey's.

Before the sun came up Monday morning we made our way to within 200 yards of one of the turkey roosts and started softly calling to the turkeys in the roost.  Despite our best efforts, when the turkeys flew down from the roost they flew away from us and kept following the hens away from us.  As the sun came up, so did the wind and by early morning the wind was easily 20 mph which made it very difficult to hear any turkeys gobbling.  After taking a short break for lunch we headed to another location on the ranch where we had been seeing turkeys strutting and got lucky enough to find 2 hens and 2 toms.  Despite our best calling we couldn't pull the toms away from the hens and were getting ready to leave when we noticed a lone tom that had snuck in behind us.  He put on quite a show for us but stayed just out of range and then a lone hen came in and pulled him away from us.  Once again we were about to call it quits when Billy was able to call the tom away from the hen, he came in and Trueman made a perfect shot and had his 1st Rio Grande Turkey on his 1st ever hunt. 

Tuesday morning we started out at another turkey roost, but once again the toms followed the hens away from us once they hit the ground.  Since the turkeys were still in the area we didn't go far, but it took us a few hours to find them and get in position.  After getting in position, Billy started calling and again Trueman made a perfect shot to collect his 2nd Rio Grande Turkey in as many days.

Like I mentioned, 1st time hunters are a blast and I really appreciate Trueman making the long drive from Indiana to South Texas to hunt with us.  We had a great time and Trueman went back with 2 great turkeys.  His 1st bird had a 9-1/4" beard and 1" spurs and his 2nd bird had a 9-1/2" beard and 1-1/8" spurs.  Not bad for a 70 year young, 1st time hunter!?!?

March 20th was opening day of Spring Turkey Season in Texas and I had the pleasure of having DJ come down from New England for his 1st South Texas Rio Grande Turkey hunt.  Being an avid turkey hunter, DJ has hunted turkey's all over the country, including the Texas Hill Country, but he had never hunted turkey in South Texas and I was really excited that he gave me the oppertunity and joined me between George West and Freer.

We got to the ranch Friday afternoon, got our gear unpacked, and headed out to do a little scouting and make a game plan for opening morning.  The forcast was for a strong front to move through South Texas early Saturday morning and we knew our morning hunt would be cut short so we were trying to be prepared.  Well, we were prepared Saturday morning, but the tom's were "henned up" and had other ideas.  They were pretty quiet once they flew down from the roost but we had a few gobbling enough to get us further and further away from the truck just to make sure that we would be completely soaked to the bone before stumbling back to the truck. After returning from George West, to dry all our clothes, and eating lunch we headed out to make up for lost time.  With the wind at a steady 25mph, and gusting to over 30mph, we knew we were going to have our work cut out for us.  As we headed back out we spotted a lone tom strutting and headed towards him.  We were able to get within about 70 yards of him, set up the hen decoy and started calling.  After about 20 minutes of gobbling like crazy he sprinted in to our set up, stopped when he saw the hen decoy and DJ made a great shot at about 17 yards.  With all the rain we have been having in Texas there are bluebonnets everywhere so we grabbed DJ's turkey and went to get some pictures.

After some great pictures we were off to see if we could double up in 1 afternoon.  We headed back to a location where we had seen several tom's and about 6 hens the previous afternoon and got lucky and they were there again.  After sneaking, crawling, duck walking, and crawling a little more, we got to within about 80 yards of the turkey's and began calling.  We called for over an hour, but both tom's were very content to stay with their hens and could care less about what we were doing.  With the sun fading and the turkey's not cooperating we were about to pack up the decoys and call it a day when I spotted 2 red heads walking through the brush.  Unfortunately they saw us as well and we thought we were busted.  Luckily they were more concentrated on the hens than us and continued toward us and the decoys.  The only problem was that with the sun fading, the 25mph winds, and having been sitting in the shade for over an hour, both DJ and I were freezing and shaking like crazy.  Once the tom's saw the decoys though it was all over.  They came to within 25 yards, DJ took a deep breath to help control his shaking, and he once again made a perfect shot.  All the turkey's scattered but as we were about the get up and collect everything, the other tom came back in and tried to jump on the dead gobbler and show him who's boss!!!!  It was an awesome way to wrap up and afternoon and an awesome hunt!!!  With daylight fading we hurried to get some good pictures.

The final tally was: Rio Grande Turkey #1 22lbs & 10-1/2" Beard, Rio Grande Turkey #2 19lbs & 9-1/4" Beard.  2 great turkey's, within a couple hours of each other, in those weather conditions, and both on opening day.?.?  I thought that was pretty awesome and I'm pretty sure DJ did as well!!!

With DJ getting his 2 tom's we were able to relax a little and on Sunday we decided to take a few pictures of all the wildflowers that were blooming.  2009 saw South Texas in a terrible drought, but in October it started raining and it hasn't stopped and South Texas is in great shape.  I don't think I've ever seen this many wildflowers in South Texas in over 25+ years.  It's absolutely beautiful. There are so many bluebonnets in some areas that it looks like water.  It's impossible to explain and definitely not a very common occurance, so you have to make the most of it while we have it.

We had a great time, a great hunt and I really appreciate DJ coming down to hunt with me.  I've got Trueman, a 70 year young, 1st time turkey hunter coming down on Sunday afternoon and we will start hunting Monday morning.  I'm really excited to meet him and can't wait to get to hunt with him.  I'll keep you posted and thanks for reading.

Wes

 Spring time in South Texas is a beautiful time of year.  All the trees and flowers are blooming.  There are bluebonnets everywhere.  The weather is very mild and pleasant, the Rio Grande Turkeys are gobbling and most of the axis deer are growing their antlers.  It's an awesome time to be in the woods.

Turkey season starts this weekend and we will be outside of George West chasing turkeys come Saturday morning.  With all the rain and warm days that South Texas has had over the last few months the brush country has never looked better.  The grass is knee high and there are wildflowers and bluebonnets blooming all over.  We have been seeing turkeys strutting and drumbing all day long and they have really been gobbling the last few mornings.  We are hunting a ranch that gets very little hunting pressure and I'm really looking forward to getting out this weekend and trying to call in some of those big gobblers we have been seeing.

Spring is also prime time to hunt big axis deer and we've got some great axis deer this year.  You can find axis deer with hard horns year around, but spring and summer is typically the best time to find the biggest axis bucks.  If you have never hunted exotics in Texas you are really missing out and should give it a try.  It's a great way to extend you hunting season, hone your shooting skills, and take home some great trophys.

Scarlet, 9 years old, shot this great axis buck during her spring break just outside of Boerne, TX.  She made a great shot with a 257 Roberts and he only went about 25 yards.  Congrats Scarlet!!  Thats a great axis buck!!!!

After wrapping up pronghorn season it was time to start hunting whitetail.  In Texas, a good protion of the ranches have Managed Land Deer Permits (MLDP or MLD for short) which allow us to start rifle hunting at the beginning of October.  With a lot of the ranches hunting whitetail the week I was hunting pronghorn, I knew there were some really big deer killed already.  My buddy, James Newport, shot a monster whitetail with his bow opening day that grossed 202" and will net right around 196".  That's a net Boone and Crockett Non-Typical with a bow!!!  On that same ranch on the same hunt, another hunter shot a whitetail that grossed 230" non-typical!!! Two book non-typical deer, during the worst drought in recorded history, on the same ranch on the same day!! Very impressive!!

Mike was coming in from NC and for the last year we had been planning on bowhunting a big deer.  We finally decided on hunting the second week of October and we were targeting a mid to high 170s" buck with a droptine.  I was a little nervous that this buck was going to break his droptine when rubbing off his velvet, but he was still going to be a monster buck either way.  The first couple of days were pretty slow with Mike only harvesting a couple of hogs, but we had some very close calls with a couple of other bucks that were on our hit list.  The 3rd morning we broke the ice with Mike harvesting a 132" management buck and that's all it took.  As the light was fading fast, the big deer we were hunting stepped into view from the ground blind's window.  After a couple of very nervous minutes, the big deer finally presented a quartering away shot but he was walking a wouldn't stop.  We grunted at the big deer and he stopped for just a couple of seconds, but that was all the time Mike needed.  Mike made a great quartering away shot and the buck only ran about 40 yards. When I saw his antlers sticking above the grass I knew we really had killed a monster.  After hunting the next morning, and Mike missing another management deer on our hit list with his recurve, I took the buck to Pearsall to be entered into the Los Cazadores Deer Contest.  They scored the buck at 179" w/o the 4-5" droptine he had broken off!! We hunted for another 1.5 days and Mike connected with 2 more deer and another hog. 

The final tally was 4 deer and 5 hogs in 4.5 days with Mike taking 2 of the bucks and 3 of the hogs with his recurve.  The big deer currently sits 2nd in the High Fence - Archery Division of Los Cazadores.  We still have over 2 months of deer season to go, but we are definitely off to a good start!!

I wrapped up Pronghorn season with 3 successful hunts.  The biggest Pronghorn we killed was 14-7/8" and scored just over 70".  That's a pretty nice Pronghorn for where we hunt and it was Barbara's 1st Pronghorn, so she was very excited.

The 1st few days of the season were cool, overcast, and rainy but after the 1st weekend it cleared up and we had great weather.  It was deffinitely a nice change having the cooler weather, though.  The sun can get pretty intense at that elevation, so being overcast was pretty nice.  West TX has been getting quite a lot of rain, so the grass was pretty tall and that made it a little difficult to spot the Pronghorn unless they were up and moving.  When they layed down, they pretty much dissapeared. 

Unfortunately West TX, mainly the region around Marfa, has been experiencing a drop in Pronghorn.  The ranch we hunt still has good numbers of Pronghorn and some really nice bucks, but it's still a little concerning.  Most of the ranchers in the area, ourselves included, are participating in a study in conjuntion with the TPWD to try and find out the cause of the decline in Pronghorn populations in the area.  We collected several samples for the study and they said they got some pretty good data, so hopefully  they will find out what's going on and help the numbers of Pronghorn rebound.  I know it's been pretty dry and hot during July when the babies are normally being born, so hopefully they will get some rain and cooler weather and that will help as well.

We also saw quite a few Aoudad.  We saw 1 really big Aoudad, about 31", with a broken right horn.  I would imagine his bases were about 13", so I would love to see the Aoudad that hit him hard enough to break his horn.  I got pretty close to a herd of about 40 and got some pretty good pictures.  I love hunting Aoudad and spent a couple of days in the mountains looking for them.  We got close enough for several shots, but none of the hunters I had with me when I saw them wanted to shoot an Aoudad.  That's normally how it works.  When you are hunting them they are hard to find, and when you don't really need to find them they walk out right in front of you.  It was still fun though, and with my camera I shot all of them several time and didn't have to clean a thing.

I just got back and will start hunting a mid 170" whitetail with a drop time, but I can't wait to get back out to West TX next season and hunt Aoudad and Pronghorn.  We may not have as many Pronghorn permits next season, but I'm sure we will have some.  If you are interested in hunting Aoudad or Pronghorn, just give me a call or email me.  We'll have a blast!!

I'll keep you posted on the whitetail hunt.  This is a big deer and we will be bowhunting, so cross your fingers.  I tried to update the blog via my phone, but couldn't figure it out but I'll try again on this next hunt.

Stay tuned.....

So my season gets started in earnest tomorrow.  Pronghorn season begins tomorrow and I'm headed out to Ft Davis for the next week to hunt Pronghorn and Aoudad.  I love being out there this time of year.  We normally have great weather, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous, and I love to hunt pronghorn and aoudad.

It looks like it's going to be a great season.  I'll keep you posted, so stay tuned.

So the CO archery season is in full swing and the hunting has been pretty good. We have been seeing some really good mule deer at our water troughs, and the elk are talking like crazy.  We don't have anything on the ground yet, but have had a 170ish mule deer within 30 yards, but on the wrong side of the fence, and a 280ish bull elk at 22 yards.  The elk came in on the 2nd day of the season and he just wasn't big enough for that early in the season.  Here's a little video after it was decided that he wasn't big enough.  He's the bigger of the 2 elk in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng_jmFquRJg

Not being in CO this time of year is weird for me, but I've been going to different ranches and scouting for whitetail and have been seeing some really big deer.  It looks like a lot of the deer just stuck their head in the protien because of the drought.  I've seen several deer that just blew up and grew 30"+ this year.  Crazy in the middle of the worst drought in recorded history in this part of the world.  I'm really excited about getting out to start hunting whitetails.  I've got some great whitetail to hunt this season if anyone is still interested.  It's going to be an awesome season and I've still got dates available, so just let me know.

Not much to report today except some cool weather and great hunting.  My buddy, Ryan, passed a 280" elk this morning.  It's just way to early in the season to be killing a bull like that.  Not that there's anything wrong with a 280" elk, but when you've been seeing 300"+ bulls it's kind of a no brainer.  He got it all on video though, so that should be awesome to watch.

The rain we got right after we planted the wheat is really going to help and we will probably have wheat coming out of the ground in a couple of weeks.  This should really increase our chances at mule deer & elk later in the archery season.  The elk and mule deer are really coming to the water tanks and things are looking real good and should only get better as the season progresses.

CO is off to a great start and the game camera pictures I'm getting from our ranches in TX are looking very promising as well.

I'm ready to start hunting, so stay tuned.

Wes

So today was the 1st day of archery season in CO.  I always love this time of year in CO.  By this time of the summer in TX I've had enough of the heat and I'm ready to head to cooler weather and hear some elk sing to me.  Unfortunately I write this from TX and I'm not going to be making the trip to CO.  I'm bummed because we have been seeing a lot of tracks around our water tanks, seeing a lot of really big mule deer and we got some rain on the wheat we planted and it's starting to come out of the ground.  It'll be ok though.  We are going to have corn, oats, and wheat planted next year as well as have the water tanks full and the animals will be there.  I'll be ready and it will only be better!

I start hunting in earnest in early October out in West TX for Pronghorn.  Since I'm not able to make it to CO to hunt elk or mule deer, I can't wait to see some Pronghorn!  Plus we've been getting some great pics of fuzzy horned whitetail and despite the lack of rain we are seeing some great whitetail! Its going to be a great season and I'm really looking forward to getting back into the woods. 

I've still got some openings for whitetail hunts, so if anyone is interested please send me an email or call me.

I'll keep you posted about CO as I get updates.  I'll post some pics when I get some.

I hope everyone has a great hunting season and thanks for reading.

Wes

Well the new site is up and running.  I've still got a little tweaking to get it 100%, but we are really close. Have I mentioned how much I like the new site??

I'm just putting the finishing touches on the new website.  I'm really excited about the new look.  Hope y'all like it.  Let me know what you think.

Double Diamond Outfitters has a new look. Getting close to launching the new site.