LIGHTHOUSE 2911 Deer Hunt for 2008

In August we auctioned off a doe management hunt from one of the best wildlife management ranches in south Texas. Ricki McKinney and his son, Russell hosted this weekend. The winner of the auction, Keith Richardson, brought his son, Travis out to hunt. and I happened to be lucky enough to be invited by Ricki to bring my son and enjoy the weekend also. So we had three fathers and three sons and beautiful south Texas weather.

We arrived Friday afternoon and began to hunt about 4:00 pm. My son, Peter, and I weren't in the stands for five minutes when we began to see some does with yearlings. Soon after, we saw some young bucks. As they grow they will become what we call in Texas, Muy Grande bucks. And speaking of large bucks we also saw some monster bucks that afternoon. As the evening went on we saw a bobcat and as the sun began to set, we saw what we came to hunt, a tagged doe. These does need to be harvested because you want to keep the quality of your livestock at its peak. Because my son was setting across the stand he invited me to take the first shot, something I hadn't planned to do. But as he stated it was a tagged doe and we didn't have much time. I took the shot and we had our first kill. Right after that Travis shot an older doe and Friday evening became a time of dressing our kills and celebrating the fun of a fathers and sons weekend on a beautiful south Texas ranch.

Saturday morning we were in the stand at 6:00 am and saw some more beautiful wildlife, but no one had any shots. We had a great breakfast and spent time around the campfire telling "true stories" and enjoying the company of everyone.

The afternoon hunt began with some very windy conditions. We really expected not to see anything because of the windiness, but at about 5:00 pm a beautiful 12 point buck came out and a few does, nothing that we wanted to shoot. We watched the does and buck for about 30 minutes and then it happened. This spike popped out of the brush, looked at the blind, stood broadside. My son said it looked like a spike. I said it was one. He took the shot and the spike immediately fell down. Russell brought in a bobcat that evening and Travis brought in another doe. As we began the process of dressing out these animals, Ricki had prepared his famous beans, pico degaeo, and tasty beef fajitas. We sat around the fire and enjoyed each other's fellowship, discussing how blessed we are.

I really would like to thank Ricki and Russell McKinney for their awesome support of LIGHTHOUSE 2911. I would also like to thank Keith and Travis Richardson for their continued support of LIGHTHOUSE 2911. Finally I would like to thank my son, Peter for all he does for LIGHTHOUSE 2911. There is no way that I could ever afford a trip like this to a beautiful south Texas ranch. I thank God for these men and their sons and I invite you to bid on next year's hunt when it comes up. You will have a beautiful time.

Thanks,
Paul Beard

PS: This was the first weekend I have taken off in several years and it felt good!

If you would like information of how to reach Ricki McKinney, please email me at lighthouse2911@msn.com and please put "deer hunt" in the subject line.