Mills County, Texas did itself proud on Saturday, January 8, 2011 and successfully completed its first Wounded Warrior Hunt!  It was a success from the start at noon, the weather was nice, there was a terrific lunch of beef stew, biscuits, peach cobbler, coffee or sweet tea and the soldiers loved it!  After dinner we matched up the guides, the landowners and the hunter-soldiers and moved the festivities out to the various ranches.  All told over 30 ranches and landowners participated and over 50 soldiers with various wounds hunted.

A little after 2:00 PM, when we arrived at our place the hunters were anxious to get on with the hunt, but being too early we watched football until 3:30. Then I told them we better have some weapons familiarization training and we heid out to the range.

First to go was Phillip, a vet with experience in both Afghanistan and Iraq.  He was using my .270 and his shots were right on.  Tim Albee was guiding Phillip. Next, was Ted, but because of his severe wounds from an IED on his last day in Iraq, his Son was taking his place and his shots were true.  My son Randy was guiding Ted and Howie.

Here’s Phillip shooting from a squatting position.

Onlookers watching Phillip shoot.

Next up was Tim, with his black powder rifle, the same  one he used to shoot a nice buck on November 23 in “[Gruntin]”.

After the smoke cleared, the hunters and their guides headed out to their assigned spots, Tim and Phillip were hidden in the brush behind the Porta Potty Blind and Randy and Howie were in The Tree Stand.  At 6:30 PM we were to be at the fried fish supper provided by the Texas Games Warden School located in Mills County.

Five minutes before the supper was to start, in came the hunters.  Phillip had shot a doe and Howie hadn’t scored, but in the rush to get into the fish fry I didn’t get a “shot” of  the deer.  Arriving at the supper all the troops were excited.  The total harvest was 30 doe and spike, 1 black buck and 1 coyote, overall a very successful hunt.  Talking to one trooper in a wheel chair, I found out the he had scored on a nice doe, their wounds not preventing them from having fun and getting outdoors!

Supper was a roaring success, fried, cat fish, hush puppies, French fried potatoes, slaw, jalapeno peppers and sweet tea – a feast fit for a king!  The troopers loved it, the guides loved it, the ranchers loved it and I kidded the Wardens frying the fish that it was probably confiscated fish and the fryer’s reply was “Of course it was confiscated, because that’s the best kind!”

For everyone it was a very rewarding experience!

Coinciding with our State’s Special Late General Season Deer Hunt, today, many ranches in Mills County will be hosting our first annual, Wounded Warrior Hunt. It’s for U.S Army troopers from Ft. Hood, the Warrior Transition Brigade and shows our County’s appreciation for those that have been wounded in combat. It is my understanding that this hunt, organized by Steve Bridges, Editor of The Goldthwaite Eagle, will be the biggest one in our Country for these wounded troopers.

Each ranch participating in this event will supply a hunting guide; an appropriate blind, either a ground blind for those will mobility problems or an elevated one, a good deer rifle and The Eagle will provide a goodie bag for each participant. Also, there is a State, Game Warden’s School in our County and the students and instructors will be participating and providing a fish fry after the hunt. My Son, Randy and Tim Albee will be coming up to offer their services and Tim is bringing along 2 volunteers to help with the video of the hunt.

It’s a big deal for our County and there will be lots of pictures, pictures of the deer harvested and pictures of the fellowship before and after the hunt, but keeping everything in perspective, it’s the least we can do for those that have given so much!

It is said that in the things Texans do and the way they accomplish difficult tasks that they have grit.  This grit was shown to all of us this past weekend on the RRR Ranch in Mills County, Texas where Dale Allen, Mickey Donahoo and Warren Blesh, the owner of RRR, combined to shoot a doe.  What makes this a showing of grit is that Dale Allen, the shooter, is BLIND!

Previously Mickey had rigged up a .243 rifle with a laser sight and Dale had been hesitant to try and bag a deer, but on this past Saturday afternoon, he and Mickey went out to Warren’s, RRR and harvested a doe.   Dale shouldered the gun and on Mickey’s instructions, moved it up, down, to the right or left.

Out came a doe and it was moving and lasing it was difficult, then Warren gave out a whistle, it stopped and when the laser dot was centered on the doe’s shoulder Mickey said, “Fire” and the results are shown in the picture below, Dale is on the left and Mickey, right.

This is an outstanding achievement, almost miraculous and displays a lot of grit!

Sunday, January 2, 2011 our white tail deer season ended with, not quite a bang!  We chalked up 3 doe and 2 bucks, with Tim Albee getting a doe on the last day.  Because of timing, I didn’t get a pic of the last doe.

Starting things off, I shot this nice buck on November 12.

Then Tim bagged one with his black powder rifle on November 21.

Mickey Donahoo harvested these 2 doe, one on December 10 and the other on December 13.
    
Overall, in spite of effort, my Grandkids didn’t score this year, but maybe 2011 will be better.  Speaking of better, we will have our Mills County, “Wounded Warrior” hunt on January 8th and it should be an awesome experience, allowing us in a small way to pay back those troops who have given so much to our Country!