John Gibbs 

Same Epic day of duck hunting with faithful "Missy".  What a dog.  Drake Pintail retrieval right back to the blind.

Kevin Smedley

Epic Duck hunting on South Texas Coast with faithful "Missy".  She retrieved everything faithfully despite cutting her feet on the oyster beds.  Red Head Drake.

Jason Loblein

Kolters first deer.  Kolter is a lefty and right eyed dominant.  Had trouble shooting his 22/250 at 100 yards at anything above 2x on scope.  After some practice and scaring the crap out of some does he hit his mark.  Our nine year old was very proud of his first deer.  Made a great shot through the vitals and the deer expired after stumbling 10 yards,  Great memory, thank you Grandpa!

Wild Boar.  Shot this big ugly boar right at sunset from deer stand.  Biggest pig I have ever taken, we usually try to take out the 100 pound sows, they are the best tasting!

Scrawny, nasty, but incredibly fast.  Got $100 bounty off deer lease cost for shooting this coyote, if you wanna call it a coyote.  It was August and in the 100's, explains the crappy coat but I put on gloves to put in carrier.  We needed to take to ranch manager to get bounty, otherwise I never would have touched the nasty thing.  Shot it @ 180 yards with 30/06, 180 grain rem soft point running.  Lucky shot but gutted it. 

Brandon Schawe

Kolter @ 3 years old.  12 point buck shot with compound bow at 6 yards on our 1/2 acre property.  Deer ran 20 yards and crashed.  Gross green score was 132".

129" Green gross 8 pt shot @ 75 yards with 30.06 at my 600 acre deer lease.

Kolter's second deer ever.  Learned to shoot right-handed after quite some time at the range.  After several opportunities he was able to make a great shot in an open field on this doe with his 22/250.  Dropped her in her tracks.   

Rocky Raccoon keeps eating my bird food.  Trapped a few in the backyard with dogproof traps.  Also caught some skunks............YUCK, and a few possums.  Finished off with pellet gun.  These masked bandits continuously wreak havoc on our lives.  They leave scat and footprints all over my patio.

136" Green gross 9pt.  300 win mag 80 yards.  Kolter was 6 and on the hunt with me.

Female bobcat.  Showed up early to deer stand and used a mouth rabbit distress.  Cat showed up almost immediately and shot it at 40 yards with rifle.  1st successful call and 1st bobcat. 

Male Bobcat.  Showed up early to deer stand and used mouth rabbit distress for about 30 minutes.  Cat showed up EXACTLY where I shot the female several days back.  My 2nd bobcat ever.  Assumed they were a pair and had both mounted.  Crappy picture, wish I thought more at the time how hard they are to harvest.  Down here they are just varmints that kill newly born deer and wreak havoc on the quail.

An odd submission for me since we didn't harvest any of these Nilgai but I wanted to share this photo.  It was a rare moment to capture these animals standing still.  We only had tags for Nilgai Cows.  If you ever get a chance to hunt one of these jump on it!  I have been fortunate enough to shoot 3 trophy bulls and several Cows and Juveniles.    

6 yards from base of ladder stand. Bear went about 20 yards total. 

Axis doe.  These deer are absolutely the most delicious game I have ever had the privilege of eating.  If you think white tailed deer is good, look no more.  The best table fare I have ever had the opportunity to eat.  These free ranging non-native Texas hill country deer have been making a home here for several decades after being introduced by some local ranches.  They are native to India and were introduced into Hawaii in the 1860's.  In 1932 they were introduced into Texas.  Studies in 1988 showed self sustaining herds in over 27 counties.  We fortunately are able to watch a herd come to our backyard feeder on a daily basis.  I have recorded up to 7 bulls at one time which "bully" the local whitetails away from the feed.  Amazing animals and truly the most delicious deer I have ever had the chance to eat.  For years my "friends" would give me whitetail deer meat while they held back this coveted fare.  After harvesting one myself, I will not share either unless you are eating at my table.  Texas game laws allow us to hunt on Sundays....  And non native game species can be harvested by any legal weapon at any time of the day or night.  God Bless America! 

Trophy Nilgai Bull.  Was fortunate enough to be able to hunt the famous Texas King Ranch with my future father in law.  After several days of hunting, scared up a herd which ran in front of our "tote" road about 180 yards out.  Led the beast in my scope and squeezed off as it crossed in front of us.  The 30/06 180 grain soft core hit its mark and double lunged the beast.  Had no idea at the time but after several minutes of tracking small blood drops found it dead 250 yards in thick cover.  What a day.  These native Indian antelope are a prized target here in Texas since their introduction back in the 1930's.  Most ranches today require a 300 win mag or larger to harvest these animals due to their extreme resilience.    

Staff Pick

Ostrich, Hardest exotic on the ranch to harvest once they put them on the menu.  They are like wild turkeys x 1000.  Stalked for 3 days on chopped fields and never got within 700 yards.  They would run from one side to the other and always be out of range.  Got lucky one day and caught this lone female in the middle of a chop at approximately 375 yards.  Lined up for a upper leg shot and hit the target several inches low but caught the femur which put it down immediately.  These birds are about 9' tall and if you hit them in the body you destroy all the delicious meat.  We and my 8 year old son watched the bird struggle for a few minutes, then stalked in to around 120 yards when I utilized his 22/250 and finished it off with a neck shot.  Great day and many memories were made.  Ideally you make a neck shot just like a wild turkey, but that 2 inch target is very difficult at long range.  Very lucky and an awesome experience.  Very Grate full for Grandpa allowing us to have this moment.   

Rio Grande Turkey, Kolter was 5 years old at the time.  Grandpa's Yturria ranch deer lease.

 This is an awesome picture. Just edit and reposition your photo

You're right that is one scrawny coyote!!  Lol. $100 is more than the best hide in Maine though. 

So these things have natural existence there since the 1930's ?   That's interesting. 

The King Ranch brought a few breeding pair over in the 30's.  They have self sustained herds in a specific region in TX.  One adult Nilgai eats the equivelent of 7 white tailed deer diet daily.  Annual rainfall affects the herd count drastically.  Dry years ranch biologists cut way back on the harvest numbers which doesn't make much sense, many die of starvation on hard years.  Bulls have a harem and fight to the death often.  They don't jump so stay on low fenced ranches unless fences are poorly maintained.

They are considered an antelope.  Great table fare, better than white tail but nothing is better than Axis Deer.

Kevin Smedley on Gametiks

Kevin Smedley — deer harvest

Kevin Smedley — bear harvest

6 yards from base of ladder stand. Bear went about 20 yards total.

Kolter's second deer ever. Learned to shoot right-handed after quite some time at the range. After several opportunities he was able to mak…

Kevin Smedley — miscellaneous harvest

Ostrich, Hardest exotic on the ranch to harvest once they put them on the menu. They are like wild turkeys x 1000. Stalked for 3 days on ch…

Kolters first deer. Kolter is a lefty and right eyed dominant. Had trouble shooting his 22/250 at 100 yards at anything above 2x on scope.…

Axis doe. These deer are absolutely the most delicious game I have ever had the privilege of eating. If you think white tailed deer is good…

Rocky Raccoon keeps eating my bird food. Trapped a few in the backyard with dogproof traps. Also caught some skunks............YUCK, and a…

Kevin Smedley — Hunter profile | GAMETIKS