By John Brody

(Editor: Author Brody, a retired guide, used to take folks fishing and hunting in the wilds and waters of Oregon from his Portland area residence. These days, he accepts invitations  from professionals further afield as he reports in this account of a recent West Texas predator hunt)

When someone thinks of predator hunting, there can be no better territory  than the wide-open  sage flats of West Texas! That was the setting for the  most memorable hunting adventure in which I’ve participated. I was the sole guest of Skeet Jones, who guides hunters from all parts of America to some of the finest predator hunting around. I’m talking about coyotes, bobcats,  foxes and feral hogs found in abundance in Skeets’s territory.

Skeet met me in Mentone, Texas and we spent hours just getting acquainted and preparing for the next day’s hunt. We worked out our signals,  approaches and setups and then headed out at dawn the next day. West Texas in December features cool mornings and very pleasant days. I was delighted when on the very first stand, Skeet called (ED: made sounds  which attracted within firing range) a "triple." I only collected one coyote, but was pumped. I made up for my poor stand #1 production when on the  next stand I (sucessfully completed) a 70-yard running shot on a coyote who wanted nothing to do with a little short guy from Portland.

As Day 1 wore on, we just became more and more successful. Final total for the first day was seven stands, 13 coyotes called and five confirmed dead  prey. 

Bobcat opportunity

Because it was a full moon phase, we chose not to night hunt the first day out 
At dawn on Day 2 it was off to the sage flats wile I was thinking that Day 1  was a fluke, today will be a bust  ... wrong! Skeet’s knowledge of the area,  coupled with his mastery as a caller made Day 2 a carbon copy of Day 1,  except for two "firsts" for me. On a stand near the banks of the Pecos River, I collected my first ever feral hog.  Not a big old tusker, but a hog  nonetheless. We donated the meat to the local Food Bank. On our last stand  of the day, Skeet had me set up in a little depression that reminded me of a  bowl cut out of the endless flats that comprise 99% of this area. I’m looking down a
shooting lane some 15 feet wide, with small mounds of gravel on each side.
At the end of this lane, about 30 yards out, was Skeets’ decoy, a furry little
bugger resembling a rat on a stick, or as I called it "coyote candy." 

Then out comes a big jackrabbit. He is sitting about 5 yards further out from the decoy.  I raise my rifle and quickly identify the prey as "just a Jack’ and  return my rifle to a rest. At that moment, Skeet loudly whispers, "Bobcat." 

My mind says, "Uh oh, Skeets gone ‘round the bend, he’s seeing things." But
as I glanced toward him, there stands a 28-pound, beautifully-marked bobcat  ready to pounce on the decoy not 10 feet below him. Now what? My rifle is aimed down, no way to get a steady rest as the cat was clearly  above me. No, I’m not going to pass up a chance at my first bobcat! I simply raised my borrowed Remington model 700 and shot completely offhand at  the cat about 65 yards away. (ED: Hunters, and soldiers, often call this a "snapshot," or, if the shooter is standing, a "hipshot."  Jeff Moor, the  Duck Hunter in Oregon Magazine's front page classics section, once  downed a flying pheasant inside the tunnels of a filbert orchard with one
of these types of shots.  He got it through the neck.)

Bang, flop! I hit him, my five year quest for a bobcat finally ends successfully on the sage-carpeted plains of West Texas.  Day 2 ends with eight stands  made, six coyotes called, four collected, one hog and one very special  bobcat. 

By now, I’m in a state of shock. I must be dreaming, I’ll wake up soon to reality. Wrong again, fella, Day 3 is even better! On a single stand we called in six coyotes and collected four. In total, we made nine stands and called in
10 coyotes and a bobcat even bigger than the one I bagged on Day 2. We
then tried my first night hunting and, as before, those Energizer coyotes just kept coming and coming. We killed 6 coyotes and my second, larger than the first, bobcat, a 34-pounder. A stunning end to a trip to be remembered as the "best ever."

If anyone wants to see how good the sport of predator hunting can be, get in touch with Skeet Jones in Mentone, Texas. It will be a trip you’ll never forget
 As I boarded my long flight back to Oregon I could only think of one area
of adventure that compares to the success I just experienced...West Texas is
to predators what Alaska is to salmon!

© 2006  John Brody