OUTDOORS

CHOCTAW HUNTING LODGE - DEER HUNTING STEEPED IN HISTORY

Sitting in a comfortable hunting blind on the side of a ridge in the foothills of the beautiful Ouachita Mountain Range in southeast Oklahoma, my mind backtracked a century to the time that this country was part of the Indian Territory. The Choctaw land I was hunting, owned by the Choctaw Nation, surely offered great hunting back then for the native people but I doubt if any of them enjoyed such a comfortable blind nor anything close to the conveniences of the Choctaw Hunting Lodge where I was hoping to harvest one of those bruiser mountain whitetails bucks. The Choctaw Nation has done much to enhance the lands they were relocated to back in 1830 with the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit when they were moved from their homeland in Mississippi.

I grew up just across the Red River in northeast Texas, and southeast Oklahoma (Indian Territory) was our playground back in the late fifties and sixties. This was really wild, remote country back then, and today there are still vast tracts of land that seldom see humans. We hunted the mountain country

and fished the rivers in the southeast corner of Oklahoma. As a boy, I never dreamed one day I would be hunting as a guest of the Choctaws on such an awesome piece of land. The area known as Choctaw Hunting Lodge encompassed about 22,000 acres including a huge preserve that is home to some big whitetail as well as several species of exotics. These rugged hills provide some of the most beautiful and game-rich country I’ve had the pleasure to spend time on. The Choctaw Nation owns another 20,000 or so acres adjacent the Choctaw Lodge hunting area that is also intensely managed for wildlife. Dusty Vickrey and his lovely wife Nacolh ramrod the operation which includes hunting, fishing, and private events at the 12,000-square foot lodge. I can’t say enough about the hospitality, excellent hunting, and meals prepared by Nacohl. Through the years, I have had the opportunity to visit and hunt and fish here several times. I’ve come to look at these two as family although I’ve only known them a short time. They are just that kind of people.

There’s something very special about that pre-dawn thirty minutes before daylight while sitting in a blind in awesome whitetail country. The anticipation of a bruiser buck walking out of the brush is cause enough to get deer hunters out of a warm sleeping bag way before daylight and into the woods on a frosty fall morning, and I eagerly awaited sunrise. My cameraman on this hunt was my longtime friend Larry Weishuhn. Now, what better companion than Larry to spend time hunting whitetail deer with? They don’t call Larry “Mr. Whitetail” for nothing! He’s a storehouse of knowledge about anything ‘deer’, and I have learned a great deal from Larry through the years and not all of it related to deer! In the distance we heard a hunting pack of coyotes, probably heading to their den after a night of hunting. A barred owl sounded off in a tree nearby with its classic ‘who cooks for you’ serenade. The ‘owl talk’ was telegraphed back in the woods, answered by another owl in another tree somewhere, hunting its own territory, and I’m sure more owls out of earshot continued telling each other that nighttime, their time to hunt, was coming to a close and daylight would soon come to their mountain home.

To make things even more perfect, I was hunting with my new rifle, a Mossberg Patriot in 6.5 Creedmoor. This is the first new deer rifle I’d acquired in years, and it is a Mossberg. My first deer gun was a little .410 Mossberg loaded with rifled slugs. Luckily, I never had the opportunity to use it on deer way back in the early sixties (don’t think it was potent enough for deer) when I was a whipper snapper, but it sparked a lifelong love of Mossberg firearms. For many years I hunted with a .243, and this caliber closely mimicked my old favorite but packs a good bit more punch. Back home the week before, I discovered what a tack driver the rifle is on paper, and I was anxious to put it to work on game. I had taken a couple of wild hogs with the rifle late last winter, but this was my first deer hunt with it. After shooting at my neighbor’s range, I was full of confidence. My new rifle would do its job as long as I kept my wits about me when one of those big Oklahoma whitetails come slipping out of the brush. I’m an average shot, but my strong suite is patience. I wait for that perfect broadside shot before talking the slack out of the trigger, and I know my limitations. I practice for shots inside 150-yards but out of necessity sometimes shoot game a bit farther out.

Dusty told us the stand we were hunting had been plagued by a good size boar. The critter had been running the deer away from the feeder almost on a daily basis. Larry nudged me and poked a thumb out the window on his side of the blind toward some thick cover behind us. We were watching 4 whitetail doe, and they also indicated “something” was heading their direction. All ears were pointed toward the approaching boar, and they were on high alert. A toothy old boar slipped out of the brush and, as any mature hog will do, made a circle around the area, nose in the air sniffing for danger. He would walk a few feet and then freeze in place and test the air. He finally stopped in an opening between two oaks, the Creedmoor barked, and the boar would no longer disrupt this excellent hunting spot. The area quieted down, and a bit later we looked up and a big heavy-bodied mature buck had just appeared. Funny how deer just seem to ‘be there’. I wondered how he had so quietly made it to the opening in front of our blind, but there he was! The shot was close, about 45 yards, and my venison for the fall was on the ground. Back at the skinning rack, he weighed a bit over 200 pounds, the second heaviest whitetail I’ve taken. Larry had taken a fine eight point the day before I arrived, which gave him the opportunity to hunt with me. Larry was planning on using his Taurus handgun to hunt for more venison later that day. We made a pact to regroup at the Choctaw Lodge later this winter. Dusty, Larry, and Nacohl have a date this winter with a fat wild hog, a smoker, a big cast iron skillet, and some fun hunting, cooking, and celebrating the outdoor lifestyle. I can’t wait!

To learn more about the Choctaw Hunting Lodge, visit www.choctawhuntinglodge. com. Contact outdoors writer Luke Clayton at www.catfishradio.org.