South TX whitetail hunt

Howard
[subject]
Friday, October 30, 2026, 12:04 (9 days ago)

I’ve wanted to hunt TX for a while. I found this place:
https://melloncreekoutfitters.com/
with some reasonably priced whitetail hunts and signed up for a Management Hunt of 1 doe and 1 medium sized buck. I went down a week ago Tuesday and explored Corpus Christi for a few days, nice area, great seafood and BBQ, went to a few wildlife areas and USS Lexington museum.
The outfitter picked me up at the airport Friday morning and we drove about an hour northeast to the lodge and ranch. The ranch is now or was formerly the O’Connor ranch, one of the largest in TX. It’s currently 110K acres. They have to take about 1500 deer a year off the property to manage the herd. There’s also hogs, bobcat, coyotes, turkey, nilgai and oryx. They also hunt west TX aoudad and elk.
The lodge was first class, food was excellent and the guides were very helpful. We hunted about 0700-1100 and 1700-1930 by driving the gravel roads and pathways of the ranch and seeing what there was. They put out corn in certain spots. I used the guides rifle as I had enough baggage to deal with between a cooler and gear bag. When we saw something, we’d either stalk or shoot from the truck. I got my doe and buck at 220 yards and hunted an extra day and got a little spike buck at 240 yards. Shooting a suppressed rifle was very nice as no ear pro was needed and you could really hear the bullet smack. In the pics the shots look far back but those are on the offside, I made some good behind the shoulder shots and I’m very pleased that I’m still shooting well with 69 year old eyes. For the area, that was a big-bodied 9 pt. Buck and that sunset felt like a gift from God. Had a great time and I can highly recommend this outfitter, some other hunters in camp had been there many times.
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Howard, you did great! Congrats what was

Gary Reeder
[subject]
Friday, October 30, 2026, 18:40 (9 days ago) @ Howard

your total cost?

Costs

Howard
[subject]
Friday, October 30, 2026, 18:59 (9 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

Management hunt was $3K. The hunt was listed as Friday night through Monday morning, I got my 2 deer on Saturday so for $500 I also hunted Sunday rather than just sit around. They also have a 'meat hunt' of 6 deer for $3K. Skinning, butchering and deboning meat was included. Of course, I tipped the guide and cook. And then there's the other expenses of flights, heavy baggage, a couple of days in Corpus Christi, snake boots etc. It was a really good trip in interesting country. I never saw a rattlesnake but in one of the wildlife areas in Corpus I had a 2' coral snake cross the path in front of me. On the ranch we saw and ran over a couple of cottonmouths on the roads. Also it's open season on armadillos, they eat turkey and quail eggs and are the only animal that carried leprosy.

I could have taken hogs too for no cost

Howard
[subject]
Friday, October 30, 2026, 19:02 (9 days ago) @ Howard

I shot one hog but he got off in the brush and you just can't find them in that thick thorny stuff. I was fortunate that my 3 deer all were DRT or dropped within 40 yards at the edge of the brush.

Excellent!!!!

Brian T
[subject]
Saturday, October 31, 2026, 09:25 (8 days ago) @ Howard

see any/many Nilgai??

Nilgai

Howard
[subject]
Saturday, October 31, 2026, 10:18 (8 days ago) @ Brian T

As I remember I only saw a doe with 2 fawns. The guide said they're working on increasing the population.

Congratulations Howard. Nice going!

Blake
[subject]
Saturday, October 31, 2026, 14:04 (8 days ago) @ Howard

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Nicely done, Howard!

Greg
[subject]
Saturday, October 31, 2026, 16:29 (8 days ago) @ Howard

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