Beth and Her Ram

By Denny L. Vasquez

 

It had been a fitful night. All of the tossing and turning, getting up to get a drink, staring out the windows of the lodge and asking me if it was time to get up yet had kept me awake all night. But you know, I really didn’t mind, as a matter of fact I was just as excited as the 14 year old huntress was who had kept me awake all night. After all experiencing a new style of hunting only happens once, after that it will always be something that you have done before.

My daughter Elizabeth, Beth to all of her friends, and I had come to the Junction, Texas hunting camp of outfitter Travis Buell of Harper, Texas. As Travis had been helping me host youth hunts for the last 7 years, he and Beth had gotten to know each other quite well. As well as they could after spending 8 to 10 trips a year hunting with each other. As Beth had grown during this time she became not only a hunting guide on these youth hunts but also a mentor. For some reason it seems that the girls on these trips would listen to and watch another girl as she demonstrated how to hunt, shoot or field dress a harvested animal much better than an adult. It was because of this friendship and his knowledge of how much she loved to hunt that Travis had invited Beth to come hunt feral sheep with him for her birthday. And because she was too young to drive it was only natural that I accompany her on this adventure.

Beth actually began her hunting career at the ripe old age of about seven months old. It seems that her mom had to go shopping one day during deer season the year she was born so I took her to the deer blind with me as we and her grandpa went hunting. From then on her love of the outdoors, hunting and shooting have become something of a obsession for her.

She spent her early years following her grandpa and I through the deer woods, along side the dove fields, around the hog pastures and across lots of hunting ranches all over Texas. Eventually, when I felt the time was right, she began hunting with a Ruger M7/22 .22 rifle. Then in 1997, when she turned nine and as her competence with firearms grew, she moved up to my .223 Bansner varmint rifle. Oh, excuse me, I stand corrected, her .223 Bansner varmint rifle. It seems that every one of my firearms that she uses to harvest an animal with soon becomes hers. (This trait seems to run in the family as her older brother lays the same claim to any firearm he uses to harvest a game animal.)

With her .223 she soon harvested several whitetail and exotic does as well as an impressive free ranging Catalina goat. The Catalina was good enough to win her first place in the Trophy Game Records of the World yearly competition in 1997. Her love and knowledge of hunting continued evolve as she harvested various exotics, whitetails and feral hogs until late 2000.

In December of that year, at 12 years of age, she accompanied me on a trip to hunt whitetails near Hunt, Texas. At first the trip was a disappointment for her as the outfitter really didn’t want Beth to try for one of his bucks with her .223, even though she proved at the shooting range that she was more than capable of placing her shot where she wanted to. However, it was love at first sight when the outfitter’s wife lent her a .7mm-08 Browning to try. After placing the first 3 shots out of the Browning into a neat ¾ inch group at 100 yards, she went on to take a very nice high racked 8-point buck that won first place in the 8-point youth division of the Trophy Game Records of the World 2000/2001 yearly whitetail deer competition. (After this adventure I had to build Beth a .7mm-08 rifle on an Encore action as she had out grown the .223 and .7mm-08 was her new favorite caliber. And even though I own 7 other barrels for the Encore, this too has become Beth’s gun!)

As late March of 2002 rolled around Travis called me and told me about a huge feral ram that had been spotted on one of the ranches that he hunted. After further discussion it was decided that a hunting trip in pursuit of this ram would be a good birthday present for Beth and the proper arrangements were made. I told Beth about Travis’ invitation and like most of our hunting adventures she couldn’t wait for the day of the trip to get here.

About 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave Beth approached me with a proposition. As she had hunted all of her animals previously harvested with a rifle she wanted to try her hand at handgun hunting this time around. So we looked through my collection of handguns and found that my well worn Ruger Security Six .357 magnum fit her hands the best. So it was off to the range to see how well she could handle this pistol.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take very many shots to realize that the recoil of a .357 magnum was a bit more than she could handle or ethically hunt with. So after a quick phone call to Travis, I decided to let her try various .38 special loads to see which she could accurately shoot. After several range sessions we settled on Blazer’s 125 grain +P JHP load. This would give us a muzzle velocity of 900 fps and 278 lbs of energy. If we could get within 25 yards this round should do the trick and besides Beth was able to shoot 1 ½ inch groups at 30 yards and could keep a coke can bouncing around out to 40 or 50 yards with this load, more than accurate enough for hunting.

We arrived at the ranch the night of her birthday, April 26, 2002, at about 10:00 p.m., after a 4 hour drive from home. The weather the next day was sunny and warm with slightly gusting winds from the south. The terrain of the ranch is fairly open, rock-strewn, rolling hills that are covered with short grasses and groups of pin oaks, scrub oaks, mesquites and cedars. Along the creek bottoms the foliage is somewhat thicker and can be very difficult to maneuver through.

After a short session at the range to show Travis that Beth could indeed hit what she aimed at with her pistol. We drove out to the hill where the ram had been spotted several days before. Travis felt that because there was a permanent water supply, ample food sources and adequate cover in the general area that the ram probably would not have wandered very far.

Shouldering her backpack and checking to make sure the hammer was on an empty chamber before putting the pistol in her holster we set off to find her ram. Even though we spotted several other rams as well as various exotic and native game animals, we did not find the ram we were after until after we had taken a break for lunch. In fact we came across the old ram quite by accident.

We had only traveled about 200 yards down the creek bottom from where we broke for lunch when Travis spotted the ram resting under a shade tree near the top of a barren, rock and cactus covered hill. After ducking behind a couple of cedar trees we surveyed the terrain and determined that it was going to be impossible to get within our 25 yard shooting limitation without being spotted. So it was decided that Beth and I would ease along the creek bottom, using the trees that grew there for cover, until we were able to reach the opposite side of the hill upon which the ram was resting. Then we would crawl to the top and try to take the ram from above. As it turned out, our plan almost worked out too well.

It took a couple of hours for us to work our way along the creek bottom and around the base of the hill. It seemed like every time one of us would try to move between the protective cover of the trees and boulders the old ram would look down hill in our direction. Finally, we made to the other side of the hill and took a moment to catch our breath and drink a bit of water. I cautioned Beth that she should be ready for a quick shot as the ram may hear us coming and be up and moving before we crawled over the top of the hill.

Another 30 minutes were required before we reached our designated spot right below the rim of the hill. After catching our breath I indicated to Beth that I was going to peak over the top and see how close we were to the ram. Slowly I peered out from under a small mesquite tree that grew on the rim. At first I was shocked and then all I could do was smile. The ram was still lying down but he was only 10 yards from the little mesquite I was using for cover, much closer to the crest of the hill then he had appeared to be from below.

Easing back down I leaned over to Beth and whispered our situation in her ear. She grinned and removing her backpack, slowly eased up to the same little mesquite from I had spotted the ram. Time seemed to stand still as I watched her carefully ease up to a setting position, stopping every now and then as the old ram moved its head from side to side. Then, while using a branch of the mesquite tree for support, she took careful aim. I had asked her to wait until the ram stood up before taking her shot as that would give her a better opportunity to place a shot behind the shoulder. But, I needn’t have worried.

She told me later that just as she had settled in against the mesquite tree the ram stood up, and turning broadside to her position, turned to gaze down the hill at Travis. Beth said that Travis had just stepped out from behind a tree and this is what had caused the old ram to standup. After Travis returned to his protected hiding place she quickly cocked the pistol and took her shot, placing the first round behind the rams shoulder.

The ram stumbled and began running down the hill toward Travis and the creek. I jumped up to join her just in time to see the ram run off. After Beth made sure the trigger was resting on an empty chamber we began trailing her animal. However, the ram had not gone very far.

Travis joined us at the tree line along the creek bottom and after crossing the creek we found the ram less than 20 yards up the opposing hillside. Beth gave the ram a final shot and it was over. Later, when he was officially measured for the Trophy Game Records of the World the ram scored 421.9 cm with a width of 69.0 cm. This translates to a SCI score pf approximately 193.3 inches. As I write this a year later there is a good chance that he will be the number #1 for TGRW for a youth with a pistol in the feral sheep category.

While we were admiring her ram Travis spotted a very nice blackbuck antelope slowly making it’s way along the creek bottom about 300 yards off. He asked Beth if she wanted to make it a double for today if the blackbuck continued to come our way. Next thing I knew we were crawling towards a hiding spot in the trees. But hey, that is a story for another time. Suffice it to say that she also harvested a nice 18 ½ by 19 inch blackbuck with her pistol that day.

Besides hunting and shooting Beth is also involved in her church, and loves playing volleyball and basketball as well as being an athletic trainer for her high school’s baseball and football teams. Just goes to show you that there are good kids that know how to respect and properly use firearms out there, not just those who make the evening news because of drive by shootings or robberies.