Photography by David J. Sams, LSON
Story by Craig Nyhus, LSON
Bill Westman of Midland has been on several hunting trips, nearly all associated with his career as a certified public accountant and controller for several companies in the oil and gas industry.
Unfortunately, he rarely gets to hunt, and never gets to shoot a whitetail buck.
“I go to some really nice places, but usually I’m working and the customers do the shooting,” Westman said. “We do get to shoot some hogs and varmints and maybe a doe, but we’re usually entertaining.”
When an invite came to go on a buck hunt from the Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation on the second Thursday of January, he jumped at the chance, and made the trip after work on Friday night.
“I hunted with David Sams in the morning, by a blind they call the junkyard blind,” Westman said. “It was quiet, and when 7:30 came, the feeder didn’t go off. It turned out one of the wires had fallen off of the feeder motor — we didn’t see anything.”
The duo spent some time walking and checking some areas on the 9-degree morning, then some time fixing the feeder.
“I knew it was going to be cold, but not that cold,” Westman said. “I didn’t have warm enough stuff.”
That evening on another side of the property, several young bucks were seen before they moved off.
The final morning, Westman was guided by another ranch owner, Ben Carter.
“We didn’t see anything from the blind, so we drove in the golf cart and checked some other areas,” he said. “The fourth stop, we pulled off the road to a spot where we could look back at a good area. There was a nice, mature 8-pointer there eating.
The buck was facing the hunter, but finally turned broadside.
“I used the golf cart as a rest, but it was parked on an incline — I had to stand on my tiptoes,” Westman said. “But I made a good shot with my Rifles, Inc. .300 Win Mag and dropped him. We measured it at 188 yards.”
Now, he can share his story with his coworkers and the customers he entertains, and he plans to do more hunting before all the seasons wind down.
“We have access to a ranch south of Midland,” he said. “I plan to go quail hunting a few times.”
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