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RICK HALE AND BILL SHEKA WITH
RICK'S BEAUTIFUL 168 GROSS BOONE AND CROCKETT Rick Hale and Bill Sheka were hunting on a large ranch in Mexico. It was the first week of January,1991 and Rick still had not found the big buck that was roaming somewhere on this 20,000 acre ranch. Bill had already taken his trophy earlier and now was trying to help his friend get a big buck. Their friend, John White, had also taken a big buck and now was driving Rick and Bill in Bill's high rack. They were heading to a remote part of their ranch and were going to see if Bill could get a big one to come to the horns. It was cold and cloudy with drizzle off and on most of the morning. They reached the spot that Bill wanted to try and after a few minutes of silence, Bill hit the horns together and rattled them for about 25-30 seconds. Rick and Bill watched the Mesquite brush intently. Not more than 1 or 2 minutes had gone by and suddenly in the road , there he stood looking right at them. He was only about 125 yards and the buck stood motionless for at least a minute or so. His long tines and mass glistened with the moisture that was on them. Bill told Rick that this was a solid 160 class buck. Still the big buck stood there without making a move. Rick told Bill that he thought he was not that good. Bill tried to convince Rick to shoot, but Rick still did not think the Buck was good enough. Now the buck was getting nervous while Bill and Rick started to get a little loud in this friendly disagreement. Finally enough was enough and the big buck started to work his way toward some thick brush. Now even their driver, John was getting nervous as he was watching this trophy move to safety and slip away. John stuck his head out the window and said " What is wrong with you Rick .....Rick are you going to shoot that buck or not??? And a few seconds later Bill told Rick he needed to get his prescription changed on his glasses. The big buck was steadily moving off toward the safety of a thicket. Rick and Bill still watching him in the binoculars and Rick still doubting he was as good as Bill and John said he was. Finally Bill looked at Rick and said "Rick do you realize that you have to go home in 2 days and you probably won't get to come back because of the business meeting you have. You may not see anything better than him." Rick got that look of terror on his face, realizing Bill was right. "Your right Bill", said Rick and decided he better try and take him. The buck had only 10 yards to go to the thicket and the range was about 225 yards. Just as the buck hit the last opening , Ricks 300 mag roared and the big buck went down. John, Rick and Bill started to move toward the buck with John telling Rick that he should quit hunting, as there really isn't a buck big enough to please him. When they reached the buck , there was no ground shrinkage on this one. Even Rick said he almost messed up bad. John took the picture of Rick and Bill with the buck that almost got away but now was Ricks fine trophy. The buck was 22 1/2" wide. He had 10 typical points with a 1 3/4" kicker point. They took him to the Muy Grande contest in Freer where Bill's buck was in 3rd place in the Mexico typical division. Rick's buck because of the 1 3/4" kicker gave him a non typical category. The buck scored 168" B&C non-typical. This moved Rick into 1st place and he won the non-typical division . That is what teamwork and friends is all about. |
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RICK HALE'S BIG BUCK IN THE BACK OF
BILL'S HUNTING RIG Ricks big buck in the back of Capt. Bill's hunting rig, rattled up by Bill Sheka. This buck won the non-typical Mexico division of the Muy Grande contest for the 1990-91 hunting season.Score 168 non-typical B&C. |
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Bill Sheka's 148 1/2 Gross Pope and
Young Mexico Buck Bill had watched and videoed this buck for 5 years on one of his ranches in Mexico. The buck always had 8 points and 2 kickers. He only had small 1/2" bumps for the 9 and 10 points never quite getting to be a 10 pointer.Bill knew the buck well and had lots of video footage of him. He was at least 9 or 10 years old and the buck was going downhill as his rack was not as wide or as tall as in years before. However he did grow his G4 on both sides which made him a ten point. Even though the rack was not as large as in years past, but Bill knew that now he would "book" for sure. Bill was in his brush blind and had full camo on when the buck showed up in late Dec. With his Skunk scent on, Bill knew the buck would never smell him. Bill waited patiently for a good broadside shot. The buck was only 20-21 yards. Bill eased up to shoot already at full draw. Suddenly a doe behind Bill that he had not seen, saw Bill and sounded the alert. The buck turned and trotted another 15 yards and stood motionless, only his head moving side to side, trying to detect the danger. The buck was now quartering away from the archer and Bill decided to try and slip the arrow forward of the right hip at 35 yards. This is the classic bow shot as it will always do the most damage. When the sight picture was right, the arrow was released from the Pierson Flame Bow set at 73 lb. pull. The arrow hit him perfectly with a loud whack and buried up to the bright fletching. The buck, not realizing he was hit, looked over his shoulder and then started to walk off. He only made it about 15 feet and fell over on the 6 inches of fletching that was sticking out. Bill was now breathing harder with the fact he now had a fine bow kill buck down. The buck ended up winning Bill another jacket at the Los Casadores Deer contest. |
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| 23 inches wide and a 6 1/4" drop. |