My wife and I just returned home from an amazing hunt/vacation. We joined Ryan Longer of Longer's Outdoors for a great hunt. This was my wifes annual trip. She is very new to hunting and was extremely nervous. She was hoping to get on a big axis buck. When we arrived in Junction Tx we met up with Kevin, one of Ryans guides as Ryan would not be at the ranch until the next day. He left his New Mexico elk hunt a day early to accommodate our schedule.
My wife was not feeling 100% after our flight and the 2 hour drive. Kevin was extremely understanding and showed her to a comfortable room for her to take a nap. This worked as it afforded me time to let him know her "comfort level". He assured me that we would only take a shot she felt comfortable with and she would have ZERO pressure.
Once Dee (my wife) was up we headed out to hunt. We seen a ton of game. Some amazing whitetail, red stag, aoudad, and some of the best rams I personally have ever seen. We did spot 2 axis does and tried to put a stalk on them to see if there was a buck near by. We were unsuccessful and day one was in the books. That night we had a good meal and relaxed. The next day we hunted hard again. Now with Ryan Longer guiding us/her. During the afternoon I went and did a little fishing while my wife took a nap. Ryan managed to get my wife on a two different axis bucks (both shooters) but she just didn't feel comfortable with the shots.
Like I said she has very limited time in the field and hats off to Ryan he never pressured her or showed any frustration. On the last evening we switched gears and added whitetail to the equation. Dee had seen several nice bucks on both the high and low fence area. That evening we seen several great bucks (one that I REALLY wanted her to shoot). After a great deal of confidence building we spotter 3 bucks in the LF portion of the ranch. The center buck she liked. I was EXTREMELY nervous about the shot. Light was fading and it was by far the furthest she had even considered shooting. The buck was 185 yards. I helped her get a comfortable position and calmed her down. She steadied her Ruger American and let the 6.5 creedmore go. I was on my rifle as a "backup" and seen the hit. Ryan and I knew it was a little back and as the 3 deer ran behind a small stand of oaks only 2 emerged on the far side. We let her buck sit for a few minutes then made our approach. When we crossed the small draw we found my wifes buck. A beautiful Texas Hill Country 8 point. Not the biggest whitetail but the most beautiful buck I have ever seen
I can not thank Ryan and Kevin enough. They knew that my wife was nervous and went above and beyond to not only make this hunt special but also to make sure she was NEVER pressured. I have hunted with Ryan Longer multiple times over the years and I have NEVER been disappointed.
If you are looking for a great hunt/vacation/adventure give Ryan Longer a call. Whether you are looking for a great hunt for a new or young hunter or you are after a World Record (or anything in between) Ryan will go above and beyond to make it happen. He put our hunt together on short notice and moved mountains (or at least moved off mountains) to make sure this was a special trip for my wife.
Thank you!
