Benson Farm and Ranch: News

Over these last few years we’ve watched this buck grow into the name "GODZILLA" he got the name from ranch manager Ryan LeBlanc when one day he saw the buck on a spring day looking like the buck had baseball bats coming out of the bucks head. At six years old the buck was a monster the biggest buck most people had ever seen in the hill country that wasn’t brought in from another state. Godzilla was one of those deer that new the ranch better than any person or animal had ever known the ranch. It took three seasons to get our first velvet pictures of Godzilla sitting in blinds day after day for hours waiting for this great buck to come out into the sun light for a close picture. Last season was a great year for Godzilla having a 178 Boone & Crocket Score with long sweeping beams with lots of mass and 12 inch tines. At the ripe old age of 8.5 years old Godzilla was still chasing the does; but wasn’t the dominant buck he was in years past.  On November 17^th Godzilla was harvested by long time BF&R hunter Troy Mouret of Louisiana. Godzilla’s final measurements were 26 inside spread; 26 inch beams; 11.5 G2's and G3's – with a Boone & Crocket score of 170 inches and a body weight of 192lbs on the hoof. This was the biggest buck ever harvest in ranch history. We'll all miss seeing Godzilla, but with 8.5 years of roaming the ranch we know that young Godzilla's will start showing up in the near future.

Every hunter dreams of a drop tine buck coming out of the woods and stopping broad side for a hundred yard shot. Well this is what happened to me the last day of hunting season at Benson Farm and Ranch. When this buck came out of the woods my heart hit my throat, I could not believe what I was seeing, a fifteen point monster with a six inch drop tine, this just doesn’t happen everyday. There is no doubt in my mind that I was in shock, but slowly I reached for my uncle Bob's 270 Winchester shaking as I put the barrel of the gun out the window of the blind and took aim at Mr. Drop Tine. Through my Burris scope the deer looked larger than life I placed the cross hairs right on the buck’s vitals and squeezed the trigger the gun went off the deer jumped then ran fifty yards where he expired. While all this is going on my buddy Justin Clowdus is losing his mind shaking me and yelling “thank god you’ve got your chevron jacket on” “thank god”- if you know me you know I seem to have my best luck when I’m wearing my beat up chevron jacket that my god father gave me when I was like fourteen. Well the chevron jacket seemed to work again because I had just shot Mr. Drop Tine a giant whitetail with kickers going everywhere. This was a real gift my dream buck a buck of a life time.

Knowing what kind of deer are in your hunting area is important to all hunters. Finding that buck of a life time and the buck you couldn’t imagine being in your hunting area is amazing. Trail cameras are a great management tool for finding out where the big bucks are hanging out and how they have improved from the previous season. From the pictures I’ve been receiving from the trail camera this is going to be our best season ever for monster whitetail bucks.

The Second biggest buck ever killed in Texas by a hunter was just killed on a military base called Camp Bullis right outside of San AntonioTexas.The so-called "Bullis Buck" had a set of antlers with an amazing 35 scorable points and an outside spread of more than 27 inches — the rack ranks as the third-largest native whitetail taken in Texas. Camp Bullis Military Base is personally, applying the Boone & Crockett Club's standard scoring method, estimated the buck's antler rack at 265 1/8 net inches, a figure based on antler circumferences and point lengths. If the calculation is confirmed, the rack would be the largest taken in Texas since 1925, when a buck, found dead, scored 272 inches.The Texas record for a nontypical buck was recorded early last century when a whitetail, killed in the late 1890s and measured years later, scored 284 3/8 inches. "Nontypical" antlers are antlers that aren't symmetrical, or even configured side-to-side. The "Bullis Buck" is thought to be the largest buck taken by a hunter in over 100 years. This is probably the greatest native Texas whitetail buck that we will ever see. "WOW"

As long as I can remember I've had the dream to hunt Mule deer and this past December I got the opportunity when some friends from Slidell Louisiana invited me to there lease in North Texas. Everyday I was there I saw more and more Mule deer, but never the big one. So as the camp stories brewed and my friends shot there trophies I didn’t feel bad that I didn’t get one, because killing the deer has always came second to the camp atmosphere that surrounds me each and every time I go hunting with buddies.

I was back in Johnson City still dreaming about trophy Mule deer when the phone rang, it was long time friend and professional guide Richard Tomasini. Richard asked me if I could be ready to leave in five hours to go Mule deer hunting on 35,000 acres. My reply was “Yes Sr.” and we were off west Texas bound to hunt some of the wildest country I’ve ever seen, land filled with sharp rocks, cactus, rattle snakes and desert Mule deer. Well as you can see we got two trophy Mule deer and met some great people along the way. This was probably one of the more memorable hunts I’ve ever been on thanks to great friends. Many thanks to Richard Tomasini and John Smith for putting me on the largest Mule deer I’ve ever encountered in a hunting situation.

Special Thanks to Larry Friesenhahn of ATASCOSA WILDLIFE SUPPLY for making the best deer blinds in Texas and one fancy air driven hopper. Also congratulations to Larry on the many different trophy animals harvested in the past seasons at Benson Farm and Ranch.