Corpus Christi, Texas
May 19, 2010
Joe De Santos, Sr.
My son was 14 years old and a very good hunter by that time. We had been invited to spend a summer weekend at a good friend’s 800 acre ranch in the area of Benavides in South Texas. He had a very nice cottage with all the amenities. A first class set up, the nicest country place I had ever been invited to. I remember that I felt really special, we had the whole weekend, all to ourselves, my son and I. It was off season so we were not going to hunt any game, just relaxing for the weekend. I had bought my son a varmint call a few weeks before and he was anxious to try it. If I remember right, it was a rabbit in crisis call. Jr. wanted to try it on some coyotes and he asked me to drive him out in the brush so he could set up and do some calling. He was carrying his Savage 22-hornet rifle. Right after we ate lunch, I drove him to a brushy area and dropped him off, probably a quarter mile from the ranch house. He walked into some cover and set up to calling. I gave him the usual safety talk, careful with the weapon and watch for rattle snakes and such. I went back to the ranch headquarters to watch TV. I trusted my son, he was very mature for his age. I think he had been gone about an hour and a half or so when I decided to go check on him. I took off in my old company suburban with the windows open. As I got closer, I could hear the squealing sound of the varmint call. When I almost got to where he was, something caught my eye in an open area to my left. It was a large cougar kind of briskly walking towards the rabbit in distress call. He was to the left and behind where Jr. was sitting, approximately 200 yards away from him. As soon as it saw my vehicle it stopped, turned and ran off. Jr. had no idea that he was being stalked by this large predator. Of course, the big cat thought he was going after the rabbit and to this day, I wonder what would have happened if I had not showed up at that time. Seconds from disaster? I’ll never know. Once in a while, I still think about that day. At that time, I really had no idea that cougars existed in that area. I had hunted around there many times and I had never heard anyone mention long tail cats. I had seen plenty of bob cats. I had seen cougars on TV and always in mountain surroundings. I thought they existed further south, in Mexico or north towards the mountains. If it had been coming from in front of Jr., I have no doubt that he would have taken care of business. It’s just that it was approaching from the rear that made me nervous. After that incident, I found out that the area is well populated by the big cats. Nowadays, when I’m hunting and walking to my post early in the dark morning, I always wonder if a big cat is watching and it makes the hairs in back of my neck stand. I’ve seen on TV what those animals can do to people. The morale of the story: Ignorance can kill. When varmint calling, don’t assume that the only varmint that shows up is going to be small and not really dangerous. Nowadays, when we varmint call, we usually do it from an off the ground blind. lf you are going to call from the ground, do it by the buddy system. This way you’ll have a 360 degree view.