Every year, much like each of you, my husband, asks me what I would like for my birthday. He always asks with his usual sideways smile because he more than anyone else knows me. He knows I won’t ask for jewelry, a cruise, a fur coat, or a new truck but this year I surprised him…I asked for Silk!

"Silk, hmm…not quiet what I expected you to say," he replied. I knew it would throw him for a loop and I just let him think on it for a while. The wheels were spinning, but he couldn’t put his finger on what I was up to.

My birthday and our wedding anniversary are in the same month and we always go on a hunting trip to "destinations unknown". We had discussed several different states this year for our hunting get away, but one place in particular kept coming up in our conversations, Texas.

During one of our daily lunchtime conversations, he asked if I had decided where I wanted to go this year for our annual trip. I told him I had a good idea and that we could get my present while we were there. "Okay," he replied, "what type of silk do you want? A shirt, a scarf, a dress? You will have to help me out on this one; I am a little lost. I can’t imagine you wanting any of those things, but you know I will do what I can to get you what you want." I must admit that I married the most awesome man in the world. He is the sunshine in every day for me. With him being so nice about the whole thing, I finally gave in and told him specifically what I wanted.

"The Silk I want can’t be bought in any over priced department store, but it can be found in Texas," I told him. "I want to hunt Silk, do you think we can arrange that"? All he could do was laugh, "Sure, you are talking about the species Silk". A Silk is a sika deer and an elk cross and to our knowledge the only place you can hunt them is in Texas. Silk are large animals with beautiful ivory tipped horns, like an elk when they are mature and they weight anywhere between 600-900 pounds. They are dark brown in color and some have spots like a Sika deer. To me they are beautiful creatures.

Jim and I operate the East Coast Office of Bowhunting North America www.bowhuntingnorthamerica.com. The owners James and Donna Ferguson had told us about the Busy B Ranch which is located in Jefferson Texas. They have hunted with Jason several times and told us that the whole experience was great, from the accommodations to the hunting. Jim and I had searched for a place to hunt buffalo for years, but had no luck in finding an outfitter where you could keep the entire buffalo without having to pay extra for the meat or cape. James told us that Jason Bonner, owner of the Busy B Ranch, had buffalo and that he also had silk or Sika Grande as it is referred to in Record of Exotics.

We made several calls to Jason with questions and availability of dates, we were able to get the first week of October which worked out great for us and our annual hunting trip. On this hunt we were after several species of animals, Buffalo, Silk, Axis does, Texas Hogs, and possibly a ram. Jason said that he would do all he could to put us in the right location to hunt our quarry on his 1100 acre hunting ranch, which used to be a working cattle ranch.

We left early Sunday and arrived at Busy B Ranch 14 ½ hours later, our log cabin retreat on the edge of an enormous lake was waiting for us. Jason drove down while we were unpacking and made formal introductions, after much talking and getting to know each other he asked what the plans were for the next day.

As you know from the last article we stalked Buffalo for the first two days mingled with glimpses of Silk. They are large animals but they have the ability to disappear in an instant. Jim connected on his buffalo at 10 yards which was an adrenalin rush to say the least. I was his over-the-shoulder camera man and will never forget being stared in the eye by the big buff.

That afternoon I spotted two Silk deer through my Nikon Monarch 10x50 bino’s and we decided to stalk them. I was able to stalk within 50 yards of them. Neither was what I was hoping for so I pushed my luck to see how close I could get, at 30 yards I stood up and they hopped off, neither seemed very alarmed. We saw one of them later that evening and were able to stalk to within 40 yards, but the underbrush kept my Carbon Express 150 on the arrow rest. I won’t chance a shot through thick brush and take a chance on wounding an animal. As we drove back toward the cabin that evening we saw him, the monster Silk was standing in the edge of the wood line and when he saw us he laid his massive horns on his back and melted into a thicket. It was the Silk I had been looking for. I knew there would be no sleep for me because I was already thinking about tomorrow.

Morning was slow in coming, I was up and ready to go before Jason arrived. We were all eager to see if we could find the Silk we had spotted the night before, Jim was ready with the camera and I already had my Crooked Horn Bino system on which carry my Nikon Monarch bino’s. I was ready with my 54lb Mathews LX and hit the ground stalking. The Crooked Horn bino system is perfect for me since I love to stalk. My Nikon Monarch’s are held snug to my body when not in use without bouncing as I walk. They also hold my bino’s in the correct position when I pull my bow to full draw.

We spotted two Silk early, we were in thick cover about 100 yards out, and I was able to stalk within 40 yards of them using the huge Texas power poles and trees to my favor. They were the same two we had stalked the day before so I just back tracked and left them grazing.

We spent most of the day searching but had no luck, it was as if he had truly vanished into the thicket and would never reappear. The 95 degree heat was a factor as well so we decided to take a break for lunch and try again that afternoon. Needless to say breaking for lunch was not what I had in mind but my Crooked Horn Master Guide pack will only carry so much Gatorade and my bottles had all run dry. The break was much needed and gave us an opportunity to discuss our plan of action for the afternoon.

We headed back to the woods after lunch with our new plan, Jim and I would set our Eastman Outfitters Carbon Cabin ground blind up in the edge of the woods where we kept seeing the two smaller Silk. It seemed to be a place they frequented and we hoped that the big boy would come into that field after they made their entrance. It would be a 40-50 yard shot depending on where they would enter the field. Thanks to years of shooting 3-D tourneys I am comfortable with that yardage. Jim and I had also decided to take my Weatherby Vanguard .308 out with us that afternoon. Our days were running out and if we spotted the silk out of bow range I would still have a chance to harvest him with my rifle. I, of course was hoping I would find him in my Trophy Ridge Matrix sight but we had traveled a long way for a Silk and I was not going to rule out hunting him with my rifle as time ran out.

We had told Jason we would call him on the cell phone if we harvested the Silk. If not, he would come back at dark and pick us up. He had asked if we wanted him to come back if he happened to spot the Silk, we told him yes.

Jim and I sat in the blind and watched every window for any movement that might tell us the Silk were coming into the field. Jim and I had settled in for the afternoon and about an hour had passed when we both heard a noise. We both looked at each other trying to figure out what it was because it was distant. After a few more seconds of straining our ears we finally saw what it was. It was Jason and he was wasting no time getting to us. He told us he spotted a Silk and thought it was the one we had saw the night before. We jumped on his Kubota Mule and headed back in the direction where he had spotted the Silk on the other side of the ranch.

When we neared the area, we unloaded our equipment and began our stalk at the top of a ravine. I had my Mathews LX bow loaded with my Carbon Express 150 arrow tipped with a 100 grain Muzzy Broadhead. Jim was close behind with the camera and he had the Weatherby across his back just in case. Jason brought up the rear. As we made our slow progress I began to think that the Silk had passed through and had already made it to the other side of the 1100 acres that make up the Busy B Ranch.

The ravine was about 60 yards deep and thick with trees and underbrush. It was dark and cool, a great place to escape the heat and the pressure of being hunted. With the wind in our faces, we continued on our slow stalk. North East Texas was in a drought situation even though 2005 was plagued with hurricanes in the Gulf Coast states. The dry hot weather made it sound as if you were walking in a bowl of corn flakes which slowed our stalk to what seemed a crawl.

We were about to the end of the ravine when Jason tapped Jim on the back and pointed. We all strained our eyes for what Jason was seeing. It was hard to see anything in the dark hole at the bottom of the ravine. After much searching I finally saw him, not all of him just his rump. Silk have a light colored circle on their rump much like a mule deer. He was at the bottom of the ravine in the thickest cover he could find. Jim mouthed, "Can you make the shot?" I looked for what seemed to be an eternity for a hole large enough to thread my arrow through and the 60 yards was also a factor. I knew if there was one twig between me and the Silk that I didn’t see, the arrow would be deflected and possibly wound him or give him a royal education, I wanted neither.

The Silk was quartering away and there was only one small hole. Time was running out quickly and we could tell he was getting nervous. I had squatted down out of sight to unload my bow slowly and as one, Jim and I switched weapons. I had hoped to find a better hole to shoot through but there was not one. The one hole was my only shot so I slowly stood up and pushed the safety off. Without my Nikon Monarch UCC 6.5-20x44 Nikoplex scope with the red lit reticle I would have never been able to see the silk to even attempt a shot. I have never had a scope that was so clear and bright in low light conditions. I did the best I could to control my breathing and heart rate that by now was beating so fast it sounded more like a train than a heart. I slowly squeezed the trigger and the .308 barked as fire shot from the end of the barrel. I heard the big Stag bolt and prayed that the shot had found its mark, and as we all stood there straining our ears for every sound we heard him fall. We looked at each other for a lifetime hoping that we would not hear him get up and head for the other side of the ranch.

Daylight was fading quickly, but we still gave him as much time as possible to expire, as we didn’t want to push him. We began our descent down the steep ravine and found a wallow that he had recently used, which we had been unable to see from the top of the ravine. There was also a small stream which added plenty of mosquitos to rack our already frayed nerves. There is no way we could have hunted without our Themacell Mosquito Repellant units. We found good sign where the Silk had been hit and I began to follow it as Jim ran the video camera. I tracked the Silk easily about 50 yards and finally saw his ivory tipped antlers in front of a down fall in a thick tangle of under growth Needless to say I was ecstatic, he was more beautiful than I had imagined. He was a 4x4 with ivory tipped antlers like a mature bull elk, he had a few spots on his sides and rump, he was soaking wet and smelled worse than the wallow he had been refreshing; he was in full rut. There was no doubt that he had been using the wallow and we must have spooked him while he was freshening it.

Our Texas adventure is one we will never forget, another memory burned into our hearts and minds to be carried with us and shared often. I harvested the Silk on my birthday, Jim had made good on his promise as always, and we were able to share another grand adventure together. I personally can’t wait until next year when Jim will give me that crooked smile and ask, "What do you want for your birthday?"