Doing it the hard way: Upon spotting this "muy grande" in a sendero nearly 500 yards away, David Coleman climbed down from his high-rack stand and made a long, successful stalk through the brush. David's buck took second place in the popular Los Cazadores Deer Contest in Pearsall, Texas.

Hunting deer in South Texas wasn't new to David Coleman of Columbus, Mississippi, when he booked a 2006 hunt on the McAllen Ranch near Edinburg. But even time spent chasing big bucks on the famed King Ranch couldn't have prepared him for the events that unfolded in mid-December in "el Rucio."

"El Rucio is the name they use for one side of the ranch, where I began my hunt," David said. "The name is Spanish meaning 'color of a horse,' and the area I was hunting in was some 10,000 acres. I didn't see as many deer as my buddies did hunting elsewhere the first afternoon, but I decided to continue hunting that area, anyway."

David's decision was easy. He'd seen plenty of bucks in the 130 to 140 class the first afternoon out in el Rucio. What's more, for a brief instant he had indeed seen a "gray horse" materialize in the ghost-like fog during his first morning hunt, only this horse was wearing antlers and it was a potential Booner.

"December 13 was our first day on the ranch," David said. "My longtime hunting buddy Dr. Scott Jones was along on the trip, as was my friend Dustin Waldrip. We shot our guns to check them, and then we hunted that first afternoon. After comparing notes that night, we'd all seen several bucks in the 130 to 140 range."

AN EXCELLENT CHOICE
In researching ranches for the 2006 trip, David had learned that hunters on the McAllen Ranch often get opportunities to take 160-class bucks. Larger deer are possible. He trusted the information because he knew the ranch manager, Travis DeWitt.

"Travis' daddy, Amos, had worked on the King Ranch, and we'd hunted there for years," David said. "I actually turkey hunted on the King Ranch with Travis. When we found him and the McAllen Ranch on the Web, we contacted him and booked the hunt."

Having hunted on the King Ranch, David and his companions weren't unacquainted with big whitetails. But that doesn't mean they weren't surprised by what they found on the sprawling McAllen operation.

"The ranch is primarily a cattle ranch," David said. "I learned very quickly that the deer were very skittish. These were wild deer we were hunting -- just like the deer we hunt in Mississippi. At dinner that first night, we talked about the need to make an accurate judgment of a buck quickly because we might not have long to make a good shot."

Fog compounded things for David and his buddies during their first morning's hunt. "The ranch uses ground blinds, but they also use vehicles with elevated 'high rack' blinds," David explained. "That first morning, we were all in vehicles with our guides, moving slowly along senderos while looking for good bucks. Since it was the beginning of the rut, we also had the opportunity to try some rattling."

VISIONS IN THE MIST
As the first morning's hunt unfolded for David, el Rucio revealed a healthy population of bucks in the 130 to 140 class -- that is, until 9:30. "I caught a glimpse of a big buck through the fog," David said. "He was a 170-class buck, no doubt. But there was no way to get a good shot, and he disappeared. I ended up rattling in several bucks after that, but the big boy never came back."

David and his guide returned to camp for lunch, and the hunters compared notes again.

Everyone had seen a number of 140-class bucks, but only David had seen a deer that might reach record-book proportions. He decided to stick with el Rucio, and to get back out there quickly.

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