Johnny Amador Jr. and Grandpa Frank
By Horace Gore
The deer season of 2023 had opened, and Jonathan (Johnny) Amador, Jr. was settled in the deer blind with Grandpa Frank Montoya on the Hodge Keller Ranch in Northeast Val Verde County. Frank is a seasoned deer hunter who has leased the 500-acre spread for deer and aoudad for years.
This hunt was different from all the others because Johnny was holding his Grandpa’s Thompson Center Encore .300 Win. Mag. single shot with a 150-grain Hornaday SST in the barrel. The normal kick of the big rifle was tempered with a muzzle brake, and the variable scope was set on low-power for deer.
Johnny was after his first whitetail buck and Grandpa Frank had made sure that his 10-year-old grandson was ready. In between Johnny’s fourth grade classes at Katie Reed Elementary, they had practiced with the rifle, and Johnny and his younger brother, Asher, had sat in the blind with Frank for several seasons. Asher had decided to stay home on this early morning hunt, and Johnny was looking for his first buck. As usual, Frank and Johnny said a prayer for safety during the hunt.
Frank had come over from home he shares with Grandma Dixie in Helotes in northwest Bexar County. He spends a lot of time on the ranch, usually escorted in his chores by one or more of their 15 grandchildren, five of which are the Amador kids: Leana, 15; Kira, 13; Johnny, 11; Asher, 9; and Anaiya, 5. Ashley, Johnny’s mother, and her father, Frank, are busy running the family business—Northwest Automotive Warehouse, while Jonathan Sr. works for the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Antonio.
The hunt begins
The high deer blind was about 100 yards from a corn feeder, and Frank had the use of a couple of trail cameras. The lease had a good deer population and some good bucks, but Johnny was after a respectable buck, not anything gigantic. Several does and young bucks were quick to come to the feeder when it went off just after daylight. The hunters sat tight, hoping for something respectable for Johnny’s first.
Johnny was comfortable with the scoped rifle that he had shot many times. All he wanted was a good shot at a buck—and that would come, pronto. The does became nervous and moved away from the feeder as a buck emerged from the brush. Frank recognized the buck as an eight-point that was a regular to the feeder. Johnny looked at Grandpa for the OK, and Frank gave him the nod for the 100-yard shot.
Johnny got the buck in the scope and cocked the hammer. He took a deep breath and slowly squeezed the trigger of the .300 Win. Mag., as the roar echoed through the canyons of the Hodge Keller Ranch. The 150-grain SST bullet at over 3,000 fps caught the buck behind the shoulder for a deadly lung-shot. Johnny Amador had taken his first buck with eight points, and would go to the Hunters Extravaganza Annual Deer Competition in San Antonio.
Johnny’s buck scored 114 4/8 and got him a pat on the back from Grandpa Frank, and third place in the Open Range Male Youth category at the San Antonio show. The Amador family relished the venison, and the story of Johnny’s buck hunt spread all over the fourth grade class at Katie Reed Elementary.
