The Devine News Hunter’s Guide, October 2016/ page 16
The 100 yard dash
didn’t. They must have been waiting for
their comrade to get up. It seemed like there
were a hundred.
I looked at one, and he looked back at me
with his teeth clacking together. I thought
they were going to eat me up. I only had five
rounds left in my old
Savage lever action
.243, and I emptied
it, shooting as I ran
about 100 yards to
the truck. I was really flying. I don’t
think Jesse Owens could have outrun me in
the 100 yard dash I ran that day!
I’ll never forget that time. It’s just etched
in my mind. I can still see dad sitting there
in the pick-up truck laughing. He and my
uncle had their own run in with javelinas before where my uncle had been attacked by a
wounded javelina.
Needless to say, I never cared to shoot another javelina, and I learned that day, if you
ever do shoot a javelina, you better make
sure there aren’t others down there waiting
for you.
I actually got to shoot my first deer about
two years later. I was sitting up in the deer
blind with dad, and I don’t know if it was a
premonition he had or what, but after I had
killed my first deer, he told me:
“Now, if I die tomorrow, I’ll die a happy
man, because I’ve been with each one of my
sons when they killed their first deer.”
That was November 26, 1972. I remember it like it was yesterday because when
you’re a young man-your dad is your hero.
On June 4 the next year he suffered a stroke
and passed away. My hero was gone, but
the memories and lessons continue on today.
I reflect and cherish the times I had with my
dad, he taught me so much in a short time.
In his eyes, being with us as we shot our
first deer was important because he lived
through the depression where you had to rely
on hunting to survive. After living through
the depression and seeing what happened to
people not being able to eat, it really had a
big impact on him. So one thing my father
always insisted on was that when we killed a
deer-we always shared it with someone less
fortunate. We never hesitated in doing just
that.
Growing up in Edinburg, I can remember
“I don’t think Jesse Owens
could have outrun me...”
Guest Commentary
as told by Chris Champion
I was 9 or 10 years old when dad put me
up in a deer blind. We were on our deer
lease out in Brooks County, and my only
objective was to shoot a javelina. The way I
was raised-you never wanted to just wound
a deer-so dad told me to shoot a javelina in
order to perfect my marksmanship.
Dad went to hunt at a different blind and
would pick me up at a designated spot about
200 yards away from my blind.
Well, about dark thirty a pack of javs
came out and I shot one. All the javelinas
had cleared off, and about 20-30 minutes
later I figured I’d better go down and drag it
back to the truck. But as soon as I grabbed
that jav’s back leg, I heard a grunt. I looked
up and the next thing I knew that brush just
came to life. I heard a bunch of teeth chattering. Then my teeth were chattering. There
must have been 50 javelinas, and they were
really coming out. When I shot the first one,
I thought they all left, but apparently they
when my brothers and I were young and
we’d go saltwater fishing at Port Mansfield.
When we were through Dad would say
“Okay, put your fingers out,” and we’d hold
our fingers up and stick a fish on each one.
Then we’d walk down the street delivering
fish to each of our neighbors.
I was taught that there’s a distinct difference between a sportsman and a hunter, and
my dad was a hunter. Some people just want
to kill a big buck, and it’s fine to kill a big
buck, but I have yet to find a recipe where
the horns taste good.
It’s not all about the thrill of shooting a
deer-the big horns or how far the shot wasit’s about life. It’s about the memory of the
hunt, and it’s about sharing what you’ve
taken. That’s something I still live by today
and want to pass down to my children. So
when my son Brice shot his deer, we took
it down to Sam Allen at the wild game processing plant and told him that if there was
anybody he knew that needed the meat-to
give them some, and he did. I also knew a
family who needed some, and I took some to
them the day after Christmas.
My guiding principle is this: When you
die, God’s not going to ask what you havehe’s going to want to know what you’ve given. There’s always somebody who is in need
and can use the meat, and venison is really
some of the best meat you can get.
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Animal Speeds
The following information can be found
online on the Texas Parks and Wildlife
website.
Measuring animal speeds accurately
is very difficult, and the results can vary.
Car speedometers, plane airspeed indicators, radar devices, and stopwatches have
been used to obtain some information, but
speeds vary with individual animals and
conditions. Fear is another factor that can
influence the animal’s top speed. An animal
trying to escape may surpass its normal top
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The Devine News Hunter’s Guide, October 2016 / Page 17
121 N. Teel • Devine
Hours: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.,
8 a.m. - 8 p.m. by Appt.
How fast are they?
Swift (some species)
Homing pigeon
Falcon
Cheetah
Ducks and geese
Pronghorn antelope
Mourning dove
Hummingbird
Horse
Starling
Ostrich
Jackrabbit
Elk
Quail
Crow
Gray fox
Coyote
Deer
Heron
Sparrow
Pheasant
Moose
Gull
Bison
Grizzly bear
Pelican
Blue jay
Man
Elephant
Bat
Squirrel
Speeds MPH
100 to 200
90 to 95
65 to 70
65 to 70
60 to 70
55 to 60
55 to 60
55 to 60
45 to 50
45 to 50
45 to 50
40 to 45
40 to 45
40 to 45
40 to 45
35 to 42
35 to 40
35 to 40
35 to 40
35 to 40
35 to 40
35 to 40
30 to 35
30 to 35
30 to 35
25 to 30
20 to 25
20 to 25
4 to 25
12 to 15
10 to 12
Read the full article and see more information at Texas Parks and Wildlife.gov.
Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife. Ilo Hiller. 1983 Animal Speeds. Young Naturalist.
The Louise Lindsey Merrick Texas Environment Series, No. 6, pp. 32-35. Texas
A&M University Press, College Station.
speed by quite a bit, just as a runner can
turn on a short, extremely fast, burst of
speed to win a race. However, this escape
speed cannot be maintained for any great
distance. Predatory species also may turn
on a burst of speed to catch their prey.
There probably have been more arguments over the maximum speeds of birds
than any other creatures. Estimated speeds
for some species rate higher than 200 miles
per hour, but most authorities believe some
of these records, which were established
several years ago, are a bit exaggerated.
Many disagreements are based on the fact
that the speed of a bird in flight often is
measured as ground speed. This ground
speed is determined by measuring the time
required to fly from one fixed point on the
ground to another. Since no consideration
is given to the wind conditions in such a
measurement, the results can be misleading. A bird flying at an airspeed of 25 MPH
with a 35-MPH tail wind will appear to be
flying at a ground speed of 60 MPH. If no
wind were present, the bird would cover the
same distance at only 25 MPH, and flying
against a head wind would further reduce
the speed. Measurements made with airplanes and radar devices have established
flight speeds at lower, but possibly more
accurate levels.
Although the speediest of land animals
cannot match the times of the fastest flyers, the cheetah, recognized as the world’s
fastest runner, is able to run 70 MPH for
short distances. From a standing start, the
cheetah can accelerate to 45 MPH in two
seconds and cover a distance of sixty-five
yards. Because of its limited endurance,
this big cat is exhausted after a high-speed
dash of several hundred yards, but it can
run comfortably at 30 to 40 MPH for as
long as half an hour.
Pronghorn antelope are the fastest mammals on the North American continent.
When chased by a car, one pronghorn maintained a speed of 60 MPH for two miles before it dropped to 50 MPH and then slacked
of to a running speed of 40 MPH. In many
instances these fleet-footed animals have
averaged 35 MPH for distances as great as
twenty-seven miles.
In a half-mile distance, a jackrabbit can
run 45 MPH. The slower coyote, which
runs between 35 MPH and 40 MPH, cannot
catch it in this first half-mile, but the coyote
has the endurance to maintain its speed over
a greater distance until its faster prey gets
tired and slows down. An elephant usually
strolls along at a comfortable 2 to 4 MPH,
but when charging, an African elephant can
reach a speed of 25 MPH.
Read the full article and see more information at Texas Parks and Wildlife.gov.
Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife. Ilo
Hiller. 1983 Animal Speeds. Young Naturalist. The Louise Lindsey Merrick Texas
Environment Series, No. 6, pp. 32-35.
Texas A&M University Press, College
Station.