The summer of 2022 was one of the driest on record on the southern plains. In southeast Kansas, Oklahoma and northern Texas, Thanksgiving finally broke the long drought. Rain was still sluicing down two days later when I drove south toward Truscott, Texas, and the historic Lowrance Ranch, which I had been hearing offered amazing whitetail hunting.
With the ground hard as concrete, my Kansas food plots were scorched earth. I was so happy to see the rain that I didn’t give much thought to the immediate impact on deer hunting. Well, I couldn’t; I’d never hunted deer in north Texas and had no knowledge of the conditions. The rain slowed me down, sure, but I traveled good highways all the way. When the rain and blacktop ended just west of Truscott, things were looking fine. Then gravel gave way to dirt county roads that had turned to mud. It was 14 slow and slippery miles to the ranch headquarters.
I arrived late in the day, quickly gathered stuff and got organized, and Colton Beam and I took a Can-Am out to a blind. Colton told me that a lot of the ranch would be inaccessible for a couple of days, with muddy roads and low spots flooded. There was no way we could get to most of the spots—and known bucks—he had in mind. We’d need to stick closer to HQ and hope for a couple days of sun
