Passport to Texas

Ralston Dorn [left] and a fellow workshop attendee [right] discuss Dorn’s success in the field. He shot his first deer (a doe) during a mentored deer hunt for adult novices, at Inks Lake State Park.

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This is Passport to Texas

Armed with his father’s vintage Weatherby 2506 hunting rifle, Dallas paramedic, Ralston Dorn, climbed into the idling pickup that would take him and his mentor to a blind at Inks Lake State Park, where they would wait and watch, and hope for a chance to harvest a deer.

We got there at 6 a.m. when it was dark. It was quiet. You got to watch the sun rise. The birds come in. The feeder went off at seven, and then five or ten minutes later, my guide ironically said: ‘Alright deer, come on out’ just as a joke. And sure enough, about five minutes later two doe popped out.

Under the direction of his mentor, Justin Dreibelbis, Ralston brought the rifle to his shoulder, and put the deer in his scope.

You know, my adrenaline’s flowing. And then he’s looking through his binoculars and I’m looking through the scope. And he’s telling me—alright–doe on the right is good to shoot. Alright, doe on the left is not good to shoot. Then it got to a point where the one on the left became the good one to shoot. My heart was racing. I did have to try and control my breathing. And so I took the shot. I just kind of let the trigger surprise me. And it went off and it was exactly where I was aiming. So it was a good shot. She ended up expiring about 20 yards from the blind. We waited for about 15 minutes in the blind, and then went to the point of impact.

Ralston Dorn shot his first deer during a new mentored deer hunt program for adult novices. Additional mentored hunts are in development.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.