EP 509 | He Shot the Texas State Record… The Strategy That Keeps Working

EP 509 | He Shot the Texas State Record… The Strategy That Keeps Working

From The Fall Podcast by Arron Bleise

February 24, 2026 · 1h 35m · Season 8

About this episode

Arron Bleise interviews Texas State Trooper Tarif Alkhatib about his successful bowhunting strategies for mature whitetails in Texas.

In this episode, I sit down with Texas State Trooper and one of the most consistent bowhunters I’ve ever talked to — Tarif Alkhatib. A few years back Tarif punched the Texas State Record buck, but what impressed me most isn’t just one giant… it’s the repeatability. Year after year he’s targeting and killing truly mature, free-range whitetails — many of them 6, 7, even 8+ years old and pushing well into the 150–160” class. We dive deep into Tarif’s system for hunting bow-only counties in Texas, how he uses the Red Moon to time his hunts, and the mindset that keeps him consistently around the oldest deer in the county. If your goal is to stop chasing young bucks and start hunting true mature whitetails, this episode is loaded with real, field-proven insight. In this episode we cover: Tarif’s Texas State Record buck story Hunting bow-only counties in Texas The Red Moon theory and how he applies it Finding and targeting 6–8 year old deer Why consistency matters more than luck Mistakes bowhunters make chasing mature bucks . . . Promo Codes: Latitude Outdoors: thefall Americas Best Bowstrings: TFP Helix Broadheads:TFP Faceoff Ebikes: TFP Asio Gear: FALL20 Kuhle Archery: FALL25…

People in this episode

Host: Arron Bleise

Guest: Tarif Alkhatib

Topics covered

  • bowhunting
  • whitetail deer
  • hunting strategy
  • Texas hunting
  • mature bucks
  • Red Moon theory

Keywords

  • Texas State Record
  • bowhunting
  • mature whitetails
  • hunting strategy
  • Red Moon
  • 6-8 year old deer
  • consistency in hunting

Sponsors

Latitude Outdoors, Americas Best Bowstrings, Helix Broadheads, Faceoff Ebikes, Asio Gear, Kuhle Archery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Jays Sporting Goods, Garmin Bow Sights, Prime Archery

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