Vicente Peña began hunting at age five on his father’s ranch in Northern Mexico and instantly became enthralled within the realm of wilderness, eventually creating a career for himself by accident. That first prize had him hooked, and the Peña’s first whitetail followed suit in the natural progression of hunting a year later. From the crucial age of five, a pivotal year when most of America’s yout
h are first taking to the little league baseball diamond or soccer pitch, had Peña creeping along in the brush of Northern Mexico – when he wasn’t on the little league field that is. Peña’s favorite sport, whitetail hunting, had its very own set of rules just as baseball and golf do. These rules were dictated by Peña’s father, and as far as Peña knew, they were the law.
“Back then, from when I was six to about 15, there was no official scoring system in Mexico, no Boone and Crockett or anything, the only way we had to classify a deer was by how many points it had,” Peña said. “My dad’s way of managing us as young growing hunters was like this: if you shoot an 8-point buck, from then on you can only advance to higher points. From eight to nine and onward, but you can never go under the previous total. I advanced on and many years later I won a hunting competition with a 17-pointer.”
Peña’s father’s system was one of common-sensical conservatism. The points-advancement rule allowed for the young free-range bucks on the Peña's land to grow and mature.
“The system on our ranch made hunting about striving for a better deer,” Peña said. “We are not out there just to kill whatever we see. By the time that I was 15, I had shot every kind of deer, up to 16 and 17-pointers, but I had also let go tons of smaller, but still good deer. It was an instinct to always look at the deer and count its points, so in a way, I got to see these deer grow.”
Fast-forward to age 18, Peña realized that through technology he could capture every deer regardless of its points total. He began shimmying into the stands with a videocamera rather than a rifle. He could now shoot every deer to gracefully gait within view. He enjoyed experiencing the hunt whether it was from the outdoors in a blind or on his couch. His videos consequently served as proof to his buddies. Anybody can say they were in the woods at the crack of dawn and saw a 10-pointer in all its glory, but unless they killed that 10-pointer, they couldn’t actually prove it. Pena’s videos verified his big-fish stories to all his hunting buddies. And once they got a taste of his cinematography, they were hooked as well.
“Before I started filming, I didn’t know how to explain to my friends that I had just seen one of the biggest bucks that you’d ever seen walking in the wild. I would tell them about a monster buck and they’d just say ‘yeah right.’ It was something to do with a deer rather than just letting it walk by.” Peña recalled. “By filming it, I was creating a relationship. I was capturing it and I could see it anytime I wanted. Every time I saw one, I’d get ‘buck fever’ and I would be shaking with excitement. You can see it right there on the tapes.”
The Pena deer videos spread like wildfire among his friends. It began as just Pena and a friend or two and then multiplied to several people watching at a time. People wanted to see these Mexican deer that Peña’s video featured.
“Mexico was a place that had deer with the right kind of genetics. They are just a special type in Mexico,” Pena said.Then, some of Peña’s viewing audience asked him for several copies of his tapes,
one even offered to pay for them. But in order to copy his films at that time, Peña was required to copy them individually from VCR to VCR. Peña sold the copies to his friends for $10 apiece with no music and no narration; it was just the silence of strong deer walking along in Mexico. By word of mouth Peña's films were gaining popularity, and that popularity motivated Peña to enhance the films. That's when Peña’s music came into play. He supplemented his footage with his own original music that he had recorded. He also added his own personal narration to the films as well, simply sharing his points-based philosophy and telling the story of each deer. Those three components produced what became Pena’s first film, “Mexico Whitetails” in 2005. “Mexico Whitetails” started selling in a local resturant, and within two days, all the copies of it were sold out. As the film's popularity blossomed, Pena recieved calls and requests for his film. It was even to be featured on a hunting TV show. In preparation for "Mexico Whitetails" oncoming publicity, Pena dipped into his personal savings and purchased 500 copies of his film. He never expected to sell all 500 copies, but at the time that was the minimum number he could have professionally copied. Peña’s filmmaking career had lift-off. In the next five years, Peña recieved major distribution deals from WalMart, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Gander Mountain, Sportsmans' Warehouse, and Buc-ee's. Along with "Mexico Whitetails" widespread distribution came endorsement contracts with Record Rack, Mossy Oak, and Bio Logic. Pena produced three more videos: “Don’t Shoot Young Bucks”, “Don’t Shoot Young Bucks 2” and “Did You Know” upon the sturdy foundation the "Mexican Whitetails" laid. "I could not have done this alone. My wife, Katya, and I do all of the work on the films now, and she has been instrumental in the success I've had," Peña said. "My son, Vicente Peña V, and my mother are my true inspirations." He has great support from his family and credits a vast amount of people for helping him along the way. It is more than a job for the Peñas', it is a passion and a gift to be able to share the sights and experiences of monster bucks. Recently, at "A Night of Venadeando" – an event for local Laredoan whitetail enthusiasts – Peña was honored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Association for his achievement in the education of hunters throughout the state. Peña was awarded an American flag flown for him on a special mission from operation Iraqi Freedom by Major Carlos Tamez in 2008. He was bestowed the honorary flag thanks to the temporaty escape from the carnages of the war theat his videos provide soldiers. His films have impacted the lives of the soldiers serving overseas and the flag represents their gratitude. Peña has no plans of slowing down his productions after his stints of success. He has a photo-book in the works, along with the hopes of producing a feature-length documentary and a pilot episode of his own hunting television show. Peña’s productions seep with the flavor of Laredo and Peña’s own Mexican-American heritage. But the films are not just entertainment endeavors, they are intended to be educational.
“For me this has been about sharing my passion with others. It is from my heart, and anything from a person’s heart is stronger and purer than something just from their mind.”
