2020/2021 Hunting Thread

[Both Tacos 1806]

Didn't see anything tonight until 5 minutes before I was going to get out of a stand when I see a dark spot making it's way to the feeder. He knew something wasn't right as he would stop and have his nose up in the air. He finally made it to 20 yards and I let an arrow fly. It was already pretty dark, but I heard a good thump and it takes off into the brush. I hear him running around but no big crash but I think I know the area he may be in.
First thought was, Damn It...there goes a good arrow along with, I don't have a good flashlight with me.
I'm back up at camp, going to eat something and then go back to the bottoms up see if I can recover him.

[Herbie Hancock 7369]

I had a beautiful 10 in my sights about five years ago at the exact time of day you’re talking about. Bang! He took off and I knew my gun was on but he didn’t act like he was hit. I searched but not a crazy in-depth one. Gave up after twenty minutes of not finding even a drop of blood and chalked it up to a flat out miss. 6-8 months later I found him no more than 10 yards further from where I stopped searching. Don’t be like me, be thorough and hopefully you find him.

[Both Tacos 1806]

I had a beautiful 10 in my sights about five years ago at the exact time of day you’re talking about. Bang! He took off and I knew my gun was on but he didn’t act like he was hit. I searched but not a crazy in-depth one. Gave up after twenty minutes of not finding even a drop of blood and chalked it up to a flat out miss. 6-8 months later I found him no more than 10 yards further from where I stopped searching. Don’t be like me, be thorough and hopefully you find him.

We are talking about a pig. I'll put in the effort to try and find him but I'm not staying out all night trying to find him.
If it was a buck, yep 100% search would be on and tracking dog if necessary.

[Herbie Hancock 7369]

Oh fuck that noise I was thinking deer. stay at camp and drink some fire water by the fire

[Both Tacos 1806]

I'm more concerned about recovering the arrow.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

13 hours ago, Both Tacos said:

2 things I hate when up in a tree stand.

1. Little birds in the brush moving around making it sound like a deer is coming down a trail.

2. Dropping my rattling horns....

There's nothing like that heightened sense of awareness and anticipation as you hear something cautiously making it's way through the woods towards your stand. There's also nothing quite like the disappointment when a couple of lost donkeys step out.

[Armybrat 40857]

Nsiap

 

[BabaYaga 15302]

1 hour ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

There's nothing like that heightened sense of awareness and anticipation as you hear something cautiously making it's way through the woods towards your stand. There's also nothing quite like the disappointment when a couple of lost donkeys step out.

Or the sound of two bull raccoons fighting in a milo field at night that sound EXACTLY like two demons from hell coming to murder you...

[Both Tacos 1806]

Quick 4 man limit this morning. Still not seeing any mallards but the gadwalls are keeping us busy.

[CHIEF 5094]

We don't have the deer density of Lakeway, but I have probably 13-15 deer that bed down on my 6 acres at all times. Don't move unless you get within 25 yards, etc. I also get to watch all of the deer in the pecan orchard as well. The rut, here, was rolling on the opening weekend. The second rut is rolling now. Saw two bigger bucks on does this afternoon, with satellite bucks circling. Went to the 6 acres, and there were two decent bucks that I haven't seen before. Good luck.

CHIEF

[noharleyyet 2838]

5 this afternoon....

 

[markstanco 12586]

Early morning in red River County. Buddy with his pup. Thought it was a badass pic.

[markstanco 12586]

.

[Al Czervik 1229]

First Pheasant hunt NW of Dumas. Expected lots of exercise, wind, dust and a fun time. Watching the dogs work was great and more than a little helpful, without their help it will be a very long day.  Will do this again.  

[Reagan1k 3024]

13 hours ago, noharleyyet said:

5 this afternoon....

 

That’s a heeluva buck. 

[Reagan1k 3024]

Main beam length and tine length are where scores are made.  A wide spread looks cool but isn’t what adds inches like beams and tines. 

[BabaYaga 15302]

Bitch ass pigs. 
*Dejected from the Urban Myer news.  Liver barely holding on.  Called up a buddy who promptly said get your ass over here.  He has every NV toy you can think of. Good times.

Edited December 7, 2020 by BabaYaga

[fattyflattie 4639]

Speaking of beautiful 8’s and long tine length. No CR.

*pic won’t load so linking article.

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/12/06/ted-cruz-gets-a-rise-out-of-pearl-clutchers-with-hunting-pic-circles-back-for-the-kill-1003002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


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[BabaYaga 15302]

29 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Speaking of beautiful 8’s and long tine length. No CR.

*pic won’t load so linking article.

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/12/06/ted-cruz-gets-a-rise-out-of-pearl-clutchers-with-hunting-pic-circles-back-for-the-kill-1003002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


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I follow a ton of hunting shows, people, podcats, etc.  Every one of them catch massive hell from the anti-hunting coalitions.  Especially Cam Hanes.  Most just ignore it for the nonsense it is.  

[BabaYaga 15302]

22 hours ago, Al Czervik said:

First Pheasant hunt NW of Dumas. Expected lots of exercise, wind, dust and a fun time. Watching the dogs work was great and more than a little helpful, without their help it will be a very long day.  Will do this again.  

Working with well trained dogs is a thing of utter beauty.  We used to have dedicated quail hunters on our place and the surrounding ranches.  They roll up with their trucks and custom aluminum dog kennels in the bed of the truck.  They'd work our place (650+ acres) in just a few hours and then on to the next.  Those dogs have so much money and time invested in them.  Why so many upland bird hunters are so singular in their endeavors.  Hard to have great dogs as a generalist that hunts a little bit of everything.

[HOOKEM4 5039]

10 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

Speaking of beautiful 8’s and long tine length. No CR.

*pic won’t load so linking article.

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/12/06/ted-cruz-gets-a-rise-out-of-pearl-clutchers-with-hunting-pic-circles-back-for-the-kill-1003002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


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Damn. I went to south Texas this past weekend and wish that dude walked out. That is a great 8. I saw a big boy that looked like that but it had a 2" g2 kicker and would have been my trophy so I punted. I love a big 8.

[Ted Dantzler 152]

On 12/6/2020 at 10:40 AM, Al Czervik said:

First Pheasant hunt NW of Dumas. Expected lots of exercise, wind, dust and a fun time. Watching the dogs work was great and more than a little helpful, without their help it will be a very long day.  Will do this again.  

Glad to see some pheasants in this thread. How far south do pheasant get in TX? 

We recently inherited some of my grandparents farmland in western KS so I've got into pheasant hunting the last couple of years. I still have no idea what I'm doing but just love walking around the edges of fields and blasting at the random birds that fly up...worst case scenario you go on a nature hike for a couple of miles. 

[Ted Dantzler 152]

Spent last year hunting without a dog then decided to bail a 6 month old GSP mutt (Milo) out of the local pound a year ago to assist.

She can't point worth a shit but works great as a flusher, got her first rooster after Thanksgiving. Should of had 3-4 more but I can't shoot worth a shit. We were hunting a weedy draw in the middle of a corn field, Milo started sniffing a giant weed pile then jumped in...3 roosters flew out maybe 5 yards away from me, missed the first then the gun jammed on the reload. 

She also flushed a rooster on the edge of a field in some weeds that flew right across my line of sight at 15 yards...3 shots and nothing. She was so disappointed in me. 

Still a 10/10 great time, nothing better than seeing your dog get birdy and go nuts tracking a bird.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Ted Dantzler

[Kennythetiger 9411]

I live on the high plains, and opening day of pheasant season was better than Christmas for me. My family would host half a dozen of my dad’s college buddies. I was allowed to ride along if I cleaned and oiled shotguns the night before. 
Always had a GSP, even when I became more involved in ranching and less involved in hunting. Such great family dogs. 
Easier said than done, but wait two or three more seconds before you pull the trigger on those birds. It’ll make a big difference. 

[hookemATL 11803]

Beautiful bird and dog.  Thanks for sharing.

[williemackgarza 1826]

Man we used to go up to mott, nd hunting pheasants every year.
You could hunt any land unless it was posted for no hunting. That was back 15-20 yrs ago not sure how it is now. Most of the time wed just knock on farm house doors and ask for permission. 99% of the time it was yes.
Miss those times.

[Speedtrucker 2072]

Man out in Vernon we’ve had a great year for doe, lots of good sized girls out there but in 3 trips we’ve seen 0 buck during either rut and it’s killing us.

Hogs have been thinned out too but damn bucks ain’t moving like they used to.

I took a 100lb and 95lb doe on opening weekend, and buddies have taken 2 more, around 90lb and a little 75lb girl and there are plenty more big girls walking around out there.

We’ve also noticed they’ve changed their morning paths this year pretty significantly and now the active time seems to be 8.30-9am this year. Last year they were super active right at dawn

[Noogman 161]

Beautiful looking pup there, Ted. Looks happy as a clam to be out and about.

Was able to take advantage of the cold weather this weekend in Mason. Had a long sit on Saturday that resulted in me rattling a nice 9 into bow range, but I couldn’t get a shot off due to branches being in the way.

Sunday morning, this guy popped out at the second feed time just after 8:30. Ran 60 yards after bleeding like a motherfucker, he piled up in a pretty picturesque spot representative of Texas hunting (and right by the road, so putting him in the pickup was easy).




We pegged him at 3.5 years old. He had definitely been rutting hard, patches of missing hair from rubs all over the front half of his body. Little fat on him.


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[BabaYaga 15302]

8 hours ago, Kennythetiger said:

I live on the high plains, and opening day of pheasant season was better than Christmas for me. My family would host half a dozen of my dad’s college buddies. I was allowed to ride along if I cleaned and oiled shotguns the night before. 
Always had a GSP, even when I became more involved in ranching and less involved in hunting. Such great family dogs. 
Easier said than done, but wait two or three more seconds before you pull the trigger on those birds. It’ll make a big difference. 

Remember my first pheasant hunt.  HS kid.  One dog that was semi-trained so we did a ton of walking.  Never knew those birds flush STRAIGHT UP and are loud as heck.  I had a giant plug of Levi Garret in sloshing around in my mouth.  Almost walked over a bird before it flushed.  Scared the crap out of my.  Swallowed half the plug.  Turned green.  Spent the rest of the afternoon in the truck, sick as a dog.   

[HOOKEM4 5039]

On 12/3/2020 at 8:34 PM, HOOKEM4 said:

This was shot at our place last week. I am waiting on the south Texas big boys to fill my tags.

Got the report back, no CWD per testing. 4.5 years old.

 

My FIL claims to have seen a 10pt 5.5+ year old today while scouting today. I told him to shoot it but he just wanted to go poke around on a day trip. He knows his deer after 40+ years of hunting.  I am trying to get off work Friday to go up and see what I can see. End of year is a beating at work, closing out shit. We will see.

I haven't seen a deer like that on our place for 4 years. Odds are he will be gone but we will see.

Edited December 9, 2020 by HOOKEM4

[williemackgarza 1826]

Nice deer gents.

[Armybrat 40857]

[DalTxHornFan 3109]

7 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Nice trophy. Would have been way cooler if the lights were lit.

[Both Tacos 1806]

Nice trophy. Would have been way cooler if the lights were lit.

He shot the lights out of it.
Should have given him another year.

[BabaYaga 15302]

[deadshank 24653]

When it’s too muddy to be on the ranch.  This is from a few years back.  Was looking through some old pics and came across these.   5 mile mudder walk back to camp.  Took 2 trucks and 2 winches to pull my Mule out.   Got stuck due to blown drive belt and LOTS of mud. 

[BabaYaga 15302]

Did someone say muddy....;)  The indomitable Willis bit off more than it could chew!

 

[Brisketexan 105180]

Once got a Willys stuck. Then another Willys stuck trying to get it out. Then an old International Harvester tractor trying to get THOSE out. We finally decided to wait till morning (when, coincidentally, we might also be a touch more sober), and use the big ass Case tractor to pull them all out.

It worked. My grandfather, who ran the ranch, was not amused....but then seeing how much we’d fucked up, and how we had to solve it ourselves, became VERY amused.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2738]

All this talk about bird dogs makes me miss my GSP. He was a great bird fetcher. My kids have been asking to get another but I just can’t bring myself to do it yet.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Once got a Willys stuck. Then another Willys stuck trying to get it out. Then an old International Harvester tractor trying to get THOSE out. We finally decided to wait till morning (when, coincidentally, we might also be a touch more sober), and use the big ass Case tractor to pull them all out.

It worked. My grandfather, who ran the ranch, was not amused....but then seeing how much we’d fucked up, and how we had to solve it ourselves, became VERY amused.

We are mainly red sandy soil in Frio County.  No clay.  You just can’t stick a light vehicle like a Willys (we have 2) or my Samurai with a high rack. Don’t even need get out and do the wheel locks and shift into 4 wheel drive.   
 

At my buddies place in Webb County it’s that black clay.  You better have 4wd if it gets wet. And if it rains enough you better not go out.  

Edited December 11, 2020 by Johnny Sack

[deadshank 24653]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Once got a Willys stuck. Then another Willys stuck trying to get it out. Then an old International Harvester tractor trying to get THOSE out. We finally decided to wait till morning (when, coincidentally, we might also be a touch more sober), and use the big ass Case tractor to pull them all out.

It worked. My grandfather, who ran the ranch, was not amused....but then seeing how much we’d fucked up, and how we had to solve it ourselves, became VERY amused.

 

[fattyflattie 4639]

Mighty neighborly, miiighty neighborly. 

[Both Tacos 1806]

Did someone say muddy....  The indomitable Willis bit off more than it could chew!
 

That is a pure "hold my beer" moment right there. You better have some good equipment to get that out.

[WgnBrnr 17]

On 12/9/2020 at 2:44 PM, BabaYaga said:

Remember my first pheasant hunt.  HS kid.  One dog that was semi-trained so we did a ton of walking.  Never knew those birds flush STRAIGHT UP and are loud as heck.  I had a giant plug of Levi Garret in sloshing around in my mouth.  Almost walked over a bird before it flushed.  Scared the crap out of my.  Swallowed half the plug.  Turned green.  Spent the rest of the afternoon in the truck, sick as a dog.   

If that ain't country I'll kiss your ass...

[deadshank 24653]

7 hours ago, WgnBrnr said:

If that ain't country I'll kiss your ass...

It’ll hair lip the Pope 

[BabaYaga 15302]

10 hours ago, Both Tacos said:

18 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Did someone say muddy....  The indomitable Willis bit off more than it could chew!
 

That is a pure "hold my beer" moment right there. You better have some good equipment to get that out.

Something like that, yeah.  It was actually an isolated patch and wide open area, so the truck was able to pull right out.  Took the jeep up to the main road and drove her back and forth flinging craploads of mud off.  It was a hot mess.  Those tires are siped airplane tires - so they are heavy as shit, but indestructible.  22lrs bounce off them.  We can drive that little monster straight through a pear patch and use that triangular tow hitch as a battering ram for small mesquite......but not great in mud.  

[BabaYaga 15302]

The Venn Diagram results of Halloween, game cameras, and a refined sense of father & son humor.....so yeah, I need to do this.

 

[Armybrat 40857]

[Kennythetiger 9411]

As a true friend and admirer of beaver, I can relate. 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

Undefeated.