2022-2023 Hunting Thread

[Brisketexan 104556]

FYI on austin processing: got mine done at Hudson’s this year (been a long time).
Breakfast sausage: really good. Wife prefers it to my precious place.
Chorizo: pretty damn good.
Snack sticks: excellent, the boy is gonna love em.
Smoked sausage: really well done.

Across the board, really good stuff.

[hookemATL 11604]

If you don’t mind me asking Brisket how much did that run you and how much deer did you take in to be processed?

[Brisketexan 104556]

If you don’t mind me asking Brisket how much did that run you and how much deer did you take in to be processed?

Was a dinky little doe, and I only take in the quarters…and one of the front quarters got f’d up by my shot (summary: this year wasn’t one of my best hunts), so I think the total weight was 50lbs or so? Total cost was under $200, but I really don’t remember. It wasn’t out of line with what I’ve paid elsewhere, I know that.

[fluff 87]

Good stuff Brisket! Hudson’s on Congress has always been really solid in my opinion. I don’t care if you don’t get your exact deer back, it is damn good. F any haters. It’s also damn convenient.

[BabaYaga 15208]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:58 PM, 686 said:

This is an old blind out at our place. Guessing ~40’s vintage maybe hauled out to the place in the 60’s and abandoned in the 80’s or so. A solid 30+ years of new growth cedar thicket surrounds it. I found it tracking a deer.

Also known as the Boone's Farm and "ive never done this before" blind

[BabaYaga 15208]

On 12/4/2022 at 8:32 PM, fluff said:

Good stuff Brisket! Hudson’s on Congress has always been really solid in my opinion. I don’t care if you don’t get your exact deer back, it is damn good. F any haters. It’s also damn convenient.

This always irked me if I'm going for steaks/cuts of meat.  For everything else I'm ok (ground up, sausage, etc.)

[Sam Lin 3541]

14 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Also known as the Boone's Farm and "ive never done this before" blind

The original Bangbus.

[fattyflattie 4636]

14 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

This always irked me if I'm going for steaks/cuts of meat.  For everything else I'm ok (ground up, sausage, etc.)

Yeah fuck all that. I’ve seen some unbelievably bad meat keeping before it gets to the processor.  I’ll take the stuff I know was cared for beforehand, thanks. 

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

1 hour ago, fattyflattie said:

Yeah fuck all that. I’ve seen some unbelievably bad meat keeping before it gets to the processor.  I’ll take the stuff I know was cared for beforehand, thanks. 

For sure!  That is a big reason why I've been so impressed by how Hunters Creek (North of intersection of US 183 and Hwy 29 near Liberty Hill) does their work.  Open window for you to watch while processing and separate tubs for all of your meat.  It is a single batch processing operation. 

You will definitely be getting your own meat.  (Phrasing, perhaps?)

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4968]

I'm pretty sure there's a thread for that in IPIHB.

[BabaYaga 15208]

9 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

Yeah fuck all that. I’ve seen some unbelievably bad meat keeping before it gets to the processor.  I’ll take the stuff I know was cared for beforehand, thanks. 

This is why all I use the processors for are ground items.  If I'm doing cuts, I'll do it myself.  Soon as I get around to getting a decent grinder, then I'm doing that part as well.  

[deadshank 24651]

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

It’s been a frustrating Fall so far. We had decent elk numbers in Oct, but I was unable to hunt the first (Oct) season because: 1) a new grand baby arrived in the opposite direction; and 2) my cow tag was only good for the last half of October.

Nov came, and the elk went because our stock pond (tank) dried up. The guy who runs cattle on our acreage said they all moved to a large ranch NE of us where there is a creek. That ranch had 150-200 elk. The deer were also somewhat scarce during the two week firearms season ending 11/30.

I just received cellular trail cam pics of a herd of >30 elk:

None of them appear to be big bulls, but whatever, I have a cow tag: This is the largest bull I caught on camera…

…and probably will capture because some teenagers horsing around knocked my camera off the mount not even an hour after I started getting pics.

I’m 230 miles away, it’s holiday season, and my wife is having health issues pop up, so who knows if I’ll get out there by Dec 31.

At least I’m still alive and kicking. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2724]

This is an old blind out at our place. Guessing ~40’s vintage maybe hauled out to the place in the 60’s and abandoned in the 80’s or so. A solid 30+ years of new growth cedar thicket surrounds it. I found it tracking a deer.

Are you Alexander Supertramp?

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

nm

Edited December 9, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor
Thought I was responding to T’Boo.

[Gut Wagon 8052]

Couple of our guys getting it done here lately. Quinn Ewers in Atascosa County, Colton Vasek in Medina. It's good to be a Longhorn. 

 

[solamente73 1132]

Re-opening morning in Port O’Connor.

Ain’t.  Shit.  Flying.

Still better than being back home.

Guys who hunted this blind last didn’t clean up.  We were greeted this morning by a bunch of empties that they were proud to leave behind:

Hope the fishing is better here in about 1.5 hours.

[hookemATL 11604]

Very typical of aggy. Who tf 1) leaves trash in the field at all 2) leaves trash in a communal blind?  Goddamn trash people. 

[solamente73 1132]

Add to it spent shells and empty dip cans.  Let’s just say that it was easy leaving the blind cleaner than we found it.

[hornmpa96 2598]

Sitting in a bow blind sweating my ass off. I’m shocked that I’m seeing anything as I can smell myself. 
 

[Kennythetiger 9334]

He looks like he smells worse than you do. 

[Gut Wagon 8052]

22 hours ago, solamente73 said:

Waterfoul 

[CHIEF 5071]

17 hours ago, hornmpa96 said:

Sitting in a bow blind sweating my ass off. I’m shocked that I’m seeing anything as I can smell myself. 
 

That is an old man, looks 6.5 y.o. He is ready to be shot.

CHIEF

[hornmpa96 2598]

2 hours ago, CHIEF said:

That is an old man, looks 6.5 y.o. He is ready to be shot.

CHIEF

Based on some pics from last year and earlier this year, I had him at 5.5 but he certainly has run himself down over the past 2/3 weeks. On my place, we are generally shooting the 4/5 year olds that we don’t want to feed anymore and trying to get everything else to 7.

[BabaYaga 15208]

On 12/9/2022 at 4:53 PM, ImissWallyPryor said:

It’s been a frustrating Fall so far. We had decent elk numbers in Oct, but I was unable to hunt the first (Oct) season because: 1) a new grand baby arrived in the opposite direction; and 2) my cow tag was only good for the last half of October.

Nov came, and the elk went because our stock pond (tank) dried up. The guy who runs cattle on our acreage said they all moved to a large ranch NE of us where there is a creek. That ranch had 150-200 elk. The deer were also somewhat scarce during the two week firearms season ending 11/30.

I just received cellular trail cam pics of a herd of >30 elk:

None of them appear to be big bulls, but whatever, I have a cow tag: This is the largest bull I caught on camera…

…and probably will capture because some teenagers horsing around knocked my camera off the mount about an hour after I started getting pics  

I’m 230 miles away, it’s holiday season, and my wife is having health issues pop up, so who knows if I’ll get out there by Dec 31.

At least I’m still alive and kicking. 

Where's your place?

[BabaYaga 15208]

Drought continues.  Happy little man popped something, but between him and his sister, I'm in organized sports jail damn near every weekend.  Even during the Winter ECNL soccer break, there's ODP, school soccer, and school track.

 

[Herbie Hancock 7303]

The last couple weeks has been slow at the house. Not much traffic at all. Pulled my card last night to check pics. Whiskey was going down entirely too easy so I didn’t feel like going out to put the card back in my cam. This morning I look out back and see two very fellas, neither of which look familiar at all, munching down on my corn. Got real excited to see the pics of them, then I look at the window sill above the sink and see my SD card. Damn you whiskey

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

9 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Where's your place?

Black Hills, adjacent to Custer State Park (you can see the high fence in the first pic below).

”Funny” thing is, I received these photos yesterday of a larger herd (probably the same herd). The boys couldn’t resist messing with this camera, either. I’m learning about camera placement and elk.

 

There are at least a dozen elk on the hillside that are washed out in the sun. From these and other pics, I figure there were >40.

Edited December 12, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[Armybrat 40724]

An oldie but goodie

 

[kurioster 66]

My father found quite a surprise when checking the cows this morning. Lee County, Tx

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4968]

At least whatever it was is on board with your management strategy. 

[Kennythetiger 9334]

Poached?  

[deadshank 24651]

17 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

Poached?  

Typical poachers would have sawed off the antlers and, if feeling bold, pulled the back straps. 
 

Looks like coyotes got to that buck and then maybe pigs.  

[Kennythetiger 9334]

5 minutes ago, deadshank said:

Typical poachers would have sawed off the antlers and, if feeling bold, pulled the back straps. 
 

Looks like coyotes got to that buck and then maybe pigs.  

The cleanness of the hindquarters is what made me wonder. Typically up here coyotes eat the asshole first and then spread the stomach contents everywhere. I’ve always seen the actual legs be one of the last things to go. 
Of course ours probably lack the civility of yours. And we don’t have pigs. Or rent them either. 

[deadshank 24651]

3 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

The cleanness of the hindquarters is what made me wonder. Typically up here coyotes eat the asshole first and then spread the stomach contents everywhere. I’ve always seen the actual legs be one of the last things to go. 
Of course ours probably lack the civility of yours. And we don’t have pigs. Or rent them either. 

The whole thing is odd.  Blood trail indicates it got dragged.   

[Kennythetiger 9334]

https://www.thefencepost.com/news/18-head-of-600-pound-calves-dead-after-apparent-wolf-attack-near-meeker/
 

This is a dated article, but gives the beginning of the story. I’ve been following it through The Fence Post. Still no resolution as far as I know. Pretty interesting. 

[Humpy 112]

Any UFO activities in the area?

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

11 hours ago, Kennythetiger said:

The cleanness of the hindquarters is what made me wonder. Typically up here coyotes eat the asshole first and then spread the stomach contents everywhere. I’ve always seen the actual legs be one of the last things to go. 
Of course ours probably lack the civility of yours. And we don’t have pigs. Or rent them either. 

The coyotes clearly have had some butchery training to take off the hindquarters so neatly!  Pop your knife in that socket, and Bingo!

[tx 3 putt 76314]

3 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

The coyotes clearly have had some butchery training to take off the hindquarters so neatly!  Pop your knife in that socket, and Bingo!

[hookemATL 11604]

How cold is too cold for the deer to come out to play?  Not that I’m terribly interested in sitting in a stand with windchills in the teens but I am curious if  the deer will also nope out of it is that cold. 

[deadshank 24651]

57 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

How cold is too cold for the deer to come out to play?  Not that I’m terribly interested in sitting in a stand with windchills in the teens but I am curious if  the deer will also nope out of it is that cold. 

The deer will be out in sub-freezing temps.   They have to eat to generate body warmth.  They can’t get a meal from a warm kitchen in a house like we can. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

Not really a hunting topic, but I found something when I was setting up trail cams, and is been bugging me for months.

I found a skull without any other skeletal remains. I can’t identify it, and it lacks eye sockets.

There are no chupacabras in the Black Hills, and the last I heard, they have eyes.

 

 

Smart ass comments are welcome because I got nothing else. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[Anastasis 23393]

Stopped into a place off 281 on the drive back from SA today and found the oldest boy's Xmas present in .243.  Looking forward to getting this dialed in with him and a little hunting between Xmas and NYD. This should serve him well for many many years, until he inherits his share of the safe. Work has been nuts so have only worked in one sit down but gonna have to correct that.  

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Anastasis

[686 3404]

Though a friend, got this Army officer out for his first deer hunt and first deer this weekend. He shot very well and put this doe down in bang-flop fashion. Wanted to learn cleaning/butchering and was all-in.





He’s been shopping/getting educated on hunting rifles and was asking me about Winchesters, Remingtons, etc. and I was spewing lots of information. I had a lot of my guns out for him to target shoot before we hunted, and he finally asked an honest question “I hear you saying Weatherby a lot, I’ve never heard of that name, why do you have so much Weatherby stuff?” The most direct response I could come up with is “Because I’m a gun snob.” Haha. But then it was great to say yeah, this rifle cost $2000, and it doesn’t necessarily shoot better than lower cost imports, but its made by Americans with best quality components and design features that matter to me, and the cost premium is irrelevant to me in the long run. I saw a little glimmer of pride in his eye, pretty great.

[686 3404]

Stopped into a place off 281 on the drive back from SA today and found the oldest boy's Xmas present in .243.  Looking forward to getting this dialed in with him and a little hunting between Xmas and NYD. This should serve him well for many many years, until he inherits his share of the safe. Work has been nuts so have only worked in one sit down but gonna have to correct that.  

 

Nice! What glass you thinking?

[Anastasis 23393]

22 minutes ago, 686 said:

Nice! What glass you thinking?

I had them throw a cheap sig 3-9x40 scope and rings in the bag so we had something to shoot with out the box. I hope that it's not a total POS. 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4968]

11 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Not really a hunting topic, but I found something when I was setting up trail cams, and is been bugging me for months.

I found a skull without any other skeletal remains. I can’t identify it, and it lacks eye sockets.

There are no chupacabras in the Black Hills, and the last I heard, they have eyes.

 

 

Smart ass comments are welcome because I got nothing else. 

It appears to have a sagittal crest, which indicates that it most likely belonged to a carnivor. Those spurs sticking out on the sides were from the eye sockets, the rest of the sockets have rotted away or were broken off or both. Doesn't appear to be based on size, it looks like a medium sized predator, but it could be a juvenile as well. I'd look at pictures of any known predators in the area to see if I could find a match.

[Anastasis 23393]

coyote until proven otherwise?

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

43 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

It appears to have a sagittal crest, which indicates that it most likely belonged to a carnivor. Those spurs sticking out on the sides were from the eye sockets, the rest of the sockets have rotted away or were broken off or both. Doesn't appear to be based on size, it looks like a medium sized predator, but it could be a juvenile as well. I'd look at pictures of any known predators in the area to see if I could find a match.

I’m pretty sure you’re correct. I never noticed how thin the eye sockets are on some canines. With so much of the snout missing, I was also confusing the nasopharynx with the beginnings of a narrow palate (my wife taught college anatomy classes after her M.D. career, so please don’t tell her). I catch more red fox on my cameras than coyotes, so that might be what it was.

Coyote:

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:45 AM, ImissWallyPryor said:

Black Hills, adjacent to Custer State Park (you can see the high fence in the first pic below).

We spent a lot of time hiking around the Black Hills back when Black Elk Peak was still called Harney Peak. Beautiful beautiful country up there, could spend weeks tramping around.