Hunting 24/25: big bucks and a lot of ducks!

[ChickenNuggets 1661]

Sucks... some grandkids are getting really rich right now... 

 

Edit: Doesn't suck they are getting rich... just sucks that land is becoming so scarce.

Edited November 8 by ChickenNuggets

[CHIEF 5102]

I think we are gonna wait to go up after tomorrow's game. We got 7 inches at the lease, and there is about 4 inches of water under the feeders. The owner said to come on out, but that it is really muddy. In other words, you can come out, but you sure are gonna fuck up the roads. It's our first year, so we are gonna try to keep the roads in good shape.

CHIEF

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4980]

Supposed to storm all night and then clear up just after daybreak at our place in East Texas. That's as good of a recipe as any for them to be moving during the day given the warm temperatures. 

[686 3456]

Got some time with the 14yr old in the blind today, looking for does or pigs but none showed. Did see a big flock of hen turkeys, including what I think is a bearded hen.




New target showed up on the cell cam just a few minutes ago:

[Frank Drebin 5693]

Great hunt with son and his friends out near Anahuac this morning. Limited out by 8:00 am.  Going to put some of the teal on the grill tonight.  

[Storm the Field 5306]

On 11/5/2024 at 9:08 AM, Storm the Field said:

I know this dude must still be young, b/c he appears to be out stumbling home from the bars at 3 in the morning.

Same dude wandered out in the rain to two separate feeders between midnight and 1 am last night.

Guessing the rut hasn't quite started yet. Doesn't this idiot know he won't get laid if he only comes out when the does are sleeping?

Edited November 10 by Storm the Field

[Kennythetiger 9500]

16 hours ago, 686 said:

Got some time with the 14yr old in the blind today, looking for does or pigs but none showed. Did see a big flock of hen turkeys, including what I think is a bearded hen.




New target showed up on the cell cam just a few minutes ago:

Is that a domestic Hampshire pig?  

[686 3456]

Is that a domestic Hampshire pig?  

It definitely looks like a domestic that broke loose, and like it would be good eating.

[686 3456]

Had a good day today.

[686 3456]

Some pics through the spotting scope from inside the house this AM. Mid-range year for us buck-wise. Decent numbers but the quality is down some from years past.







Young 8 point with little splits on his G2s is kinda interesting:

[Reagan1k 3026]

11 hours ago, 686 said:

It definitely looks like a domestic that broke loose, and like it would be good eating.

We have a lot of Oreo looking black and white or black and orange hogs.  Maybe 10% or more of the general population....coloration seems to be just part of our genetic make-up as there are normally one or two in every brood.

Been that way for 30 years in the part of the hill country we hunt.

[Izhmash 563]

Had fun watching this guy on Saturday. Weather was a little warm in the afternoon...but I can't argue.

Curious to get consensus on his age. I've guessed him at 4.5 and hoping he makes it another year or two.

 

 

[Frank Drebin 5693]

1 hour ago, Izhmash said:

Had fun watching this guy on Saturday. Weather was a little warm in the afternoon...but I can't argue.

Curious to get consensus on his age. I've guessed him at 4.5 and hoping he makes it another year or two.

 

IMG_6424.MOV 57.94 MB · 2 downloads  

 

I agree.  4.5.

[Anastasis 23514]

1 hour ago, Izhmash said:

Had fun watching this guy on Saturday. Weather was a little warm in the afternoon...but I can't argue.

Curious to get consensus on his age. I've guessed him at 4.5 and hoping he makes it another year or two.

 

IMG_6424.MOV 57.94 MB · 3 downloads  

 

What a beautiful buck. 

[USCATX 1085]

I thought I missed this one from 110 yd, but he only ran about 20 yards on a neck shot and dropped.  I love a good Travis County low fence 8 point.  

[686 3456]

Had a peaceful sit after the horns finally put Arky away. Does and yearlings, no pigs or shooter bucks, but a nice sunset.

[686 3456]

Turkeys and fog so far this morning.

[Izhmash 563]

This thread is dreadfully slow this year.

I was getting excited about TG week...but damnit, the heat is returning. FML.

[Izhmash 563]

@686 Tell us about your rifles. They look like well thought out tools...curious if they are custom, ots, etc? What kind of glass, calibers, and supression?

PS - Is your daughter wearing suspenders? That's awesome.

[686 3456]

This thread is dreadfully slow this year.

I was getting excited about TG week...but damnit, the heat is returning. FML.

Yeah a cold front would be much appreciated.

[686 3456]

[mention=2146]686[/mention] Tell us about your rifles. They look like well thought out tools...curious if they are custom, ots, etc? What kind of glass, calibers, and supression?

PS - Is your daughter wearing suspenders? That's awesome.

Those two rifles my daughters are shooting are as follows:

1. In the foreground the 12 yr old is shooting a Ruger American Ranch in 300 BO topped with an Sig BDX in 3.5-10 with an aftermarket throw lever. Suppressor is an Sig QDX with a silicone cover. I cut the stock down for kid LOP and fabricated a soft little recoil pad. The buttstock shell holder has some foam in it to raise the cheek weld and provide some cushioning. Shoots subs and supers very well. Bogpod deathgrip infinite carbon tripod.

2. In the background the 14 yr old a Tikka T3 action that I swapped the factory .270 barrel down to a second hand factory Tikka 6.5CM threaded, fluted, and ceracoated barrel. Suppressor is my titanium AB Raptor that I run on my elk rifle, but in a short arrangement without the “reflex” mount. Scope is an older Nikon 4-12 x 50. Stock is a Boyd’s AtOne (nice because they adjust down to about 11.75” or so, and then quickly back out as needed). I added a Salmon River Solutions Arca rail to the foreend to allow more secure tripod mounting. Tripod is another Bogpod Deathgrip Infinite with the saddle removed to use the Arca mount. (Saves about a pound and is much more secure)

With the suppressors, tripods, and ear pro on, the kids were shooting full factory loads in these gun like they were .22’s. They wanted me to shoot the rifles first and afterwords they said “oh it’s not loud!” And then they proceeded to empty the mags twice in about 90 seconds. This pattern occurs every fall. They must have heard me shoot an unsuppressed rifle years ago and immediately think shooting any rifle is going to be really loud. We literally don’t even talk about recoil, the sound is what they worry about.

14yr old has a bino harness on, which looks like suspenders. Suspenders are cool; so are coveralls. Here she is two years ago with her first doe wearing my dad’s coveralls from the 70’s:

[Storm the Field 5306]

3 hours ago, 686 said:

Yeah a cold front would be much appreciated.

I'm planning to duck out of the office after lunch on Thursday and head up to my lease. Cool front this week looks to be at its strongest from Wed-Friday. Should be able to get in Thursday evening, 2 Friday hunts, and Saturday morning before it warms back up.

 

 

[USCATX 1085]

9 hours ago, 686 said:

Turkeys and fog so far this morning.

Damn. 

[686 3456]

Damn. 

Yeah we have pretty great spring turkey hunting every year.

I took the balance of the day today and dug about 40 yards of dirt out of a pond that’s been dry this fall. Another 40 yards will have it in better shape and we can use the top soil to dress some bare areas in the pastures.




Dad cleared a bunch of cedar in this seasonal creek area that runs to this pond and we’re planning to plant some pecans (Caddo and Choctaw) and some Apples (Anna to go with some Ein Shemer I planted a few years ago); and maybe some pears as well. I thought this area would be a great little spring turkey spot and I was able to get one this spring in there. If we can get the fruit trees going, they will be great wildlife (and people) food sources.

[hornmpa96 2632]

It’s been a long three weeks to finally getting my hands on this buck. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we started getting pictures of our 2 target bucks this year about 4 weeks ago. 

On 11/2, the wind was right for both my son and I to sit for both of these bucks. About 5:20, my son texted me that he arrowed his buck good. Then, my buck made an appearance 10 minutes later. I was able to put an arrow in him but I knew my shot was a little higher than I would have liked. I wanted to give my buck some time so I was able to go help my son look for his deer. We trailed blood through some thick cactus in the dark but eventually lost the blood trail. At that point, we made the call to see if we could get some canine assistance with the search.

The dogs found my son’s buck in about 5 minutes. Afterwards, we went looking for my buck. We found some blood and the dogs trailed blood for over 1000 yards before losing the trail. At about 1 am, it was clear we weren’t finding that buck. After a sleepless night, we went back out and searched for another 4 hours with only a pair of axis sheds to show for the effort.

I was back out at the ranch the next weekend with a group of friends and was able to check the game cameras. Fortunately, my deer was back on camera. However, my main goal this weekend was guiding a friend to his first deer. He had a successful weekend with a doe and nice buck.

Fortunately, I wouldn’t have guiding responsibilities this weekend and would get back out to hunt. On Sunday morning, I was able to put another arrow in him with a much better spot. After waiting 30 minutes, I climbed down off the tripod and looked at him laying in the road 25 yards away. 

These 3 weeks have been a roller coaster of epic proportions. I was elated for my son and absolutely in despair worried that I mortally wounded him without finding him in the brush. Both of these deer are personal bests for us with a bow and my deer is the new ranch record at 194 inches.

I’m still pulling cactus thorns from that original search 3 weeks ago. In the end, it was worth it. We have multiple years of history in watching these deer. We almost culled my sons deer as a 3 year old because he didn’t have any brow tines. We were extremely lucky that we didn’t make that call.

Here’s my son’s deer:

Here’s my buck:

[686 3456]

@hornmpa96 I’ve been in that situation and it is rough - really great that the buck lived and you got another opportunity. Those are both awesome deer! What county?

[hookemATL 11993]

12 hours ago, 686 said:

we’re planning to plant some pecans (Caddo and Choctaw) and some Apples (Anna to go with some Ein Shemer I planted a few years ago); and maybe some pears as well. I thought this area would be a great little spring turkey spot and I was able to get one this spring in there. If we can get the fruit trees going, they will be great wildlife (and people) food sources.

Would you be supplementing watering the orchard/fruit trees or do you get good consistent water from the creek you mentioned? 

[hookemATL 11993]

1 hour ago, hornmpa96 said:

It’s been a long three weeks to finally getting my hands on this buck. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we started getting pictures of our 2 target bucks this year about 4 weeks ago. 

On 11/2, the wind was right for both my son and I to sit for both of these bucks. About 5:20, my son texted me that he arrowed his buck good. Then, my buck made an appearance 10 minutes later. I was able to put an arrow in him but I knew my shot was a little higher than I would have liked. I wanted to give my buck some time so I was able to go help my son look for his deer. We trailed blood through some thick cactus in the dark but eventually lost the blood trail. At that point, we made the call to see if we could get some canine assistance with the search.

The dogs found my son’s buck in about 5 minutes. Afterwards, we went looking for my buck. We found some blood and the dogs trailed blood for over 1000 yards before losing the trail. At about 1 am, it was clear we weren’t finding that buck. After a sleepless night, we went back out and searched for another 4 hours with only a pair of axis sheds to show for the effort.

I was back out at the ranch the next weekend with a group of friends and was able to check the game cameras. Fortunately, my deer was back on camera. However, my main goal this weekend was guiding a friend to his first deer. He had a successful weekend with a doe and nice buck.

Fortunately, I wouldn’t have guiding responsibilities this weekend and would get back out to hunt. On Sunday morning, I was able to put another arrow in him with a much better spot. After waiting 30 minutes, I climbed down off the tripod and looked at him laying in the road 25 yards away. 

These 3 weeks have been a roller coaster of epic proportions. I was elated for my son and absolutely in despair worried that I mortally wounded him without finding him in the brush. Both of these deer are personal bests for us with a bow and my deer is the new ranch record at 194 inches.

I’m still pulling cactus thorns from that original search 3 weeks ago. In the end, it was worth it. We have multiple years of history in watching these deer. We almost culled my sons deer as a 3 year old because he didn’t have any brow tines. We were extremely lucky that we didn’t make that call.

Here’s my son’s deer:

Here’s my buck:

Thanks for the story and congrats on being able to get a 2nd chance. Nothing worse than thinking the animal might be suffering after being struck by arrow/bullet. Kudos to the buck for being a stalwart mofo as well🤘

[hornmpa96 2632]

31 minutes ago, 686 said:

@hornmpa96 I’ve been in that situation and it is rough - really great that the buck lived and you got another opportunity. Those are both awesome deer! What county?

Eastern Zavala County

[hornmpa96 2632]

1 minute ago, hookemATL said:

Thanks for the story and congrats on being able to get a 2nd chance. Nothing worse than thinking the animal might be suffering after being struck by arrow/bullet. Kudos to the buck for being a stalwart mofo as well🤘

That buck was amazingly tough. On Saturday morning, I actually sat in the gun blind because I wanted to get a good look at him as I was considering changing broadheads for my bow as this was the first year I have used a mechanical broadhead. At first light on Saturday, another mature buck was at this location before he showed up. He walked up the sendero, checked out a scrape and then decided he didn’t like that other buck in his territory. They fought for about 5 minutes until he ultimately won. He did all of this with my broad head in his rib cage.

[686 3456]

Would you be supplementing watering the orchard/fruit trees or do you get good consistent water from the creek you mentioned? 

Decently consistent moisture content from the spring fed creek, but we also water trees when needed. We setup a 300 gallon tote with a solenoid valve you can operate without getting out of the bobcat.

[686 3456]

@hornmpa96 which broadheads were you using? Any pics of the first in his ribs?

[hornmpa96 2632]

15 minutes ago, 686 said:

@hornmpa96 which broadheads were you using? Any pics of the first in his ribs?

I didn’t get a picture of the first broad head in his ribs. 

I’m using the Beast broadheads at 125 grains.

[Lazarus Bocanegra 306]

This dude pulled in while I was picking up my boudin from Lonestar Smokehouse in Manvel. Had a nice truck too. Busy weekend at wherever

[Ted Dantzler 156]

I was out in NWKS at our old family farm for the Pheasant opener 10 days ago. We have a large windbreak right behind the house that I hunt a couple of times a day because it's so close and takes 5 minutes but I rarely see any birds there, at most a single bird. 

I got in on a Friday night and it had rained all day into Saturday morning which apparently had the birds looking for shelter. When I woke up I made a cup of coffee then walked outside to get my gear ready when I started to hear a couple of cackles coming from behind the house. Sweet! An easy bird to start out the day! I grabbed my shotgun and started creeping around the house to the windbreak where the cackles were coming from. When I got to the woodpile all hell broke loose for about 20 seconds.

There were birds flying out of tree tops, birds busting up from the ground, birds running across the road etc etc. Just complete pandemonium, maybe 15-30 birds total and lots of roosters. Guess how many I ended up getting? 

ZERO. Just complete panic, do I shoot that one, wait there's another, is that a hen or rooster, is that tree in the way, is that one too far now? I think I only shot twice and didn't hit anything. 

[Ted Dantzler 156]

I ended up getting 6 birds over a couple of days hunting solo with 1 dog and the highlight was definitely on Sunday. Went hunting in the morning and got one bird then decided to watch the chefs game. At halftime I decided to do a quick hunt across the street and ended up bagging 2 birds in 30 minutes before heading back inside to watch the second half. 

Token pic of the birds and the windbreak where all hell broke loose. 

[BabaYaga 15399]

14 hours ago, Ted Dantzler said:

I ended up getting 6 birds over a couple of days hunting solo with 1 dog and the highlight was definitely on Sunday. Went hunting in the morning and got one bird then decided to watch the chefs game. At halftime I decided to do a quick hunt across the street and ended up bagging 2 birds in 30 minutes before heading back inside to watch the second half. 

Token pic of the birds and the windbreak where all hell broke loose. 

Pheasants are hard to hunt without a dog.  I remember my first hunt, Texas panhandle, and I just started chewing Red Man.  I was in my mid-teens maybe, and one of those SOB's flushed straight up a few feet from me.  Made all the racket in the world, and "gulp".  Down the hatch.....giant plug of tobackie.  Spent the rest of the morning in the truck, green and sick as a dog.  

[Dignan 363]

Maybe a really dumb question, but I’ll ask anyway.

Where should I setup my ground blind? Granted, I put mine up back in September where the yellow X is. The feeder has been at that blue circle for longer than that. That location is obviously small, but the deer do come there. Haven’t gotten one yet this year, but will. My blind is only about 35-40 yards away and the shooting lane is fairly tight.

With that being said, should I move the blind next year (now?) to the larger field to the south with the pink X? I could setup the blind along the tree line and have a much larger area to shoot/scan. I could even move the feeder if I get permission from the owner, which wouldn’t be a problem.

I was originally thinking that where I have the setup now is best, just because of the natural cover, but it does feel very cramped. Any input would be great.

Little more info: this is about 110 acres and the lady who owns it has a small horse farm. Literally, the bastards are tiny. So there is traffic through the place which again, is why I chose to put the setup wheee it is. It isn’t bothered as much.

[686 3456]

Rifle hunting from the blind?

[686 3456]

And what is the wind direction forecasted? I would setup taking the wind into account.

[Spaulding Smails 1568]

21 hours ago, Dignan said:

Maybe a really dumb question, but I’ll ask anyway.

Where should I setup my ground blind? Granted, I put mine up back in September where the yellow X is. The feeder has been at that blue circle for longer than that. That location is obviously small, but the deer do come there. Haven’t gotten one yet this year, but will. My blind is only about 35-40 yards away and the shooting lane is fairly tight.

With that being said, should I move the blind next year (now?) to the larger field to the south with the pink X? I could setup the blind along the tree line and have a much larger area to shoot/scan. I could even move the feeder if I get permission from the owner, which wouldn’t be a problem.

I was originally thinking that where I have the setup now is best, just because of the natural cover, but it does feel very cramped. Any input would be great.

Little more info: this is about 110 acres and the lady who owns it has a small horse farm. Literally, the bastards are tiny. So there is traffic through the place which again, is why I chose to put the setup wheee it is. It isn’t bothered as much.

[Storm the Field 5306]

Welp, putting in work at the lease in East TX over the past 2 years finally paid off on Friday morning.

First buck I've shot since I was in high school. Just started deer hunting again last year.

Kinda funny story. I shot him right under the feeder and he took off running. Went down there and all I saw was a tiny little splatter of blood under the feeder. I trudged off in the direction of where I assumed he had run and couldn't pick up any trail whatsoever other than a few tufts of hair. No blood trail at all. After about 20 minutes of looking around, I got convinced that I had whiffed a rather easy shot and just grazed him. Bout that time my Dad pulled up to help me search. Within about a minute of getting out of his truck, he pointed out a shape underneath a bush 90 degrees to the right of where I was walking. Deer had collapsed not more than 40 yards from the feeder. I guess I had tunnel vision of where I thought he had run and just never even glanced in that direction. Rather than a graze, it was pretty much a textbook shot right behind the shoulder. Surprised he was able to go any distance at all seeing the damage it did to his heart when we were cleaning him.

Had my Dad drop off the head with a guy in his neighborhood to prep the skull for a Euro mount. Just gonna put it on a basic skull hanger in the cabin at the lease.

Edited November 24 by Storm the Field

[Anastasis 23514]

On 11/23/2024 at 1:01 PM, Dignan said:

Maybe a really dumb question, but I’ll ask anyway.

Where should I setup my ground blind? Granted, I put mine up back in September where the yellow X is. The feeder has been at that blue circle for longer than that. That location is obviously small, but the deer do come there. Haven’t gotten one yet this year, but will. My blind is only about 35-40 yards away and the shooting lane is fairly tight.

With that being said, should I move the blind next year (now?) to the larger field to the south with the pink X? I could setup the blind along the tree line and have a much larger area to shoot/scan. I could even move the feeder if I get permission from the owner, which wouldn’t be a problem.

I was originally thinking that where I have the setup now is best, just because of the natural cover, but it does feel very cramped. Any input would be great.

Little more info: this is about 110 acres and the lady who owns it has a small horse farm. Literally, the bastards are tiny. So there is traffic through the place which again, is why I chose to put the setup wheee it is. It isn’t bothered as much.

I hunt a fairly similar setup as the red x situation. That’s where I’d put it. 

[CHIEF 5102]

3 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

Welp, putting in work at the lease in East TX over the past 2 years finally paid off on Friday morning.

First buck I've shot since I was in high school. Just started deer hunting again last year.

Kinda funny story. I shot him right under the feeder and he took off running. Went down there and all I saw was a tiny little splatter of blood under the feeder. I trudged off in the direction of where I assumed he had run and couldn't pick up any trail whatsoever other than a few tufts of hair. No blood trail at all. After about 20 minutes of looking around, I got convinced that I had whiffed a rather easy shot and just grazed him. Bout that time my Dad pulled up to help me search. Within about a minute of getting out of his truck, he pointed out a shape underneath a bush 90 degrees to the right of where I was walking. Deer had collapsed not more than 40 yards from the feeder. I guess I had tunnel vision of where I thought he had run and just never even glanced in that direction. Rather than a graze, it was pretty much a textbook shot right behind the shoulder. Surprised he was able to go any distance at all seeing the damage it did to his heart when we were cleaning him.

Had my Dad drop off the head with a guy in his neighborhood to prep the skull for a Euro mount. Just gonna put it on a basic skull hanger in the cabin at the lease.

I don't know how many deer I have tracked for people where a wounded deer basically made a big circle and came back and died just yards from the feeder. Its enough that I always check everything within about 50 yard circle from the feeder if there is a questionable blood trail. Now if it is a blood trail that Ray Charles could follow, yeah, we staying on that.

CHIEF

[BabaYaga 15399]

This is how you Sunday.   Yotes are already starting to sing.   Spend all weekend breaking down old ranch furniture.    Making trips to the trash pit, mowing, and moving heavy shit.   

[BabaYaga 15399]

They can grow anywhere…railroad tie fence   

[DalTxHornFan 3123]

Mature 10 pt. taken at my place in Schleicher County this weekend.

[Kennythetiger 9500]

What’s wrong with your eye?  

[DalTxHornFan 3123]

Pirate!

[Dignan 363]

On 11/10/2024 at 8:26 PM, 686 said:

Had a good day today.

This is GREAT! I have tried for years to get my son out with me but he just won't do it. He has a few times but isn't hooked. I'll keep trying.