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


markstanco

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1 hour ago, Lazarus Bocanegra said:

took the doe I shot opening day to Longhorn Smokehouse in Manvel for boudin.  Had some this weekend at the ranch and it was a big hit all around.  Highly recommended if you're local to Houston.  They also turned it around in less than a week.  

 

Nice.  I need to get some of it made.  I remember once I popped a big 8 near Fredericksburg.  Took it to this old German processing place, was in a hurry so I just told him all jalapeno sausage.  Two massive boxes later.  I was giving links out to friend/family for years.  Literally years.  

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Thread title includes “a lot of ducks.”  I wish.

For 12 years our group has been duck hunting Port O’Connor.  We’ve slayed everything from teal to pintails to buffleheads to redheads and more… plus Ross and specklebelly geese.  We hunt with family who live there and guide for a living.

Last weekend (re-opening weekend) was the first time NOT A SINGLE SHOT WAS FIRED.  Not one.  Nothing was flying.  Going to and fro we’d scare up some rafting redheads and buffleheads, but that was it.  

From the blinds, we counted ~30 flying ducks all weekend, AM and PM.  Our guide said he’d seen more birds on Sunday AM than he’d seen in all of November.

We looked back over time, and this has been the trend.  We’ve decided to push our annual re-opening weekend trip to January to see if we can get more birds.  So, next duck trip will be January 2026 (wow, it’s weird to type that).

Fishing was good, though, as we were prepared to cast with the blast.  Reds and trout.  Everyone hooked up.

Some pics.  It’s a reminder - a day at the coast, no matter the haul, is better than a day just about anywhere else.

 

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I suppose that we are fortunate that big wild hogs don't generally climb trees!

Hunter dies in freak accident after bear falls from tree in Virginia

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/17/hunter-lester-harvey-killed-bear-falls-tree-virginia/77042545007/

Edited by DalTxHornFan
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I survived hunting a few days in Tally Bottoms....no mountain lion sightings.

It is absolutely gorgeous down there, just feels different. Super quiet, isolated, deep woods...a lot to appreciate. I stopped while walking in / out several times and just watched the leaves falling from the trees (late this year due to weather, I guess). Therapeutic.

Didn't see any shooter bucks, but didn't care. Here's a view from my castle.

 

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Nice.  I need to get some of it made.  I remember once I popped a big 8 near Fredericksburg.  Took it to this old German processing place, was in a hurry so I just told him all jalapeno sausage.  Two massive boxes later.  I was giving links out to friend/family for years.  Literally years.  

I did that with a 13 pt. about 6 years ago at Green’s in Zabcikville. Told them pull the straps and loins, make the rest into summer sausage. That was almost a $400 processor bill. And I didn’t have to have any summer sausage made for 3 years
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43 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:

That was almost a $400 processor bill.

I am like $500 with my processor this year. Summer sausage and some breakfast pan sausage and other than that just the standard stuff. Shit is out of control. But just don’t have the time and refrigerator space to store and to break stuff down. Easy to drop and drive home. Gonna take the kids out for some does and we’ll process those ourselves. But a full freezer is nice. 

Edited by Anastasis
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10 hours ago, Izhmash said:

I survived hunting a few days in Tally Bottoms....no mountain lion sightings.

It is absolutely gorgeous down there, just feels different. Super quiet, isolated, deep woods...a lot to appreciate. I stopped while walking in / out several times and just watched the leaves falling from the trees (late this year due to weather, I guess). Therapeutic.

Didn't see any shooter bucks, but didn't care. Here's a view from my castle.

 

IMG_6522.jpg

I gotta get me one of those binocular-shaped thermoses.

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8 hours ago, Herbie Hancock said:


I did that with a 13 pt. about 6 years ago at Green’s in Zabcikville. Told them pull the straps and loins, make the rest into summer sausage. That was almost a $400 processor bill. And I didn’t have to have any summer sausage made for 3 years

I ate so much venison one year in college that I almost started rubbing my head on trees.

Made some into meatballs for a Rotary party at the International House. Told the exchange students they were "Deer Balls."

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12 hours ago, Anastasis said:

I am like $500 with my processor this year. Summer sausage and some breakfast pan sausage and other than that just the standard stuff. Shit is out of control. But just don’t have the time and refrigerator space to store and to break stuff down. Easy to drop and drive home. Gonna take the kids out for some does and we’ll process those ourselves. But a full freezer is nice. 

Between diesel, corn and processor, it’s about $200/lb for venison. It’s still money we’ll spent :)

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Took the kids out this weekend to try to put some meat in the freezer.  We had our sights set on knocking down two WT doe.  We typically see at least a half dozen doe at every blind at every hunt.  Four hunts between Friday PM and Sunday AM.  Not a single realistic shot for either my son or my daughter.  I sat with my daughter on every hunt.  Had a few yearlings come to the feeder a few times.  That's it.  Saw a whopping total of three mature WT doe.  All three were passing through, never stopped and had zero interest in the corn.  Had one group of axis doe do the same.  My son saw a young WT buck and about a half dozen axis doe that he passed on.  He didn't see a single WT doe all weekend.  

We did a spot and stalk Sunday after the morning hunt and jumped two groups of doe.  The first group was 400+ yds and never stopped.  The second group was in the thickest brush on the ranch and we couldn't get a reasonable look.  Incredibly frustrating.  Not sure if it was the weather, too many acorns or what.  Very strange.  

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Had a few yearlings come to the feeder a few times.  That's it.  Saw a whopping total of three mature WT doe.  All three were passing through, never stopped and had zero interest in the corn… Not sure if it was the weather, too many acorns or what.  Very strange.  


I’ve had that happen this time of year. I think maybe dependent on the rain if the winter grass comes in the deer would rather be eating the new winter grass rather than corn. We had 1.75 inches of rain before New Year’s and the winter grass is about 2 inches tall at our place and I saw way less deer than normal this weekend as well.
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1 hour ago, Spaulding Smails said:

Took the kids out this weekend to try to put some meat in the freezer.  We had our sights set on knocking down two WT doe.  We typically see at least a half dozen doe at every blind at every hunt.  Four hunts between Friday PM and Sunday AM.  Not a single realistic shot for either my son or my daughter.  I sat with my daughter on every hunt.  Had a few yearlings come to the feeder a few times.  That's it.  Saw a whopping total of three mature WT doe.  All three were passing through, never stopped and had zero interest in the corn.  Had one group of axis doe do the same.  My son saw a young WT buck and about a half dozen axis doe that he passed on.  He didn't see a single WT doe all weekend.  

We did a spot and stalk Sunday after the morning hunt and jumped two groups of doe.  The first group was 400+ yds and never stopped.  The second group was in the thickest brush on the ranch and we couldn't get a reasonable look.  Incredibly frustrating.  Not sure if it was the weather, too many acorns or what.  Very strange.  

This seems like it happens every year.  I always tell myself to take them earlier in the season, and every year I end up having to put in a bunch of hunts to grab a couple of doe.  I got what I needed this weekend but it was more difficult than a month ago for sure.  Don't know if it's real or just a perception for me. 

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Slow season at our place, which is typical, but we put in a lot more effort this offseason and hunted it more. Guess that's East TX for ya. I shot a basic 8 point back right before Thanksgiving and one guy shot a doe on Opening Day. Frustrating thing is we were seeing plenty of shit on the cameras, including several quality bucks. The kicker was the very solid 8 with a wide spread who showed up on camera at a stand no one was hunting yesterday morning, seemingly to taunt us on the final day of the season. Genuinely baffled that more doe weren't taken, and it wasn't for lack of trying. 

We could never seem to get our deer on any kind of predictable daytime schedule despite feeding consistently for months. For pretty much the entire month of December, the camera I have set up was rarely ever picking up anything during daylight hours, except on really cold, clear mornings. But a group of mature doe would show up for dinner between 6:30 and 8:30 every evening. Solo bucks would sometimes stroll by after midnight. I think there was just too many other food sources available and they eventually just started avoiding feeders during daylight by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. Even the hogs became vampires. 

Can't have helped how much the weather bounced around from week to week this season. It'd be cold and clear for a few days and then back to the 70's and foggy, then rain a bunch, then get cold again....etc.

My Dad was telling me that a golf buddy of his who processes deer as a side gig said it seemed like a very slow season as far as the amount of meat coming in (at least speaking for SETX).

Edited by Storm the Field
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3 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

This seems like it happens every year.  I always tell myself to take them earlier in the season, and every year I end up having to put in a bunch of hunts to grab a couple of doe.  I got what I needed this weekend but it was more difficult than a month ago for sure.  Don't know if it's real or just a perception for me. 

Yep.  I think I need to change my strategy next year and get the doe out of the way early.  It seems like every hunt I had from November 1 through Christmas was in shorts and a t-shirt, though.  I loathe cleaning and skinning deer when I'm sweating my ass off.  

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Yep.  I think I need to change my strategy next year and get the doe out of the way early.  It seems like every hunt I had from November 1 through Christmas was in shorts and a t-shirt, though.  I loathe cleaning and skinning deer when I'm sweating my ass off.  

I like doing mandatory doe shoots on opening weekend. Get them out of the way before the rut.
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1 hour ago, 686 said:


I like doing mandatory doe shoots on opening weekend. Get them out of the way before the rut.

I like that too, but difficult to be blasting early in the season when you've got big boys on the cameras all October, but have yet to show.    I like shooting does on little walkabouts, away from the main feeders/stands most.  

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17 hours ago, 686 said:


I like doing mandatory doe shoots on opening weekend. Get them out of the way before the rut.

Perineal Perennial topic of conversation for us in Jan/Feb - Hard to follow through with in Oct/Nov unless made a requirement before shooting a buck.

Everyone loves the idea for someone else's hunt but has a hard time pulling the trigger during their own sit.

Edited by Reagan1k
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2 hours ago, Reagan1k said:

Perineal topic of conversation for us in Jan/Feb - Hard to follow through with in Oct/Nov unless made a requirement before shooting a buck.

Everyone loves the idea for someone else's hunt but has a hard time pulling the trigger during their own sit.

Typo, I hope?

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Yeah shooting does is all work / no fun. The best way is to make it more of a work hard / play hard weekend. Like “pull the trigger on a doe and then come back to the camp and grab a beer and watch the game while the steaks cook”. Also it helps to have some young guys out who will help clean a bunch of deer.

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My dad is on a lease out near Junction and they have a hard and fast rule that you have to shoot 2 doe or a doe/cull buck before you can shoot your trophy. The ranch manager enforces it and you lose your spot if you don't follow the rule. My old man is still real mad at them and has a lot of friends and family that will take any sausage he can get them so I think he shot 7 or 8 doe early in the season. He helps his buddies on the lease fulfill their 2 doe obligation every year. The ranch is on a MLDP so they can start early and keep hunting bucks late too. They've had this rule in effect for 5+ years and I think it's improved the quality of trophies, but that could be driven by any number of other factors too I guess.

I'm curious about the duck hunting this year. I live on an East Texas lake and we're usually covered up in Coots by November with good numbers of Canvasbacks not far behind. I've seen very few Coots this year and not a single Canvasback. I thought for sure the big front this week would push a lot of ducks in, but still nothing.

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