The Hunting Category
Trip to the deer lease August 29
Even though deer season does not start for another 2 months, my daughter and I made a trip to the lease to take a look at the feeders and stands.
The good news, all of the stands were still up. If we get some strong winds – like from a hurricane – sometimes the box stands will blow over. To get them back up, you need either 3 or 4 men, or a tractor with a boom pole on it. The last time I had to stand one of the box stands up, we had 4 men with us.
The bad news, one of the feeders had been knocked over – I guess by wild hogs – and damaged pretty bad. The motor housing has been broke off, and the plastic drum was bent. This feeder will be brought back to the camp and replaced. The legs will be taken off and put on another drum, and the motor replaced.
What happens – the hogs get tired of waiting on the feeder to throw the corn out, or the battery will go dead,,, but either way, the hogs will hit the legs of the feeder until they knock it over. When the feeder hits the ground, the lid comes off and the corn spills out. The hogs then feast on the spilled corn.
Another one of the feeders – the motor would not test. Meaning that I held the test button in for a few seconds, let go, and the motor would not spin up.
The last feeder had a bent leg, so it was not filled up with corn. The timber company had been in there cutting some trees and the leg looks like it had been bumped by a machine. Next weekend my kids and I will go back out to the lease and bring 3 pipes with us to replace the legs.
One of the stands had 2 legs pull off of it last deer season. While my daughter and I were out there, we measured the legs. Next weekend we will bring the 2 replacement legs with us. This time, instead of using just nails, I’am going to use some drywall screws as well.
This is not the first time hogs have damaged one of our feeders. Back in August of 2008 hogs knocked one of the feeders over and broke the housing where the leg attached. When the leg broke off, there was a hole in the drum 4 – 5 inches across, which ruined the drum.
Post your comments in this forum thread about feeders damaged by wild hogs.
Looking forward to deer season
With the summer heat starting to break just a little bit – the past couple of days have been around 91, 92 or 93 degrees, a couple of weeks ago day time temps were in the 97, 98 and 99 range – its time to start looking for deer season.
My daughter and I just got finished eating breakfast, and I’am getting the truck loaded up. Over the past few days I charged 5 or 6 – 6 volt batteries for the feeders. When we leave home, we are going to go by Tractor supply in Jasper, Texas and pick up something like 12 bags of deer corn. We have 6 feeders to check on, and I’am figuring 2 – 50 pound bags just to get the feeders started.
Besides the regular deer stands and feeders, there is a certain creek bottom that I want to setup a ladder stand on. Every year a buck goes through the creek bottom marking its territory. The nearest box stand is about 100 yards away on top of a hill. Instead of moving the box stand, I’am going to setup a ladder stand.
I have an old climbing stand that I could move to the creek, but over the past few years I have been using my climbing stand less and less. In my younger years using the climbing stand was fun to use, and it provided a degree of flexibility that box stands did not. If I wanted to move the climbing stand over 75 yards, it was a 15 minute job. If I wanted to move a box stand – it would take half a day.
One of the nice things about hunting in a big box stand, it provides plenty of room for you to take someone. If you want to take you son, daughter, grandkids,,, having enough room for 2 people is nice.
There does not seem to be enough young people getting into hunting. As more and more of our nations population moves into the urban jungle, fewer and fewer people want to make the drive to the woods. Combine that to more and more hunting land is being sold off to developers. Land that has used to belong to the timber companies and has been hunted for over 100 years, is being enveloped by urban sprawl.
But anyway, its time to load up the truck, and my daughter and I head out to the woods.
Deer lease in Southeast Texas
If you live in the Southeast Texas area, and if your looking to get on a hunting lease, I just happen to know of a lease looking for members.
Cost – $900 per year
Off deer season – access to over 5,000 acres
During deer season – each person has their area to hunt on, which equals to about 100 acres
Location – about 15 miles north of Jasper, Texas (75951 zip code), off county road 232.
You get full use of the lease during non-deer hunting season. That means you get to hog hunting, hiking, camping, dove hunting, squirrel hunting, on about 5,000 acres. The area is covered with pine trees, oak trees, hills and streams. Its beautiful country – at least to me anyway.
On a personal note, this is where I take my kids hunting, hiking and camping.
If you want to get on the lease, see this forum thread about the hunting lease in Southeast Texas.
If you do not want to sign up on the forum, just send an email to kevin@survivalistboards.com – be sure to make the title of the email something like “deer lease” or “hunting lease”.
Watching Some East Texas Whitetail Deer
Decided to get up and go out to the woods this morning. The weather was just about perfect – not too cold, not too hot, not too windy, and the wind was in the perfect direction. With the wind blowing in from the feeder, that put the stand down wind from the deer.
Around 6:30 am, 2 deer came out of the tree line, stood around for a little while and then went back into the woods.
Around 7:45 am, 3 deer came walking down the old logging road and stopped at the wildlife feeder. A few minutes later a single doe stepped out of the wood line, looked around and then went back into the trees.
Hunting is not just about killing something, its about being part of nature. In our modern world, people have forgotten what its like to be part of the natural world. People have forgotten what its like to watch the deer, listen to the birds and the wind. We have forgotten who we are and where we came from.
Post your comments in the East Texas Whitetail Deer thread of the forums.
Remington Deer Corn Problem
Lets just say that I am not very happy with the quality of Remington Deer Corn. This past weekend my son and I went to check on the feeders, only to find one of them not working. We removed the motor housing, looked up inside of the funnel and there was a stick laying across the hole. All of the corn had to be removed from the feeder to remove one little stick.
As we were filling up the next feeder, I noticed pieces of wood, and stuff that was not corn mixed in with the corn.
Until Remington gets this problem fixed, I’am suggesting that people do not buy Remington Deer Corn. Post your comments at that link to the forum.
Wildlife Quiz what happened to this pine tree
This is a wildlife test to see how well you know your stuff. What animal damaged this pine tree? Here is a hint – it is not a deer.
Location – East Texas, USA
Date – October 2009.
Post your comments in this thread of the hunting forums.
Getting ready for deer season
Bow season started this past weekend here in Texas. Now its less then 1 month until rifle season. Its past time to get out to the woods and start looking for deer sign.
Since Bow season started, the rifle hunter need to be considerate of the bow hunters and keep the noise down. Lets not be running chain saws early in the morning or sighting your rifle in late in the evening.
It looks like the bucks are entering into rut, because I found some fresh scraps in the creek bottoms and lots of rubs. It looks like one deer was trying to fight with some shrubs – they were broken, twisted and the bark was rubbed off.
Post your comments in the getting ready for deer season thread of the hunting forums.
Whitetail deer pictures
Whitetail deer are a medium sized deer native to the United States. One feature that has ensured the species survival is that they can adapt to just about any kind of terrain, or food source. Some species do well in forest, or grasslands – but not both. Whitetail deer can adapt to woodlands, grassy plains and even newly developed neighborhoods.
One of the primary food sources for whitetail deer are acorns from oak trees. But they can graze on grass, twigs, and all kinds of foliage.
Even though bucks are usually considered males and does are considered females. Sometimes a female deer will grow antlers. When a female deer does grow antlers, they are considered hemorphidites. Because of hemorphidite deer, most regions issue hunting licenses with either “Antler” or “Anterless” stamped on them – instead of “Buck” or “Doe”.
Whitetail deer
Hog hunting with dogs
Before we get started, each state and country is going to have its own laws on hunting with dogs. Before going hunting, make sure you have a clear understanding of the laws before you do anything. This video was filmed in Texas during the summer of 2008. During that time it was legal (and still is when this article was posted) to hunt hogs with dogs in Texas. If you have any questions about hunting hogs in Texas, visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife page on Feral Hogs.
Survival Quiz – ID these tracks.
This tracks were found along a shallow creek in East Texas. What kind of tracks do you think they are?
Location: East Texas, just north of Beaumont
Date: January 18th, 2008
 Animal Track |
If you wish to comment on this article, visit this thread in the wilderness survival forum.