Posts Tagged deer hunting
Misconceptions in deer hunting
One of the comments posted to my video about setting up a deer blind kinda struck me. The comment went something like setting up a deer blind was along the lines of deer camping and that I might as well be shooting deer on a deer farm.
I am going to guess that the person posting the comments has never had the opportunity to watch deer in its natural state?
It seems to me that people think deer hunting is easy, that you can sneak up on a deer, and you will have meat on the table. That is about as far from the truth as you can get.
If deer can stay away from natural predators, how does a city slicker think they can walk into the woods and find a deer?
Ground blind for deer hunting
A few weeks ago I bought a bone collector dog house blind from the local china-mart. This past saturday 2 of my sons and I went out to the lease, did some scouting and setup the blind. Rifle season here in Texas starts in 2 weeks. I am getting a late start on the season, but oh well, you do what you have to do.
We followed a creek until we found an oak tree that had a bunch of acorns on the ground and some rubs.
From the oak tree we moved to the north maybe 35 yards and setup the blind on the edge of some underbrush. There is a thicket with a lot of underbrush that opens up to the creek bottom and a pine tree clearing. The blind is setup on the edge.
Related forum section – Hunting Forum
The spot for the blind was picked for 3 reasons:
Water – Texas has been under a terrible drought, probably the worst drought in 50 years. Due to the drought a lot of creeks have dried up, that is why I paid special attention to water.
Food – Due to the drought, a lot of oak trees are stressed and seem to be dropping immature acorns. I was looking for an oak tree close to the creek that was dropping mature acorns. The acorns should attract squirrels, hogs and deer.
Deer sign – with several rubs in the area, I know there is a buck moving around. I did not find any scraps, so rubs will have to do.
Hunting season check list
Rifle season here in Southeast Texas starts in about 2 1/2 months. As opening day inches ever closer, its time to start thinking about getting ready for the big day.
Check out the deer camp and make sure no vandals have tore anything up during the off season. Sometimes people will go to the camp and mess with stuff. One year a couple of sets of antlers were stolen, another year a shed was broke into and a chainsaw was stolen.
Scout the area where you want to hunt. With the drought this year, any place there is a waterhole will probably be a good location. There is a creek on the lease that almost always has water in it. I am thinking about setting up a ground blind on a hill that overlooks part of that creek. With the drought in its current state, I suspect anything that lives in the woods will be gathering around creeks that have water.
Oak trees – I am wondering how the drought is going to affect this years acorn crop. The oak tree in my front yard is loaded with small acorns, but they are dropping before they are mature. Its like the oak tree is stressed under the current drought.
Thinking about the 2011 – 2012 hunting season
We are on the final 3 month countdown to the start of hunting season here in Texas. Bow season starts in October, and rifle season starts the first weekend in November. How is the season going to turn out? I have no idea.
My new rifle, a DS Arms SA58 FN/FAL needs a scope. Even though the shots are only about 75 – 100 yards, in the late evening light the sights seem to just fade away. I thought about getting some tritium sights, but for the price of the tritium sights I could get a scope. If the price between the new sights and a scope is “about” the same, why not get a scope. Before I could mount a scope on my FN/FAL, first I had to install a new scope mount, which worked out well.
Hunting season is my favorite time of year, the weather turns off cool, we get a break from the Texas heat, bugs go away, leaves on the trees turn colors and fall to the ground.
There is just something about winter time that can not be described, the quiet and peacefulness of the woods and the wind blowing through the trees. Summer is nice, but I think winter has a certain beauty about it that summer can not touch.
Only 3 months until hunting season
Only 3 more months until rifle season starts – August, September and October. Rifle season in my part of Texas starts at sunrise on the first Saturday of November.
Hunting season is my favorite time of year. Not because I get to go out to the woods and shoot something, but because I get to be in nature without burning up with this Texas heat. The weather turns off cool, the deer start moving, the bugs slack up on their blood sucking. Being outside in December is much more enjoyable then being outside in July or August.
Another thing that I enjoy about hunting season is being outside with my kids. When we are walking to the deer stand, or even sitting in the stand, the wind will start blowing, the birds are flying around looking for something to eat. The sun starts to set, the sky turns beautiful colors, the leaves on the trees are a golden color and as the setting sun streaks through the clouds, its a beauty beyond description.
Good rifle for teenage girl
My daughter is about ready for her first deer rifle, but I’am not quite sure which direction I should go. All of my other kids have a Marlin 336 in 30-30. For here in East Texas most of our shots are no more then 100 yards, and she will not want anything with recoil. With…
Survival Rifle Ammunition
It was the last weekend of regular deer season, saturday night. A long time member of the deer lease drives up to the camp, and backs his truck up to the scales. That is usually a sure sign that there is a deer in the back of the truck. They get the doe weighed and are stringing it up to skin when I walk out there.
As the skinning of the deer proceeds, there are a few of us standing around helping and watching. The topic turns to the cost of ammunition and bullet performance.
Like a lot of hunters, I tend to buy the cheapest ammo on the shelf – and that is usually Remington Core-Lokt. Over the past 14,,,, 15+ years Core-Lokt is about all that I have bought and shot deer with. During that time I have had no complaints. There is usually a hole going in and a larger hole going out.
The guy who shot the doe goes on to talk about Remington Core-Lokt and how he has since switched to Winchester softpoints. The rifle the guy used was a 270,,,, I dont remember the exact make or model. After talking for a little while, the person who shot the deer said that he has not been happy with the performance of the Remington Core-Lokt lately and that he felt it may not be expanding like it should. So he switched to the Winchester softpoints.
I can say one thing about the doe that was being skinned, there was a massive amount of bruising, bleeding and tissue damage. It was like the whole area where the bullet went through had residual damage to the surrendering tissue.
The last day of deer season is tomorrow
The last day of deer season is tomorrow, and how I dread thee. Like the passing of dusk and dawn, from one day to the next, from spring to summer, from fall to winter, so deer season must also pass away. The does will venture to spring and have their fawns, and I hope to see next season.
Like all other things in life, so deer season has to come to an end. But regardless of the facts, its still a sad time of year.
This deer season has been a good one – my son got a nice 8 point whitetail that weighed in at 156 pounds and my kids and I made several trips to the lease. There was one evening my daughter and I were getting out of the stand, and the coyotes started howling. I thought it was a beautiful music to my ears, my daughter not so much.
December 30 2010 evening hunting trip
This evening my wife and I decided to go out to the lease and get in a stead – but before we did, we had to go get the pit from the deer camp. The Friday before opening weekend, my son and made a trip to the deer camp and brought my pit out there for everyone to use. Its a home made pit, made out of a 250 gallon butane tank and a 150 air tank. The cooking surface is 6 feet 9 inches long and 29 inches across.
My son-in-laws birthday is towards the end of December. So we made a trip to the deer camp, got the pit out before deer season is over, and now we can cook for my son-in-laws birthday.
One of the reasons “why” we wanted to get the pit out of the deer camp, is that after the season is over, some undesirable people like to go in there and steal stuff. So far we have had a saw, and a set of antlers stolen. What kind of scum bag goes into a deer camp and steals antlers,,,,,.
November 20th 2010 hunting trip
Friday evening my kids and I talked about if we wanted to go hunting Saturday morning and Saturday evening, or just Saturday evening. The agreement was made to go just Saturday evening – in part because we had a birthday party to go to at noon.
Saturday morning rolls around, we sleep a little late, get up, get our morning shower and breakfast. From there we started getting ready for my grandsons 2nd birthday party.
Behind the library in Jasper, Texas there is a fenced in park with 2 covered areas, bathroom and a play ground. Its a nice place for the family to have a birthday party, or just take the small kids to go play. The whole are is fenced in, so you don’t have to worry about the smaller kids leaving the park.
Everything went well at the party, I brought along a small grill to cook hot dogs – so we had cookie cake, cake and hot dogs to eat.
Around 1 pm or so we loaded up and headed back home. Between 1pm and 2:30 I played some Left 4 Dead 2.
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