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2021-2022 hunting thread


markstanco

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2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


Jesus. I’ve never even SEEN a deer like that, much less seen one while hunting.

He’s been on +10K acres WSW of Del Rio for 12 years now.  They don’t have a lot of deer but the deer have get really big.  He’s shot some whoppers over the years.  They’ve got a lot of cougars and black bears, too.   

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Replaced the camera today that got messed up between snowpocalypse and the rainstorm last month.  The grass at my place is just ridiculous.  Tits high and I weedwhacked around the feeder.  Need to take at least two does this year, and I already have about 20lbs of sausage stuff in the freezer from last year that didn’t get ground.  We may need to organize a grinder party, nohomo.  

Edited by Judge Roybeanbag
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Spent an hour watching this guy and my wife just shot a wide 8 from our other blind. About time to go see if it’s laying down.  Also, the new iPhone 13 pro can almost take decent 115 yd pics   When apple gets that figured out then I’ll be truly impressed   

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489F417E-5251-47CD-B16F-CDEA930EAF7D.jpeg

Edited by USCATX
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Everything is nocturnal at my feeder right now. We did have 3 Auodad ewes come in this morning, but not all the way to the feeder.

We have this really young 10 that no one has seen come by once:

Young10point.jpg

And, of course, this big fucker that I planned to shoot this morning, if he showed up. He is at my feeder right now.

BigBilly.jpg

Actually, that's not the biggest one. the biggest one is the one with a harem. If someone shots the biggest one, I'm still gonna shot this one, he is a trophy for sure.

The cedar pollen was so bad, it looked like the pasture was on fire. My eyes are swollen up.

CHIEF

Edited by CHIEF
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Lots of activity this weekend. We ended up with 5 hogs and 4 deer (3 does down + 1 mature cull). Best time was around the campfire Friday night though. Hill country stars were shining brightly and the coyotes were singing us a tune. Great weekend with the family…hope you fellas got some time to disconnect a bit.

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I have taken on the responsibility of helping my very good Australian buddy learn the ropes on deer hunting.  It really is very rewarding and fun to be a guide to someone that is so new to something that I enjoy so much.  Was able to do some target shooting this weekend and we did some more prep work at the stand.  It was his first time shooting anything other than an air rifle, and he did great.  I know sometimes you get a greenhorn with a rifle and they just get the yips but I am fully confident in his ability to put the shot where it needs to be when the moment arises.  It is extremely rewarding to watch someone fall in love with hunting, and I am just hopefully I can put him on to a decent buck.

Congrats to all the surly folks who got it done this weekend.

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3 hours ago, hookemATL said:

I have taken on the responsibility of helping my very good Australian buddy learn the ropes on deer hunting.  It really is very rewarding and fun to be a guide to someone that is so new to something that I enjoy so much.  Was able to do some target shooting this weekend and we did some more prep work at the stand.  It was his first time shooting anything other than an air rifle, and he did great.  I know sometimes you get a greenhorn with a rifle and they just get the yips but I am fully confident in his ability to put the shot where it needs to be when the moment arises.  It is extremely rewarding to watch someone fall in love with hunting, and I am just hopefully I can put him on to a decent buck.

Congrats to all the surly folks who got it done this weekend.

This is so bad ass.  To this day, I remember from my hunter's safety class the progression of a hunter / conservationist.  I have a good friend who I've put on his first deer then put his son on his first pig.  May do the same with another friend this winter.  Both times, I had way more fun than shooting myself.  And, I love drinking a few beers while watching them gut and skin their first animal.  That "Sportsman" stage is definitely where I am right now.  But, I kind of skipped the "Method" stage.  

On that note, my son (almost 14) is showing lots of interest in learning to shoot a bow.  We stopped at Los Cazadores this weekend, and I'm thinking about an entry level Elite  Ember for him to start with as a Christmas / birthday present this year.  Anyone have experience with this one?  The biggest factor for me (other than not dropping $2K on a kid's Chirstmas gift) is the turnkey nature and wide range of adjustability in draw length and weight as he matures.  I have zero bow hunting experience but may snag one for myself so we can learn together.  If I do pull the trigger for myself, I was thinking of a Hoyt RX-5.  I need to go shoot what they have at LC I guess to see what I'm most comfortable with, but I really liked the way that one looks and the reviews were solid. 

https://archerycountry.com/elite-ember/

https://hoyt.com/compound-bows/rx-5/carbon-rx-5

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2 minutes ago, cab948 said:

This years opening weekend was a little bitter sweet as this was the first time going down since our "ranch foreman" had passed.    A little rough around the edges would be quite the understatement when describing him but he was a great guy.  We always said he was born 100 years too late as he enjoyed the primitive life.   Buddy (his nickname) was working at my dad's shop about 25 years ago when we got our place and as a bachelor with not much else going on, he started coming down with my dad and I to help out.  The man absolute hated firewood and cut it every chance he could.   After that the first few trips, he was basically a part of the family coming down every trip with us.   Even started to live down at the ranch after retiring doing a little bit of the work through the week.  His stories would amaze my friends and I from high school through college and to this day.   Crude, degenerative, and a lot of just downright illegal stories were shared with us over the campfires.   He passed away doing what he loved, working at the ranch bagging corn to fill the feeders.  He will be remembered over all the campfires moving forward. 

Back to the hunting.   We had seen a buck on camera for a few months that we knew was a shooter but just being able to see him was the major question.   He was pretty elusive on the cameras, always moving around and showing up at different times.  Dad picked his stand to hunt Saturday morning and I went to the other where we had been seeing him the most.   It was just an amazing hunt that morning seeing a ton of animals.   Had a few hot does in heat so the bucks were primed up.   Neither of us saw our buck but just an amazing hunt for everyone out in the stands that morning.   My friend who came down ended up take a large boar hog with quite the set of cutters on him.

Saturday evening my dad was feeling down and headed back home so I hunted the same stand as Saturday morning and put a few buddies in the stand my dad hunted as we have been seeing hogs there every evening.  Started off as another great hunt with lots of deer out and about until around 5 pm when I saw a buck enter down the sendero about 250 yards down.   I had a feeling but a quick check with the binoculars and knew this was the buck.  He darted into the brush and spend the next 30 minutes darting across senderos and back into the brush slowly making his way towards the stand.   Since 2012 I've only shot culls and does so my adrenalin was racing and his slow approach was not helping ease it.  Finally he stepped out about 70 yards away facing me head on.    After about a minute of presenting no shot, he started to run forward to rush off a few smaller buck and gave me with a shot at about 40 yards.  Ran off about 20 yards before falling over.  19 3/8" wide with a kicker on his G2 and little 1 1/2" nub right at the base of his horn also.   Taped out at 158 7/8" making him official largest buck to date.   Buddy was looking over me that day.  

 

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So you shot your old man’s buck?  You are upper management material, my boy!!  
 

Congrats.   Nice buck.  
 

What county?

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11 minutes ago, Spaulding Smails said:

This is so bad ass.  To this day, I remember from my hunter's safety class the progression of a hunter / conservationist.  I have a good friend who I've put on his first deer then put his son on his first pig.  May do the same with another friend this winter.  Both times, I had way more fun than shooting myself.  And, I love drinking a few beers while watching them gut and skin their first animal.  That "Sportsman" stage is definitely where I am right now.  But, I kind of skipped the "Method" stage.  

On that note, my son (almost 14) is showing lots of interest in learning to shoot a bow.  We stopped at Los Cazadores this weekend, and I'm thinking about an entry level Elite  Ember for him to start with as a Christmas / birthday present this year.  Anyone have experience with this one?  The biggest factor for me (other than not dropping $2K on a kid's Chirstmas gift) is the turnkey nature and wide range of adjustability in draw length and weight as he matures.  I have zero bow hunting experience but may snag one for myself so we can learn together.  If I do pull the trigger for myself, I was thinking of a Hoyt RX-5.  I need to go shoot what they have at LC I guess to see what I'm most comfortable with, but I really liked the way that one looks and the reviews were solid. 

https://archerycountry.com/elite-ember/

https://hoyt.com/compound-bows/rx-5/carbon-rx-5

I've heard good things about it, and Elite makes solid bows. The range of draw length and weight is important since he's growing, but you don't want to skimp on quality either. That's a bow he'll have for awhile.

 

If you decide you want to grab one, shoot every brand/bow they have available in the shop. 2022 bows will be coming out soon as well (even if they aren't radically different from this year's selection), so something to consider. You might surprise yourself with the bow you end up with by trying out everything they have to offer, unless you're dead set on the RX-5. 

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3 minutes ago, deadshank said:

So you shot your old man’s buck?  You are upper management material, my boy!!  
 

Congrats.   Nice buck.  
 

What county?

Hell, he bitches constantly about me taking his parking space at the office now that he retired and I took over his role.  What more is stealing his buck?  It was agreed upon that the bucks are open game so no ill will there.   His goal is to shoot a 160 off our place which will happen sooner or later so he was tickled pink to know this one was just short.   I'll resort back to cull hunting and guiding friends again for a few years until my son is old enough to sit with me and then I'll be focusing on him.

We are on the very north side of Refugio County.  

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Headed back out to my land this weekend with my best friend and his dad.

His dad got us both into hunting, I mean my buddy was gonna fish and hunt no matter what but his dad got me into both and would take me to do both through our childhood and high school.

My buddies mom passed from COVID in late September and during her life celebration, I asked if he’d want to come out and take a deer or 2. Or help cull some hogs at night.

The deer are out while the sun is up at my feeders. These fat fuckers rule the night though…
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e553b4b0686559e9572ccd96a2e4df37.jpg
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8 hours ago, Speedtrucker said:

Headed back out to my land this weekend with my best friend and his dad.

His dad got us both into hunting, I mean my buddy was gonna fish and hunt no matter what but his dad got me into both and would take me to do both through our childhood and high school.

My buddies mom passed from COVID in late September and during her life celebration, I asked if he’d want to come out and take a deer or 2. Or help cull some hogs at night.

The deer are out while the sun is up at my feeders. These fat fuckers rule the night though…
fe2a55129412cc2d4ca47ec0cc80d105.jpg


e553b4b0686559e9572ccd96a2e4df37.jpg
59d56d13f9fa5c08c4b7b66aa9f27958.jpg

I am always amazed at the way the wildlife can hide in plain sight. I don't know what's on the other side of your camera (i.e. behind it) but I'm pretty sure it's not the Rocky Mountains yet big ass pigs like these and deer and raccoons and whatever else just hide out in the grass and brush during the day and magically appear when the sun goes down. Wild. 

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