Jump to content

2021-2022 hunting thread


markstanco

Recommended Posts

37 minutes ago, The Royal We said:

I grew up with the family that owns this place and they have definitely gotten more expensive over the years.  They are still crazy busy and growing though, so it seems like they are charging what the market will bear.  I coughed when I got my bill for turning two does into nothing but sausage last year.  But I've had their sausage for so long that it's really the only thing I like at this point.  Especially the sweet chipotle. 

I've still got a couple of their old button up work shirts from old meat cutters that stopped working there, I think I've got a Juan and a Jose.  It's become my brisket cooking uniform.

All of their smoked sausage is great and price is about normal, maybe a tad high. Nothing crazy.  Their dried sausage is something like $8/link iirc.  It’s stupid high.  I pay $2/link in High Hill and it’s just as tasty, if not a bit better.  Belleville’s new 3 cheese is delicious af. That and chipotle are my go to’s for smoked.  

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Izhmash said:

I dunno - maybe the processor accidentally gave us someone's Axis instead?

If he's smart he would have given you pork or venison. Then you'd keep bringing him more to process they would taste shitty and he could be like "I don't know what happened. Must have been too XYZ. Bring me another one that's younger/older/fatter/thinner/whiter/darker/whatever." He could probably get ten or more out of you that way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Seriously, find you some locals.  They will take all you can give them.  And they appreciate it.

We do have some local LEO's that we are friendly with.  We'll be doing a couple of youth hunt weekends with them and they also have some needy/hungry locals that could use the meat.  We'll get it done.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, BHMCruiser said:

If he's smart he would have given you pork or venison. Then you'd keep bringing him more to process they would taste shitty and he could be like "I don't know what happened. Must have been too XYZ. Bring me another one that's younger/older/fatter/thinner/whiter/darker/whatever." He could probably get ten or more out of you that way. 

One of our guys used to shoot a couple every year and grind them to use as dog food.

I always felt sorry for those poor dogs.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We finally get into some birds in Scurry County this weekend. Large black clouds of 12-15 moving out of a mowed cornfield over our heads to a pond about a half mile behind us. Plenty of shooting and they were easy to find in the dirt when they fell.

We didn't get a lot of meat in the bag because my boys were the two primary shooters and my brother and I were mostly tending to them instead of shooting ourselves. 13 total birds for the whole group of us but it wasn't for lack of opportunities to shoot. 

This was the first time my boys had done a lot of shooting at doves and they made the typical mistake of shooting too early and too far, but they each got a few and had a good time and then got to learn how to clean them when we got back to the barn. It was a good day. 

IMG_6677.jpg.1a1b89702cca8d47521407ee6ea2d5b3.jpg

  • Hook 'Em 6
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, ROFL BOX said:

@deadshank, what was the going rate per shoot?  Was that $ for an early, a late or both?

$125-$150 depending on which outfitter is used.  
 

You can hunt morning of afternoon.   I don’t go for morning dove hunts. 
 

Some outfitters will let you come back in the afternoon to fill a daily bag limit if you don’t get it all in the morning.  Decent ones will make sure you keep your bag limit at 15 fie the day.  No shenanigans.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, USCATX said:

I picked up another spot on my lease in the Austin area and will be in need of a new tower blind for rifle hunting.  Is there a go-to place to buy these?  My current spot came with a tower and I’m trying to get up and running well before season. 

Texas Wildlife Supply makes nice tower blinds in multiple size and height configurations.  We have 8 on our place along with a few homemade "proprietary" models.  TWS also makes some on trailers that you can move around. 

@CHIEF makes (or made) trailer blinds that elevate.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, deadshank said:

Texas Wildlife Supply makes nice tower blinds in multiple size and height configurations.  We have 8 on our place along with a few homemade "proprietary" models.  TWS also makes some on trailers that you can move around. 

@CHIEF makes (or made) trailer blinds that elevate.  

 

I’ll check those out, thx.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't skimp on feeders or blinds.  Ever.  Buy once, cry once.  Feeders are more important than blinds.  I used to have a guy in Beaumont I bought 2,000 lb galvanized feeders from.  Man they were bullet proof with the all seasons control unit and The Timer.  It was wide enough that the coons could not get at it. Had heavy pipe legs with a foot.  I would drill a hole in the foot and drive in a steel rod.  Sumbitch could not be screwed with by pigs.  The feeders were like $900 all in.  Was a young guy.  Guess he quit making them.  But they are the best feeders I have ever owned.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been posted plenty of times, and it is late and I'm about to go to bed, so maybe I can look up some sources tomorrow. The biggest issue with the idea of culling is that you can't account for the mother's DNA. Add to that the fact that it has been proven through scientific studies that lots of young deer get laid and make babies. Mature bucks aren't the only ones getting sexy time with the girls. If you have a high fenced property and spend multiple decades culling deer you might see results, but for the average low fence hunter the name of the game is nutrition nutrition nutrition combined with letting them get old enough to see what their true potential is. Just like people some deer blossom later in life, while some blossom earlier. There is a significant chance that that cull you shoot could have been one to put in the books.

Regardless, enjoy your time in the woods (or brush) and do whatever makes you happy as long as you are ethical. The experience is the true reward, not the measure of a deer's antlers.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Culling is based on the situation. Culling a buck will definitely not change the genetic makeup of the herd, but it takes a mouth off of the range and supplemental feed (if you’re feeding).

Everything I’ve read and been told is that by 3/4 is that you can tell a Buck’s potential. Before that, there is a lot of variability depending on when he was born, was the doe a good mom, etc.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Anastasis   What part of Texas?  That's a huge deal for me as far as aging a buck.

Regardless of horn size and structure, the body structure of a typical mature deer in one region of TX can vary from that in another.

I like what TexasBuckRegistry has done in putting out some photo charts showing age range by region.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

It's been posted plenty of times, and it is late and I'm about to go to bed, so maybe I can look up some sources tomorrow. The biggest issue with the idea of culling is that you can't account for the mother's DNA. Add to that the fact that it has been proven through scientific studies that lots of young deer get laid and make babies. Mature bucks aren't the only ones getting sexy time with the girls. If you have a high fenced property and spend multiple decades culling deer you might see results, but for the average low fence hunter the name of the game is nutrition nutrition nutrition combined with letting them get old enough to see what their true potential is. Just like people some deer blossom later in life, while some blossom earlier. There is a significant chance that that cull you shoot could have been one to put in the books.

Regardless, enjoy your time in the woods (or brush) and do whatever makes you happy as long as you are ethical. The experience is the true reward, not the measure of a deer's antlers.

I agree with most of what you are saying.  We do cull on our high fenced place.  But it is to get the population numbers right so the amount of groceries on the ground -- whether natural or supplemental -- is enough to maintain a healthy population.  I would rather take out some bucks that are inferior to others in the same age class.

We spend a lot on protein and food plots.  If we wanted to spend another several hundred thousand a year on protein on top of what we spend now, there would be zero reason to cull.

If you have the right population for what groceries are available for the deer, culling is a waste of time.  The best thing to do would be to feed a lot and let the deer get really old.  Like what that Holden outfit does on their ranch.  One caveat -- deer max out at different ages in South Texas.  Where we are -- Frio County -- there is that red sand everywhere.  It gets on everything the deer eat.  So their teeth get worn down a lot earlier than they would in Dimmitt or Webb County where it is that black dirt.  I think Holden and them feed so much and have the right soil type, they don't harvest deer until 8 or 9 years.  So some of those basket rack crappy deer that are 2.5 turn out to be very nice trophies.  Our deer are on the decline by 8.  And it is very noticeable.  We should be taking deer at 6 and 7.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Reagan1k said:

@Anastasis   What part of Texas?  That's a huge deal for me as far as aging a buck.

Regardless of horn size and structure, the body structure of a typical mature deer in one region of TX can vary from that in another.

I like what TexasBuckRegistry has done in putting out some photo charts showing age range by region.

Low fence in Medina county.

 

Took this one off the same piece of land a couple years ago...pretty similar horn structure. I was pretty happy with this guy off that property. 

F00500-B5-2-B1-F-4-B43-8996-4154-CBABC53

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, hornmpa96 said:

Culling is based on the situation. Culling a buck will definitely not change the genetic makeup of the herd, but it takes a mouth off of the range and supplemental feed (if you’re feeding).

Everything I’ve read and been told is that by 3/4 is that you can tell a Buck’s potential. Before that, there is a lot of variability depending on when he was born, was the doe a good mom, etc.

Yep.  On a low fence place, culling is highly debatable.  On a high fenced property where you are tightly managing genetics, the point is valid.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In your first year, since it hasn’t been hunted for the last 3, I would focus on getting an idea of the age structure and target harvest on older / mature / ~5-6yo+ bucks regardless of antlers, and spread the doe harvest out among the age classes if you can at all. We had a trait of no brow tines that was common, but after we started managing the forage better and some supplemental feeding, that problem went away.

Was any supplemental feeding/plotting done the last 3 yrs?

If you are going to start a feed program, you need to continue it through winter and keep something available when pasture conditions aren’t great, or you can lose the older bucks. My dad bought a place that hadn’t been hunted, had a bunch of old big 8 pointers. We started feeding, and my dad liked watching those old bucks and didn’t want any of them shot. We didn’t keep the feeding program up after January and we didn’t see a single one of those old bucks the next year. They had gotten accustomed to corn and protein feed, and then we stopped feeding when pasture conditions weren’t good, the deer crashed; laid down and died somewhere. It is known to potentially happen with cattle in the similar circumstances.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...