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Hunting ‘23/‘24: Bag ‘em and Tag ‘em


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Thanks for pointers. Brisket deer still has an athletic look, seems like Cajun’s deer has a less defined frame or losing frame to age. Maybe it’s the light/shadow on his face. Cajun’s deer is standing more at an angle too, makes it harder to see his belly.  Always appreciate the responses, helps me get better.

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Clever, that a lefty tikka? What caliber? I have a 22-250 T3 stainless lite with a turret scope. Nice lightweight rifle. It shoots clover leafs at 200 yds. Love those rifles. I know a lot of people dont like all that plasticc but imho, its the best budget friendly rifle out there.

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31 minutes ago, hornmpa96 said:

Last Sunday, I was finally at the same place as this deer that I’ve been hunting since November. Protein feeders are being filled this week and hopefully these deer will start recovering from the rut.

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Beauty!  Good job!  
 

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18 hours ago, hornmpa96 said:

Last Sunday, I was finally at the same place as this deer that I’ve been hunting since November. Protein feeders are being filled this week and hopefully these deer will start recovering from the rut.

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Let’s hear the facts. 
 

Age (did you pull the lower jaw?)

Live weight

Green score

That’s a great buck that you worked for.  You stayed after him and avoided distraction and dispirit.  It’s always good to see hunters that don’t country club dabble but rather dig in and put in the hours.   
 

You earned it. 

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3 hours ago, deadshank said:

Let’s hear the facts. 
 

Age (did you pull the lower jaw?)

Live weight

Green score

That’s a great buck that you worked for.  You stayed after him and avoided distraction and dispirit.  It’s always good to see hunters that don’t country club dabble but rather dig in and put in the hours.   
 

You earned it. 

Lower jaw has not been pulled yet, but I will get it when the taxi is done. However, I have watched this deer for 5 seasons now as his G2s provided easy identification. In 2019 (my 1st season on this ranch), I visually aged him at 4 in 2019 and I’m estimating he’s around 8/9 years old.

He weighed 168 lbs on the hoof. Most of our mature bucks weigh around 200 lbs prior to the rut so he definitely ran off some lbs.

Green score was 178 inches.

I didn’t completely avoid dispirit during the hunt as it seemed as if this deer could sense when I was in the blind. I would get pictures of him at the feeder during the week and then he wouldn’t show on the weekends when I was out there. I even changed my normal parking spot for that blind later in the year as I was convinced he could spot the truck and avoid me.

He’a a memorable deer and I’ve never worked this hard for a single deer.
 

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1 minute ago, hornmpa96 said:

Lower jaw has not been pulled yet, but I will get it when the taxi is done. However, I have watched this deer for 5 seasons now as his G2s provided easy identification. In 2019 (my 1st season on this ranch), I visually aged him at 4 in 2019 and I’m estimating he’s around 8/9 years old.

He weighed 168 lbs on the hoof. Most of our mature bucks weigh around 200 lbs prior to the rut so he definitely ran off some lbs.

Green score was 178 inches.

I didn’t completely avoid dispirit during the hunt as it seemed as if this deer could sense when I was in the blind. I would get pictures of him at the feeder during the week and then he wouldn’t show on the weekends when I was out there. I even changed my normal parking spot for that blind later in the year as I was convinced he could spot the truck and avoid me.

He’a a memorable deer and I’ve never worked this hard for a single deer.
 

That’s how it’s done, lads. 

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… I even changed my normal parking spot for that blind later in the year as I was convinced he could spot the truck and avoid me.…


This is both awesome and hilarious. It simultaneously feels crazy to think that could have actually been the issue, but who’s to say it wasn’t, and you made the change, and it worked out. I’m all about changing something, anything, up when things aren’t working.
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On an elk depredation hunt this weekend.   At a ranch that is for sale and the sellers have been advised to get rid of the elk as they are somehow a negative for the property.
 
Seven of us including two first timers.  We let the first timers get at that front of the line. They were quite  successful and plunged right in on the gutting process.  They quickly learned there’s a lot more guts in a bull elk than in a white tail buck.  
Saw 6 mature bull elk this morning but they gave us a stiff arm, eluded us and are currently lying low in the heavy stuff.   The two first timers went with me on a creep for 3 hours this morning  but I’ve yet to catch up with the bulls we saw.  
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How in the blue hell are elk considered a negative for a property?
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Tikka superlite .270 with 130 grain Hornady

Other group of guys we were with flanked this herd and pushed them towards the field we were sitting in.  They arrived about 200 yards out and stood at the edge of this pasture then started slowly walking our way.  I was able to identify the one I wanted and waited til I had a clear broadside shot, about 125 yards.  Shot was a little further back than perfect but it blew a big hole in the lungs.  After stumbling around for a WHILE he crumpled and started coughing up blood.  Then jumped up and I was commanded to shoot again.  That did the trick instantly.  Official time of death was 4:22pm.

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On 1/24/2024 at 8:16 PM, Cajun said:

This mf’er is just taunting me now…

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I know some guys that live on Lake Athens that have been given the green light and have been shooting similar deer with crossbows off their decks for "conservation and management"

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Not sure if it’s the right thread, but I’m shooting sporting clays this afternoon.  I used to shoot fairly often but I haven’t bird hunted in about 7 years and I have shot sporting clays in probably 15 years.  I’ll be shooting my 20 gauge Baretta O/U.  What chokes are recommended?  I have F, M, IM, IC, and Sk choke tubes.  I have no idea of the types of stations at this place.  

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Guessing but I would say Mod and IC.  I need to get back into the clays, I was more of a trap shooter. During the pandemic you couldn’t find shells and if you did find them you couldn’t afford them. Haven’t shot them since then. Good luck!

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39 minutes ago, HouTex said:

Not sure if it’s the right thread, but I’m shooting sporting clays this afternoon.  I used to shoot fairly often but I haven’t bird hunted in about 7 years and I have shot sporting clays in probably 15 years.  I’ll be shooting my 20 gauge Baretta O/U.  What chokes are recommended?  I have F, M, IM, IC, and Sk choke tubes.  I have no idea of the types of stations at this place.  

You’ll need all of them.  Long and shorts shots, fast and slow, high flyers and the running rabbit.   

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Not sure if it’s the right thread, but I’m shooting sporting clays this afternoon.  I used to shoot fairly often but I haven’t bird hunted in about 7 years and I have shot sporting clays in probably 15 years.  I’ll be shooting my 20 gauge Baretta O/U.  What chokes are recommended?  I have F, M, IM, IC, and Sk choke tubes.  I have no idea of the types of stations at this place.  

If you just want to put in a couple chokes and not mess with it, I’d start with SK and IC, but that’s me. Depending on the flight of the clay, switch to using your close barrel first or second. Here’s a chart

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Coming into town last night, about 15 miles north of us, I saw the biggest deer I’ve ever seen on the hoof (that wasn’t in a breeder pen).  Standing right on the shoulder waiting to cross the FM. I hate to put a # to him because I certainly don’t have experience in judging horn like that, but I will say he’ll be burned into my memory for a very long time.  Dude had everything and then some. It’s a low fenced place right on the highway.   So that was a really cool experience.  Hopefully he was busy this season to a bunch of little rolling stones. 

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On 1/28/2024 at 7:16 AM, fattyflattie said:

Coming into town last night, about 15 miles north of us, I saw the biggest deer I’ve ever seen on the hoof (that wasn’t in a breeder pen).  Standing right on the shoulder waiting to cross the FM. I hate to put a # to him because I certainly don’t have experience in judging horn like that, but I will say he’ll be burned into my memory for a very long time.  Dude had everything and then some. It’s a low fenced place right on the highway.   So that was a really cool experience.  Hopefully he was busy this season to a bunch of little rolling stones. 

Had a similar experience when I was a kid.  Maybe 11 or 12.  Over Christmas break.  Left Corpus super early with my dad and uncle to head to my uncle's lease outside of Falfurrias in time for the morning hunt.  I remember it being super foggy once we got south of town.  I'm guessing we were around Premont when we saw him.  My uncle slammed on the brakes.  We sat there for a good 30 seconds looking at this just absolute tank standing on the right shoulder.  Just a massive, typical 12 point probably 30 yards from the hood of the truck.  Had to be 26+" wide with 12+" G2s/G3s.  Maybe it was because I was tired.  Maybe it was the scenario.  Maybe it's 30+ years of embellished memories, but it was the biggest buck I've ever seen on the hoof in the wild.  By a wide margin.  

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