Dont look now but here comes hunting season

[pmkkdx]

been away from computer and the forum for a little while ... this new format is ... ummm... different and kinda takes some time to get used to ... or at least for me.

my son and I headed to my west Texas place this past weekend for game counts, fill feeders, check game cameras and determine what (if anything) needed to be harvested. I had a pretty nasty time with an old winch up feeder where the winch brake failed as I had the barrel full of corn almost at the top, really nasty gash on the palm of my hand and another at the base of my little finger. But since we were out in the boonies and a solid 2.5 hour drive to the nearest ER, we did the best we could with a small first aide kit in my son's truck (initially used toilet paper and electric tape as that was what was in my son's CanAm Defender). Finished filling feeders and swapping SD cards, settled in for the afternoon hunt/count. I took a pretty solid 7.5 y/o 10 and my son took a 6.5 y/o 9 point, guessing both would score low-mid 130s b/c, Sat. afternoon. We sat till late morning on Sunday before loading up and heading home, got home about 7:00 pm. Of course my wife made me go to the ER to get a tetanus shot as a minimum and have them look at the gash. They said I had waited too long to get stitched up (likely 10-14 were needed) due to sealing up bacteria and likelihood of infection, so they steri (sp?) striped with glue, non-stick gauze and wrapped. Said I would have a pretty sore hand for a few weeks and to go easy on it.

as far as our counts went, our doe/fawn/yearling population was drastically down from previous years and I suspect that could be from the brutal record cold spell we had last February here in Texas. Total deer count was down some but still a good population of all levels of bucks (yearling spike/4 point, up to mature), just very few does and fawns ... so looks like we will not be taking any does from the ranch this year.

[2RLAKE]

i keep an emergency well stock first aide kit with me ... in our trucks/cars and at my farm in the Ranger ... from bandages to tourniquets ... i have those sterile strips to help close gashes, sterile glue (it stings but works great) and even a suture kit

hate when i have to use some of it but I like to be prepared

[bcd]

I passed a 130s 10 pt on Saturday during our gun season. He came all the way in to 15 yards. I debated the entire time he walked in and then back out, but didn't do it. I wanted something a little bigger, even though I didn't plan on it showing up. The 1.25 mile drag out was my big hold up. I've got late season bow left, but it's not looking very promising for me to get a buck down this year. It was a pretty poor hunting year over all.

[bcd]

Wife wanted to take the kids to an indoor waterpark for her birthday, so I told her we could do it (weekend during the rut). Sure enough, this guy went through my spot then.

[mastercraftka]

been away from computer and the forum for a little while ... this new format is ... ummm... different and kinda takes some time to get used to ... or at least for me.

my son and I headed to my west Texas place this past weekend for game counts, fill feeders, check game cameras and determine what (if anything) needed to be harvested. I had a pretty nasty time with an old winch up feeder where the winch brake failed as I had the barrel full of corn almost at the top, really nasty gash on the palm of my hand and another at the base of my little finger. But since we were out in the boonies and a solid 2.5 hour drive to the nearest ER, we did the best we could with a small first aide kit in my son's truck (initially used toilet paper and electric tape as that was what was in my son's CanAm Defender). Finished filling feeders and swapping SD cards, settled in for the afternoon hunt/count. I took a pretty solid 7.5 y/o 10 and my son took a 6.5 y/o 9 point, guessing both would score low-mid 130s b/c, Sat. afternoon. We sat till late morning on Sunday before loading up and heading home, got home about 7:00 pm. Of course my wife made me go to the ER to get a tetanus shot as a minimum and have them look at the gash. They said I had waited too long to get stitched up (likely 10-14 were needed) due to sealing up bacteria and likelihood of infection, so they steri (sp?) striped with glue, non-stick gauze and wrapped. Said I would have a pretty sore hand for a few weeks and to go easy on it.

as far as our counts went, our doe/fawn/yearling population was drastically down from previous years and I suspect that could be from the brutal record cold spell we had last February here in Texas. Total deer count was down some but still a good population of all levels of bucks (yearling spike/4 point, up to mature), just very few does and fawns ... so looks like we will not be taking any does from the ranch this year.

Hey been away here also. Those look like some great deer. I wish I was seeing much, to your point same here fawn and doe counts are way down. I have many small bucks but nothing great yet. The rut is underway now so I am hoping we start seeing something new soon.

Ya and the new format is taking some time to adjust to.

[tommurtha]

Even totally blind... a limit today... Ben developed SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome) a couple of years ago. No known cause and no known cure. Of my 3, he was the best Britt I've ever had or ever seen including many field trial winners. He still loves to hunt. He wears snow ski type goggles, doesn't do deep into cover but is FEARLESS.

[Prostar 190]

This is my 13 year old daughters buck from youth season.

[Prostar 190]

This is my 10 year old son's buck from youth season.

[pmkkdx]

wrapped up the extended doe/spike season this past weekend, took 2 does on Friday in central TX, dropped off at the processor and headed to east TX on Sat. ... didn't see any mature deer worth shooting, upped my feral hog count by 6 more, bringing my total up to about 23 since Labor Day. I'll make a few more trips to east TX (it's TPWD MLD3, so can hunt thru end of Feb.) over the next month or so. We still have a few more MLD tags we need to fill, I think we have 5 or 6 doe tags and 3 buck tags (need to be 5.5 year old plus) between my son and I ...

[mastercraftka]

You guys did well!! I got skunked this year something wasn't right mostly too warm the entire season. Onto to next year.

[mastercraftka]

I did however get my hands on some meat to make dried sausage.

[2RLAKE]

that looks tasty!

[pmkkdx]

yep, I usually have at least a 10-15 pound batch of dried sausage done, sometimes more. Eat it year around until we run out. Have 2 more deer (doe & cull 4.5 y/o 4 point) at the processor now, just steaks & hamburger. Only have a couple more weekends but my son went out this past weekend and didn't see any does, bunch of young bucks...

[mastercraftka]

Well it is about that time of year again!!! Drought hit us pretty hard this year so not sure what we will end up with, but we did get some rain this past month. I already have a couple acres of oats up and another 5 acres planted. Probably plant another 5 or so acres and then wheat later in December if we get rain.

[pmkkdx]

you are way ahead of me! I've been swamped with work and honey-do stuff ... finally went out to my east TX lease a couple of weeks ago to rearrange some stands and feeders, shredded some and did a bunch of clearing around what used to be our camp area. Had a fire get out of hand on adjoining ranch, burned thru a large portion of our place including our camp. Total loss of several travel trailers (mine included), shelters, skinning shed, several stands and also torched all wiring to the various camper locations. Ugh! I am heading out this weekend with new travel trailer and all my electrical stuff to put back in several 30 amp and 50 amp service connections, and getting power back over to where we will rebuild our skinning shed. Haven't had time to think about plowing/planting at any of my hunting locations. On the place in east TX, we are MLD3, so Oct. 1 season opens.