On my little 100-acre piece of Tennessee, I've got everything from wide-open spaces for 300+ yard shots to honeysuckle and blackberry thickets so matted I couldn't see a deer feeding 10 yards away. I could see the bushes shake, but there was no way to get a clear shot. I've been watching the same travel trails and feeding and bedding areas for the past thirty years. On any particular day, I can probably guess within 1,000 yards of where the majority of the deer population in the neighborhood will be. That distance covers my own place, and about three of my neighbors' farms, including the neighborhood bunny hugger who keeps a corn feeder running year round. The hunters in the area appreciate his efforts at keeping our freezer stock nice and healthy!
With a 3-doe-a-day limit over close to a 3-month season, there's virtually no way to take more venison than the law allows. Yes, there's a 3-buck limit for the season, but us meat hunters figured out a long time ago that horn soup doesn't taste very good. If a nice-looking trophy buck strolls by, I might bushwhack him, but then I've got all the trouble and expense of getting a mount done, and then I've got to figure out where to hang the thing! I missed the biggest buck I've ever seen on the place- - - - -I touched the set trigger on my flintlock with a gloved finger before I had the sights aligned! The shot missed by a couple of feet!
Jerry
Jerry, here in Texas it varies from county to county. Some counties allow 5 deer a season and all five can be does, and usually a two buck limit. Then there's counties that are one buck and you have to have doe permits for does and the one I was on before the land owner was pretty stingy with the doe tags. Then there's counties like the one i presently hunt in. The first month or so is doe season with a maximum of two. Then you can have one buck 13 inches wide inside and one spike or that is one side that isn't forked. I hot my does back earlier and the last month I've been buck hunting. As most shots on this place run 100 yards or better, I am careful trying to judge whether a deer is a spike or not. That's hard to do at 100 yards sometimes. So they got us Twoblocked. I made the mistake of waiting for the bucks this year. I should have shot them when I first saw them. I got my two doe so I figure the season was a success, but once you see all that rack and don't nail it you feel like you missed the boat. Next year if I have the opportunity, I'm nailing the first legal buck I see. Then I'll kill the first doe I see. And the next one after that providing I don't see a spike. I think if my grand son is with me and I see any buck, it's going to be his no matter how big or small.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
I hunt northern Californiastan for Blacktail deer. Jim Zumbo said they are the hardest deer to hunt and called them ghost deer. The average hunter gets one deer every nine years. There's a two buck per year limit, fork horns or better. They average about 100 to 150 pounds on the hoof and we're not permitted to shoot doe. In the 18 years I've been hunting here I came up empty three times and got two deer twice. These deer live in the thickest brush covered hills you never wanted to see and go nocternal at the first signs of intrusion. I was standing 15 yards from a buck and doe one time and couldn't tell if the buck was legal for almost ten minutes, he wasn't. Because of the hunting condition and stupid regs here I'm a sport hunter. One small deer a year won't qualify me as a meat hunter though I do butcher and process my own meat. There's pig hunting here but 95% of all pigs taken are on private land so Joe Regular can figure on a lot of hunting before he ever sees a pig. That or you'll spend $400 to $500 to hunt with a guide on private land which is sewn up by the guides. It's big bussiness.
Californiastan, I love it Freezer. I'm glad you have a sense of humor about that communistic governed bit of beautiful but insane real estate. Keep your sense of humor, the pendelum will one day swing back your direction.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
Also, Buffy, who said any of this was easy? Every year I go out I figure adds to my resume. I don't claim to be Dr. Deer. I just go out and try and learn as I go. Every time out I learn some things. The main thing is to enjoy it. And getting game is secondary. But that doesn't mean you have to go out 100 times without success. Read what everyone here has to say. Everyone of us has some knowledge to share. I may argue and harrass, but I'm in good company there. But dont' think when someone says something that i don't make note of it, especially if it's something I have never done. What Alec wrote I took down every word of. Jayhawker, yeah and sometimes even cpj, LOL!!! I do really take everything in because I have figured out one thing. Hunting is a continual learning process.
But don't let this discourage you. This is the fun part. And especially when you learn and Apply something new that you read and it actually works!!! That gives you a hell of a RUSH!!!
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
Easy is the last word to describe it. Went out with two guys this year who have yet to kill a deer, one in his early 30's one who is in his 80's! I was really trying to get both or at least one of them a buck. At the end of our first morning out, the younger guy said, "Well, I'm 0 and 10". I asked him to elaborate, and he said he had been hunting 10 times and still had not shot a buck. After I got done laughing, I explained to him that the record was going to get worse before it got better.
I am in no way an expert at killing deer or deer hunting, just another guy enjoying time in the woods, pursuing game and learning all that I can.
The fire service needs a "culture of extinguishment not safety" Ray McCormack FDNY
I think my biggest problem, like with everything else, is lack of preparation and procrastination. It doesn't go well when you only scout 2 days before bow season.
I think my biggest problem, like with everything else, is lack of preparation and procrastination. It doesn't go well when you only scout 2 days before bow season.
You've alluded to your family schedule before, so I know it's tough to find time. Still hunting with a bow makes it more difficult by orders of magnitude, but you'd still be scouting too. The lengthy post that orchidman wrote is just about exactly what I was doing when I got my buck this year. Also that thing he said about being ready for a snap shot. I almost stepped on a nice buck one time. Hang in there man. I don't know why it is but once you get your first one, it changes things. You'll see.
Teach your children to love guns, they'll never be able to afford drugs
Jerrybob :yousuck: I work so dang hard to find one small deer and you have a ton of them and brag about it! I offically detest your presance!
It's hot here before deer season (80 to 100 degrees) and the rut doesn't start until a month after season. I drive 3.5 hour to get where I hunt. I pratice scent control, hunt the wind, move very slow, hunt alone where most folks are too lazy to go, wear camo and hunt tree to tree. I ususally spend at least 20 days in the woods. This year I got a disabled archers permit so I can hunt with a cross bow instead of traditional bows. There are no special seasons for muzzel loaders of shotgun and there's no special doe season. To add insult to injury your not aloud to shoot the cougars that are over populating the area I hunt. The bears have learned from this also. Normally a cougar will kill one deer a week and stash it. The bears have figured out how to get an easy meal off the cougars and are raiding their stash. Now they need to kill two to three times a week. If that isn't enough the wise animal loving legislature has banned the use of hounds for bear and bobcat. Now less preditors will be harvested.
I'm off the topic but that's why I don't experament with bullets. I don't want to have to track a deer or bear into the thick brush on my hands and knees and I don't kill enough deer to experament with. Game king have worked for me and I get great duplicatible accuracy with them.
Snake the pedulim will not swing for me, I'll be out of this screwy state before that day comes. I live in the SF Bay area, it's no place for a country boy! I just won't let it get to me and laugh at how abserd it is every chance I get. Did I mention it's duck season! I can hunt them on a so so refuge about an hour from the house.
Here is a deal for you Buffy. If possible I will try to make it over one year for your deer season. Dont want to shoot an animal, but would really enjoy accompanying you on a hunt. You can teach me about snakes and goats and things, in return I will try to show you what I have learnt over the years. Heck, I wont even poke fun at your 270........unless I get hit by a ricochet from a buck or something....
On the other hand, you could always come over here...........
Still enjoying the trip of a lifetime and making the best of what I have.....
Here is a deal for you Buffy. If possible I will try to make it over one year for your deer season. Dont want to shoot an animal, but would really enjoy accompanying you on a hunt. You can teach me about snakes and goats and things, in return I will try to show you what I have learnt over the years. Heck, I wont even poke fun at your 270........unless I get hit by a ricochet from a buck or something....
On the other hand, you could always come over here...........
I would LOVE that. Either way. You over here or me over there.
The wife and I soooo want to see those black sand beaches. My daddy told my mama, at some point during y'all's adventure, "You know, I feel guilty.... Bryant should be the one experiencing this." She agreed.
That made me feel good. One day, my friend. One day.
I would LOVE that. Either way. You over here or me over there.
The wife and I soooo want to see those black sand beaches. My daddy told my mama, at some point during y'all's adventure, "You know, I feel guilty.... Bryant should be the one experiencing this." She agreed.
That made me feel good. One day, my friend. One day.
Black sand beaches? Sounds like the Philippines. That's volcanic sand there that does it. The Philippines is one big volcanic rock sticking out of the ocean at various spots. However, what is funny is you go to some islands such as Boracay and it's sugar white sand. But it's all beautiful. When I'm in the Philippines I'm not that far from Alec. One of these days I'm going to pop in and have a hunt with him. That would be my dream.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
Most of the deer I've killed in Colorado were taken as a secondary quarry while hunting elk. We have a combined elk/deer season, but it only lasts for 5-10 days. As a result, I find I usually have to pick a time that works best for one or the other. And, it's ard to get more than one tag for either species.
We also are usually restricted to a specific area, so it's not like we can just go anywhere in the state. On the plus side, deer tags are relatively cheap, and there's a whole lot of public land available just about anywere you want to go.
For the most part, it's 5-10 days of 'deer camp', which usually means sleeping in a tent during cold weather. With the right hunting companions, that can be very enjoyable and a lot of fun.
JerryBob, tell me more about this deer hunting. I had been given the impression that it was hard to get a deer tag. Can out of staters get deer tags? I would love to kill an elk, but if I can get a mule deer I would be flabergasted to say the least.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
If you can kill one with a 270 my flabber will be well and truly gasted!!!!! :tooth:
Well gas up your flabber because I'm already gassed up!!!:roll:
And also, my .270 Winchester has already killed twice this past season and it's ready for another go. Hogs, deer, elk, what ever!!! :rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao:
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
well the last 20 years I'd say Im at the 50% range of kills. I hunt a mix of private (64 acres) and public, this year in midland on many thousands of acres. The private land been workign it for 20 years and will tell you that I know almost to the minute when a deer will show, and where. But then 20 years of walking the land will do that. In midland this year new place for Jerm and I and well I looked at a topo and just went for a walk. Seems I had the area right and the times ok and saw 9 deer in 3 days. That is from a cold never been in the area . I did take one. (should of had 2 but the one rifle was still doped for NM) The shot was at 5 yards. So what goves on scent?
Al my deer have been taken at 35 yards to 5 yards, wiht some of them running within 3 yards of me. I do no real special but a quick spritz of cover scent and thats it. I got fresh coffee an and apples , and cookees to spare. Yeah movement is key less is better , but if your in the right place at the right time you can get away with alot and still bag one. Yeah they were meat critters no antlers but I do have a nice 8 point for my first Buck.
OMG! Blaktail have no set patterns and will go nocternal on you in a heart beat. Come out to where I hunt if you really want to hunt! Anything from thick and close to 500 yards and by the way, your on the menu. There are a lot of bear that don't consern me too much but...
There are also a lot of cougar and they but me on edge. You don't get to hear them comming and they know your there before you know they are.
OH and there's no open season on them.
If you can kill one with a 270 my flabber will be well and truly gasted!!!!! :tooth:
You know, one of these days, I'm going to hop on the big bird with said .270 and come show you how it's done in your own back yard, :roll2::roll2::roll2:
Then you'll be down by the sea side chunking that .270 wanna be 7mm-08 in the water and that will prompt you to start using that BEAUTIFUL Pre 64 .270 Win. that any sane man would be proud to use, :rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao:
Oh and one more thing, that thing deserves better than that ratty old Weaver K-6 I was going to send you. When you come back to the SE shoot, you need Tennmike or Teach to take you scope shopping again and you can get another one of those Beautiful Sexy VX-3Ls in 2.5-10x50 for it. Then you will be the PRIDE of KIWIville. :jester:
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
I think my biggest problem, like with everything else, is lack of preparation and procrastination. It doesn't go well when you only scout 2 days before bow season.
Bingo.
You need to get out there, set game cams, set up a food plot or a feeder (depending on legality), and scout the woods. Take some loppers, cut limbs, make fields of fire and sight lines. Learn the property and the animals.
It's fun, and you get to bum around the woods with a gun on your hip and do man stuff.
To make something simple is a thousand times more difficult than to make something complex.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Here's another angle on all this. Every place you hunt you have to learn. There's things that are the same and there's things that are different on every place. I now believe that if you kill a really good buck your first year on a place, you're pretty lucky. This first year for me on this place I was on was a big learning experience. Now I know the habits of the deer and I know how to hunt them. I didn't score a buck this year, but if it works out that I'm on it again next year, I will have a great chance at a real trophy. It's not just dumb luck, it takes some learning and some getting used to to figure out. just go for it and learn all you can. With patience it will pay off sooner or later.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
Replies
Jerry, here in Texas it varies from county to county. Some counties allow 5 deer a season and all five can be does, and usually a two buck limit. Then there's counties that are one buck and you have to have doe permits for does and the one I was on before the land owner was pretty stingy with the doe tags. Then there's counties like the one i presently hunt in. The first month or so is doe season with a maximum of two. Then you can have one buck 13 inches wide inside and one spike or that is one side that isn't forked. I hot my does back earlier and the last month I've been buck hunting. As most shots on this place run 100 yards or better, I am careful trying to judge whether a deer is a spike or not. That's hard to do at 100 yards sometimes. So they got us Twoblocked. I made the mistake of waiting for the bucks this year. I should have shot them when I first saw them. I got my two doe so I figure the season was a success, but once you see all that rack and don't nail it you feel like you missed the boat. Next year if I have the opportunity, I'm nailing the first legal buck I see. Then I'll kill the first doe I see. And the next one after that providing I don't see a spike. I think if my grand son is with me and I see any buck, it's going to be his no matter how big or small.
Californiastan, I love it Freezer. I'm glad you have a sense of humor about that communistic governed bit of beautiful but insane real estate. Keep your sense of humor, the pendelum will one day swing back your direction.
But don't let this discourage you. This is the fun part. And especially when you learn and Apply something new that you read and it actually works!!! That gives you a hell of a RUSH!!!
Easy is the last word to describe it. Went out with two guys this year who have yet to kill a deer, one in his early 30's one who is in his 80's! I was really trying to get both or at least one of them a buck. At the end of our first morning out, the younger guy said, "Well, I'm 0 and 10". I asked him to elaborate, and he said he had been hunting 10 times and still had not shot a buck. After I got done laughing, I explained to him that the record was going to get worse before it got better.
I am in no way an expert at killing deer or deer hunting, just another guy enjoying time in the woods, pursuing game and learning all that I can.
You've alluded to your family schedule before, so I know it's tough to find time. Still hunting with a bow makes it more difficult by orders of magnitude, but you'd still be scouting too. The lengthy post that orchidman wrote is just about exactly what I was doing when I got my buck this year. Also that thing he said about being ready for a snap shot. I almost stepped on a nice buck one time. Hang in there man. I don't know why it is but once you get your first one, it changes things. You'll see.
I'm going to let you in on a big secret to killing deer.
HUNT WHERE THERE'S A LOT OF DEER!!!!!
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
Thats the problem, I am!
It's hot here before deer season (80 to 100 degrees) and the rut doesn't start until a month after season. I drive 3.5 hour to get where I hunt. I pratice scent control, hunt the wind, move very slow, hunt alone where most folks are too lazy to go, wear camo and hunt tree to tree. I ususally spend at least 20 days in the woods. This year I got a disabled archers permit so I can hunt with a cross bow instead of traditional bows. There are no special seasons for muzzel loaders of shotgun and there's no special doe season. To add insult to injury your not aloud to shoot the cougars that are over populating the area I hunt. The bears have learned from this also. Normally a cougar will kill one deer a week and stash it. The bears have figured out how to get an easy meal off the cougars and are raiding their stash. Now they need to kill two to three times a week. If that isn't enough the wise animal loving legislature has banned the use of hounds for bear and bobcat. Now less preditors will be harvested.
I'm off the topic but that's why I don't experament with bullets. I don't want to have to track a deer or bear into the thick brush on my hands and knees and I don't kill enough deer to experament with. Game king have worked for me and I get great duplicatible accuracy with them.
Snake the pedulim will not swing for me, I'll be out of this screwy state before that day comes. I live in the SF Bay area, it's no place for a country boy! I just won't let it get to me and laugh at how abserd it is every chance I get. Did I mention it's duck season! I can hunt them on a so so refuge about an hour from the house.
On the other hand, you could always come over here...........
I would LOVE that. Either way. You over here or me over there.
The wife and I soooo want to see those black sand beaches. My daddy told my mama, at some point during y'all's adventure, "You know, I feel guilty.... Bryant should be the one experiencing this." She agreed.
That made me feel good. One day, my friend. One day.
Black sand beaches? Sounds like the Philippines. That's volcanic sand there that does it. The Philippines is one big volcanic rock sticking out of the ocean at various spots. However, what is funny is you go to some islands such as Boracay and it's sugar white sand. But it's all beautiful. When I'm in the Philippines I'm not that far from Alec. One of these days I'm going to pop in and have a hunt with him. That would be my dream.
JerryBob, tell me more about this deer hunting. I had been given the impression that it was hard to get a deer tag. Can out of staters get deer tags? I would love to kill an elk, but if I can get a mule deer I would be flabergasted to say the least.
If you can kill one with a 270 my flabber will be well and truly gasted!!!!! :tooth:
Well gas up your flabber because I'm already gassed up!!!:roll:
And also, my .270 Winchester has already killed twice this past season and it's ready for another go. Hogs, deer, elk, what ever!!! :rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao:
Al my deer have been taken at 35 yards to 5 yards, wiht some of them running within 3 yards of me. I do no real special but a quick spritz of cover scent and thats it. I got fresh coffee an and apples , and cookees to spare. Yeah movement is key less is better , but if your in the right place at the right time you can get away with alot and still bag one. Yeah they were meat critters no antlers but I do have a nice 8 point for my first Buck.
There are also a lot of cougar and they but me on edge. You don't get to hear them comming and they know your there before you know they are.
OH and there's no open season on them.
You know, one of these days, I'm going to hop on the big bird with said .270 and come show you how it's done in your own back yard, :roll2::roll2::roll2:
Then you'll be down by the sea side chunking that .270 wanna be 7mm-08 in the water and that will prompt you to start using that BEAUTIFUL Pre 64 .270 Win. that any sane man would be proud to use, :rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao:
Oh and one more thing, that thing deserves better than that ratty old Weaver K-6 I was going to send you. When you come back to the SE shoot, you need Tennmike or Teach to take you scope shopping again and you can get another one of those Beautiful Sexy VX-3Ls in 2.5-10x50 for it. Then you will be the PRIDE of KIWIville. :jester:
Bingo.
You need to get out there, set game cams, set up a food plot or a feeder (depending on legality), and scout the woods. Take some loppers, cut limbs, make fields of fire and sight lines. Learn the property and the animals.
It's fun, and you get to bum around the woods with a gun on your hip and do man stuff.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov