Better picture of my Texas buck

10 hours ago, Tomb said:

How do you like that new rifle?

It's amazing. I love it.

Big Texas doe down!

Big doe down

1 hour ago, Gill-T said:

Hill country?

Yes west Texas. San Angelo, texas

Chocolate rack buck and shot a doe also this morning 

BBD!

Thought I saw him go down. Fingers crossed!

Welcome to Texas!!!

The much anticipated first sit here and I'm greeted by a big flock of toms

A quick report...

Deer were on their feet early even though it rained the last 1.5 hours of daylight. They showed up like gun season never happened. Love the late season! Actually had a bachelor group of bucks show up (5 bucks together) about an hour before dusk. 

Well it has been quite some time but I'm back in the deer woods on a late season sit with my kid. Deer movement has been pretty steady since we got in here. We are on the ground this afternoon and just quickly brushed ourselves in. Less than ideal conditions but hoping to see something decent that's wanting to fill it's belly.

13 hours ago, whaler1 said:

How’s Texas?

I leave Thursday night and my first hunt with be next Sunday afternoon. (dec 15-18) 

No doubt I am looking forward to it! 

Anyone need some new gear? Heres some "closeout" sales

ScentBlocker

https://www.blockeroutdoors.com/christmas-countdown-sale/?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=fb&utm_id=6618575279736&utm_content=6618575279936&utm_term=6618575279536&utm_campaign=6618575279736&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMAABHUDlTpSUeLpc-nsvDbmTTlQVy4LWcB1muY6rsuH7vkEdMC9y_Ihyx1uoZw_aem_-s8BQedwPhmDoRSIc8RUwA

Kryptek

https://kryptek.com/

17 hours ago, Andre wallyandre said:

Looking at this mono to fight the fleas; would like to know if somebody ever use it ?

https://bloodrunfishing.com/fr-ca/products/open-water-collection-sea-flee-spiny-water-flee-fishing-line?collection=line&variant=40236340707468

By design its a larger diameter 30# test with a special coating on it. It 100% helps. My disclaimer is when fleas are horrible there really isnt any perfect answer. But I will say when the fleas are bad its nice to have a couple of reels loaded up and ready to go.

1 hour ago, dvdegeorge said:

3-10x42mm is plenty for what you need it for

Oh you be quiet... I think I need more!!!

Thanks to Double D I purchased a new gun this year and Texas will be first time out with it. I have been impressed with it so far. The thing shoots like a dream however now I'm thinking I want a bigger scope on it. 

Bergara B-14 6.5 creedmoor paired with Knightforce shv scope

"The rut is for rookies"- Chris Brackett

Although we may see some trickle affects here and there, the rut is past us at this point. Bucks are in recovery mode and food is king. Add some snow and the search for food is massive. Time to hunt their bellies! I love this time of year! Sorry for the lack of hunting reports but without a horn tag I have been on the sidelines until now. With the late season is almost here, my hope is to join my kid for some late season hunts as he looks to fill his 2nd buck tag.  Looks as we have a bit of weather coming through after midnight tonight which is supposed to bring some additional snow which should help me do some speed scouting this weekend. I have a plan but of course I would like to confirm it and deer tracks in the snow will let me do that.

On another note.... Heading to Texas  to chase whitetails again next Friday. Needless to say Im am looking forward to that trip. Last year was great so of course my expectations are high.

A quick rant....

I follow a bunch of NY hunting pages on Facebook and I can not believe the amount of bad information in regarding to tracking deer that exists. If it wasnt for the fact that I love the sport of hunting I would find some of this stuff humorous but instead its almost scary. The reliance on tracking dogs is astonishing. That service has more work then they could ever want and I cannot imagine how many of these deer tracking calls go unanswered. 

SO I thought I would share this...

I saw this somewhere online and bought this "blood trailing flashlight" based off the comments I read from others. It works great. I brought it into the field this year on recoveries and the damn thing works well. I also tested it in the daylight hoping it would be fairly useful but nope. But in the dark... wow. The way it seems to work is by flashing lights and it highlights the color red and literally illuminates it. The flashing light makes the color red blink and man does it work well. If your tracking at night this is a must have. The video I shared is extremely accurate and not an exaggeration.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z3KRRF7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

What a weekend!

My kid was in the same set both am and pm hunts on the opener hoping for a chance at one of our shooters. We both sat in the punch/funnels that connect the two big chunks of woods. He passed up a few small bucks and a slow afternoon turned into chaos. Chasing in the thicket behind him for an hour eventually led him to put eyes on this great 8pt. The buck made his way to him from over 200 yards away. And eventually the deer walked directly in front of the stand about 20 yards, the kid waited until the deer was past him, quartering away before he stopped him and hammered him. The kid was close enough that once I heard the shot, I got to watch the deer on a death run through binoculars. Perfect shot heart and both lungs. Deer ran 50 before falling over. Big mature 8pt with decent mass. I'm guessing 4 years old as we do have pictures from him last year. Love these great dad moments!

As for me...

Day 2 of gun 

Going where the SW wind allows me I ended up in one of my best sets. Saw a couple of young bucks cruising early. I decided with buck sightings to pull out my can call and dumped it 3 times. 5 minutes later this 8pt was standing 20 years directly downwind from me without a care in the world. It was at that moment I realized that my kid and i had been confusing these two deer on camera. And that we had 2 8pts that we had been watching. The deer decided to continue on his path from right to left and gave me a 20 yard shot. Easy track job. Deer probably ran 70 yards. I enjoy bow hunting so much more but man is rather shoot them with the gun. It's devastating.

Although I'm tagged out now it was a great moment to have with my kid!