Well the good Lord has blessed me again with one of his wonderful creatures. Shot this guy during Muzzleloader this last weekend. I couldn't believe it when he walked out as I never had a chance to check my cameras so had no idea he was even around. LOL. The last pic is of him 8 days before I actually got a shot on him. I pulled the camera pics after the Saturday hunt. What a beautiful buck!!! I am blessed.
Last edited by RC51; 10/22/1910:10 AM.
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Yeah he was right at 19 inch inside spread. We think he was a bit older as his tine length was really not very good for his size. And his face was very grey. But best buck I've ever shot for Muzzleloader by far!!
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Took my buck on opening day of bow, and 3 does during the first 2 weeks of the season. Can take one more doe during muzzleloader which starts here Dec 7. Kinda rushed the season because I will miss a bit recovering from some scheduled minor surgery. Life is good on the farm!
We hunt in the north part about 45 minutes North of Batesville. If you can get on them we have some big bucks up North verses down south. It's like night and day size wise. It has to be the terrain they are in up north and maybe better food I don't know but they sure are bigger up north. And I know how big them Kansas bucks can get I would love to hunt up there one time. Ya'll got some monsters!!
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
I grew up on the other side of the fence from the army ammunition plant (14000 arces). It was restricted hunting my whole childhood. They just started opening it up the last few years. There is some monster that have been growing in there.
While age and gender has a definite affect on meat quality. The diet the deer has been eating, a clean shot, and good field dressing and butchering is even more important to final eat-ability. My late father-in-law once spent a day trimming meat from an older buck that was thawed in the refrigerator. It was the best meat we ever had. He removed all the white connective tissue, and even the undiluted ground meat tasted like high quality lean beef. I have never had the patience for this myself, but we sure appreciated his efforts.
Wife typically butchers within one day and age during thaw in refrigerator. We don't grind at all anymore. Neither of us have the patience to trim out all of the connective tissue. Folks seem to enjoy the jerky though.
Funny thing is, I did not marry one that will butcher anything lol. Won't clean a deer or a fish. And these days I don't want to clean and butcher a deer either. She won't eat deer, elk, rabbit, squirrel, duck and or quail. But she does like to eat those big cnbg and she also likes fried up lmb. She's Not outdoorsy at all. She is real girly if you know what I mean.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
My wife did not grow up doing this. My first deer (a small-racked 7-point with a massive body) was taken with a bow in the evening of my first year hunting when my wife was about 6 months pregnant with our first child. While it did not go far, my tracking skills were not so good and I thought it ran off. My wife found it the next morning and by the time I got home after she called me at work, she had it field dressed and loaded in the pickup truck. When we checked it and found out the butchering cost, she said to let her do it. I do not know how many deer she has handled over the last 25 years, but it must be close to 100. She eats most of the meat and the dogs get what most discard. We have shared both meat and field-dressed deer with friends and the needy as well. My wife is always outside (even now) and enjoys splitting firewood with a Monster Mall. Somebody around here needs to work? Come to think of it, she drives a Jeep and I drive a Miata. A far cry from my high-school sports years:) Once in a while she does ask for help...
The diet the deer has been eating, a clean shot, and good field dressing and butchering is even more important to final eat-ability.
^^^^^That right there^^^^^
There's a world of difference in flavor between a midwestern whitetail that grew up on field crops and acorns, and a western muley that grew up on sage and briars.
I've been so busy the last couple years I've left the deer harvesting to Mrs. Augie. They come up in the yard and eat her hostas, so it's a vengeance thing with her to kill every last one of em.
The diet the deer has been eating, a clean shot, and good field dressing and butchering is even more important to final eat-ability.
^^^^^That right there^^^^^
There's a world of difference in flavor between a midwestern whitetail that grew up on field crops and acorns, and a western muley that grew up on sage and briars.
We hunt in the rockies and when we kill a muley we about have to make jerky out of the entire animal-not a bad thing but as Augie says, Pinecones vs. corn, beans, sunflowers and pears just don't convert the same. :-))
Here is another shot of him on a different camera, full 12 point frame, definitely some added incentive to get out and hit the woods early on a cold morning when laying around drinking coffee would be so much easier. I got it cropped enough finally to get it to post.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
.. I got it cropped enough finally to get it to post.
There is a quick way I've found to resize the pics, without cropping, if you have Windows on your laptop, pc, etc. Save the image and then find it in My Computer. Right click and select Send To and then Mail Recipient. It will give you several sizing options. Select the size you want and then e-mail it to yourself. Save it back in the smaller size. Might sound complicated but it really isn't.
You fellas got me hungry (which dont take much). Thawed out a deer roast and a bkstrap. Put them in Sprite over night. Then today with into homemade rub (bunch of stuff from cabinets) and more sprite over night. Going to smoke them tomorrow. I have smoked bkstraps before and love them. Never have did a deer roast before. Has anyone here did one before?
We take them to the butcher. I dont know anything about besides what the package says. I dont hunt these were from one of the older to girls deer. I covered the name of the place because I dont know what we can n cant post. So just a lil CYA if ya know what I mean.
Really depends on the deer how old it is and what it's diet is as to what we do with it. I knew this last buck I shot was pretty old. So we made canned BBQ venison with it and jerky. If we do a roast we use the hind quarters most of the time and will make a neck roast. If you slow cook them right they all taste pretty good. Of course we always save the back straps and tender loins for steaks. With this buck we did all jerky and canned BBQ as we knew he would be kind of tuff as old as he was. We don't normally do hamburger as we are not setup for it but this buck would have been good for that also. The canned BBQ is awesome and a quick easy fix for dinner.
RC
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
If your phone was used, take a screenshot of your photo. Should be great quality. Upload the screenshot as usual. To display hover over your image link, copy link/image address, edit your post, type [img]paste your pic link[/img] Presto You can also crop your photo after taking a screenshot. The pic of the buck I uploaded to Facebook from my computer, downloaded to my phone from Facebook, then uploaded from my phone to here. BTW...this is a low fence ranch in TX and I've been watching this buck for 3+ years. Easy since he has a bad eye.
I tried the screenshot thing on somebody else's suggestion but it didn't downsize it enough to work for me, not sure what I'm doing wrong or if I have the wrong phone, iphone 10
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
Granddaughter who is here for a week from Basic training in the Navy wants to hunt this afternoon. I went there yesterday to get some things done and pull a couple of cam cards. Now home waiting for her to show up.
Left at 11 to come back to Fort Worth to wait for her to get free. When I left I realized that I hadn't heard a shot fired in the area. And saw none at the feeder a hundred yards or so from the house. Don't remember this ever happening.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Dave, you think the deer have an idea as to when opening day starts? Sometimes I think they do. Hope you have a good hunt! Here, for three days, every morning between 7 and 7:30 an 11+buck show up in front of the camera. Opening day he was not there and haven't seen him since. Apparently we did not slip in like we thought we did
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Well, we hunted afternoon and this morning. Saw nothing and, in 3 days, didn’t hear a shot in the area. Cams say the deer had been hitting the feeder we hunted but none showed . Not even hearing a shot on opening weekend has me perplexed.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Pat, same here. Sometimes we will see a nice buck at several different spots around the farm over a period of maybe 10 days. They do circle around the property. Then he will move out and another nice one will move in. When I say nice one I am speaking of a 10 or better. the problem is my son is not as picky as I am and will shoot at any buck outside the ears. Me, I look for pot bellied bucks. I don't see a lot of those type bucks except on camera's and most always at night. And when I do see one up close I wont get the shot. Do you know why we never saw fat Indians in old pictures? It was because they hunted with a bow!
We are just now seeing some chase, I've seen one. But around Thanksgiving the chase will be hard on if you catch my drift.
Last edited by TGW1; 11/05/1907:10 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
They are chasing pretty hard around here right now, seen a doe followed closely by 2 bucks this morning, they were on a mission, it will be mostly the tail end of rut by the time the season starts the second weekend in November, and thats also probably where your bucks are going when they disappear, they travel a ways to find does, if you are lucky you will have one of them come into your area if you have plenty of does.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
Based on the hard chase we see around Thanksgiving every year and seeing it continue through Jan and early Feb along with seeing new fawns showing up each June through August I believe the rut runs longer here than most think it does. Kinda of like my lmb in the pond. When one couple moves up and then leaves with their fry another will move into the same area and do it all over again. This goes on for about 3 months. We see good numbers of bucks throughout the season. It's not south or west Texas but we still have good deer population at my place. We try to keep around 15 acres (small plots scattered around) of year round food plots along with a lot of native acorn producing Oaks on the place.
Last edited by TGW1; 11/06/1907:31 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy What does that don’t get bred in late October will come in around thanksgiving then the ones left will come in in late December causing the late babies
So someone help fill me in here. I'm horribly ignorant about this...
If it is instinctive for species to mate and the does are 'in the mood' so to speak with their hormones, then why does all the chasing have to happen? Why are the does running around or running away? Are they truly afraid of the bucks? Is the mating process uncomfortable? or are they truly playing 'hard to get'?
I'm just thinking of my 16 year old boy and his new found interest in girls and their 'body parts'. I'm finding that the human 'does' are just as interested in the human 'bucks'. It seems the human hormones turn off any rational thought and the two sexes run together not away from each other!!
I have 4 girls of my own so I know what you mean. I think that's flirting. They are just as bad as the boys unfortunately. I own weapons but not the best shot. Im might not get them with the 1st but have a clip. Now everyone calm down im just kidding. But I do always invite the boys over for skeet shooting. They don't normally come back after that (LOL).
The strongest bucks can chase down the does and fend off rivals, so does that run generally produce the fittest offspring which selects for does than run. Natural selection at work.
RAH - I'm still lost on why the does take off running... Do mamma cows take off across the pasture when daddy shows up? Or female horses, or goats, sheep, bobcat, moose, elk, dogs, cats etc?
I know in some species the size advantage of one or the other keeps the other party 'captive'
Sorry, got us on the wrong tangent here. Either way it sounds like eventually the bucks find ALL the does and ALL the does get pregnant every year I guess?
Maybe the does are like my wife and they just say "this poor uterus (and these stretch marks...) simply cannot handle another 9 month pregnancy".
Maybe the female deer are doing their best to have just one winter with a normal sized belly...
Yes - Virtually every doe gets pregnant, but a few bucks father most of the fawns. Does that run the hardest have their fawns fathered by the fittest bucks on average. Thus, these does pass down the genetics for running to their offspring. Those managing for trophies often try and keep competition for does high by removing a lot of does. Keeping doe densities low also means lower herd densities and good herd health. Domestic animal breeding is controlled by humans. You don't see Holsteins or broiler chickens running wild.
Canyon The does run that are not in season and some are flirting. Not all doe come in heat at the same time.if a doe runs and the buck stays with her she is playing the game. We have a problem with waaay to many does (10-15 to 1 buck) neighbors will not kill does..... hard to fix stupid.....The bucks will check out does and if nothing is ready they will move on. Hope that helps some
How does one determine if there are too many does? Our does look to be very healthy and fat for the most part. I have been involved in another forum for years. Texas bow hunters is a good place to start for information. There are a few other places to look when it comes to deer management. Growing deer tv is another place where there is some good info. I have yet to come to an answer when it comes to how many deer is too many? I found out same as here "it depends" The state biologist are involved in the picture. They help to determine how many deer can be taken per county. My best guess is the overall harvest of deer per county guides me to believe what our deer population is in each county. Every county in Texas has different numbers when it comes to harvest. In my county it's two bucks and two does. Bucks have to be outside the ears before you can harvest. In Louisiana, Caddo Parish which is net to me, the harvest numbers are larger when it comes to does. Last time I looked it was 6 does can be taken. And for the most part the bucks are what I call basket bucks. This is most likely due to food and age and not genetics
Pat I see no participation in breeding during Oct here.
Last edited by TGW1; 11/07/1906:38 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy When you see 15-20 does to one buck it’s too many does. Our first breeding cycle is usually over by the 1st week in November. The second one is usually around thanksgiving weekend then the next one Christmas time
In my neck of the woods, we can take 1 buck a year and doe number depends on county (4-5 in my county depending on how you harvest your buck - actually unnecessarily complicated). I try to maximize my doe harvest to manage for trophy bucks and reduce the deer density to keep the herd healthy, especially with the types of diseases that seem to be spreading. We have a healthy large herd which I credit with all our development of high quality habitat (food, water, and cover).
How does one determine if there are too many does? Our does look to be very healthy and fat for the most part. I have been involved in another forum for years. Texas bow hunters is a good place to start for information. There are a few other places to look when it comes to deer management. Growing deer tv is another place where there is some good info. I have yet to come to an answer when it comes to how many deer is too many? I found out same as here "it depends" The state biologist are involved in the picture. They help to determine how many deer can be taken per county. My best guess is the overall harvest of deer per county guides me to believe what our deer population is in each county. Every county in Texas has different numbers when it comes to harvest. In my county it's two bucks and two does. Bucks have to be outside the ears before you can harvest. In Louisiana, Caddo Parish which is net to me, the harvest numbers are larger when it comes to does. Last time I looked it was 6 does can be taken. And for the most part the bucks are what I call basket bucks. This is most likely due to food and age and not genetics.
Tracy,
See how their food is doing and then you can determine if you have to harvest does. If every plant is nipped off and they are eating undesirable food you have to many does. If other the preferred food is eaten you don't have to many. I've started watching Growing Deer TV in the last year and will probably have Grant do a management and hunting plan for me this winter. Going to open up our woods that have virtually no food except for the trails.
In my neck of the woods, we can take 1 buck a year and doe number depends on county (4-5 in my county depending on how you harvest your buck - actually unnecessarily complicated). I try to maximize my doe harvest to manage for trophy bucks and reduce the deer density to keep the herd healthy, especially with the types of diseases that seem to be spreading. We have a healthy large herd which I credit with all our development of high quality habitat (food, water, and cover).
In our area you can take two bucks per hunter, so if you have 5 acres and 10 hunters that’s 20 bucks off a small area..... that’s the problem here too many hunters to the property size.
Send some of them hunters up here to Kansas. I have packs of 20+ 400 yards from my backdoor. I cant let my kids leave the house without telling them to watch out for deer. Thick as thieves around here.
I don't believe we have too many does at my place. The population seems to remain around the same numbers each year. And we keep bucks around to. The bucks that stick around early on are usually younger bucks in the one to 3 yr range. With about 15 to 20 older (3yrs+) bucks that show up throughout the rutting season or Oct through February. We also have a large area if we consider our surrounding neighbors properties and the 9,000 acre NWR that receives little pressure that is across the rd from us. All of us enjoy seeing the deer year round. The neighbors have reported that the deer look healthier since we started the year round food plots six yrs ago. The does are really healthy looking right now. As far as the food plots we have planted many different plants over the years but today we have narrowed it down to what seems to work best for us and what the deer prefer. Here is a list of what we now plant. Elbon Rye, winter wheat, clover both red and white, sun hemp, iron clay peas and forage soybeans. Our clovers will be there year round. They are in the clover wheat and rye right now and were in the sun hemp till this past week. We also have a lot of white oak acorns right now along with red oaks also. The acorns are being hit pretty hard right now. I have to say I looked hard for the right place to buy with the plan of making it a sporting property. And I am not done with the property.
Last edited by TGW1; 11/08/1909:03 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I am over populated with deer, bucks and does, I have about the same amount of bucks and does, a few nice mature bucks but mostly dozens of scrubs that need eliminated from gene pool, but I can only harvest two per yr, one by gun and one with bow and arrow, I can take about 4 or 5 does if I wanted to, my problem is I cant find any hunters that want to take the scrubs and does, everybody just wants to let them walk and wait till the big one comes by, thus eliminating the good bloodlines and let the scrubs breed.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
From all of my research over the years I suspect the scrubs as you call them are more about lack of food over bad genetics. Mississippi did a study because of people hollering about bad genetics in parts of the state. So they took samples from all over the state and placed them in a high fence area where they feed the deer and by the 3rd generation the deer had all improved in size and health. It's about the food and most likely not the genetics.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
[quote=TGW1 Mississippi did a study because of people hollering about bad genetics in parts of the state. So they took samples from all over the state and placed them in a high fence area where they feed the deer and by the 3rd generation the deer had all improved in size and health. It's about the food and most likely not the genetics. [/quote]
"The heritability estimate for antler weight shown in Table 1 suggests that 75 percent of the variability in antler weights (mass) may be attributed to heredity."
I agree that genetics do come into play. That is proven by deer farming today. High fence genetics has been a booming business across Texas for the past 20+ yrs. But without the food the genetics mean little. Like jludwig mentioned about our ponds. We can have the best genetics in the pond but without the food they will not grow to be trophy's.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
The deer I am referring to are in a farming country with all the clover corn soybeans they can ingest available for most of the year, that being said we can tell a huge difference in antler growth in a bountiful wet yr versus a dry one, two yrs ago was a wet yr and there were tons of amazing size deer racks harvested versus 2018 was extremely dry, nice deer with giant racks were a lot more scarce. I do believe genetics play a pretty significant roll in the outcome, not unlike all domestic animals are bred for the characteristics that one is looking for.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
A good day yesterday. I’m feeling blessed also RC.
9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these. I think that's about all I should put in my little pond. Otter attack in 2023
There is a really good buck on the property right now. Makes me want to get in a hunt but it's been just too dam cold. I hope he sticks around for the rest of the week, it's going to be pretty nice weather in the mid 60's and high 40's at night.
Nice one setter!
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
How does one determine if there are too many does? Our does look to be very healthy and fat for the most part. I have been involved in another forum for years. Texas bow hunters is a good place to start for information. There are a few other places to look when it comes to deer management. Growing deer tv is another place where there is some good info. I have yet to come to an answer when it comes to how many deer is too many? I found out same as here "it depends" The state biologist are involved in the picture. They help to determine how many deer can be taken per county. My best guess is the overall harvest of deer per county guides me to believe what our deer population is in each county. Every county in Texas has different numbers when it comes to harvest. In my county it's two bucks and two does. Bucks have to be outside the ears before you can harvest. In Louisiana, Caddo Parish which is net to me, the harvest numbers are larger when it comes to does. Last time I looked it was 6 does can be taken. And for the most part the bucks are what I call basket bucks. This is most likely due to food and age and not genetics
Pat I see no participation in breeding during Oct here.
We are in the MLD program at the ranch. The state biologist comes come out, looks the place over, then give us our MLD buck and doe tags.
This year we got 14 doe and 7 buck tags and can ask for more if we need them.
I have another dumb question... It was said here that pretty much all does are pregnant after chase season is over.
My curious question is, can the bucks tell if the does they approach are already fertilized? Or do all the does get mate attempts by multiple bucks? and assume the weakest/slowest does have multiple bucks attempt to mate with them?
I was curious on whether survival of the fittest also meant that multiple bucks would attempt to fertilize the same does and certain characteristics of the males would vie for proper 'conditions' for fertilization of one or more eggs.
I have another dumb question... It was said here that pretty much all does are pregnant after chase season is over.
My curious question is, can the bucks tell if the does they approach are already fertilized? Or do all the does get mate attempts by multiple bucks? and assume the weakest/slowest does have multiple bucks attempt to mate with them?
I was curious on whether survival of the fittest also meant that multiple bucks would attempt to fertilize the same does and certain characteristics of the males would vie for proper 'conditions' for fertilization of one or more eggs.
Based on everything I know about this, a doe will only be receptive to (and available for insemination during) breeding for a 48-72 hour window each year. That's what gets the bucks all fired up - it's a short window. Based on my reading a doe will come into estrus approximately the same time each year (barring injury or illness), and most of them come in within a 2-3 week range. When that range is depends on latitude more than anything. For me in Central IL we're smack in the middle of that time right now. A single doe can and will mate with multiple bucks in that timeframe (not if the buck in residence can prevent it) and if multiple eggs are ready then they can be fertilized by more than one buck.
As to whether a buck can tell if a doe has been bred, he could care less. If she's still in estrus they'll chase her until she or they die, or until she stands to mate. Once she's out of estrus they no longer have interest in her. This would be where the term 'hot doe' comes from. I've seen this in action a dozen times or more this season alone - a buck comes up to 3-5 does in a group and basically chases one out of the herd. She's the 'hottest' - as in she's the closest to being in her estrous period.
Supposedly there have been cases where a doe will indeed fight off/run away from a buck but then immediately stand for another one for breeding. So at least in some cases personal preference seems to be in play.
Dale
"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
We process all at home, but I do like spicy food so those sticks sound good. Took me 2 weeks to fill my 4 available archery tags until muzzleloader (just 1 buck allowed). My wife would not appreciate 4 deer hanging in the barn the same day since she is the field dresser and butcher. When I said "we" above, I meant her:)
I used to do it all at home, to include making summer sausage and sticks. Then came the day I had 16 slabs of pork spareribs in the smoker for a family BBQ and it went up in smoke. Literally. I let the water pan run run dry and it burned to the ground. It was a home-made thing and worked great, but it was 100% manual control and required constant attention.
Since then I do the butchering, but I have the sausage and sticks done at the locker plant. I could recoup the cost of a large commercial unit over three or four deer seasons, but the older I get the happier I am to trade some dead presidents for my time and the effort involved in making my own sausage. I have a Traeger pellet smoker that works really well for making jerky so I still do that myself.
I get the time versus cash thing. I do a lot less of those things that I do not enjoy these days too. I still do some of these things when its hard to find someone to do something well or the cost is really high. On this one, its my wife's call since she does the work.
Tagged out for the season with a doe during muzzleloader yesterday. Spent less time hunting this year than I have in past years due to recover from some minor surgery, so I think that I unconsciously stayed more focused on filling the freezer.
We have a massive acorn drop. I have glimpsed about 5 deer since October 1. Only one that I could have shot. It was a yearling doe.
Here in central MO we had some monstrous winds, 50 65 mph gusts with strong sustained winds for a couple of days, cleaned out the leaves and also acorns all at one time, our woods are about as empty as I remember ever seeing them, I have a huge oak in my front yard that usually hangs on to his leaves most of the winter, this year they all came down and out of the yard in one day,, very little cleanup, but also all the acorns fell at the same time, the ground was literally covered with them, have about 5 or 6 deer and squirrels eating on them just about all the time.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
Dave, I have to agree on the acorn drop this year. Hugh acorn drop at my place. Almost sounds like rain when in the woods. I let 3 8pt bucks walk last week. Had all of them within 20 yds of me and all within the first hr of the set. Problem is the first one I let walk and he wound up being the best of the 3. We are going through the rut right now and was seeing some good bucks but I've seen nothing my last two sets. I might need to change my plans on dropping only older bucks. Son dropped a nice 3 1/2 yr old 10 last week.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I believe I have pictures from last year at this time of the same deer. His summer range is 1/2 mile to the North, neighbors have pics of him in velvet the past 2 years. Here at my place he seems to show up after gun season, and always at night, never during the day.
Hunted Saturday and Sunday. Didn't hear a shot in the area. Worst deer season ever. I have 6 corn feeders on the 133 acres with cams at each. Hogs are eating the corn at night.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Dave, we stopped using corn feeders that throw the feed. Have moved to gravity feeders only. I thinks this helps to reduce the hog problems known around me here in NE Tx. Maybe not but we see fewer hogs after doing it.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
We dont have hogs here but Coons are a big problem, I try to cater more toward feeding turkey then deer, so I used to set my feeder to go off about an hr after daylight to discourage the deer and coons, but pretty much quit using a feeder, I just walk out and broadcast a gallon or two out real thin by hand whenever I get to it, a little more regular during times when their food source is covered with snow or ice.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
I wish otters would come to corn! Dave, what we did was we took our barrel type feeders and removed the solar panel, and spinner assembly. That left us with the barrel that had a 3" hole in the bottom of the barrel. Some were plastic type and others were metal drums. We then added the gravity type that consisted of a 3 or 4" tube with 3 and or 4 places where the deer could eat from. Worked so well that we cant use it year round because of all the feed they will go through. A hog can get to the feeder tube but pretty much has to stand on its back feet to get to the feed and that makes it a little harder than the hog just eating it off the ground. We also took a couple of the plastic drum feeders and added some pvc along with other stuff and made fish attractors and sunk them in the pond. That reduced some of my corn bill.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Ever made a pig pipe? 6 inch heavy duty pvc pipe. Cap off the ends but be sure they can be removed. Drill holes, a bunch of holes just big enough for corn to escape but not overly large. In one end cap install a bolt with a ring. Don’t know what you call the the bolts. Fill loosely with corn. Attach a piece of heavy wire or light chain to the ring. About 10 tp 12 feet long. Drive a metal rod into the ground and attach the other end of the wire/chain. Pigs and deer will roll it around in circles to get to the corn. They generally stay awhile.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
We did a 6" PVC pipe feeder but not like the one u described. We did have a cap at the top and a V shaped connection at the bottom. We then attached it to a tree where the deer could get to the corn. I am not sure whey we stopped using it other than we had to refill the pipe often. It is a simple set up.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy, I built a couple of hanging feeders last year. I hung them one on a branch near the house and jammed a metal bucket on top. I figured the coons couldn’t bother it. Wrong! Cam showed 6 coon on an around it. I have no idea how they got the bucket off the top when I figured they couldn’t get any leverage. No deer or hog pics, just coons.
6 inch heavy duty pvc pipe. If I try it again I’ll have to figure out how to coon proof it.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Dave, I agree the coons can be a pain in the arse. I had a friend invite me to eat some of the meat he was grilling. It looked good on the grill and I took a bite that he offered. It was pretty good. He smiled and told me one bite was Possum and the other bite was coon. He was one of those Deep East Texas type guys. Like deer, if the coons knew there was an opening day for coon season they might become hard to find.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Up until 2018 you could not carry any type of gun when bow hunting. But after I found Mt Lion tracks in one food plot I started taking my pistol with me. No matter what the law said. They changed that law in 2018. Bad ass cat!
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I have only seen one in the wild here. It was walking down the center of the road one early morning. One jump and it was gone. I believe it was a young cat for it to be walking down the center of the rd and for me to get so close to it before it realized I was there behind him. I thought it was so unusual I contacted the fish and game to report what I saw. They told me there were more out there than people thought there were. The tracks I found in my food plot were so big I took a pic of the tracks and then had to look up on the web to then find out they were lion tracks. That is when I started carry my pistol when walking to and back from my stands. I was talking to one of my neighbors down the rd and he told me his brother had seen a cat couple of times over the past few years. Pat I bet if you ck with your local fish and game you will find out they are closer to you than you might think.
Last edited by TGW1; 02/02/2008:09 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I have only seen one in the wild here. I contacted the fish and game to report what I saw. They told me there were more out there than people thought there were.
Tracy...of course an attack would be rare...but I've wondered if mountain lion are ever around our place...probably not. One of my favorite things is to go back in the woods over-looking my neighbors beautiful pasture and sit on my ATV and take a "cat-nap". I thought if a mountain lion jumped me napping on my ATV, even if i had a gun...there would probably be zero time to react. A very good friend of mine used to sometimes see mountain lions at night up around Muenster, Texas on the Tx/Ok border. He said he was sitting at a stock tank one night in camo...shined a spotlight across the small pond and saw two sets of very large cat eyes...probably waiting for deer..he said it was a bit unsettling realizing they were that close and he had no idea.
Capnap outside never heard of it but my wife would be down to try that. Dont sound like a bad idea anyway. My guess is they will try to stay away from machinery like that.
If we had big cats (not just bobcats), getting into the stand in the morning and out at night would be more interesting...
Turkey hunting in So. Ca. Walked in to this area in the dark, on a 2-track fire lane, dirt was soft due to moisture. Didn't see a thing but on the walk back out there were Mt. Lion tracks on top of our footprints from walking in.........
Zep, that is one large cat pictured in the info u posted. One thing that I saw that was pointed out in the video. The cat I saw was at dawn and the other thing was it's small head in comparison to it's body size. And it said not likely to see one east of I35. My sighting was about 20 miles due south of Shreveport and my place where I saw the tracks and my neighbors two different sightings were 30 miles west of Shreveport.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
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One dumb lion.
