I was on a trophy hunt with 3 others that could take one whitetail each. One guy that was a taxidermist used his tag on a doe. When asked why he used his tag on a doe he said he became angry when she pawed a smaller deer so he shot her.
Don't bet on it, the missing points could be self inflicted to make the clever old buck less attractive to hunters.This buck may have gotten his behind kicked. Maybe kicked some. Either way, he is out of ammo. View attachment 114970
Seeing dogs and pet deer asleep in fel buckets is fairly common most places.I fired up the BX and drove it back to the deer, rolled it into the FEL bucket and brought it home. We live out in the sticks so a tractor rolling by isn't too unusual other than being 11 pm at night. I am sure I got some interesting looks and maybe a head shake or two from the few cars that passed me .
You may be right! If so, I’ll have to tag him. I can’t have those genes passed around.Don't bet on it, the missing points could be self inflicted to make the clever old buck less attractive to hunters.
I went back for a closer look after you said you seen one like it last year. Danged if it doesn't look like the antlers grew that way. Notice how those short tines come to a point rather than looking jagged as if broken off. Noooow the $64k question. Do you harvest him as a cull or let him walk on the assumption he is a non-typical yearling that will look to be carrying a brush pile when he's 4? If it's important a game biologist can tell with certainty if you have one or two broadside pics of whole body. This reminds me of a story I wrote for my 9 year old grandson (he's 26 now). We lost a lease where we had pursued an unusually large 8 point nicknamed Grill Guard proceeding two years. The boy was really down over not having another chance at the deer so I wrote a story to boost him. When couple of poachers headlighted GG and took a shot,he went down in his tracks and was hurriedly thrown in bed of truck and sped away. While poachers were driving home 200 miles away old GG jumped out of their truck and ran away as they slung lead at him. The original bullet hit his left antler knocking him unconscious and when he regained himself he bailed out running for his life. The remaining antler was shed and a new pair even larger than before replaced it. One cold Autumn morning GG caught sent of a kid that reminded him of one he once knew on his previous range. I made many hunts with the boy since and still look forward to invitations to go along. I have other grandsons and a son I enjoy camping and hunting with but they can't compete with this one when it comes to campfire stories. Four generations will celebrate Thanksgiving this year at hunting camp. My fireside story this year involves their inhertance. Everyone has known for years I promised my creator half of what I own if I live to see what all my grandkids amount to. I plan on telling them I change the pact so my creator gets it all if I live to see what the greatgrand kids amount to.You may be right! If so, I’ll have to tag him. I can’t have those genes passed around.
Oddly enough, there was a buck last year with the same problem.
I went back for a closer look after you said you seen one like it last year. Danged if it doesn't look like the antlers grew that way. Notice how those short tines come to a point rather than looking jagged as if broken off. Noooow the $64k question. Do you harvest him as a cull or let him walk on the assumption he is a non-typical yearling that will look to be carrying a brush pile when he's 4? If it's important a game biologist can tell with certainty if you have one or two broadside pics of whole body. This reminds me of a story I wrote for my 9 year old grandson (he's 26 now). We lost a lease where we had pursued an unusually large 8 point nicknamed Grill Guard proceeding two years. The boy was really down over not having another chance at the deer so I wrote a story to boost him. When couple of poachers headlighted GG and took a shot,he went down in his tracks and was hurriedly thrown in bed of truck and sped away. While poachers were driving home 200 miles away old GG jumped out of their truck and ran away as they slung lead at him. The original bullet hit his left antler knocking him unconscious and when he regained himself he bailed out running for his life. The remaining antler was shed and a new pair even larger than before replaced it. One cold Autumn morning GG caught sent of a kid that reminded him of one he once knew on his previous range. I made many hunts with the boy since and still look forward to invitations to go along. I have other grandsons and a son I enjoy camping and hunting with but they can't compete with this one when it comes to campfire stories. Four generations will celebrate Thanksgiving this year at hunting camp. My fireside story this year involves their inhertance. Everyone has known for years I promised my creator half of what I own if I live to see what all my grandkids amount to. I plan on telling them I change the pact so my creator gets it all if I live to see what the greatgrand kids amount to.
Good day. Those are some great photos. That must be a treat to live amongst those majestic animals. What do you (or other locals) do, if anything with the buglers?Great question. Mature bulls, spike bulls and even cows will bugle as far as I know, or at least call, but spikes and cows don't compare to the sound made by a mature bull. I was woken up by an elk sound so it's very possible that it was a cow or spike making a sound that sounded like a bugle. I've only heard the really impressive and eerie sound of a mature bull off in the distance. Once was in Utah and the other times were in the Highwoods area near Belt, MT. Come to think of it, I heard elk bugling at my place last year that sure sounded like a mature bull.
I don't charge hunters for shooting hogs(as long as that person's ballot is marked in the same color as the blood). I had a couple of Active duty Air Force guys last year come out serveral times to hunt. Some nights they would stay in the blinds all night.IMO the #1 problem standing in the way of reducing feral hog population in Tx is greed. Say wutt,hogs are greedy? No some, landowners and trappers are greedy. While one landowner is paying trapper to take hogs off his place the trapper is hauling them some place else and selling them to a landowner that charges people to hunt hogs. Fining people caught transporting live wild hogs $500 per head could slow that down.
In the event it comes up for discussion in your state,antler restrictions did wonders for quality of deer in Texas. Only two bucks are legal, with at least one unbranched antler or has 13" or greater inside spread. Whereas I recall when 25% of bucks harvested were spikes and 6 points were something to be proud of, the harvest now is equal in number with most being 8 points with over 13" spread. Hunters resisted to the bitter end but are now happy.
Cull him!This buck may have gotten his behind kicked. Maybe kicked some. Either way, he is out of ammo. View attachment 114970
I shot 2 smaller hogs last night.Hogs came up to and near the house last night and were eating up the acorns underneath the oaks. Neighbor said he spotted 40+ running across his pasture. View attachment 115106
View attachment 115105
I made a DIY video for making hog lights, using solar led motion lights. Far much cheaper than buying hog lights.