Guy at Sportsman's center said 5 illegal deer were killed on post this morning and it's only day 1 of gun season.These sort of hunters continue to amaze me. Hopefully a few young bucks survive.

That will probably mean the powers to be at FT Hood will either add more restrictions or eliminate hunting on FT Hood.

They should make you take a class to ensure people know the rules.

I doubt the hunting will stop over something like that

It's called the Texas hunting book, I think a class for out of state enlisted personnel would be smart though. Also, busting their cahones for all they got will make the others educate themselves.

Nothing new, happens every year! I could tell you some stories but I don't feel like typing that much tonight.

Yeah I've heard plenty stories of illegal deer being killed and people trying to play dumb and act like they never heard of ARs

Going on a guided hunt this morning on Hood and they just told us 8 illegal deer were killed and confiscated yesterday on post.

You'll probably see something. I saw three dead on 190 right before you get into Cove. And theres always a small herd out by the bulk fuel point.

Well, all those "hunters" need to be totally banned from hunting on post forever. That's 8 less people that I gotta worry about clogging up the teletrac. Just ban them for life. But no, they won't. I was hunting a Guided area during archery season and let a 2-3yr old short-tined 8pt buck who was just outside the eartips walk away because it wasn't worth the trouble if he didn't make it. I'm betting that he probably got smoked opening weekend either youth or opening day.

It all boils down to the AR's though. I think 13" is a little bit too difficult to field judge and you cannot expect a novice hunter to be able to execute that type of skill. Maybe what should happen is everybody that intends on hunting deer on Ft Hood takes a written test using different trail cam photos that are mensurated to scale, and if people do not pass that written test they probably should be categorized as a hunter who needs to be accompanied by one of the volunteer deer guides. The Sportsman's Center does a good job of telling people to read the rules and regulations, and if folks want to ignore the rules, then Ft Hood will ignore those people by banning them for life.

Seriously though, does this not sort of make the case that AR's are not generally doing what its proponents say it is doing??? If 8 bucks (all short) are already at the food bank (and you KNOW they're counting that towards the quota), then AR's are not helping to grow more and bigger bucks. Especially if you keep spike-shooting as a legal harvest. AR's just make no sense to me. Maybe I just haven't heard the case presented in a way that I can wrap my mind around.

Anyway, Phil at the SC on post pretty much squared me away on the 13" rule by saying "...if that buck doesn't take your breath away, it's probably short". Good advice. But even Phil will show the new people when they buy their license a couple racks on the wall. One is about a 12" spread and another one is just barely legal. If people don't come to grips with what he's trying to say then it's on them. Ban them for life.

I'm in TA36 guides said everyone seen deer yesterday just not shooters or hunter didn't have a shot opportunity. Also said the bucks are chasing pretty good so I may do a little rattling. Hoping for a good morning.

Saw a big 11 pt on WFH at 0900 running full speed along Mohawk rd trying to hop the fences... Got almost to clear creek before he found a spot to jump over.

I saw a good one chasing a doe right next to the Clear Creek gate a couple of years ago. This was at about 0700 with hundreds of cars going thru the gate. He didn't care. I bet there will be another one seen out there this year too.

Sapper, if you ever get PCS to the 19th at Fort Knox, you will not want to leave. During the rut, bucks come onto main post. I saw a biggun in the bowling alley parking lot one night. They also plant corn fields out in the training areas for them to forage through the winter. No shortage of deer up there.

I'm against AR's for a lot of reasons, mostly on principle though, not results. If they work, I'm happy with the results. I've never hunted in an AR county, but my wife's first deer was a yearling 7pt that should have walked regardless of AR's. Its rack was outside the ears, but only 12 3/4". Good thing it wasn't an AR county! The point is, it was seemingly legal according the TPWD criteria, but was not actually legal. Why not confiscate the deer between 12.5" and 13", but don't charge a fine utile it's under 12.5"?

The deal with the wife's deer: we had a day and a half to hunt a little place that never produces a good deer but has an elusive monster. I passed a 2 1/2 y/o 8pt, saw HUGE buck five feet across the fence, and shot a nice doe. Saw the monster buck again that evening, he jumped the fence a couple minutes after legal hours. The next morning I took my wife out. A spike jumped out and I said "shoot him", then a six jumped out and I said "wait a minute", then an 8 jumped out. I got caught up in the emotion of getting my wife a deer and that little spike made the 8pt look pretty big. It all happened in a matter of seconds and I made the ring choice from a management standpoint, but you know what? My wife doesn't know the difference, and it was a positive experience, and a bonding moment, and a kid wouldn't know the difference either. I know we should be teaching respect and good management etc. but people make mistakes and dads and husbands want good things for their family and it been an AR county it could have really marred what was actually a good memory. I'm for proper management etc, but I also believe there more to hunting and there are more important things too. I definitely think it's good on a specific property like bases and other public property, and I like management plans on private property, but I don't like it being the law on private land and GW's getting knit picky with it.

I also have a friend that married into a very well managed game ranch. His sister in law shot a ten point yearling when culling, because her grandpa got confused on the ear tags and thought it was an old buck. They could have thrown a fit about it, but instead congratulated her and made her feel good about herself and behind closed doors had a discussion about how to avoid this mistake in the future. Just imagine if a GW had written her a ticket after her grandpa gave the okay?

I'm not saying that I know what the answer is, but I don't know that I like it. I also know that there are people out there that need to be reeled in. I personally have never shot a deer that wouldn't have met AR's.