|
Forums46
Topics537,785
Posts9,729,136
Members87,042
| |
Most Online25,604
Feb 12th, 2024
|
|
|
 Deer in the Suburbs
#5631305
03/03/15 02:49 AM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
I live in a suburban neighborhood in Austin. There are woods to the North and South not that far away. A couple of weeks ago I poured a little corn in my front yard and poured a little vanilla for a scent. It was untouched for weeks but all the sudden we had 5 bucks appear on Sunday. I purchased a Trophy Rock nutrition block and this morning 2 more bucks came and began to eat the corn and block. So my real question is, "how could I hunt these deer?" I have an acre backyard with maybe 13 trees bordered by a fence and a row of shrubs facing the road. The shrubs are about 6-7 feet tall. My only weapon would be a bow or crossbow. They need to be dropped or slowed down.
What are yalls suggestions?
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5631321
03/03/15 03:02 AM
|
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 473
Beaubien
Bird Dog
|
|
Bird Dog
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 473 |
The only way I know to drop one in its tracks is a neck or spine shot. Anything short of that and they may be on your neighbors property.
If you miss with a cross bow your arrow might leave your property. Don't ask how I know that.
How well do you know your neighbors?
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5631326
03/03/15 03:07 AM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
A spine or neck shot is very reasonable because it'd be around a 10-15 yard shot. Unfortunately I am surrounded by some very irritable neighbors. I have lived here for a while and we know the neighbors pretty well but I might end up asking them.
Thank you Beaubien
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5631339
03/03/15 03:15 AM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
I would also like to note that I am outside of City Limits so it is legal
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5631353
03/03/15 03:27 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,666
John Humbert
Pro Tracker
|
|
Pro Tracker
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,666 |
IMO, hunting on one acre is risky business. Forget about the safety for a moment - the problem is that you can NEVER be sure your shot is going to drop the deer right there. Can't even do that with a BIG gun, let alone a crossbow/bow. Therefore, you ARE going to run into a situation - sooner or later - where a wounded or dying deer is going to exit the property. Then you have a problem. The deer could be several properties over.
Plus the fact that on only an acre, your neighbors are going to be seeing what you are doing. With this day and age, there's a good chance at least one of your neighbors is going to be upset when you kill Bambi in front of their young child, PETA wife, etc. And they WILL make your life miserable.
I hunt a small parcel of 30-40 acres, with cool neighbors on three sides - and I've STILL had some issues. One neighbor, who is usually pretty cool - got upset when a deer walked through their backyard one morning as he and his wife were having their morning coffee. Cross overs onto my parcel and BOOM, dead buck. Wife saw the deer and heard the shot. Nothing illegal, no safety issues, but he still came out and had some words for me (probably his wife made him do something). I was polite and non-confrontational, and simple said "Yes sir". But my landowner still got a call, and now that section if off-limits to hunting. And what is really nuts is that we have taken 4 deer off that exact spot (3 axis and 1 whitetail) in the past three years and none of those caused any comments (one even when he was standing within sight), concerns, or complaints. It was just this one time for some reason.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: John Humbert]
#5631362
03/03/15 03:32 AM
|
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 612
wtr
Tracker
|
|
Tracker
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 612 |
IMO, hunting on one acre is risky business. Forget about the safety for a moment - the problem is that you can NEVER be sure your shot is going to drop the deer right there. Can't even do that with a BIG gun, let alone a crossbow/bow. Therefore, you ARE going to run into a situation - sooner or later - where a wounded or dying deer is going to exit the property. Then you have a problem. The deer could be several properties over.
Plus the fact that on only an acre, your neighbors are going to be seeing what you are doing. With this day and age, there's a good chance at least one of your neighbors is going to be upset when you kill Bambi in front of their young child, PETA wife, etc. And they WILL make your life miserable.
I hunt a small parcel of 30-40 acres, with cool neighbors on three sides - and I've STILL had some issues. One neighbor, who is usually pretty cool - got upset when a deer walked through their backyard one morning as he and his wife were having their morning coffee. Cross overs onto my parcel and BOOM, dead buck. Wife saw the deer and heard the shot. Nothing illegal, no safety issues, but he still came out and had some words for me (probably his wife made him do something). I was polite and non-confrontational, and simple said "Yes sir". But my landowner still got a call, and now that section if off-limits to hunting. And what is really nuts is that we have taken 4 deer off that exact spot (3 axis and 1 whitetail) in the past three years and none of those caused any comments (one even when he was standing within sight), concerns, or complaints. It was just this one time for some reason.  that's pretty funny
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5631378
03/03/15 03:40 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,666
John Humbert
Pro Tracker
|
|
Pro Tracker
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,666 |
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were still watching when he was on this side of the fence saw it get hit and it wasn't pretty.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5631425
03/03/15 04:08 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 166
22hemi13
Woodsman
|
|
Woodsman
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 166 |
Shoulda grilled a lil bit up and taken them a plate 
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5632458
03/03/15 09:14 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861
PMK
THF Celebrity
|
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861 |
I have almost 5 acres where we live outside of the city limits, fairly heavily wooded to where you can't see another house from mine. We have quite a few deer, some pretty decent bucks too at times throughout the year and I have considered a bow/crossbow but then I think of it running after the shot and dying on one of my neighbors front door step or beside their pool. Just can't bring myself to going thru what the uppity neighbors might think or say. There is a fairly large, very dense ranch catty corner across a major highway that goes by in front of our place and the deer frequently cross between our properties. The picture below is of one of my bucks that I fed for 4-5 years prior to the opening weekend of deer season '13 and I found him down in a ravine on my property by following the buzzards. He was too far gone to determine if it was shot with gun/bow or possibly hit by a car on the highway but a good 75 yards into my property. Decent 5 1/2 year old 9 point... 
"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."
~PMK~
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: PMK]
#5632876
03/04/15 01:00 AM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
Thats a shame that it died that way. Did you just feed it corn?
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5633537
03/04/15 02:01 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,719
cameron00
THF Trophy Hunter
|
|
THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,719 |
I've told this story on here several times, but a guy I know hunts his parent's 10 acres in a subdivision.
He shot a nice 8pt with a bow right around Christmas and the buck took off, jumped the fence, and dropped dead right, smack-dab in the middle of the neighbor's Christmas party.
They let him have it but were not pleased.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5633602
03/04/15 02:42 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861
PMK
THF Celebrity
|
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861 |
Thats a shame that it died that way. Did you just feed it corn? we keep a water (blue cattle molasses tub) with fresh water out just behind our chain-link fenced yard for all sorts of critters and toss various things like lettuce, carrots, watermelon/cantaloupe rinds, peaches, pears, etc. plus corn. This 9 point was the middle sized of 3 bucks that grew up coming to our back yard. We had a nice 10 point, this 9 point and an 8 point that were buddies. We really enjoy watching all the various wildlife that frequents out back. Sorry for the crappy mobile phone picture.  point of reference why I am leery of shooting in a neighborhood. At our old house, we used to have a bunch of barn cats, some tame, some not. Well one of the not so tame ones started using my boat cover (on boat in garage) as his personal port-a-potty and I could not catch the dang thing, stunk up the garage awful. One day I caught it outside the garage while I had my .22 handy, blap in the head, but the sucker took off, bleeding like a stuck hog, flopping down the driveway, across the street, to the neighbor's front porch a couple hundred yards away. A couple days later I saw my neighbor and he said "hey, one of your cats got hit by a car and died on my front porch." ... I never blinked and said "oh well, I have several more to keep the mice at bay" ... never told him any different. In our current neighborhood, I don't think some of my uppity neighbors would be quite so down to earth to find a deer.
"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."
~PMK~
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5635114
03/05/15 05:16 AM
|
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 877
wtjim
Tracker
|
|
Tracker
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 877 |
If you aren't in City Limits you are good to go. To my knowledge Travis County Commissioners haven't adopted minimum acreage requirements for hunting. I would shoot from an elevated stand and use frangible ammunition from a suppressed platform. IMO the last thing you should do is ask your neighbors. You have already eluded that they are "irritable"...Just quietly enjoy your little piece of heaven.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5635487
03/05/15 03:21 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
That makes sense wtjim... Most people in my neighborhood are in the 50's and older and wouldn't really hear a shot at 7ish in the morning. 
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5635489
03/05/15 03:22 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
What kind of rifle do you guys suggest? I won't need a .270 and that high of a caliber because the shot will be around 15 yards and elevated
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: cameron00]
#5635493
03/05/15 03:25 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,830
Grosvenor
Pro Tracker
|
|
Pro Tracker
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,830 |
I've told this story on here several times, but a guy I know hunts his parent's 10 acres in a subdivision.
He shot a nice 8pt with a bow right around Christmas and the buck took off, jumped the fence, and dropped dead right, smack-dab in the middle of the neighbor's Christmas party.
They let him have it but were not pleased. Cant blame them for being upset about that. Poor Rudolph!
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5635548
03/05/15 03:47 PM
|
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 788
hermano W
Tracker
|
|
Tracker
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 788 |
Double and triple check to make sure you're not taking a chance on the bullet leaving your property, no deer is worth accidently killing a neighbor. If you will be shooting out of a second story window, that is even better. Use a suppressed 308 with subsonic 180 gr. ammo. Sight in the exact shot you will be taking, a 15yd shot needs to be taken with a rifle sighted in at 15yds with the same ammo you will be using. After that has been done, a 15yd head shot shouldn't be hard to accomplish.
Last edited by hermano W; 03/05/15 03:47 PM.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5635633
03/05/15 04:12 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 545
DustyWyoming
Tracker
|
|
Tracker
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 545 |
When I was a kid I lived in a subdivision with 1-2 acre lots out of the city limits in Williamson county, there was about a 20 acre treed field across the street and one house between us and the edge of the subdivision where there was another treed pasture well I shot a cat,
the neighbor somehow found out that I did and called the sheriff and I got in all kinds of trouble, not for shooting the cat but for discharging a firearm in a residential area, they said that even though there was not any restriction in the county that there where laws against shooting in areas with lots of people around.
And when you shoot a deer that your neighbor thinks is his pet, they are going to call anyone and everyone they can to cause you grief.
A lot of people today they feel like they have the right control you and watch everything you do then report anything they do not like.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: hermano W]
#5635736
03/05/15 04:39 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 590
HWY72
Tracker
|
|
Tracker
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 590 |
Double and triple check to make sure you're not taking a chance on the bullet leaving your property, no deer is worth accidently killing a neighbor. If you will be shooting out of a second story window, that is even better. Use a suppressed 308 with subsonic 180 gr. ammo. Sight in the exact shot you will be taking, a 15yd shot needs to be taken with a rifle sighted in at 15yds with the same ammo you will be using. After that has been done, a 15yd head shot shouldn't be hard to accomplish. Upper neck shot is much more desirable. Many years ago, I had this head shot idea put in my head by a friend. So when it came time to harvest a doe I thought I would save all the meat by making a clean head shot. I waited until just the perfect shot... feeding towards me, directly head on...she raised her head & I shot her right between the eyes.....to my dismay and anguish, she proceeded to flop around on the ground like a fish out of water for about five minutes in an area covering about a 25-30 foot circle. Wound up using all but the backstrap for sausage. That was my first and last time for a head shot on a deer! Upper neck if you want them to drop where they stand and not flop into the neighbors yard!
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: hermano W]
#5635898
03/05/15 05:29 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
There is a 6 foot tall wall of cinderblock and concrete just in case the bullet skips.
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: HWY72]
#5635903
03/05/15 05:31 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: DustyWyoming]
#5635911
03/05/15 05:33 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196
SWtexashunter
OP
Woodsman
|
|
OP
Woodsman
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 196 |
We used to get that all the time in my neighborhood for chickens and catching raccoons. Nobody knows about the deer yet because they show up only in the morning and at night. I think I should be good for now. People these days...
Doe slayer...
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5636061
03/05/15 06:46 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,738
passthru
THF Celebrity
|
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,738 |
I would use a pistol round personally. Maybe a .38 or .32 H&R mag. They sell rifles in these calibers.
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5636200
03/05/15 07:46 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 615
Frio County Hunts
Tracker
|
|
Tracker
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 615 |
I counted 38 deer in my backyard the other morning (majority were axis). I've been hand tossing some corn out because my two little boys like seeing the deer. I hear it is illegal in our area to harvest the deer but I sure do get tempted!
|
|
|
|
Re: Deer in the Suburbs
[Re: SWtexashunter]
#5636573
03/05/15 11:45 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861
PMK
THF Celebrity
|
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861 |
even though I am outside the city limits, my HOA rules strictly prohibit firing a firearm except for self protection ...
"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."
~PMK~
|
|
|
Moderated by bigbob_ftw, CCBIRDDOGMAN, Chickenman, Derek, DeRico, Duck_Hunter, hetman, jeh7mmmag, JustWingem, kmon11, kry226, kwrhuntinglab, Payne, pertnear, rifleman, sig226fan (Rguns.com), Superduty, TreeBass, txcornhusker
|
