I’m thinking it has more to do with the terrain, location and nature of the deer rather than the amount of acreage on a given deed. I know most all my neighbors for miles around. We are all surprised at most of the mature bucks we see, even though we share information. We sure don’t count on being able to see them again. No matter the amount of land owned, a man can only be in one spot at any given time. The “livestock” reference comes from another - don’t mean to offend. Obviously a lot of folks consider following their particular deer as a fun endeavor.

If anyone hasn’t hunted the woods of east TX I don’t think they can have a frame of reference.

Things really are fundamentally different when you cross the Trinity.

Land size does make a difference. On 200 acres, all your deer aren't living on you. Terrain makes a big difference. Genetic inclination of the herd you are hunting does too. The deer that I hunt in West Texas tend to travel greater distances than many of the other deer that I have hunted in other locations, especially East Texas. In the panhandle, I saw distances similar to ours and some even greater.

I have hunted Corsicana, Tyler, Longview, Jackson, and up around Bonham and Paris. Different terrain and a different herd. It is still hunting and you can still know your deer. Take Rifleman, he post progression pictures every year and "knows" his deer. It is what you know and how you use it that makes a difference.

Nothing wrong with not using any cameras, studying deer, learning deer and just going out into the woods and hunting. I would never ridicule someone for doing it because that is similar to what I do in Kansas. I use them for scouting because of the distance and then just hope to catch a big one on camera. No different than someone using them to learn and understand the herd better, I wouldn't ridicule them either...

I’m not “ridiculing” anyone. Just saying it’s not my cup of tea.

I’m just an old dummy saying what he thinks. I guess I don’t “study” or “learn” or “know” anything like the smart kids, and obviously I’ve got a lot to learn. Not the first time I’ve heard that today.

Smh again...carry on then and us “smart kids” will go kill our livestock

Thanks. Maybe I’ll luck up and kill something one day too. You know, “Even a blind hog......”

I know the deer I see yearly....killing them jokers after they hit 5-6, or I let slip to 7-8 bc of singling out 1 deer makes it a crapshoot. My “ondeck” buck for this year got shot 4 miles away 2 days after I last had him on cam...my big one from last year got shot in the same spot. Didn’t know he was still alive until dead pics started blowing up my phone, with lots of laughing/crying/barf emojis. He left a sanctuary with plots/protein and free based corn in Feb for no good reason. Odds are good he had been further North than 4 miles since the guy between us hadn’t seen him either. It’s a weird year, I have 2 I can match up from last year and they aren’t dependable. The 4 daily bucks that Summered with me left before they went hard horned, haven’t seen them since. I’ve only found 4 ground scrapes on the entire place when I can normally find that many in 100yd stretch of field. Saw my “white/off colored doe” from a few years ago from the Family Dollar parking lot. Talking to a cpl folks about her bc apparently she’s a regular there now right at the city limits and they were mentioning the big 199” buck running that group of does in that field by the store the day before he was shot. It’s straight shot 6.5 miles. 8 miles to me where I was getting pics of that deer up until his bachelor group was slaughtered whe he was a regular 3yo. I haven’t pulled the trigger since ‘13, but it’s not for lack of trying.

TxTrophy: Good post, btw. I think I try very hard to get back what we have lost. I do not think it is possible.

What we CAN do, is make something of what we DO have...and try to build it new.

Growing up, we had 9 sections of West Texas land (out by Notrees, TX.. heh) and we hunted more quail and dove than you can shake a stick at. We were spoiled. We could go out after work, school, weekends...it cost us (and by 'us' I mean my dad...) like $60 a YEAR.. and ducks.. anything we wanted.. bird, rabbits.. just not deer, I think. I cannot remember if we were not allowed to hunt them or just never did, but we could take guests etc. We knew that land like the back of our hands and I can still see the ruts in the road we would have to drive to get to the duck pond.

We had like 28 acres (I think) outside Campwood/Uvalde. It was big country to us.. I never knew better. I had to tie my gun to a rope, climb the tree, and pull it up and then tie myself to the tree so I did not fall off if I fell asleep.. lol.. and we shot "anything that had a horn long enough to put a ring on it".

I think we lose ourselves these days in trophy deer and wtd management. It has become such a "science" of hunting, that people forget that it is about the camaraderie and stories, imo only.

That is why I rarely actually hunt and even more rarely shoot anything. One year, I shot 3 cull deer, a doe and a couple spikes. I have never shot 3 deer in one year, but I had friends that wanted meat and did not hunt. I have more fun inviting people out and getting to know them and listening to their stories than I do hunting...heh

But.. I am rambling. To your point, for me.. I think I lost the "feel" or the "love" of being out there when I think about how I wish my dad could see this. I am not bragging in the slightest... but the point I think about, when I have my coffee in my hand and am standing on that porch.. I picture John Wayne in Chisum.. looking out over his land.. and I think to myself how my dad loved that 28 acres and how he would have given anything, as would I, to be on that porch with me looking out over the trees.

So... I invite people that are like minded... and hope that I can regain some of that.. and hope even more my kids grow up loving the ranch and can, one day, be standing on that porch with me too.

So... I regain my love with that.

The feeling is never lost, you just have to find where it went and go get it.

What did Harrison Ford say in 6 days 7 nights? "It's an island, baby.. if you didn't bring it, you ain't gonna find it" lol

Russ

“The feeling is never lost, you just have to find where it went and go get it.”

Thanks for that. Words to live by.

To me the hunt isn't about killing, anymore. Watching animals on your own place is priceless. Things change. I've hunted all over the state. Killed some nice bucks through the years. I'm just not mad at them like I used to be. Hunted with JohnRussell this last weekend at his place in Edwards county. Didn't shoot anything but saw plenty of game. Camaraderie was great, food was off the charts. Good times were had by all. Thats what it's about for me these days.

At one time we had over a dozen. We lived across the street from the police station and fire department. When the Sirens went off, the beagles howled.

I wish I had the deer hunting knowledge that I have now back when I first started hunting as a kid on a 2500 acre lease that costs us 25 cents an acre. We each payed $75 a year, which included a small fee for food to feed the deer dogs.

I would take in a heartbeat, the average attitudes of hunters back then over what you see today. Unlike today (when the only time you hear someone say something favorable about a dog is when they need one to bail their poor shooting [censored] out), a good hunting dog was respected as much as any good sportsman. Back then, a hound could run a deer across a half dozen leases without any fear of being shot. In fact, when hunters killed a deer in front of one, they would often catch him and call to let you know where you could pick him up. That all changed when meat became less important than antlers and scoring.

Nothing is more exciting than hearing a good hound drive a deer towards you.

Came and gone...

We still have a community fox hunt every year. Folks camp, dress up on horseback and release the hounds. Not sure when was the last time anything other than time was killed on one of those hunts.

You hanging it up at the ripe old age of 16?

Nope just getting started really.

Just pointing out your grammar mistake because I'm a pesky humanities major.

Well, it’s actually “come and gone” if you want to get all Grammar Nazi about it.

Have fun at school


Us out here in the field appreciate your devotion to grammatical studies

That is absolutely correct. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people say "went" instead of "gone." The came doesn't irk me as much.


TT85, thanks sir.

Are you an English teacher? When you do not write that often or are in a hurry you tend to type quickly and as the words pop into your head which definitely can cause issues with presenting the message correctly.

My Paw Paw hunted with hounds in AR. He trained them and ran them. I only had the opportunity to hunt with him once when he was running the dogs. I was 12-13 at the time and my dad and brother were there. My Paw Paw set us up to follow him about 100 yards behind to get anything that circled around and behind the dogs but we found out quickly that it was impossible for us to follow him. Here's this 70 yr old man running behind these dogs leaving me, my dad and my brother, in his dust. We simply couldn't keep up with him. When I think about what he could do at his age I'm still in awe. And listening to those dogs run those deer was outrageous. It was definitely a thing of beauty!

I loved to hunt years ago and got married and pretty much got out of it. Now 11 years later and two sons which got interested in hunting and fishing re-ignited my desire to do so. Absolutely loving every chance we get and going to gun shows and meets ect.

With the end of the season getting closer, I'm starting to think my hunting days are numbered and my heyday is coming to an end not mentally, but physically.
I gutted a doe a week ago, and it took me a long time because of the many breaks I took because of back and nerve pain, and being crouched down. Then came to chore of dragging her out, which was only about 75 yards from the road.