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Describe your early hunting experiences #7879534 06/24/20 04:37 AM
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East Texas, late 90’s.

Always cold, due to improper clothing. Few deer seen, even fewer bucks. Scopes would fog, deer would move at first and last light. Saw lots of squirrels, rabbits and if hunting near the tank, wood ducks .Good times had by all. Any deer was a trophy at that time, right, wrong or indifferent


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879543 06/24/20 05:03 AM
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No help in East texas. I will share a story though. It was 94 and I was 7 and pops and I went pig hunting on a friend of his lease he worked ATC out SW of SA. I got pulled out of school early so that is mainly why I remember this. We saw beautiful south Texas Whitetail the entire evening and right at dark the pigs came in and we could not see them. Was very blessed to be in that stand with pops that day. I still remember the dove hunt on that place where he could not hit a barn and they were swarming. He had not held a shotgun in probably 10 years when we went on that hunt. Got pulled out of school for that one too. I may have been 6 and i shot a cactus with pops O&U


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879599 06/24/20 11:36 AM
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In Texas, my first lease was just north of Perrin, in Jack county, 1974 first year. 540 acres, year round with 4 other hunters at 45.00 dollars each. Not many deer back then, a forky really got alot of attention. Lots of quail, and 3 good stock tanks with bass and catfish.
No feeders back then, but we did throw out corn on occasion. Our stands were just a sitting platform nailed up in a tree, with steps nailed to get up to it. We had a common camp area, with the next pasture, where we did have electricity. great memories.

Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879606 06/24/20 11:41 AM
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a lot of squirrel hunting and there were a lot of them so it was fun action. Got into deer around age 15

Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879635 06/24/20 12:10 PM
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Filled with excitement and anticipation. And dread, what if I messed up. And uncomfortable as hell. Sitting under a tree on the rocks, waiting for a turkey in blue jeans and a t shirt, what was my uncle thinking, free babysitting I guess. Tired as hell, old Granddad could walk the legs off us high school football players following bird dogs. And dang hot out in that dove field, how come all the men where sitting in the shade and us kids were sitting out in the sun. And I LOVED IT ALL!


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879714 06/24/20 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by txtrophy85
East Texas, late 90’s.

Always cold, due to improper clothing. Few deer seen, even fewer bucks. Scopes would fog, deer would move at first and last light. Saw lots of squirrels, rabbits and if hunting near the tank, wood ducks .Good times had by all. Any deer was a trophy at that time, right, wrong or indifferent

Pretty much the same here. East Texas public land. Never shot a deer but camped out and had a great time. Davy Crockett national forest. Around 1980 got on a real lease near Streeter, 600 acres on the Llano river. $500 with house,electric, water, fishing. Most fun I'd ever had hunting up to that point.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879723 06/24/20 01:53 PM
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this will definitely spark some long term recalls from many years back ... might take some time to put together a few stories.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879805 06/24/20 03:01 PM
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It wasn't until the 90's that I had the income needed to buy better gear and equipment. I was too broke in college and needed to focus on getting started with the wife afterwards to spend very much money on hunting activities. It was also during the 90's when I focused entirely on hunting public land, which was a very good thing because it forced me to start learning more about deer and deer behavior in order to be successful. I feel those years hunting public land also left an indelible appreciation for the greater challenge in hunting deer rather than having deer hunt me.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 06/24/20 03:01 PM.

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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879879 06/24/20 04:07 PM
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My first deer hunt in NJ at age 12 1960 with my dad who was not much of a hunter although he grew up in rural South Carolina. We sat on a fallen tree in the woods on a dairy farm. I had the single shot 12 with a slug on my lap. As the sun was rising we could see 4 brown legs moving through the brush about 50 yards away. With my extensive lack of experience my legs started quivering and bouncing up and down uncontrollably. As the brush was very thick and I realized my dad had binoculars in his coat pocket. I began asking in a louder and louder voice "give me the binoculars", "GIVE ME THE BINOCULARS" In order to ensure I had his attention I was also waving my hand at him. Dad, even with his limited experience, was shushing me over and over. To my compete dismay and disappointment the deer disappeared as quickly as it appeared, I'm still blaming my dad for his slow retrieval of the binocs I was sure that beast was a 12 point 200 BC buck. So thankful that wonderful man introduced me to this fabulous life passion.

Last edited by Flashprism; 06/24/20 04:10 PM.
Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7879922 06/24/20 04:58 PM
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1959, deer hunting in Black Range in southern NM. Hunting with extended family and walking with my Dad. I was the "brush walker" - sent off to see if I could roust out anything down the canyons and washes. I thought it was fun, at the time. We did not get a deer, but the one thing I remember is at breakfast, I spilled a cup of coffee on a metal folding chair and went to get a towel to wipe it up and when I got back, it was frozen onto the chair...

Next year hunting with Dad and my little brother in the Florida mountains southeast of Deming, NM and it was rough country. We camped out and not near as cold. Second day we were climbing the mountainside and my brother and I were left in a canyon bottom while Dad finished hunting the rest of the canyon. We were playing grabazz and fooling around and hear an animal slipping in the shale above us and it was a about an 8-10 point mule. Really big. Dad was returning and saw him but only got one shot off with his 1903 Springfield, he did not take it completely off safe, just half wy and the deer was gone.....

I have fond memories of my Dad and hunting all over southern New Mexico.

Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880059 06/24/20 07:59 PM
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I shot my first game animal at the age of 8 in my native CO. It was an American Goldeneye drake that I got off a local pond with an old Winchester Pump 20 gauge that belonged to my grandfather. I asked my father to loan me the $$$ to mount it (I think it cost $60 back then) and I still have the mount today. I am 57 years old now and was born in 1963, so that bird has hung on my wall for 49 years now.

I shot my first deer at the age of 9, also in CO. Back in those days you had to be 14 to have a big game license but my father and grandfather both that that it was idiotic to make a kid wait that long to start hunting deer. My first deer was a 3x3 mule deer buck that I shot off a ranch owned by a family member with a Winchester Model 94 in 30-30. My brother who was a year older than me took a 2x2 mule deer buck, also with a 30-30 that same trip. My grandfather bought us the 30-30s and they had consecutive serial numbers. Since we couldn't buy our own tags, my grandfather tagged the buck I shot and my father tagged the buck my brother shot. Technically both deer were taken "illegally" since the shooters didn't have valid licenses, but the tags were right there. This would have been in 1972 so the statute of limitations has expired.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880067 06/24/20 08:08 PM
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My first time was sitting in the lap of my father in a big live oak tree. Was cold that morning and he wrapped me up in his coat. That was November 1967, I was 5 years old, Dad was 34 years old. It was somewhere around San Saba. I fell asleep and he woke me to show me some Does walking by. If I remember right the lease cost $50 a man which included a house to stay in.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880079 06/24/20 08:26 PM
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great stories, my goes further back, getting up and fire had gone out in the cave


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880084 06/24/20 08:35 PM
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1976. My dad took the dog and I to go duck hunting. He and the dog took one of the swamps, I got the other. I heard lots of shooting behind me, After awhile, I saw a duck come into my decoys, so my first duck ended up being a hen bufflehead. That experience changed me for life, I now chase those ducks from the ND border all the way to the Gulf. A few times each year, my dad joins me on a hunt in Texas. Thank you dad.

Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880101 06/24/20 08:49 PM
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What is the statue of limitation on Spotlighting a deer at night with a .22mag? asking for a friend.


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Haven't had it in years but never spit any out.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880108 06/24/20 09:00 PM
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Started hunting with my cousin and uncle for quail in central Oklahoma. No dogs, just the three of us walking uncle's ranch. Lots and lots of walking, but very few birds. I was maybe 9 or 10 years old and carried a single shot 12 gauge. Uncle was a veteran and an outdoorsman, so learned good gun safety, and we were not allowed to finish the day until he had inspected the guns after we cleaned. I still practice the same habits.

Was in High School before my first deer hunt - again, in central and southeastern OK. It was probably my second or third season of hunting before I saw a deer while hunting - doe, but was a welcome harvest. The first time I hunted in central Texas I was astonished by the number of deer as compared to Oklahoma.

Last edited by Dalroo; 06/24/20 09:01 PM.

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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880110 06/24/20 09:07 PM
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12 years old hunting deep in the Davy Crockett with a few snacks in a backpack and a 3030. Grandpa and myself would walk in 1-2 miles from the road to find my climbing stand. He'd say "climb as high as you feel comfortable and I'll see you at dark"

Never did see anything (probably wasn't high enough as I don't like heights) and little did I know he was never far off. Scared the heck out of me the first time he shot.



Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880211 06/24/20 10:48 PM
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Earliest hunting / shooting recollection was age 8 (or so) shooting turtles off a neighbor's tank with Daddy and a Sears & Roebuck (actually High Standard) .22 LR semi-auto rifle. Those high velocity .22s seemed awfully loud...but then NOBODY wore hearing protection in those days.

The next couple of years found me following the old man afield after dove. I had great fun but the doves had little to worry about. Armament consisted of a Stevens single barrel "thumb-buster" in 2.5" .410.

I made the "big leagues" at 11 when I joined the lease Daddy held with friends in Gillespie County. 1900 acres at $100 a gun...and you can bet that Daddy made me pay my way! My first deer (a young spike) fell (barely) to a Winchester Model '92 rechambered to .218 Bee. My second fell a couple of weeks later (an honest-to-gosh 8 point) when Daddy lent me his Winchester 88 in .243.

The camp consisted of an uninsulated bunkhouse and an old frame cookshack. I learned to build a fire and cook in cast iron. I learned to move quietly, mind the wind and the sun. I spent hours listening to the talk of men who'd seen the transition from farming with teams to farming with tractors. Men who'd seen the horror of a world at war and come home to their families...more or less intact. I froze near to death because Daddy wasn't about to spend good money on clothes that I'd outgrow and only get one season's use from. I learned that it's OK to freeze in December because it's WINTER...and being cold is as natural as it gets. I was drilled on trees, plants, and tracks. I learned to pay attention to where I was and where I'd been (as occasionally Daddy would stop after walking for some time, look me dead in the eye and ask me, "Which way is the truck?". I learned to sharpen a knife, swing an axe and call a turkey.

I've been ruined for all genteel pursuits ever since. There might have been better childhoods, but I'll put mine up against all comers.

Mark

Last edited by 218 Bee; 06/24/20 10:50 PM.

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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880218 06/24/20 10:53 PM
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First deer hunt was back in the 70's in an overgrown apple orchard. Sat on an old Coleman folding camp stool with a borrowed Marlin 30-30 open sight rifle, was backed up to a tree. An old doe made her way down the hill until she got within 50 yards. Breathe, raise, aim and shoot. First time I ever field dressed a deer - all I had was my Dad's old folding Buck knife. I had seen a few dressed in the past so tried to go off of memory. These days we just haul them back to camp in a fancy UTV and hang them up on a skinning rack with lights.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880223 06/24/20 10:56 PM
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If my memory is correct, the first lease that I joined back in Mississippi around 1976 cost the members just 25 cents an acre. We leased somewhere around 2,500 acres from International Paper Company and our annual dues were no more than $75. Might have even been $50. It was a time before deer became a cash crop and the timber companies were more interested in having someone protect their timber than trying to make a lot of money off them. Adjusted for inflation, $50.00 in 1976 is equal to $231.51 in today's dollars. 25 cents an acre equates to $1.13 an acre today

Last edited by Texas Dan; 06/24/20 11:03 PM.

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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880239 06/24/20 11:09 PM
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Was deer hunting with my younger brother after high school. Must have been about 1964. I was meat hunting for the family. There were 7 of us all told. I shot a doe with my Marlin in 35 Remington, and here came another doe. Shot her too. The brother came over to help drag them to the truck, which I guess was about 500 yards off. It was in NE Louisiana and the gumbo mud was deep. The brother and I were playing high school football back then and were pretty stout, so he said he’d carry one back to the truck if I’d help him get the deer onto his shoulders. So I did help him, and he tried to take a step. Mud was too deep to allow it, and he did a solid face plant with the deer behind his head. Drove him deep in the mud. I was laughing, but realized he might smother in the mud, so I dug him out. No major damage. We dragged the deer to the truck.

This was all pre-ATV.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880251 06/24/20 11:20 PM
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First trigger I was allowed to pull on a big game animal was 1971. At "John's" house. We weren't allowed to call him "Grandpa, Grandad, Grandfather, Pop-pop, Pee-paw, etc." 'cause of our crazy step-grandmother. They were "John and Ruby". Vance Jackson (road), out in the country, north of San Antonio, where Mission Trace condominiums, "garden homes", etc. are now. Card-board with glass windows blind. (?!) "John" would shake some corn out of a bowl around the prickly pear and go back to the house. I begged Dad to shoot the most pitiful little buck you've ever seen. He said "okay". (He was older...and tired.) We drug him up to the barn. Step-grandmother cleaned him hanging up in the horse barn. (She was crazy, but tough.) "John" was squeamish. roflmao Dad put the little horns on a board and glued an envelope on the back with the processing receipt and a note with the date and "points" on a note. I've done the same with most of the 1st bucks my kids have killed.

That, and the f'ing .410 Dad gave me to shoot doves with. Chasing all day, all over the place by Luckenbach, with MAYBE one dove to bring to the house. And, killing a lotta water mocassins along South Grape Creek.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: Creekrunner] #7880270 06/24/20 11:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Creekrunner
First trigger I was allowed to pull on a big game animal was 1971. At "John's" house. We weren't allowed to call him "Grandpa, Grandad, Grandfather, Pop-pop, Pee-paw, etc." 'cause of our crazy step-grandmother. They were "John and Ruby". Vance Jackson (road), out in the country, north of San Antonio, where Mission Trace condominiums, "garden homes", etc. are now. Card-board with glass windows blind. (?!) "John" would shake some corn out of a bowl around the prickly pear and go back to the house. I begged Dad to shoot the most pitiful little buck you've ever seen. He said "okay". (He was older...and tired.) We drug him up to the barn. Step-grandmother cleaned him hanging up in the horse barn. (She was crazy, but tough.) "John" was squeamish. roflmao Dad put the little horns on a board and glued an envelope on the back with the processing receipt and a note with the date and "points" on a note. I've done the same with most of the 1st bucks my kids have killed.

That, and the f'ing .410 Dad gave me to shoot doves with. Chasing all day, all over the place by Luckenbach, with MAYBE one dove to bring to the house. And, killing a lotta water mocassins along South Grape Creek.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880336 06/25/20 12:34 AM
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My dad bought a couple hundred acres near Blanco in the early 1960's. At 12 I took my first deer with dad at my side. At 13 I was allowed to hunt alone. Took deer every year up there, usually a couple of them. At the same time we had a family lease in McMullen county that was about 5000 acres. . The place was loaded with quail, dove and rabbits. Kids weren't allowed to shoot deer. Saturday night dinner was almost always fried rabbit that I shot, and I was scolded by my grandfather and uncles if it wasn't a head shot. The place also had several big tanks on it that were pretty well stocked. I felt like I was in hunting heaven. Boy do I miss those days.

Last edited by Michael W.; 06/25/20 12:36 AM.


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Re: Describe your early hunting experiences [Re: txtrophy85] #7880374 06/25/20 01:30 AM
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East Texas, 1973 hunting with my dad on some friends family land that was leased out for grazing. Got to my tree opening morning and all of the limbs below my stand and been cut off by the rancher. Decided to get closer to the trail I was going to watch over and walked into a herd of deer. Nothing but doe and spikes, since doe were sacred back then my first deer was a spike, taken with an open sighted Model 98 Mauser in 30-06. I managed to field dress it and load it into the trunk of a 1973 Dodge Charger then headed to pick up my dad. Jump forward to 1988, I had purchased 28 acres west of Marshall Tx and was hunting out of a tree with a board for the seat and boards for the steps. I shot a mature 9 point with a little bit over a 16" spread, not bad for my first branched antlered deer on my own land. The year before I shot another spike out of a group of 28 deer that were coming to a green field/road that we had just cleared. I really miss that place.

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