Adjam5

Happy Birthday guys!

Hope things look up Ross. Prayers on the way. Good Luck.

That IS great customer service! Good to know. Thanks for sharing that.

May you have a very happy birthday pal .

Yes they do. It was fun John and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Most likely be back there again next Jan or Feb . Texas is a sportsman's paradise. Being from NYS where we can't bait. It is a strange way to hunt. But in a way I can live with, because these are all free range animals. Some 30"+ racked axis have been taken at that same spot. Axis are a invasive species that compete and I have seen chase the whitetail away from the feeder, and I am glad to help thin the herd a bit .

Much sweeter than whitetail. Axis prefer grass and eat corn mainly in the winter when there is no grass. The chop meat I have mixed with 20% brisket. Makes some really great burgers and meat loafs. Here is a pic of a whitetail and axis back strap side by side, from my axis hunt 2 years ago. Axis on left. Which looks more tender?

A full moon makes me sleep in and hunt the middle of the day. Like 10 to 2. I rarely see deer during early morning and late pm hunts with a full moon. So...Yes...The moon phase does dictate my deer hunts.

I can deal with the cold...its the dang snow that messes everything up with travel to work ect. We also are running out of places to put the snow. There are 4' banks around my property line.

Thanks again Shaun for all your help with the truck .

OK Boys..here is a follow up to my 07 Trailblazer issue. Truck went back to the dealer...there was some warranty issues. The salesman cleared all that up with the service dept. We are good with the GM warranty until 42kmiles or November 2011 because it is a GM certified vehicle. The steering wheel position sensor was replaced.( what does that do?) The wife said the light with the truck and wrench comes on occasionally. Guess that was it. The Fuel level sensor was also replaced. That explains the fuel level issues. Thanks for the help Shaun and others!

America did REAL well under his LEADERSHIP. WE can use another President like him again.

This is the future...It is like real live person to person cookies. They know what you have bought in the past(records) and try to market similar items to all who they trap online or on the phone. This constant research and marking is wearing quite thin on many consumers.

John I set up my dig cam in front of the TV to record what I did not have the tools/equipment to do professionally with. It did not come out too bad. A cheap alternative to buying expensive items for conversion. Yes, it is a very cheap and amateurish way to do it..But Hey waht are our rednecks for?

Right to the point! Great message.

Congrats to you Joe! Boy you can cook... make wine...put meat on the table...make cute kids...do wonderful things with wood. Man did your wife land a good one!:clown: I am sure you had some good competition. Congratulations!

The man has talent over the stove and in the tub! Congrats Joe!

Congrats on the win Joe...I knew you had it in ya!

Your poor Texans are getting frozen by the minute down there. That ice does look neat . I think it was Tuesday night when I was down in the Hill Country when we had a hail storm and some really wicked winds. Many of my buddies neighbors had frozen water pipes and the power was going off every half hour with rolling blackouts. You guys are still having it pretty bad with the weather situations. I had to get back to NY to warm up:D.

A video of the kill. A bit grainy..I used my digital cam to record off of the TV.Considering the transfer process, it didn't come out too bad.

Joe I have no doubt you will do well in that contest.

I have watched the show also and think TV production has a lot to do with how the show is filmed and the narratives behind it. Way too many people in this country take TV as Gospel and the show throws out more than a few inaccuracies. Hunters are NOT portrayed as good individuals. They seem like prey to the Wardens. We also have to remember this is Kalifornia where it is filmed. So the drugs are common as long as someone has a Dr's prescription for the dope. It also was not mentioned about needing to use copper solid bullets ONLY in Kalifornia. They have a lead ban out there because a condor was found with some lead in its system...PUHLEESE. I must have missed the part why it is illegal to kill hogs which are an invasive species? One guy liked to use a knife in the killing of a hog. The show made no mention of why that is illegal? It was quite entertaining when they were at one guys house and thought they had him dead to rights and found a tag on one of the hogs. He told one of the officers..."if you want to make chief... hang around with me a bit and I'll teach ya about poachers" Too much Hollywood in that show and too much Non factual info being passed off to the public. My oldest son BTW also want to be a ECO( Environmental Conservation officer) here in NYS. He is taking all kinds of animal biology and environmental courses in college now.

Thanks again guys...story and pics here. http://www.realtree.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1259055#post1259055

Well a few here know the basic story...but I will fill in some blanks about the great time I had in the Lone Star state...AGAIN. I got off the plane in Houston to make the ride out to the ranch with Herbie in Harper,Tx. He had a few things to do locally so we spent the night near Houston...I think in Katy,Tx. Then it was off to pick up the Rio Grande Jakes for the ranch, then pick up my luggage which went ahead to San Antone. We went to a place where the necks are red... the roads are dirt, and the trucks ain't clean... The dogs run loose they smoke... chew, and fry everything.( a line from a Josh Tompson song ). When I say the dogs run loose...I mean about 25 of them! All different breeds. Not to mention the Peacocks all over, the goats, sheep, guinea hens and the turkeys. They were rounded up easily with some corn and placed in a dog carrier for transport. We both were a bit pooped so we elected not to hunt on Friday. Saturday morning it was a sweltering 49* at wake up . We got to the Axis spot and were fearing the arrival of the trash truck coming to empty the dumpster. But when we got there it was already done! Yea...no disturbance. Herbie goes to the stand closer to the entrance of the property and I go to the one in the back. Its starting to get light out and I get a text from Herbie..."I have deer all around this feeder, can't tell what, but I think there are a few racked bucks in the group". OK so I wait. I told Herbie from early on the morning that I did not want to shoot something right off the bat. I wanted to enjoy these hunts a bit. Little did I know what I was in store for. 3 axis does come out and start standing around the feeder before it went off. I could not help to think about a cheese line in the ghetto. These deer must be democrats. A decent 4pt steps out to the edge and I zoom in on him with my vid cam for a better look. Nope...I shot one like that last year...I'm waiting on another. A minute later the feeder goes off and out of nowhere some 25 more deer appear and with them I could see a mature Axis buck in hard horn. A 3x3 which is a typical rack with big brows. Now a situation most of us have never been in...how do you shoot one without hitting the 30 or so deer that are around this feeder? I let nature take care of itself...the buck being a buck, chased all of the smaller inferior deer away from the center of the feeder. Giving me the shot I needed. My video cam fit perfect on the sill of the shooting window. I adjusted it on the feeder, hit record and went into killer mode Picked up Herbies 25-06 Encore, dialed in the Ziess scope and cocked the hammer...Layed on the crosshairs and pow! He went down right on the spot. DRT...Dead right there. Quite satisfying watching a deer go down like that with no tracking involved on a small parcel of land like we were hunting. I was very happy. I know I said I didn't want to shoot the first one that popped out, but in my axis teachings from others I knew this was a shooter. There was no ground shrinkage when I walked up on this buck. It was a big as I thought it was. I got the WHOLE thing on video. Now if I can only find a way to transfer the video to the computer . It records in a mode that the pc does not recognize...I have to get to the bottom of it. If I have to record it on my dig cam off the TV that is what I will do. I am having a European mount done on a Texas plaque by www.rhodestaxidermy.com Now the pics! This was the setting. See the box blind in the distance? All free range animals. No fences here in this area of Kerrville,TX The view from my stand. The buck I was told this was a old axis on the down side of antler growth. He had good mass to him. A 3x3 is typical of Axis deer, but those brow tines I was told are abnormally big. 19" main beams with 11 1/2" brows. The southern kart of death in action. A serene setting by the Guadalupe river close to the feeder. The Rio Jakes we picked up. On the second day at the ranch they already called in a lone hen. These Jakes had to weight at least 25+lbs each. Fire ants on Herbies ranch just looking for a meal. Herbies son Aaron's Vizla...Dallas. One of the bucks Herbie has on the ranch...His name is Shooter. We measured his rack after it was cut fro transport to be in the mid 140's. He will be for breeding. Shooter bedded with a few other bucks. While I was there Herbie guided a person on a Sika deer hunt. This man also took a nice Corsican ram the same day. All in all. I cannot say anything went wrong while being with Herbie. There more we hang out the better friends we are becoming . This was my 4th trip in as many years down there. Thank you Herbie for hosting me this past week and being a most gracious host to boot! I had a great time thanks to you . Herbies exotic species on the ranch And Herbie with his money maker...shooter. I will definitely be back to the Hill country in the near future. Texas is a great place and I wished I lived there. Part of my trip was to look at some properties while I was down there. The one in particular I wanted to look at in Rock Springs at was too far from my friend in Harper. But I did find one that was quite close. It is a 20 acre ranch with some very old rotting buildings on it and a big list of improvements that need to be made. They are looking for 135K, but I think they will take less considering the amount of time it has been on the market. Had a very busy time while down there and loved every minute of it.

Hey gang...thanks for the well wishes...I had a great time and learned an incredible amount about animals. Still a bit pooped, weather messed up flights, but being stuck with a friend ain't always a bad thing. I'll post pics and story tomorrow. Thanks Mike for the story post .

Looks great and different.