Dawg

I guess they all moved on to greener pastures. I think the forums were down a couple years ago and the few members that were here just never came back. It has been a steady decline for years now. I filled my doe permit last Tuesday morning. Shot her with the 30-30 that my grandfather gave me before he passed away in the late 90's. She makes 2 deer I've killed with that gun. Only hunted Tuesday and Wednesday of last week due to it warming up. The weather is supposed to cool slightly later this week so I'll probably go out Saturday morning and sit until I either get one or it gets too hot.

We are back from the youth hunt with nothing to show for it except more miles on my truck. The girls excitement faded pretty quick so we headed home a day early. I'm off the rest of the week starting tomorrow. We had a cool front blow through last night and lows will be in the lower 30's in the morning but will rapidly warm up starting tomorrow afternoon. I'll for sure hunt tomorrow and Wednesday. On the fence about the rest of the week. Got rain coming Sunday so I will probably go hunt then.

General season kicked off Saturday. I found my way down to my ladder stand at 6:18 that morning. By 10:45 I hadn't seen anything so I decided to move my stand further up the ridge and let it sit Saturday evening, which turned out to be a good move. I returned Sunday morning well before sun up and got settled in. Ended up seeing 4 deer that morning and 1 that evening. No legal bucks and the does were too young to take. This weekend is the youth hunt my daughters drew a tag for so we'll be heading 2 hours north Friday morning to Caddo NWR. Weather will warm some but that shouldn't affect the rut.

Diary, It has been 19 long days since I last updated you. In the time I have been away, I have drawn another hunt. This one is back down in south Texas at the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR - East Lake tract. This is a rifle hunt for exotics (Nilgai) and feral hogs much like the archery hunt I chose to pass on, just no deer. General season approaches quickly, just 11 days away. If the deer, hogs and nilgai cooperate and I shoot straight, I should have a freezer full of meat by the end of season.

My daughters both were drawn for a youth hunt at Caddo Lake NWR. Now I'm really happy I didn't pay for that hunt down at Laguna. Caddo is a couple of hours north of us, we'll be staying at a RV park close to the refuge. They are both allowed 2 deer each....a doe and a buck. Bucks must meet antler restrictions of 1 unbranched antler OR an inside spread equal to or greater than 13". They are also allowed to take unlimited feral hogs.

I wasn't able to make it out scouting this past weekend like I wanted to. This weekend is out of the question too as I'll be out of town Friday to late Sunday evening. I'm not mad about it....temps are still in the low 90's with 1000% humidity here. Very doubtful I'll get the bow out for our opener next week. I'm not mad enough at the deer to sit in a tree sweaty and swatting mosquitos.

Dearest of Diaries, I drew a doe permit for the Moore Plantation WMA. This gives me an additional tag to use for the entirety of general season or up until I harvest a doe. Outside of bow season, where doe can be harvested by regular tags, it is limited to 1 buck on the WMA. I'm thankful for the additional tag and hope I can fill it this season. If time allows I will do some scouting tgis weekend in the few areas I hunt in Moore.

Dear Diary, I've decided not to buy the permit for the hunt I was drawn for. I'm skipping it in hopes that my daughters are drawn for one of the youth hunts. Limited vacation time and a tight budget were the determining factors after I studied on it for a few days. Hopefully the kids are successful in getting drawn. The drawing for those hunts will take place within the next few days. I also have applications in for several more hunts but they are pretty much all coveted hunts that have thousands of applicants. Odds of drawing are slim but we'll see.

I was drawn for an archery hunt at Laguna Atascosa NWR. Hunt will take place in mid-December. This will be a first for me in a couple of different ways. 1. I've been out of the archery game for about 10 years so I've got some brushing up to do on my shooting. 2. This gives me a chance to take my first south Texas whitetail with a bow and at the same time gives me tye chance to take a nilgai. 3. I'll get to see a part of this great state that I've never seen before. It's a little intimidating but I'm excited for it. Totally different terrain than what I'm used to hunting.

Hope you're doing well Shaun!

Figured I'd give the forums a little life. Those of you who still slip by, ride along with me as I hunt public land around East Texas for the 2025-2026 season. I'll post updates as often as I can. I now primarily hunt in the Moore Plantation WMA in south Sabine County, Texas with a couple of hunts in the north part of Sabine National Forest up around Huxley, TX and down on the Neches-Angelina WMA. I also have applied to several draw hunts around the state, from the panhandle to far west Texas down to the coast and south Texas. Odds are low that I'll draw any of them but there's always hope! Last year on the Moore was good as far as deer sightings go. I janked shots on 2 different bucks and ended the season with tag soup. I'm hoping those bucks made it through the year and I get another shot at one of them at least. They should be a couple of dandies this year. 2019 saw the last of my private land Colorado mule deer hunts. Some of you followed along on several of my live hunts over the years on those. The landowner we leased from got on up in age and moved to Utah to be closer to his daughter. Most of the land was divided up and sold with what was left handed over to an outfitter who in turn jacked the prices up to stupid levels. Those were good times but they are just memories now. We typically had 10-12 guys go up every year and hunt. 5 of those guys have passed on. 4 of which happened in the last few years. One of these days I'll make it back up to Colorado to hunt public land. But here's to a successful and safe '25-'26 season for all of us!

Good luck to you as well this season!

Awesome stuff! I haven't chased turkeys in a long time.

Good to see you guys checking in. It's hot, humid and down right disrespectful outside.......come on cooler weather!

With the golden days behind us, the chatter and chaos now silent, we cannot return the forum to what it once was. But time has granted us something else: memories, friendships, and stories that still live here....buried, but never forgotten. We remain, scattered across the internet, but a few still return... watching... remembering... hoping. I have seen what this place once meant to so many, and though the world has changed, like us, there’s more to this forum than meets the eye. I am Dawg, and I leave this message to any old members who may one day find their way back: I am here. I am waiting.