Dawg

Well guys I'm completely tagged out! First time I have filled all 5 tags in my life. In my excitement I failed to get pictures of the does I killed but I did get a picture with the 10 point. I have to get a picture of the tag this evening and I'll upload them to the entry thread. Here's a quick recap of my hunt in the Texas hill country: 0800 11/9/20: I had everything packed in the Chevy ready to roll out. Dropped my daughter off at school and pointed the truck west for Mason, TX. Arrival time was around 1500 that afternoon. I met up with my buddy in Mason, we topped off with gas, stocked up on adult beverages and ice and made our way into camp which was about 12 miles out of town. Made it into camp, unpacked/unloaded most of everything from the truck. Time now is about 1630 hrs and my buddy is itching to show me around the lease so we throw a couple bags of corn on the 4 wheeler and head off to find me a spot to hunt. There aren't any permanent stands so are looking for the right group of cedars to make a ground blind in. I find my spot, we throw a sack of corn out ~100 yards in front of my blind. On our way back to camp my buddy locks up the brakes on the 4 wheeler and says "shoot that buck!", I turn to see the 10 point standing ~125 yards broadside looking at us. I settle the crosshairs and squeeze off a round, hear the impact and he bolts. We give him a minute knowing it was a solid hit. Drive up and find him piled up 30 yards at the bottom of a small ditch. In camp for 1.5 hours and have my first deer on the ground, things are looking great! That evening we sit around camp and relax after getting my deer on ice. 0600 Tuesday morning: I make my way to my blind, misjudge the distance in the predawn light and park a little closer to the blind than I anticipated but this didn't seem to bother the deer at all. As I ease toward my blind I can make out several bodies in moonlight out in the pasture. As the light got brighter deer seemed to pour out into the field from all directions. I saw ~40 deer that morning, could have easily filled a couple more tags but chose to sit and take in the scenery. Tuesday evening I can't wait to get back in the blind so I set off about 1430. It was HOT and my chair ended up being in direct sunlight so I moved in back further into the cedars to get some shade. 10 minutes later I have my first set of does in the field followed shortly by a pencil horned 8 point.....from there it was a steady flow of deer in/out of the pasture. As the light was fading I decided to try to fill a doe tag, as much as I don't want to admit it I smooth missed a head shot on a doe at about 80 yards. I let everything settle down after the shot and decide to ease down the road to see if I could catch one slipping and sure enough that's exactly what happened. I tagged my first doe, got the truck, loaded her up and was easing back to camp when another doe pops out of the wood line to my left. I contemplate on filling another doe tag for about 30 seconds and pull the trigger on her. That's 3 deer down in 24 hours.....I'm liking this! My plan was to save a buck tag for the state hunt I had won which started Friday at 1300. Well that didn't go as planned LOL. Wednesday morning I set off with the plan to fill my last doe tag. This was the coldest morning we had so I figured the deer would be up on there feet......much to my surprise there wasn't a deer to be found after there was enough light to glass the pasture. Knowing the amount of deer I had seen prior I knew it was just a matter of time. After about a hour after sunrise I had only seen one doe cross the road about 300 yards to my left so I decided I would ease that way to see if she was feeding in the adjacent field on the other side of the wind row. As I'm taking my coat off, getting my shooting sticks adjusted for standing height and walking out from under the cedars I look up to see a buck in the hand corn, looking dead at me. I drop to my knees behind a bush and look at him thru the scope. With the bush in the way I couldn't really tell how good he was so I crawl around to the edge of the bush and give him a better look. I could tell he was at least as wide as the 10 point but couldn't get a solid count on points but could tell he was at least another 10. If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's not to pass up a good opportunity when it's directly in front of you so that's exactly what I did.....I settled the crosshairs on the front of his right shoulder and squeezed off....he mule kicked and ran about 40 yards and piled up right in the middle of a cactus patch. He ended up being about an inch narrower than the 10 point but I was happy with the extra point. This left me with one doe tag, so after I wrangled him up on the 4 wheeler I set off on foot toward the other field I mentioned earlier. As I reach the wind row I can see another pencil horned 7 point and two doe. I wait until the deer are separated and put my last doe on the ground. Very fun hunt and am looking forward to going back next year! Needless to say, I did't make it out to the state hunt LOL.

Good job Frank! Congrats!

Just a few days out from heading to the hill country. I've been getting some trail cam pics sent to me and while there's no monsters being seen it is a target rich environment so I shouldn't have a problem filling a couple of tags, putting meat in the freezer and points on the board for the team. The area holds whitetail, axis, stag, hog and turkey.....all of which have been caught on camera the last couple of weeks.

Seen it as well a few days ago. The buck will be dead in a matter of days with a wound like that. There's no way infection won't set in on that.

Just got an invite to hunt a friends lease with him Nov. 10 and 11 out in the Texas hill country. His lease is about 1.5 hours from the state draw hunt that I won. So I get to spend a full week hunting in the hill country! Leave out on the 9th and return the 16th. Can't wait!

Feel free to send some of that down to southeast Texas.

Not much to report on my end. It is bow season here but I don't own a bow so I'm impatiently waiting on general gun season to open on Nov. 7. Went back down the river to kill some limb rats and do a bit more scouting and ended up seeing more hogs than I did squirrels. After letting three groups feed by me all within 50 yards I decided I'd place a load of 7.5 in the noggin of a small sow. Dropped her DRT, she's on ice and is waiting for her turn on the pit.

Weather warmed up a good bit down here in SETX. I didn't lay any foot prints in the woods, decided to stay home with my daughter and catch up on some chores around the house. Supposed to be a decent front move thru this week and cool things off. I'll be back in the woods this weekend with a crossbow in hand.

Went out yesterday and done some thinning on the limb rat population down on some gubmnet land. This is also a spot I hunt during our general deer season. Saw some decent sign plus a good bit of hog sign. I'll be back in there this weekend to do some more limb rat population control and more scouting for deer season.

That's a good buck fly.....hope he sticks around and gives you a shot. I put in for about 8 more draw hunts here in Texas. Struck out on 12. We'll see how it goes...

If I had a blind like that I'd spend all weekend in it! Very nice!

I can scout up to the day before the hunt. Problem is, I live about 6 hours away from the NWR so the plan is to arrive a day early and scout the unit I will be in.

Howdy team! Looking forward to this season! I don't have much to report as I hunt primarily public land. I was drawn for a hunt at Balcones Canyonlands NWR in central Texas in mid November. This will be my second time hunting the Texas hill country so I'm really looking forward to getting out there. It's a short hunt at 2 days but I'll make the best of it. I still have about 8 applications in for more draw hunts in Texas, so we'll see how those turn out next month. Then it's back home for the rest of the season hunting the thousands of acres of public land.

I'm a couple days late for the signup....haven't been on in a while. But if there's room, throw me on a team.

I'm a couple days late but if there is room, throw me on a team. Dawg 39 Texas Oct. 3rd - Jan. 3rd

Nice! Dove killing machine right there.

I cooked shrimp alfredo last night. Have left overs so I'll probably eat that again tonight or I may cook up some sketti. Depends on how I feel when I get home after fishing this evening.

I think it was Sally lol

Somebody had to take up the slack when you, Kyle and Ben set sail.....LOL

Good to see you around again Janice. Stick around this time! Congrats on the kids.....good looking family you got there.

Some of the best info I've read about this virus: WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, PLEASE READ: Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps. Feel free to share this to others who don’t understand... It has to do with RNA sequencing.... I.e. genetics. Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot. Novel viruses = new, may come from animals= zoonotic.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals, (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1-Swine Flu) (birds in the case of the H1N1-Spanish flu). But once, one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity.. the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so, we can’t fight it off. Now.... sometimes, the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years it’s only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human... once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, thats what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be.. H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. It’s RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too. Fast forward. Now, here comes this Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability, “slippery” This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity). Took off like a rocket. And this was because, Humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it. And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus, changed itself in such a way the way that it causes great damage to human lungs.. That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....which makes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine. We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu. And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will). Who is to say, what it will do next. Be smart folks... #flattenthecurve. Stay home folks. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

All area schools here are closed until further notice. My daughters teacher sent me a link to online programs she can do while out of school. I went to Walmart last night.....very little meats left in the coolers, frozen section was getting bare, no eggs, no toilet paper or paper towels in the aisle but they had some in the lay-a-way area and were rationing those limited supplies. Disposable/flushable wipes are out. Bread, cereal, ramen noodles, canned goods were all getting bare and some were completely out. Cleaning supplies are limited to one per customer and there's not much available. I lucked out and walked down the cleaning aisle just as they were stocking it with a few cases of Lysol so I grabbed a bottle. Found some sausage in one of the coolers and grabbed a few packs to throw in the freezer, still have some venison and sausage from my mule deer I killed in November. One of the local meat markets had a line of cars about 1/4 mile long waiting to get in yesterday. Restaurants are going to drive thru/carry out only. All community gatherings/festivals have been cancelled. My job is continuing with very little change in operations. We are taking extra steps in sanitizing work stations, forklifts and all other MHE. Any given day we have several OTR drivers in here from all over the country. Our own drivers make daily routes down to the greater Houston area, Beaumont, Tyler, Longview, Shereveport LA.....pretty much all over east Texas and west LA.....so their trucks are getting sanitized more than they have been as extra precautions. Texas has 105 active cases and one death so far.

There's 5 confirmed cases of it in the southwest region of the Dominican Republic. WHO just declared it a pandemic......might prepare yourself for quarantine when traveling back home.

MSM lead panic.....it's stupid. Wash your hands, don't touch your face and avoid contact with sick people....nothing different or should be nothing different than every day life. COVID-19 doesn't give you the shits so I don't understand the toilet paper frenzy either.

It won't be long before we see this virus quickly spread from person to person. The first means of contamination is money. Therefore we all need to be diligent.....please, when handling your money use gloves, place money in a Ziploc bag, place bag in an envelope, seal the envelope and mail it to me. I will ensure the money is disposed of legally. I'm doing this for the good of public health.