Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Opening morning I was sitting in a stand overlooking a small valley of oaks,cedars and mesquite trees. I had hunted this stand a good bit last year and saw only does and hogs. I’m sitting there with the wind blowing into my face along with the rain. All of a sudden, I hear a tremendous ruckus and it takes me a while to figure out that it's a flock of turkeys in the trees below. I watched those gorgeous birds sail from tree to tree before lighting on the ground. I counted 28 birds in that little flock and I saw two other flocks on the 640 acres during the next few days.

I passed up 3 pretty nice looking 8 points during the first two days before seeing this monster walk into the creek bottom 225yds below my stand. Ididn't even have to pick up the my binoculars to see if he was a shooter. His rack is a dark color and in the evening low light and light rain, I could see that rack real well. Pulled up the .308 and let a 150gr fly into his neck. He dropped immediately, then got his back legs back under him for a second while his head and front legs were folded on the ground. That lasted about 2 secs before he hit the ground again.




The deer behind mine is a 10 point that Paul, my father in law, shot. He shot it opening morning in the “Valley Stand” which is at the very back of the lease. I hunted that stand most of the year last year and saw only one little 4 point. At the back is a nice 8 that was shot in the mesquite flats by one of the other guys on the lease (Dan). Both of these stands are the new ones that Paul and I built this last year. They include plexiglass windows so they stay warm and toasty.

I also shot two coyotes and the bounty from those dogs gets me two chances at winning a rifle from the county. Finally shot two turkeys the last morning. One was in the exact same spot as my deer, and a low neck shot took out his back while leaving the breast completely in tact. That shot busted up the flock and a couple of the birds flew towards me. I took a bead on one that was walking away at about 150 yards and put a perfect hole in the middle of that skinny ass neck. This gun shoots much better than I can!

We are headed back up for the week of thanksgiving and I'm going to let the boys try to get them a Buck. I'm planning on targeting the hogs and doing some hunting in the thick cedars.


Bear round wheel compound, laminated wood riser, 65#, 30" draw, 8-7/8" brace height, Browning sight, Cobra Patriot rest, Cobra stabilizer, TruFire ball bearing release, 2413's with 125gr muzzys

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Nice deer! You know I live in Houston too, and if you need any help clearing out any more of those white tail varmits...just let me know!

Hurry up and wait.

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Nice hill country deer. What part of thr hill cruntry do you hunt? I live in wimberley in hays co.

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Thanks guys.

We are just south of San Saba. Rough country - 640 acres by air, but if you count the hills, it's much more. Grows rocks instead of weeds. Steep hills and valleys with oaks in the bottoms of the valleys, mesquite on the "flat land" out front and cedars over all the hills. We have two work weekends each year and there are usually 10 of us with chain saws clearing shooting lanes and roads. You can see more pics of the lease below if your are interested. http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mdp/Hunting/Hunt.htm

Bear round wheel compound, laminated wood riser, 65#, 30" draw, 8-7/8" brace height, Browning sight, Cobra Patriot rest, Cobra stabilizer, TruFire ball bearing release, 2413's with 125gr muzzys

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Congrats on a really nice hill country deer. That cedar sure gets thick doesn't it.

Later
Gone_Huntin

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

So....in what part of Houston do you live?

Hurry up and wait.

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

I'm up off of 290 and Hwy6 in the Copperfield subdivision. Yes the cedar gets very thick. Makes it very difficult to see if anything is moving until they step out into the open.

Bear round wheel compound, laminated wood riser, 65#, 30" draw, 8-7/8" brace height, Browning sight, Cobra Patriot rest, Cobra stabilizer, TruFire ball bearing release, 2413's with 125gr muzzys

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

I hunt about 45 mins from you.....
Your lease sure looks good, and those deer are awsome!

Hurry up and wait.

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Bruce, Do you mean that you hunt near where I live or where I hunt?

I'm heading to the lease this weekend for a week long vacation. Can't wait! I'm not planning on taking another deer, but am going to try to get a hog or two, take the youngest boy squirrel hunting and try to rattle up a buck for my oldest boy. He hasn't killed his first deer yet, so that is top of my list for the week. Wish me luck!

Bear round wheel compound, laminated wood riser, 65#, 30" draw, 8-7/8" brace height, Browning sight, Cobra Patriot rest, Cobra stabilizer, TruFire ball bearing release, 2413's with 125gr muzzys

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Good luck to you and your boys! and enjoy the week!
I hunt not to far from you, Waller County, between Brookshire and Hempstead.

Hurry up and wait.

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Sniperfire...having property in the hill country (around Lampases) I have to say that the mass of those horns are not your everyday hill country bucks, especially for a deer lease. You must be high fenced!
Anywat, great bucks...what part of the hill country do you hunt?

Also, nice to be back Bruce, how you been?

Good Hunting!

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Radman,

It's definitely not high fence. A couple of the guys on the lease have been on it for over 20 years. We were looking at some old pictures this weekend and the bucks have changed drastically the last couple of years. We've been feeding corn, grain and protein year round for the last three years and will only take 8 points or better. That has had a dramatic effect on the deer and the turkey.

Unfortunately, the neighboring leases aren't showing this restraint and have been shooting anything. I've watched through my binoculars while one of them picked up a yearling by the legs and tossed it onto his four wheeler. Made me want to try out some extreme distance ranging with my .308. I'm not familiar with the specifics, but that lease apparently has some type of state sanctioned culling license that allows them to take a ton of deer. We've seen a reduction in the number of does over the last couple of years.

Update from the week. It was a great week in the hill country, although neither of the boys was able to take a 8 point. My oldest son saw a good 8, but buck fever set in and he said the crosshairs were bouncing around everywhere. He did the right thing and passed on the deer since he didn't have a clean shot. I was trying to put him on a deer the remainder of the week that I'd seen several times with a messed up antler on one side. Unfortunately, one of the other paying hunters hadn't got his first buck this year so we stepped aside to let him sit in the "blue stand". First morning he spotted the deer under the feeder and took him. Looks like the deer probably hurt one side while still in velvet.



We'll probably head back up in a couple of weeks and give it another try to get the boys their bucks.

One thing that I've found very interesting on this lease is that bucks taken on the north end of the lease have much darker horns than those on the south. Not sure why that is. Anyone have any thoughts?

Bear round wheel compound, laminated wood riser, 65#, 30" draw, 8-7/8" brace height, Browning sight, Cobra Patriot rest, Cobra stabilizer, TruFire ball bearing release, 2413's with 125gr muzzys

RE: Opening weekend in the Texas Hill Country
 

Radman,
Good to hear from ya! Been a while. I'm doing good, took the boy with me this weekend, he didn't get the one he's after yet.

Hurry up and wait.