Deer season only a small part of the outdoor picture
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With deer season coming into its last few weeks I found myself going through withdrawal and wondering what to do next.
The answer came to me the other day in a deer stand, while I was with my nephew Myles out hunting for his first buck. This story is not about a child's first buck but more about how blessed we are to live in the state of Texas and have all the different hunting opportunities that we have.
While we were sitting in the stand, does and young bucks entertained us for a couple of hours. We also saw a few nice gobblers, one huge hog, and lots of squirrels coming to the feeder.
Seeing all these different animals not only made our hunting experience more enjoyable but it reminded me of the wide variety of game that we are able to hunt in Texas. If you think about it, we can hunt hogs and exotics year around, duck and goose season goes through to January 25, with the conservation extension for light geese going all the way through March 29.
Statewide quail season ends on February 22 and youth turkey season kicks off on March 14 with the regular season beginning on March 21.
In amongst all of this bounty let's not forget we have access to some of the best winter fishing on the gulf coast. I have to tell you that while I was thinking about all of this, I actually began to get butterflies in my stomach.
I really enjoy hunting for big speckled trout which is at its best in the colder months of the year. One of my favorite fishing memories is a cold but clear February day on a spoil bank in the Redfish Bay system and all the local wildlife was in motion.
For a lot of you that have seen this picture, close your eyes and remember the flocks of ducks that were breaking off of the water in all those small back lakes and looking for a place to settle back down. I can't tell you how many flocks looked like they were about to fly right over the top of my head but suddenly divided like they had been split apart like a hot biscuit and then made their way around me, if I wouldn't have been on a fishing trip, the beauty of these ducks would have made that particular day special anyway.
The water was cold and clear and every pot hole stood out so brilliantly that when I cast my Assassin, it was like playing darts. The trout were nestled into the edge of the grass and mud and when I would slowly work the lure into their strike zone they would suck it down so violently that you could feel the shock of the bite all the way to my shoulder.
This scenario played itself out for the entire afternoon and I caught and released a number of fish well over the 20 inch mark as well as taking home a solid stringer for the frying pan.
I think that we hunters and fisherman have a tendency to get ourselves so focused on the season at hand that we end up looking at a glass half empty instead of the glass half full.
The opportunity to spend time in field or on the water is always present for those of us that live in this region of Texas; all we need to do is be willing to look at the bigger picture.
If you are a person that doesn't enjoy bird hunting, then keep that rifle out and go chase hogs and exotics. For those bird hunters out there, you still have plenty of time to get in a weekend of duck or goose hunting, and quail and turkey season will keep you busy for a few more months.
Now if your like me, you have a tendency to take advantage of all the outdoor opportunities discussed in this article, if that is the case then hunting and fishing season never ends so shake off those end of deer season blues and get back out there!
If you are not sure about the opening and closing dates for hunting seasons and bag limits then take a few minutes and go to www.tpwd.state.tx.us/ and look for the county and the particular game species you are interested in. If you do not have access to a computer then drop by one of your local outdoor stores and they will be more than happy to give you a TPWD 2008-09 rules and regulations guide. All your questions will be answered in this pamphlet.
If you have any questions or comments about the Texas Hunting Guide or this article, please feel free to shoot me an email at mclem@vicad.com.
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BKS27, I don't need to set a stand up in my back yard and ding the critters. I have a freezer full now. Besides, I worked in the meat department at a local H.E.B. here in Victoria and had another meat cutter loose a finger in the ground meat. We never found it but someone had a bit different meat in their ground meat. This happens all over in markets, too. Besides, wild game is better for you with the exception of Wagu beef, which is still a bit below several wild game meats as far as blood work is concerned, at least the way my blood work tested. Even wild pig is better for you than domestic lot feed beef (which is killed mostly by a sledgehammer blow to the head more often then with a bullet to the head. That is if it dies right away and doesn't have to have it's throat slit to bleed out!!)
January 2, 2009 at 2:23 p.m.Nah! I had a big ol' fat ribeye last night which was great except for that echo...lmao...but it got ya thinkin', didn't it!
January 2, 2009 at 9:37 a.m.Check this out...I might be out of line even saying something like this...I got a phone call some time back from a friend over yonder. I had told her that if she ever decides to trim her pet deer herd, let me know. Anyway, she says she's looking at 13 deer carcasses, if anybody wants them. So, I go to pick up a couple or three, and I'm like "WTF?"
Anyway, this big ranch has offered its deer herd to scientific researchers doing brain stem research, so they take the brain stem and the rest of the deer is given away or thrown away. They're looking for something comparable to mad cow disease. Anyway, this ranch is taking down like 200 deer before the end of February. I've got 50 lbs of deer sausage in the freezer. Didn't cost a thing except for pork and casings, and even then I think I could've found a hog somewhere that didn't stink too bad.
So why couldn't the ranch donate them to a kids ranch or somebody who really needs food? The answer is because the deer aren't USDA inspected. That's all jacked up, ain't it?
I don't have a problem with deer hunting. I don't hunt, but it's mainly a money thing. By the time I pay for a lease, buy a rifle and the required pick-up truck and the hunting license, I can buy a lot of beef. I also don't have a problem with people shooting Bambi. I know that beef doesn't just pop up covered in plastic wrap at H.E.B. I just wish those people who sit in a blind 80 yards from an electronic feeder that deer have become accustomed to finding food at would call it something other than hunting. It's an ambush; it's simple gathering. Hunting should involve stalking game, cutting a trail, following sign, closing the game and taking the shot.
January 2, 2009 at 8:04 a.m.If you eat beef and have never visited a slaughter house, you need to. To hear the cattle screaming in agony when that .22 penetrates their skulls is horrifying. At least at the deer blind, some of the wildlife gets to live. At the slaughter house, no animal walks away.
January 2, 2009 at 6:59 a.m.Next time you shove a hunk of ribeye in your mouth, don't think about the "poor little deer". Think about how loudly that calf screamed in its final moment of life. The hunter's rifle can miss. The slaughter house's cannot.
And if you didn't have a "H E B" ,you would be in a stand right out there doing the same thing.
January 2, 2009 at 12:46 a.m.Deer hunting may be only part of the outdoor picture but it is also part of out Texas culture. The hunting from a blind over a feeder is not really hunting but sitting and waiting but I would prefer that to still hunting or stalking now days due to some of the so called nimrods out there with rifles that can't tell a human from game.I feed deer and any other critters that want to grab a bite behind my shop at home just to keep them around. I've had several fawns born in my back yard because the does feel safe here. So I consider hunting an important part of our culture and it should be given some air time in the news rag.
January 2, 2009 at 12:23 a.m.Sort of like shootin' a pet huh?
January 1, 2009 at 5:32 p.m.>>We also saw a few nice gobblers, one huge hog, and lots of squirrels coming to the feeder.<<
Now thats what I call hunting. Load up a feeder, fill it up and then wait for the animals you want to shoot to come to you.
January 1, 2009 at 5:09 p.m.