Good deer season this year !

[ChasMike]

Well I had a very nice deer season this year. I hunt here close to my house up on the Red River and have a lease down west of San Antonio. I harvested 3 nice whitetails (spike and 2 does) 1 rio grande turkey, and two Axis bucks (one Axis buck I would guess at well over 200 lbs). Weather was too warm during bow season, but we had great weather for rifle season.

My sporterized Mausers performed flawlessly. Two of the whitetails and one axis were taken with a Turkish action sporting a new M94 swede barrel. The big axis buck was taken (200 yards) with a Turk action sporting a 6mm Rem take off barrel that Sonic1 rethreaded for me, and one whitetail and a turkey with a Turk action with an A&B 257 roberts barrel. Its a nice feeling to hunt with rifles that you have built and ammo that you have worked up for that rifle.

Sonic1 and I also built up a rifle for the 10 year old son of my hunting buddy and danged if the little fart didn't kill 5 deer with that thing and one was a nice 10 point that was at a dead run. You couldn't pry that rifle loose from him with a crowbar.

Later,

Mike

[fritz]

Mike,

 

Good to hear from you again. Are you still running the reamer co-op? I may need a reamer shortly.

 

You mentioned axis deer. Was this on a controlled hunt, as I understand that these are not running wild yet?

Many are raising them for controlled hunts, although that is not my cup of tea. I stick to our native whitetails and if a turkey sticks his head out.

 

But I would shoot a pig or a coyote if they stuck their head out first.

 

You have to be a rancher (one who depends on cattle rather than game) to understand the logic.

 

fritz

[ChasMike]

Hey Fritz.

Yeap the reamer co-op is alive and well and I am still the coordinator. When you need a reamer just let me know.

No high fences or controlled hunts for me. I'll hang'em up before I start shooting fish in a barrel. No offense to people who enjoy this type hunt or do not have any other place to hunt. Its just not my cup off tea.

The area that our lease is in is abundant in free roaming Axis deer as well as a few Blackbuck antelope and Mouflon sheep. I guess these animals have escaped from the the high fence ranches down thru the years and multiplied. If one passes thru our lease he is fair game and doesn't even require a tag. Its a nice little bonus if you have a lease down in that part of Texas.

My wife and I both enjoy venison and the Axis meat is the very best venison there is. We had to buy another deep freeze to put all the meat in this year. We'll eat every scrap of it before next deer season starts.

Fare thee well,

Mike

[MorgansBoss]

"Sonic1 and I also built up a rifle for the 10 year old son of my hunting buddy and danged if the little fart didn't kill 5 deer with that thing and one was a nice 10 point that was at a dead run. You couldn't pry that rifle loose from him with a crowbar."

 

 

That's the future Beau! Good work.

 

I'm curious about you Texas boys talking about your "leases" all the time. Are these (usually) for the season or just for a "hunting trip" - say a week or so stay? I've looked at a couple of the ranchers offering pretty much "bargain hunts," essentially lodging and a place to go, maybe transportation thrown in and it's attractive. If by chance any of ya'll would be looking for someone to throw in on the cost and only spend five or six days actually hunting next year keep me in mind. I'm guessing "a share" of the lease wouldn't cost any more than paying one of these guys for a one-week hunt. The chance to shoot an exotic or two, or even a varmint along with native game is very attractive to me. I'm pretty much fed-up with the usual "sit on your butt till something blunders by" mode of hunting here abouts.

[Horsefly]

You can lease the hunting rights from a rancher by the day,week,for just deer season,or year-round.The yearly lease is by far the best,because you can go anytime during the year and camp out,fish,shoot pigs,dove,quail,or exotics,and build stands,you know,the fun part of hunting.When I started deer hunting,it was common to pay what ever the property taxes was for the year.Some guys leased the grazing and hunting rights from a ranch,then sub-leased the hunting to pay for their grazing.It's gotten so hard these past years to make a living ranching,that they've raised the price way up,making it a bigger part of their income.A lot of folks quit hunting in Tejas saying it has gotten too expensive.A good thing that has come out of it though,is the quality of the deer.A Hill Country deer 20 years ago would be a big deer if it weighed 110lbs. field dressed.With the leases gone so high,hunters are being more selective and smarter about managing the deer herd,and now instead of 110lb,150 to 175lb is common.When the leases were cheap,the woods was full of hunters that hunted just to have something to do,and if they saw a deer with any horn at all showing,they'd say,"oh my God,a buck",and boom,they got a deer.We've all let deer walk only to go a 100 yards,and someone shoots scaring the hell out of you,killing the little nubbing buck you just saw.I hunted for 17 or 18 years near where ChasMike has a lease,and most people cannot believe the amount of deer down there,and nowdays the quality of deer.We had a few exotics,hogs,feral sheep,aduadas,and Spanish goats,so we had year-round hunting.No high fences for us,nor will there ever be.That subject pisses me off.We had just enough high fence ranches around us to keep us a few exotics passing through that got out after tornados,floods,or a drunk going through a fence.If you get serious about hunting here in Tejas,I'll dang sure do my best to help you find a place to hunt.I here states with public land are even getting into the leasing business.Folks are willing to pay for an uncrowded place to hunt where anything with antlers hasn't been shot the first day of season.The lease we had for many years was a small place,with the Llano River for our south border,had 2 cabins that we fixed up(really made brownie points with the owner,he thought they were goners)with water,elec.,was a year-round lease,and we went real often to fish or hunt arrowheads.We raised our kids down there,and what wonderful times we had.The owner got to old to handle the ranch,gave it to his only son,and it went downhill after that.He let all their relatives and friends hunt when we weren't there,and moved a wetback in our cabin that slept in my bed and used all my stuff,even ate all the can goods we left.That was the end of some wonderful years.Sorry to run my head,I just love to talk about anything that has something to do with hunting.Jerry

[ChasMike]

Jerry is correct.

Some ranchers offer what they call dayhunting where you pay a set amount to hunt by the day. Some lease by the season (deer season)(dove season) (turkey season) etc. But typically when you hear a guy down in Texas talking about his lease, he is talking about a year round lease. By far the best option. As Jerry stated not only can you hunt nearly year round down here but a year round lease becomes more than a hunting lease, it becomes a get away, a camping site, a place to get together with your hunting buddies even when there is no season in progress. Not to mention the fact that you have the chance to build stands and plant food plots and such. Also you are hunting with people that you know and trust and you know who’s hunting and where they are at. This is a distinct advantage over dayhunting or hunting on public land.

There are three of us on my lease down near San Antonio. Me, my hunting buddy, and his wife. We pay $1000.00 per year each. I’ve never been on a guided hunt but I’ll bet that $1000.00 won’t get you very far with an outfitter, or on a game ranch. We have had this lease for three years now and have it sewed up for the next year as well. We have a couple of small campers down there as well as a cook shack that we have built, numerous tree stands and a small building where we process our own deer. We are very fortunate and we realize it. A good deer lease worth the money is getting really hard to find and hunting partners that you know and trust are worth their weight in gold.

I relish the time that my wife and I get to spend there. If I look over the horizon I can see a day coming, a day when working guys like me and Jerry can no longer afford a hunting lease.

But not today. Today I am already getting ready for next deer season !!

Later,

Mike

[fritz]

"No high fences for us,nor will there ever be.That subject pisses me off.We had just enough high fence ranches around us to keep us a few exotics passing through that got out after tornados,floods,or a drunk going through a fence"

 

I hear you, Jerry. Me too. I have had my fill of the drunks driving through a fence on my ranch (always a problem when you own land on a highway). And they can be hard to find after the incident, and sometimes the sieso constable is of no help.

 

BTW, that high fencing thing is someday going to be taken up by the Texas legislature as to it's legality under the game laws of Texas. If they have native deer inside that fence that cannot get out, it may be trouble for them (someday when the stupidos in Austin get over their current obcession with the school financing).

 

The real reason for leases going up in price is because of the old law of supply and demand.

 

There is a lot of demand, and there are a lot of rich city dwellers willing to pay the price.

 

What a business! (Not my cup of tea though, although I could easily get richer by doing it).

What I'm saying is that I'm not that destitute to become a prostitute!

 

fritz