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A Live Report From the Stand |
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Written by Webmaster
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I’m not sure if I should admit this or not…but I guess I will. I’m typing this from my deer stand. It’s opening evening of Texas gun season and I’m sitting in a ladder stand 15 foot off the ground. I’m glad no one is here to take a photo because I’d probably never live it down.
How did I get the idea of brining my laptop with me in the deer stand? It all started out rather innocently I must admit. Amanda and I were sitting at the house and I was debating if I even wanted to come back hunting this evening since the movement has been slow over the last week and I only have photos of one mature buck I’d even consider shooting. I was playing around with an external USB wireless adapter I’d recently let someone borrow and it hit me…..”I wonder if I can use the external antenna on this wireless adapter to pick up the wireless internet signal from my parents house if I hunt in my ladder stand closest to their house?” I have a stand that is on a creek bank over looking a several acres of pasture and woodline. The only thing that is between my stand and their house is a tree or two and several hundred yards. I admit it, I’m a nerd, but I just had to try it.
I also have to admit that while typing on the laptop is a great time killer on a slow evening hunt, it’s probably a good way to miss a big buck walking out in front of you. Actually I type well, so I can keep my eyes peeled for the big buck and still keep typing. I bet my high school typing teacher wouldn’t believe this if she saw it with her own two eyes.
North West Oklahoma Update
I wanted to give a quick update of what’s going on. The opening week of the Oklahoma black powder season has come and gone and I’ve heard stories of some big bucks being killed up in NW Oklahoma near my parents land. Several family members have been hunting through out the week and seen some very nice deer, even some shooters, but so far none of them were able to fire a shot. We do have trail camera photos of some very very nice Oklahoma bucks, some of them that will score above the 160 B&C mark. Needless to say, Andrew and I are getting excited about our 5th annual trip to NW Oklahoma for our gun season hunt. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post back with some good news after that trip.
Nacogdoches Co., Texas Update
As for the Nacogdoches Co., Texas deer situation, it is an interesting one. The wet summer has produced some of the largest 1.5-3.5 yr old bucks we’ve ever seen on our place. We have multiple young bucks that will easily score between 120-125 B&C on our place here in Appleby. Those are very respectable bucks for East Texas, but they are not mature and with the right conditions, all of those bucks could be a lot bigger next year. We do have photos of one buck that is definitely 5.5+ yrs old and is considered a shooter because of his age. He has a very wide rack, but he’ll probably score around 125 B&C. I’m not sure where all the mature bucks are, but I’m sure there are a few more around, especially since we know that several nice bucks were still around after deer season last year. Either way it’s been fun looking at all the great young up and coming bucks in our photos.
As for bow hunting this fall, I didn’t do a lot of it. The first half of October was very warm and then once the nice fall temperatures did set in, I was very busy and didn’t make many hunts. However, I did manage to harvest a doe with my bow last weekend, which was pretty exciting. It also happened to be a doe that I’d been trying to kill since last fall. When I first saw her last October she had a broken leg and was barely getting around. I never could get her within bow range and I didn’t figure she’d live through the winter. I never saw her during gun season except her appearances on my trail cameras at night. Once again she showed up on my cameras this fall, which was a real surprise to me. She was very identifiable both years with a large hard knot on her knee joint about the size of a racquetball. This year she had a very healthy fawn with her and she appeared to be getting around near 100% on that knee. I was however, glad to take her for the sake of our QDM program.
That is about all for now. The sun is just going down behind the trees and the temperature is starting to drop and it really feels good. It‘s a beautiful clear evening and it looks like the time of day when a big buck could step out at any minute. I better shut this laptop down and start paying close attention to the 180 degree woodline I‘m watching. Oh and just so you know……the wireless internet adapter test worked. I can surf the net from my deer stand. Wow. Welcome to 21st century deer hunting!
- Jason |
