USA: South Texas Deer Hunt January 2022

[375 Ruger Fan]

I had the very good fortune to be invited to a friend's south Texas ranch for a 3 day hunt. The ranch is located southwest of San Antonio and is about 2000 acres. Some of the ranch is leased out to a farmer who grows millet in a field irrigated with a pivot sprinkler system. A part of the ranch, 800 acres, is high fenced and has 5-6 deer blinds. The rest of the ranch is low fence and also has numerous deer stands. Other game hunted on the ranch includes dove, quail, turkey, ducks and hogs. The deer though are the main attraction.

The general deer season ran until January 16th. The remainder of January, is a special late season where only antlerless and unbranched antlered deer can be harvested. On the high fenced area, it is a MLPD property and bucks can be taken to the end of January via special tags. The Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) is intended to foster and support sound management and stewardship of native wildlife and wildlife habitats on private lands in Texas. Technically, we were hunting post rut but there was definitely some late rut activity observed.

We arrived at the ranch on Friday afternoon and took a quick tour of the place. It was a very warm day, about 85 F and the wind out of the south. Luckily, the weather forecast was for a big change. Unfortunately, there was a full moon this weekend.

Day 1 of hunting was Saturday. The wind was howling out of the north at 25-30 mph and gusts to 40. It was much colder too, around 30 F, so hopefully the deer might be moving. Legal shooting was about 7am and we were in the deer stand about 30-45 minutes before that. It was nice to be in an enclosed deer stand, out of the wind and cold. This was in the low fenced area of the ranch. I stayed in the stand until about 9:45am and had only seen 3 does. A slow morning. After a late brunch, I got a tour of the ranch and was shown a deer stand in another part of the low fence area. I was going to drive myself out to this stand for the Saturday afternoon hunt.

Saw maybe 20 does and 3 bucks but not a good shooter. A couple weeks earlier, a hunter took a very nice, heavy 11 point off of this stand.


Sunday was hunting Day 2. Another cold morning, but the wind had died down. I drove myself back out to the same blind (pictured above). It was pretty much a repeat of the prior afternoon. Lots of does and same small bucks. About 9:30am, I was thinking about packing up when I glanced out the back window of the blind. I saw a doe and a really large buck following her. It was maybe 30 yards behind the blind. Both continued to walk towards the feeder and I knew I just needed to be patient. Then I spotted a second large buck, following the first one. Both bucks looked really good! Before either one got into an area for a good shot, they diverted into the brush. That ended my morning hunt, but I planned to be back to this same stand in the afternoon.

I got back to the stand around 3pm. Legal shooting ends around 6:30pm. Within 30 minutes or so of getting settled in the stand, does and the smaller bucks started arriving. Around 5pm, one of the big bucks arrived. I was using my Winchester 7x57 with factory Hornady 139 gr GMX bullets. The shot was 90 yards and it dropped where it stood. After a few photos, I loaded the deer into the Polaris Ranger and drove back to the ranch house in day light. The 10 point buck weighed 160 pounds. A fabulous whitetail!

 

[Shootist43]

We should all be so lucky!!

 

[Red Leg]

Lovely buck. Well done.

 

[Randy F]

Very nice. Congrats!

 

[shootist~]

Nice one!
Brings back lots of good memories hunting (many bump gates) out of Rock Springs in a prior century.

 

[BnC 04]

Heck of a buck, great job!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

As I mentioned before, the general season ended Sunday night and we were planning to hunt Monday morning before heading home. I had the option to bird hunt, but I really wanted to deer hunt. That meant I had to hunt the high fence MLDP part of the ranch if I wanted a buck, or could hunt low fence for a doe or spike. My friend and his brother (the ranch owners) have a 3 ring binder with game camera photos and even a few aerial survey photos of deer in the high fence area. The book detailed 2-3 cull animals, 3 trophy deer deemed mature enough to target and then 4-5 good looking bucks that were a year or two away and off limits. This was one of the reasons I hadn't hunted the high fence area, I didn't want the pressure of making sure I didn't screw up and shoot the wrong deer. It was interesting to learn that despite it being the tail end of the season, only a few of the culls had been harvested and all 3 allowable trophy bucks were still out there. The total harvest for the year on the ranch was about 20 deer, which a little over half was from the low fence area. They definitely didn't over hunt the place.

The other guest hunter in our group, a physician, and I decided to hunt the high fence area on Monday morning. Charlie had hunted here several times before. He drove and dropped me at a stand, a half hour before daylight. He then drove over to his stand. Shortly after daylight, several does showed up and then a big buck came out of the bush about 150 yards from me. The morning sunrise made his antlers almost shine! I had the 3 ring binder with all the photos. After looking at the deer and looking at the photo book, I couldn't identify the deer. It was possible this deer wasn't in the book and therefore made it a shootable deer. However, the body size told me it was not a real old deer and wasn't bigger than the nice buck I got the day before. I decided to just watch the deer interact and enjoy the sunny but cold morning. I had never hunted like this before and wasn't sure I liked it.

A half hour or so passed and another big buck appeared. I could tell his body was much bigger and this deer was possibly one of the trophies. Looking at the deer through the binos and then consulting the book, I wasn't sure. I knew if I had any doubts, I would not shoot. This buck walked back into the thick cover and my temptation was removed. For about 10 minutes. The big buck came back, following a doe into the area. I again studied the buck's antlers, looking for a clue and then flipped through the photo book. Split right G3. Bingo. Further confirmation was Long G4, check. 11 points, check. Age 6+, I guess so, I knew it wasn't a 3 or 4 year old. I was now reasonably sure. As I was getting my rifle up, something spooked all the deer and they took off running. Most of the does disappeared into the thick brush, but both of the big bucks stopped just short and turned back to look toward me. They were about 130-150 yards away. I got the big one in my scope and he was looking straight at me, but I knew the morning sun was in his eyes and that might hinder him detecting me. I had the crosshairs on his front chest and waited until he turned a bit to get a nice quartering angle of his left side. Short breath, squeezed the trigger, boom, deer jumps and turns to his right and disappears into the bush. I waited about 10 minutes and then got out of the blind and walked over to the spot I shot the buck. No blood anywhere, but I was very sure of the shot hitting him. There was a bit of a grassy trail in the thicket and I started slowly in. After going about 20 yards, there was a fork in the trail with 3 different trails. I took the left one and slowly covered another 20 yards and never saw a drop of blood. I reversed course and was heading back to the fork to take another trail. As I got back to the intersection, I saw the deer under some broken limbs and bushes. I got lucky and was really happy to find this buck, It was maybe 30 yards from where I shot it. I dragged it back into the open area and texted my hunting partner that had dropped me off. Within 10 minutes or so, he pulled up in the truck. As we prepared to load the deer, we were trying to find a bullet hole. The entry hole on the front left shoulder was not very noticeable and there was no exit wound. No blood anywhere except a small amount coming out of the deer's mouth and/or nose. Weird. I walked back to the blind to get my stuff and ranged the spot where I shot the deer and it was 135 yards. We took the deer back to the barn where they dress, skin and cut up the deer. It weighed 184 lbs live weight, which is a pretty big deer in Texas.

We recovered the bullet. It had traveled diagonally from the front left shoulder to the right rear quarter and was just under the skin.

I brought the bullet home and weighed it on my scale and it is 96.2 grains. That works out to 69.2% weight retention.

Got back home Monday evening and spent some time trimming and wrapping backstraps and tenderloins. A great trip and one of my best hunts ever. A great way to start off 2022!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Nice one!
Brings back lots of good memories hunting (many bump gates) out of Rock Springs in a prior century.

Back in the mid 1980s and early 90s I hunted on a college buddy's ranch northwest of Rocksprings. One trip out there, they had about 100 deer hanging in the skinning shed. Quite a place, although it was sort of quality and not so much quality of trophy.

A lot of the bump gates are being replace by remote control.

 

[buck wild]

Nice report. We are trying to finish up does and a few management type bucks ourselves. Our MLD allows us to hunt until Feb 28th but honestly everyday from here on out the hunting will generally get harder and harder.

 

[gillettehunter]

Congrats on a couple of nice bucks. Good shooting too. Lots of good eating there.
Bruce

 

[Trophyhunter01]

Nice season wrap up. Great buck.

 

[wesheltonj]

Very nice, where in south Texas?

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Very nice, where in south Texas?

Southwest of Dilley in La Salle County.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I had the very good fortune to be invited to a friend's south Texas ranch for a 3 day hunt. The ranch is located southwest of San Antonio and is about 2000 acres. Some of the ranch is leased out to a farmer who grows millet in a field irrigated with a pivot sprinkler system. A part of the ranch, 800 acres, is high fenced and has 5-6 deer blinds. The rest of the ranch is low fence and also has numerous deer stands. Other game hunted on the ranch includes dove, quail, turkey, ducks and hogs. The deer though are the main attraction.

The general deer season ran until January 16th. The remainder of January, is a special late season where only antlerless and unbranched antlered deer can be harvested. On the high fenced area, it is a MLPD property and bucks can be taken to the end of January via special tags. The Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) is intended to foster and support sound management and stewardship of native wildlife and wildlife habitats on private lands in Texas. Technically, we were hunting post rut but there was definitely some late rut activity observed.

View attachment 447338


We arrived at the ranch on Friday afternoon and took a quick tour of the place. It was a very warm day, about 85 F and the wind out of the south. Luckily, the weather forecast was for a big change. Unfortunately, there was a full moon this weekend.

Day 1 of hunting was Saturday. The wind was howling out of the north at 25-30 mph and gusts to 40. It was much colder too, around 30 F, so hopefully the deer might be moving. Legal shooting was about 7am and we were in the deer stand about 30-45 minutes before that. It was nice to be in an enclosed deer stand, out of the wind and cold. This was in the low fenced area of the ranch. I stayed in the stand until about 9:45am and had only seen 3 does. A slow morning. After a late brunch, I got a tour of the ranch and was shown a deer stand in another part of the low fence area. I was going to drive myself out to this stand for the Saturday afternoon hunt.



View attachment 447349


Saw maybe 20 does and 3 bucks but not a good shooter. A couple weeks earlier, a hunter took a very nice, heavy 11 point off of this stand.


Sunday was hunting Day 2. Another cold morning, but the wind had died down. I drove myself back out to the same blind (pictured above). It was pretty much a repeat of the prior afternoon. Lots of does and same small bucks. About 9:30am, I was thinking about packing up when I glanced out the back window of the blind. I saw a doe and a really large buck following her. It was maybe 30 yards behind the blind. Both continued to walk towards the feeder and I knew I just needed to be patient. Then I spotted a second large buck, following the first one. Both bucks looked really good! Before either one got into an area for a good shot, they diverted into the brush. That ended my morning hunt, but I planned to be back to this same stand in the afternoon.

I got back to the stand around 3pm. Legal shooting ends around 6:30pm. Within 30 minutes or so of getting settled in the stand, does and the smaller bucks started arriving. Around 5pm, one of the big bucks arrived. I was using my Winchester 7x57 with factory Hornady 139 gr GMX bullets. The shot was 90 yards and it dropped where it stood. After a few photos, I loaded the deer into the Polaris Ranger and drove back to the ranch house in day light. The 10 point buck weighed 160 pounds. A fabulous whitetail!

View attachment 447350

View attachment 447351


View attachment 447353
View attachment 447352

Very nice! But, get that hide off before the meat gets tainted!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Very nice! But, get that hide off before the meat gets tainted!

Both deer were skinned and cut up within one to one and a half hours of harvest and in the walk in cooler. It was in the mid 20s Monday morning, so I kidded the guys that we needed to get the deer in the cooler so it wouldn't freeze.