Texas Hunting Times

Big Buck Shot by Bowhunter in Medina County, Texas

This giant whitetail buck was captured on game cameras in a part of Medina County, but one bowhunter was fortunate enough bag this brute during the early part of the 2013-14 Texas deer hunting season. But as it turns out, it was not all luck. The property had been involved in a deer management program that allowed this deer to definitely reach its genetic potential. This buck had it all: age, genetics and thanks to some rain this year, nutrition.

This free-ranging trophy buck is no doubt the buck of a lifetime for any whitetail hunter. The large frame, long points and four droptines make this buck something special. Congrats to the hunter on a successful management program and an obviously awesome hunt. Now, time to find me a lease in Medina County….

Texas Bowhunter Bags Trophy in Medina County

Continue reading Big Buck Shot by Bowhunter in Medina County, Texas

Public Hunting in South Texas with an APH Permit

South Texas is home to some really big ranches that provide quality hunting for whitetail deer, dove, turkey, quail and feral hogs, but did you know that it also provides some quality public hunting lands for many game animals? Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (PTWD) has many public hunting opportunities available to residents and non-residents willing to get out in the field. One of the best programs going is the Annual Public Hunting (APH) Permit.

The APH comes at a cost of $48, and allows you access to hunt over 200 properties across Texas for a wide range of species. For the annual fee, hunters may hunt many different units and may also hunt as many times as they like within the guidelines for each individual lease. Hunters may obtain an APH permit at local retailers where they purchase their hunting and fishing licenses.

There are many quality public hunting opportunities from San Antonio to Brownsville. The state has a high number of quality small game leases that focus on mourning and white-winged dove hunting, but they also have leases open for early-season teal, rabbits, hares, squirrels, and even bobwhite and scaled quail. In addition, wildlife officials just added 11 new public hunting leases encompassing over 5,000 acres for the 2013-14 hunting season in Bexar, Frio, and LaSalle Counties. The majority of the hunting targets mourning and white-winged doves.

For hunters living in or near San Antonio, there are two 500 acre units that are close to home. The Somerset and Lone Star Pass units both allow dove and teal hunting. Despite the close proximity to the city, there is plenty of space to enjoy a fun and safe dove hunt.

Frio County, just an hour southwest of San Antonio on Interstate 35, has arguably some of the best public dove hunting available. With 7 public dove hunting leases in Frio County, hunters can expect to find doves all season long. There is also ample space to spread out and enjoy some safe hunting opportunities. The 1,451 acre Mimosa Farms Units are once again gearing up for a great season, but don’t forget about Mimosa Farms 526 outside Dilley, which also offers good hunting opportunities and is large enough to accommodate a large number of hunters.

There are an addition 10-plus public hunting leases in deeper South Texas, which range between 40 acres and 300 acres. These leases are spread out and offer a great opportunity to the hunters looking to cover some ground spend some time in the field. Based on TPWD white-winged banding efforts and surveys, the communities of Alice, Kingsville, and Falfurrias hold very high populations of white-winged doves, and the coastal bend has thousands of acres of cropland which mourning doves flock to.

TPWD offers up some quality properties for hunters looking for public land in South Texas that possess the APH public hunting permit. The leases primarily are geared towards dove hunting, but many also offfer rabbit, hare, and squirrel hunting, depending on the unit. It’s always nice to get down South and you never know what you are going to see. South Texas boasts some great hunting for whitetail deer, dove, turkey, quail and feral hogs. Just make sure to follow the regulations for the unit that you are hunting.

Texas Deer Hunting Regulations Working: More Mature Bucks

One of the biggest factors is growing and producing quality whitetail bucks is allowing them to get some age on them, to reach maturity. This is not a whitetail hunting secret by any means, but it can be something hard to implement, especially on smaller properties. It seems the age of harvested bucks may have very well been a limiting factor in many parts of Texas, at least according to wildlife officials with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

If you’ve ever been out to the Kerr Wildlife Management Area to attend one of their deer management seminars then you know that age, genetics and nutrition are the key ingredients to growing real trophy bucks. In the past, however, it was hard, maybe even downright impossible, to let a younger, good looking buck walk when you knew the hunter right across the fence was going to put a bullet through his lungs, hang him high in a tree and pop his hide off like a dirty bed sheet. That all changed when antler restrictions hit many Texas counties. It not only providing the regulatory tool for allowing bucks to age, but most hunters feel pretty good about it too.

TPWD: While areas like South Texas are known for producing exceptional whitetail bucks, most anywhere in the state is capable of producing good bucks every year. In fact in 2012, two archery hunters were lucky enough to connect on a couple of large non-typical bucks scoring about 250 Boone and Crockett. Both bucks were wild, free-ranging deer taken on low-fenced properties, one in North Texas and the other in Southeast Texas. Hopefully, that trend will continue in 2013.

“Another positive trend we have observed in the last few years is that the proportion of young bucks in the harvest has declined across the state, and most noticeably in the eastern third of the state where bucks had a hard time surviving to 3 ½ years of age,” Alan Cain, TPWD whitetail deer program leader, points out. “In 2012, bucks 3 ½ year old and older comprised 65 percent of bucks checked during TPWD surveys which are a reflection of the deer harvested each season.”

Digging a little deeper into the data Cain explains that in antler restriction counties, 59 percent of bucks checked during TPWD surveys were 3 ½ or older, a dramatic improvement in age structure when those older age class bucks represented only 30-35 percent of the harvest before antler restrictions were implemented.

“This shift towards harvesting older bucks in the Pineywoods, Post Oak Savannah, and Cross Timbers and Prairies regions is a direct result of the antler restriction regulation,” Cain says. “That harvest strategy has been very effective at allowing many more bucks to reach maturity. We have received many positive reports from landowners and hunters in those regions who are excited about the number and quality of bucks they are observing on their properties.“

Big Buck Hit By Car in Grapevine Texas

There is no doubt that Texas produces some great whitetail bucks all across the state. You just never know what part of the state will produce a whooper each year. Unfortunately, there are many great bucks that fall not to arrow, not to bullet, but to automobiles. These stories are especially tough to swallow if they are near your property or deer hunting lease. But more often than not, many of these big bucks now hail from metropolitan areas. Check out this Lake Grapevine area monster!

Big Whitetail Buck Killed Near Lake Grapevine, Texas

Source: “Every year about this time we start seeing these stories pop up of monster whitetail bucks found on the side of the road, killed by vehicles. It’s pretty incredible some of the huge racks that turn up, especially in the urban areas where deer seem to be making a comeback, growing lots of bone at the expense of your pansies and roses. Like this one, that seems to have just begun its circuit on the emails. If the info is true (and I think it is, because of the originator), this tag got filled by a vehicle just yesterday, Sept 22, just south of Lake Grapevine, near the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex.

Dang, what a waste!”

Experimental Texas Pronghorn Hunting Season

A new experimental pronghorn hunting season in parts of the Texas Panhandle September 28 through October 6 will allow landowners to control harvest of buck pronghorn on their properties. The experimental season will be in herd units 8, 17, and 25, which include portions of Dallam, Hartley, Sherman, Moore, Roberts, and Gray counties. I expect the season will capture a lot of the breeding season, meaning hunters should see goats on the move.

Under prior statewide regulations, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department determined the pronghorn harvest quota and issued permits directly to landowners. With the new pronghorn rules, landowners or their agents within selected pronghorn management units in the northeast and northwest Panhandle will determine the harvest quota and control buck pronghorn harvest on their property during the three-year pilot project. Hunters are reminded they must receive landowner permission to access their property.

The goal of the project is to simplify pronghorn hunting regulations and increase hunting opportunities in areas with stable populations. Wildlife officials will closely monitor pronghorn herds during the pilot project to ensure populations remain healthy.

How many pronghorn permits will I get?

The number of permits issued within a Herd Unit is based upon results of annual surveys (pronghorn numbers, sex ratios, and fawn crops). Permits are allocated to specific tracts within a Herd Unit, which is directly related to acres of pronghorn habitat for each tract. TPWD suggests that permit demand often exceeds the harvestable surplus, so not all landowners will receive a permit every year.

How much do pronghorn permits cost?

Permits are free. Receipt of permits is dependent upon timely submission of application and harvest cards. Applications must be submitted by August 1. Pronghorn Harvest Cards are due by October 31.

Source

Pronghorn Check Stations in Texas Panhandle

The Texas pronghorn hunting season is just around the corner and it’s important to remind all successful hunters that speed goats harvested in certain parts of the state must be reported. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) reports all hunters are required to present the intact, unfrozen head of harvested pronghorn at a mandatory check station within 24 hours of harvest. TPWD wildlife biologists will then collect essential biological information from the harvested animal.

These data will be analyzed annually to make sure Texas pronghorn populations remain healthy, allowing for hunting well into the future. Pronghorn check stations are at the following locations:

In Dalhart, at the park off of Lake Drive. Check station is across from People’s Church (1929 Apache Dr.). GPS coordinates of Dalhart check station (36.038269, -102.506358),

In Pampa, at Chisum Ranch office (on Price Rd, south of HWY 152). GPS coordinates of Pampa check station (35.531080, -100.989493).

Check stations will be open through the 9-day season (Sept. 28 – Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. and the following Monday (Oct. 7) 9 a.m. to noon.

A check station receipt will be given to each hunter to provide permit proof of compliance with the mandatory pronghorn check station regulation. Hunters who harvest pronghorn outside the experimental area are also encouraged to bring their harvest in at the check stations to contribute biological data. Wildlife biologist will age their harvest for free.

Pronghorn Hunting

Source: “The breeding season of the pronghorn in Trans-Pecos Texas extends from the last week in August to the first week in October. The most vigorous bucks gather small harems of two to 14 does. Young bucks frequently linger at the outskirts of the harem herd and at times attempt to steal a doe or even to interfere with a mature buck in his mating activities. The master of the harem has an endless task in keeping his does together and warding off intruding bucks. The gestation period is between 7 and 7½ months. The young (usually two) weigh from 2 to 4 kg each and appear in May or June.”

Texas Bowhunting Season Gives Whitetail Deer Hunters First Shot

Whitetail bucks are busy working over saplings and rubbing the velvet off of their antlers so that means testosterone levels are ramping up. It also means that the whitetail deer hunting season is just around the corner. Archery season comes first each year and that means practice, practice, practice, because bowhunters get first crack at Texas’ white-tailed deer herd. Though the season is still first, a few things have changed over the years. The archery deer season includes not only bows and arrows, but also crossbows. This hunting methods change has no doubt increased hunter participation during the bowhunting season.

Source: “Nobody knows for sure how many archery hunters will be afield once bow-and-arrow deer and turkey season begins Sept. 28 but it’s probably more than 170,000, according to Tom Newton, license revenue manager for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. For the 2013 season, hunters paid for 36,017 archery endorsements that are required to hunt during archery season. Super Combo Hunting and Fishing Licenses (420,834 in 2013) and Senior Super Combos (60,992 in 2013) include all endorsements fees. Newton said surveys suggest 29.9 percent of Super Combo buyers and 14.6 percent of Senior Super Combo buyers participate in archery hunting.

Whitetail deer management is now practiced widely by Texas hunters. According to Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s White-tailed Deer Program Leader, Texas hunters killed 546,000 deer last hunting season, 304,000 bucks and 242,000 does. That sounds like quite a few deer, but thirty years ago hunters shot more bucks than that. Now the deer harvest is much more balanced with hunters shooting bucks and does at similar rates. The “old timers” never wanted to shoot their mama cows, but anything with horns was fit for the table. Times have indeed changed.

Teal Season: Texas Looks Dry, Birds on Way

Teal season in Texas is about to kick off and new regulations this year allow hunters to take up to six teal daily, an increase in the daily bag limit of two from previous seasons. The possession limits for all migratory game birds has also increased and is now three times the daily limit. For ducks, including teal during the early September 14-29 season, the possession limit is 18, which only works after the third day into the season. So what does teal hunting on the Texas coast look like this year?

“I never get nervous about teal season, retorted Jim Sutherlin, TPWD’s Upper Coast Wetland Ecosystem Project Leader based out of the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area (WMA). “Our early bluewings are about a week or so late, possibly an effect of the late cool spring weather we have experienced.” Sutherlin said blue-winged teal finally showed up on the Big Hill Unit of the Murphree WMA early last week. “We will have teal to shoot on September 14, but teal numbers will likely improve on the Upper Coast as the season plays out.”

Similar reports have been coming from the middle coast.

“We are seeing a few birds on the mid-coast WMA’s but nothing to get excited about just yet,” added Matt Nelson, Mid-Coast Wetland Ecosystem Project Leader. “As Jim mentioned, nothing to get nervous about; they’ll be here at some point.” Nelson provided a brief synapsis of duck habitat conditions on the three popular wildlife management areas along the middle coast:

Water conditions at the Hurst WMA are fair with very shallow water available in the tidal marsh and little to none in the freshwater impoundments. Mad Island WMA is in a little better shape as it has received a decent amount of rain over the past two weeks and currently has water in the tidal marsh and its impoundments. Guadalupe Delta WMA has a good amount of water in the marsh.

“I expect the crowds to be large at all three areas opening weekend of the teal hunting season as the hunters have been burning up the phones,” predicted Nelson. Hunters can access all of these high quality duck hunting hot spots by possessing an Annual Public Hunting (APH) Permit.

Shooting Tips for Deer Hunting

There is now doubt hunters spend a lot of time thinking about deer hunting strategy, tips and tricks. Many hunters will spend thousands of dollars to go on a big trip, but spend little or no time at the rifle range in preparation for their deer hunting trip. This is not recommended because it always pays to check your equipment and get reacquainted with your gun before that split second between success and failure comes.

In order to maximize your hunting success and to ensuring a quick kill, minimizing the possibility of losing a crippled animal, it highly recommend that you spend some time properly preparing for your hunt. Here are a few hunting and shooting tips for those that plan to head out deer hunting this fall, whether it be your lease, public hunting land or a guided trip.

1. Start with an adequate caliber for deer. Generally, a minimum of a .243 caliber with 100 grain bullet is a good starting place, but you can go way up from there. There are many hunters that use smaller calibers with great success, but there is not much margin for error when you get down to smaller bullets.

2. Avoid highly expandable bullets for deer and other big game. Certain ballistic tips and hollow points can explode on the surface or before if they graze even a blade of grass along the way. Partions, A-Frames, bonded bullets and bullets that retain the majority of their mass are preferred on mule deer and whitetail hunts.

3. Make sure to practice! Shoot at least 20 rounds through your gun in preparation for your hunt, with at least two different trips to the range. Lots of hunters know that their gun is sighted in, but is it? Also, you are not simply making sure that your gun is sighted in, but you are also practicing. It pays to become familiar with your trigger pull, follow through, breathing control and everything else that goes with heading out to the field.

4. The most common mistake deer hunters make is having their gun sighted in too high at 100 yards. Move that bullet down! If you forget this factoid when the buck of a lifetime cruises by at close distance, when things happen quickly, you can make a chip shot turn bad in a hurry. On the flip side, if a deer is way out you are not going to forget to aim high. Most calibers will put a bullet into the “sweet spot” at 300 yards out if you simply hold even at the top of the back, if sighted in at 100 yards.

5. Lastly, always check your gun when you get to your deer hunting destination just to make sure that all is still good to go. Sometimes things happen in travel. Sometimes screws loosen up on slings and scopes. Look your gun over and make sure it’s good. Remove the bolt and look down the barrel to make sure a spider didn’t build a web in there. You just never know.

Flooding Fields for Ducks – Waterfowl Hunting

Duck Hunting Looks Strong in Texas

It’s September and the first cool fronts will upon us soon, pushing down a wave of blue-winged teal. These small, fast flying ducks are the first to make their way down the Central Flyway each year. Like most waterfowl species, they prefer freshwater, shallow wetlands for feeding. And on the feed is where you should always be when duck hunting anywhere. Find shallow water areas with food and the ducks literally come to you (and that’s exactly the way it should work, right?). If you can’t find it, you can build it.

Source: NORTH-CENTRAL U.S. In May, heavy rainfall improved wetland conditions across large areas of Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Waterfowl nesting efforts are strong, and with improved wetland habitat, brood survival should be enhanced. While habitat loss remains a serious concern, good waterfowl production is expected in this region.

Flooding Fields for Duck Hunting

Field crops offering the most energy for waterfowl include corn, milo and soybeans. However, some grains deteriorate faster than others when flooded. After 90 days of flooding, 86 percent of soybeans, 50 percent of corn and 42 percent of milo is deteriorated. Keep this in mind when flooding fields for duck hunting. After a certain period they become devoid of the good stuff. Milo and corn last longer and produce high energy so they are the fields you should focus on.

To prevent early seed deterioration, fields should not be flooded well in advance of waterfowl arriving. Also, fields should be flooded gradually over a several week period to provide food and habitat over a longer period and helps ensure the food and the hunting do not run out before the duck season is over. Ideally, more than one field should be flooded to provide another crop or to make food available over a longer period.

Flooding larger fields or more of them will attract more waterfowl and can only improve hunting. I understand that this is easier said than done, especially if you do not own the land that you are hunting. Find landowners or farmers that are willing to work with you will be a must if you are not the landowner. Another option that can attract birds and increase duck hunting opportunities is to implement most soil management for a variety of waterfowl species.

There are a lot of ducks that will be headed south soon. Best of luck to all that chase them.