Texas Hunting Times

Venison Steak Recipe Using Mushrooms and French Onion Soup

There are many good venison steak recipes that we enjoy, but this simple and savory steak is always a hit around our house. This recipe works great with any cut of steak, whether steaks cut from the loin (backstrap), hindquarters or even loin steaks that have been cut into bone-in chops.

The creamy sauce that this recipe creates while cooking works great when served with steamed rice, but also works great over potatoes.

Venison Steak Recipe - Mushrooms and French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

Salt
Pepper
Garlic
1 stick butter
1 can French onion soup
1 small can mushrooms

Directions:

Season venison steak with salt, pepper and garlic, and go a little heavier than normal with the garlic. In a lightly-oiled and hot skillet, sear each side of the steaks for one minute on high heat. The, turn the heat to low and add to the pan one stick of butter, one can of French onion soup and one small can of mushrooms. Place into a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

These tasty steaks should come out fork-tender!

Suppressors for Deer Hunting in Texas

There are many states in the US that allow the legal use of suppressors for hunting whitetail deer and other game species. Now the state of Texas is making suppressors for deer hunting legal in the state. An important misconception among many people is that suppressors and silencers are not exactly the same thing. If one were to shoot full-powder loads through them, then they are quite loud. But even with a “hot” bullet, suppressors are still quiet enough on the ears to not need hearing protection, at least in most cases.

Source: “There is an incredible amount of misinformation on what suppressors do and how they may be acquired. Suppressors are not “silencers,” as depicted in typical Hollywood action films. While suppressors do not eliminate the sound of a firearm, they do reduce the muzzle report in a manner similar to the way that a muffler reduces exhaust noise from a vehicle.”

Suppressors Deer Hunting Texas - Suppressors Legal for Hunting

In my opinion, suppressors have several benefits for hunters that use them with sub-sonic (less than 1,129 fps) ammo specifically for deer hunting. Many properties have deer densities that are in line with the habitat of the area, but there are also many places where deer overpopulation is a real issue. In cases where deer numbers must be drastically reduced, it would seem that suppressors for deer hunting would make a whole lot of sense.

Yes, there is hassle in applying and registering for suppressors for hunting, but the benefits received could be well worth it. Many may contend that suppressors are the enemy of legal deer hunters, suggesting that poachers will use them. They may, but they may be already using them for deer hunting before they were legal. To wrap up, it looks like suppressors for deer hunting in Texas will be completely legal here shortly. This gives hunters another option when it comes to whitetail hunting. I expect suppressors sales will go up!

Austin American Statesman: “Here’s one thing I feel about silencers on hunting rifles: I don’t think there will be a rush on gunsmiths as people hurry to get their rifles cut up and altered. There are recoil reducers and some suppressors on the market already, and plenty of people use them. But the details of getting a silencer are going to be a little too much for most people. I think.

First, you’ll have to have a federal firearms license, which costs $200. Then you’ll need the rifle — which most of the time will be a military style, semi-auto selling for up to $1,500 — and the silencer/suppressor, which is going to be about $400. That’s more than $2,000 just to start. Then, to make the gun really quiet, you’ll need hand-loaded, sub-sonic ammunition that costs more than $50 a box in .308 or .223.”

Deer Hunting in Texas through Whitetail Management, Feeding

Question: “I have a small 80 acre property that is surrounded by a large ranch of about 7,000 acres. We primarily use the property as a deer hunting ranch. I am right in the middle of the big ranch and everything is low fenced. Our deer management program over the last several years has been to manage for age. Most all of the whitetail bucks we have harvested over the last 10 to 15 years have been 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 years old, with some even older. The ranch surrounding me really does not do that much deer hunting. They mostly conduct a quail hunting operation. My question is, will feeding protein help my deer herd or is it not going to matter much since they have such a large range?”

Response: Yes, feeding protein will help the whitetail deer found in your area even though their movement will have them moving off and onto your property quite regularly. Protein helps both bucks and does. It will help bucks put on additional antler growth, and it will help does with fawns big time during the late Texas summer with the high demands of milk production. Just make sure the buck to doe ratio is tight, 1:1 or even slightly in favor of bucks. Protein feeding can get expensive, so you want to make sure it is meeting your objective.

If you want bucks with bigger antlers, then I would suggest feeding. If you want more fawns, then I would suggest feeding. Protein will allow does to raise more fawns because of the stable food supply, which means in turn you will need to shoot more deer. This is why I recommended that the buck to doe ratio be tight, because it would not be wise to feed a bunch of does just to make them more prolific so that you have to shoot a bunch more does.

In addition, make sure to remove the inferior bucks relatively early in the deer hunting season based on their antler quality for their age. There will will be no need feeding these animals for several more years when the better bucks of the same age can be eating the high dollar protein. The deer hunting in your area can be improved through the supplemental feeding of protein pellets or even whole cottonseed, but make sure you know what your objectives are before you start a feeding program.

Make sure to record everything you see while deer hunting in the fall. This will give you a good idea of what’s happening on your property, as well as what you will need to harvest. Do not use game camera photos placed on protein feeders to give you survey information. Bucks tend to dominate protein feeders, so it will look like you have nothing but bucks in your area. You can use game cameras to survey deer, but make sure you put them along roadways, water sources or trails away from feeders. Good luck!

Deer Hunting in Texas – Feeding Protein in the Spring

Question: “We enjoy deer hunting and have a lease in south central Texas. We have no problems around here this year, habitat conditions are awesome compared to last year. We typically fill protein feeders around the first week in January each year and it usually takes the whitetail about three months to clean out six 2,000 pound protein feeders. Last year was so dry we were already filling them up for the third time in late April.

This year is a different animal. Deer are not eating protein.Nothing. The feeders we filled in January are still 80% full. I’m okay with this, but will protein feed go bad in a free choice protein feeder? Also, is there any chance that I see a fall off in horns this year due to the deer eating stuff with lower protein content than what we are offering?”

Response: This year has been a real turnaround compared to the last one. Plants are green and tall compared to dead and brown. With regards to whitetail not eating your protein, I would not be concerned. The protein content on forbs can be very high, with many hitting in the 25 to 35 percent protein range. This is why deer are not eating your protein pellets. No offense to you or to the manufacturers out there, but protein pellets suck compared to high quality forbs—and the deer know it. That is why they are eating the better stuff that is available to them right now.

There should not be any real problem with the stagnant protein. However, the feed will start to lose it’s smell, and I assume its flavor too. There will be nothing wrong with the pellet quality. Problems could occur if you start getting some light mold on top and on the sides of your pellets inside the feeders.

I would recommend opening them up and inspecting them. If the air in protein feeder feels either hot or moisture-rich then I would let them air out. Just open them up on a day when it’s really sunny and you’ve got a good breeze blowing.

As far as antler quality, the deer hunting will be better than ever! Do not expect the “horn” quality to fall off. In fact, expect bigger and better. As mentioned earlier, high quality native forbs are chock-full of protein. And with the rain we’ve received this year, there are lots of good native forbs out there for deer to forage on.

Another benefit of the rain is that the deer browse will be putting on new growth. Last year was a bust. The browse grew very little and was low quality. When it comes to high quality browse it does not get any better than fresh growth. The rains have definitely brought it on. In short, the rain has been a blessing for the habitat and for whitetail in general. The fawn crop should be out of this world this year. The deer hunting should be good around Texas as antler quality will up.

Deer Poaching in Texas: TPWD Bags Poachers

People that harvest wild game illegally, break the law, are called poachers. For as long as there have been hunting regulations there have been poachers. These individuals steal the public’s wildlife resources, taking game outside of regulations that are designed to manage wildlife populations. The poaching of white-tailed deer has always been a concern of landowners in Texas, but especially in recent years because of the increased monetary value that quality deer represent. An illegally shot deer not only aggravates law-abiding hunters, but it can be a direct shot to a landowner’s pocket book.

The Law Enforcement Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is always on the lookout for poachers. In fact, they just wrapped up a big deer poaching ring that involved the unlawful taking of numerous deer. An extensive 16-month poaching investigation in East Texas that has netted stout fines and jail or prison sentences for four men responsible for illegally killing 30 whitetail deer in Wood and Rains counties.

Wood County Game Wardens Derek Spitzer and Kurt Kelley along with Van Zandt County warden Steve Stapleton began the investigation on December 7, 2010 when a dead deer was found hanging from an oil well pump jack on a wooded 1,500 acre deer hunting tract near Alba. Only the deer’s backstrap had been removed, with the rest of the meat left to waste. The subsequent investigation, which involved an estimated 270 man hours, uncovered an extensive pattern of deer poaching in both Wood and Rains counties.

During the course of the investigation, the wardens conducted several protracted interviews, secured a large amount of evidence, and were able to document the illegal killing of 30 deer by four individuals. All of the deer had been killed at night from public roads with the aid of a spotlight over a three-month period.

In one documented incident, two of the men involved were found to have shot two deer behind a high fence at night and returned later with a pair of bolt cutters, which they used to cut a hole in the fence and remove the deer. Most of the venison in the investigation was found to have been wasted, with the violators often only taking the backstrap from the animals.

While probing the hunting law violations, the wardens recovered multiple stolen items and several theft cases are still pending. A total of 528 offenses were determined to have occurred with 40 of those being state jail felonies. Of the total offenses known, 22 charges were brought forward in Wood and Rains counties. Nine Class A misdemeanor charges and two state jail felonies were filed in each county.

Of the four defendants, three made plea deals with prosecutors with one of them entering a plea in exchange for a one-year sentence for hunting deer without a land owner’s consent. The protracted investigation was finally closed on February 23 when the fourth subject changed his plea to guilty and received 3 years in state jail and $12,000 in fines for hunting deer at night, hunting with artificial light and hunting from a vehicle – all Class A misdemeanors. Sentences handed down added up to more than $41,000 in fines, 3,000 hours of community service and a total of 12 years of jail or probation time.

In addition, six firearms were seized and awarded to the state. Finally, all the defendants lost the privilege of hunting in the state of Texas for five years and will be paying civil restitution for the game animals taken.

Whitetail deer hunting in Texas is a big deal, so the unregulated take of game causes many problems. Lawful hunters pay thousands of dollars for hunting leases that “may” allow them the opportunity to legally harvest deer. In addition, long term deer management is one of the items that resource agencies such as TPWD are charged with carrying out. Poachers undermine both private landowners and the agencies responsible for ensuring populations remain viable into the future.

Deer Hunting in Limestone County Texas

Question: “I’ve lived in the northern part of South Texas for my entire life but may be getting a job a bit further north. I enjoy whitetail deer hunting and am thinking about buying some amount of land near in my new area, Limestone County. I just want to find out more before buying some real estate. Can you tell me if deer hunting in Limestone County is good, decent, or what? Thank you.”

Response: One of my college buddies hunted in Limestone there for about five years. Currently, it is a two buck county, one buck greater than 13 inch inside spread and one buck with at least one unbranched antler can be shot each year. Limestone County has a lot of deer hunting pressure. It will not have the quality of deer that you may be used to, but maybe it could. It all depends on the location. There is a lot of hunting pressure, so the early part of deer season is the best. Continue reading Deer Hunting in Limestone County Texas

Quail Hunting Not Hurting Texas Population, But Numbers Down

The plight of the bobwhite quail has been well documented. It seems the species can not get out of the way of its own demise. Everything is stacked against it. Habitat is disappearing and rainfall is sparse. The recent droughts have amplified the decline of quail in the state, even in the traditional strongholds. Quail experts have admitted they don’t exactly know what the limiting factors may be. Now, even Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has said that quail hunting itself is not impacting the population. Will quail populations and hunting persist in Texas?

From the pen of Carter P. Smith
Executive Director of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

“For most of us, the quail hunting season started and ended with more of a whimper than a bang this year. Save and except for a few pockets of sandy country in deep South Texas, much of the state’s bobwhite quail range was bereft of the very thing hunters and their dogs desired — quail. For all who cherish the sound of a rooster’s penetrating “bob-white” cry on a crisp winter morning and the sight of an exploding covey rise over a good point, that’s a real shame.

Another casualty of the now famous, or infamous, dry spell of 2011, statewide bobwhite quail populations are estimated by TPWD biologists to be as low as they have been in decades. Regrettably, it is another step backward for a prized game bird that has seen its population decline steadily across its range from New Jersey to the southern Great Plains. The bird’s predicament has been the subject of considerable discussion — and debate, I might add — in chat rooms, emails and conference rooms and at coffee shops and kitchen tables from Pampa to Albany to Coleman to Kingsville.

Quail hunters are anything but shy and retiring when it comes to their favorite game bird, and this year has been no exception. That’s a good thing, because let me assure you, complacency is not an option. So, how did we get to where we are today?

It is important to note that Texas is situated at the western terminus of the bird’s range. Quail populations, like other species of fish and wildlife, are more susceptible to the annual boom and bust cycles of nature when they’re at the margins. In any one year, assuming suitable habitat exists in sufficient quality and quantity, most population variability in bobwhite populations can be explained by the timing and amount of rainfall. This axiom holds true for much of the state, except for the eastern portion, where rainfall is not a limiting factor but suitable available habitat is.

That’s not to say that suitable habitat is not a limiting factor elsewhere in Texas. The pernicious effects of widespread quail habitat fragmentation, proliferation of exotic and invasive grasses and conversion of native habitat to improved pasture are all taking their toll.

And, as hard as it is to imagine in a state revered for its wide-open spaces and vast places, scale may be a problem as well. Researchers at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute have suggested that in order to maintain sustainable populations of bobwhite quail, we may need to maintain large blocks of contiguous habitat to the tune of hundreds of thousands of acres. Such is certainly true of other grassland bird species, including upland game birds like the lesser prairie-chicken, which is fighting an uphill battle to hang on in the wake of significant long-term habitat changes across its range.

Some quail enthusiasts and researchers, while acknowledging the unavoidable weather and quail habitat parts of the quail equation, have suggested that there may be other insidious forces to blame. Exploding feral hog populations or a cryptic disease or endo-parasite may also be negatively affecting quail populations. Or, perhaps just as likely, it may be a combination of “all of the above.”

If you are worried about the effects of quail hunting, let me quickly take that off your worry list. There are simply far too few quail hunters to make an impact at a statewide, population-level scale.

While hunters are not the cause of this decline, they absolutely will be a big part of the solution. Thanks to their investments in the upland game bird stamp, which funds the important work of wildlife biologists across the state, as well as their support of groups like the Quail Coalition and the efforts of research institutions like the Kleberg institute, the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch and Quail-Tech, hunters will help us get to the bottom of this most vexing of wildlife concerns.

I am grateful that hunters and anglers care so passionately for our wild things and wild places. We need them now more than ever.”

Deer Hunting in Dallas County, Rockwall County, Texas

If you don’t own land with deer, then you know that finding a place go white-tailed deer hunting in Texas can be hard. So it’s always a good thing when more hunting lands become available. That’s what just happened this past week in some parts of the state. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved opening a whitetail hunting season for deer in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Galveston counties as part of changes to the 2012-13 Statewide Hunting Proclamation.

Under the new deer hunting regulations, the current whitetail season structure in Grayson County will be altered to allow full-season, either-sex whitetail harvest. The amended Grayson County archery-only deer season structure will also be added to Dallas County, Collin County and Rockwall County. But that’s not all. The Commission also approved implementing the current Harris County season structure in Galveston County.

The deer hunting season in Collin and Rockwall counties has been closed since 1976 after farming and ranching development virtually eliminated all deer habitat. Since that time, agriculture has been gradually displaced by the extensive urban, suburban, and exurban growth of the Metroplex, which has resulted in highly fragmented deer habitat and minimal populations of white-tailed deer, mostly in riparian areas surrounding lakes and streams.

However, whitetail deer populations in others suburban parts of Texas have risen in the face of decreased habitat, creating political issues on how to control deer populations. The state’s move to increased deer hunting in these urban counties will no only provide hunters with more places to chase whitetail, but may alleviate deer population issues along the human-wildlife interface. This will really the help deer hunters in and near Dallas County and Rockwall County.

MLD Program – Deer Hunting in Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Managed Lands Deer Permit Program, commonly referred to as the MLD Permit Program, is an integral part of white-tailed deer hunting in Texas. Many landowners are involved in the MLD Program because they are interested in habitat management, deer management and the benefits that the program offers them in the management of their property. With the 2011-2012 MLD season completed, TPWD would like to remind all MLD cooperators that collecting and submitting completed harvest data before April 1 is a requirement of the MLD program.

The minimum harvest data requirements from cooperating landowners under MLD levels 2 and 3 must include the following for all harvested deer: date of harvest, sex of deer, age of deer as determined by tooth wear and replacement, field dressed body weight, number of antler points on both right and left beams, inside spread, one main beam length, and one basal circumference. This data is very valuable for evaluating the progress your herd is making, and tracking the impacts of management decisions on the deer herd.

The more detailed and accurate the data you collect, the more accurate our management decisions become. For those landowners wanting to take their management program to the next level we recommend additional harvest data, aside from the minimum requirements outlined above, which should include the presence or absence of lactation for does, full gross Boone & Crockett scores for all bucks harvested (except spikes) including cull bucks, and a picture of every buck harvested. Remember, detailed data with a good sample size will yield much more accurate management decisions.

TPWD is reminding landowners that failure to submit complete and timely data will result in delayed permit issuance the first time it occurs. Poor or tardy data over several seasons will result in dropping to a lower MLDP level or possibly being removed from the program. Any ranch suspended from the program for non-compliance with the wildlife management plan must wait three years before applying to enter again.

An additional requirement for MLD properties is that an annual late summer/early fall deer survey be completed and that information be submitted to your TPWD biologist. This information helps determine annual harvest, identify potential problems with the herd dynamics, and can be useful in tracking hunter satisfaction through time. If you have questions about your survey (timing, type, etc), contact your local biologist.

Landowners participating in the MLD program can now submit harvest data online in the Texas Wildlife Information Management System (TWIMS), or the data can be mailed or emailed to your cooperating TPWD biologist. By submitting it into TWIMS, you will be able to compare your data with other ranches by county (while still keeping all personal information confidential). The MLD Program is an important component of deer hunting and deer management in Texas, but it only works when willing landowners take an interest in managing their property.

Kerr WMA Hunting Based on Habitat Quality

White-tailed deer hunting in Texas is big time and everyone has heard of the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA), located just west of Kerrville, Texas, in Kerr County. The WMA offers public hunts for many game species, so many hunters are familiar with Kerr WMA hunting. It’s a great place to hunt and anyone selected for a hunt out there is in for a treat. Additionally, the WMA pioneered whitetail genetic research in Texas and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) does a great job of managing the habitat found on the property. Here is TPWD’s account of the drought of 2011:

As was the case all over Texas, 2011 was the second driest year ever recorded on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA) since 1952. Total rainfall for the year was 10.92” which is 15.2 inches less than our average rainfall of 26.13”. Approximately one-third of that fell in the month of December. Though it did not beat our record low of 8.25” in 1956, it was just as devastating. Most of the rainfall came in several small events which resulted in little more than keeping the dust down.

The typical emergence of new grass and forb growth was non-existent. Some woody plants managed to leaf out and put on growth, but it was not long before they also shut down. Due to the lack of spring growth, deer were forced to begin eating available low protein browse early which depletes their winter food source. This became apparent around mid-summer as brush showed signs of heavy use and deer began showing poor body conditions. Looking across the landscape one could see large areas of defoliated oaks and rusty colored cedar trees.

Landowners were justifiably concerned about the welfare of wildlife on their ranches. Despite high feed prices, many of them chose to continue supplemental feeding on into the fall and winter. This drought has taken a toll on all wildlife. It not only affects health and reproduction, but it also changes the movement and activity of animals as food and water sources become dangerously limited. This was evident to many as they were seeing half the expected number of deer along survey routes, but yet there was no indication of an unusually high mortality. It was unclear how to move forward in this extreme situation.

There was even some debate among biologists about whether to greatly reduce deer populations to hopefully avoid a die off, or to maintain the current population so that if a die off occurred the herd would have enough individuals to recover. Fortunately, we were blessed with some fall moisture that resulted in considerable forb growth which improved the outlook…at least for the winter.

This past deer season the Kerr WMA estimated its lowest historical fawn crop (wildlife and habitathealth so we chose to make our normal harvest even though it could result in a considerably lower deer density for next season. We have always followed a simple rule, “If you can grow plants then you can grow animals, if you cannot grow plants then you cannot grow animals.” With fewer animals on the range we hope that the plants will make a faster recovery, and eventually we will grow more animals once things return to “normal.”