Opening weekend for rifles in Texas was a great weekend filled with lots of activity. We saw a lot of deer. The biggest issue we experienced was that the deer were constantly moving and appeared to be in the early stages of rut. With the exception of the spikes and small bucks, the bigger bucks were actively moving and not stopping to feed. Opening morning was cold, around 35 degrees. I was sitting in my culdesac blind and had a nice 6 point buck come out and walk 5 yards out of the woods, turn around, and head back into the woods. About 10 minutes later, I could see him coming through the woods again, and he walked right on out and turned and went to the side and into the woods via another trail. I could see another buck behind him about 10 yds. I grabbed my rifle, pulled it up, and by the time I saw the buck in the scope, I only had a side view, and couldn't tell if it was a legal buck. I had about 2 seconds to shoot, and I couldn't pull the trigger without knowing for sure. I am pretty positive it was legal, but without knowing, it wasn't worth the risk. It was darn exciting though!
I took my brother opening weekend also hoping he would get on a buck, but the opportunities he had was a tough, risky shot. He saw a nice 10 point come out and walk straight away from him. There was a few seconds where he could have taken a quartering away shot, but gain, not worth the risk for him.
Bottom line, we were seeing deer activity and that is ALWAYS good!
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| My brother after morning hunt |
I was happy to see that my food plot has started showing real signs of growth (primarily the rye/clover seed mixture from Throw & Grow). The Whitetail Institute seed has also started sprouting, however it was not nearly as evident, but the lack of rain is to blame there. Opening morning, I had several does feeding on the Whitetail Institute forage on my culdesac blind.
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| Does on my food plot |
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| More does on food plot |
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| Food plot with real green rye/clover |
I hunted a ground/chair blind from Ameristep one time (as did my brother). My brother had a spike come out 10 feet from the blind and walk to the feeder! This spot is new, and has a lot of potential.
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| View from inside the chair blind |
We haven't taken a deer yet this season, but we plan to spend much more time in the field over Thanksgiving!
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