Frank's outdoors...

My buddy Mark found the old fella back and still alive after the crossbow shot on his shoulder last season on opening day archery.  He appears to be no worse for wear and still in the area.  Oh yeah, and his rack has grown!

So the black powder season started on Monday (1/3/2012) in Texas.  Pretty much you get one shot during the sit in the stand.  I went out on Monday evening, and had a pretty exciting sit.  I have my Thompson Center Pro Hunter that I got for Christmas last year.  Around 5:15pm, 3 does shot out from right beside my blind and went every which way in front of me.  Not sure if they caught my scent or heard me move from inside, but they blew out from beside me.  After a bit of snorting, they re-entered the field from all sides, and there were 5 in total.  I saw a doe (or yearling) that had an injured front hoof, and was waiting for an opportunity to take her. Unfortunately, it never presented a shot opportunity.  I had MANY other shots I could have taken, and in hindsight I probably should have.  Either way, it was an exciting evening hunt, with lots of deer activity on my food plot. After the hunt, I gathered my SD card from the camera, and ...

I got on my lease real close to the start of last season.  As I sat in my tripod one morning and looked over my barren field, I started making plans for the NEXT season on how I would prepare the field.  The challenge lay before me in acquiring/coordinating getting the work done.  I don't live near my lease, and don't have any equipment.  So basically, borrowing, renting, etc. was going to be the course of action.  As with everything else, life takes over and the season was upon us before I knew it.  I still had been planning but the execution and coordination was becoming the bigger challenge.  Throw in the fact that we hadn't had ANY rain for months and it was looking like it was going to be another barren field... Well, I blogged in the past about how it all came to be... the purchase of the drag harrow, and laying the seed in the first rain in months, etc. etc. etc.  Well, I turned my game camera towards the plot the week leading up to my ta...

Was looking at some pics of this buck from the game camera prior to him breaking off a few of his tines.  Pretty cool to see how it has changed.

After sitting in the stand and hunting hard since the season opened, I finally got a nice deer on the ground. He made me earn it for sure! The Details: I was in the stand by 5:45am, with sunrise at 7:15am.  It was a half moon, but overcast with slight fog so I had moderate visibility.  It was still dark around 6:40am.  As usual, my eyes are playing tricks on me with the fog and waiting for the sunrise, and I see something flicker behind the feeder (about 100yds away).  I grabbed my binoculars and there he was rubbing his antlers in the brush back behind the feeder.  I watched him for a minute or so, then grabbed my rifle when he started to walk towards me to the food plot.  He was starting to head to the left (where there is a game trail that heads back into the woods).  I put the cross hairs on him and landed a perfect hit behind the shoulder with him right at the edge of the food plot.  I was shocked and thrilled!  6:45am, 30 min to ...

My buddy Mark sat in the stand this morning at our lease.  He has a blind that is less than half mile from my back loop blind.  Around 8:10am a doe walked out and started acting skittish.  A few seconds later this bruiser walks out and gave Mark about 5 seconds to pull the trigger.  He pulled wasn't sure if he hit the deer at all.  He waited a few minutes to begin looking for blood and tracking.  No blood.  There is a trail that leads away from the feeder toward a creek bottom, so he thought that potentially the deer may have headed there for cover.  Sure enough, he was piled up 30-40 yds down that trail! Nice shot, Mark!  I am jealous that you now have meat in your freezer!  UPDATE:  I think I got a picture of this boy a few days before Mark took him.  Take a look:

So I went out the day after Thanksgiving, and took my daughter on her first hunt.  We were really just there to sit and watch deer, we didn't even take a rifle.  I wanted her to experience sitting in the blind, see what comes out, enjoy the serenity of being quiet in the woods, and enjoying my time her!  For a 6 yr old, she did very well.  We were only going to sit for about an hour and a half, and that was just the right amount of time.  She started to get a little bored, so I let her play a game on my phone.  As it turns out, we didn't have anything come visit the field that evening other than an owl and quite a few doves.  Either way, she asked a lot of good questions, and was actively looking for action.  Although, as with any youngster, the question "So, when are the deer going to come?" made me laugh... as I ask myself that a lot!  :) Also while there, I noticed how well the food plot is coming in!  Lots of greenery, and than...

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'...

So, what rituals and things do you do to prepare?  Here is my breakdown of things I have been doing this month to get ready for the season (in no particular order). I have been going out every week or so to pull SD cards from my cameras in anticipation!  Trying to figure out when the deer are coming/going as well as WHAT deer are coming/going.  It certainly hasn't helped my buck fever. Sighted in the guns.  My brother and I went to the range and made sure all the guns were still on target.  We each shot the 3 rifles we'll use this season to ensure we are both seeing the same results.  We are using: Marlin .30-30 with a Leupold VX2 4-12x40 scope.  Real nice brush gun, but I want to put a 3-9x50 scope on it.  I have shot maybe 2 deer with this gun. Remington 700 ADL .270 with a Leupold VX2 3-9x50 scope.  My first gun, and it has been a solid rifle for years.  I have taken MANY deer with this gun. Remington 700 SPS .308 Left handed ...

Got some interesting pics of a nice buck running some does...

Alright, we are 4 weeks from opening day of rifle season here in Texas, and I have everything ready.  I went out to the lease on Sunday afternoon during the first major rain in over 6 months!  Finally got my Polaris "muddy". On Friday, my buddy Mark and his friend Gary took a tractor and brush hog and cut down my field at a finishing cut length, which looked fantastic.  On Sunday, when I got there I took my new harrow, dragged it over the field with the needles down to really scratch the wet, muddy dirt/sand mixture.  It was a lot muddier than I thought.  I believed it was primarily sand, but the amount of soil is quite surprising and a pleasant one at that.  After that it was seeding time.  I used the Whitetail Institute - Imperial Whitetail Extreme seed and that covered half of my field.  The other half I covered with Evolved Harvest Throw & Grow .  Both of these I picked up at Gander Mountain.  Now it was time to fertilize....

Below are some pictures of a couple bucks I have on camera... Nice buck 8 or 10 pt Spike, similar to other spikes we've seen on this property Another real nice buck And the coyotes...

The mineral lick I put out at the Culdesac blind is getting some attention!  Pretty cool, I always wondered if they would go near these things...  Proof is in the pudding:

My buddy Mark and I spent all Saturday morning working on my back blind setup today.  The goal was to get the "rough" food plot done by using the drag harrow, spreading seed, and laying fertilizer as well as preparing some shooting lanes. When we got out there, we got straight to work opening up the main viewing lane down to the feeder.  It was grueling work.  Lots of vines, baby yaupon trees, and oak saplings.  There were several areas where the trees have bent completely over and other trees and dead brush have continued to fall upon them forming a natural bivouac or lean-to shelter.  These things were upwards of 10 feet tall and took us a long time to break down. Food plot and widened view to the feeder  You can see in the food plot picture that there is a significant difference from the way it was originally.  It is very dry and dusty, so we'll need to some rain to get growth for sure.  Also, I put down some lime/fertilizer mixture to ...