Critter Cam

The Cen-Tex Smoker

 I do think there is a prettier PREGNANT sow though. Either that or a super fat pig. Either way, they gotta go.

Um, Pregnant sow, not prettier. There is nothing pretty about it ha ha. Damn iPhone.

TechsasJim

@The Cen-Tex Smoker
Yes, 100% agree about the $ to hunt captive deer.    I've never shot a whitetail, just not mad enough at them but invasive species / pests is a different story but I wouldn't pay to hunt those either, that's just me.

I have a co-worker going through the same issues you are down in South Texas.    He has to manage it properly and working with the state to cull the herd.

Lack of snakes isn't a bad thing at all, I've had my fair share of rattlesnake run-ins while dove hunting and that'll get the adrenaline going.

Keep the critter cam pics coming, nice to live vicariously.

Thanks again!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I've had my fair share of rattlesnake run-ins while dove hunting and that'll get the adrenaline going.

Same. That will make you watch your step. I have found if you sit on the beer cooler or tailgate and only shoot birds that fall in your lap, that takes a lot of the danger of walking around out of the equation.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

ksmyrl said:

How much land do you have @The Cen-Tex Smoker. It sounds like a lot.

We moved about a year ago from a neighborhood to 4 acres. The good news is it's mostly wooded and has very little manicured grass. I have a lifetime supply of firewood and the shade is awesome. The good/bad news there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done in the "yard". Adding an entrance gate/fence is my fall project after the kid's sports seasons wrap up. 

We have 100 acres. It sounded big when we bought it but it's pretty manageable. We have a partner in the land who does not live here (buddy who comes out to work and play with his kids). We each officially own 50 but we operate it as one ranch property. His 50 is totally raw land so it all just kind of blends together. We have a barn apartment that they crash in when they come out. 

RRP

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

 I do think there is a prettier PREGNANT sow though. Either that or a super fat pig. Either way, they gotta go.

Um, Pregnant sow, not prettier. There is nothing pretty about it ha ha. Damn iPhone.

Sure I wasn't the only one who wondered about that, but expectant mommies often have a special glow and I thought you might have thought the same about your Miss Piggy...

TechsasJim

@The Cen-Tex Smoker
On a different, yet similar, note, Dove season opens this week for your region.   Do you hunt bird on your property?    Season seems like it will be much more promising than the previous 2 years.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

TechsasJim said:

@The Cen-Tex Smoker
On a different, yet similar, note, Dove season opens this week for your region.   Do you hunt bird on your property?    Season seems like it will be much more promising than the previous 2 years.

We have a ton of dove out here right now but they always seem to vanish 8/31. We can't plant or put anything like milo down to attract them or the deer eat it in 10 seconds. We do have a gravel road next to a tank where the come to grit and drink in the evenings but they really do just disappear when the season opens. We will see this year.

TechsasJim

@The Cen-Tex Smoker
that sounds familiar.   I usually hunt the South Zone (it's a whopping 1.5miles south of the delineation line) although I live 5 miles north in the Central Zone.    Often times I could shoot more birds in my neighborhood than the ranch.     SMH

Hopefully this year it changes b/c there are a TON of dove where I hunt.

alaskanassasin

Awesome thread!  You said 1,500 lbs a week and I am thinking holee smoke what? 130 Deer on 100 acres that is crazy, you must have deer everywhere!   Is your house and yard fenced?   

   I heard you on cutting back the herd but you could set up a feed bin that your local mill delivers to then dump out of that into a material bucket on you bobcat or something.   Or get a get a gravity wagon with a auger and tow that to the grain mill.   I assume you have a local grain mill your getting corn from?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

alaskanassasin said:

Awesome thread!  You said 1,500 lbs a week and I am thinking holee smoke what? 130 Deer on 100 acres that is crazy, you must have deer everywhere!   Is your house and yard fenced?   

   I heard you on cutting back the herd but you could set up a feed bin that your local mill delivers to then dump out of that into a material bucket on you bobcat or something.   Or get a get a gravity wagon with a auger and tow that to the grain mill.   I assume you have a local grain mill your getting corn from?

We had 130 whitetail when we bought the place. We took 60 last year and a few died of natural causes. We have about 75-80 (including fawns) right now. We will take that down to like 15-20 (not including fawns) this year.

I am buying feed from the mill. I have looked into bulk feed but all the bulk feed is delivered on semis around here. They can't get back to my place (very narrow, windy granite roads). On top of that, I'm trying to get the herd down to where the land can support them and the feed is only supplemental. We have so many now that the land cannot support them. They just eat everything that pops up the second it pops up and it's not nearly enough to support the herd we have.  I don't love whitetail meat so I'm not super excited to spend $30k a year on feed to let other people shoot them. I do like having them around and I want to have some friends and family hunts. But I don't need 100 deer to do that.

My biggest concern and the main reason we are thinking of going back to low fence, is that once the herd is that small, the genetics are going to deteriorate within a few years. I would need to get new does in every few years and I would prefer that to occur naturally.

Yard is fenced, house is not. Guy before me had feeders right in the front yard so he could watch them. It was disgusting. Deer $hit everywhere. I moved the feeders to another part of the property and they stay over there for the most part now.

alaskanassasin

Sounds like a interesting season in your life! Thanks for sharing and enjoy 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

alaskanassasin said:

Sounds like a interesting season in your life! Thanks for sharing and enjoy 

it is that for sure ha ha. we like to keep in interesting around here. Kids gone? Let's buy a ranch!

fishlessman

we could send you down some massachusetts city coyotes to thin the herd. they look hungry

RRP

fishlessman said:

we could send you down some massachusetts city coyotes to thin the herd. they look hungry

Malnourished looking coyotes - at least by IL standards - don't they team up and bring down a moose now and then?

fishlessman

RRP said:

fishlessman said:

we could send you down some massachusetts city coyotes to thin the herd. they look hungry

Malnourished looking coyotes - at least by IL standards - don't they team up and bring down a moose now and then?

i have never seen one like this, theres too much game around here. winter they find the deer yards and eat well but a moose would squash it, it would go out of its way to squash it. almost lost a dog a few years ago, its instinctive. coyotes here are usually 60 pounds and up, this one doesnt even look like a coyote its so scrawny 

alaskanassasin

Yotes killed 4 of my buddies sheep last night 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

plenty of coyotes around. Bobcats too. We get bobcats on the property but the coyotes don't seem to find their way in.

RyanStl

We have coyotes in the subdivision wooded common ground behind our else. Saw one first time a month ago. We aren't letting the cats out at night now. I believe the labs scare them off when they are out

shtgunal3

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

RyanStl said:

Do you need tags and/or a hunting season for the deer? I assume the feral hogs are always in season and unlimited 

We have management tags to where we can shoot as many whitetails as we need to and we can start early and go a little later than the general season. 

It is open season for the Axis, blackbuck, fallow, and definitely the pigs. We are mainly focused on getting the whitetails in balance with the land we have and eradicating  the pigs. I need to take an axis buck or 2 as well. Too many alphas and they are starting to fight. 

I’d be happy to help thin the herd. 

fishlessman

RyanStl said:

We have coyotes in the subdivision wooded common ground behind our else. Saw one first time a month ago. We aren't letting the cats out at night now. I believe the labs scare them off when they are out

the ones around me are mixed with red wolf, seen one at  a weigh station that was 77 pounds. they would take out the labs

fishlessman

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

plenty of coyotes around. Bobcats too. We get bobcats on the property but the coyotes don't seem to find their way in.

must be alot of game outside the fence because if they want in they will find a way.  ive chased them off my 0.1 acre lot in mass only to get back and there they are again doubling back looking for my dog. had one run into my storm door just as it shut behind me once.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

fishlessman said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

plenty of coyotes around. Bobcats too. We get bobcats on the property but the coyotes don't seem to find their way in.

must be alot of game outside the fence because if they want in they will find a way.  ive chased them off my 0.1 acre lot in mass only to get back and there they are again doubling back looking for my dog. had one run into my storm door just as it shut behind me once.

True. Im sandwiched in between several other ranches and in a county that varmint control is done for sport lol. Any time someone sees a coyote my phone blows up from all the neighbors. I have 600 acres of high fence on one side and 600 low fence on the other but he leases that out to hunters and they keep it pretty clean. A coyote could get in here if they wanted but they would have to get through a bunch of trigger happy neighbors to get here. 

fishlessman

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

fishlessman said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

plenty of coyotes around. Bobcats too. We get bobcats on the property but the coyotes don't seem to find their way in.

must be alot of game outside the fence because if they want in they will find a way.  ive chased them off my 0.1 acre lot in mass only to get back and there they are again doubling back looking for my dog. had one run into my storm door just as it shut behind me once.

True. Im sandwiched in between several other ranches and in a county that varmint control is done for sport lol. Any time someone sees a coyote my phone blows up from all the neighbors. I have 600 acres of high fence on one side and 600 low fence on the other but he leases that out to hunters and they keep it pretty clean. A coyote could get in here if they wanted but they would have to get through a bunch of trigger happy neighbors to get here. 

thats my problem with the house in mass, im chasing them away with a leaded nightstick and two houses down someones feeding the things. maine, i toss fish on a sandbar in the fall in the middle of a river and the neighbors take care of the rest. the city ones act "friendly"

TechsasJim

Coyote hunting is necessary.    My buddy has cattle and his calves were attacked by a pack.    No sense letting the nuisance critters enjoy the beef when we, as hunters, can remedy the problem.    Of note there is now a donkey mixed in with the cattle and a new 'drop in' trigger in my AR.

RRP

TechsasJim said:

   Of note there is now a donkey mixed in with the cattle 

Ok - for us city folk who will admit we don't know these things...what does a donkey do? Kill coyotes or warn you of their presence?

TechsasJim

@RRP

Normally if a donkey is present predators are less likely to bother.   If a predator does come around the donkey will alert and can do some damage with kicking.   

Legume

Biden is going to take your donkeys.

fishlessman

Legume said:

Biden is going to take your donkeys.

and dont charge your electric cars....save the power grid

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Legume said:

Biden is going to take your donkeys.

He can pry it from my cold, dead...never mind

Ozzie_Isaac

alaskanassasin said:

Yotes killed 4 of my buddies sheep last night 

Get your buddy a donkey.  They are great herd protectors.  They will stomp a 'yote to death.

Edit:. Looks like I am late to the party as usual.