Hi Dusty, hope I can chime in on your conversation. Amarillo '74 to '81, too cold for me and grew tired of the wind. Was there for college in Canyon.
Installed software at the Jasper Public Library early '90's.
We were through Brady twice last weekend going to and from our property outside Rocksprings. Erath and Parker county were full of deer. Mid afternoon and they were feeding by the dozens, quite a few turkey were also out.
Would be interested in your land management techniques.
wes

 

Hey Westexas,

I will comment on your comments in order. Since you are currently in Lewisville, I will start there.

Lewisville: Our daughter taught math in the middle school for about ten years. We were in Denton for Thanksgiving.
Amarillo: I agree with all of your comments. You mentioned wind but forgot to mention dust. When combined, they form dust storms.
(incidentally, Amarillo is the only place I have ever been where the few trees that do exist lean towards the northeast)
Brady: Doesn't take long to get through there does it.
Rocksprings: Talking with a guy today who along with nine other guys bought a ranch in Rocksprings. I believe the ranch is 7000 acres.
My friend said the deer and turkey are abundent. I've never been there.
Land/Game management: Basically confer with the state game biologist. Last year he advised a heavy harvest of doe's and limit the harvest of eight point's. This year, he backed off the heavy doe harvest, but still suggests limiting the eight point harvest. He has stressed harvesting of spikes and non typicals. On some portions of the lease, deer are fed year round. Some mineral suppliments are provided. You need to be aware that the only vegetation in the area is mesquite, cedar, and prickly pear cactus. Not a lot of natural browse. I've always wondered why the deer do so well there considering the limited browse. East Texas is like a giant buffet salad in comparison, and we have trouble getting deer to grow. The management plan that is right for one place is not necessarily the right plan for another place. I will always remember when we got to our lease at Brady just before sundown a couple of weeks ago, we saw about fifty deer grazing in a pasture. They looked like jack rabbits. Since you've been to Amarillo, you know what that is.

Ted

 

My, My, how small the world appears some times. I do not recall blowing dirt in Amarillo, but I do recall alot of dirt in Canyon. At least it was not the @#$% Lubbock sand blowing. And, Amarillo is the only place I have lived where nothing rusts and colds are miserable.
Wow, 7,000 acres, belittles our 200. Any idea of the ranch name?
Thanks for the game management info, we are new at this so any information is learning. Not real sure what we have available. It is rare for us to see whitetail, we see alot of Axis deer. Oh, and we have swarms of pigs or hogs, not sure which is correct. I have research to do on the spike buck, do not understand.
We do not have much mesquite, but do have cedar with alot of Pinon Pine and Mountain Laurel.
Jack rabbits, those little furry critters with a body about 1 foot long and hind legs about 3 feet long? Did you see any jack-o-lopes? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
Enough chatter for now, love having my Kodiak to roam the ranch with steep canyons and tons of rock.
Hope to catch you later.
wes

 

Wes,

My friend only got 129 of the 7000 acres. He claims it is the best 129 acres on the whole ranch. I don't know the name of the ranch.

If you want to see a visual example of a "spike" rack, go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/licenses..._annual_03.pdf

This is the Texas parks and wildlife page for hunting regulations. It is an adobe acrobat file which contains 71 pages. Scroll down to page 39 and you will see the different antlers defined as legal and non legal for hunting. Use the page counter in acrobat. Not the page numbers printed at the bottom of each page. Technically a spike buck is defined as having at least one non branched antler. Most knowledgeable people claim a spike buck will always be a spike buck no matter what you do. They claim they should be removed to prevent the genetics from being passed on. Other people claim a spike buck and some other non typical bucks can become bucks with normal racks if they are allowed to grow and receive the proper minerals. I personally believe it is genetics.

The hogs are a blast to hunt. You really need to control their population if you want a lot of deer. They compete for some foods. The deer don't seem to like to hang around when the wild hogs are around. The hogs also naturally "root" around for food below the ground surface. This disturbs the ground and contributes to erosion when it rains. If you shoot a sow or a shoat (young pig), they are very good to eat. They do smell pretty bad while you are skinning them.
Ted

 

Hogs.....

Reminds me of the true meaning of hunting:

I was on a lease just outside of Bandera, Texas. We had a new guy on the lease who had never shot anything, and opening morning, ten minutes past sunrise, we heard a shot from his direction. Well, we all stayed put, and spent some time in our blinds. About 10:30ish, we all climbed out of our blinds, and wandered back to camp. This newbie was there, smiling ear-to-era and just bragging about this hog he shot. We all load up in a jeep, and sure enuf', there is about a 450 lb. boar, dead'er than a door nail, laying smack dab under his feeder. 450 lbs. of nasty, stinky, beat up, one ear missing, BOAR. Now, he is excited, and, well, the rest of us....been there, done that. But we don't tell Newbie....

Anyway, first shot, opening morning, and he hammers an old boar. He wants help loading it in the jeep. We all just looked at one another. NOPE. Not touching him. (If you have ever handled a seasoned boar, it takes days for the smell to come off your hands). I wrap his back legs with a chain, and literally drug him back to camp, no worse for the wear. Now he wants help caping and butchering. Butchering? Who the HECK is gonna eat that? He insists. Well, we string him up, and take Newbies picture next to it. We hand him a series of knives, and we all coach him but let him do the handling. Two hours later, this pig is in quarters, and the cape and head are in a bag, in the cooler.

Fast foward one month. I get invited over to his house one morning to work on his deck. I get there, and it smells like someone is buring piles of human hair in his house. Ever smell that smell? Well, that is what an old boar smells like when it is cooking! I smile, and have homemade biscuits and old boar sausage for breakfast.

Well, that was ten years ago, and Newbie (Larry) is as excited today about that first big boar as he was then. Just this past weekend, after a few beverages, were we all able to finally tell him our side of the story. He smiled, and laughed with us. Then, he said "yea, but it was with you guys...what a great memory that is for me". That old boar is up on the wall just above Larry's lazy-boy recliner now too....

So, have I been hog hunting? YEP. Oh, and to hear Larry tell it now....that pig was 700 lbs, not 450.......

 

Hey ChuckyBrown,

Larry is my kind of guy. If it made him happy, more power to him.

I was hog hunting with a friend this past summer who believes that hunting should always be a blood sport. If he can't kill something, he just ain't happy. The week before we went hog hunting, he had been hunting in Africa. I'm the kind of hunter who just enjoys the experience and figure I can always buy my meat at Krogers. This big old boar came along (about 350 lbs.) and I was taking photos of it. My friend was getting real itchy and kept asking me when I'm gonna shoot it. I wouldn't have been real unhappy if the hog had wandered off before I could lay down my camera and get my rifle up cause I knew it wouldn't be any good to eat. My friend finally convinced me that if I killed it and we could cut it's ********* off fast enough, it would eat just fine. I got a good shot on the critter, but he still was able to run about a hundred yards. I had to track him on my hands and knees through briars and brambles before we finally found him. I still felt it was a waste of time to clean him, but my friend emasculated him quickly and said "yea! he will be good eating". We quartered him and iced him down in a cooler overnight. The next morning, I hauled him to the butcher who opened the cooler lid, took one whiff, and said "I don't process boars". After getting a good smell, I totally agreed with him. From now on, the only boars I shoot are the ones who knock down my deer feeders or create havoc in other ways.

Ted

 

Hey, I appreciate the thread on hog hunting. I have never hunted them, but I am heading to Texas in February to do just that. I have friends who have done it, and said it is a hoot. I am looking forward to the trip. My friend said they were very good eating, so I would surmise from your comments that he must have shot a sow? I am not into shooting something huge, and having it mounted (do that enough with deer) so I am mostly meat hunting. What do you recommend that I go after???

As for bragging, it has been a good season so far. Nice Cow elk in Colorado in October, a 200+ lb. 6x5 mule deer in Nebraska in November, along with pheasant, grouse and turkey. Our group went 15 for 15 on bucks in Nebraska, with only one less than an 8-point. Some really big and nice deer. December was deer in Iowa, and a decent 8-point. Now, just waiting for Texas and Hogs in February. Oh, forgot, have to take the boys to the game farm over Christmas so they can have a chance at some pheasants and chukker.

Appreciate the info on Texas hogs.

 

Chieften,

Sows and shoats (young hogs, male or female) are good eating. I don't think I would drive very far for one though. In Texas they arn't even listed as a game animal. You can hunt them year round though it does require a hunting license. They are a blast to hunt because you can do it so many ways. Guns or archery are the standard, but I do know one guy who does it with a bowie knife. He wrestles the critter till he can get the knife to it's throat. I sometimes hunt them from my deer stand, sometimes from the ground. The really good thing about wild hogs is the fact that they are thick over most of east and south Texas. If you really want to learn about the sport, there are lots of web pages dedicated to the animal and the sport.

Ted

 

Thanks for the info, I have been searching the web for info from time to time. I know that some hunt with a knife, and some live catch them, but my dad used to raise hogs, and some of those were pretty mean, and they weren't wild. Every so often, up here in hog raising country, we hear about a farmer who was killed and eaten on by his pigs. SO, I am planning on hunting with a gun. I can take two, so I am going after one with a rifle, either my .300 WSM or a .444 Marlin, depending upon range, and then one with my 30.06 Single shot pistol.

 

Chieftam,

I guess it is only fair for the hogs to turn the tables on us occasionally. I wonder if they sit around the camp fire at night discussing which tastes better, the sows or the boars. I hope they agree that the sows taste better. It scares me to think that they may decide the boars taste good if you emasculate them quickly after the kill.

Your right, they can be pretty bad tempered and the boars are always looking for a way to use those tusks on you. When I was on my hands and knees tracking a wounded boar through the brambles, I had a pistol in my shorts wondering if I could get it out fast enough if he found me before I found him.

Good luck on your hog hunt. I don't keep any trophies for my wall (just not interested), but they tell me a big boar head with good tusks makes a great wall hanging. I guess I just have more interest in a hog in the cooking pot than a hog hanging on my wall.

Ted