Monday, November 30, 2009

South Texas Deer Hunt

Well I gave up duck hunting for my Thabksgiving Break I had a chance to visit a friend in South Texas who owns a QDMA ranch. I hunted there from Wednesday until Saturday and in that length of time I saw more giant deer than i will ever see in Tennessee. I could only shoot axis deer, old does, or old bucks. I saw many whitetail does and the same number if not more bucks. A few times the deer were close enough i could pet them. I had to have seen at least 20 bucks on the entire trip that would score over 130" and at least 5 deer that would score 150" or better. I was amazed at all of the giant racks on the deer in texas. The only thing that did not add up for me was their body size. I shot a 3 1/2 year old doe that weighed 65 pounds back here in Tennessee I could expect a 3 1/2 year old doe to be anywhere from 100 to 150 pounds depending where i was hunting.
I never got to take a trophy buck in Texas. I never saw a buck that would have been mature enough for me to take and no one be upset. The axis buck i shot was in velvet not very big yet, but there was another axis buck with this one that was close to 36" wide at the top of his rack and his main beams were 40-56" long. He was absolutely massive but he never jumped the fence into the property i was hunting.
Although i did take my break from duck hunting it is the only one for this year. This weekend Arkansas has a juvenile hunt so I am traveling to Tunica, Mississippi to try my luck. The weather is calling for the low temps to be in the high 20s so it ought to be an excellent weekend for hunting.
Hope everyone has alot of luck hunting this week.
Cade Patton

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