Last week my son and I went to the deer lease to fill feeders. He loves the deer lease. We’re close enough to home to go out in the morning, but leaving at 4:00 a.m. is hard on a 3 year old. So we went out Saturday night while everyone else came out early Sunday morning. We checked the game cameras, drove around, dug in the dirt, filled a feeder, and generally had a good time.

Since this is a the pig forum, here’s a pig.



And another.



A turkey. I’ve never seen one on this side of the lease though I did see the largest turkey track I’ve ever seen 100 yards from this feeder in May.



Digging in the dirt by Surefire. Nicholas wasn’t quite ready to go back to camp.



Stomping a weed. (Those are daddy's boots on the ladder.)



Checking out the game camera.



Lunch.



Deer lease buffet. Luby’s eat your heart out.





Here’s an interesting deer. I saw this deer last year. I aged him at 2.5. Looking at this picture does anyone put him at 4.5? We’re in a Texas county that has antler restrictions. This means among other things that the deer must have a 13” inside spread to be legal. Last year he was legal and maybe just a bit over. I saw him three times and thought about culling him because of the asymmetric racks. He was the same last year with the right side’s being pretty normal with the left side’s being a bit squashed out and over. But I ultimately didn’t cull him since he was a younger deer with decent antlers. This year he appears much bigger to me. I’m estimating that he’s got a couple of additional inches of inside spread. He appears to be still in velvet, but even considering that he’s clearly got more mass. What I notice most though is his body. He’s really filled out from last year. I want to see him out of velvet, but I think with the growth from last year to this year, he’s got potential to get pretty big. Hopefully, he’ll make it another year or two.



Overall a very fun trip for son and dad.

LWD

Great outing-great pix!

Bob

I would love to see that deer in 2-3 more years! Great way to start the young'ns!

Andy

I don't know what kind of deer growth/size you have there, but without your input, I'd put him at 2 1/2 and about 13-14 inches inside. If you're in a small antlered area he could be 3 1/2 but I would never put him at 4 1/2. Of course, I've been wrong before. Great kid BTW.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
I don't know what kind of deer growth/size you have there, but without your input, I'd put him at 2 1/2 and about 13-14 inches inside. If you're in a small antlered area he could be 3 1/2 but I would never put him at 4 1/2. Of course, I've been wrong before. Great kid BTW.

+1

Perry

Always take time to allow digging in the dirt.

+1 to what Gato says. 2.5 to 3.5 years max. I would say he'd have more development in the brisket and a little less arch to the belly at the flank if he was 4.5.

As to diggin' in the dirt. My oldest is 28. He started diggin in the dirt with me while hunting at 5. We still do that on occasion, (usually when building a stand).

We usually keep a couple of game cameras set out. First thing we do when we get to our lease is go get the discs so we can view the pictures. Sometimes one of the high points of an evening!
Best
GWB

I'd guess 2.5, 3.5 max too--no sway to the back. And, I'm 64 but still dig in the dirt--looking for artifacts. As much fun as hunting, except for pigs.

Thank you for the kind compliments. I took my son out for a night last year and he loved it. He now asks when we are going again. He's quite the trooper too. Only things he complains about are the mosquitoes and going to bed.

Regarding the deer, I'm pretty confident he's 3.5 based on how much fuller bodied he is this year. He's not really any bigger, but he appears to have really filled out.

We have an interesting mix of deer. I'm not an expert of Texas regional variations of white tail deer, but one of our hunters thinks that we sit on the border of north texas and Hill Country deer. The lease is in Somervell County near Glen Rose.

We have some small bodied deer and some larger but not huge bodied deer. We have some good mass on antlers but those don't tend to be very wide. There are also some pretty wide antlers too. But they don't really intersect. The very best deer taken off the property by our group wasn't but 15" wide but was very tall with heavy mass. On the other hand, the only buck taken last year was almost 18" wide with average mass and height and palmated brow tines. I got a 13 point on game camera last October that physically was only about 2/3 the size of this buck.

Regards,

LWD

LWD, I think you are dead on with 2 1/2, I have aged too many jaw bones of bucks just like him that guys thought were older. We are trying to leave our good bucks to 5 or 6 years and give them time to pass some genetics on. Have plenty of hogs to keep us busy until the bucks are ready. Love seeing the youngster in the middle of it all. We are so close to loosing that.

That turkey was out in 118 degrees. Thought they were smarter than that.

Love the John Deere Boots on the boy.

3.5 on the deer, given that you saw him last year.

+1 on the 118degrees is too hot for a turkey, unless you're heating up the oven for him.