I don't know about ya'll but I've been waitin' since January 7th or so for this coming Saturday, opening day of rifle season..

I am flat ready to experience the joy that comes from being afield. Not to mention killin' critters.




























Best

GWB

Todd,
You are right. These are some of the game I've taken over the last 12 years in the Texas hill country. Most are from the Rex Kelly ranch north of Vanderpool, Tx. I was there for six years. Others are from the Spanish Gourd ranch north of Bracketville, and from one of Dolph Briscoe's ranches @ Reagan Wells.
Only taken a doe so far (bow kill). I hope to rectify that as I'm heading up Thursday to bow hunt Thursday eve and Friday morn. Then its on to Friday night's festivities and opening morning. Hogs are taking over. I hope to shoot several this weekend. Maybe take a couple does early. I usually don't take a buck until the week between Christmas and New Year.
Here's wishing you and yours a safe and enjoyable season

Best


GWB

PS: As to envy, the same can be said here,

as ya'll have


Vistas


snow


elk


and mule deer

Thanks for the primer, GWB!

I always enjoy seeing your posts and photos.

I am ready for Saturday -- have been for a LONG time. I didn't pull the trigger on a whitetail last season but hope to make amends very soon --if this decrepit body will cooperate.

The bucks are getting quite active, and from all indicators, I am guessing we are maybe a week or so from the peak of the rut for this area.

I usually am stoked about now,but as poachers have spotlighted some of the nicer Bucks here I am now hunting poachers.

I guess I'm looking forward to Saturday, too. I love your pictures, GWB, but you need to take some new ones. Go draw in blood, and show us some new pics.

Those last ones ain't Texas. They kind of look like my country in Colorado. So, tell me, where thay were. I never get tired of looking at pics of a bull elk on the ground.

quote:

Originally posted by Flags:
Those last ones ain't Texas. They kind of look like my country in Colorado. So, tell me, where thay were. I never get tired of looking at pics of a bull elk on the ground.

Flags, you are right. Perhaps I didn't make it clear. The vista is the headwaters of the Rio Grande. The other three are taken near the campgrounds at SilverJack Reservior in the Uncompahgre National forest, near Ouray, and Montrose. The bull was taken at Lou's Pass, I was at a place called "cabbage patch" when I took the pix of the mule deer buck.

Best

GWB

I wasn't off by much. I was kind of thinking the southern slopes of the Grand mesa. That means I missed by about 60 miles. But, That's not bad since I'm in Virginia right now and going from memory.

It's been about 7 years since I got home for some elk hunting. Navy duty has kept me far from home. Can't wait until I retire. I'll never set foot east of the Mississippi again when that time comes. Been away from my beloved ocky Mountains for too long.

Congrats of the bull. Any bull taken in free range conditions is something to be proud of.

Flags,

I apologize for any misunderstanding. I did not take that bull. One of my buds did.
This was a public lands hunt. This was his 8th trip and second bull. I was responding to Just-a-hunter's remark about being envious. Colorado has a great appeal for me as a flatlander. The mountains, elk and mule-deer are something I have to go out of state to experience.

Best


GWB

That's quite a graveyard Geedubya
All in 12 years?
You been busy, good luck

quote:

Originally posted by Geedubya:
The mountains, elk and mule-deer are something I have to go out of state to experience.

Best


GWB

Sorry but elk, mule deer, and mountains can all be found in Texas.

ravenr-

Those are just the tip of the iceberg of GWB's kills. That guy REALLY knows how to keep a skinning knife dull...

For the first time in almost 30 years, I'll be observing "Opening Day" in the field. While I don't expect to fill a tag (but then again, who knows), I pity the first feral hog of less than 100 lbs. that comes out. Here piggy, piggy. Good luck to all!

AC

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Good luck on your upcoming hunt.

That buck on the tailgate appears to have a muley rack, but a whitetail face and ears????

quote:

Originally posted by kudu56:
Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Good luck on your upcoming hunt.

That buck on the tailgate appears to have a muley rack, but a whitetail face and ears????

Hybrid maybe? I got one in eastern Colorado in 1994. It has a whitetail looking face with a mulies big ears. It also had a tail like a whitetail but it was only about 3 inches long like a mulies. First thing I noticed about it that made me think is was kind of different was the gait. Sort of a combination of running like a whitetail but also bouncing like a mulie.

Had the Game Warden in Brush Colorado take a look at it. They were the ones that told me it was a hybrid. Probably from a whitetail buck and a mulie doe. They took some tissue samples and a couple of teeth out of it for some sort of database they were compiling. Probably a once in a life time deer. Not real big, 2 pts on one side and 3 on the other. I has hunting meat that day and not antlers.

Out on the anch in Pecos countyu where I do my javelina hunts, there are quite a few mule deer/white tail hybrids. One of the quickest ways to tell if it is a hybrid, is to watch them try to run. It isn't really running like a white tail or stotting like a mulie but sort of a halfass combination of the two.

I shot that particular deer on the Spanish Gourd Ranch. It is 16 mile north of Brackettville. Only hunted there two years. A developer bought the 23000 acre ranch and decided to bust it up into 50 and 100 acre parcels. The ranch owner decided to institute a game management plan the year we got on. After we had paid our money they came up with all kind of rules. We got one trophy buck and one cull. They told us that any deer with no brow tines over 4 years old was a cull. I figured this one qualified. They said it was my trophy buck. I also think it was a mule deer cross. It was early in December IIRC when I shot him. I was sitting watching a young 4 pt. buck and a doe. I had been wathching them for a few minutes when the little buck looked up and then high tailed it. I got my gun up. This buck came in on a dead run. I was about 120 yds away. Hit him right in the spine. Down he went.
GWB

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
Out on the anch in Pecos countyu where I do my javelina hunts, there are quite a few mule deer/white tail hybrids. One of the quickest ways to tell if it is a hybrid, is to watch them try to run. It isn't really running like a white tail or stotting like a mulie but sort of a halfass combination of the two.

Yep. That's exactly how the one I shot was moving. It just didn't move like either a whitetail or a mulie. The best way I could descibe it was that it moved kind of "goofy".

That particular deer came of a ranch on old family friend owns. It is a little over 10,000 acres just north of Joes Colorado and south of Yuma Colorado. The Republican River runs through the middle of it. Fantastic deer, turkey, varmint and waterfowl hunting with some fair to good pheasant and quail. The Nature Conservatory bought the ranches on both sides of it, so nobody can hunt those. There are some monster deer there. Funny thing though, I've never taken a trophy deer off the place. Seems like I use it more for a good supply of meat than a place to get big antlers. It's one of those places that I can always get a private land only tag for and go out and get a deer by either watching the hay meadows or walking along the river bank. We always used to call a trip out there "going grocery shopping".

Picked up a whitetail shed once that had 13 points on the right antler. Never found the left one or saw the buck that dropped it, but it had to have been a good one.

Cheers

One more day!

Those pictures get the juices flowing. I am about packed and ready, even though I will only be going about 40 miles from the house.

Bobby, hope you get out and find a nice one. I know how it can be when the will is there but the body resists.

Scott, how are things looking at your new place? if you need help thinning out the herd, give me a shout.

kinda like the looks of that mauser full stock with the dst and old redfield