Well here in Texas (God's Country) deer season starts in the morning.I made the mistake to go to the P.O. + my bank. Hwy 29 going west is packed with hunters. I love it. I did'nt really mind taking 5 minutes to get out of the gas station onto the hwy.As we all know,as well as the enjoyment we take of the hunt,it is one of the top 5 money making industries in Texas.Even with the wealth that is brought into Texas + thus the U.S. the yankees still don't have a clue.

Quail also, but the rains came too late from what I’ve been told. Well, I’m spending opening day sitting on the sofa waiting for college football.

I love Texas, but I do wish we had more public hunting lands. Of course I am for private ownership, but need my own!

I have 15 acres in the country with a stock tank that I put in so the dove hunting is great + I have deer feeders down by the water as well.As much as I love Quail hunting,I won't shoot one now. The fire ants have damned near eradicated them as they clutch on the ground.I want to give them time to repopulate because there is nothing like that feeling when a covey erupts under your feet.There's bound to be Quail hunting in Heaven.

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The fire ants have damned near eradicated them as they clutch on the ground.

And the Feral Hogs take out plenty.

Those hogs destroy everything.. Several years ago I went on a hog hunt in Gonzales in the corn belt.The owner was having major problems with them trashing his fields in the night. I shot a sow that when we gutted her she had 16 piglets within.When I showed the owner, that old fart (even being a southern Baptist) started dancing.

I was north of Muenster, Texas this weekend. Saw a strange sight. A hunter, with rifle slung over his shoulder was hunting the bar ditch beside a FM road. I don't mind seeing hunters in the field. Seemed weird to see a hunter just off the shoulder of a highway. Maybe there was more to the story.

I knew a man years ago that deer hunted seven acres within a half mile of the cloverleaf at Interstates 64 and 69 in Indiana. He wasn't using a shotgun either.

Makes me nervous for the general population.

Those interstate bucks can get big. I remember seeing several on a regular basis outside of Columbus, OH at the I-71/270 interchange, just north of the Budweiser brewery. They had lots of space and there is a large metro park close by too. If left unharassed deer don't need a whole lot of cover.

Tom

Opening day was interesting on our place in Navarro County,my wife hunts out of a stand (4' square)about a half mile behind our cabin, I hunt in a stand in a different pasture. Both of us saw plenty of deer (and pigs) opening morning, but neither of us shot a deer. We went to our respective stands about 3:30 pm and about 4:30 I got a text from my wife. I figured she had shot a good buck and wanted me to gut it for her, but no...she said that she heard a scratching sound on the stand and figured it was a mouse under the floor when a snake flopped thru the window (about 12 feet off of the ground) and landed between her feet. Said she jumped up and was trying to vacate when another, smaller snake came thru the window as well. She took a photo and they were chicken snakes, but she won't get back in that stand for a while (can't say I blame her, either) and she even got pissed off when I laughed about it!

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and she even got pissed off when I laughed about it!

Isn't it amazing as to how quick a wife can lose their sense of humor over such minor things???????

A buddy of mine for years told me about when his Mother asked to go hunting with him because she never understood the fascination.So he takes her out to the lease,puts her in the stand + he is not even down the ladder when he hears her say,"There's one [BOOM],oh look there's another [BOOM],well I'll be,there's another one [BOOM]. He took the rifle away from her + said,"Why don't you go home + mop or something."