Finally, Texas Deer Hunting

I did it. I finally, after over a year of living in Texas, have managed to get out into the West Texas wilderness and harvest a Texas Whitetail Deer. It has been a long journey. But I did it.

In actuality, this past weekend was not my first experience deer hunting. Earlier in the season, at the beginning of October, I managed to get out and try Bow hunting the public land near San Angelo. I went dove hunting there a few weeks before, and figured I would try sneaking around with a bow and a few arrows in an attempt to  slay a deer.

This bow hunting attempted ended in a high level of frustration as I tracked two deer for over three miles, only to see them twice: first, when they sprinted out in front of me, in all their 10 point and 8 pointed glory, for a split second, giving me the motivation to follow them all afternoon. The second time I saw them, they were standing, gloating majestically, on the other side of a fence that I could not cross. They were worthy adversaries, may they survive and reproduce many times over.

Anyway, this past weekend, I was graciously invited out to a hunting ranch owned by a coworker and her husband (thanks again, Brenda). I was super excited, and the trip did not disappoint in any way. When we arrived on Friday night, we dropped our equipment off in the cabin, and went out to collect memory cards from all of the cameras scattered throughout the property.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of how the hunt went, there is a few things I have to address. The first is that I totally underestimated Texas and the level of cold it was able to throw at me. I even had to swallow my pride and borrow a jacket. The second item is that there is one huge difference in the tactics of hunting deer in Texas and hunting Deer in Minnesota: Feeders.

Feeders, to a guy who spent a huge chunk of his life praying to catch even a glimpse of a Whitetail Deer through the gloomy Northwoods, feels like cheating. I will admit that it made me feel just uncomfortable from a fair-chase standpoint at first. After a small amount of thinking about it, I was able to justify it. All it really took was remembering all of the deer that are smeared, literally, all over the roads in Texas. Surely shooting a few deer off of a feeder would mean one less standing in the way of a family van. Clearly, Texas deer are out to kill innocent motorists, using despicable suicide tactics, and they must be stopped. Using feeders. Obviously.

Moving on, Saturday morning began early, about 4:30AM (or something equally as dark and cold). Of course, as I mentioned, I had packed pretty light, and immediately regretted it. The temperature was very near, if not below, freezing, and all I packed was a few base layers and a sweatshirt. Minnesota pride, you may end up killing me yet. After a cup of coffee and a quick snack, the three of us packed up our gear and drove out to our stands.

After arriving at the stand, hunting deer in Texas is more or less the same as hunting deer in Minnesota. It was dark, it was cold, and every thing sounded like a deer. Once the sun rose, the terrain was different, with cliffs and cactus, but there is a similar feeling to the experience of sitting high up in the air waiting for your prey.

I did not have to wait long, as a spike buck walked out under the feeder and presented me with a prime shot. Quick tip: Try not to shoot a deer directly under the feeder. The blood tends to warn the other deer that something is not quite right. This spike marked the first deer I shot with my newer .30-06 Ruger M77. I was using 150 grain Federal Fusion rounds for the first time, and I am very impressed with this combo.

After dragging the spike back to my stand, I only had to sit for a few more minutes before I saw my second deer of the weekend. A doe was standing about 100 yards away, staring at me. She never presented a good shot, so while I stared at her through my scope for what felt like an hour, I ended up letting her walk back into the brush.

Shortly after the doe sauntered back into the South West Texas brush, we loaded my spike into the back of my truck and headed back into camp. Camp is really where hunting trips are at there most familiar. In my experience, a properly set up hunting camp feels the same as any other hunting camp, whether it is a high end lodge, a one room shack, or a few tents. As long as there is hot food, racks to sleep in, and people to share it with, a hunting camp is truly a home away from home.

After a hot breakfast, we drew and quartered the deer, which was pretty new for me. At home, we usually gut the deer out, hang it in a tree, and drop it off at a butcher for processing. It was really interesting to learn how to quarter a deer, and I much prefer this method to what I was used to. For one thing, quartering a deer does not require you to get shoulders deep inside the guts of your prey. Additionally, I am excited to learn how to finish processing the deer this Wednesday.

After the spike had been quartered, we took a good nap. Definitely the best nap I have taken in a long time, possibly the best sleep of any type I have gotten as well. It was wonderful. After the nap, we had a quick snack, and headed back out to our stands. Shortly after I sat down, I saw a doe and a yearling trotting through the brush towards a clearing. I brought my rifle up and tracked the doe through the clearing and decided to wait to see if she went to the feeder. Of course, she never went to the feeder, and I never saw her again. Hopefully she sees my Craigslist Missed Connections.

Perhaps a half hour later, my coworker called me over the radio to direct my attention to the hill off in the distance, where she had observed a few deer sneaking around. The question was whether or not they were White Tail Deer or Mule Deer. This matters because Mule Deer were not in season. After a few minutes of scrutiny, I deduced that they were indeed White Tail Deer, and, further, I deduced that at least one of them was big enough to harvest.

Taking a guess based on the size of the two deer, and how far away I guessed the deer were, I estimated that the deer were somewhere between 350 and 400 yards. So I stabilized my rifle on the ledge of the stand, and settled the reticle of my scope so that if the deer was 400 yards, the shot would land in the lower half of the chest cavity, piercing the lungs and hopefully the bottom of the heart, and if the deer was closer to 350 yards, it would land at the top half of the chest cavity. I tracked the doe as she walked a few steps, steadied my breathing, and squeezed the trigger.

It turns out the deer was closer to 300 yards away, as the shot pierced the very top of the chest cavity and severed the doe’s spine. And here is another plug for the Federal Fusion/Ruger M77 combination: at 50 yards and at 300 yards, the wound channels were very similar, indicating that the round managed to maintain a lot of energy, even at 300+ yards. That and a modicum of marksmanship allowed me to make my longest shot on a deer to date.

The second deer who was with the doe just stood there, staring at her companion. In fact, she stared at her until I walked to about 50 yards from her before she took off. I dragged the doe back down closer to the road, and then returned to my stand for the rest of the afternoon. My coworker’s husband bagged a button buck (featured earlier in the article) later on, and I saw another deer go sprinting off into the bush.

At the end of the afternoon hunt, we loaded my doe into the back of my truck, and drove back to camp for dinner, quartering the deer, and a movie. We went to bed relatively early, and woke up early to go out on the last hunt of the weekend. For the morning hunt, I did not see any more deer, but my coworker got a small button buck, rounding out our count to four for the weekend. We went back, and spent a bit of time cleaning up the cabin before I bailed out to get home and finish my last paper for my first MBA course.

I am extremely thankful I was invited and able to get out and hunt this past weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed my hunt, and am very much looking forward to learning how to process my own deer this Wednesday. As we roll into a new year, I am looking forward whatever adventures may be thrown my way, and I hope you manage to have some of your own as well.

Stay safe out there,

Spencer