A few weeks ago I made my annual trip to stay with friends in Texas and finish off my big game season. On the menu this year was Whitetails, Hogs, and Blackbuck. I can also shoot Turkeys and Aoudad if I see them. My sister recently moved to Texas and she decided to come so she picked me up in San Antonio on NYE and we drove from there. An unusual snow storm made for a slow drive but we made it and I had time to sit in the blind for about 40 minutes the first night.
The house and guest house with a fresh coat:
View from the blind on the first evening:
There was nothing moving that first night but it was great to get into the blind and to see the landscape covered in snow. The last couple years I’ve gotten into a pattern where I sit a tripod stand at the bottom of the property by myself in the morning and then I sit a box blind with the owner, AJ in the evening, and this year my sister joined for the evening sits.
The first morning (Jan 1) I sat the tripod stand and just as I thought, there were animals up and moving everywhere. It had been blowing snow the day before and it was clear and cold now, perfect to get animals on their feet. Having already shot an elk and a deer in Idaho back in October, I was primarily focused on shooting a cull Blackbuck and a hog. For whitetails I was pretty much only looking for a big buck. There were lots of whitetails on their feet that first morning, but all spikes and small forks, medium sized 6 and 8 points (eastern count) and some does. I did have a little Blackbuck come under the stand but I honestly thought it was a fawn. When I realized it was what I was after it was too late. The snow in the trees made it really hard to see animals moving and made for poor shot opportunities. The snow loading was breaking limbs almost non-stop in the junipers and there were downed limbs everywhere.
Sunrise on Jan 1:
Snow doesn’t stay long in that part of the country and it was pretty much all gone by the time we got into the blind for the evening sit on day 1. We saw a lot of animals over on the neighbor’s place that evening. He’s never there so his property is somewhat of a sanctuary. This pretty young 8 point came over with a broken 10 point:
I’ve been going to Texas Hill Country for 7 years now and have never seen a hog. They are almost completely nocturnal out there because they are constantly being shot at. Finally during our evening sit we saw about 25 pigs (including piglets) go to the neighbor’s feeder. They never came over during daylight but we turned the green light on at our feeder, which we can see from the house, so we could see if they came over after dark. After showering and changing we were hanging out in the living room before dinner, periodically glassing down toward the feeder to see if we could see any animals in the green light. Sure enough right at 7 I glass down there and see pigs. I grabbed the rifle and ran down to a little hide that is easy to get to without spooking animals at the feeder. The moon hadn’t risen yet and it was pitch black. If the animals weren’t in the light they were invisible. At first I saw some piglets on the periphery of the light, then I saw something bigger but realized it was a deer. I waited and I saw something big and low to the ground feed into the green light. Bingo, nice pig. In my haste I had just grabbed the usual rifle I use there, it’s a Browning A-bolt in 30-06 and it’s a great gun. But it doesn’t have an illuminated reticle. The reticle was nearly impossible to see until the pig moved further into the light. As she did I got a good sight picture. The pig was head down and facing me but at 80 yards I felt very comfortable and squeezed one off. I immediately heard a Squuuuuueeeeel and saw the pig spin and run to the left into the darkness. I walked back to the house and had dinner and after we finished AJ and I grabbed a couple guns and some powerful lights and went down to look for the pig. We searched for about 10 or 15 minutes in the direction I thought the pig had run and didn’t find anything. As I circled back I made a point to go through one of the wooded sections near the feeder that I hadn’t covered yet. I found the pig not 50 yards from where I had shot her. The darkness is disorienting and she had run away more than left as I had originally thought. It was a nice sow, in the 100 lb range. Perfect for eating. I was really happy to have finally gotten a hog after all my trips out here!
The next day before processing:
We gutted the pig that night and hung it in the same tree where hundreds of other animals have been processed. It was going to be 25 that night so we had no concern about the meat.
Jan 2 I sat the tripod stand again and saw a buck with one broken off antler. There were two 10 points around each with one whole side broken off. I also saw some Sika does and two axis does but nothing I wanted to shoot. I took care of the hog during the mid-day and then we sat the same blind we had the previous evening. We got another really good look at the pretty young 8 that night and a good look at two white fallow does.
Jan 3 in the morning I didn’t really have anything come under the tripod stand. There were three young Blackbuck bucks that were hanging with the big boy (I’m not allowed to shoot him). I was seeing them everyday but they were always just on the neighbor’s or just didn’t present a shot. I saw them off in the distance but had no shot. In the evening we saw a giant spotted fallow buck and a big Axis buck with one antler completely broken off and what looked like a missing eye.
Jan 4 my sister left early in the morning. I saw a little WT spike that walked under the tripod stand and of course the young Blackbuck that gave me no shots. That evening a pair of fallow spikes came in, one white and one brown.
Then a big broken 10 point came into our blind and gave us a million chances to shoot him but I chose not to with his G1 and G3 broken on his intact side an the entire other side broken off. I will be looking for this buck next year.
Jan 5... last day. My flight was in the evening so I was good to shoot something in the morning. I would have plenty of time to process and vac seal before heading to the airport. My success rate on last day kills here is like 75%. I was really targeting the Blackbuck at this point and I opted to switch things up a little. I grabbed a monopod and was planning to just sit out under a tree near an open area they like to use. When I got down to that area I could see animals moving around under the neighbor's feeder light about 300 yards away and I could also see a huge black hog moving around closer than that. With a lot of animals around I didn’t want to move around in the open so I just got into the blind we had been sitting in the evening. Surprisingly the hog stayed out well into visible light but he was still on the neighbor’s. Just before actual sunrise the 3 young Blackbuck bucks that had been teasing me for the last 4 days came in from behind me and walked right past my stand at about 60 yards as they moved through a wooded area on their way back to the big open area they like. As they stopped in an opening I picked one out and squeezed a round off. The animal bucked and they all took off running, but as they cleared the tree line I saw him fall. I knew he was dead but proceeded to give him 15 minutes anyway. AJ had heard the shot and texted me and I heard the truck start as he made his way down. This young Blackbuck will eat well and it’s nice to have some variety in the freezer. I got him all taken apart and vac sealed with plenty of time to get to the airport and make my flight.
Another great Texas trip in the books. This is something I look forward to every year. It's not the adventure that mountain hunting is but the anticipation of an animal coming in to close range is exciting in a different way. It was nice to share the experience with my sister this year and show her a little bit of what hunting is. If you have the opportunity to go to Texas Hill Country I highly recommend it.
P.S. I'll try to get my Frank Church write-up going soon. Gotta go kill some geese first.
The house and guest house with a fresh coat:
View from the blind on the first evening:
There was nothing moving that first night but it was great to get into the blind and to see the landscape covered in snow. The last couple years I’ve gotten into a pattern where I sit a tripod stand at the bottom of the property by myself in the morning and then I sit a box blind with the owner, AJ in the evening, and this year my sister joined for the evening sits.
The first morning (Jan 1) I sat the tripod stand and just as I thought, there were animals up and moving everywhere. It had been blowing snow the day before and it was clear and cold now, perfect to get animals on their feet. Having already shot an elk and a deer in Idaho back in October, I was primarily focused on shooting a cull Blackbuck and a hog. For whitetails I was pretty much only looking for a big buck. There were lots of whitetails on their feet that first morning, but all spikes and small forks, medium sized 6 and 8 points (eastern count) and some does. I did have a little Blackbuck come under the stand but I honestly thought it was a fawn. When I realized it was what I was after it was too late. The snow in the trees made it really hard to see animals moving and made for poor shot opportunities. The snow loading was breaking limbs almost non-stop in the junipers and there were downed limbs everywhere.
Sunrise on Jan 1:
Snow doesn’t stay long in that part of the country and it was pretty much all gone by the time we got into the blind for the evening sit on day 1. We saw a lot of animals over on the neighbor’s place that evening. He’s never there so his property is somewhat of a sanctuary. This pretty young 8 point came over with a broken 10 point:
I’ve been going to Texas Hill Country for 7 years now and have never seen a hog. They are almost completely nocturnal out there because they are constantly being shot at. Finally during our evening sit we saw about 25 pigs (including piglets) go to the neighbor’s feeder. They never came over during daylight but we turned the green light on at our feeder, which we can see from the house, so we could see if they came over after dark. After showering and changing we were hanging out in the living room before dinner, periodically glassing down toward the feeder to see if we could see any animals in the green light. Sure enough right at 7 I glass down there and see pigs. I grabbed the rifle and ran down to a little hide that is easy to get to without spooking animals at the feeder. The moon hadn’t risen yet and it was pitch black. If the animals weren’t in the light they were invisible. At first I saw some piglets on the periphery of the light, then I saw something bigger but realized it was a deer. I waited and I saw something big and low to the ground feed into the green light. Bingo, nice pig. In my haste I had just grabbed the usual rifle I use there, it’s a Browning A-bolt in 30-06 and it’s a great gun. But it doesn’t have an illuminated reticle. The reticle was nearly impossible to see until the pig moved further into the light. As she did I got a good sight picture. The pig was head down and facing me but at 80 yards I felt very comfortable and squeezed one off. I immediately heard a Squuuuuueeeeel and saw the pig spin and run to the left into the darkness. I walked back to the house and had dinner and after we finished AJ and I grabbed a couple guns and some powerful lights and went down to look for the pig. We searched for about 10 or 15 minutes in the direction I thought the pig had run and didn’t find anything. As I circled back I made a point to go through one of the wooded sections near the feeder that I hadn’t covered yet. I found the pig not 50 yards from where I had shot her. The darkness is disorienting and she had run away more than left as I had originally thought. It was a nice sow, in the 100 lb range. Perfect for eating. I was really happy to have finally gotten a hog after all my trips out here!
The next day before processing:
We gutted the pig that night and hung it in the same tree where hundreds of other animals have been processed. It was going to be 25 that night so we had no concern about the meat.
Jan 2 I sat the tripod stand again and saw a buck with one broken off antler. There were two 10 points around each with one whole side broken off. I also saw some Sika does and two axis does but nothing I wanted to shoot. I took care of the hog during the mid-day and then we sat the same blind we had the previous evening. We got another really good look at the pretty young 8 that night and a good look at two white fallow does.
Jan 3 in the morning I didn’t really have anything come under the tripod stand. There were three young Blackbuck bucks that were hanging with the big boy (I’m not allowed to shoot him). I was seeing them everyday but they were always just on the neighbor’s or just didn’t present a shot. I saw them off in the distance but had no shot. In the evening we saw a giant spotted fallow buck and a big Axis buck with one antler completely broken off and what looked like a missing eye.
Jan 4 my sister left early in the morning. I saw a little WT spike that walked under the tripod stand and of course the young Blackbuck that gave me no shots. That evening a pair of fallow spikes came in, one white and one brown.
Then a big broken 10 point came into our blind and gave us a million chances to shoot him but I chose not to with his G1 and G3 broken on his intact side an the entire other side broken off. I will be looking for this buck next year.
Jan 5... last day. My flight was in the evening so I was good to shoot something in the morning. I would have plenty of time to process and vac seal before heading to the airport. My success rate on last day kills here is like 75%. I was really targeting the Blackbuck at this point and I opted to switch things up a little. I grabbed a monopod and was planning to just sit out under a tree near an open area they like to use. When I got down to that area I could see animals moving around under the neighbor's feeder light about 300 yards away and I could also see a huge black hog moving around closer than that. With a lot of animals around I didn’t want to move around in the open so I just got into the blind we had been sitting in the evening. Surprisingly the hog stayed out well into visible light but he was still on the neighbor’s. Just before actual sunrise the 3 young Blackbuck bucks that had been teasing me for the last 4 days came in from behind me and walked right past my stand at about 60 yards as they moved through a wooded area on their way back to the big open area they like. As they stopped in an opening I picked one out and squeezed a round off. The animal bucked and they all took off running, but as they cleared the tree line I saw him fall. I knew he was dead but proceeded to give him 15 minutes anyway. AJ had heard the shot and texted me and I heard the truck start as he made his way down. This young Blackbuck will eat well and it’s nice to have some variety in the freezer. I got him all taken apart and vac sealed with plenty of time to get to the airport and make my flight.
Another great Texas trip in the books. This is something I look forward to every year. It's not the adventure that mountain hunting is but the anticipation of an animal coming in to close range is exciting in a different way. It was nice to share the experience with my sister this year and show her a little bit of what hunting is. If you have the opportunity to go to Texas Hill Country I highly recommend it.
P.S. I'll try to get my Frank Church write-up going soon. Gotta go kill some geese first.
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