Category: Deer Hunting

Record Buck Shot in TN

It appears that a 47 point white-tailed buck shot in Sumner County, Tennessee, will be a new world record. The hunter, Stephen Tucker, harvested the antler-rich buck back in November 2016, but had to wait out the mandatory 60 day drying out period required by the Boone and Crockett Club before it could be officially measured.

The potential record-breaking skull cap and antlers of the buck, which are estimated to be worth as much as $100,000, were kept in a rather safe place until they could be scored — in the vault of a local bank. Better safe than sorry, right?

Hunting a World Record

After monitoring the buck for months with game cameras, Tucker, 27, shot the nontypical buck with a muzzleloader in Sumner County, Tennessee. But it was not a one-and-done hunt, not by any stretch. Tucker bumped into the buck the very first day of the season, November 5, but his muzzleloader would not fire. Now, that sounds like my kind of luck.

Later that same day, the hunter crossed paths with the tremendous deer again, but could not seal the deal because the buck was too far out. Persistence and patience eventually payed off though. On November 9, 2016, four days after initially crossing paths with the deer, a somewhat frustrated Tucker once again found himself with an opportunity to tag the 47 point buck.

This time, the buck stood a mere 40 yards away. Tucker calmed himself, squeezed the trigger and wrote the final chapter of a very special buck’s life.

Record Whitetail

Now, just over 60 days later, the 47 point once-in-a-lifetime buck officially scored a whopping 312 3/8 inches, as measured by a 4-member panel from Boone and Crockett. Scoring the buck was a marathon in itself. It took the panel over 4 hours to finish the job!

“I have truly been blessed and I am very thankful,” Tucker said after learning the rack’s score. “I have had a lot of phones calls and questions and have tried to be patient waiting through the process. I am very appreciative to my family, friends, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, especially Captain Dale Grandstaff, who has led me through the process. I believe he has been as excited about it as I have.”

Something Special in Sumner County

The 47 point Tennessee bruiser will receive its official certification/coronation as the new world record white-tailed buck at the Boone and Crockett awards banquet in 2019. At that time, it will be measured yet again by two scorers. The current non-typical net world record of 307 5/8 was killed in 2003 by Tony Lovstuen in Albia, Iowa. It appears Tucker’s 312 3/8 will hold up.

The great thing about Tucker’s 47 point buck from a scoring perspective, in addition to the high total number of points, is that the buck looks to be a very symmetrical mainframe 10 point buck. A set of antlers with very symmetrical matched (mainframe) points will have few deductions, which is the difference between the gross and net scores, in both typical and non-typical antlers.

Obviously, the buck is also a new record for the state of Tennessee. The previous record for the state netted 244 3/8 inches. The buck shot by Tucker has completely obliterated that record, tacking on almost another 70 inches! The prior state record, shot in 2000, was also killed in Sumner County. Must be some good eats and genetics up that way. Wonder if I can find a good place to hunt ’round there?

Hunting Cold Weather Deer

Cold weather and deer hunting do not always go hand-in-hand at southern latitudes. It’s taken for granted “up north,” but Texas’ Fall temperatures rarely stay in the 30’s, if they get there at all. Let’s face it, sitting around a campfire is not quite as enjoyable when you’re sweating.

The regular (General Season) has ended for white-tailed deer in Texas, but many counties have a Late Season and ranches involved in the MLDP program still have the better parts of 2 months left to hunt. The Late Youth Season and South Texas are still going strong until mid-January, too. It’s always good practice to harvest deer early in the season, if possible, because this leaves important food sources out on the landscape for the remainder of the herd trying to get through the winter, which has really just started.

Low temperatures benefit deer hunters in a number of ways, especially at lower latitudes, such as Texas. Whitetail, and some of those that hunt them, are real comfortable when the mercury drops. The deer, like us, are just not used to it. That said, it’s a good time to be out there. Below are 5 cold weather deer hunting tips to help you fill your freezer.

1. Cold is gold for deer hunting
2. Cold weather makes deer hungry
3. Focus on foods for hunting success
4. Go prepared for a cold weather sit
5. Hunt corridors to your advantage

These tips come from my experience hunting whitetail during cold weather events. In Texas, this means using strong cold fronts to anticipate an increase in deer movement. The ideas offered in this article are designed to help you elevate your hunting game when the mercury drops on the thermometer. Learn how white-tailed deer behave during extreme cold weather and use it to your advantage.

Cold is Gold

It takes a lot of energy to keep a deer humming along at really cold temperatures, at say, anything below 30 degrees F. Other than the peak of the breeding season, the rut, nothing is better at getting bucks and does up on their feet — because they have to eat!

Many of the whitetail subspecies found at lower latitudes are not built for cold weather. In fact, they have smaller skeletal frames and in areas where they are overabundant, they are even smaller. They are not built for really cold weather, or at least sustained cold weather. As a result, low temperatures get them up and keep them there throughout the day. Time for you to get out.

Hunt Accessible Foods

A strong cold front has just rolled in. Temperatures are slated to be in the low 20’s for the next few mornings and with mid-day highs in the 30’s. With cold, winter weather hitting hard (hey, at least for the area) deer will need energy. And energy comes from food.

So what are deer looking to eat? When it’s cold whitetail will eat just about anything that is easy to access, but they are really seeking carbohydrates for fuel their inner fire and warm them up. Carbs are easy to digest and they result in immediate energy. Hunt food sources that may not have been used heavily during the early season, but are still available. Yes, this includes fall plots planted for deer as well as spin-feeders. The cold temps should finally push them to eat the corn piling up under your feeder.

Another plus side hunting during the late season is that post-rut bucks have returned to a solid feeding pattern. The rut can knock as much as 25 percent of the body weight off a buck, and cold weather does not help, so they will be up and feeding. This will not help those deer hunting where late season regulations limit them to antlerless deer and spikes, but can pay off big for youth hunters, those hunting the South Texas General Season, and hunters on MLDP properties.

Dress for Cold Weather

The deer are cold so that means you too will be cold. One of the more important tips offered here is to make sure that you dress for success! And by that, I plenty of layers on both top and bottom. We are not in November anymore. Camo shorts, t-shirts and sneakers are not going to cut it in 20 degrees and 20 mile per hour winds that can be found in January. Those were the go-to attire when you were sweating it out in your box blind, but not now.

Get out your flannel, insulated overalls and sock hat. The critical areas to keep warm while cold weather deer hunting are your head, hands and feet. Develop a layered plan that will work whether sitting in a stand or covering ground. You will want to dress heavy for sitting, but be able to shed layers as you heat up. You also want to prepare for a full day of hunting because in cold weather deer will move all day long.

Hunt Corridors

Since deer are forced to move and feed when it’s cold out, then particular attention should be paid to hunt areas where they travel. Locate travel corridors in the area that are between bedding areas and food sources, get downwind and wait. This is when being dressed appropriately comes into play.

The probability that you will see deer using those travelways has just increased markedly since winter has finally rolled around. Those travel corridors, once well-vegetated, are now reduced to sparse grass and leafless trees and vines. Greater corridor visibility and hungry, roaming deer have tipped the odds in your favor. If you have any cold weather deer hunting tips please leave them in comments section and help a fellow brother or sister out. We’ll all appreciate it. Stay safe and good luck!

Buck Harvest and ARs

Question: “I deer hunt in Texas in areas that have antler restriction regulations on whitetail bucks. Am I allowed to take more than one 13 inch or larger (spread) buck in Texas?”

Response: The short answer to your question is, YES. A hunter can shoot more than one whitetail buck with an inside spread greater than 13 inches in Texas. However, there are some stipulations that hunters need to adhere to in order to remain legal. The remainder of this article discusses the details of the antler restrictions and deer hunting regulations in Texas.

Texas Deer Hunting License

A Texas deer hunting license comes with 5 white-tailed deer tags, 3 of which can be used for bucks or does, and the remaining 2 tags are for antlerless deer only. As a result, it’s important to pay attention to which tag a hunter uses when tagging a deer.

A hunter has the option of using all 5 whitetail tags on antlerless deer or harvesting some combination of 5 deer with no more than 3 of them being bucks with a standard deer hunting license. Straight forward.

Texas Antler Restrictions

At the time of writing, there are 112 counties in Texas that have antler restrictions in place that regulate whitetail buck harvest. There are only 2 types of legal bucks in these counties, (1) bucks that have an inside spread between the main beams of 13 inches or greater, and (2) bucks with at least 1 unbranched antler, so most likely spikes or 3 point bucks.

In these counties, the bag limit is 2 (legal) bucks, but no more than 1 may have an inside spread between the main beams of 13 inches or greater. A hunter does have an option to shoot 2 unbranched antlered bucks in these counties, as well. Probably more than many of you needed to know?

Deer Hunting Regulations

The hunter’s question above asks generally about buck harvest in Texas, but I suspect he is specifically asking about buck harvest in within additional antler restriction counties. Fortunately, deer hunting regulations in Texas are established based on county bag limits.

These county-based regs works to the benefit of a hunter that may hunt white-tailed deer in several counties within the state. A hunter can shoot up to 5 whitetail in any number of counties as long as he or she does not exceed the bag limit for any one county.

Basically, a hunter can shoot up to 3 bucks with an inside spread between the main beams of greater than 13 inches in 3 different antler restriction counties within the same hunting season. The fact that this option exists is why there is a harvest log on the back of a deer hunting license in Texas.

The log allows a hunter to record up to 3 harvested bucks and denote whether the deer were taken in antler restriction counties or not, as well as if the bucks were greater than 13 inches. The white-tailed deer log found on the back of a hunting license is also used by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) game wardens for compliance with county bag limits for white-tailed deer.

Note: If you shoot even a single deer in Texas you DO want to complete the harvest log. If you get checked by a game warden, even while out fishing later in the year and you have deer tags missing, they will refer to that log on the back. If it’s not completed, then you will more than likely receive a citation for the lack of compliance.

Prepare for Deer Season

It’s late Summer and hunting season is getting closer by the day! Before we know it school will be back in session, cool fronts will be rolling in from the North and we will be on the hunt for on of our favorite game animals, the white-tailed deer. With days getting shorter and the hunting season getting closer, here are 3 things that deer hunters should be doing right now to prepare for the upcoming season.

1. Exercise to Improve Your Hunting, Experience

This is something that we should all strive to do on a regular basis, but life gets busy. Make it a point to improve your stamina prior to deer season. Staying in good physical shape should be a priority for hunters, especially when we expect ourselves to carry as much gear as a pack mule, climb like a tree like a monkey and have the ability to drag out a mature buck. Then we have to load it.

Hunters that expect to cover a lot of country must have endurance. Cardio will pay off. You don’t have to go all American Ninja Warrior on us. Chuck Norris? No. Just walking at a very brisk pace for a couple of miles a day helps get those legs and heart ready for action. But you still have to do it. Stronger legs can help with crouching, having to hold in odd positions for longer than you’d like and may ultimately help close the distance.

In addition, focus on exercises that use your arms and legs that help stabilize your core, which makes all of you muscles stronger but especially strengthens your back and abs. Many of us forget about abs. Don’t aim for six-pack abs, but do exercises that make your abs stronger because weak abs will lead to back injuries. A weak back is a back injury waiting to happen. Avoid having it happen when you go to load your big buck.

2. Practice: Skill Creates Opportunity

This is something that every hunter should do early on, well before the deer hunting season. Get out your gear and look it over, then go a use it. Nothing better prepares us for the final seconds of a successful hunt better than being comfortable and confident with our hunting equipment. This is equally true for archery equipment and firearms. Getting to know your gear is particularly important if you’ve picked up a bow or gun recently.

Practice with your gear and become proficient with it. Also, perform a dress rehearsal of sorts, and get everything in place just as if you were going hunting. Shoot. Walk. Climb. See what is going to work and and what is not. Nothing builds confidence like repeatedly shooting your bow into the fall season. Again, pre-season exercise will ensure you don’t strain an arm or pull a buck muscle in the process.

Whether you hunt using a gun, bow, or both, create situations simulate actual hunting scenarios. Shoot from elevated positions as well as from ground level, while sitting, standing, crouched or while kneeling. It will also pay to examine any stands that are already in place an ensure that everything is good to go. Don’t wait until your first sit of the season to realize there is a fresh, new branch growing right where your head is supposed to be, or what used to be an open shooting lane is now a mess of new growth.

3. Game Cameras for Pre-Season Hunting

What do I need to say here? It’s late Summer so get them out and start scouting! With hot, dry conditions deer will be on the move right now, with most activity occurring after the sun goes down until mid-morning. There is no better time to get a pre-season read on the bucks using your hunting property than right now.

This is important and really exciting for those of you that will be hunting new ground during the upcoming deer season. It’s fun to get out during the last hour of daylight, cruise and sight deer, but most of the buck movement and feeding activity during late Summer will under the cover of darkness. We like it cool and so do the deer.

Remote cameras allow a hunter to evaluate most of the bucks in his or her hunting area as well as estimate deer herd composition. This is good leading up to the season opening because it gives the hunter a chance to set expectations, evaluate antler growth on an annual basis, and determine management-based harvest strategies. August through September is typically the time to perform deer surveys, so get out there and get some info on the deer using your property.

TX Public Lands

Most of the land in Texas is privately owned but there are some solid public deer hunting lands found throughout the state. The majority of the public draw hunts for white-tailed deer are good quality hunts on state-owned properties, many of which are managed specifically for deer and other native wildlife.

Each year offers more opportunities for deer hunting than the years prior, as additional draw hunts on public and private lands are being consolidated into Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) online application system. Gone are the days of filing out dozens of paper forms (which was the norm) for various public lands and wildlife management areas.

Texas Public Hunting Lands

Included in these public lands hunts are hunts for white-tailed and mule deer, pronghorn, exotic ungulate species, turkey, alligator, as well as a guided hunt for desert bighorn sheep and even a new category offer public dove hunting. They key to getting on any of these hunts starts by putting your name in the hat.

I’ve come up empty handed in the draw process before, but more years than not I’ve been lucky enough to go hunt some new country across the state. Although I’m no-doubt focused on the quality public deer lands out there, I make sure to enter almost all of the other hunt categories as well.

State and Federal Hunting Opportunities

In addition to drawn hunts managed by TPWD, other public hunting land opportunities now includes applications for hunts administered by other agencies. This is especially good for deer hunters living in the eastern part of the state or closer to the Texas coast.

These federal land hunts include about 1,500 big game hunt positions on several U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges in Texas and antlerless deer permits for U.S. Forest Service properties in East Texas.

All hunt opportunities can be viewed by category or by area using an interactive web-based map. In fact, the entire application process is handled online — from browsing opportunities, to applications, fee payments and permit issuance. To participate in Texas’ draw hunts, applicants will need an email address and a credit or debit card.

Deadlines to Apply for Texas Public Drawn Hunts

Every year, the application deadlines for public land hunts begin in August, with  early August being the deadline for alligator hunts and about mid-August being the deadline for archery deer, exotic, javelina and the new private lands dove hunts. Other hunt category deadlines, such as those for either-sex and antlerless deer hunts, occur from late-August through late-January.

Hunters interested in applying for Texas’ public hunts must apply online through TPWD through the Texas Public Hunt System. Hunters can apply up to 11:59 p.m. Central Time on the application deadline, and after the application is submitted, they can check their drawing status online at any time.

Costs of Public Deer Hunts

The drawn hunts program offers affordable public deer hunting in Texas with a good shot at success. Application fees are $3 or $10 depending on the hunt category. The E-Postcard Selection Hunts offered through the state, which includes hunts for white-tailed deer on both state and federal lands, requires that applicants possess a valid Annual Public Hunting (APH) Permit. This is the old “Type II” permit, for those that recall.

So what happens if you are selected and win a hunt? Adult hunters that are selected for regular drawn hunts may also need to pay a special permit fee of $80 for regular hunts and $130 for extended hunts. Some categories, such as the youth-only hunts, require no application fees or permit fees at all. Hunters selected through the E-Postcard Selection Hunts on public deer hunting lands do not have to pay any additional fees either.