Cleaning Up

OPENING DAY of my 2020 regular whitetail season, my daughter, son-in-law, and I were greeted at first light by the horribly loud sounds of 100-plus motocross racers on the property adjoining us on our south fence line.

It continued non-stop until sundown. That’s when the loud music started and lasted well into the night. Second morning of the season, the racers again started at sunup, continued throughout the day until just before sundown.

Not what I would call a great opening day. I thought seriously of audio taping all the noise, and after finding out where the racers live, going to their neighborhood and playing it as loudly as the noise the made, so they too could experience such on a day they thought would be relatively quiet. Something I am still considering.

The rest of the hunting season went considerably better. I was able to spend time with friends and family in different parts of Texas. We traveled from our eastern hardwoods, to the deep red draws of the lower Panhandle, to the western edge of the Hill Country on down to the South Texas “brasada” and back to my place west of Houston. During the fall I rattled up a lot of nice bucks, harvested some absolutely delicious venison, and took a couple of truly worthy and deserving bucks to Double Nickle Taxidermy near New Braunfels.

Whitetail season, at least on those properties under TPWD’s MLDP, remains open until the end of February. Too, there are hunting opportunities with the late muzzleloader season. So, there are still numerous chances to harvest your supply of venison.

One of the things I will be doing in January and February (one week in each month), beyond still adding to our larder of venison, is to serve as an instructor for the FTW Ranch’s “New Hunter Program.” This four-day program is designed to take someone who may never have before shot a rifle, to someone with many skills. This includes how to properly handle firearms, how to shoot properly and accurately, knowing proper shot placement, deer and other wildlife biology and ecology, how to eviscerate the doe they will be taking on their hunt, and how to properly care and prepare of their venison, taught by one of the country’s best wild game chefs.

The FTW Ranch, where they teach Sportsman’s All-Weather, All-Terrain Marksmanship (S.A.A.M), is a world-class premier firearm training and shooting facility visited both by public and some  of our military elite snipers. It is also a 12,000-acre hunting ranch. The “FTW/SAAM New Hunters Program” will benefit not only those who have never before hunted and are interested in putting venison on their table, to those who have hunted their entire lives. If you’d like more information, please go to www.ftwsaaam.com.

Now if you will excuse me, my pickup is packed; my .280 Ackley Improved Ruger No. 1 topped with a Trijicon AccuPoint scope and a box of Hornady Precision Hunters are properly stowed for travel. I have one more hunt I’m headed to.

Hope to see all of you at the DSC’s Reflections Convention at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center in Dallas February 11 through 14.

Please stop by to visit.

 

Email Larry Weishuhn at ContactUs@fishgame.com

 

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