A New Year

‘WE’VE GOT MOST ALL OUR DOES taken for the year. We took them early in the hunting season, but we have a few more left to take.

With our property essentially being in a drought, it is even more important that we remove all the does recommended. Doing so is part of our Managed Land Deer Permit Program (MLDP).

I was told this during the last days of December by a rancher I have long worked with as a wildlife biologist. 

“Could you please come take the four does we have left to take?” he asked. “Doing so will give you an opportunity to review the age, weight and antler measurements data we took throughout the hunting season,” he said. “You can spend time on the ranch to evaluate what we’ve done in terms of your habitat recommendations which you and Brandon (Houston) made for us through your H3 Whitetail Solutions,” he added.

“Plus I know you like to hunt and shoot and I suspect you can always use more venison.”

How could I refuse such an invitation?

I told him I would be there a couple of days after the DSC Convention in early January. He said he would be there, too; and I could follow him to the ranch from Dallas.

Not only was I eager to add more venison to my freezer, I was also eager to do some hunting with a new Taurus Raging Hunter .460 S&W Mag revolver. I had appropriate Hornady ammo, and I topped the revolver with a Trijicon SRO red-dot sight.

Too, I had another Raging Hunter in .44 Mag I wanted to use. I dearly love hunting with handguns. Hunting whitetail does with them is a great way to learn those gun’s capabilities, along with my capabilities with them. 

January and February are indeed an ideal time for deer hunting ventures. I enjoy taking does and still doing some buck hunting on MLDP properties

Also, there’s late season muzzleloading hunts. On those places where the hunting season is closed for the year, I can do some scouting for next year as well as hunt wild hogs. In addition, I love the winter hunts for predators as part of a wildlife management program. 

On the properties I manage for quality wildlife, predator control is part of the program. This involves taking bobcats, coyotes and feral hogs.

I dearly love calling predators with my Burnham Brothers mouth-blown calls and their new revolutionary “Freq” electronic call. I call only during daylight hours so I can see predators approaching the calls.

I also film them for the weekly A Sportsman’s Life, a show I co-host that appears on www.carbontv.com. Many of my Texas deer hunting adventures appear on the show, along with hunts by Brandon Houston, Luke Clayton and Jeff Rice.

Winter months too, are great times to sit around a campfire and tell stories about the immediate past hunting season, and those from a few years ago. Early January is when I, as mentioned, attend the DSC Convention (www.biggame.org) to visit with many hunters, but also to plan my next year’s whitetail hunts. This was where I planned and scheduled my 2022 hunts which included hunting in East Texas, the Brush Country, Lower Panhandle for both whitetail and mule deer, West Texas and a few points in between.

Even though the whitetail seasons are closing or have already closed, my whitetail hunting never stops. The hunting season may be over, but I am already planning my 2023 hunts.

 

Email Larry Weishuhn at ContactUs@fishgame.com

 

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