Deer n Seein Them

[vixenmaster]

I kinda wish we never had to move to the Ozarks, but i have tried to do the best i could here. My Mrs ain't all that happy wid the area but the daughter n grand young'uns were the draw. Ms. mostly its huntin Clubs n membership fees. Yrs ago they were ok, now you won't touch anything thats got decent deer less than $750 bottom end. The upper end is 3K a yr, allowed 8 deer 3 Bucks n 5 Doe's. I always did well, Ms. had a deer herd population of over 2 million when i lived there. The Club i was in was about 10-12 miles from the Ms. & ran along the Yazoo river bank. We used to get up on the Levee road wid big spotlight. Look out thru the bean fields n see deer by the thousands durin the nite. Have seen some very good one's, like lots of bone on top

[Masboy]

I was out around west plains,Houston a few years ago looking for a place after picking that area for some of the best turkey hunting around. I liked the area an we seen lots of turkeys but hardly any deer at all? real dry when we were out an all the lakes an water was real low.the boys were disappointed in the amount of deer we only seen?

[vixenmaster]

I was out around west plains,Houston a few years ago looking for a place after picking that area for some of the best turkey hunting around. I liked the area an we seen lots of turkeys but hardly any deer at all? real dry when we were out an all the lakes an water was real low.the boys were disappointed in the amount of deer we only seen?

I have saw 2 turkeys here in 6 yrs durin Huntin season. Down home i used to kill my 2 birds every yr. Now it don't matter about the turks. Yup it gets dry as a tinder box here startin in May. & maynot get a rian fer 2 months. Strange place, last yr it were rainin every other week by the water barrels full. West Plains be 15 miles east of me Houston is 72 miles north of me

[SEW]

That's sad, concerning your disappointment with your "home". And sad concerning deer/turkey population. I think row crops can greatly enhance an area. I'll be 68 in April, grew up here in Piggott(100 mi SE of West Plains). No deer whatsoever right here: closest 25+ miles away on Black River Island and west of there. Not until the mid-70s were there any deer, except for a very few in the hills. Incidentally, I live on Crowley's Ridge which is appx 150 mi long and 11-13 mi wide which is rolling hills, almost all forested, in otherwise flat farming country. There are a # of sizable hill farms with soybeans, corn and winter wheat . Then in 80s the deer started expanding. We have 2 weekends of MLing/shotgun plus 3 days after Christmas but 5 months and 4 days of bow (crossbow included since the 70s). Rice, soybeans, corn, winter wheat, lots of hardwoods with high percentage of white oaks. Our population has remained high. Normally a lot of turkeys but haven't seen many this year. We have big deer here. And a big harvest! This season(ended yesterday ) was 208,036 "reported" deer. That's for Arkansas.
Maybe, they'll move up north.

[Lake shooter]

VM, no decent public land up there? Arkansas is LOADED with it! You might have to get an out of state tag and come down.

Seriously: all those videos that I posted are public land right next to the capitol city of Arkansas. Lots of folks frown on public land, but at least in THIS state, there can be some darn great deer for just the cost of a license, and very few have a minimal special permit fee.

I was a member of a huge lease just west of here back in 2004/2005. I only saw one deer the whole season and that was a doe, and there were dogs running all over the place, even out of gun season. Some of the more redneck members (99% were rednecks) would set up pens on the lease and running their #*%^¥£€ dogs all season, for "practice". That year cost me $375 and was a total waste of money.

I'll stick with my public lands, and be happy!

[vixenmaster]

Lake shooter, the post wasn't a complaint of the deer huntin i have here. I see enuff deer to hunt n kill to supply us in meat. I am not an antler hunter i don't care what gets in range its meat fer cannin. Thats the diff in huntin & killin

[Mo wannabe]

Hey V M ... I used to hunt over on the Devils Backbone and around the white river ... Don't know where u are from those areas but always had a lot of good hunting

[Pa.hunter]

Lake shooter, the post wasn't a complaint of the deer huntin i have here. I see enuff deer to hunt n kill to supply us in meat. I am not an antler hunter i don't care what gets in range its meat fer cannin. Thats the diff in huntin & killin

Hey vixenmaster I just canned my first deer meat this year. A fellow I work with truck driver from west Virginia kept telling me I had to try it. He brought me a jar up on one of his trips and we sit in the break room and ate the whole thing cold right out of the jar I was hooked I never had such tender deer meat. I bought all the stuff and did 37 quarts this year myself delicious I use it in everything. He said when he looks at a deer he looks at quarts he says them horns ain't no good for nothin.

Charlie

[Masboy]

My grandmother use to serve it off the old wood burning cook stove in a big bowl with the meat an gravy in the same bowl . canned deer meat is my favorite way of doing deer. next year I plan on canning my deer if I can an the wife has many jars but not much time.

[vixenmaster]

Yes indeedy, cannin deer meat n eatin it is down right scrumious. My Mrs n i put up around 50 qts, its so easy to work wid n tasty. Topic title i was talkin of days gone by. When i was younger & seein hundreds n thousands of deer out on that Club. That weren't huntin that was jus killin them. Now jus abit south of Flora Ms. on my Pa's place it were huntin back up in thoses hills. When i come out of the service you may only see 2 or 3 deer from Oct. 1st til Jan. 31st when the season closed. You had best hope one had antlers over 5" in length back then to be legal. Thats huntin n i so enjoyed it.

[Lake shooter]

VM, sorry that I misunderstood your post. Sounded to me me like you were lamenting not being in Mississippi anymore. You comment about "decent deer" was the clincher, but maybe you were talking about numbers and not size or antlers.

[vixenmaster]

VM, sorry that I misunderstood your post. Sounded to me me like you were lamenting not being in Mississippi anymore. You comment about "decent deer" was the clincher, but maybe you were talking about numbers and not size or antlers.

Sometimes i don't put things right don't splain it good. Naw you had half of it right, i do miss Home. Huntin is what you make it, there be no doubt i love eatin the tick toters. Ppl. make it so hard huntin that is. Its really all about learnin their movements n where they like to move. Then set up yer stands close to their trails, they are goin to travel them at some time. Its yer job to be there when they do n clobber a nice fat one fer the pot

[Lake shooter]

Anywhere WARMER than where I now live would be most welcome to me, big deer or not!!!

[grouse]

I hunt in N.E. Missouri and our (statewide) deer population and harvest have been down for a couple of years, due mostly to an outbreak of disease induced by a drought a that occurred couple of years ago. Still, our 2014-2015 annual harvest was 260,552 deer, which is more than a previous poster reported for Arkansas and our archery season is only 4 months. We really aren't hurting that badly.

[MI Yeti]

I hunt in N.E. Missouri and our (statewide) deer population and harvest have been down for a couple of years, due mostly to an outbreak of disease induced by a drought a that occurred couple of years ago. Still, our 2014-2015 annual harvest was 260,552 deer, which is more than a previous poster reported for Arkansas and our archery season is only 4 months. We really aren't hurting that badly.

Only four months ? That seems plenty long to me . Here in Michigan our archery seasons are Oct1-Nov14 and late season dec1-jan1 . crossbows are not allowed in the U.P. during late season unless disabled with the correct permit.

I see plenty of deer hunting on the ground ,I am to big and clumsy for tree stands . I have my brush blinds near frequented deer trails on top of tall hills . I kill one or two deer in the early season and typically quit , no freezer room for more that .I do at times kill other deer for friends who need the meat . I need to learn how to can .