"Official" Sam Houston Natl. Forest 10/11

[Trent D]

Come on Down

Planning on doing it for lunch.

Daym! If your cooking fried backstrap I might just have to make a stop by to visit you.

[huntinfool]

Tray and I are talking about heading to his lease and setting up a feeder and a stand. If we can get that done in time we might make it back. Then I want to try and scout another spot to hunt.

[Trent D]

Cool Deal

That works for me.

Tray and I are talking about heading to his lease and setting up a feeder and a stand. If we can get that done in time we might make it back. Then I want to try and scout another spot to hunt.

[Limbwalker]

Can you gut an animal in the forest? I am hearing that you may not field dress or gut an animal in the forest, it must be done elsewhere.

That's totally absurd. I can't believe it would be true. What else would anyone expect us to do with the game?

Hoping that's a bad rumor...

[Eagles1181]

That's totally absurd. I can't believe it would be true. What else would anyone expect us to do with the game?

Hoping that's a bad rumor...

Trent called the game wardens office, and confirmed that it is a bad rumor.

Eagle

[huntinfool]

This rumor started by a TBH'er talking to a GW. Who told him it was illegal to gut an animal in the forest. We have called the SHNF office and they have confirmed that it is legal to gut an animal in the forest. So lets not worry about that anymore.

I went and scouted a couple spots on Saturday morning. While scouting I found what looked like a scrape. I had just scouted this spot two weeks ago and it was not there. So I am confused as to what it really is and what it means. I took pictures and I'll try and get them resized and posted.
Later I met up with Trent and we went and scouted some more spots. We found a couple old rubs and one was on a pretty big tree. I have pics of that too and will try and get that posted soon. Then we went to a couple new spots and we saw a bunch of deer. We even saw a 6pt that was still in full velvet, but would probably not quite make the 13" min. We saw several spikes that were all in velvet too. So I do not see any evidence that the bucks in the SHNF have started to shed their velvet. So there should not be any new rubs from this year yet, so all rubs should be from last year.
Found a couple new spots that are just too thick to hunt.
I did jump a doe while coming down a forest road and walked up to where she was at. I looked in the brush and did not see her so I assumed she had moved on. I continued on the road which had a curve in it. As I came around the curve I thought I heard her moving in the brush so I stopped. I heard her coming towards me and then she picked up the pace and busted out of the brush at a mere 10 feet! She then saw me and turned inside out to try and get away. She ran 30 yards away and stopped and just watched me until I left. I really did not think much about it until later in the evening. While scouting another area Trent and I saw several does with fawns that still had spots!!!!
I thnk the doe that ran at me had a fawn in the brush that I did not know about. With the fawns still having spots it must mean that there was a later rut. I know that the bucks last year were working scrapes the last two weekends of archery season and the first two weekends of rifle and then they never were hit again.
Got a lot of info that I need to process and try and figure out what the deer are doing.

[E.TX.BOWHUNTER]

The deer that don't get bred during their first cycle Oct early Nov. will come into esterus again in December and those that are in their first year of cycle maybe bred as late as Dec. Jan. Those fawns with spots will be late breeders again.

[huntinfool]

The deer that don't get bred during their first cycle Oct early Nov. will come into esterus again in December and those that are in their first year of cycle maybe bred as late as Dec. Jan. Those fawns with spots will be late breeders again.

Exactly, but I never noticed the late rut last year.

[froghunter]

Just got home form SHNF. for the guys i have been scouting with, i checked out the "other side of the road." Holly cow is it THICK!! very rough going. i did find a clear cut area. The second gorwth weeds and brush were as tall as me(6'2").Made a five mile+/- cirlce through the forest. found some pig sign and one set of deer tracks. IMO the area we scouted together seems to look a little more like deer coutry. if nothein else it is far less trouble to travel in and offers more shot oppertunities. Good luck guys....i plan to go back next weekend if any one wants to meet up. Derrick

[huntinfool]

I have to see if we have any plans for next weekend, but if we don't I may be up for another trip.

[Trent D]

Sorry Derrick

Sorry I couldn't hook up with you today, but I had to check out of Cagle at 12:00. But I will try to do it again during archery season and give you and the guys a bit more lead time so that we plan a weekend of hunting and hanging out at the campsite.

Heck, I'll even give it a name. Let's call it a "Honey Do Haters" weekend.

Just got home form SHNF. for the guys i have been scouting with, i checked out the "other side of the road." Holly cow is it THICK!! very rough going. i did find a clear cut area. The second gorwth weeds and brush were as tall as me(6'2").Made a five mile+/- cirlce through the forest. found some pig sign and one set of deer tracks. IMO the area we scouted together seems to look a little more like deer coutry. if nothein else it is far less trouble to travel in and offers more shot oppertunities. Good luck guys....i plan to go back next weekend if any one wants to meet up. Derrick

[froghunter]

"Honey do haters"......that will work, im free from the second weekend of bow season on.

[Trent D]

Ya'll Missed It

Tray, Derrick, and Phillip ya'll missed a good time.

Damian and I had a great day of food, fellowship, and scouting. Not only can he find deer, but he can fry the heck out of some backstrap! Don't let him tell you otherwise.

On a serious note. I saw more deer in SHNF on Saturday than I' have seen in the last 5 years of hunting it. Huntinfool really knows his stuff. Think of him as a force multiplier. We walked through and did some scouting of two areas that I've previously hunted and I was amazed at the amount things that he picked up on that I was clueless about. He showed me a spot where there were two white oaks within 50yds of a trail that I've walked past for going on 2 years now. We also walked through an area that I'd previously shied away from and saw the biggest rub that both he and I had ever seen in the forest. He really know his stuff.

But it wasn't all work. Aside from seeing a boatload of deer, and eating some great food (think perfectly fried slap yo mama backstrap), the best fun of the day was throwing grasshoppers to the perch in a creek. Boys will be boys.

We'll have to do it again soon. Thanks Damian.

[huntinfool]

I had a great time and I can not wait to do it again. We did have a bunch of fun. Feedin the perch in that creek reminds me of when I was a kid. I'm still doing it and I hope I never quit. We did see some good areas to hunt and some that I don't think we could hunt.

Honey do haters weekend.....yep I can see that coming in my future. I told my wife that I was going to come stay in the forest this year in stead of driving back and forth. 1.5 hour drive one way. I have to get up at 2 and leave by 2:30 just so I can get in the stand a few minutes before day break. Then hunt all day and not get home until after 10pm. Too dangerous to do. So I plan on staying a night or two to stay safe. I'll let y'all know when.

[jodsterag99]

Newbie here. Not trying to steal anyone's "honey holes" but would love to learn a thing or two about scouting. I'm totally new to bow hunting, and just got my first bow. Gonna be shooting like crazy these next few weeks to get decent.

I would love to join in on some scouting sessions to learn a thing or two...or fifty! PM me if I can join someone...
thanks,
Jody