Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What do you need to do before next opening day?

Sight in my slug guns. The cheap 3-9x Tasco on the 20 ga gave up the ghost last year and has been replaced with a 2.5x. Burris. The 12 ga needs to be sighted in with a new slug brand as the previous one is no longer in production.

Put up a new ladder stand, the old one is in a dying tree and I expect the tree to fall over one of these days.

I mostly hunt on my property, not much I need to do for that.

I need to find a couple of boxes that haven't been on the shelf of any gun shop I have been in. And obviously load some favorite loads in .250 Savage and 7-08.

Plant the food plots. Put out corn. Grab a rifle and get in the stand.

After my TK, took me 18 months before I could climb stairs without deliberate weight adjustment.

WMA's are too much hassle in TX. Draw hunts are a 0% success rate for me after 20 years. 95% of TX is privately owned. So, there is nothing simple about it. The WMA's take about the same physical effort as a leased property for hunt area setup. ON WMA's you must remove ALL gear after the hunt. Therefore, I prefer leasing in TX. I currently pay $500 annually for an 80 acre lease. It produces plenty of freezer fare. It is only 150 miles one way. I am happy.

That's not bad really. When I lived in TX, I was asked to pay 350 a DAY to shoot coyotes....

Wow! You ought'ta get paid to do that.

I’m trying to get loaded to go to lease now but the rain is slowing me down, but it will settle the dust in Weirgate

I've been threatening to put in a couple few small food plots....

Feed program starts Feb 1
Food plot maintenance, install,etc
Road,right of way, bridge maintenance etc
Equipment maintenance/repair.Tractors, hvy equip,bushogs, discs,trucks, buggies, atvs,utvs etc
Fence management/repair
Storm damage/repair
Lodge/camp maintenance
Trapping as needed, hogs,predators,etc
Treework. Removal, plant, fertilize
Prescribed burning
Firewood
Box stand, treestand maintenance
Bushhogging, mowing, spraying chems etc
Equip failures
Etc etc etc
To be continued
Deer season will be here before long

Food plots, stand renovations, cut firewood, and pick a rifle! Then, load development for said rifle. Load for family members rifles. In the process of writing new bylaws for cabin members, trying to keep cost down but fair,,,,,,,

Make a few refinements to my new stand. We used it last year but it needs some changes. I also want to put a camo paint job on it.

Just grab my mediocre rifle and cheap scope and walk across the road to 10 million acres of public land to shoot my 6 deer this year. Just joking. Cut the roads back and plow the food plots in September. Good to go.

GreggH

My hunting buddy & I split the cost of an elevated box blind that we got locally. Comes in two big heavy boxes that are now in his brothers garage awaiting nice weather. Come spring we can assemble it on a leisurely schedule on his brothers property. Planning on getting one of those mini propane heaters for it, and have already got 4 of the disposable propane cylinders for it that were on sale.

Get into my stand.

Find sum .300 Savage 150gr bullets

These stilted houses… sheesh. I hunt in some unforgiving terrain but will make a ground blind sometimes. Takes 15-20 min

Check the wind and weather on the phone. Get dressed for the weather. Get rifle,ammo and hunting backpack and shuffle out in the back yard somewhere on our 34 acres. Set up and wait comfortably. I have ground blinds and chairs. Limited by my prosthesis on L leg. Can’t go too far or climb. I’m still dangerous tho , even at 74. I see deer and wildlife just about every day. Been here since 82 and know the lay of the land. The land has been owned by my wife’s family for over 80 years.

Good question Hanco - for myself, shedding any extra winter weight and planning some trout fishing on streams in areas I’d like to track next season.

Cheers!

Nada. Just need to load up the backpack.