"Official" Sam Houston Natl. Forest 11/12

[Bonehead]

I'll be bow hunting east of of 45 in Cleveland/Coldspring area also. Probably pick one weekend to scout hard in late august.

[FISHUNTER]

My buddy shot a nice buck and doe.

By chance ya got a picture of his buck you can post?

[Italianxbowuser]

here it is..this was his first year bowhunting. His brother in law gave him a nice mathews bow that he missed a few deer with. One night he left his bow on top of his car as he left the forest, he didn't realize it until he unpacked his car the next day...he drove back up and it was gone.

[BuckSmasher]

Nice buck Italianxbowuser!

I have heard positive things about the East Side of the forest. I have some pretty good spots located on the west side for this next year and of course it is where I shot the good buck I got last year, but I am definitely gonna try and do some scouting on the east side soon.

I usually post in the SHNF thread often because this is my main area of hunting, I haven't posted up lately but I haven't been idle.

First the good news, check out the size of this deer track!




Now on to the bad. I posted last year about slobbish hunters leaving their water bottles, sex scent attractants, snack wrappers etc in the forest now they are leaving their deer stands! I saw both of these in the past few weeks and they have been down there for a looong time. Way, way, waaaaayyyy longer than the 72 hours allowed under the law.

If these are yours go get them because the next time I go down there I am either gonna stop by the HQ and let them know to go get'em or I will just help myself to them. This is ridiculous folks...... non-hunting outdoorsmen/women expect to go hiking and around in the national forest without coming across this kinda crap.







BTW: These are located several miles apart, not likely its the same people/person.

[BuckSmasher]

Italianxbowuser! Is this the buck? Looks like it to me!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV0gVILyiIY"]YouTube - ‪Sam Houston National Forest Creek Bottom Buck Dec 2010‬‏[/ame]

I posted this video last year and nobody claimed it and when I saw the pic above it reminded me..... I compared a few aspects of the rack and looks like a match to me!

[FISHUNTER]

Thanks for posting the pic Italian....awsome buck. Definate SHNF trophy there. I am heading out to do some scouting in about an hour or two on the east end. I will post up my scouting results/pics when I get back around 9pm.

[Italianxbowuser]

Good Luck Smasher, I've reported derelict stands before but they are all still there. They need to do a deer stand clean up weekend like they do for old crab traps(see link below). Put it in the booklet and have a volunteer weekend where stands are removed and donated for scrap if they are unsafe or to TPWD if they are in good condition for the draw hunts.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20100106e

[Italianxbowuser]

Smasher, video buck does look very similar but that is not my buddy. fishhunter let us know what you see.

[HotRod Hunter]

Bucksmasher is it possible these stands are being used by hog hunters? Or are they the same position since deer season ? If they havent been moved since season Looks like you have added a few stands to your inventory !!! LOLs. Some people get fed up with the SHNF leave there stuff and never get it. I've watched certain stands over the years Rot or rust , grow into trees. lock-ons have all the cloth burned off during a burn or the cloth rot off.

[SolocamShooter]

Scouted several areas off of 1725 and 945... Looked ok. I did see one deer while i was driving one of the forest roads close to the San Jac.
I've read, and a lot of people have told me that you need to go real deep in the forest to get away from the people... Well it seems like in the areas i looked you couldnt go a mile without hitting another road of some kind. How far in should I go? Im only going to be hunting it during bow season, once gun season starts I'll be moving to Alazan Bayou.

[BuckSmasher]

Bucksmasher is it possible these stands are being used by hog hunters? Or are they the same position since deer season ? If they havent been moved since season Looks like you have added a few stands to your inventory !!! LOLs. Some people get fed up with the SHNF leave there stuff and never get it. I've watched certain stands over the years Rot or rust , grow into trees. lock-ons have all the cloth burned off during a burn or the cloth rot off.

I am not 100% positive about whether the stands are still being used but they look to me like they have been there for a while the ground blind was all covered in dirt and had a limb fallen over on it. I turned it over for the picture. The strapon's illegal screw in steps had bark starting to wrap and heal around them. I don't neccessarily want either one of them but at this point they are litter.

I took those pictures last saturday and I probably wont be able to go back out ther for at least two weeks from tomorrow and if they are still there then I will for sure consider them abandoned. I don't want to be considered a thief or anything but it kinda bothers me. Do you think I should just leave them for a litte bit longer and tell the NF HQ? I mean it is possible that they are not abandoned and the people you put them there are planning on hunting them this fall or even periodically this summer for hogs but that is kind of classless (and illegal...more than 72 hours).

I have like you seen ones that are older than either one of these that were burnt to rotted away and I think that is where these are going honestly.

[BuckSmasher]

Scouted several areas off of 1725 and 945... Looked ok. I did see one deer while i was driving one of the forest roads close to the San Jac.
I've read, and a lot of people have told me that you need to go real deep in the forest to get away from the people... Well it seems like in the areas i looked you couldnt go a mile without hitting another road of some kind. How far in should I go? Im only going to be hunting it during bow season, once gun season starts I'll be moving to Alazan Bayou.

I am not as familiar with the East Side but the chunks are not as big as on the west. Even there in most places if you go in more than a mile or so if you go any further you start getting closer to another point of entry or private land. I would rather go deep and get closer to private land in an otherwise inaccessible area.

[Italianxbowuser]

Solo, I agree that most of the area i hunt or have scouted are not very deep; however to smashers point if you can find small areas squeezed between private land with only one way in they can be productive

[FISHUNTER]

I just back from the east side....little bit north of you solocam16. Sat on the same trail thats pictured on page 1 hoping for a yote to step out again.....nada. I did see well over 10 deer. Couldn't notice any velvet or anything on any of them..so am assuming they were all doe's. Back when I hunted this area 6-7 years ago I never saw a deer the two years I hunted it. Though at that time I had never went out there in the off-season. I sure hope these deer hang around when season rolls around. I even had 2 doe's next to my truck when I got back to the gate. Surely it can't be this easy to get your doe's out there?
Still haven't found a spot/area...but its still early. Ground out there is too hard to hold any prints..need a good rain pour so I can see whats active in the area. Probally won't make it back out there for another two weeks, but will get the cheap 2-pack Wildgame Innovations game cam's from Academy to put out there. (that way its no big deal if they get stolen)...lookin for some velvet to show up on cams.

[FISHUNTER]

Another question....kinda out there though.
My other passion got ahold of me out there. I come across a lot of ponds back in the woods. We're in the middle of a drought and these ponds are still full. So I kinda assume they are deep/well established and have been there a long time. One pictured is smallest I have found. Has anyone ever tried to fish any of these ponds in SHNF?