2018 LBJ Grasslands

[troy_w_7]

Caddo Grasslands folks. Come on guys. Really. I thght this forum included Caddo, basically the same thing. If I am forced do something illegal, i d&$m sure would not post it on a public forum. I am one of those folks who actually believes, if you are going have to do something wrong, I want to get away with it and not get caught. For the record, I follow the rules fairy strictly. Hunting is my life, I would not want that taken away over something stupid. I am sure their is people on here that do that tho.


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Cool. I thought you had maybe overlooked a regulation.

[jbhunting39]

Cool. I thought you had maybe overlooked a regulation.

That’s Kool bro. Read them 3-4 times a year to be sure. I read them several times a year to be assured. Even getting to where we check the fire report too before we go out. Got caught in a prescribed burn last year camping out at Caddo. They almost burnt all of our stuff to the ground. It would have been our fault for not checking really but it still sucked.


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[jnd1959]

There is an oganic caddo thread out there. I don't mind if they are combined but the rules are substantially different. I assumed it was somewhere else when I read the post.

I'm thinking of taking my son to LBJ. I have a turkey gun he can use. I've never used buckshot so I'm going to have to read up on selection, range, etc.

The problem with two inexperienced deer hunting kids is taking them. One hunts bow and the other hunts gun. They're older though so next year I can send them to their own stand. The good part is I have an excuse to hunt twice as much.

[troy_w_7]

Yesterday morning, I setup south of a scrape. On Wednesday, I found this bed that's on a finger with a pond surrounding the east and south side. The scrape was just west of the finger and I setup south of it. About 6am, I threw my head lamp on to try and identify which tree had the scrape in it and I see the deer get up from it's bed and start walking towards the scrape. He saw the light and looked at me for about 5 minutes before bounding off. It had to have been a buck. I moved to another spot around 10am and sat for a while until another hunter walked about 15 yards from me. I'm not sure he ever saw me.

Last night, I hunted the same tree I shot my doe out of Tuesday. I ran into 2 guys setting up tripods and skirted them and got setup. About an hour later, another hunter came through the woods walking past about 70 yards from me. At about 6:15 a buck fawn came out and munched on acorns right where I had shot that doe. Then a doe comes out. I could hear grunting in the timber and eventually a little 4/6 pointer comes out and he chased her around a little bit. Eventually he chased her back into the timber. Then a spike from across the field ran over and chased her for a while. I played around with him with the grunt call and he came out twice to about 10 yards from the tree. It's pretty exciting being 4 feet off the ground and that close. All the deer could smell me but they never spotted me and just kept mulling around once they caught my wind.

I'll be out Thu-Sat this week camping, hoping to put some horns down!

P.S. It sounded like a war zone out there today. Lots of gun shots!

[jnd1959]

Yesterday morning, I setup south of a scrape. On Wednesday, I found this bed that's on a finger with a pond surrounding the east and south side. The scrape was just west of the finger and I setup south of it. About 6am, I threw my head lamp on to try and identify which tree had the scrape in it and I see the deer get up from it's bed and start walking towards the scrape. He saw the light and looked at me for about 5 minutes before bounding off. It had to have been a buck. I moved to another spot around 10am and sat for a while until another hunter walked about 15 yards from me. I'm not sure he ever saw me.

Last night, I hunted the same tree I shot my doe out of Tuesday. I ran into 2 guys setting up tripods and skirted them and got setup. About an hour later, another hunter came through the woods walking past about 70 yards from me. At about 6:15 a buck fawn came out and munched on acorns right where I had shot that doe. Then a doe comes out. I could hear grunting in the timber and eventually a little 4/6 pointer comes out and he chased her around a little bit. Eventually he chased her back into the timber. Then a spike from across the field ran over and chased her for a while. I played around with him with the grunt call and he came out twice to about 10 yards from the tree. It's pretty exciting being 4 feet off the ground and that close. All the deer could smell me but they never spotted me and just kept mulling around once they caught my wind.

I'll be out Thu-Sat this week camping, hoping to put some horns down!

P.S. It sounded like a war zone out there today. Lots of gun shots!

Sounds like they are moving around. Good to know. My son had a high school Bass tourney on possum kingdom yesterday so we missed this weekend. That was a tough slog. Windy, water was like West Texas Clay, and we had trolling motor issues all morning. Still it was good to get out and try to harass some bass. Good luck. We won't be out until Thanksgiving weekend, unless we decide to bother ducks then.

Hopefully the season opener hunters will be done by then.

[JollyRover]

Hey y'all, I'm looking for advice. This season I've been way more successful in finding deer than during my first season. However they seem to be just as successful in spotting me. I use a small chair and camo burlap, and i try to tuck myself back into the treeline using just enough burlap to obscure my outline. I'm convinced they are seeing the change of scenery and going on alert though. How are y'all getting it done on the ground?

[Kdurham]

Hey y'all, I'm looking for advice. This season I've been way more successful in finding deer than during my first season. However they seem to be just as successful in spotting me. I use a small chair and camo burlap, and i try to tuck myself back into the treeline using just enough burlap to obscure my outline. I'm convinced they are seeing the change of scenery and going on alert though. How are y'all getting it done on the ground?

Is that you on 71?


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[JollyRover]

Is that you on 71?


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Nope

[troy_w_7]

Hey y'all, I'm looking for advice. This season I've been way more successful in finding deer than during my first season. However they seem to be just as successful in spotting me. I use a small chair and camo burlap, and i try to tuck myself back into the treeline using just enough burlap to obscure my outline. I'm convinced they are seeing the change of scenery and going on alert though. How are y'all getting it done on the ground?

If you are tucked away well and minimizing your movement, they have to be winding you.

[jnd1959]

If you are tucked away well and minimizing your movement, they have to be winding you.

I was about to say the same thing. I bet they are winding you If the are licking their nose they are trying to smell you. I've been in a stand at 4 feet and they have looked right at me without an issue. What smells does the burlap have on it?

[JohnEdward]

Hey Guys I'm new here to the forum and new to LBJ and public hunting in general as well. Have spent some time around there the past week and a half, 2017 F150 four door lifted black/dark grey. Seen tons of sign and a few doe already. Hunting Caddo pretty hard too for the first time. Got a few cams out so we will see what my spots are looking like over the next two weeks while I'm at work.

[JollyRover]

I was about to say the same thing. I bet they are winding you If the are licking their nose they are trying to smell you. I've been in a stand at 4 feet and they have looked right at me without an issue. What smells does the burlap have on it?

I've been pretty strict with wind management. The burlap gets the same scent free wash as my camo before each hunt. This last doe and I had a stare down at 15yds. She was upwind the whole time, and would dip her head to browse and immediately pop up to look at me. The whole time she was in the clearing she didn't stop staring (fun experience though). I wasn't about to attempt to draw until her head was obscured. I was about 3 yds back from the treeline with the burlap hung low and two branches tied down to clear a pretty open window to shoot from. I was thinking I was too exposed, but if you were only 4ft up with no problems, I'm seeing where scent seems to be the logical place to go.

[IkemanTX]

I've been pretty strict with wind management. The burlap gets the same scent free wash as my camo before each hunt. This last doe and I had a stare down at 15yds. She was upwind the whole time, and would dip her head to browse and immediately pop up to look at me. The whole time she was in the clearing she didn't stop staring (fun experience though). I wasn't about to attempt to draw until her head was obscured. I was about 3 yds back from the treeline with the burlap hung low and two branches tied down to clear a pretty open window to shoot from. I was thinking I was too exposed, but if you were only 4ft up with no problems, I'm seeing where scent seems to be the logical place to go.

I have noticed that burlap quickly comes across as a homogeneous color, especially as it starts to fade. It can stick out like a sore thumb visually. I don’t use a fabric, I carry 4 or 5 sticks of PVC cut at a 45° angle on one end. I sponge paint camo’d them, stick them in the ground, and stick a handful of tall grass or small brush limbs in each of them to build a bit of cover in a semi-circle around me. I set them with gaps between them so I have good shooting options. That gives the cover depth, which I think is the key, and the cover resembles natural growth instead of looking like a wall.
Add to that a good leafy suit or ghillie suit, and you are DANG hard to pick off without movement.

I got the idea from @davet1963

https://youtu.be/-ynEX7oUQLc

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[jnd1959]

I have noticed that burlap quickly comes across as a homogeneous color, especially as it starts to fade. It can stick out like a sore thumb visually. I don’t use a fabric, I carry 4 or 5 sticks of PVC cut at a 45° angle on one end. I sponge paint camo’d them, stick them in the ground, and stick a handful of tall grass or small brush limbs in each of them to build a bit of cover in a semi-circle around me. I set them with gaps between them so I have good shooting options. That gives the cover depth, which I think is the key, and the cover resembles natural growth instead of looking like a wall.
Add to that a good leafy suit or ghillie suit, and you are DANG hard to pick off without movement.

I got the idea from @davet1963

https://youtu.be/-ynEX7oUQLc

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After reading Ikeman's post this makes more sense. I was thinking the burlap was multi colored but if it is the same weathered color that could cause some issues. Maybe attach some grass to it to give it a three dimensional look. I don't know if this is scientific or not but I've assumed if they're not licking their nose then they either have a clear idea of what they are smelling or they can't smell enough to raise concern.

Good luck. Having deer that close is why I took up the bow.

[JollyRover]

After reading Ikeman's post this makes more sense. I was thinking the burlap was multi colored but if it is the same weathered color that could cause some issues. Maybe attach some grass to it to give it a three dimensional look. I don't know if this is scientific or not but I've assumed if they're not licking their nose then they either have a clear idea of what they are smelling or they can't smell enough to raise concern.

Good luck. Having deer that close is why I took up the bow.

Thank you guys for the feedback! I like that idea of having shooting lanes and depth of cover combined. Hopefully this will help turn these close encounters into a filled tag or two.