TN Wild Man
New member
Hey everybody! I was just listening to one of the Hunttalk Radio podcasts and decided that it was finally time to take the plunge and join up here at the forum. I'll break the introduction into a short and long version.
Short and Sweet:
I'm new to hunting, but I harvested my first whitetail deer last winter outside of Gatesville, TX. Since then I've been slowly been chipping away a the deer in my freezer in Houston (where I live and work). I'm looking forward to learning much much more about hunting and hopefully meeting some great people here on the foum.
Longer version:
I was born and raised in southeastern Tennessee (a couple small towns north of Chattanooga) and grew up hiking, camping, scouting, and target shooting. My father grew up in the same part of the country and hunted squirrels and rabbits when he was young, but he had essentially lost interest in most outdoor activities by the time I was old enough to tag along. He and I did do a pretty fair amount of target shooting together which was fantastic.
I moved around the country a bit and worked through my early twenties and eventually ended up coming back to eastern Tennessee to go to college. Fast forward a few years and now I work as a Geologist in Houston, TX. My wife and I have been married for 10 years, and we've got three little boys (7, 4, and 1.5) and a baby girl on the way. About three years ago one of my coworkers introduced me to sporting clays (very popular around Houston), and I haven't had any reason to pick up a golf club since.
Now to the hunting...I never "hunted" anything aside from catching some crawdads in the creek when camping a couple of times as a teenager. There was something pretty cool about catching those little guys and cooking them up over a campfire! About two years ago I was listening to one of Joe Rogan's podcasts and I heard him talk with Steve Rinella and Steve's whole perspective on hunting (mainly food as opposed to trophies) really appealed to me. Now, I am not saying there is anything wrong with trophy hunting, but it just never really appealed to me. I got hooked on Steve's show and podcast, and that's sort of how I found out about Randy Newberg and ended up here.
After getting bitten by the hunting bug I went out and bought a deer rifle and started practicing at the range (a year and a half ago or so). I always enjoyed shooting, but this was my first high powered rifle so I needed some practice. The whitetail I got last winter was on a lease in Texas that my cousin has outside of Gatesville (not too far from Waco). He has what I gather is a pretty standard setup for private land here in Texas with a very nice deer blind set up 97 yards away from a corn feeder. I'm still struggling with whether or not this really counts and hunting or not. The deer didn't have to walk out in front of me and mill around while I got lined up, but aside from the shot there was not a whole lot of skill needed on my part. We arrived before dawn and set up in the blind, and right on cue the deer showed up a few minutes before official shooting time. I knew that I was going to be nervous, but I couldn't believe how hard I had to work to try and stay calm and do what I needed to do with my rifle. I got a shot off and was really happy with the results. The deer piled up right where it was standing and was dead b a few moments later. It was just a little button buck that my cousin was trying to get rid of, but I couldn't have been more pleased. We dressed it out and quartered it, and I butchered it back in my kitchen. The whole experience was just awesome. I'm 37, and I feel like I have really missed out on a lot of good years of hunting, but I know that there should still be a lot more coming if I put in the effort.
While I really enjoyed getting a deer last year, I am very interested in getting into more involved hunting. I know that with so much private land here in Texas, there a an awful lot of places where you just ambush hunt from a blind. While this seems like a great way to get some fine animals, I'd eventually like to get into some back country outings that involve spot and stalk hunting. I'd say i'm also like almost everyone else here in that I dream of one day going on that big western elk or mule deer hunt too.
That's probably way more than most people are willing to read. I don't really know that many other hunters here in Houston, but I know they are out there based on the sheer amount of bumper stickers I see driving around town. So, hopefully I will run into some cool folks here on the forum.
Thanks for reading!
Watch yer topknot,
Wildman
Short and Sweet:
I'm new to hunting, but I harvested my first whitetail deer last winter outside of Gatesville, TX. Since then I've been slowly been chipping away a the deer in my freezer in Houston (where I live and work). I'm looking forward to learning much much more about hunting and hopefully meeting some great people here on the foum.
Longer version:
I was born and raised in southeastern Tennessee (a couple small towns north of Chattanooga) and grew up hiking, camping, scouting, and target shooting. My father grew up in the same part of the country and hunted squirrels and rabbits when he was young, but he had essentially lost interest in most outdoor activities by the time I was old enough to tag along. He and I did do a pretty fair amount of target shooting together which was fantastic.
I moved around the country a bit and worked through my early twenties and eventually ended up coming back to eastern Tennessee to go to college. Fast forward a few years and now I work as a Geologist in Houston, TX. My wife and I have been married for 10 years, and we've got three little boys (7, 4, and 1.5) and a baby girl on the way. About three years ago one of my coworkers introduced me to sporting clays (very popular around Houston), and I haven't had any reason to pick up a golf club since.
Now to the hunting...I never "hunted" anything aside from catching some crawdads in the creek when camping a couple of times as a teenager. There was something pretty cool about catching those little guys and cooking them up over a campfire! About two years ago I was listening to one of Joe Rogan's podcasts and I heard him talk with Steve Rinella and Steve's whole perspective on hunting (mainly food as opposed to trophies) really appealed to me. Now, I am not saying there is anything wrong with trophy hunting, but it just never really appealed to me. I got hooked on Steve's show and podcast, and that's sort of how I found out about Randy Newberg and ended up here.
After getting bitten by the hunting bug I went out and bought a deer rifle and started practicing at the range (a year and a half ago or so). I always enjoyed shooting, but this was my first high powered rifle so I needed some practice. The whitetail I got last winter was on a lease in Texas that my cousin has outside of Gatesville (not too far from Waco). He has what I gather is a pretty standard setup for private land here in Texas with a very nice deer blind set up 97 yards away from a corn feeder. I'm still struggling with whether or not this really counts and hunting or not. The deer didn't have to walk out in front of me and mill around while I got lined up, but aside from the shot there was not a whole lot of skill needed on my part. We arrived before dawn and set up in the blind, and right on cue the deer showed up a few minutes before official shooting time. I knew that I was going to be nervous, but I couldn't believe how hard I had to work to try and stay calm and do what I needed to do with my rifle. I got a shot off and was really happy with the results. The deer piled up right where it was standing and was dead b a few moments later. It was just a little button buck that my cousin was trying to get rid of, but I couldn't have been more pleased. We dressed it out and quartered it, and I butchered it back in my kitchen. The whole experience was just awesome. I'm 37, and I feel like I have really missed out on a lot of good years of hunting, but I know that there should still be a lot more coming if I put in the effort.
While I really enjoyed getting a deer last year, I am very interested in getting into more involved hunting. I know that with so much private land here in Texas, there a an awful lot of places where you just ambush hunt from a blind. While this seems like a great way to get some fine animals, I'd eventually like to get into some back country outings that involve spot and stalk hunting. I'd say i'm also like almost everyone else here in that I dream of one day going on that big western elk or mule deer hunt too.
That's probably way more than most people are willing to read. I don't really know that many other hunters here in Houston, but I know they are out there based on the sheer amount of bumper stickers I see driving around town. So, hopefully I will run into some cool folks here on the forum.
Thanks for reading!
Watch yer topknot,
Wildman
