Tales From Los Cazadores: September 2008
Article by: Larry Weishuhn
Do you remember where you were last September? I certainly do. I spent part of it hunting woodland caribou in Newfoundland, then also hunting barren ground caribou in far northern Quebec. Then I no sooner got back and I headed to Kansas to hunt muzzleloader whitetail. And I'm proud to proclaim I was success on all three adventures. The Kansas hunt actually produced for me the biggest (slick) typical whitetail entered in our Los Cazadores North American Whitetail Deer Contest. That Kansas hunt had also been the first of the hunts we filmed last fall for the new "Winchester World of Whitetail with Larry Weishuhn" show that is now airng on Versus (10 am Friday and Saturday and Friday evening at 6:30 pm). September 2007 had been a pretty darn good month, particularly when it came to hunting.
As we're about to embark into September 2008 it's with great anticipation and hope. And with September comes the beginning of our Texas hunting season, first with mourning doves. Unfortunately I'll not get to spend any time hunting mourning doves this year once again. But I will be hunting. For starters I'm headed to California, of all places, to hunt the California race of mule deer and probably Columbian blacktail as well. Then from there it's back to Kansas to again hunt whitetails with a muzzleloader.
Last year I saw two bucks that came into the bean field that I hunted after legal shooting hours. Both were monsters and bigger than the 170 plus typical 10 point buck I shot. In visiting with the outfitter he told me recently that both those bigger bucks survived and taht he has also been seeing several other really outstanding bucks. To be frank, I can hardly wait to get back to Kansas. This year I understand I'll have a friend hunting with the same outfitter at the same time, Irvin Barnhart, from Houston. Irvin is a hunter of considerable renown, including a few years ago receiving the coveted and prestiguous Weatherby Award. Thus not only will the hunting be fun, spending time listening to Irvin's many hunting adventures will be as well. And as you've likely guessed the hunt will filmed for the 2009 show season of "Winchester World of Whitetail".
I suspect each of you are also making various hunting plans whether those plans include elk, mule deer, antelope, bear or even more exotic animals. No doubt they definitely include hunting whitetails here in Texas.
Late rains have been extremely fortunate, and have fallen over a goodly part of Texas. Even though late winter and early spring rains were a bit scarce, I think we're headed toward another great antler year. Part of this comes from the fact we had high fawn survival rates, 4 to 7 years ago, which puts those fawns born during those years into the mature age classes this year. I do know that I've talked to numerous ranchers scattered throughout the state who report seeing some really good bucks. I've also seen a few myself traveling some of the backroads headed to various destinations. Interestingly too, we've had some photos brought by our Los Cazadores store of bucks that are truly impressive. One photo shows a buck, from one of the properties using our Los Cazadores Feed, that appears to be well over 30 inches wide that will likely score well over 200.
As we get closer and closer to the opening of bow season and the MLD season I'm sure we'll a few more most interesting photos show up.
If you're a bowhunter you may want to be certain to stop by our Los Cazadores store to see our new Archery Section, can you believe it? There will be someone who speaks archery in the section Fridays thru Sundays.
Then too, if you've not seen our new addition to the store, we would love for you to stop by. With Mesquite Creek Taxidermy now doing the taxidermy work at Los Cazadores we have what amounts to a revolving taxidermy display at our store. We also have on almost a daily basis many new products being stocked at Los Cazadores. There's no telling what you'll find at Los Cazadores. All the more reason to stop by the store.
During the next months we'll cover a wide variety of topics regarding hunting and deer management. If there is a particular topic you would like to see covered, please call the Los Cazadores Hunting Headquarters at 830-334-5959 or send an email to info@loscazadoes.com and the message will be passed on to me.
Hunting season 2008, here we go...
