Stalking Whitetail Deer with the 300AAC Blackout AR-15

If you subscribe to my "TexasNative00" Hunting and Outdoor channel on YouTube, you might see lots of my hunts executed from a blind. Surprisingly I get lots of flack from the haters out there telling me that "that is not hunting, get out and stalk the deer like a real man". Well believe it or not, I only started hunting from a blind and subsequently feeders after my kids came along. With the little ones in tow, I can take them with me to a blind more easier than on a stalk. So please join me below on a typical hunt for me (before the kids came along). On this hunt I am using my newly built AR15 upper chambered in the 300 Blackout. As you will see in the video below, I think this cartridge appears to do very well on the Central Texas whitetail.

Opening Weekend for Deer Season

Opening weekend for White tail deer here in Central Texas has come and gone. Its the one time of the year good friends can get together and tell stories without the looming repercussions of wives and children. Even though we did not have super good luck, it was a fun time for sure. Stay tuned to the YouTube Channel TexasNative00 for more videos. Be sure and give me a shout out on Google+ "TexasNative00".

View from the fire ring after I lost in Texas Hold'em.  See the video below for a tour of the hunting cabin.

Some of the hardware brought out.  From top to bottom: 300 Blackout( seen on my NicTaylor00 Channel on YouTube, Savage 270, Remington 243, ARPerformance 6.8 SPCII (As seen on NicTaylor00)

From top to bottom: Stag 6.8SPCII, 556 M4, Stag Arms 556 (left Handed upper), 556 M4

The law showed up.

One of the guys decided to do some different hunting.  A felony for about $200 worth.

Working on the "Grand Entrance" to the camp.

The finished entrance.  See the video below for an update on the cabin.

Cull White Tail Deer Hunting for Population and Quality Deer Management

Culling low quality antlers is one of the only methods for hunters on low fence properties where having a "captive" deer population is not possible. "Low Fence" basically means the deer are free to roam where ever they choose. "High Fence" properties are properties that have a fence that is impossible for deer to jump. In return, the deer have no freedom to roam outside the fenced area and the gene pool of deer are easily managed. A Low Fence property is much harder to control when it comes to quality of deer. Over the past 10 years or so we have been focusing on low quality antlered deer (deer we believe that will most likely never grow to a trophy quality). While harvesting these lower quality antlered deer, we have also been letting the nicer deer pass and hopefully pass on their genes during breeding season. We occasionally take a "trophy deer" and as you can tell from the photos and video below, we are seeing more and more deer with better antlers. As of September 2013, I have seen only 2 deer that I deemed culls. This is in stark contrast for past years. All of the other bucks I am seeing have really nice antlers for our area.

Youth hunts are a good way to cull deer and keep your tags for a trophy buck.

No Brow tines...

A heavy antlered 8 point

Probably the heaviest deer ever taken in our area.  Video Below!

Snap shot of some of the deer we are seeing before the 2013 season.

Dove Season Opening Day

We took some of the kids dove hunting on opening day. However, our regular hunting ground is without water so I think that limits how the dove fly at our place. Never the less I went for a walk with my son since I figured we would have to go to the dove instead of wait for them. We where right but after an hour and a half of walking we only got two dove. He got one with his Rossi youth 410 and I got one. I lost mine in the tall grass and never found it. One of the other boys took a big Jack Rabbit with his 20 gauge but no dove. No one else got any birds. I guess they should have hung with the Taylor Boys...

Cleaning his dove.

Supplementing his dove with a hotdog.

Trail Camera Photos - July 28, 2013

These guys appear to be the lowest quality of antlers seen so far.  Think they will grow much more?

Do you think this one will develop into anything since he has no brow tines?  I think probably not.

Friggin Cows!

Man thats a nice rack.  10 Point!

I hope this one grows some more.  The end of his tines are still round.

I think these are going to grow pretty tall.

I'm gonna keep my eye on this one.  Hopefully that spot will make him easy to ID.  I'm curious how much his antlers will grow.

Another 10 Point!

Tall and still growing!

Need I say anything?

Yep, your seeing that right.  DOUBLE BROW TINES!  And 12 points!

Coyote!

Turkey!

I bet that this will be the view I get of this one during hunting season... as he is running away.

Deer Feeder Maintenance

Nothing sucks more than to show up for a weekend hunt after a hard week at work only to find that your deer feeder has quite working. Too many times have I sat in the stand watching the sun come up and the feeder never goes off. Talk about a ruined hunt! Coons can be one problem, causing all sorts of damage, but that is usually obvious. The not so obvious problems are the ones you can't see. Mostly it is a dead battery. I always keep a voltmeter in my repair kit and leave the repair kit at the hunting cabin. A volt meter can help you diagnose all kinds of problems when it comes to debugging a feeder. However, the easiest way to avoid feeder malfunctions is to keep those batteries charged. I keep my batteries on a battery maintenance device all year when the feeders are not it service. Even if you charge your battery to 100% after the season is over, the battery will deteriorate just by sitting. Its important to keep them "maintained" all through the off season. Since I have more than one feeder, I have multiple batteries. In the 2nd photo you will notice that they are wired in parallel by jumping all of the positive (+) terminals together and all the negative (-) terminals together. By doing this you only need one charger to keep your batteries maintained in the off season. If you use Solar Panels to charge your feeder batteries during hunting season, see the video below. I will show you how to test those Solar Panels to make sure they are still functioning.

Trail Camera Photos from July 2013 - Protein Feeders and Coon Deterrents

Here is some photos from my trail camera. This camera is setup on a custom protein feeder that I made in hopes to deter these pesky raccoons. However these little critters seem to not be phased by the amount of sharp edges I presented them with. Lots of bucks are showing up at and eating the protein. This is a good sign because as mid July approaches, the grass has already dried up here in Central Texas and food sources for the deer appear limited. On a side note, I've had multiple questions why I place fences around my feeders. The simple answer is to keep the cattle away from the feeders. As you can tell from one of the photos that task is not as easy as putting up a fence.