Triple Dipper

We’re headed down the home stretch of another Texas deer season. While rutting activity is waning across much of the state, it’s just now about to get cranked up down south. Some of the year’s best hunting in the Brush Country and Mexico always happens around the Christmas rush.

A glassy-eyed buck with girls on his mind will often throw caution to the wind. He’s prone to go places he normally would not go and make some really silly mistakes along the way.

I've been interviewing lucky deer hunters for more than three decades now. Probably 80% of the success stories have involved a female.

Whitehouse hunter Logan Tidwell knows all about the benefits of hunting during the rut.

Tidwell, 37, was at church with his family on the morning of Dec. 3 when his cell phone signaled one of his trail cameras had been activated. He checked the pictures once church was over and found several images of a 10 pointer buck in the company of a doe.

The deer were nibbling on corn the hunter had scattered across a small opening earlier days earlier at a 25-acre tract of property in Cherokee County. Tidwell had recently acquired access to the property, but hadn’t actually hunted there yet.

The Sunday morning images told him the time was ripe to make a trip. He guessed the buck to be about 4 1/2 years old.

“A buck is typically really stupid when he is locked down with a doe,” he said. “He will follow her wherever she goes. I figured that doe would bring him back in later that afternoon. I knew I needed to go hunt.”

Tidwell’s intuitions were right on target. About 5 p.m., the doe showed back up with the buck in tow. He arrowed the buck at 15 yards.

I don’t know how your deer season has gone so far, but Tidwell has enjoyed a banner year. And he’s got a freezer full of venison and three nice sets of antlers to show for it.

Tidwell hunts exclusively with a bow and arrow. The tag he put on the Cherokee County buck was the last of the three buck tags on his 2023-24 Texas hunting license.

“I’ve had a pretty good season,” he said. “I’m done.”

THREE BUCKS, THREE COUNTIES

What’s cool about the deal is Tidwell made only six hunts, arrowed three free-ranging bucks and never drove farther than 40 miles from his house in Smith County to get them. He shot the deer on small tracts of property ranging 25 to 88 acres in three different East Texas counties — Smith, Cherokee and Camp.

Though none of the bucks grew record book antlers, each was at least 3 1/2 years old. All were legal under the 13 inch minimum inside spread antler restriction now in place in 117 Texas counties.

Taking one solid buck with archery gear is a great achievement. Arrowing three respectable bucks in the same season from three different counties in a region of the state known for its tough hunting is truly remarkable. If another hunter has pulled that off before, I haven’t heard about it.

Camp, Cherokee and Smith are among the counties where antler restrictions are in place. The antler restriction limits hunters to two bucks in those counties, but only one buck per county may have an inside spread of 13 inches or greater. The second buck must be a spike, or have at least one unbranched antler Some may question whether or not Tidwell was in violation of any game laws tagging three bucks 13 inches or better in East Texas in the same season. State game warden Sean Reneau says no.

Reneau pointed out that Texas hunters are issued a total of three buck tags when they buy an annual hunting license. The warden said it is perfectly legal to take three bucks 13 inches or greater in the same season in three different counties, provided the hunter does so in compliance with state and county specific bag limits.

“That’s a pretty good accomplishment,” Reneau said. “He is obviously a pretty good hunter.”

NEVER PAID A LEASE FEE

Here’s another tidbit that makes Tidwell’s track record stellar. The only money he has invested in the three deer was spent on gasoline for his pickup truck and a few bags of corn. He’s been hunting for free on private property with permission from various small landowners for more than a decade now.

“I’ve never leased any land,” Tidwell said. “About the only time I’ve ever forked over any money to hunt was on some outfitted hunts up in Kansas. Everything else has always been by permission.”

Tidwell said he currently has four permission properties in Smith and Cherokee counties. All were acquired through networking with family, friends and acquaintances.

“I’ve also got a small tract of family land up in Camp County,” he said. “I only hunt up there if I need to.”

If it sounds like Tidwell is pretty good at public relations detail, that’s because he is. He always makes a point to take care of his landowners, whether he harvests a deer or not.

“It’s not like I get permission and then the landowner never hears from me again,” he said. “I always stay in touch and I always get them a little something at the end of the season. It could be a nice pocket knife or cell camera, depending what their interests are. All my hunting cost me this year a little bit of back strap.”

SIDEBAR: TIDWELL'S TIPS FOR SMALL TRACTS

Tidwell has been hunting small tracts of property for his entire hunting career and had plenty of success doing it. He offered up a few tips hunters might put to use on small and large tracts, alike: * Learn the Property and the Deer That Live There: Tidwell says every piece of property hunts differently, depending on how the deer use it.

“Some properties may host residents during the summer, but no bucks until the rut,” he said. “Those properties are usually no good early in the season, because they don’t hold bucks until the ruts start.

“A lot of guys who have buck pictures in the summer get all amped up about it, but if you don’t bow hunt, the chances of getting those bucks are very slim, because they’ll leave when the rut starts. If you have summer bucks, you have to bow hunt them in the first week or two or bow season. After that, they are gone.”

* About Those Corn Feeders: Tidwell isn’t a fan of automatic feeders for several reasons. He prefers putting his corn out by hand.

“I feel like a lot of the older bucks are wary of feeders,” he said. “Plus, feeders are mechanical and things go wrong. Batteries go dead. Timers work quickly.”

* Corn Strategies: Tidwell is selective about where he dumps his corn.

“I don’t just pick out a random spot,” he said. “I always try to put it right in their wheelhouse. On some properties it may take a year or two to figure exactly where that is. It could mean moving it 100 yards left or right before you find that wheelhouse.”

Tidwell thinks the best spots to place bait are in thick areas in close proximity to good deer signs like rubs and scrapes. He usually starts corning with 50-100 pounds at a time in late August.

“I don’t put it in a pile, because you’ll lose a lot to mold,” he said. “I’ll typically open the sack and start spinning in a circle to scatter it out.”

* Timing It Right: Tidwell says he always carries out pre-season baiting missions during the middle of the day, when he is least likely to spook deer. He usually does it on his lunch break from work — another benefit of hunting close to home. Once hunting season is underway, he’ll take corn with him to the stand and replenish the bait before he leaves the area.

* Game Camera Logic: Tidwell always monitors his hunting areas using trail cameras. He prefers using cameras that send digital intel to his cellular phone rather than manual cameras that require physically swapping out flash cards for viewing.

“I typically run one to two cameras,” he said. “I always use cell cameras so I don’t have to encroach on my areas. I don’t want to have any reason to go in there unless I’m hunting or replenishing a corn pile.”

* Slipping In: Tidwell is careful about how he accesses his hunting areas.

“I don’t just walk in,” he said. “I pay attention to the wind and where I believe the deer are bedded. It’s always best to stay out of sight and out of smell. I also try to do as little clearing as possible. The deer know when something is different. It’s their house.”

* Hunt Prime Times: Tidwell always tries to plan his hunting trips when he thinks the conditions are best for deer movement.

“The less pressure you can put on an area the better,” he said. “I never go hunting just to go hunting. I hunt when I feel like it’s time to hunt. I wait for things to be ideal. It’s typically weather related or a picture that tells me to go.”

Tidwell thinks the best weather conditions exist just prior to and during frontal passages.

“The best times to be in the woods are when the wind is shifting out of the north and during barometric pressure changes,” he said. “When the stars line up it’s time to be aggressive and go.”

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.