Backyard Bucks - Shooting Deer Out The Window

I remember when I was 13 or 14. Our family went and visited a friend that owned a ranch in Colorado. I told him how much I liked to hunt on our family farm outside Plainview. One morning he woke me up and said follow me. Outside his bedroom window was a group of elk in the pasture. He pointed out a nice bull and said that one goes into the freezer opening morning. He wrote me a letter and enclosed a picture of that bull he shot. I still have that letter and picture stored away.

Couple years ago my neighbor got his buck shooting from his second story window. Buck was on my property by our pond, walked over towards the neighbors property, jumped the fence and BAM. Down goes bucky. Our properties are all 2.5-10 acres, so shooting at the downward angle lessened the chance of an errant round getting to a neighbors property.

My son shot a decent 8 point out of the hot tub on the back patio once lol.

Grandpa was pouring coffee one morning (I was maybe 17), put his cup down, went in to the bedroom and came out with his Savage Mdl 99, opened the kitchen window and popped an 8 point out in the front yard eating whiteoak acorns. Good times back then.

I have a good friend who I've known since Jr. High. His family owns a large ranch between Gruver Tx. and Hardesty Ok. Some of the biggest deer that I've ever seen reside there. I had always had permission to quail hunt and could bring along another hunter. One morning we showed up and went up to his house to check in, my buddy stayed in the pickup and as I was standing on the front porch KABOOM. He had shot a large 10 pt. Mule Deer with my mini 14 that I always carried for coyotes. My old school buddy went ballistic as that was a deer his wife had been feeding for years and we were in Oklahoma where it was not deer season nor did he have a license. It didn't end well for the poacher and took a couple years for my buddy to forgive me for bringing the meathead with me.

After bow hunting all over a 2000 acre deer lease all season long last year I picked up a rifle on Dec 28th and shot a buck in the driveway of the ranch house.

In Texas you are required to have 50 acres to shoot a rifle. 10 acres for a shotgun. Just sayin'.

I could be in trouble as I have 48.56 here. I need to buy another 1.5 acres to be Texas legal.

I have shot an axis from the bathtub at a friends ranch in Bourne.
I also shot my biggest buck at the same ranch while I was cleaning a deer. He walked in on us as I was skinning a doe.

Fake news.

I’ve camped out of a bedroom window a few times with a dirty thirty over my knees and never saw jack sheet !! Lol

I approve.

There are no State wide rules that I have seen. Most Counties just cover Cities that I have seen. Just sayin.

It's at the discretion of the County Commissioner's Court.

From TPWD...It is unlawful to hunt in a subdivision on lots 10 acres or less in an unincor- porated area of a county if prohibited by local ordinance. Contact local county clerk and ask about §235.022, Local Government Code.

Had a friend come out to my parents place. He asked if we saw any deer. I looked out the window and said sure, like those?

Come afternoon, we opened the back door and Boom! 8pt down. The next weekend, we hunted out of a covered truck parked next to the house. Boom! 6pt down.

show me that law in writing

from my porch....2015.....2017......this year he has been sneaky and I have not gotten a good shot, but I will.....I live on 42 acres a mile from a city limit....mature buck every other year since I have lived there.

I used to stand on my front porch some mornings and shoot crows in my underwear.

How long did it take you to make that up?

I like it.

Would and will when I retire. Haven't seen any yet from my 2nd floor home in FM.

When I was at the Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth a buddy of mine lived in the very last house of a cull de sac. If you stepped out of his back yard you were in a designated hunting area. He calls me at 5:30 am the second day of bow season and asks me to come over and help him get a deer in his truck. He was standing at his kitchen sink, in his boxers, looking out the window over the sink when he spotted a four point buck at the edge of the woods behind his quarters. He got his bow, cracked his patio door open and got him. Still in just his boxers. We had to get the deer over his fence to load it up in the truck and get it to the check station.

Well looks like I'm wrong, I found the same info Fouz found. I had a buddy buying property 20 years ago and that's what he had found out (maybe he was wrong back then too).

But I will say that's the most comments I've ever had in 4000 post counts. LOL

I think this goes to if you are shooting within City limits on land that was annexed by the City after 1981 (I think that's the right date), then the City cannot prohibit it. Just my recollection from research several years ago - not legal advice.

Backyard buck one more time....mature 9 point!

I called Local Game Warden and he says he does not write tickets if you’re hunting on small acreage if it’s against that particular county’s law—He said the sheriffs office will write you a ticket if you’re in a subdivision that’s restricted.. So he recommended I call the county clerk and I did. Some counties have a law regarding certain subdivisions within that county and yes the 10 acre or less rule applies, for me it does not. County clerk has all the information on every subdivision and those rules/regulations that pertain to said subdivisions. So I might do some front porch or window shooting.

I only see 5.

Hunting is what you make of it. I know a guy in Kansas that shoots a buck off his dads combine every year.

Shot a 10 point off my front porch in Arkansas in 2015. Stepson shot an old 7 point the same year off the same porch.

The best blind chair is a La Z Boy.

At a friend's place outside of Kerrville, you just raise a window, rest your gun on the back of the sofa, and shoot deer at the feeder across the pasture.

This is why the THF hates us.

Plus #1.

For all those with negative vibes toward "not really hunting", may I point out that the more folks shooting deer out the window, the less crowded public land will be and the less money in the lease market driving up the prices.

Didn’t someone that owned a crappy hotel on Amistad get busted by the game wardens for shooting backyard bucks a few years ago?

I didn’t imagine it. Found the article.

http://delrionewsherald.com/news/article_0ddf1284-0fad-11e1-b34e-001cc4c03286.html

Still gotta follow the law.

Yeah he got jacked up for shooting it before daylight in light of a street light. How they made the case I have no idea but that guy was a total [censored]. Only tackle shop owner I have ever met that acted like he was doing you a favor to wait on you.

He sure did act like he was doing you a favor.

As I recall, the game wardens had been watching him for a year or so. Makes me glad I never shot that giant buck that lived around the blackbrush ramp. I sure wanted to.

I see some dandy mule deer when I am at work in Andrews and Gaines county,I would love to shoot one.

I need a job a lot worse than I need a deer though.

Wrong. Only if you are in a city limits. A few counties have the law also but very few and those are counties in high population areas.

As for OP I have shot several bucks in my backyard. But my backyard is a little bigger than normal.

Three years ago a neighbor called me in for hunting on my 10 acres. I cited this exact ordinance and the Game Warden said you are correct and did nothing wrong. We went over where I was when I shot the deer and where the deer was standing. What was behind where I was shooting which was 8 miles to the closest house. He was convinced I did everything to ensure I had setup a safe shot.

He went on to warn me about Trespass with a bullet. I told the Warden I was hunting with a .44 Mag pistol to keep the bullet from traveling long distances. He left to talk to the neighbors. Since the game warden wouldn't do anything the neighbors new tactic to keep me from hunting is to go outside and rev his engine at first light and right at dusk. Must be annoying for him because at this point the deer don't care.

We had anti hunters mess with our hunting efforts on a larger farm property, but never on a homestead. Deer will get used to most things eventually, but sudden changes right before the season can lower success.

It’s strange to me what they tolerate and what spooks them. I was in a climbing stand in national forest bow hunting and a small 8pt was eating acorns a few yards away. Squirrel hunters were shooting shotguns fairly close by, a couple that sounded way too close for comfort. The buck never flinched or raised his head. Then a pickup crawled slowly by about 200 yards away on a gravel county road and he jerked his head up and looked that way till the truck was out of hearing before lowering it to resume feeding. Made me wonder how much road or night hunting was going on in the area.

Do you really wonder? NF outside of Lufkin with the type people in that part of E. Tx.. I don't wonder. I've had deer killed in my driveway at night.

Every area has its share of poachers.

I saw a bunch of buzzards roosting in the woods close to the road on the neighbors ranch across the road from my place a couple weeks ago. I soon discovered a dead cow and a dead doe within 20 yards of each other and 75 yards off the road. The cow had been dead about a week, the doe was a day or so dead. I'm thinking road killers. Had a good friend loose a calf roping horse to assassination a few years ago.

I find .223 casings on the road frequently when I walk on the road with my wife. People have guns and nowhere to shoot or hunt except and sooner or later some of them can't resist killing something.

We live in a neighborhood that is 5 acres and bigger with lots of fine flowers and shrubs that the deer love. The lady next door has counted up to 35 deer between her and my yard in the evening. We have been having problems with poachers shooting them in the yards with crossbows out of the back of trucks at night. Have had several neighbors find crossbow bolts stuck in trees in their front yard.

Wow I really didn’t know it was still so bad. I’d think the newer laws would have cut it back some from years ago. An illegal deer is quite costly now.