Is hunting deer possible in TX?

[arjay99]

PROBLEM IS MOST LAND IN TEXAS IS PRIVATELY OWEDAND TEXANS LIKE IT THAT WAY IF YOU DESIRE MORE LAND THAT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC MOVE TO ANOTHER STATE!

Your caps lock key stuck?

 

[@TX_1]

Hey y'all. I've been in Texas since 2010, and since then I've been interested in hunting a deer (never been hunting before). I've tried looking at leases, but realized I'd have to save up a ridiculous sum to even entertain the possibility. Apart from buying land, is there anywhere that I can get involved to fall into the good graces of some kind hearted folks to be able to hunt a deer? Any secrets to share?

I went to Montana this past summer. Let me tell you -- that state is managed wonderfully for allowing citizens access to public lands to use it as they see fit. Sure wish we had something like that in Texas.

There is very little federal land in Texas. Texas was the Republic of Texas between 1836 and 1846. There was a lot of State land cut up in tracts after the Civil War, the county where I live is one of them. We have been here since 1889 it was cut up in 1885. Many counties were defined earlier, but the issue with Buffalo's and the Comanche Indians delayed a lot of settlement. My ancestors were in Texas during the Republic of Texas, my father's grand father was born in the Republic of Texas.

I'm 76, during my youth there were places your could hunt quail and dove. Nobody paid for those hunting rights then, friends who did not hunt allowed it. Deer was another matter, there are a lot more deer now than there was then. My father always had a hunting and fishing lease on a nearby ranch. He killed his last deer in his early 80's at 400 yards, with his 30/06 and his Remington 700 BDL rifle. When I was young he hunted on public land in Colorado around Mancos. He and some of his friends took an old school bus and converted it into a place to cook and eat. They slept in large tents. They had a reputation, smile. For many years a bunch of them drove the old bus there.

Now, it is a rich mans game.

And it is getting harder as so many people are coming to Texas to escape the insanity of the leftist States and Cities. They sold expensive property and moved to Texas. That bid up the real estate prices. Made hunting more expensive.

There are places where you can hunt feral hogs, ranchers and farmers hate them. And there are so many they can never be controlled. We have 3 hog traps we used to catch them, then we butchered and ate them. They have been idle for a while.

 

[cav2108541]

Hey y'all. I've been in Texas since 2010, and since then I've been interested in hunting a deer (never been hunting before). I've tried looking at leases, but realized I'd have to save up a ridiculous sum to even entertain the possibility. Apart from buying land, is there anywhere that I can get involved to fall into the good graces of some kind hearted folks to be able to hunt a deer? Any secrets to share?

I went to Montana this past summer. Let me tell you -- that state is managed wonderfully for allowing citizens access to public lands to use it as they see fit. Sure wish we had something like that in Texas.

All of the national forests are available for hunting. You need to take a Hunter Safety Course, since you say that you have never been hunting.

 

[Vaquero]

Deer hunting in Texas is possible.

 

[35 Whelen]

Excellent. Do you mind sharing where you harvested this deer?

Wichita Co., a little over a 1/4 mile behind the house.

 

[mongoose]

Your caps lock key stuck?

Take some times and get the lay of the land. Maybe then you won’t make a fool of yourself.

 

[Lonesome Dove]

Your caps lock key stuck?

AND? He has poor vision perhaps

 

[leVieux]

<>

O.P. “IS DEER HUNTING POSSIBLE IN TEXAS ?”

Gee, many of us have wondered this for a long time.

Long ago when I was 25 or 26 and first lived in Texas, I was a very experienced duck, dove, & squirrel hunter; just not deer. Uncle Frank kept a deer camp near Hondo & Friends had a ranch at what was then known as the “Katy Prairie”.

I was poor in South Texas but made Friends easily, so I soon had 3 medium size ranches along the lower Nueces River to hunt. Went to Texas Gun & bought myself a Marlin 30-30 for $77, brand new. Took it to the range & put the first 10 rounds into a 6” group, Iron sights.

Well, for the first 2 years, I never saw a deer while “deer hunting”. Saw jillions of them during the pre-dawn drives out to the ranches.

So, made some money, got a M77 in 7mm Rem Mag w/ a Redfield 3x9, still never saw a deer.

So it went. . . . . .

leVieux

<>

 

[Rock Torrey]

Pigs aren't Free either.

I used to be paid to hunt pigs because they are a nuisance, now that owners have found they can charge a few bucks for hunting pigs for it they are completely out of control and are destroying lots of property because they reproduce at a significantly faster rate than they are getting shot!

Expect that to change in the near future.

 

[Tnhawk]

Your caps lock key stuck?

WHY DO YOU ASK?

 

[Eastexasrick]

WHY DO YOU ASK?

TWO POSTS

 

[Tnhawk]

TWO POSTS

KEYS MUST BE STUCK!

 

[Lonesome Dove]

I used to be paid to hunt pigs because they are a nuisance, now that owners have found they can charge a few bucks for hunting pigs for it they are completely out of control and are destroying lots of property because they reproduce at a significantly faster rate than they are getting shot!

Expect that to change in the near future.

Yes Texas and other state land owners created their own evil.
Can't really blame them but I'm not helping then either.

 

[cbp210]

Hey y'all. I've been in Texas since 2010, and since then I've been interested in hunting a deer (never been hunting before). I've tried looking at leases, but realized I'd have to save up a ridiculous sum to even entertain the possibility. Apart from buying land, is there anywhere that I can get involved to fall into the good graces of some kind hearted folks to be able to hunt a deer? Any secrets to share?

I went to Montana this past summer. Let me tell you -- that state is managed wonderfully for allowing citizens access to public lands to use it as they see fit. Sure wish we had something like that in Texas.

Do what I did and marry into a family with access to their lands. After I leave Houston area I am looking west or south of San Antonio and looking for land.

 

[cbp210]

Some find it not worth the hassle or the expense. If you don't own and or have access you pay big $$ to hunt state owned animals.

Just hunt out of state if you have time it's a whole lot cheaper and the deer are usually bigger both body and gear if that means anything to ya.

Pigs aren't Free either.

My dad who lives in El Paso told me the same thing and he hunts in NM. He said East of El paso is not worth the hassles. He did go with me several times to hunt in Rocksprings area but the distance is horrible for him.

 

[leVieux]

My dad who lives in El Paso told me the same thing and he hunts in NM. He said East of El paso is not worth the hassles. He did go with me several times to hunt in Rocksprings area but the distance is horrible for him.

We hunted Edwards County a couple years from Rocksprings. What a drive from Brownsville !

 

[paknheat]

Spend your $$$ on beef, you'll get more meat and have more time to go fishing. Or buy a bass boat, bay boat, or flats skiff. My neighbor's dog is damn near as big as the deer that roam through our neighborhood.

If you got deer roaming through your neighborhood you could just bow hunt them from the roof of your house.


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[paknheat]

I raise cattle on my own land. When I sell a steer at the sale barn for $1.75 per lb., I get $1.75 per pound for the meat, for the bones, for the hoofs, the hide and the shit that's still I'm him when they weigh him. When you butcher your own all of that goes to waste. Raising and butchering your own is a money losing deal. That's why the rule at our his is "Sell beef, eat venison.".

For those of you who think all Texas deer are small, that's incorrect. The deer in Central Texas are small for sure, but some are quite large depending on the area of the state. The whitetail I shot this year dressed at exactly 140 lbs. according to the 165 lb. scales hanging from the truss in my shop. Two seasons ago I shot a basket-racked 7 point buck that, dressed, soundly bottomed out the same set of scales. View attachment 436589

Nailed that one in the pic with a M-1 Carbine? That’s awesome!


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[Sasquatch]

If you got deer roaming through your neighborhood you could just bow hunt them from the roof of your house.


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My neighbor does that, unofficially (since none of us have 10 acre parcels...) - or he'll hunt the 60 acres behind our properties, or used to. New owner is clearing the land, rumor is that the owner of the 20 acres that bump up behind our property is putting in a trailer park. That should be interesting. There's 40 land-locked acres south of that property, same length, double width owned by a bank.

 

[roadkill]

My neighbor does that, unofficially (since none of us have 10 acre parcels...) - or he'll hunt the 60 acres behind our properties, or used to. New owner is clearing the land, rumor is that the owner of the 20 acres that bump up behind our property is putting in a trailer park. That should be interesting. There's 40 land-locked acres south of that property, same length, double width owned by a bank.

Form a wildlife coop with neighbors for purposes of wildlife management and hunting. Could help give an easy ag exemption plus allow legal hunting. Can do it with the gentleman’s agreement everyone in the coop will only place stands/hunt on their own land and if recovery is needed on a neighbors parcel they call before pursuing.