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Eastland County (and your county) Review #5529482 01/09/15 12:52 PM
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Novemberyet Offline OP
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As many of you know, Eastland county seems to be very popular. Although we have "a lot" of deer, there are some negatives that oh along with that: 1)hunting pressure, 2)hunting pressure, 3)this year we had timely rains yielding a good acorn crop (even though we are below average in rainfall), 4)it was hot....again, 5)hunting pressure, 6)hogs are pushing deer out, yada-yada-yada. I stopped by my processing plant (Rust on Hwy 6) and Kevin was telling me this has been the slowest year in the history of his business. 2-3 years back was really tough due to a drought but this year had everybody guessing. He didn't give me any numbers, but seemed very disappointed.

What say you?

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5529613 01/09/15 02:04 PM
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I had a typical year just below eastland county
and my buds who own a ranch up there did well
I do know if you hunted over deer feeders in these areas you were pretty much wasting time though
at least until late December when the acorns were done
lower than normal harvest amounts were most likely the work of the acorn crop

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5529663 01/09/15 02:26 PM
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Average year for me, well really above average considering how little I got to hunt this season . Deer hit the feeders all through season though a lot of it was at night, there were enough daylight sightings to keep it interesting. The only acorn trees on the lease that had any were the few live oaks. The rest there wasn't a crop at all so the deer hit the corn real good. Although there were some timely rains we did not get some that others did in the Spring which really hurt the acorn crop.

Lack of a good fawn crop concerns us for the future more than this seasons results. Out of 10 does that hit the feeders regularly only 2 fawns with them. I need to kill more yotes and bobcats, which might help fawn survival.


lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true
Mainstream news might be fun to watch
Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5529836 01/09/15 03:36 PM
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I spoke with Kevin last week and he told me the same thing. I would say this year was average. Deer were coming to corn and food plots pretty good. As far as buck sightings, it's was a little below average. I have bucks on our property, HFed, that no one ever saw. My brother put out cameras 2 weeks ago and some of the bucks showed up on them. The survived, but didn't show themselves during regular season. Fawn crops have been down over the last 4-5 years. The hogs have moved off our place for now, but they will be back. Maybe next year will be better. We didn't shoot any "trophy" bucks this year. Maybe they will be bigger next year.


Originally Posted By: AmoCuernos
If you shoot a young deer because a neighbor will shoot it, you are that neighbor.
Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5529843 01/09/15 03:38 PM
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I have always thought that area was overpressured and underpopluated with deer...Stephens, Eastland, Palo Pinto and even Comanche...lets face it alot of DFW hunters will always hunt that area. Back in the late 90's we had a lease near Sipe Springs, it looked great but we hardly saw many deer much less mature bucks...these places will always stay leased because so many guys want to hunt but as far as a value for what you pay for, Texas has better places than these counties imho...

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5529856 01/09/15 03:44 PM
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I have good doe population and some very nice bucks up to 10 pts

they were mostly nocturnal, except for short period during ruts
where they came out during day

my problem is not lack of deer, it's their night feeding habit

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: cabosandinh] #5529901 01/09/15 04:01 PM
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Originally Posted By: cabosandinh


my problem is not lack of deer, it's their night feeding habit


this is most likely due to overpressure, imho

do you have hunting around your place?

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: KCH] #5529973 01/09/15 04:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: KCH
Originally Posted By: cabosandinh


my problem is not lack of deer, it's their night feeding habit


this is most likely due to overpressure, imho

do you have hunting around your place?


there are hunters all around me, they all said the same thing

deer showing up at night

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5530361 01/09/15 07:07 PM
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Im east of rising star. Got lots of pictures of deer, all at night.

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5530496 01/09/15 08:05 PM
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Pretty much what everybody else said, lots of deer at night, very little feeder presence, and my food plot was pretty much left alone. Only saw one deer on my plot during daylight, but the tips were eaten off a bit, so they must have been getting groceries at night. Oats came up great, the wheat not so much. Saw a good amount of deer, but they were small, and the bucks weren't mature. I have three bucks coming in regular that will be real nice next year if they make it. North of Cisco near the county line.

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5531929 01/10/15 06:09 AM
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1st season we bought our small 10acres in Eastland co. Never seen a deer with my eyes. Have a ton on camera at night and a handfull durring the day. Does hit the standard feeders and the bucks were very skiddish around those feeders and most of the pics of the bucks came at my redneck feeders.

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5531950 01/10/15 06:41 AM
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Erath cty has been about the same. Most bucks on camera at night. The gun season opener started with a bang then kinda' fizzled down. That's pretty normal though. If you don't get your buck by Thanksgiving, you probably won't get one.

Last edited by Erathkid; 01/10/15 06:42 AM. Reason: Adolph Coors

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Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Erathkid] #5532067 01/10/15 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted By: Erathkid
Erath cty has been about the same. Most bucks on camera at night. The gun season opener started with a bang then kinda' fizzled down. That's pretty normal though. If you don't get your buck by Thanksgiving, you probably won't get one.


Unfortunate but often true in those counties closer to metromess...

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: KCH] #5532146 01/10/15 02:08 PM
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Originally Posted By: KCH
I have always thought that area was overpressured and underpopluated with deer...Stephens, Eastland, Palo Pinto and even Comanche...lets face it alot of DFW hunters will always hunt that area. Back in the late 90's we had a lease near Sipe Springs, it looked great but we hardly saw many deer much less mature bucks...these places will always stay leased because so many guys want to hunt but as far as a value for what you pay for, Texas has better places than these counties imho...


sipe springs area has some really nice bucks roaming around it
my bud took a 148 there this year
and they take several off that 1200 each year in that range
the deer are super slick and there are a bunch
but they pattern hunters WAY better than hunters pattern them for sure
I have watched 8 does under a feeder just vanish when someone rattled the chain on the gate coming in 300 yards away
seen that same routine hundreds of times ....they are there in good numbers
...the man that runs the place forever says this ...
hunters didn't see lots a deer
but the deer sure seen lots a hunters roflmao

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5532713 01/10/15 06:47 PM
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NW Brown county season was about like previous years with a few differences. Huge acorn crop and the deer went nocturnal with the season opening shot. In latter part of Nov, corn piled up at a couple of feeders. Bucks & Does would hit feeders at nite or early morn or late in evening (i.e., few minutes before shooting light ends). Took a nice 8 pt 5 minutes before end of legal evening shooting. Often setup on game trails with tarp and chair. Got a number of bucks on game camera and will look forward to seeing them next season. Texans are very fortunate to have such fine hunting opportunities.






Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5533155 01/10/15 11:02 PM
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Callahan/Eastland County line. Ditto, ditto and ditto again. Few deer seen during the day. In fact, I never saw a deer in my wheat field during daylight but plenty of tracks. Fawn crop way below normal. Hunting pressure on the ranch is deliberately low. The situation is very discouraging.


Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5533278 01/11/15 12:00 AM
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NE Eastland County, same here with lots of acorns and mostly nocturnal deer. My place is surrounded by large lands that aren't leased for hunting. Everyone here is talking about a poor fawn crop due to the very hot and dry weather that started in June.


Past performance is the best predictor of future behavior.
Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Ketchn] #5533302 01/11/15 12:08 AM
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Originally Posted By: Ketchn
[quote=KCH]
but they pattern hunters WAY better than hunters pattern them for sure
I have watched 8 does under a feeder just vanish when someone rattled the chain on the gate coming in 300 yards away
seen that same routine hundreds of times ....they are there in good numbers
...the man that runs the place forever says this ...
hunters didn't see lots a deer
but the deer sure seen lots a hunters roflmao


that's what I've observed

deer have learned to pattern us, and we didn't realize it
with our jacked up diesel trucks, humming ATVs, unusual lights
and all kinds of commotions when get together to talk smack
about how one of us is going to whack that big boy

game cams show a correlation of deer movement before our arrival/ after our arrival

the only time they're careless is during ruts

Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: cabosandinh] #5533851 01/11/15 03:27 AM
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Originally Posted By: cabosandinh
I have good doe population and some very nice bucks up to 10 pts

they were mostly nocturnal, except for short period during ruts
where they came out during day

my problem is not lack of deer, it's their night feeding habit



I'm on this lease with San and I've never seen a deer out there in Eastland off Hwy 16. We have different opinions about the place that's for sure....

Scouting before bow season I never bumped a deer or saw one. No scrapes No rubs No tracks. Climbed the mountains and glasses the flats... Nothing!

Maybe just my lease but zero deer out there and I'm talking ZERO that I've seen. San said it took 2 yrs for him to see 1 deer durring day time.


My advice is never get on a lease site un-seen like I did. Always walk the property and don't take someone's word on the Internet or trust game cam pix.

This lease had been the worst lease I've ever had in 30yrs of hunting in Texas.








Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5534004 01/11/15 04:27 AM
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Sat out tonight looking for does or cull bucks. Had a 3 point come in 30 minutes after feeder went off. Then had 2 bucks, one was decent, come into the food plot about 300 yards away. 3 does also hit the field at the same distance. No intrest in corn at all. A decent sized pig came running across the field and spooked the bucks and does. The bucks returned at dark with 2 more. Couldn't tell much at that distance and near dark. We thought we were going to get skunked, but at least something showed up


Originally Posted By: AmoCuernos
If you shoot a young deer because a neighbor will shoot it, you are that neighbor.
Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5534218 01/11/15 01:20 PM
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Back in the blind this am....


Originally Posted By: AmoCuernos
If you shoot a young deer because a neighbor will shoot it, you are that neighbor.
Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5534331 01/11/15 03:07 PM
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Feeder didn't go off. Did have 2 does and a fawn just come in. Misfire, a member on here, got a doe with his 300 bo


Originally Posted By: AmoCuernos
If you shoot a young deer because a neighbor will shoot it, you are that neighbor.
Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5538564 01/13/15 12:48 AM
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This weekend is my last chance to get something. Cisco has been dry!


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Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5539160 01/13/15 03:55 AM
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I've seen lots of deer in Somervell during daylight hours, both bucks and doe. Erath has been a lot slower. Funny thing, the properties I hunt are only about 8 miles apart as the crow flies, yet 3 times more deer in Somervell confused2


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Re: Eastland County (and your county) Review [Re: Novemberyet] #5542964 01/14/15 09:34 PM
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I hunt in Erath county and we have had a awesome year. Early season was the best in a long time. But we seen mature shooter bucks almost every outing. Had my brother in laws gun misfire on last weekend of season on good buck. Did I mention it misfired 3 times lol

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