Don't want to hijack that "Poacher Hunting" post and risk to stereotype.

East Texas seems to stand out in terms of hunting pressure, illegal hunting, and poaching. Please correct me if I am off base. If not, Why?

Thanks for your insight.

Just more populated, so more pressure and more notice of illegal activities.

Smaller tracts of land on average, tradition, history, fewer animals so much more of a 'rare' sight and what rifleman said.

When I was a kid there were still counties there that allowed the use of dogs to hunt deer. Times change, people resist change.

if you live in the Piney Woods ;either work in the wood industry in some capacity or be a welder - or work for Wallyworld

And for fun Hunting: anytime -anyplace-and any means legal or not

we hunted in East Texas for 20years (legally) and met some of the local Boys from around the area & they can be Wild and according to them the Game Warden was there Arch Nemesis & game laws were for all the city boys that came down to hunt in the forest.

It went 4deer county here few years back.. Last year got pic's of at least 3 different bucks... All leases i've been on were 1 buck, one was 2 buck the year before we got on it.. Seenseveral nice bucks. During archery, two bucks going at it rust out of reach of bow... Deer do learn ta pattern hunters ... whin your job is working in hot nasty stinken foundry, ya enjoy spending time, wondering about the woods... Edit: The woods are a deers bed room, living room, & dinning room... A box stand is notisable.. My first stands on lease were climb tree.. Then strap on stands ta climbers..

Thanks guys.

I did not make it clear originally but I am "stuck" with SE Texas if I want to hunt. I have a personal interest to understand the norm so that I know what is expected, what to look for, and what to do.

Wow I have lived in north east Texas for 25 years and did not realize I had to operate a chainsaw, weld or work in Walmart.

When I moved to East Texas in 2007 I asked a guy when deer season ended. He said "When I get done hunting."

Part of the problem with east Texas is that there are thousands of acres that belong to timber companies. When I first moved to Nacogdoches county over 30 years ago there were a slew of timber companies- International Paper, Champion, Temple Inland, Weyerhauser, etc.- and it was all open hunting land. Then, slowly they realized that folks would pay for the right to hunt on this land and so begins the hunting club business. Companies started merging and then completely got out of the timber growing business. Now all these acres are owned by holding companies. Now, over this long history, folks grew up being able to go wherever they wanted to go to hunt and as this landed got clubbed up resentment set in. Poaching became a "game" with the locals. I got to know two of the biggest poachers in this part of the county and they firmly believed that game laws didn't pertain to them and they taught their kids this. Well, time and health has caught up with these guys and their kids are either in jail or moved away. I lease three timber company tracts and as a general rule don't have any problems because the locals around me know I won'the put up with anything and the game wardens have access to all my leases. It also helps that I live close to them and can check on them daily if I want.

Been here bout 32 years.. Archery deer is month of Sept. then havr two months rifle deer, & some patts have muzzleloader season after... Plenty time for deer, do more hog hog hunten than deer since they opened up WMA just down road, the other wild game...

I have 68 acres just North of Tyler in East Texas that I live on and hunt on. I'm surrounded by larger properties that get very little hunting pressure. We are thick with hogs and it seems like they are increasing every year. We shoot them all the time and for years, that's been a lot of fun, but lately I've decided to try and focus more on deer and discourage the hogs from coming around here by fencing in the feeder and shooting every one we see instead of just when we get low in the freezer. This seems to be working as the deer numbers have increased and several decent sized bucks have shown up on the game camera. Best is probably close to 140. Guy across the highway from my shot a 150 a few years ago, and also a mt lion on his place.

I talked to a game biologist about the deer numbers and what I could do to improve them. He said that we average about 1 deer per 30 acres, so planting food plots and getting rid of hogs is the only thing that will bring them onto my place from my neighbors land. He also said that poaching is a problem, but knowing where my place is and the size of the land around me, it wasn't affecting my numbers.

There just isn't a lot of quality food for the deer numbers to increase because the land is so thick, or it's just open grass. Neither are ideal for deer habitat.

I live in SETx and hunted it for a couple decades. In my experience, hunting pressure is much higher than other parts of the state. Most leases hunt 1 hunter per 100 acres and give them 2 stand sites. Compare that to South Texas that is probably closer to 1 hunter per 500-1000 acres and you can figure out where the pressure comes from. Poaching does happen but it is exaggerated.

Antler restrictions have helped allot. If you are wanting to routinely shoot good deer (120" or better), look for a larger MLD III lease that carries fewer hunters on the acreage and has strict management rules. When a place carries less members, the price goes up accordingly. It seems like a lot of the better places are around the lakes or around the Trinity River. If you are looking for a place to shoot a few deer each year and have a good time, there are plenty of those within a couple hours of you.

Don't let folks tell you there aren't any big deer in SE Texas. There are rice farmers and cattle guys right out of Beaumont who kill 150-180" deer every year. Easy to find them in the coastal grass along the canals.

yagh, mean this post: