Hey guys,
We are contemplating purchasing another 500 acres HF for bow hunting only. Our acreage is right at 4000, but this would be a completely separate property. What would you as hunters like to see in a 500 acre bow hunting property and what animals would you most want to see on it? As an outfitter, I want to hear from you.

Meat hunts, there are not enough places out there offering them at a reasonable price. Hogs are always nice also, And spots where you can use a climber for those who hunt out of state also so you can practice out of your own stand.

I agree with the meat hunts for sure, that's one of my plans.

Just check out your site, looks good. I am really interested in going after a black buck with my bow, so that would be my suggestion.

Walter

Take this for what it's worth from a guy that is on a ton of ranches:

I would like to see a high quality whitetail only bowhunting ranch.

By high quality I mean a quality native herd that isn't hunted to death. No pen raised and released to shoot deer. No exotics.

Too many bowhunting only ranches are packed full of exotics and the whitetail are scarce and skittish.

I think there is a need for a good place that has reasonable hunting pressure where you have an opportunity to come take a nice whitetail with your bow.

Thanks for the compliments guys. As a matter of fact, if all goes well, we will have 200 inch native deer on Ranch 2 in 2 more years. I completely agree with pen raised deer.

I will say this, if I knew of a ranch that was bow hunting only and had a managed whitetail herd with quality animals, I would jump on that if I wanted to book a hunt.

Place that a normal ever day person could afford

and what would that be? everyone says that but never has any suggestions on pricing

Affordable to me is white tail and axis does for 200-300. And being hunts where lodging and food is not provided. To keep the cost low or a fixed daily rate with no min length of stay.

I would agree that does for $200-$300 is reasonable. Lodging can be tricky as not every area is close to a town. if the lodge goes up for other hunters then its already there, might as well use it unless you have a satellite headquarters you can use and drive to/from the property. food can be either or, at a lodge I wouldn't want strangers in my kitchen though, a camphouse/bunkhouse would be fine.

Daily rate/min length is another tricky deal. it costs the same amount of fuel for me to drive to the ranch if you stay one day or 5 days. It costs a lot to run a ranch plus pay for help so the min daily rates are in place to ensure a certain amount of money comes in on top of the kill fee. if you shoot at two does and miss, your only on the hook for the daily rate, which may not be much at all. so the ranch/guides are out fuel and time for pretty much nothing.

I would think that a good structure is a two day doe hunt,for say $500. that includes one exotic doe or two whitetails, etc.

there is just not enough money to justify a ranch letting someone come in and do a day hunt for 1 exotic doe at $200-$300, unless it was a large group of people.

Meat hunt for 250-300 with an option to take a hog for a small charge or optional two hogs instead of a doe.

Maybe a primitive camping area for those with tents and don't want to pay the extra for lodging.

I have blackbuck on my list of bowhunting animals as well, so I'd like to see that. Axis with a bow would be another good choice.

Do you have any other bowhunting only pastures? Only reason I ask is that I hunted a bowhunting only place near Uvalde once. The deer would all hang back in the wide open about 60 yards from the feeders. They were wise to what was a safe range. They also recognized even the slightest hiss of an arrow coming back (or ANY noise) and would go right out to the magic 60 yard range and stare at you.

I would say if you could make a true place for a spooky exotic such as an axis to be set up with the right brush, blinds, and foliage that would allow for the axis to come within bow range that would be amazing

The type of animals needed on a bowhunt only ranch are ones that come to feeders on a daily basis. Meat hunts are good too. Nothing wrong with trophy animals on the same place. Pure European Mouflon rams would be great but there's a lot of ranches where the other hair sheep can be hunted very successfully. Hogs should be free just to keep them off the new property. Especially if it adjoins your other ranch. Keep up the $200 doe hunts! Thanks for asking ...

200-300 sounds. Great

If you feel like putting a high fence around it then throw on some exotics.

Let's not forget wheelchair accessibility to stands. Some box blinds on the ground with opening and closing windows. Small heaters or where hunters can bring their own small heaters for those real cold days. Individuals with disabilities often cannot tolerate cold temps for extended periods of time.
Thanks for letting us make suggestions You run a good operation!

$200-300 should sound great as its a steal of a deal considering the exotic live sale market is through the roof and you can't buy an axis doe for that anymore.

I'd like to see a place that books minimal Hunts to keep pressure down, staff that will put clients on stands right for the wind and not just throwing them out. Not saying this is the way y'all conduct business. Just what I've seen and heard from other places. Cheap is good but not always best IMO