Hello all,
I am new to Texas, moved here from Vermont in April. I am an avid whitetail hunter and have harvested many nice bucks and does in the cold northeast including Maine, New York and my home state of Vermont. Slowly but surely I am learning the hunting process here in the great state of Texas but would welcome any and all suggestions. I have spent many hours reading the hunting guides, applicable laws, and researching places to hunt. I hunted one day at the Somerville PHL but most of it was flooded and probably still is. My plan for this weekend is to go to SHNF and try my luck there.
I am very interested in finding a lease or joining lease. What is the best way to go about it? Nothing huge or more
than $4K/ year. Is that even realistic? Any advice for public land hunting would be appreciated as well.
I wish you all the best of luck on harvesting your trophy this this season and if happen upon a hunter who seems confused or misplaced, it is probably me.

See 2.5.. someone might tempt you with 4k when they charge everyone else 2. Lol

to the forum.

You can find a very good lease with year round access in that price range.

The closer to the metroplex the more expensive the leases are. So if your willing, driving a few hours can get you alot more bang for your buck. There is alot of great country to discover very different than the north northeast Texas area. I think it would be a nice change from what your used to hunting.

Post in the land/leases section your price range that you can do and that your looking for a lease to join or for yourself. It may take a while, but stick with it and you'll find what your looking for. Always ask for references from past hunters that have hunted there before you commit.

Good luck and welcome to the great state of Texas.

Some of the very best hunting is on private land. Texas is 97%+ privately owned land. Seasons are long and habitat is varied around the state. With that kind of budget you can probably find you a pretty good lease.

You're going to find our deer to be tiny. I went to school in VT for a short time and found the white tails to be huge!

For your budget, you should have plenty of options.

Welcome to Texas.

Come to south Texas

Any suggestions as to where?

For the amount you're willing to pay I'd think you would have a lot of options. Question becomes what your goals might be. Are you looking for trophies or just lots of animals? Looks like you're near Houston so south Texas or the hill country are your best bets. I haven't hunted those areas a ton as most of my hunting has been in north and west Texas, but from my limited experience you could get quite a bit of variety south and west of San Antonio. Great whitetail a in areas and a good chance at exotics in many.

Much of it will come down to how far you're willing to travel. Driving from Houston to Rock Springs is pretty similar to driving from Maine to NYC. Figure that the metroplex is similar in area to the entire state on Connecticut and you get an idea of how large Texas is.

The best advice is to check out the Lease section of this site and get ready to drive. You should be able to find a year round lease that will suit your needs without much trouble.

You should be able to find a really nice lease for that amount. Like others said...check refenences and do your research. I wouldn't share what you are willing to spend. I'd put together a list of what you want in order of importance, i.e. Trophy bucks, turkey, exotics, etc. also you need to define what a trophy is for you. Do you want to see a lot of deer activity when you hunt or is it more important to shoot a trophy? Then start looking.

Always beware and don't make a hasty decision.

East Texas is an inexpensive option. I'm on a smallish (500 acres) timber company lease with a few other hunters near Nacogdoches. Though it isn't the same as south Texas or west Texas, or high-fenced deer, it is still good hunting. Costs are much lower, too.

We have mixed hardwood and pine and are near a river bottom. Two years ago, my son-in-law shot a Texas Big Game Award "low-fence" 11-point buck that was nearly 160 B&C points. I shot a heavy-beamed 10-point this week that will probably score in the 130's. We see lots of deer and have the opportunity to shoot pigs as well.

My opinion is that closer to home means more hunting time, since it is easy to run out for a weekend hunt or out for a day off during the week.

Thank you everybody for the tips and advice. I hunted SHNF yesterday. Saw deer but also saw a lot of hunters, which I expected. Very hard to hunt those woods. Very thick.