This is my first lease in Texas. Just south of Gatesville, I don't think this land was managed very well in years past and the 12-18 head of cattle have on it seems to over graze the 150 acres which only 50-70 of is open grass. I have very few deer on camera and nothing consistent at the feeders. Seems like they could careless. Anyone else having deer not come to the feeders? Where do you think the rut is at? I have a small 8 point broken on camera so I feel they should be in full rut. Just doesn't seem like the area has good numbers. What should I realistically expect for this area, can I expect to see 130 class or is a legal buck about all I'm gonna get if the opportunity if comes up. it's been kind of a let down between the cost and time spent out there. Very new to this, any info would be much appreciated thank you

Welcome to the forum! I have not hunted that area before so can offer little assistance. Several forum members do hunt that area though...

welcome...where exactly are you...south of Gatesville I understand but how far?

Not everybody who leases out their land has hunting as their top priority. I would say a good majority of them don't. See if they will let you put in a little food plot, or put out some protein feeders to try and attract more deer. There's a lot of deer in that general area.

I haven't hunted around Gatesville, but my general knowledge of the surrounding area tells me that population wise the deer hunting should be good. The deer densities can get pretty high in the eastern hill country. A very good acorn crop may be what's making it appear like there aren't many deer if you're using deer sightings at corn feeders as your reference point.

The property is less then 5-8 miles south of gatesville. Fort hood butts up to it. cattle have been a pain in the arse......with such little grass they are determined to get into the pens. It has everything "I thought" would be good deer land. A year or two down the road I imagine it could be great, with good management, kinda feel like I'm already paying those kind of prices for what it is now. It's been a learning lesson. 1st year trying this out has been a hard expensive lesson learned, hoping for the best that thing change with colder weather in December.

I have never hunted south of Gatesville... we have hunted west of Gatesville for about the past 20 years in a couple of different leases. The West has always been a good area...good numbers and good quality. I have known a few people that have hunted the area you are in and they have said it was decent. Bucks weren't much bigger than say 120-130 but number wise they always saw a lot.. WE did hunt down 116 one year and it bumped up to fort hood... It was free hunting so we took it... 600 acres... the place looked great but the number of deer just was low.. So just like anywhere else.. it kinda depends on a bunch of things..from the neighbors, to the food, water, etc... Try not to get discouraged. The season is young and it is still kinda warm.. If you have any, I would try to hunt the acorns still.. cant hurt..

I looked at a place a few years back in late spring in that general area, maybe a few miles farther south, right at 8 miles south of hwy 84, west side of 116 at the end of Vista Road. There are a ton of smaller acreage tracts in the general area, which I would assume has pretty heavy hunting pressure. From talking to the owner, he seemed very pleasant and was trying to do a lot of improvements to the ranch for wildlife but had cattle too. Seems like it was in the 140-180 acre range. I spent the better part of a day driving and walking the property and saw very little sign of deer. He said previous hunters pulled out in mid January after the extended season and had been there a few years. I asked if he had any pictures of their kills (harvests for the PC ) or game camera pictures from previous years. He had a few but not many, mostly young 6-8 point bucks (maybe 100-110 class) that should have been left alone for a few more years, but meat hunters take what they see until tags are filled most often. This place was a nice treed covered with creek forming a funnel between some pasture/farm lands and slightly higher elevations that had been covered in cedars, recently cleared though. The owner was asking a bit heftier price than I wanted to pay with the little amount of sign I saw and only jumped a few deer while walking around.

with that said though, every year, there is typically a true good deer (140+ class) taken from around Pidcoke just a little farther down 116 that I see when using Miller's processing in Belton, there might be others roaming around, especially during rut.

Hope for the best, one good buck can change everything real quick! Appreciate the feed back guys.

My father and I have 500 acres east of Gatesville, in the ghost town The Grove.

I've been hunting there 24+ years and my dad since the early 70s.

The acorn crop and amount of rainfall factor a lot into the action until there is 1-2 hard freezes. The density is good for sure but the deer can be picky and definitely like to be around water on our place. If you have any specific questions about the area, let me know and I'll do my best to answer

Acorns are the #1 problem in my opinion. I also hunt south of Gatesville and I've had some good bucks on camera but they are few and far between. No kind of routine whatsoever.

Hunted a lease by Pidcoke, Texas across the highway from Ft.Hood years ago. It had a good quantity of deer and some good bucks.