How much land is the minmum?

I thought about asking these questions when it came up on a different thread but I will ask them here. I hunted 10 acres last season and next season I will be hunting 15 acres, as long as everything goes well I will be closing on the 1st of March. I know a lot of you say this is way to small to hunt and instead you have to be on huge acreage leases. I've never been a fan of leasing, whether it be my house, car, or land, I would much rather own. So for that reason I hunt what I can afford.

What do you guys think the minimum safe amount of land to hunt is? When hunting small acreage what would you do to minimize the chances of a ricochet, trust me this is a concern of mine and I will have all my shots set up to where they go in the direction of other wide open acreage. What about building back stops? or hunting shotgun only with slugs, which is how I grew up and still have to hunt if I go back to my parents house in Wisconsin?

All these questions are more along the line of if these things are taken into consideration would it make some of you big acreage guys ok with hunting small properties?

The right small acreage can be productive, know one guy that had 7 acres in Lampassas county that got his deer every year, no one hunted very close to him and his one stand looked down into a draw so he was keeping bullets on his place for any shots.

On a 32 acre place I have taken over 40 deer in the last 30 years with most of those on just 2 acres of it. Location, location, location.

Main thing is keeping it safe on what ever size place and know the adjoining land owners and be on good terms with them, incase you ever need to go there to recover an animal. Good to ne good neighbors anyway.

IMO, the area should be large enough so there is little or no chance that you will not be able to retrieve a deer without trespassing on your surrounding neighbor's property.

From a more ethical standpoint, it would seem the property would be large enough to support and sustain the deer you will be harvesting. Otherwise, you're just leeching off your neighbors.

Just be safe and there is no minimum.. being able to elevate yourself will help a lot or take up bow hunting. or even a crossbow. Always good to know what is surrounding you also.

Too many factors to be so black and white. I've hunted 10 acres that was more huntable than my 300 acre lease, due to the shape of the properties, neighbors, etc.

I'd be a bit scared if people/housing surrounded a small parcel, as far as rifle hunting. Never know when them neighbor's kids (if any) would be stupid enough to trespass and in the wrong spot of the wrong time. Just never know.

10 acres in Illinois woods, 1,000 acres in west Texas, or 10,000 acres in mountains could all be equivalent "minimum".

These are all along with my thinking. I think any amount of land can be hunted if it is set in the right location and has the right conditions. My first 10 acre I hunted into a draw and my new 15 acres is completely wooded.

Shared a 70 acre lease in the hill country with a friend. We had two feeders and there were no high fence land in the area. I thought it was about the same as having a section as far as drawing deer and turkey. We took all the deer we wanted. Owner sold it or I would still like to have it.

If you have enough woods next door, and the neighbor property has no one living close by or hunting close by, you could be OK. If there's someone there, you'll be bothering them, and you'll have neighbor problems for the rest of your life. Make friends first, hunt later.

If you do hunt on this small, stay in an elevated blind, not on the ground. Your shots will go downward. The backstop idea is good. You could also try bowhunting. Make safety rules for yourself and never break them, even if a huge animal walks by.

in low fence situations, what constitutes who owns a deer? Here in LA, the deer (except those purchased and put on high fence land) belong to the state of LA. Not sure in TX. I have had the pleasure of hunting in TX one time and even though we were on a place of several hundred acres, I could see fences separating the various places. I saw deer on several occasions crossing these fences. So who did the deer belong to? I could see scenarios in TX where the deer could cross into several different landowners' places in one day, especially during the rut. And whoever takes the deer and tags it, no matter how much land they were hunting on would be the owner of the deer in my opinion. And if taken by legal means, they wouldn't be leeching off of their neighbors IMO. Neither do I see it as unethical when the animal was taken by legal means. Please correct me if I am wrong.

They belong to the state here as well.

Location, location depends on size. Where I hunt you need about 160 acres a hunter. The deer density just isn't that high. Maybe 1 deer per 20 to 25 acres for us. Mature bucks probably 1 per 400 to 500 acres.

This all comes down to what type of wildlife steward you decide to be. Many small landowners contribute to the overall good of their wildlife population.

However, many choose to take all they can without consideration of the long term effect. I remember earlier this season your post about all the deer your in laws have killed this year on that 10 acres. Yes, it is true that the state owns the deer, not the neighbors. If we all own the deer, we should be managing them as if there are no fences or boundaries. We should look at bedding and feeding areas, food sources, water and population of the big picture, being the amount of acres that we are hunting that support the local/core area of the deer herd that lives there.

Sadly, this rarely happens. It turns into this is all about me and what I want. I own this land, it's the states deer and I'll shoot as many as I legally can, even though most or all of the deer I'm shooting don't live on my land, they just briefly cross it or feed on it.

It's this attitude that has resulted in the majority of landowners deciding to high fence their land. I can assure you as long as this trend of small land ownership continues and the owners hunt like your in laws, high fences will continue to expand their range.

IMO the biggest risk to small land ownership besides the safety aspect is being high fenced out for these reasons .

Totally depends on the place and the area around you.

I have 80 acres that basically surrounds a 15-acre parcel owned by another guy. The way the woods and creeks are, deer funnel right through his 15 acres. He's killed way more out there than I ever have.

It doesn't bother me because we're actually overpopulated and need to kill more. Just saying, he probably takes 3-4 off his 15 acres a year and it's a non-issue.

For me personally, the "minimum number" depends on how many deer I want to kill off it each year. For me, it needs to be able to sustainable support my harvest. What this number of acres is will depend on what part of the state you're in, deer densities, etc. But, with typical Hill CO deer densities I could get by with ~50 acres or so if I had to, and feel good with my family shooting 3 or 4 each year.

I am not a fan of small acreage shooting way more than the land supports "just because they can and it's legal." Many a high fence has gone up due to neighbors like this.

I also agree that your acreage should be able to fully contain all your hunting activity. This includes shots and recovering deer you're hunting.

Agree with Pitchfork, deer aren't an ever ending supply, especially on small acreage. Even the heavy pressure can manipulate their presence, irregardless if you are in high deer density areas.

As far as the "safety factor". I think you already have that idea down, since that isn't that complicated. If you have to go shotgun/bow to be safe in your opinion, then there you go.

On the flip side, I have seen people fire off on larger properties with an apparent disregard for the range of a rifle, even a .22. Common sense can solve a lot of issues.

IMO the reason most HF their land has zip, zero, nada to do with their neighbors' bad actions. It is so they can control what goes on on THEIR place. This is indisputably true if non-native animals are introduced and/or the now-enclosed deer are allowed to increase in number well beyond native carrying capacity.As is most often the case on both counts with HF.

I agree with you HFs are a big negative for small landowners. I'll never buy the BS line that it's all the small landowners' fault.

That's insult to injury IMO.

Support HF as freedom and a legal property right? I get it. We can just agree to disagree.

LO's trying to justify their actions in HFing their property and ruining their neighbors' hunting by blaming it on their neighbors for exercising THEIR legal property rights?
Disingenuous whining/blame shifting. You HF it? Then "own" your actions and don't act like a democrat by blaming someone else for your actions.

Basically saying "Too dang bad I'm bigger than you so I'm going to ruin your hunting.Suck it up, buttercup."

And folks call me an "elitist".

This.

It is far too easy for a bullet to leave the property at 10 or 15 acres when you are using "wide open acreage" as your safety. As noted, it would be much safer to be well elevated and shooting down into the ground to make that work well. You can also do what a couple of my buddies did and just placed berms behind their feeders. Turns out to have worked better than expected. The small burrow pits for the berms pool and hold water (like a prairie pothole) for several days after a rain, creating an additional resource.

I asked a game warden this once out of curiosity, and was told as long as the projectile doesn't leave your property. Now there is much more to consider than just that, but thought the answer I got was interesting.

I wasn't saying it was my safety, I still make sure that all my other safeties are in place, but if for some reason one of those safeties fail I like to ensure I have "wide open space" on the other side. Where I am at there is no "wide open" space, what I mean by that is land that is acreage without a house in direct line. I feel confident though with my safeties set up that I wont be crossing a line.

And I'm not saying I'm right or anything on this topic. I just saw a different guy get told that he can't safely shoot on 52 acres so I figured I would start this thread. (I'm bored now that hunting is over)

for small tracts I would also get the minimum to state law hunting so other jurisdictions can't stop you from hunting. 10 acres for archery and 50 acres for rifle. I would love to have 10 acres here in Southlake for bow hunting, there are some BIG bucks and Southlake has a law against hunting, but you could tell them to stuff it.

I grew up bowhunting, I just bought my son a new Mission for Christmas and my girlfriend wants to try Bowhunting also. If every likes it more takes to it we may go bow only. there is something better about getting the deer in close enough to take them with a bow.

hmmm, which state law say 50 min for rifle?

I thought it was a county regulation? Like Lampasas says no hunting in subdivisions if your plot is under 10 acres

LOL, I wasn't worried about you crossed a line, but your bullets.

I have to disagree with you NP. Pitchfork is right on the money.

Small acreage hunters shooting too many deer, or hunting the fenceline, have driven more property owners to HF than anything else, IMO.

Some people want to have a nice place to hunt, without fundng the neighbors small acreage over-hunting.

I'll be high fencing in the next few years. Why? Because I'm surrounded by small acreage that has multiple stands within sight of my fence (none of mine are within sight of their property). I can tell by looking at a man's feeder & stand set up what kind of hunter he probably is. A shitty corn feeder only running a month or 2, with a shitty plyboard stand, indicated they are not serious, just wanting to "fill muh freezer".

Wow

Go ahead and ignore facts to support your opinion. It's a free country.

But don't start your whining when people view your opinion as not being credible. Take it like a man if your going to pound it into the dirt.

There is a sig line right there, free to anyone

...and scene. Best out of context quote on the internet to date.

Never heard of 50 minimum to rifle hunt.

If your a good shot ,you shouldnt have a problem retrieving ive never had a deer go more than 50 yds with my .308 or.300 wby mag., thats shots out to 350yds

I agree, Wow! Talk about an elitist! Complaining about someone that wants to deer hunt for meat AND doesn't have tens of thousands of dollars a year to spend on recreation-- probably someone that only wants to talk about how big theirs is [deer of course]. Unbelievable!

Me too

[quote=Nogalus Prairie

IMO the reason most HF their land has zip, zero, nada to do with their neighbors' bad actions.


[/quote]


Well, you'd be wrong, at least in one case, because that's EXACTLY why I put up a high fence.

Don't have to spend 10s of thousands of dollars to have a nice set up, feed year round, or hunt with management in mind. The type of person who does the bare minimum is often not in it for management reasons. Too bad if the truth upsets you.

To answer the OP directly, it's not how many acres you need to deer hunt. It's how many deer can you take off your acreage. Obviously there are many factors, like deer density, hunting pressure in the area, drought conditions, forage, etc. the question is : how many deer does your acreage support?

Can we all agree, that if you take more deer than your land supports, you are taking from the "states deer"? You are in essence taking more than you make (raise). If everyone did this, there will not be a future in Texas for deer hunting.

There is also no way you can guarantee your bullet will stay in your 10 acre property, I promise.

If your feeder were down in a draw, or up against a creek bank,or the side of s steep hill, wouldn't that guarantee that the bullet would stay on (or in) your property??

It's not that black and white, either. All the deer belong to the state, even the ones you think you are raising. What if your ten acres is a part of thousands that nobody hunts but you? What if the deer population is beyond carrying capacity? There's too many factors to make blanket statements. All anyone can do is exercise some sense and respect to their neighbors.

And yes, I can guarantee that my bullets stay on my ten acres if I have made the decision to shoot there. A person could fire a weapon on the King Ranch and put a bullet onto the neighbor's property. Is it not big enough to hunt?

The fact that you thinking this way demonstrates you are taking the safety aspect of having a smaller place into account. The fact you posted this demonstrates you realy are bored for the potential flaming you might take (not too bad so far). How many deer you can take and not ruin it for yourselves and neighbors down the road has too many variables to make an informed decision on.
I don't have a large place but we don't over harvest, I have free choice protein available year round and plant food plots in the fall. I have gone so far as to have watering systems for the food plots for the low rainfall years to try and incease the available feed. It has had mixed results but I try to be the best steward of the land and the habitat that I can be.
As long as you are safety conscious and don't abuse things you should be fine. Enjoy your property.

I agree with your 1st paragraph Sneaky. That's why I started off with "Obviously there are many factors".

I disagree with the 2nd paragraph. Your argument there is disingenuous. How many 10 acre plots are like you describe?

If you feel so certain that you could keep a bullet on 10 acres, would you feel confident having loved ones stand on fence line while you shoot every time? I sure as [censored] wouldn't, & I feel my chances of keeping a bullet on 10 acre is as good as anyone else's.

7ARanch has a nice set up it sounds. IMO, that's how you can run a smaller acreage, hunt successfully & sustainably, & better the "states" herd.

x2
Please enlighten us some more how a man's feeder and his blind tell you what kind of hunter he is.

Plenty in areas of high deer densities. Some in other areas.

That's a loaded question. A stupid stunt to prove something that can be proven, otherwise. I could turn it around just the same way. Would you wager a thousand dollars that I couldn't do it?

And I meant what I said, believe it or not.

So only trophy hunters with pricey stands and feeders are serious?

It wa kind of a loaded question, I knew I would get lots of different views on what is acceptable. Now that I own in, in a few months, I will be starting my feed with corn and protein stating as soon as I take ownership. Also next to each feeder is a large water container, and the property has a creek with a pretty good size pond. I have high hopes and am pretty excited.

GENERALLY SPEAKING. if you see a guy with good equipment, hes serious about what he does.

If you see a guy with no protein feeder, no food plot, a cheap [censored] $100 Wal Mart feeder, & a POS particle board stand, he's probably not very serious. GENERALLY SPEAKING.

If someone spends time, money & effort on something, it's probably important to them. If they don't, it probably ain't. YMMV.

Same way I can tell GENERALLY SPEAKING how serious a hunter is by his rifle & (more importantly) his scope. If a guy has a $20 scope & another guy has Leupold, which would you reckon is more serious about hunting?

Same with other equipment & other hobbies. Scuba, motorcycles, cars, you name it.

Keeping a projectile on 10 acres 1 time is entirely different than keeping numerous projectiles on 10 acres EVERY TIME.

Yes, you probably keep the bullet on 10 acres SOME OR MOST of the time. To guarantee that you can keep EVERY projectile on 10 acres EVERY time is asinine.

Sorry Max. Those generalizations don't pass the sniff test. Apply it to colt. No money but serious hunter.

Congrats on your purchase. It sounds really nice. I wish you the best with your new land.

Sounds pretty snobby to me. To the OP, every property is different. I rifle hunted 11 acres and bow hunted 5 acres for several years with no issues. Burms and elevated stands work well. Just because your neighbor has a big nice place, invests more, and has nicer set-ups doesn't mean the deer are his. That fence line is normally not "his" either. It's a shame that so many folks with large tracts look down on their "little" neighbors. On that note, I also know what it feels like to be on a larger property and have neighbors on their 15 acre tract shoot anything that jumps the fence. I may not like it, at all, but it's their deer too.

I guess we are just gonna have to disagree.

What I'm saying is not snobbish or rocket science. Serious people buy serious equipment, again GENERALLY SPEAKING.

If someone is a serious water skier, they are probably gonna have a really nice boat & nice skis. Not a Jon boat & 2x6. Yet both COULD water ski..........

Holy crudola!

I do judge people by their setups sometimes, but a $4000 stand and a $2000 stand doesn't make me think that my neighbor is a primo hunter. Some of the most serious people that I know hunt out of some of the most rickety set ups and will sit in them all day.

Some of the most serious hunters I know do not use stands or feeders. If they do use stands it is a wood platform in a tree. Best hunting locations many times are where there are no stands and use what is available from nature.

Yep

If I only shoot once, then that is every time. I don't shoot a lot when I hunt. I also have the ability to be selective with my shots when necessary. I have bow hunted small properties for that very reason. To claim what I can or can't do is presumptuous.

I guess I am that guy, but we do feed more than 2 months a year, we start in mid September and shut them off mid December. Our neighbors in both sides feed year around, they have hog problems, the hogs continually tear up their fences, rooting up their fields and generally mess their places up. We don't have that problem, because we don't feed the hogs year around. During the drought we did feed more, but not with auto feeders, we corned the roads and filled troughs.

The 3 blinds were built in the 1980's it works for my son and nephews, I prefer the bedroom window of the cabin, so I can watch TV and the wheat field. Besides I don't see any correlation between how someone's blinds look and how they hunt. Our deer are so used to tractors, I could ride around on the tractor and shoot my limit in a day. If I wanted to fill the freezer I would use the tractor.

I don't have a food plot yet, I don't feed protein as of yet. I built my own feeders. On one of my feeders I just bought a tripod. On the other feeder we used some sort of agricultural three sided sheet paneled thing and roughed in a blind underneath an oak tree.(Son shot his first fair sized buck on his own land and signed the tag with his name in this thing)Oh and he did it with a little rossi single shot 30.06 wth a Nikon 140 dollar scope. We all shoot 30.06 in order to save funds. I can tell you we are all serious as a heart attack about taking a deer. I shoot an old model 670 that's at least 20 years old and only recently upgraded from a Tasco scope to a low end Vortex. I recently splurged and got my oldest a Savage 111 package with a Nikon bdc.(thing is a tack driver)
We drive about 500 miles or 7 hours one way to get to our place in a truck that I love that will be 20 years old next year. A truck that the camper doesn't match the pickup, but its paid for. A place I've sunk my entire life earnings and everything I have into acquiring.
Based on your GENERAL SPEAKING post. If you pulled up next to me on the road you'd probably glance over at my truck and say, look at that poor bastard he must hate driving. Paints pealing and his camper doesn't even match his truck! That guy doesn't have two nickels to rub together. However you'd be dead wrong! I'm headed to my own piece of Texas! I'm headed to walk my fields and woods and creek bottom and relish in the beauty of the natural world and the spirit of the wild.(Nugent is a friend). I'm headed to watch my own flesh and blood harvest their own protein on land they own and work. Nah we are not serious hunters we just don't get it. Not sure where we went wrong!

That assumption is assinine. Shoot from a 15' tree stand in the middle of 10 acres, and none of this bullets are crossing a fence line. Hunt from a ground blind on a 10 acre pasture, you're probably right.

Some of the best hunters I know don't have much in the way of expensive equipment. It ain't about the equipment.

Wow. I hunt out of hand built stand that cost $175 in lumber, and I use a $100 feeder. My feeder runs year round BTW. I made 15-20 trips to hunt this year. I live and breathe hunting. I'll spend 50-60 days this year hunting (yea, that's about 1/4 of the year) Deer, dove, rabbit, squirell, and pigs. I do so on 100 acres.

So lets decide, which one of use is more serious about hunting?

I do like to have nice things but what Maximus doesn't understand is that just because you have all top notch equipment doesn't make you a better more serious hunter (or fisherman) than someone else. I've seen this EXACT same scenario played over and over again in my life LOL. Guys show up at the ranch with top of the line equipment and have no clue what the hell to do with it. What I mean is, that Zeiss scope is nice and that high dollar custom rifle is REAL nice but you can't hit chit with it and can't tell a deer track from a pig track. Never think about the wind and can't be quiet to save your life. Having nice, more expensive things does not make you a more serious hunter. I killed a CRAP load of deer and pigs looking through a Tasco or a Bushnell scope, mounted on an old cheap Savage or Winchester rifle, hunting out of a run down box blind or a ground blind because I didn't have the funds at the time for what I wanted. It's not what you have, it's what you can do with it. Yes, that's what she said. Not attacking you Maximus and not saying you don't know what to do with your equipment, just saying that I've met my share of folks who had nice/more expensive equipment that looooved to talk about what they had but pretty much sucked at hunting.

It's a materialistic mindset thing, and probably applies more to fisherman. For years when I was younger we fished from a used 14' aluminum john boat. Lots of really nice big fast skinny water boats would fly by so fast they had no idea what they were passing up. Would get looked at funny by many of them at the dock putting in, like look at these poor suckers in a slow azz little freakin' john boat with a 25 HP motor. Funny how many of them changed their attitudes at the fish cleaning station. all of a sudden they were friendly and wanted to know what we were using etc...

My first blind was brush piled up in front of a shallow draw. Killed a lot of deer there. Killed quite a few deer sitting with my back against a tree with no more cammo than a pair of jeans and a brown jacket. Gotta be pretty serious about hunting in the middle of the winter without a heated blind and no feeder! It can work with a little scouting and planning.

That being said, I don't mind hunting from a blind and over a feeder!

Being serious doesn't have to have squat to do with the money you spend on equipment. It's commitment and desire.

I had never seen a feeder or blind until I moved to Texas. Was illegal to hunt over feed, so no corn or protein. We just had to clear the snow off the ground in front of the tree and sit down. Or climb the tree and sit on the 2ftx2ft platform with no protection around me.

And let's not forget our great grandparents and farther back hunted in a flannel shirt and jeans, with a old inaccurate gun with no scope...they probably saw and killed more deer than any of us

That statement has to be about the dumbest thing I have read in a long time. Spending time and effort does not go hand in hand with how much money you spend. Not everyone is like you and born with a pocket full of money. When I was growing up I sat in a tree with no feeder in front of me and had an open sighted rifle. So I guess I was not serious about hunting? I guess the old guy out on the lake with a small aluminum boat with the 7.5 horsepower moter is not serious about fishing because he does not own a 18 ft. bass boat? You are really something in the way you think.

DC a tractor blind is an expensive blind making you a high rolling dead serious hunter. You and Max are like bros.

Max, tell us about yourself. Your profile, after all these years is very sketchy.

If your neighbors complain you can be restricted from rifle hunting. Happened on a small lease one of my co-workers was on. Told them from now on shotgun only. 2 years later people complained of noise and sheriff told them only shoot during certain hours. Lease ended up as Bow only.

I wonder how many acres of land a shooting range is.......

How can the sheriff dictate that?

GENERALLY SPEAKING. no generalization is worth a damn, including this one.....Ogden Nash

not what I said. if you have 50 acres and in jurisdiction that doesn't allow hunting, you can tell them to stuff it and still hunt it with a rifle because of the state law. if you have less than 50 acres, then you can only hunt it with rifle if no other county/city laws against hunting.

Ok that makes more sense

When a county reaches certain population levels the state allows the county to regulate the behavior of it's citizens. An example is Kaufman County outlawed shooting on private property of 10 ac. or less that is in a subdivision.

You haven't seen the tractor.

The stories "morph" into fact because it was on the Internet. More

From the TP&W manual. There are a lot of 10 acre tracts that are not in subdivisions. The sheriff cannot dictate that, it has to be passed by the county commissioners.

Right. I get that. But how does a complaint combined with a sheriff accomplish that? Maybe I'm missing a detail from the original story, but I got the impression it was strictly a decision made and enforced by the sheriff.

Just bow hunt and then you have no problems to worry about.

Lol!!! Really Dan, that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard on this forum!!! Those deer belong to the people of TX not you Dan!

Well this got interesting.

Wife and I purchased 21 acres low fence in Adamsville 4 yrs ago. Neighbors around me all have 15 to 54 acres, more or less, all low fence. About a mile from the river, big tanks surrounding it. This year I harvested an 8 pt and 2 doe, and my tenant got 2 spikes and a doe. Now this may sound like overharvest, but still there were guns going off all around us. Not to mention 8 pt and 6 pt deer and numerous nice does still showing up on the gamecams, mostly at night. Oh, and the wall to wall dead deer that litter Hwy 281 all the way from Lampasas. As my neighbor said to me soon after I purchased the place: "There's too damn many deer!" Great problem to have! Before I went into contract I walked all 21 acres several times. It was wall to wall deer poop and hoof prints. I bought what I could afford at the time. But owning hunting land just makes me want to...own more! I heard an old timer say once (and I think he was quoting Abe Lincoln) "I just want to own my own land--and all the land that surrounds it." Ha! Anyway, 21 acres seemed like a lot of land at the time. After a few years I have come to the conclusion: I want all the land that surrounds it. Better buy a lottery ticket.

I know what you mean. There is two other 15 acre tracts on the sides of me for sale also. I wish I could afford to buy all of them. Hopefully someone buys them for hunting and will want to sell in a few years when I am ready again.

If any veterans are looking for land right now there is one of the tracts up for auction through the land board at a very good starting bid and I don't think anyone has even looked at it yet

Take for example, 10 different hunters each hunting their own 10 acre tract within a 100 acre area. With each hunter having a bag limit of four deer, the potential harvest load on that 100 acre area would be 40 deer. Very few, if any areas of Texas can support such a high harvest rate per acre. For now, we'll just ignore how many of the "state's" deer can be supported on such small tracts.

Little wonder how fence line hunting has become all the rage. After all, a small, 20 or 30 acre tract can only support so many deer.

And it will only get worse. They'll keep it up until people finally get tired of the crap and start complaining to their reps and before long you'll see legislation and restrictions to put an end to it. To be honest I would support it since these folks ain't gonna quit and they don't care how it effects others. I never thought there would be AR's in TX but low and behold look what's happening and look what caused it. If we don't police ourselves somebody else is going to.

So I guess shooting a deer on YOUR land should be against the law if some don't approve of where on your land it gets shot at? We have neighbors that feed year round and put in just like we do. We are 650 acres, one neighbor is 100 acres, one is 20, one is 50. We all have blinds on or near fence lines. We work together for the most part on what bucks we give a pass. Deer jump fences all the time, and get shot on fencelines all the time but we don't whine and cry about it. If someone needs to cross a fence to recover an animal a phone call is made, no big deal. I guess we could act like we own the deer and put up a high fence. If you don't like fence line hunting then you won't like hunting most of deep South Texas. Lots of ranchitos and lots of neigbors allmost all of which have at least one blind on a fence line. We had a neigbor on 20 acres that used to shoot everything that jumped the fence, and I mean everything. Ticked me off at first but after a while guess what, the deer stayed on our place and quit jumping that fence at least during the day. The more deer that stay on our land, the better.

Fence line hunting isn't a new thing! It started the moment the first fence went up.

And where do you draw the line on fence line hunting. Do we draw an imaginary 10 yard line around a fence or do we go ahead and make it 100 yards? Some people will never be happy because they feel like they own the deer because they feed them! A lot of people feel "superior" because they "manage" their deer herd for "trophy" deer! News flash!!! Some people just hunt because they love it and could care less about the score of a dang deer. It's just assanine the way folks have become. When you buy land the fence line is included. Sure it's neighborly not to put a feeder on the fence but a blind facing your own property should not be a problem.

I don't think there is a distance you could set away from the fence. As you said you could say at least 10 feet away but then instead of people saying "my neighbors are hunting the fence line" they will be saying " my neighbors are only 10 feet off the fence line" then we will be saying we need to be 20 feet off. Enough people already think a stand I. The middle of my 15 acres is too close.

That's an easy one to answer. IMO, it starts when someone is leveraging their neighbor's resources because they have little or none. One of the best examples is the guy who leases an open pasture that has zero browse and cover, then places his feeder and stand next to his neighbor's fence because he owns the heavily wooded habitat that can hold and sustain deer. When owners on both sides of the fence have good resources, I see no foul with hunters on each side hunting the fence.

Let's be honest here. Everyone knows that small tracts cannot hold and sustain very many deer. Why try to hide the fact, or say that "the deer belong to the state" to rationalize the practice of taking clear advantage of your neighbor's resources when you don't have them.

Hey jsplinter please all or please none! Just don't worry about it. You and your family enjoy that land and make the most of it. Be responsible and let people think what they are going to think. When we got our property the land behind us which is like a section had tripods at the corners of our property right on the fence line. Which is cool. You harvest some wild protein out there and teach your kids good values. The heck with what everyone else thinks. You and your family are going to benefit from that land ownership!

Ahh, I don't care about what others thinks. I grew up hunting public land where you had a 50 ft clearing running a couple hundred yards and people were lined up hunting across from one another. I hunted that for a few years with my dad until we I shot my first deer and by the time we got to it another guy said was standing there and said he shot it. I lost that deer because it isn't worth arguing with a drunk guy with a shotgun in his hand. After that I hunted my stepdads hundred acres. If someone can buy one acre and hunt safely on it then I am one of the guys that says go for it and enjoy every minute of it.

I just like to see what other people's opinions are, won't make me enjoy what I got any less

By the logic of some on here, if you happen to have a small more open tract of land vs your neighbor's much larger/thicker property then you just shouldn't hunt your land for deer because you would be mooching off of your neighbor's resources. Typical snotty I'm more important than you attitude. What some on here don't understand, is that if you have a bigger place with food/cover/water and not too much pressure the deer have no reason to jump the fence into a wide open small tract of land next door. We are dealing with this EXACT same scenario right now where I hunt. We have a 120 acre property down the road from the main ranch that has good cover, big pond, and 4 feeders that run year round. We have good deer numbers and a few good bucks for that size property. We have a new neighbor this year to our East. Guy just bought that tract, don't remember the acreage but it's small and WIDE open, nothing but pasture. No trees or water. Guy put a feeder up just a few feet from the fence, with a make shift blind down the fence line. At first a few of the guys got excited, I just told them not to worry about it. The deer have no reason to jump that fence into that pasture during the day. He might get one or two but it's his land and he has the right. We have been covered up in deer this year and we've only heard that neighbor shoot 2 or 3 times this year and he's there all the time. If you've got a piece of land then hunt it, regardless of size, safely of course. Get them kids in the outdoors and have fun.

YEP!

X3, hunting fencelines has always happened and always will continue..Makes for a natural clearing and isn't illegal that I'm aware of. And no, state reps and congressmen are not going to create any fenceline hunting regulations, you can be sure about that, lol...

Pretty sure a few people said the same thing about AR's.

Hwy, you and I will have to agree to disagree on this one. My understanding is that ARs were the result of reduced deer densities and overall mature buck deer census and harvest counts. Hardly comparable to fenceline hunting and persons utilizing their lands in a legal manner.

ARs were widely supported at every public meeting prior to their adoption. I was at two of them and the guys holding them told me as much about the others.
They are even more widely supported a decade in.

Ima have to call on that one. Sounds like a line from the CIC on Obamacare.

Just to clairify my cleared land is only 1/4 of the total overall acreage. So 3/4's of the acreage is creek bottoms and thick oak trees.

Mike, I believe there will be "fenceline" regulations in mine and your lifetime. The safety factor alone could get it passed.

Not gonna happen, especially if you try to justify it by "safety factor". Think about it, even if you don't put a feeder near the fence line most people feed those roads near the fence line. Would you rather have someone shooting DOWN HIS road near the fence, or put his blind up 25-100 yrds into his property and shoot towards the road and YOU? You already can't shoot into your neighbors property. Need to realize that a lot of these little properties are only a few hundred yards wide so options are limited, like the one next to us that I mentioned earlier. Most will not build elevated stands and burms like I have hunting small tracts. The last thing we need is more laws & regulations. Maybe the State will create some HUGE task force that comes out to your property to inspect and tell you where you can and can not place a blind and feeder, or where you can or cannot feed? Gimme a break. The best law we can have is the one we already have in place. It's your property, you can do what you want as long as your bullets don't cross onto a neighboring property and no harassing. I have never heard of a single incident in my life due to someone shooting down a road near a fence line, only issues are those who shoot into or in the direction of their neighbor's property. Sounds like some of you guys just can't have enough rules & regulations. Sounds pretty, "California".

About 15 yrs. ago some people put on a music festival on about 75 ac. out in the country
Labor Day weekend. There is no noise ordinance. This lasted from noon to midnight I think. They held it for two years. A noise complaint from a resident nearby had the sheriff ban the concert. Not by any law but telling the promoters he would harass the attendees.

Um, OK.

With 11 blinds and feeders bordering my place I can make a pretty damn good argument when it comes to safety factor. 3 sit on 1200 acres of grubbed pasture, 6 sit on acreage of 20 acres or less and 2 on the Conoco lease that was sprayed 3 years ago to kill of cactus. There's been about 50 folks from the THF that have hunted my place and have seen these set ups. It's obvious to anybody who sees the set up who's place they're hunting. Folks can argue until they're blue in the face but it will not change my opinion on fence lines set ups are the people who do it. Not only would I support any rep who wanted to put an end to it I'd help fund their campaign. Putting up a high-fence is something I would have never imagined 20 years ago, now it's an option I'm considering. I'm tired of it and the people that do it, they can call me any name in the book but it will not change the fact that they brought it upon themselves. While Dan and I rarely agree what he said earlier holds truth. If everybody who had 10 acres just shoots one deer a year that's 64 deer per square mile. I can't think of a place in Texas that can sustain that loss. I've got 3 square miles and rarely will I allow more than 6 deer to be removed a year. If a man wants to hunt a fence line more power to him but I don't want to hear a word he says when his neighbor fences him out. Same goes for anybody bragging about their little 40 acre honey-hole where they take 3-5 deer a year. If I've pizzed a few people off I don't care, your actions pizzed me off long before now.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. This screw you it's my place and I'll do what I want attitude is exactly what creates the type of legislation I'm talking about. If we would just show a little courtesy and respect towards property lines and our neighbors this wouldn't even be a subject of discussion.

We had 700 acres, now 650. There are 10 blinds and 5 feeders set up on our borders. We have never once had a hunting related safety issue in over 20 yrs that I've been hunting this place. There were some kids doing target practice once that damn near shot me while filling feeders, but we got that straightened out pretty quick. I spoke from experience as the guy on the big side and the guy on the little side, because I've been on both sides and tried to make the best of it. But really, what does it matter where a person shoots that deer? If your neighbor shoots a deer 5 yrds from the fence or 500 yrds from the fence you are still gonna be pizzed about it if it's a deer that you wanted to shoot or a deer that you have been passing that you wanted to live. 5 yrds, or 500 someone is going to bitch about it. Go ahead and put up a fence because you are pizzed, because someone outside of "your" property shot a damn deer that you didn't agree with. Why don't we just HF every single GD property out there. Forget about native white tails and those that want to hunt them. Just fence every property and kill all the native deer off and bring in nothing but high dollar genetic freaks. A kid could get his/her first deer for a couple grand. Everybody's got high fences so nobody can bitch about a Native WT Deer crossing a property line. WTH happened to hunting? For too many people it's all about the trophy, and my land is bigger than yours and I protein feed, and I have a Polaris and you have a golf cart, and on and f'n on jeezus. When I was a kid every year we had at least a couple thousand acres to hunt on and there was never more than 4 or 5 of us and we paid $200-$400 a year per family if that much. There were no high fences but everyone seemed to tag out on good bucks and does and we hung out with our neighbors. Used to compare racks and have a good time. The neighbors would invite us to come over and hunt. Amazing how things have changed....Now it's all me me, and mine mine. Sounds like my ex wife for Christ sakes. Just put a HF up and get it over with.

Hwy, you've been talking about this high fence the last couple of seasons already, just go up with it man. This is obviously weighing on you tremendously....

There will be no legislation. Maybe you didn't read my previous posts about how I/we deal with our neighbors. I am on a larger property surrounded by smaller properties that benefit from what we have done. I also know what it's like to be the guy on that chitty small property so I can relate. We are able to communicate & work with our neighbors for the most part but if one of them says F you I'll shoot what I want when I want, there you go. Chances are that guy is struggling to see anything and his place doesn't offer much. I'll say again, don't worry about that guy. Just keep improving what you've got and enjoy it.You're gonna see more deer than he. Quit stressing about it.

This thread is very eye-opening.

Once again you are wrong.



There's new fence going up everyday.



Now you've drifted completely off topic.

\

And we have to ask ourselves what or who changed all that. There was a time when common courtesy and respect for others was a high priority among men, was!

I believe HWY_MAN is correct. If this urban sprawl continues, and we end up with a patchwork of small property owners harvesting more game than is sustainable there will be laws enacted to address using up this natural resource.

And there is no way it doesn't become a safety issue as well.

Never say never.....

8 miles of fence ain't cheap.

Wrong again? Um, Ok.

So please explain to me, what is a guy that owns 10-20-30-40-50-100 acres next to you supposed to do? Is he supposed to ask your permission to shoot a deer?

One of the few times I wish I was wrong. I've watched large ranches that were in a family for over 100 years get cut up and divided to become subdivisions. South of town most of the area has been broken down to 10, 5 and some as small a 1 acre lots and damn near every one of them has a feeder within shooting range of the house. Guy at the Forsan cafe was bragging about how he shot 5 deer from his bedroom window this year, his 5 acres borders the west side of the big ranch, his blind is 10 yards inside his fence. If somebody wants to defend this killing (It ain't hunting) then feel free but it's wasted on me. I despise it!

No question that increasing smaller tracts are causing more conflicts.

But we are not "using up" a natural resource. Deer populations and harvest numbers are as strong as ever. And the "safety" factor is just a bogus justification - how many accidental shootings can be cited where someone was shot by a neighbor? Further, do you know the shooter was on a small tract and the one shot was on a big tract (otherwise, it doesn't count)?

Just interesting to me that many who will go apoplectic if a HF ban (like many states have) is mentioned have no problem with laws banning/regulating what others can do on their own property - but when something proposed affects THEIR property it's all about private property rights and all hunters sticking together to support one another.

The lesson: most folks look after their own interests and then make up reasons to justify it after the fact.

Do you expect him/all of them to shoot as many deer as you do on your 650 acres? Can they? Yes they can. I have no issue with a blind on the fence. Where I have an issue is a feeder on a fence or feeding a road down a fence that I drive daily. That is a safety issue for me or them or anyone driving down that fence-line doing normal day to day work. I am not changing my day to day activity for their benefit. If there is a road down a fence then there is traffic. If my blind/feeder is 200 yards off our common fence and deer come from the neighbors side of the fence onto my land, those deer are not living under every bush on the fenceline. They are traveling from inside a piece of property for feed. If someone owns land they need to place a feeder inside their property a safe distance. The feeder is there to draw deer to a location. You can easily draw deer 75 yards inside the fence as on the fence. My issue has always been where you choose to set that feeder for safety reason.

Yes wrong again! You thinking you know what I would do or how I would respond is your mistake. I'm defending our native wildlife, courtesy, respect and property lines, what are you defending?

You need to go into counties that have many 10 acre to 25 acre size tracts in large subdivisions to see what over hunting can do to a large piece of property. I had to drive 7 miles thru 3 of these to get to my 25 acres I lived on (in a new subdivision) in Northern Medina County. In 5.5 years of driving thru those 3 subdivisions, I saw only couple of deer. That was 10+ trips per week for 5.5 yrs in the Hill Country of Texas. Game rich and overpopulated Hill Country. Why? Because every 10 acres tract had 2 deer blinds and shot what they saw in those 3 subdivisions. They had been doing this for 15 yrs or more. Duval County has the same problem with tracts of land like this in subdivisions. You can use the search feature on here to find thread by guys asking about hunting down there. Then they lease and give their end of the season feedback. It was always the same, no deer seen.

Yep!

And that Sir is the future and I get jumped on for not wanting it to happen, Heaven forbid I actually do something to keep it from happening.

I understand the issue. I know it's real.

I was just noting the inconsistencies in argument I see. It is intellectually dishonest to cite private property rights and hunter unity on one hand to defend HFs, and then turn around and support laws banning/regulating what other hunters do on their private property on the other.

That's all I'm saying.

Life is full of increasing people-to-people conflicts as our population grows. Just the way it is....

There is no urban sprawl. We are in a 3 buck 5 deer county and there are PLENTY of deer. Fence line hunting does not hurt any populations around here AT ALL, and to claim there is a safety issue involved just shows you don't know what you're talking about. In S Texas there have always been and always will be tons of ranchitos. Nothing has changed there. What I was trying to say before, is that not all of those "little neighbors" shoot everything they see. We have small neighbors that are on the same page with us. Have also had neighbors that were not. It's not the end of the world. The neighbors that are not on the same page with us still have the right to shoot what they want. If you don't like that your only option is to HF. IF you're the HF type then go for it.

Here is why skinnerback does not need to hunt the fenceline...he can shoot the whole 650 acres from one spot...

A little over 10 years ago I leased 12 sections east of Coahoma, limited deer but big ones, incredible quail and a nice but small population of Aoudads. After I dropped that lease the owner had a group from the DFW area lease it and within 2 years they shot the place out. The landowner has never leased that place out since. They shot 62 deer and 9 Aoudad off that place, I took 2 bucks, 4 does and 1 Aoudad over the same period.

I understand that, our feeders are well inside our property lines. My question was, what difference does it make if you shoot a deer 5 yrds into your property or 500?

Where did I say in that post that you have to shoot the deer again? My statement was about feeder/feed location, not about shooting deer. The deer will be where you are feeding at a blind. Where you shoot them is your choice.

To say there is no urban sprawl is just simply denying the facts in front of you. There are more small property owners in Texas than there ever has been, so how can you say there is no urban sprawl?

If I was a landowner that had neighbors hunting that were killing deer that lived on my land in numbers that were not sustainable I would put up a HF to protect the deer. I currently own land but not enough to deal with these issues. I am pro property rights more than anything else, so I wouldn't vote for any law to restrict hunting on your property, I would rather just have the right to fence you out from hunting the deer that live on my property that you over harvest.

Oh, and what are you defining as the "HF type"?

I'm defending the rights of a small property owner. That is all. Too many small property owners get beat up on here. You say you're defending native wildlife, why do you assume that all small property owners are going to shoot the hell out of everything and not be courteous, and respect property lines?

Dang! How high is that?

Seen more deer than ever on our place this year, and so did our neighbors. Averaged 6-14 deer per hunt. Highest # was 21 at one time. Pretty good for a small spread in Duval.

That's awesome!

In my case I can give you 11 examples of why I think that just outside the fence-line on my place and probably another 35 to 40 on the big ranch. So why do I think that, might be because that's exactly what they're doing from what I'm seeing and hearing.

That was in reference to an earlier post a few pages back.

From the looks of it and the size of the guy standing at the bottom I'd guess 50ft to the deck.

Then you need to drive north of Hondo and miles west. You would not see 6-14 deer in the next ten years driving down that county thru those 3 subdivisions. I worked with a guy that bought 11 acres in the middle of that area. I can remember the day he was excited that he saw his first deer at his house 4 yrs after moving there. A single doe. That lasted one summer. She was killed that hunting season on a neighboring tract. I lived 7.5 miles at the end of the CR. That subdivision was next to a large 11,000 acre ranch. I had plenty of deer the first few years due to deed restrictions limiting hunting to large contiguous tracts of land. As more smaller tracts sold(25 acres was the smallest), the deer numbers dwindled. The 3rd year I lived there I could see up 17 different bucks and 20-25 does and fawns. By the 5th year that numbers was considerably lower. I had the only water for a long distance.
We can all sit here and throw out numbers of great small hunting areas as well as I can throw up those that are not and have not seen those numbers. You are lucky in that your neighbors are good neighbors who are not shooting everything that walks.

No joke. I just put up 1.6 miles as a cross fence on the MH ranch.

But, what's the value of being able to keep you neighbors (who are completely justified) from shooting your 2 and 3 year old up and comers??

I'd do it one side at a time.

I was thinking 40' since the ladder sections appear to be covering 8' of height.

Forty just gets you to the guest house.

You are correct, seems I need to learn how to count. I counted only 5 ladder sections instead of 6. Of course if that is txshntr standing there, then the blind is only 30' tall.

Roger that. I've been darn frustrated with a few of them at times, but not HF'n white tails. Good night.

There is no denying that at the end of day, someone must provide the land and resources needed to hold and support deer. As much as I don't like to see high fences, I understand completely when a landowner who owns enough land to support good deer numbers, decides to protect his investment from those who want to take them for a fraction of his costs.

There seems to be alotnof folks who believe than anybody hunting on a smaller tract of land will shoot any deer they see, and fill every tag available every year. We all know that isnt always true. And really, its probably not true most of the time. Is it true sometimes? Absolutely. But there are plenty of guys paying 10k a year to lease a spot on a 10k acre ranch who shoot any deer they want. And probably feel even more justified than the small tract guy. After all they "paid good money to hunt, and are by God going to fill their freezers"

If you are paying that much money to hunt, I seriously dought ranch rules would allow brown it's down. Those leases are a premium due to what others have done to build a very high end herd.

Good money is relative to the person paying it. I am paying "good" money to me for my small acreage. Maybe they need to look at other options to decrease the amount of deer harvest, like shorten the crazy long season Texas has, or implement an earn a buck rule.

I don't think there's much incentive to do that on a "macro" level since deer numbers and hunter harvest numbers are still high.

maybe on a micro level, like in areas where all the urban population is driving smaller tracts. I wouldn't mind personally if they did bow hunting, shorter gun season and then bow hunting again. The season could still be as long but would take out a lot of those "shooting" from windows guys and still give those the opportunity to hunt who are putting in the work no matter the size of their tract.

Check real estate sites and see how many smaller tracts in subdivisions are for sale. Drive thru a subdivision and see how many for sale by owner tracts there are. They are for sale for a reason. Some have sold multiple times since the first sale. The amount of turns or properties listed tell you how well they owners like the property. How many people who own a tract that are putting it up for sale are not going to hunt their land hard the last year they own it? I have been invited more than once to come and "shoot what I want, I am selling my land" on smaller tracts. Are all like for sale and sold this many times like this? Heck no, but there are a lot of them like that. People who buy a hunting tract in a hunting subdivision buy it for a reason. When they sell it, it is for a reason.

With budgets they way they are and limited TPWD personal to oversee this, I don't see it happening. The way deer populations vary from area to area and then inside each of those areas, there is no way to manage it on that level. The only way is for landowners in that area to all group together to manage what they have with their own guidelines still keeping the TPWD guidelines.
IMO if you want to here some hunters and landowners squawk, then talk about limiting hunting seasons. That income from hunting is what was keeping many ranches and farms afloat during the drought in many areas. Falling cattle prices and grain prices will effect how they feel in months or years to come also.
Years ago (IIRC in the late 60's to early 70's) there was a limit on acreage size minimums to harvest a buck in certain counties down in South Texas. You were allowed one buck permit per so many acres(200??? IRRC). I think it was done by LO wanting to stop the over harvest of bucks around their land. There was a lot of day lease hunting and subdividing of large ranches into smaller tracts was starting. None of them wanted to go to the expense of HF back then but wanted to stop the over harvest of bucks. The permit system did not last very long. Many of those same ranches were limited on doe harvest also. You had to get permits based off of your land location. For me, we hunted north of a hwy and owned land south of that same hwy. North we could get a doe permit for every 50 acres, while south we could only get one for every 250 acres. Those numbers changed from year to year at times, till they did away with the doe permits all together. Many types of management and harvesting quotas have been tried. The issue with any type of quota system is that it never fits 100% of the landowners criteria.

$10k lease is a premium.

The crazy long season isn't an issue. Majorly of places out side urban sprawl areas are usually a lot higher density.

Problem is a blank season for all Texas the second largest state in the union.

If people are upset with current over harvest in some places by all means please protest TPWD for ranch allocation tags based off deer counts and property size instead of county limits

Ultimately, it falls into the hands of each landowner and their neighbors when looking at minimum acreage size. If all those landowners are managing the resource to remain healthy for future generations then it will work well for all of them. If some or most are not, then it we will continue to debate this till we are all 6' under. TPWD can set up max harvest guidelines that we can legally take what we want from it be damning our neighbors or we can choose to manage our own resource to remain healthy for many years to come hoping that others will follow.

Proud ta be from Minnesota were hunting was more about family, friends, helpen out neighbors & pudding on de ... Investment.. Returns.. the Future of hunting... Like pappy once said: i got cheap posts... they ain't worth compaired ta a buck...

Middle ground. That tends to work, so long as people get on board with it. That's the hard part.

A song comes to mind; here are some of the lyrics...

"Hey! What gives you the right!
To put up a fence and keep me out, or to keep Mother Nature in
If God was here, he'd tell it to your face, man, you're some kind of sinner"

This message does not convey my LF-HF stance.

I am Mickey Moose and I approve this message.

From the 1990 song "Signs" by Tesla...

It's hard to put a number of acres on it, but if you're going to have land next to our place, I prefer that you have sufficient acreage to set aside a game preserve at least 2 miles deep on your side of our common fence line (I'll be hunting the fence line heavily of course). Oh, and you will need to feed protein heavily from mid-January - September, not drive on any of your roads where I can see you (unless your ride is loaded with hot bikini clad women), never shoot a gun on your land or do anything loud for that matter, and give me your number so I can call you over to clean my game. That's just the minimum though.

this didn't fall on deaf eyes, sir

Curious though, what makes them yours? Because your ranch is bigger, or are you fencing because you have neighbors that actually shoot everything they see? Can you prove they shoot everything they see, or do you just think they do?

The horse is dead. Or do you just enjoy arguing?

Yes it is. We finally had one neighbor give in to our management plan after being trigger happy for years. Since we sometimes see the same deer we talk about them now, agree to shoot so & so/ don't shoot that buck etc. It's nice to have neighbors like that. I mentioned before that we had a neighbor on 20 or so acres that shot every deer they saw, and they would tell you they don't give a [censored]. After a while, most deer stopped jumping that fence during they day. They stayed on our side. We even talked about putting up a HF down that property line but ended up not needing it. Hopefully this new neighbor will be alright, time will tell.

Just kicking it one more time, that's it.

carry on!

Who copied it from some one hit wonder band from the early seventies.

I tell you what. You LF boys got a lot of problems.

Nah, everyone just needs to enjoy the outdoors. Hunting should be an enjoyable, relaxing time with family and friends....not work.

That is what I think. But it seems after reading a lot of these posts there seems to be a lot of folks that have their panties in a wad.

Too much ownership is all, I could only imagine how people with these attitudes of ownership over deer would be in a state that is mostly public land.

I might have gotten my panties in a wad a little. I was up all night drinking and hadn't poked the bear in a while. I guess this will always be a sore subject with some.

In the last 45 years there has been thousands of sections of land removed from the hunting pool by urban sprawl. Yes I said sections not acres. In 1969 I used to hunt a place southwest of Abilene, now it is 5 acre tracts. That was located 20 miles out of town, that urban sprawl has went in all directions. A lot of that land is lost to agricultural production and lost to a lot of hunting opportunities.

What I meant by there is no urban sprawl, is in my neck of the woods it's not much of a factor. There's not much of an "urban sprawl" issue. Very few properties are sold to folks from the city. Most of these little ranchitos are inherited and not up for sale. Almost everyone is related. Property next door hasn't been hunted for many years, all of a sudden there is a tractor and blinds going up. Aww crap. Meet these folks on the fence line or the road and they explain that this was/is their Uncles/Great Uncles property and we are gonna hunt it this year. If there was a real urban sprawl issue here there would be more high fences going up. Not hating, that's just a fact.

wait, what...

There's a reason why we live in a state with more personal freedom and more private land. You just highlighted one. Feel free to try and change that. But I wouldn't hang your happiness on success.

Location, location, location... Depends on where you are and what is around you

I've killed a lot of deer on small tracts of land. Just depends on what all your surrounding land looks like.

Welp....

I've only had my 40+ acres for 1.5 years but I manage it..food plots, feeder corn, water etc. We only shot a smaller older buck this year. Saw a lot more but they got a free pass. 2 feeders and 2 blinds and no more than 2 hunting at 1 time. I'm surrounded by 200+ acre tracts

2 acres-the one I am standing on and the one the deer is standing on. That is the minimum.

What are you feeding that buck, Snicker bar's?

No kiddin' looks like it.

BBB - Beer Belly Buck

HaHa...not feeding him anything more than the others....he's just a pig. Probably just loaded up on crabapples