mason county hunting

Anyone ever hunted the ROUGH!! country around the llano river southwest of town? just curious how the quality and numbers are compared to other areas of the county. Thanks!

Had a ranch on RR 1871 a few miles from low river crossing SW of Mason, sold it in 2009. Lots of cedar and really rough country. Good quantity and quality depending on neighbors. I had lots of deer, some hogs and good turkey count. Love the area

Have not hunted that area in 4-5 years but back then tons of deer but anything with size was very few and far between. In fact never saw a deer in 4 years over probably 110 inches. Beautiful area so I didn't even care that there was no chance to kill a trophy and enjoyed seeing 30+ deer every sitting.

I appreciate the input guys. I just got on a lease on 1871. We saw quite a bit of deer sign and some hog sign, and saw a few turkey and a few deer. This time of year with a lot of deer dropping their horns the deer we did see we couldn't tell anything about them. The place hasn't been hunted in a few years so hoping for the best.

That is a magical area. Years ago we hunted near Streeter, on the Llano. Tons of smallish deer. This was 30 years ago. Lots of turkey and good fishing in the river. We left, thinking we could find a better deal with better animals. Big mistake. we had a house, electricity, water. It was $500 a year

I hunted on a buddies lease a few times several years ago. Tons and Tons of deer. Nothing big though. I think around Mason you'd be very lucky to get a 130. Again my experience there is fairly limited but my buddy's biggest deer he killed in 5 years on the place was 120 ish.

Yes 3 miles of frontage.

Genetics are there for 150 plus

We hunted the White Ranch off of Mill Creek Rd, left around 2006. We teased about it being a petting zoo. Deer were smaller, but a lot of them. Good years a buck would go 125lbs plus

I'd love to go back

New to the forum and excited to learn from you all.

I am hoping someone can give me a bit of help or point me in the right direction...

We have been fortunate to hunt a great lease in the Mason area that is no longer available. My wife and I are looking for a day/week type hunt, still in the Mason/Hilde area. We aren't looking for a "trophy hunt". We also don't need accommodations but we do need it t be really affordable. Also needs to be a low fence place.

Suggestions?

Just picked up 800 acres for turkeys about 5 or 6 miles west of the river on 1871. Anyone have anyfeed back for that area?

On south side of 1871

I grew up in Brady and have hunted a small place between Brady and Llano for the last 20 years plus other places all around McCulloch, Mason, Llano and Concho Counties.

The area can produce nice deer but a lot of the area is over hunted. Lots of deer but iffy on quality. Larger leases that have had some management going or groups of smaller leases that haven't shot up every 2 year old that walks by can produce some nice deer.

There are places that have incredible genetics! I've seen three bucks in a pasture a few years ago and the biggest was every bit 170+ and the other two were not far behind. On the lease I was on I saw at least one every year before the season began that was 150-160+. Never saw them once the season started but...


Here's the best I took on the lease there...

Yep! That's the reason the buck I posted above was the biggest ever taken while I hunted there...8 hunters on 650 acres of land....to many hunters...too much pressure.

Some places can't be over hunted. We hunted 1700 acres with 15 people, shooting 5 deer a year, plus what the land owner and friends took. IF you didn't have at least 10 per sit at a feeder, something was wrong. As I said, deer were small- 100lbs for a good buck, but there were tons. We had guys that would limit out by Sunday morning and go home for the rest of the season

When I said "over hunted" I dint mean a reduction in numbers. The area us loaded with deer. The over hunting of 2.5 year old bucks is the problem. If you just want to see a lot of deer than you can't beat it.