Estelline / Hall County inquiry

Have the opportunity to hunt on some land southeast of Estelline in Hall County / Childress county line and wanted to see if anyone would be willing to share any info about this area. Just mule deer or is there whitetail mixed in / deer density / buck quality etc.

Thank you for everyone's help !

We hunted about 3 miles north of Estilene for years. Mule deer and big white tails.
But we were on the river.

Depends on the terrain you have. If you have river bottom mesquite flat terrain the Whitetails will be there.

Mule deer if you have bowl canyon cedar break type country.

Like Pitchfork said it will be depend on your terrain and wheat fields in the area. I'm 30 miles west of there just East of Turkey. We have about 50/50 WT/MD and too many hogs with big canyons, mesquites flats, and CRP fields. Problem has been this year we did not have any wheat fields planted and biggest deer seen were on other properties with the wheat. 4-6 yr old class is way down due to past drought years but lots of 2-3 yr olds so next few years look very promising.

Like Pitchfork said it will be depend on your terrain and wheat fields in the area. I'm 30 miles west of there. We have about 50/50 WT/MD and too many hogs with big canyons, mesquites flats, and CRP fields. Problem has been this year we did not have any wheat fields planted and biggest deer seen were on other properties with the wheat. 4-6 yr old class is way down due to past drought years but lots of 2-3 yr olds so next few years look very promising.

Thanks guys - I appreciate the info.

And another general question about mule deer. Do they come to corn feeders and protein ?

No wheat or food plots around me

WE had some coming to feeders in Randall county years ago but not like whitetail do. Had better luck with Alfalfa hay.

If they are raised by their mother around feeders they will visit them regularly. I've observed this in areas that are more dominated by mule deer. Especially protein feed.

You are better off hunting around a good water source. This attracts mature mule deer bucks more than anything else IME. Wheat fields work well, but they are usually a whole bunch of does and immature bucks in them.

Mule deer migrate in large circles several miles in diameter. They do not hold in core areas like Whitetails. The does will stay put in an area that they know has browse and water while they raise ther fawns. Once they get them off the milk and a few months along they get back to migration.

IME you are best off identifying areas they like through observing with good glass and sign. Once you find these areas rotate from one to the other taking a lot of time glassing before you move. Sometimes they will be "in town" sometimes they won't be.

We're 20 miles south/southwest of Estelline in Motley county and this pretty much describes our lease minus any CRP. This was our first year on the place and I'm told that they normally plant the big field across the county road to the north in wheat but there wasn't any planted there this year. Future looks good though.

echo Pitchfork again about MD migrations, they move and its just about being out there at the right time with lots of slow glassing, but I still feed corn year round (hard to get them on protein in that area)to keep MD does around as much as possible. This past season I had numerous MD does each day at feeders with some regular immature MD bucks. At least those immature MD bucks know where the feeder is, learning to come to it and perhaps in years to come they will visit it when mature when passing through. Water is key and while the last couple of years have been wet with water holding in low spots, that is not the norm. We have WT too so will keep the corn throwing and looking to add some protein feeders with panels around them this spring.

Good info all. Thanks again.