Mills County

Anyone interested in doing a Mills County post like a couple years ago?

I hunted Mills again last year in Mullin after being in Priddy in 2012=2014.
Took a decent 10 last year, hoping for a better year this year.

Preggo doe

You just reminded me I need to go put out my cameras while I’m here. We really need rain or it’s going to be a below-avg year. I have seen several does with new fawns this trip.

Im headed down next Friday. We got some good rain early, but 3 weeks ago the ponds were down 3-4 feet

I remember. Only things is I'm not hunting Mills or any other lease this year. Maybe next year...

Old, old buck you got there. Look at the callouses on his knees. Good luck this season.

I just saw this post. I started another mills county post. I was wondering from guys that hunt that area how are the deer numbers and size down there. We are going today to look and possibly sign a lease just west and north of Goldthwaite. Any info helps!

I would expect you to have good numbers but some of that will depend on hunting pressure and cover. We're southeast of town and we're covered up. Antlers will be smaller this year with the dry conditions but most mature bucks will go 120-130 with the lucky hunter seeing something above 140. Does will dress in the 55-70 range, mature bucks mostly in the 100-125lb range depending on food. There have been some that break 150lbs living near ag fields or protein feeders their whole lives. If you hunt feeders and have acorns, a good thing to do is use road corn if they stop coming to the feeders. Good luck!

Been hunting the family ranch for about 10 years now in mills county. Need some rain in out next of the woods.

ive hunted in mills county for several years. i hunt in mullin have taken some good bucks 120 to 130 class i try to reframe from shooting does. have got some pictures on good bucks from last year. me and people next to me protein feed and corn also.

Neighbors have a ranch just west of Cranfills Gap, there are pretty good deer numbers there and very little hunting pressure.

On his last leg....

YOU HEARD ANYTHING ON THE FIRE IN GOLDTHWAITE YESTERDAY? I HAVE A RANCH ABOUT 6 MILES WEST ON 574 LOTS OF SMOKE. THEY GOT IT OUT JUST NOT SURE HOW IT STARTED.

The fire was started by lightening.

My family and I hunt near Caradan on FM 575. We feed protein or corn year round and have an oat field. I’ve got 5-6 bucks frequenting protein every night. 3 are easily legal, one is a solid 10, and another is looking to be about an 18” wide 9 point. I run cellular camera(s) and batteries died a week ago, thanks to 50-75 photos a night and 30-40 photos a day in daylight. I’m just waiting for the season to start and all my regular bucks vanish and a new set will venture in. Happens every year. Had a very young 12 point on camera last year every day until the last week of October...and then never seen again except by a local rancher who spotted him in December in another pasture.

We’ve had the place for 11 years now. Biggest buck killed was a 146” 10 point. We’ve had some 8 points flirting with 130”. I don’t weigh my deer after kill so I can’t speak for live weights. Not uncommon to see 30-40 deer per hunt thanks to our oat field. About 15 acres of it is not grazed by livestock for hunting purposes only. There’s about 40 more acres that are grazed.

Bring on the rain and dang it I don’t like our new western horizon objects, wind mills. Those blinking red lights at night sure do mess up the feel of being in the “country.”

Went two weeks ago, it's dry and tanks are shrinking. Im going through 500lbs of protein in 3 weeks

Very dry in Mills County from what I saw today. Tanks were empty at the lease. Unfortunately, this was my last trip to the lease. Guy in charge told me today I was no longer needed. Said he was going to bring his daughter and someone else to take my spot, and my Dads. It was a good three years, but it’s all over now.

That's rough. Had you already paid for this year?

I'm in for the thread....I'll post some pictures in a few weeks after the trail cameras run for a while.

Another big fire in mills county. Right off bull run road and hwy 183.

No I hadn’t paid yet.

Somebody welding cross-braces was what I was told.

Thats what I heard as well.

Which direction from Goldwaite?

SW of town. There was another one out near Star too.

The Star fire appeared to have started next to Hwy 84 north side so likely a cig butt. I think the drought index map is a little off for Mills. IMO, this is worse than 2011. We've only had 9" for the year. It's not looking good.

I know the land owner where we use to hunt is pretty worried about the lack of rain. He said he thought it was worse than 2011 too.

There was a big fire on fm2005 yesterday that burned over 1500 acres. I heard that fire jumped hwy 84. Also they have a big fire in zephyr thats still burning as of right now.

Not sure how much rain we've gotten this year, but three weeks ago the pasture was brown. Smallest tank is mud.
The Zephyr fire was about 6 miles away on the other side of 183.
Land owner was going to sell off all but 8 cows last week

Report of another fire in between Zephyr and Mullin right on the Mills County line. Fire trucks are constantly passing my work.

Extremely dry at our place near Caradan. The deer ate 1000 lbs of protein in 5 weeks. Within an 45 minutes of filling the feeder today, the deer were coming in again. We need rain and soon.

Here's a few we've seen so far in Mills...I posted on Photos but figured I'd try to keep this thread going...I'll have some more after this weekend.

Thanks for the reminder to put my cameras out this weekend when I'm there.

Saw lots of does this weekend without fawns.

I went through close to 10,000 photos, saw maybe 6-8 different fawns. That’s it. Saw as many as 9 does in one photo with no fawns.

Went down to our place to construct some last minute blinds, and as it poured most of the weekend (big thanks to the Man upstairs), had some time to check three of our cameras. After reading a few post, you guys had me worried about the fawn crop. Fortunately, we had several pics of fawns with moms, and saw quite a few while driving around. We feed protein throughout most of the year, and have a ton of water on our place. I think this has helped with our fawns.

As for the bucks, I saw a few that I'm excited about. The next couple of years should be fun watching these boys and their brothers grow up

Nice junk around the bases.

Too late for antlers, but most of the county got 4-7" of rain this past week. Can only help going forward, thank you Lord.

I was beyond happy to get the rain, as our place was looking like it could burn down at any second.

TxHunter65, that pic of the buck laying down is pretty cool. Don't see that a lot on camera, or at least we don't. I've been trying to find this picture we took of a fawn nursing, but I can't seem to locate it anywhere.

I am 8ish miles west of Mills/Brown County line - can I still play?

Numbers look good, but need to pull photos to see how bucks are progressing. Rain was a blessing! We got just shy of 4" over the last week. Greatly needed - I was afraid to do anything that might cause a spark.

Thanks Lane, If you look real hard under his jaw on the other side...he's got some cactus spins and its swollen pretty good you can see the lump under his chin.

I see it! I missed it the first time. I know he probably won't whine too much, but man that has to hurt.