east texas

besides not seeing many deer, why do a lot of hunters not like to hunt in East Texas?

too many hunters, people shoot the first horned then they see (why they have AR's now) too many hunters, small deer, lack of good leases, leases typically are small, too many hunters

I understand about the "first horned deer" seen and that may change with the AR's, but many locals will have to be busted for that to change. I don't agree an the small deer aspect, because I also hunt in Brady Texas and the deer there seem smaller unless are managed and high fenced. The parks and wildlife did a study and found out that east Texas was the best place to manage deer. The amount of rain fall, vegetaion, cover and land prices were at the top of the list. Do you think a properly managed high fenced lease in East texas could grow as "big" deer as they do in the south?

Small leases? I have hunted east Texas all my live and have never seen a lease under 3,000 acres. Now a wast Texas might seem small with 40 to 45 hunters on a lease. I do agree with guys killing anything that moves. But what i do like about east Texas is what you pay for a lease. I am on a 13,000 acre lease and im only paying 650$ a family year round.
James

I have never hunted east Texas but I always read on here about small deer, the poachers, things like that. I would like to hunt there some day for a change of pace. Seems like the prices are reasonable.

+1

I don't like hunting in pine trees. I like mesquites personally. Plus bigfoot doesn't live out west.

I'd venture to say that the deer are just as big or even bigger in East Texas.. Finding them is a bit tough though.

So much of the area is timber company land and ppl don't have as much say as to what goes on. One year they have a great stand, the next year it has been clearcut. Have tried hunting the hill country and brush country and it's just not my cup of tea. Love me some pine trees!

And that's especially true after the intitial two or three weeks of the season. Once December rolls around, you're better off hunting during the middle of week when the deer just seem to know most of the hunters are gone.

Hunting really sux in NE Texas. You metro mess guys should stay out west and south of here. Would hate for yall to waste your time in east texas. Like I said the hunting is terrible around these parts;)

I was gonna say the same thing!

x2 i enjoy the scenery alot more than when hunting out west and south. i dunno what it i but i really enjoy hunting east texas.



cant beat it for the money either, i pay 600 to hunt on 14000 acres

we hunted about 1/2 way between Newton and Orange for generations. We would sometimes go an entire season and never see a deer while on the stand. We had such a good time, we never knew the hunting sucked.

The Timber is sort of a constant deal. The clear cut it, then for several years the trees are just the right height that you can't see anything. You aren't allowed to make shooting lanes. Sometimes the "beetles" would get trees in a spoke pattern from the stand... Then after 10 years they would come cut every 3rd row and clear out the underbrush and it was good again - until the next clear-cut.

Probably the biggest deal is the high number of "outlaws" in that part of the state.

I have hunted south Texas for 16 years @ Del Rio.I also have owned land in east Texas for 30 years(pine tree farm).I started hunting south Texas because east Texas didn't have many deer and very small racks.It has been a major turn around in the last 3 years.I don't know what has happened but I have been thinking of dropping my south Texas lease and hunting east full time.I have had 12 deer at my feeder at one time(et).My 11 point buck I shot last year was bigger than my 10 point in south Texas.That is all I have to say.Good Luck to everyone,wherever you hunt.

AR's or new neighbors?

You can say what you want about east Texas but there is some great hunting over there!
I own a little over a hundred acres and have year round great hog hunting and have taken some nice bucks too! Last year I took a P&Y buck and am seeing some this year as well! Just have not had the chance to stick one of them yet.

www.buckandbassranch.com

Both.Great question.New neighbors,less shooting.

I live and hunt east texas. I can't get used to hunting in wide open areas, love me some heavy timber. Its perfect for my mathews!!

how many hunters are on that 13k acre place? i've seen deals like that, for $600 or $700 dollars but there are 150 hunters on it and they only get to put up one stand. if you break it down like that then you really don't have a 13k acre lease.


I hunted in east texas for about 6 years, we had two places in walker county, one was 100 acres of straight timber west of 45 and the other was close to riverside off hwy 19. the riverside place was 600 acres.

the hunting on the timber place was pretty bad, sometimes you would see a few does, sometimes nothing. I hunted there for 2 years and didn't see a buck. when we got the other place, we had pretty good hunting. every time you sat you saw 5-10 deer, most of the time you got to see a buck. Had no problem killing deer there, and we always saw decent bucks for east texas. my dad killed a mainframe 8 with two 3 in stickers that scored 135. I consider that place execptional for east texas. about a 60/40 mix of hardwoods to pines.

Can you grow big deer in east texas? sure, especially with a high fence and a good amount of land. The genetics are certainly there. But Imo, and i'm sure most hunters outside of east texas would agree, that the truly big deer are comming out of and will continue to come out of south texas and the panhandle.

A main contributing factor is the "git mine while I can" attitude. The shoot the first decent buck I see so the neighbor don't get him scenario is pretty prevalent in east texas and the gulf coast prarie

technically you can you just have to do it the way the timber company says you can in the rules. that dont mean you cant have "lightning" strike you some nice shooting lanes.

I love East Texas hunting and will more than likely always hunt in East Texas. This is probably due to the fact that I cannot afford to hunt anywhere else and probably never will.

heck yeah... or as soon as a place gets cut, get with the company's head forester for the region about pushing foodplots along the SMZs.

What I have grown to like about hunting East Texas is, a lot of times you have to actually hunt to find a deer, unlike a lot of places in South Texas where all you do is wait for the one you want to shoot. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a South Texas hunting hatah, in fact if I could afford it, I would probably be on a South Texas lease. I did just get an invite from a buddy of mine to go hunt on his place in Guadelupe County this season! Looking forward to that!

we are running about 45 to 50 hunters on the section i hunt witch is 13,000 acres. The lease is just over 36,000 acres over 3 different county's with around 150 or so hunters. I am on a really nice lease and have been it for 2 years now seen lots of deer and seen some real nice bucks killed

Yes there are some big paper company spots but you see a lot of 150 or 200 acre spots advertising and average of 1 hunter for 50 acres and the deer population there seldom seems to support that kind of harvest potential. Yes the landowner or lease manager will tell you that it is safe because it is so thick or old Bob hardly ever hunts any more any how he is just there for camp but I like to keep it around 100 acres per gun or better and east Texas leases don't seem to be that way.

And BTW, I've hunted public hunting in east Texas and killed deer each year but it was scary with the # of other hunters around.

most of the timber company leases stick to a 200acre/hunter minimum. Where we hunt isn't south texas, but we do great on not having to work for decent deer and see plenty.

We own our land outside of jefferson witch backs up to a papermills property and we have no problem seeing deer,hogs and whatever else on it, we are only their a few times a year so not much hunting presure from us.

guadalupe county is not south texas....

50 hunters on 13k acres comes out to 260 acres per hunter....not as bad as i've seen in the past.

but can you travel over the whole 13k or is it sectioned off per hunter?

also, 50 people is alot to keep track of if you can

If anyone cares to see just what kind of deer east Texas holds check out www.texasbiggameawards.com, regions 5 (NE) and 6 (SE). I'll pay my money and take my chances on our lease all day long.

everyone uses the same "camp" usually. all deer on the large mld leases, which most are in my area have log out books where all deer are logged out. so no problems there a far as keeping track of deer killed.

Well it's a hell of a lot farther south than where I hunt.

I live here, have hunted here, and do not like it due to several things...
1. its thick
2. A lot of small tracts, lots of hunters
3. Its too close to home, I like to go see the beauty of Texas
4. Weather, not that the rest of the State is much better, but it is generally more humid, more mosquitoes, and warmer
5. Lots of Poaching/thieves, I know they are everwhere, but the only time i ever had something stolen was here

thats my reason.

When it comes to east texas you really have to do your homework. Its not that the deer are smaller, they just dont get a chance to grow up. With proper management and the right amount of acreage east texas can be as good as anywhere. We have been manging the same 2400 acres for 15 years and our bucks dress from 140-165 pounds and there are 3-4 130-150's brought in every year. This year we are getting our first taste of poachers. I gotta say if this was going on from the begining we probably never would have kept this lease. We just recently found the chains on all four gates to our property cut and corn in places that no one hunts. What these a$$ holes dont understand is that we all 11 members work shift work and there is always some one up there. They'll get caught sooner or later.

My east Texas lease is 1,300 acres, give or take, with 12 guys and everyone is assigned an area of approximately 100 acres. We can have 1 "tower" blind and however many tripods/lean-to's/climbers you care to worry about but generally no one hunts more than 2 stands. I am blessed in that a good friend of mine runs the place and everyone is very gentlemanly and courteous about stand placement (those that were not are no longer on the place).

Plus, our lease, and all of the leases directly and indirectly adjoining us, are overseen by some professional wildlife management group and their regional rep. is very good about getting any issues nipped in the bud.

A buddy of mine hunts outside of Cleveland on a 6,000 acre place with 60 guns on it. That breaks down to 100 acres per person as well but these guys can put up blinds anywhere they want to. He told me there are blinds every 100 yards or so. To me, that is the stereotypical "lets get chit-faced and shoot everything we see" east TX beer lease and 100x more dangerous than hunting the way our lease is structured.

we are allowed two main stands that have to be at least 600 yards away from all other stands. We have lucky too most everyone on our lease is family so there really hasnt been any trouble. The guys on the leases you speak of really piss me off. When are they going to understand its not about the killing, its about the hunting. And maybe a little drinkin sometimes

My favorite little hunting spot in east texas is 2 ppl hunting on 300 acres. There are 4 stands set-up, but we only pick out 1 buck to shoot (possibly 2 if we have a 2.5 yr old spike) and after that one gets shot, we vacate the premises and start hunting our other places. Having other options helps grow some really nice deer.

you can put your 2 stands were you want you are not sectioned off you hunt were you want just have to be 300 yrds from anyone.
what you do find in east Texas is that everyone hunts on pipelines roads any were that is open. so there is a ton of the lease that's not being hunted. But if you are welling to get in the woods and clear out a fire lane you can get back there by yourself. I have hunted in the hill country and loved it but for the money you cant bet east Texas

i live in NE texas and have all my live , and will be the first to tell you the deer hunting is rough you work for your deer. i have hunted south and west texas but cannot afford a year round lease in that area and enjoy being able to hunt a lot the benfit of haveing hunting spot only a few miles from my home , that said i am just as pround of a 3 and a half year old 9 point with a sixteen spread here as i would be a much bigger deer elsewere , as i said you work for them here. also the AR are helping us grow better deer i think in the next few years the deer comeing out of east texas will keep getting better , good hunting to all were ever you hunt have a good season folks

I hunted in trinity county for the past 2 years on 500 acres with 7 members and big bucks are hard to come by. Our lease is surounded by 3 other leases that have several thousand acres and its the same thing for them but every now and then someone kills a big buck but not every year,just not enough bucks to go around down here. 2007 was our first season on the lease this year will be are third hopefully third times a charm. The deer lease we had in walker county for 20+ years we lost due to the timber company that owned the land did not want hunters there anymore and the price per acre went way up in 2007 and is still going up. The lease we have now is owned by a logging company too. Does anybody else have this problem with timber companys owning the land you hunt on which severly limits what you can do with the land?

most timber companies will limit what you can do.... if it is a well established club, then they leave it up to the BODs to run things on the straight and narrow.

Ya our price in walker county has went way up over the last two years. we went from paying 900 to 1375. But i would gladly pay over two thousand for the deer we have on this place. And ya we hunt roads and pipelines. I bought a tractor this last spring and now i have a beautiful 300 yard lane in the woods. I saw six bucks there in three hunts last week including a 20 inch three year old nine point that will be a great buck in two years and i rattled in a couple of little four and six points. I couldn't stand hunting out on the roads. Its not all bad the president of our lease shot a 157 inch 13 point (only a four year old) last weekend chasing does through a clear cut. All the bucks we have ever killed on this lease have been 4 or 5 year olds. I guess the old boys learn to leave those roads and pipelines alone.
If you are going to manage east texas properly dont expect to get a buck every year. We are only allowed 4 quality bucks a year for 11 members plus all the kids that hunt. You would think that wouldnt work but at our lease you have to shoulder mount what you shoot so we are pretty selective. We also get 6 cull bucks a year with an option for more and there are a ton of hogs and all the does we have to shoot so there is plenty to keep you busy. I guess that sounds bad but thats why they call it hunting.
We bring all the mounts from past years up the first weekend every november. Ill post some pics after that weekend.

Ya'll are a bunch of lucky guys to have a place like that keep up the good work. Can't wait to see those pics!

Probably because it involves a little work & effort, unlike West Texas; normally the thick East Texas woods conceal the deer. I've hunted out west, south texas and central Texas and for the most part the range is open enough to see deer moving over 100yrds away. In east texas depending on the brush they can be 30yrds away and you'll never see them. I've hunted east texas all my life and enjoy it; I might not see alot of deer but the ones I do see and the ones I am able to shoot are usually well worth the time and effort, scouting and figuring out where to set up a stand. Plus I like hunting thick cover which is where the big buck normally range, its where they feel safe and comfortable(outside the rut).

I dont understand how a hunter would not like east texas hunting we make a game of it at my place we try to see how close we can get the deer to us before we take a shot we have right at 700 acres and any six or below walks i will say i wasnt to impressed with the racks at first was spoiled hunting over in sanora for a couple of years but now after managing this place for five years you get to see plenty of realy nice bucks and they arent scared to death if you get winded they dont run off they simply turn and disapeer in the woods.