LBJ Grasslands

Does anyone know if you have to have a permit to deer hunt out there???

All you need is a hunting license. Read up on the rules out there and get a map from the office.

You can hunt with Bow, Shotgun, and muzzleloader... I read something the other day that a public hunting permeit is required now.. I will see if I can find it..

Tons of deer there.. seen alot of BIG deer taken out there

I cant seem to find that link but here is the office number ..best bet is to call them..

Caddo/LBJ National Grasslands
1400 US HWY 81/287
P.O. Box 507
Decatur, Texas 76234
(940) 627-5475

TADRA point is an awesome spot to hunt

At one time you needed a doe permit.

Called today and all you need is your hunting license.
Thanks

I love that area.

great place to camp and hunt

thick woods for sure

i have hunted/camped on 1655 near alvord for the past 12 years i love camping in the pines

Be careful out there, LOTS of idiots!!! At least on the "lakes"

I was thinking of going out there myself this year. I always had private land to hunt on as a kid. I just took the hunter education course and there was someone that told me you had to have a permit to hunt public land. This is the link for the Annual Public Hunting Permit. I could be wrong...the guy above said he called and I haven't called to confirm anything. Would just hate to get out there and get fined without it.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/public/annual_public_hunting/

Another link explaining the requirement for this permit to hunt deer. But, it does not list the LBJ Grasslands so I am assuming you don't need.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/texas/recreation/hunting

BIL was out there recently and said there is quite a bit of game activity out there. Saw quite a few turkey and deer(bunch of doe and several bucks).

There is all types of public land in Texas...You only have to have the $48.00 permit to hunt hunt Type 2/WMA land. The national forest & grassland are usually free and don't require a permit except for those areas leased by TPWD that are now WMA's like Caddo ntl grasslands, Ham Houston ntl forest, and parts of Davy Crockett (Alazan Bayou WMA), Angelina Ntl forest (Bannister WMA) and Sabine Ntl forest (Moore Plantation WMA).

All other parts of those last 3 national forest listed and all of the LBJ grasslands are free to hunt. There are also a lot of COE lands that is free like the areas around lakes Whitney and Aquilla (free permit) and all over east TX.

I killed my best turkey to date up in the LBJ grasslands....

Just be prepared to weather the flood of hunters you will know doubt be hunting with. In all seriousnessthe only time I would hunt lbj is during the week. Also keep in mind if you are deer hunting, ANY pond or laqke up there is gonna have duckhunters. Definately be safe and where hunter orange. I'm not trying to scare you off of hunting up there but when gun deer season opens its a zoo on the weekends.

We've hunted out there the last few years on one of the areas away from the "main" areas. Not to crowded at all. Just have to pick your area and get there early. If there were people there we would communicate before we all went out so we would know where everyone was. Lots of deer. Usually they have a week or weekend where you can take a doe. Other than that it's buck only. Only problem I had was finding a "legal" buck.

Do you guys think LBJ or Caddo Nat'l Grasslands is a better place for deer? I know they are close together, so I guess maybe they have similar deer (and hunter) populations.

LBJ, stay away from the lakes.

I have hunted there many times and seen few hunters. There is so much land there that you can get away from everyone else and not to many hunt it on Sundays.

From my experience the lbj and caddo are not close. You might want to look at a big map

Hey bud the lbj grasslands in alvord and decatur u don't have to have a permit I've Ben hunting there for years and I asked game Worden and they say u don't have to

Theirs more land open ta the public than what i knew about. Not every one can aford the rising prices of leasing.

Pick and choose your spots, have seen some interesting things there.

He probably figured that out. He posted his question in 2012.

good catch. i have bad habbit of seeing new post & didnt catch whin origional post started. Ya dont get much feed back bout Public Land. i started posting about hog hunts. Given invites.

It was one of my sharper moments, Colt. lol I usually just jump in the middle of a thread too.

Quick question, Shotgun only? On a smoothbore are you using slugs or Buckshot?

Mister Sir, you should probably call the district office at (940)-627-5475. They are very helpful folks. It is shotgun, muzzleloader and bow only, but I'm not sure about the type of shot that is allowed.

Agree with Choctaw. Call the district office at 940-627-5475 as there are no easily accessed published rules for legal/non-legal weapons.

Been hunting the LBJ since 2003 and realized with your Q that I don't know where I found the "rules" for legal/non-legal weapons. During my phone call today to the District Office my first Q was what are the legal weapons. I told him of my attempts to locate published weapons rules for hunting on the LBJ, finding only a vague ruling of, essentially, "know the rules". After several minutes of chatting the gentleman responded with archery, blackpowder, and shotguns with birdshot/buckshot/slugs. When asked what he was referring to to finally answer the question he said it was a cheat sheet to answer Q's on the phone.

I am not posting this to denigrate this gentleman or the LBJ District office, rather to encourage you and others to contact the District Office to let them know that the rules are not currently published in an easily accessible location/format to the general public, and that the rules NEED to be published in a location/format that is easily accessed by the general public.

Call the LBJ National Grassland District Office in Decatur at 940-627-5475.

They banned centerfire rifles on LBJ sometime in the early-mid 80's. Before that it was like the wild west,and front-page news if someone even saw a deer out there! Since then the deer herd has come back strong. Be fine with me if they went to archery only out there.

Yeah, the militia freaks were showing up in camo and having field exercises. There use to be an area set aside where you could safely shoot centerfire rifles and pistols, but the militia killed that.

How bout a list of harvest from lbj
Courious how good everyone has done over the years
Me
Hunted there 2008,2009,2013,2014
One doe in 2009
Missed 2 in 2014 bow season

So I am trying to figure out the layout of a few of the areas and the maps are... less then helpful. I was hoping maybe someone had a map that had like an overlay of the areas that are huntable, or maybe just one that will help me be able to determine the area boundaries

I read http://www.fs.usda.gov/texas/ and it looks like its just the roads that are closed and some sections of trails. If I am misinformed please correct me. Last thing I want is to get a ticket or something because of a simple misunderstanding.

While never hunted LBJ or the Grasslands... whin the WMA opened up just down the road, started hunting public land, gave up lease... One i hunt ya have ta have the $48.00n permit it used ta be $40.00... Its archery only deer hunts.. Well worth the money compaired ta leasing prices... They do have deer Draw hunts with center-fire... Have small area by house with creek, food plot & feeders if want to take a deer... Its been a 1buck county for years, recently went 4 deer county, every one one leases kid about shooting Bambi, ones i hunted on leases with, were all lower income, & family.. So hunting was en & chillen... Seen on this form were some say big bucks cant grow old on LF... have seen plenty of deer that reach the old age years... Any way, have enjoyed my archery hunts at WMA while was able too, & have spent way more hours purched in my climber, even whin could have been in my deer stand wiith feeders with my .270 .... Usualy huntsolo & after the hunt always nice ta share the memories with fellow hunters after the hunt... Ta some its not about culling, rather en & chillen while spending time wondering about the woods... Good thread....

Call them and ask, their number is posted at the bottom of the page, it's the only way to get up to the minute information.

Get the map from the field office in decatuer its like $10. It will help a lot. Once you have the map then use google earth and you can actually get some of he scouting done that way instead of all the foot work. But there is still a lot of foot work involved.

Footwork proof tis in the pudding, pudding one foot in front of the other... Weather using maps from booklet, then going ta google maps, i used topoUSA... Maps are just pictures, & pictures dont show were the hogs are... i use GPS & take pen & carry pocket not pad & write down cordenance of rubs & bedding, both hog & dear, scrapes, sighting of the hogs & deer seen.. Have put videos & pics of hogs taken, off WMA land, & have cordemances of were taken.. Trick is being in right place at right time.. Presure will move hogs around.. Got two videos made while piddling in woods cause person was coming from DFW area ta hunt, first time snuck up on hogs sleeping, day two later, videoed hogs going threw switch cain & bedded right in front of me... Think same group.. when person made it, we were on hogs twice.... Best wishes

I’m resurrecting this post on purpose

I was considering lake Caddo this year but think I’m doing LBJ instead. Used On X to find some promising places and will be there Monday to do some “minimally Invasive” scouting. More I’ve looked, the more excited I’ve gotten. Appear to be some places one could really get out away from the crowds. Would love to hear successes or failures you’ve had out there. I plan to be there with my bow opening day of archery.

Boy a lot has changed I bet. There is a lbj hunting facebook group now, and seems like a lot more people are aware of lbj grasslands. Plus DFW has grown a lot since 2015, so i'd expect a lot more people out there hunting than in the past.
You and everybody else, i'd come up with a strategy to take advantage of people pushing deer around.

Agreed! That and I will be walking in a great distance. Hoping that helps as well!

There's only a few places you can get more than a mile or so from a road. There are some good places. Last year I hunted 150 yards from my truck and saw deer every sit. Passed on a doe with two yearlings. The buck on camera never came close. I would plan on others being in those out of the way places. I wouldn't give up on those, just keep in mind how other hunter activity will affect deer patterns. Also, keep in mind wind. Some of those places are best on a certain wind with low probability.

Good luck

I hunted caddo grasslands during archery a few years ago. Almost no other hunters there on the weekend. I took a nice doe. Be prepared to drag a ways. I never hunted rifle, but I would expect that to be a nightmare.

They are on opposite sides of the state. Well not quite but in different regions.

Unless rules have changed (which I don't see), you can't hunt LBJ with a rifle. This is my first year getting out to LBJ for deer, significantly more people than I expected given my other experiences out there. Everyone I ran into were all very pleasant though.



My suggestion: Get in early. I passed 1 or 2 stands / pop ups / ground blinds every time I was heading to my desired locations. I was heading in plenty early so I never saw anyone in them, but it goes to show just how busy it can get out there!


Did you have any luck opening weekend?

Not a thing was moving opening weekend. Hot hot hot! Never even saw a squirrel

A couple of really nice bucks have been killed by bow hunters at LBJ this year. Shotgun/muzzleloader season opens this weekend and it will probably look like a pumpkin patch with all the orange coats bobbing around out there.

The only time I was "alone" on a unit two weekends ago was Sunday morning, and that's because two guys saw me getting out of my car to go in and choose to turn around! I'm borderline afraid to go out there during shotgun season, and I didn't find any good buck sign. I'll probably find something "nearby" that is archery only for the rest of the season.