Just heard how many tags we will get this year and its a total of 10 6 does, 4 bucks, we have more hunters on the lease then that. does anyone know if I call the department up and ask for a few more will it happen or is this it for this year?

That's something that you'll probably need to tackle with the landowner and biologist. TPWD only issues tags based off of the info provided by the biologist and signed off by the landowner.

Sounds to me like y'all got too many hunters.

also if anyone has a good idea how to give them out so everyone has a fair chance to hunt,we have 15 hunters

MLDP is not based on hunter numbers but deer numbers. Your ranch surveys showed that is all that could be taken this year. Was this a full issuance or partial?

How many acres? Deer density? How many years MLD?

Well 5 hunters will not get to shoot a deer. So you need to decide which 10 of the 15 hunters can draw a tag. Then put all 10 tags in a hat and those lucky 10 get to draw a tag to see if they get a buck or a doe.

How many acres are y'all hunting?

We never have enough buck tags for every hunter on our place but we have never even used the number that are issued. Only fair way to do it when there are not enough tags is to say first come first served I guess. We tried doing a drawing for tags one year and if you didn't use it the 2 weeks you had it then we would do another draw. It was a pain for us to do it that way so now it's just whoever kills first gets the tags. When the tags run out that's just it.

Don't think first come first served will work if 5 hunters all killed a buck the same morning you would be in violation of the MLD. Sounds like to me you have to many hunters on that lease to support the deer numbers you have. If the permits issued has always been less than the hunters I would think it is time to consider cutting the number of hunters back if at all possible.

its based on spotlight census along with camera survey which said its a deer per 14 acres. total acrage is 18,260 but our lease is just a small part of that total number.

this will be our 2nd year MLD

full issuance or partial how do i tell that?

and telling 5 hunters who have already paid they cant hunt this year i dont think will work out to well i think first come first serve will probably have to be it but when you did that if we have all 15 their one day do we say only so and so can shoot in the morning and if we have any permits left the rest can shoot later or what?

last year they only gave us doe permits the bucks we didnt need a permit for so its never been a problem

hmmm... with that low of numbers, I'd look into bumpin the age minimum on the bucks way up and failing miserably in the effort to meet the doe quota.

That's the crux of being MLDP with so many hunters. How many acres of that 18,260 are the 15 guys on? Seems to be something that would have been brought up when they decided to go on MLDP.

The recommended harvest for the 2011-2012 seasons is a minimum of 90 bucks and 150
does and a maximum of 120 bucks and 180 does. This is an increase from last year and
is based on more accurate data on the spotlight census along with a camera survey which
averaged to a deer per 14 acres which is over the desired population density of the
property. This harvest plan is designed to reduce deer numbers to try to reach the
management goals of the property.
Members will be required to meet the minimum antlerless harvest, and are encouraged to
reach the maximum. In order to maintain the buck:doe ratio, an equal number of bucks
and does should be harvested.


this is what it said if that helps

i did not know that it was for bucks too last year when we were on it we only needed permits for the does

I guess you can spin it any way you like but what are the odds of 5 MLD quality bucks being killed on the same morning? When you have more hunters than tags that's about all you can do. We don't cut our hunters down because we are issued 5 "trophy" tags per year and the most bucks killed in a season was 2. I have not killed a buck on this lease since 2004. Plus, every hunter on our lease knows when someone pulls the trigger. All it takes is a blanket text message saying you shot one and you don't have to worry about going over your limit.

So if you have 300 permits on 18,000, that is a deer per 60 acres that should be harvested. Do you have 15 guys on 600 acres? That is way too much because this is how the #'s calculate to. That is 1 hunter per 40 acres.

its hard to tell you how our land lay out is because it isn’t all together there are so many acres in one area with another so may acres in another all in all i believe it is cut up in 3 different sections close to each other but not attached if that makes sense

First come first served has worked fine for us for several years now. The main thing is to let all you hunters know how it works before the season even starts. Don't want any hard feelings later on.

From what I gather from your numbers they are giving a buck permit for every 152 acres max. That means your group of 15 hunters is only hunting around 600 acres with 4 buck permits of the total of 18,260 acres.
What I mean by partial issuance is that they issue only part of the permits now and then after season starts they re-evaluate the numbers of deer you are seeing on the hunts, the trail cameras or doing more surveys. The permits you are issued now might be based off of the low harvest quota of 90 bucks and 150 doe. If they feel the need to issue more because numbers dictate to remove more then they can come back and do a final issuance of more tags to get to the 120 bucks and 180 does.

Is this part of brushy creek?

What level are you on in the MLD program? I only know about level 3 and you only use the state permits and not your own. If you use your hunting license tags, you would be breaking the law.FYI

The lease I am on i East Texas has been under MLD3 for several years. With just over 7,400 acres we traditionaly are allowed 35 bucks a year over the years give or take a few from year to year. With the restrictions we have the most we have ever taken in a year was 25. Yes we had a ton of Biachin so we talked them into giving us a permit for each member to carry, but would close the season on bucks if we reached the 30 or 35 drop dead number. The best way to handle it though is put the number issued in a box and first come first served. If you are serious about management and have your restrictions where they should be then there will not be a problem. Especially this year as dry as it is. It you have an age restriction that could overide antler score or width then you may want to bump the min age up to 4 1/2 this year.

sounds like they gave you guys the short end of the allocation.
i would talk to your landowner about reallocation to at least 15.

he has to distribute the tags and obviously is not giving you all of them. may be a fair amount per acreage, but not if he knowingly leased to 15 landowners.

I don't understand signing on and paying for a lease where you may not even get a deer tag, much less a buck tag. I'd be infuriated. Hope you get it worked out.

I think first come first served it the way to go as long as the hunters understand that ONLY mature bucks are to be harvested. If that's not made clear then you may have a guy shoot a 3 or 4 year old BIG buck just because he knows he may not have the chance to shoot a buck later.

Also sounds to me like you have too many hunters on the acres that you are alotted.

I also am curious how many acres you guys are on. I understand that the way the land is laid out you may have room to spread out, but that still doesn't mean that you don't have too many guys on the property.

Not trying to be a jerk but If you're really management concious, then you (or the landowner or whoever decides the number of hunters) need to think about reducing the number of hunters.