Hello all. Thanks for the add. I am slowly making my way through the forum and checking out a bunch of the old posts.

My wife and I are doing our retirement planning and part of that is looking at where we want a winter home when we do the snow bird thing from Alaska. There are only so many -40 and -50 degree cold snaps we can handle. We are looking for something in East Texas, and in the next several years will be making several trips to check out places and start the process of looking for land to buy and eventually build on. One of our biggest wants is a place 100+ acres that we can hunt deer, dove, hogs, and hopefully turkey's on. Ducks would be a bonus, but not a deal breaker. With all that in mind, what I am hoping folks here can help with is suggestions for areas or counties to look at, hunting pages like this one I should start looking at, and any suggestions for land realtors to start checking out. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.

-TJ

I’ve lived 30 minutes north of DFW my entire life but don’t know a lot about east Tx

Should my area be of any interest I’d be glad to give some advice.

Good luck

Turkey may be a little tough in east Texas but everything else looks easily doable. How remote or close to a big town do you want to be? Closer to the coast (Houston) or more north like Tyler/Longview? Interest in being close to lakes? River/creek property or not important. Alaska is big but Texas is too and has a lot more people.

Personably I like the Nacogdoches - Lufkin area kind of in the middle N to S. Lots of wooded land. Decent sized towns with many smaller communities scattered about. Larger cities within a couple hours.

I live in Fairfield which is a small town on I-45 about halfway between Dallas and Houston.

....and good luck.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk I'll shoot you my cell phone number.

I'm not crazy about east Texas but you might want to check out landsoftexas.com

Thanks for the info. I am hoping that the Turkey stocking they have been doing will finally start to take hold by the time we start snow birding there. Our starting point is probably going to be Lufkin, and then work our way out. I spent some time in San Antonio as an army brat twice, with the second time up through my freshman year of HS. Wife has only visited Houston. Plan is fly down and spend a couple weeks every year just driving around and checking places out get a feel for what the different areas are. We have no issue with small towns, but I think our biggest two things will be the ability to get to an HEB or Walmart withing 45 minutes, and to a major city for a hospital or to fly out within 3 hours drive or so. Other than that, we are pretty open about towns. Will need at least a stock pond or two on the property and mix of trees and open areas. River/Creek property would be a bonus, and if we can get something that has access to a lake, even better. I hunt, trap, and fish here, so wan't to do it all there as well.

-TJ

Thanks for that. Just added it to my favorites and am checking it out.

-TJ

I know you said 100+ acres, but I know someone that has 60 acres for sale in Nacogdoches county just a few miles out of Nacogdoches. It has Lake Nacogdoches on one side of the property and a large, privately owned property on the other three sides. Already has electricity pulled onto it. I believe there are even some stands and feeders that are already set up that will go with the property. PM me if you want the contact info.

Nac/Lufkin area is where I am at (been here the last 30 yrs.). It sounds well suited for the type property you are looking for.

As for the game animals:

Deer and Hogs are abundant in the area. Dove will be spotty most places in Deep East Texas, but a short drive will put you someplace you can 'day hunt' them with good results. Turkey have been restocked (several times) in the area with dismal results. The last attempts have seen Turkey released on large properties (Parks & Wildlife FINALLY learned) where the birds have a better chance of surviving and repopulating.

We have several good Lakes and Rivers for fishing in the area. At present...improved acreage is still reasonable. Both Nac. and Lufkin have all amenities most folks require. For specialized health care...Houston is about 2.5 hours away. Dallas about 3 hrs.

Deep East Texas stays green for about 9-10 months out of the year. In fact, I just walked our two Dachshunds this afternoon in our front yard which is still green (as are our pastures). It hit almost 70 degrees here today....and I didn't even bother putting my shoes on, just went barefoot. A little unusual for this time of year, but generally winters are pretty mild.

If you are looking for someplace quiet and not overcrowded, Deep East Texas is hard to beat.

To get dove in with those things you'll likely need grain or sun flowers and also be in north east Texas. I would personally like closer to the red River from Bonham east to Clarksville you can get all those things in that country on the right piece. Turkey will be the toughest.

If I was ready to pull the trigger on a buy, I would definitely look at it. Unfortunatley this won't be for a few years and I don't want to waste your friends time. Just doing my homework now.

-TJ

I like Emory, Athens, Palestine areas.

Grandparents had a farm outside of Elkhart/ Grapeland.

These counties are Anderson, Henderson, Houston and Rains.

I"m a land and ranch broker who services the majority of the state


I can help you out in what your looking for

shoot me a pm when you get a chance

I hunt in Leon County near Jewett and it is a pretty good area. Lots of deer and hogs. Good deer if you happen to get enough land to hunt on and lucky enough that the neighbors don't hunt so the bucks can get some age on them

The best hospital in East Texas is located in Tyler. However, in emergency situations, you're just a helicopter ride away.

I believe hospitals in other areas of East Texas are affiliated with the Medical Center in Tyler.

I'm just North of Tyler and in my early 50's. I chose Tyler after starting in Lufkin and not caring for the job market there. I worked my way around and came across Tyler. My goals where different then yours, but hunting and having some land was a huge bonus for me. I'm originally from CA and was open to moving just about anywhere that I could start over again in life and have a decent chance of succeeding.

One of the things that jumped out to me was the strong economy of Tyler. 3 big hospitals, and University and a newspaper full of help wanted ads. Lots of other people have felt the same way and Tyler is constantly growing. Traffic has become horrible, but that's mostly because TXDOT creates traffic to make it as bad as possible so they can demand more money to fix the problem. If you don't have to go to Tyler every day, then it's not so bad. Everything you could need is there, and if you live half an hour out of town, it's not a bad drive to get what you need.

The hunting isn't very good. Lots of hogs. Too many hogs. Very few deer and even fewer turkeys. July and August can be unbelievably hot and humid. But since you are looking for a winter location, it's gonna hit 72 today and that's the third day in a row that it's been 70 or above. We get snow every other year and it lasts for a day or two. Worse winter that I remember was a full week that never hit 30. Winter usually starts mid Jan and lasts into March, but I've seen snow flakes on Easter, but it didn't stick. Farther South will be warmer, but you won't have the hospitals that we have here.

I have 68 acres. A creek is one of my boundries and it's full of wood ducks, beavers, hogs and snakes. Lots and lots of snakes. This past year was one of the best for not seeing or dealing with snakes. I killed 6 all year. 2017 was the worse year that I've seen. I killed 24 snakes, my wife killed 11 and my Mom killed 7. That's not all of what we say, just what we where able to kill. Copper heads and cotton mouths are common. One of my akita's killed two copper heads and was bit doing so both times. We watched it happen once, and found the dead snake and wound on her the other time. She also killed a couple of rat snakes. Cotton Mouth and Copperhead bites are not that bad on dogs, they can process the venom. Rattle snakes are really bad, but you almost never see them here. They are also very docile and it takes a lot to get one to attack. The other two can be very aggressive. Fortunately you wont see them very often in winter, so that's a bonus for you.

Fire ants are all over the place. It's not a question of getting bit by them, it's how many times you get bit and have to deal with the burning and itching.

Probably the worse, most dangerous thing around here are the red wasps. They are super aggressive and their bit is more like a hammer hitting you that will hurt bad all day, and then remain a throbbing pain for the rest of the week. Never take any chances around them.

I like it here, but like anywhere, it's not perfect. If I find a perfect place, I might move, but it would be really hard to find something better then what I have here.

Remember I’m bias because I hunt there but red river county has everything you’re looking for. Turkey are in abundance there and are the eastern turkey. All the other animals mentioned are plentiful. With the exception of deer. For deer it’s perspective. We have a good deer population and nice bigger bodied deer. What we do not have is herds of smaller deer that you see other places in the state.

Red River county is also a very poor county with the lowest income average in the eastern half of Texas. The population in the county is dropping every year. This may all sound bad unless you’re looking at purchasing property. Prices there are very low compared to most of Texas. 100 acre tracts with a homes are also not uncommon. I looked at one place that had a nice two story, two barns one of which had concrete floors and electric, and exactly 100 acres. The price was 425k then dropped to $399. For Texas that’s cheap.

You'll have to go to far northeast texas for good turkey hunting, but as far as everything else is concerned, the Crockett/Lovelady/Madisonville area is wonderful. The many creeks and tributaries that feed the Trinity river provide excellent fishing, and the hunting is as good as it gets in my opinion. Property is fairly inexpensive too. There are 170 acres for sale behind our property for around 450k

As stated to get turkey you're going to have to look at Red River and Bowie counties in NE Texas. Land prices are cheaper up that way. While I enjoy hunting up that way, I personally wouldn't retire there.

If turkey isn't a deal breaker I would look hard at eastern Van Zandt, Rains, Wood, Henderson, and Anderson counties. You may not see 50 deer every hunt, but there are quality deer in the area IMO. Most of these counties put you within an hour drive to Tyler or to Dallas. Due to the location land prices are generally higher - but as the DFW metroplex and Tyler grow - that's only going to serve to give you a better return on your long term investment. If you like to fish - you'll have an unbelievable amount of options to numerous world class fisheries within an hour of any direction. That is where I would look. There are definitely good deals that come up from time to time - but they move (or they have been - slowing some now) very quick and you need to be ready to make an offer quickly.

Your criteria is a description of Red River County. Hunting is great for everything you mention. What has been mentioned about land prices is very true. Get as close to Sulphur River as you can.

Pm sent

I grew up in and around East Texas (Jasper and Newton Counties, and my in-laws have land in Shelby County. East Texas is a different place. If you have acreage and are an absentee owner, the locals will know it and will rob you blind while you are gone. The Shelby County place had the house dismantled. Appliances, windows, doors, plumbing, etc all stolen.

When my grandmother passed in Jasper County, he property was rural. Someone was there most weekends, but it was empty during the week. Electrical drop from the pole to the house and miscellaneous stuff walked off.

Not to mention the East Texas natives affinity for poaching.

Just my experience.

Texas is a big state. Land is still relatively affordable when you get a couple of hours away from the big cities. A few years ago my family bought a 97 acre tract and a separate 150 acre tract in Coryell County for $3,000 per acre.

Houston County and Trinity County are turning out big bucks consistently every year. AR's have helped tremendously. Poachers can be a problem in east Texas, but they can be a problem anywhere. Personally I've hunted in Houston County all my life and people don't poach our property. I'm there a lot though.

Are the bucks big in Houston county and Trinity county because of the food available or because the large National Forest allows them to grow older?

Nutrition, Age and Genetics. Most deer running around east texas are south texas genetics ( mainly from the King Ranch )


the national forests by and large are not the most nutritious ground because they are old growth forests

I have lived in/have family in many different areas of East TX. Spent summers and deer hunted near Caddo lake as a kid, every free weekend I have I'm at my parents place near Mt Pleasant, lived in Nacogdoches for four years during college, and now live in Conroe. These are my observations as far as the availability of game goes.

Deer- Deep East TX (but many factors come into play here, just my observation, my family deer lease near Caddo hasn't put out a legal buck since the 13" law was introduced)
Dove- NE TX
Hogs- everywhere in the state of TX
Turkey- NE TX (very limited though, I believe the Eastern Turkey repopulation efforts have been more focused here)
Ducks- NE TX (again, many factors)

Here are some of the views in my neighborhood in Conroe. Obviously can't hunt these (legally anyway), but always enjoy seeing them.





Not my picture but a good one nonetheless.