Does anyone have any experience hunting near Seymour in Baylor county? Looking at a lease and wanted to know what the expectations are for hunting deer in that area. My goals:

- Good whitetail numbers (aka seeing 5-10 deer on an average hunt)
- Mature bucks 130+
- Good rut activity (when does it occur?)
- Some other kind of game (turkeys, pigs, ect)
- Rolling terrain (I like having places to glass from as i do a lot of still hunting/spot and stalk)

Any insights/opinions would be appreciated!

Sounds like a good book....Seymour Deer by Buckmaster07.

I was on a place a bit East of there, about 9 miles West of Olney. It was a little over 200 acres and had been seriously over-grazed by the prior owner. Never saw a buck in 18 months.

We had a lease 20 miles west of Seymour in 2017. We had over 400 acres and all during hunting season we saw only four does. Don’t expect to see lots of deer in that area. We believe the area has been way over hunted.

Hunted 10 miles south of Seymour for 5 years. Shot a few mid to low 140s and a 155. Much bigger is possible. There are some big ranches up that way, a bunch of wheat and the river. Closer to any of those you are and have cover the better the hunting. Rarely would I get skunked but rare to see 6-8 deer a sit either. Quality can be very good. Rut usually hits hardest before and during Thanksgiving. If you have creeks or the river will have a bunch of pigs and turkey. Would recommend at least 300 -400 acres per hunter to keep a good mature buck to hunter ratio. That area is the start of the red canyon cedar breaks that hold more game than you would expect but I prefer Mesquite. Location, location, location.

Yeah, I was on a lease west of Seymour for a couple of years. 500 acres - I only saw one decent buck in those two years. Never fired my gun while hunting.

Yes, had 5 years of extremely successful hunts. Buck in my signature is from Seymour, free range, east on 114. He was nice !!!!

My FIL hunted up there a few years

There are good deer up that way, above average body size too

You prob won’t see the numbers though

Acreage plays a big part. Larger the better, of course. Closer to the Brazos the better the hunting. Lots of agriculture in the river valley. You need to wear out some boot leather and go scout the area. Big deer are around for sure. Every place is different. Probably not gonna' see 5-10 per hunt, but do you really want to? Maybe if you were on a wheat field next to the river. Usually, places that have that many deer don't have the kind of bucks that I want to kill. Good luck. There are BIG deer killed in Baylor county every year.

I've been hunting a few miles SSE of Seymour for two years now. We have a lot of winter wheat and at the closest the river is a quarter mile away. Also have a creek that always holds water with a lot of elevation change (relative to the area).

It isn't uncommon to see 25 deer at a time in the winter wheat fields. There are some big/mature bucks around, but we have a lot of pressure around us and the neighbors take anything 8pt+ no matter what age. Pretty frustrating but it is what it is. I've only taken culls at this point. Just cuz the neighbors shoot young bucks won't make us change our ethics. We have a couple that we know made it last season that should be 150's+ next season. Seems like that is pretty good for the area.

Some quail... hoping for a boom year cuz it is looking very good out there now. Duck hunting that close to the river can be off the chart. Doves are sometimes good. Turkeys are pretty good, too. That close to the river hogs are thick.

If you want to see what's out there, go check out Schumate's taxidermy in town.

We hunt SW of town. We see average 5-10 deer each sitting. We have nice deer and the potential for a really nice deer is always there. My son missed a 150-160 2 years ago. I think it depends on the ranch and acreage. 10 miles west of town the land changes to the red cedar habitat like mentioned above. Southeast to southwest of town is traditional mesquite country and Imo the better hunting in that area. This area all the way to Albany is some of the choicest deer habitat in Texas.