Few weeks ago I had to go look at a couple ranches in the same area I hunted as a kid from 95’-2001. We were pre-AR’s, not many deer around the woods and I can’t ever remember seeing a deer on the side of the road alive or dead. Most of the buck harvest around us was yearling bucks and a 3 year old buck was a rare site.

Driving down the road and this buck had stopped traffic by standing in the middle of the road. Not a giant buck but if we would have saw him in the woods we would have been beside ourselves.

That area had changed quite a bit since those days, lots of people there now.

I grew up in Walker County and I remember those "1 Buck, Doe by permit only" days back in the 80s and 90s. If it was a buck, regardless of age or quality, it got shot.

I don't miss those days and neither do the locals.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

We hunted two places, one over off 19 between country campus and riverside and another north east of town near the old Cincinnati settlement.

The Cincinnati place wasn't very good. Old mature pine forests, not many deer and not a lot of bucks. The Riverside place was a lot of hardwood and had really good potential, I actually saw some decent bucks there but again most harvested were at or under 3 years of age

We used to hunt in New Waverly when I was a kid. It sucked. I remember seeing 1 or 2 deer, but there was an awesome fishing pond.

Out for his morning walk.

We hunted mostly out near Richards on the Walker/Montgomery county line and on both private land and National Forest between Phelps and New Waverly. Not a lot of deer, but even back in the 80s and 90s the hogs were everywhere in Walker County.

Country Campus...when I was in college at Sam with student ID you could play 18 holes there for $5.75.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

My wife is from New Waverley.

Her uncles and cousins kill some nice deer over up near Groveton but I think the hunting around NW was always mediocre.

One of the places I looked at over by Phelps was 160 acres inside the National Forest. Easement access behind a locked forest service gate. Majority of the place was open coastal fields interspersed by two creeks converging into a 20 acre lake.

Let me tell you, you have never seen hog rooting like I saw on that place. They had a few feeders going and that place was a pig Mecca. Looked like the whole place got carpet bombed.

Did see a few deer as well driving in the place but they retreated back into the forest as soon as I drove up

Neat pic

Yes sir, Trinity County had some nice bucks. We hunted 1000 acres in Friday Tx one year. There were lots of deer and a few nice ones on that place.

We hunted North Walker county on 1000 acres that backed up to the TDJC Ellis unit in the early 80s. Killed my first deer there in about 1984. I saw one monster there while bow hunting but the largest deer that we killed in 6 years between 4 guys was a 2.5 year old 10 that wouldn't have made AR today.

PS Not sure what the actual costs was to play County Campus...but I learned a trick of carrying a $100 bill and when they couldn't made change and with no way to run back to Huntsville or Riverside...I usually played for free!