Ok, some background first.

I have been to this forum many times and lurked about. I finally decided to ask a question and joined last night.


This may be a long story, but I feel the background is useful.

I was born and still have family in west Texas. My heart is still there. When I was in middle school, 20 years ago, my dad got transferred to a different part of the state. 6 hrs. Away. We Have always tried to get out there as much as we can, but now that I have a real job, family, etc. trips are limited to The school breakS (Labor Day, thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, summer.) We still have a place out there (a section) and a long time family friend leases it to run his cattle and keep the place up.

Anytime I’m out there, I’m out at the farm as much as possible. I know every inch of it like the back of my hand. If I could, I’d live out there and be a rancher and hunt daily. But, things aren’t so.

With all this being said, I have all my life hunted our place, or some other family spots out there. Dove, deer, quail with the occasional turkey hog and coyote have been thoughtfully harvested with the best interest of nature in mind.

Here’s the problem:

I need more hunting! Lol. My poor dove days are usually limited to Labor Day weekend. As you all know, sometimes that’s a full weekend of hunting and sometimes that’s a day depending on when sept. 1 is. Deer is limited to thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, when deer are pretty skittish and family time is paramount over stand time. Quail, deer, turkey, dove I get during Christmas break, and usually just limit that to quail and dove. Spring break and summer are spent fishing on one of the stock tanks, or .22 plinking.

I have recently started looking into Argentina dove hunts. I’d like to take my dad as dove hunting is a big part of our hunting history. Saving money has started for that. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull it off anytime soon. I want it to be 5 star and no worries about how many shells we blow through/tipping/ etc. so in the meantime I thought a pheasant hunt here in the states may be more affordable.

They are...barely. Lol. At least to do it big.

Then, I started seeing and researching a lot of Kansas walk in hunts and public land hunts. This piqued my interest. So I started researching how to do this.


Then, I decided to see if Texas had anything like this. Well, wouldn’t you know, they do!

I think.

I googled Texas public land hunts. Went to TPWD website and read up on the stuff. It looks so promising!

Here, at last is my question(s).

How do I do this?

I saw where one needs a hunting license and then a $48 permit for WMA’s and private property leased by TPWD. Now what?

Do I let someone know I’m using this area? The game warden in the area? Rangers? The landowner?

How would I do this without disturbing other hunters or the private land owner that has leased their place?

I want to be respectful of the land and people too. So I would love y’all’s feedback. Forgive me if I haven’t dug deep enough on this forum and have missed answers y’all have already covered. (I usually stay in the upland and shotgun areas of the forum while lurking). I am so used to private land, and being mindful of others’ land I have trouble grasping this. Lol. I would be mad if someone was using our place without permission, however am more than generous to those who do things right. I know the private land leaders and the state want these lands hunted, I just want to do it right and ethically.

Thank you all in advance.
ChanMan

I'm sure some public land hunting members will be along here soon to help you out.

Welcome to the forum. I didnt read all that real close so are you wanting public land pheasant hunting???

I guess I didn’t make it all that clear.

I would love to find somewhere with dove and or quail to start with.

I am in East Tx, so there’s very few of those Opportunities here.

If I get comfortable using public lands, and feel good about it, I would like to try some pheasant hunting.

That’s probably not any more clear, but at least it’s more concise.

Thank you!

Thank you!

It’s Nice to finally interact with some of the members I’ve learned a lot from!

ta HF...
Dove hunts theirs few places South & South East of the Big D.
Pheasant & quail tis a thinken gonna haveta head twards pan handle...
Best wish's..

So do I just get the right paperwork and show up at one of the spots on the TPWD interactive map? Is that all there is to it?

I feel like that’s too easy. Lol.

When you buy the $48 aph permit they will send you a book with all the hunt areas and all the rules in it.

That's it, at least on the places I'm aware of. I just got back a few minutes ago from wandering around some public land with my bird dogs, just some training and conditioning. Last season I was the only registered hunter on 100,000 acres of public quail hunting land, the weekdays I was there. Good luck to you in your quest!

Wow! That sounds so awesome!

I can’t wait to try this out!

ChanMan, that is all there is to it. Most of the public lands have a check in through a phone app, or you can use the check in forms at the location.

For dove, get there early meaning still dark so you'll need to know where you want to be first. Bring a light and leave it on so other hunters know you are there first. I.m out of the conroe area, happy to help you get broken in if you want the assist.

Ps, to the forum

Dove on public is pretty sparce in my experience. Quail numbers in the panhandle region have been down I know that. Not much quail to speak of in east Texas.

Public in the eastern side of Texas can be good for small game ducks deer and hogs.

Someone mentioned the Annual Public Hunt (APH) Permit, come August 15th or any time after, pay the $48 and get one. The brown booklet you'll receive afterwards has a tom of public state wide hunting spots listed including maps and the game that can be hunted. Some of the properties are private and their availability can change year after year but the amount of land thats available is impressive. I've found a number of good honey holes over the years using that book.

If TPWD continues this in 2020-2021 you can view the maps PDFs online to see if you find something you like or want to scout. Maps should go online about August 15th. You will still have to buy the permit to hunt and receive book. or go to TPWD office to view a book of APH lands.

These are 2020 maps so there will be some changes especially to migra bird hunts. GL

http://tpwd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c9788957300943559f7b49206e8ef153

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/annual_public_hunting/search.phtml