I bought a ranch in 2018 and have been making improvements and creating some great deer habitat.

I feed protein except for during deer season and run corn feeders during deer season. I also run cattle and such.
I have tremendous deer quality and quantity this season. Last season was an acorn disaster and I saw basically no deer at the feeders.

Up until this point, i have let some family and friends come hunt but I need to generate some revenue. I am spending a lot of money on corn and protein and would at least like hunting revenue to cover my property taxes (which is more than you would think because i have two houses on my property).

What would be the best way to generate some hunting revenue? I have had a couple deer leases before but I don't want to go that route with my property. I have feeders and blinds already set-up and want to maintain that stuff myself.

What would be appealing to hunters? My ranch is less than 2 hours from Denton and has tremendous deer, hog, turkey populations and even decent duck hunting at times. I have a nice ranch house on the property that does have guest accommodations but not sure how i feel about that...

I'd appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions.

How many acres?

X2 and stands on property?

You probably already know this, but whatever you decide to do, if you're gonna charge for any hunting, make sure you have the proper, and enough, liability insurance. Google: Texas Agricultural Law Blog (recommended by another member on here). I wouldn't necessarily trust just your insurance agent to make sure you're covered.

I'm in a similar boat; 'bought a place last year. But I'm gonna keep it just family and friends, no charge, even though it gets expensive. Charging for hunting changes things.

If you decide to long-term lease it, and don't want hunters in your house(s), maybe there's a way you can offer travel trailer/rv hook ups? Just an idea.

Good luck to you.

Tell your friends you love’em and they’re welcome to come hunt, for a fee. Only seems fair.

There’s a difference between making money and covering costs.

Charlie

Yep. They hunt, they pitch in. 250 acres is really not enough land for a commercial operation. If you leased it at all it would bring 5-6 grand but then you've got people on your place. We're in about the same boat. Our wildlife valuation has kept our taxes reasonable. Do you have Ag valuation, or you getting hit full boat? Sounds like a really good place you've got. I'd just keep it friends and family only. And don't shoot all your momma deer, regardless of what some might say. You can shoot out a place pretty quickly. I know because our place was shot out when we bought it in '99. Good luck on your place.

I am Ag Exempt but the two houses kill me. One is a dump that needs a complete redo and the other is pretty nice. The tax appraisal district considers each house to be on 1 acre. Those two houses are about 80% of the my tax bill. The raw land is next to nothing.

Offer hog hunts after deer season.

Shooting 10 deer per season on 250 acres should be illegal, of course it isn't. Great way to destroy a deer herd.

A real "outsider's" perspective:

In your situation I would want something that is not too labour-intensive but can generate a bit of revenue that could help cover some of the expenses.

1. Bulldoze the dump to save money on taxes and maintenance
2. Offer self-catering self-guided hunts from blinds only i.e. max 3 hunters at a time (more controllable than allowing walk/spot and stalk hunts as well)
3. Provide water and electricity at a site where hunters can camp or bring their caravan (camper trailer?)
4. Charge a fee per day to hunt/camp and a fee per animal shot
5. Hunter is responsible for the recovery, gutting, skinning and quartering of the animal but you will need to have a coldroom for the carcasses/meat
6. If necessary, put up a camera at each blind so that you can keep an eye on things
7. Sustainably and legally utilise whatever species are available

Average 2 hunters @ $50 per day each X 25 days sold over the year = $2,000
10 deer harvested @ $400 per deer = $4,000
20 pigs harvested @ $50 per pig = $1,000
Total = $7,000
Or something like that.

Is it worth the hassle in order to generate $7,000? Will that help with the expenses? Or would it be better to just bulldoze the dump, save the tax money and keep it for family and selected friends as you have it?

Offer hog hunts after deer season.

This. Can probably charge $50-100 per day for hog hunts.

Also, I let my bro-in-law hunt one of my places, but only hog hunting and only outside of deer season....the deal is every time he goes he has to buy 3-5 bags of corn and put in the feeders. It isn't much, but it helps. You could do something similar....it's feels better to make someone buy 5-10 bags of corn than it is to charge them $50, especially if it's a friend or family member. Also helps them feel like they have a hand in managing the place.