Got a new lease about smack dab in the middle of the county, wondering what reasonable expectations are. 1050 acres, plan on feeding protein and adding water troughs with a strict management plan. My goal is the 150 ballpark after a couple years.

Should not have a prob;em reaching that.

Our little 75 acre place is off Toe Nail between Eldorado and Christoval. In two years of basic seasonal feeding with no real management plan, we've killed a 125 and a 130" deer, and see 100" deer frequently. I'd say with some management and feed, 150 won't be a problem.

Good luck sir

150 is usually always a problem. Doable most anywhere but never easy. Im not even thinking about the county you are in cause my opinion would be the same most anywhere. The odds of killing a 150" deer on any 1000 ac property WITHOUT KNOWING SPECIFIC HISTORY on the place and area I would say is not gonna happen often. The size of the property puts you dependent on neighbors so unless you know a lot about that its an unknown. Sure, if you border big neighbors that regularly kill big deer then sure. If you got on a place like mine then I can show you pictures and scores of every buck killed over 14 years and you can decide your odds. Im not offering this to be a downer but you asked for opinions and thats mine. Certainly doable but lots of uncertainty so best of luck. Hopefully, as with any lease, you are looking to get more out of the lease experience than just killing a 150" deer, and if so you should be fine. Realistic expectations(like choosing a wife or truck) is everything.

To put it succinctly, this man sounds like he knows what he's talking about. That it to say, you'll be fine.

This is my thinking as well. You might reach 150" every so often under ideal conditions but I wouldn't expect it every year for sure. Even in the Golden Triangle of South Texas 150's aint hanging out under every Mesquite tree. 150" is a special deer. Hopefully you can pull it off but I wouldn't hold your breath. Its going to take a lot of people on the same page to make it happen and my experience is most will talk a good management game but when it comes trigger time they look for more reasons to squeeze the trigger rather than reasons to let them grow.

Have hunted on Irion/ Schleicher county line for 12 + years ( 4500 acres). While they do get taken from time to time, it will mostly depend on neighbors and range conditions. Problem is most folks can't justify passing a 130 + deer at 4.5 w/ lease fees

150" are special deer for sure. Good luck, hope you get one.

You'll get 130s. On a really good deer you'll find some 140s. You should be happy with that. Those are great low fence, wild deer. A 150 will happen but not often, IMO.

Well stated here....

We hunted for 15 years about 8 miles north of town on FM 915. We killed several 140 class deer. We only fed corn from Labor Day through the end of season. We had high fence on the E/SE side of 2100 acres. I think the key is let them get some age on em.

Hunted on the Figure Three 50+ years ago. We shot some pretty good deer IIRC nothing over 140 though.

^^^I concur on this. Several good comments on this thread, IMO.

Our place is off 190 on the west side of the county. We have been there for 9 years and feed corn year round and protein Feb thru Sep.So far my best two deer were 149s
and there was a 151 killed on adjoining property to the north of us but most of the good deer we see run in the 130-140 range. I am starting to believe the better deer are
5.5 yo and older. My last deer I shot was 6.5 yo and scored 149 6/8 had the teeth aged by wildlife analytical laboratories out of Montana.

This

Roger seems to be doing things pretty good and having good results. His perspective should help the OP. It would probably help a lot more if we knew if it was a big or little place and would add perspective to his results.

Supposedly the properties around us receive minimal to no hunting pressure, I’m taking that with a grain of salt but that’s what the land owner says. All family properties that aren’t being leased out. Thank you everyone for the input, keep it coming.

Size and hunting pressure is going to be key for you to see your goal on a somewhat regular basis. Achieving your goal will be dependent on how well you are willing to let younger and better bucks walk till they are mature. The key things not asked would be grazing pressure and type of livestock?....leased or landowner grazing? Sheep and/or goats and/or cattle grazing? Water source and how many? Habitat conditions and quality of it? Annual rainfall average? Deer density and ratio? Did you see any pics of deer or deer mounts from previous years on this place to gauge quality?
Is your goal possible? Sure but the things listed above will have to all fall into place for you to get to your goal on an annual basis. You can manage for your goal but you may have to except it can't be attained on a regular basis. If you manage for mature deer and only take mature deer then you have done all you can do and control. If you do not have any mature deer to start then it may take a while to get enough deer in the mature age classes. You control what you can control and hope mother nature helps you out along the way.

Joe, you are relatively new to the forum and especially with a low post count so I assume you may not be a real regular on here. I mention that in case you dont know much about Stxranchman that just offered you some advise. There may be more knowledgeable deer guys around but I think most members on here would grant him status at the top or close to it. Certainly to me his advise is always extremely valuable and I am always amazed at how much time he takes to offer it.

You are correct, I spend most of my time on the fishing forum. I was blessed to hunt Webb county for many years and want to set realistic expectations for this place. So far it sounds about like what I thought. 130-140 should very attainable and if things fall right, 150 is very much within reason. The landowner runs about 30 head of cattle, I would say the property has the best/thickest cover for 3 miles in any direction.

120s on average with 130s being the top end most of the time......if you have ample water and no livestock and mother nature gives you the rainfall needed you can up those averages some.......and have an occasional 150 but they are not gonna happen regularly......rarely.......

Our lease alone is 4500 acres with 5 hunters, the first three years we pretty much just watched the deer and took out what wasn't desired as far as the bucks went. We didn't see a good population of does tiil about
the 4th year (we got on after the last bad drought). I also think the does weren't seen due to the feeding program from the years before (fed corn during deer season only and then gone till next season). Like freerange said
about stx there is alot of knowledge and I follow what he says as well as other people to get my own ideas for the management process.

I will also say we are on UT land and they don't instruct us on the deer hunting.

^^^There you go, that should tell you something. He has 4500 acres and only 5 hunters which is great. Implied the surrounding country is probably big country. He said it took years to get to where they killed a few right at 150. Not trying to be Debbie Downer but a 150 is a special animal without a LOT of things aligning and I just mention all this since you asked for opinions on realistic expectations. You are in good and fun country so if you set realistic expectations you should have fun.
Pitch is another that always has sound advise. Best of luck.

STx, or anybody, school me up on why Landowner grazing and leased grazing would make a lot of difference for deer hunting. I assume one would tend to overgraze but as always im on here to learn. Sorry if this is off topic but figure it keeps it bumped to the top.