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Re: How Much Land [Re: decook] #8226833 04/06/21 11:44 AM
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Originally Posted by decook
Originally Posted by unclebubba
In many counties, you must have at least 10 acres in order to be able to legally discharge a firearm. The smallest place that I have ever hunted on was 18 acres...and that was small. IMO, even if you are legally allowed to discharge a firearm on the property, 4 acres is too small.


This. I was going to say that - my county is one of them.

10 acres is shotgun. 80 acres for rifle.


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Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8226854 04/06/21 12:14 PM
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In rare cases.....yes you can. Just so long as you don't have residence, homes or anything around you that would put someone or something in danger. I hunted on 3 acres one season. This three acres was a strip of brush that the deer were crossing through. The nearest home was about a 1/4 mile away. I had a 12' tall blind and a feeder about 40 yards away. My shot was JUST TO THE FEEDER and no place else. The shot was shooting down at an angle and a neck shot was the only shot. Also the residence home was behind me. This 3 acres was thick brush with tall trees (oaks) throughout. Again, IT MUST BE SAFE. I killed a big beautiful buck off this small acreage.

Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8226942 04/06/21 01:51 PM
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4 acres is a nice sized pond for fishing, but not for hunting. I have 68 acres with a 240 acre property on one side of me and 460 acres on the other side. I'm over run with hogs and a buddy shot over 100 of them on my place last year. I have enough land that I cannot tell what is happening in areas of it that I'm not at. I mostly hunt where my food plot is, but I can only see about a quarter of my land, if that much. All of the deer on my place live on my neighbors land. I do not believe that a single deer lives on my land, they just come over to feed on my food plot, eat my corn, and maybe visit with each other for a little bit. Then they go back to where they can hide and sleep. I do not have enough land to support anything, just enough to draw them in, and even that is limited.

Re: How Much Land [Re: Hunter Daddy] #8226972 04/06/21 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Hunter Daddy
In rare cases.....yes you can. Just so long as you don't have residence, homes or anything around you that would put someone or something in danger. I hunted on 3 acres one season. This three acres was a strip of brush that the deer were crossing through. The nearest home was about a 1/4 mile away. I had a 12' tall blind and a feeder about 40 yards away. My shot was JUST TO THE FEEDER and no place else. The shot was shooting down at an angle and a neck shot was the only shot. Also the residence home was behind me. This 3 acres was thick brush with tall trees (oaks) throughout. Again, IT MUST BE SAFE. I killed a big beautiful buck off this small acreage.


That is ridiculous. Should be illegal.

Re: How Much Land [Re: Stump_jumper] #8227006 04/06/21 03:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Stump_jumper
Originally Posted by decook
Originally Posted by unclebubba
In many counties, you must have at least 10 acres in order to be able to legally discharge a firearm. The smallest place that I have ever hunted on was 18 acres...and that was small. IMO, even if you are legally allowed to discharge a firearm on the property, 4 acres is too small.


This. I was going to say that - my county is one of them.

10 acres is shotgun. 80 acres for rifle.



10 acres any firearm here.

Re: How Much Land [Re: kman2017] #8227010 04/06/21 03:11 PM
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Originally Posted by kman2017
Originally Posted by Hunter Daddy
In rare cases.....yes you can. Just so long as you don't have residence, homes or anything around you that would put someone or something in danger. I hunted on 3 acres one season. This three acres was a strip of brush that the deer were crossing through. The nearest home was about a 1/4 mile away. I had a 12' tall blind and a feeder about 40 yards away. My shot was JUST TO THE FEEDER and no place else. The shot was shooting down at an angle and a neck shot was the only shot. Also the residence home was behind me. This 3 acres was thick brush with tall trees (oaks) throughout. Again, IT MUST BE SAFE. I killed a big beautiful buck off this small acreage.


That is ridiculous. Should be illegal.



Why should anything he said be illegal?

Re: How Much Land [Re: EddieWalker] #8227069 04/06/21 03:49 PM
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Originally Posted by EddieWalker
All of the deer on my place live on my neighbors land. I do not believe that a single deer lives on my land, they just come over to feed on my food plot, eat my corn, and maybe visit with each other for a little bit. Then they go back to where they can hide and sleep. I do not have enough land to support anything, just enough to draw them in, and even that is limited.



Unless you have open pasture with no cover you certainly are supporting deer.

I hear it all the time when people have smaller acreage with bigger acreage next door “ all the deer live on my neighbors place”. Deer don’t have parcel maps and are not naturally inclined to live on the largest acreage tract available. If the density in your county is 1 deer to 20 acres you are supporting approx. 3 deer. If you are the only one feeding them you are probably supporting more than that thru supplemental feeding.

If you have the same type of habitat and cover as the neighbors I promise you deer are bedding and living on your property



For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8227213 04/06/21 04:53 PM
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I've taken most of my deer within 35 yards. Just make a good neck or head shot.


Sometimes it's hard being me! But somebody has to do it.
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8227255 04/06/21 05:25 PM
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The 3 acres which I had hunted on was out in the middle of farm land right off a farm to market road where very few vehicles travel. Like I said, there was a house about a 1/4 mile away and no other homes were around. I did not shoot towards the road or towards the house. I kept it where the shot was close and down towards the ground. The game warden for that county said that I was just fine hunting in those 3 acres. This was not in any subdivision where the 10 acre rule would apply. The game warden said that country folks around there shoot deer right out of their homes on small acreage all the time.

Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8227303 04/06/21 06:12 PM
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Hi everyone,

I hunt by walk and stalk (still hunting) and hunting on a 4 acre property does not appeal to me. However, I don't understand why the OP is being taken to task for asking the question about whether 4 acres is big enough to hunt on. Here is my thinking. Please help me understand better.

SAFETY: A non-negotiable, regardless of the country, county or area that the hunt takes place in or how big or small the property is. Everything depends on you being safety conscious and making sure you identify your target and know what is behind your target before you pull the trigger.

GAME ON SMALL PROPERTIES: One source I looked at gave the home range of whitetail deer as approximately 1 square mile (food, water and shelter dependent). So if your property falls within the animal's 1 square mile home range then, provided the animal is not impeded by high fences or other barriers, there is every chance that you will have deer on your property from time to time.

STILL HUNTING VS BLIND/FEEDER: It would take relatively little time to "still hunt" a 4 acre property. However, searching and finding are 2 different things. If the property is low-fenced and the animals can range freely then its about trying to be on the property at the same time as the animals. Nothing unethical in that.

If I remember correctly, someone on THF once commented that about 80% of whitetail deer shot in Texas are shot from blinds over feed. If its free-ranging animals you are shooting out of your blind over feed then I don't see how the size of the property has any bearing on whether the hunt is ethical or not.

SHOOTING THE NEIGHBOR'S BUCK: Could it be that, because someone invests a lot of time, effort and money feeding deer on his/her property they resent the idea of neighbor shooting one of those deer? Especially, if it is a big buck that they have been preserving for a number of seasons so that it can grow into a nice trophy buck. I can see how that may be an issue. However, that could happen regardless of how big/small your neighbor's property is.

CROSSING BOUNDARIES: I get that there is a reasonably good chance that a deer shot through the lungs on a 4 acre property could land up dying on the other side of the fence. I guess a lot depends on your relationship with your neighbor on how that is handled. A neck/brain shot on the animal will also solve that problem.

Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8227432 04/06/21 08:25 PM
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Dimitri, you asked us to help you understand better so I will try. All of your points were thought out and I feel all valid. Ill try to speak for what I think the majority on here think and feel.
>I doubt many would think it too small a property to be able to kill something, it would just be more difficult.
>Method of hunting is debated on here regularly, but I dont think the size of the place would change the "ethics of the METHOD."
>Safety would be a concern with most on here but certainly if addressed completely it COULD be less of a factor.
>Crossing boundaries would be a big concern to many on here and thats a very tough one to overcome.
>Ethically, whos deer is it? I feel that most of the guys on here have the BIGGEST ISSUE WITH THIS. Size of property doesnt dictate who can legally kill a deer that cruises through. Ethics is different for everyone but probably a lot on here think it would be fair or ethical to not kill any more animals than what your property would support from a food, water, shelter standpoint. Deer density varies but if you take one deer to every 15 acres then you would need at least 15 acres to SUPPORT one deer. That includes does and bucks and all ages. If you want to kill a BUCK then you would need roughly 50 or so acres on average. If you want to kill a MATURE buck then 200 or more acres. All these numbers are very very rough and average but all these numbers are way way way bigger than FOUR acres.
So everybody can correct me if im wrong but ive been around a lot of Texas deer hunters and in my opinion this is where most of the guys are coming from.


At some point in life its time to quit chasing the pot of gold and just enjoy the rainbow. FR
Keep your gratitude higher than your expectations. RWH
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8227933 04/07/21 11:22 AM
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Hi freerange,

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain. I understand it better now. It's a noble idea to only harvest what your land can support. It will certainly help to keep game numbers healthy if everyone in a given area subscribes to that.

So if Fulldraw55 took a deer every 5 years or so, and all the hogs he could handle in between, then I guess that would be more acceptable. The animals would be using the resources on his 4 acres from time to time after all.

Interesting that BigRon says he would appreciate it if some of the smaller landowners in his area would take off a few deer to help regulate numbers there. Great to have such healthy numbers.

Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8228023 04/07/21 12:54 PM
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There are guys that hunt Pennsylvania that think 10 acres is massive. The hunter to available land ratio in that state is terrible from what I understand. A 120 class deer is a trophy.
I hope we aren't headed there in my lifetime.

Re: How Much Land [Re: Dimitri] #8228026 04/07/21 12:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Dimitri
Hi freerange,

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain. I understand it better now. It's a noble idea to only harvest what your land can support. It will certainly help to keep game numbers healthy if everyone in a given area subscribes to that.

So if Fulldraw55 took a deer every 5 years or so, and all the hogs he could handle in between, then I guess that would be more acceptable. The animals would be using the resources on his 4 acres from time to time after all.

Interesting that BigRon says he would appreciate it if some of the smaller landowners in his area would take off a few deer to help regulate numbers there. Great to have such healthy numbers.


Dimitri-
The hill country of Texas is unique in that the very large ranches have all but almost disappeared and have been subdivided out into homesteads. There are very few places in the core hill country of Texas area that are at or below a healthy carrying capacity. In other words taking more deer that what are core to your smaller property isn't always a bad thing, especially if you surrounding area has x amount homes over xxx of acres that don't hunt.

As with Texas nothing is as simple as it appears


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Re: How Much Land [Re: topwater13] #8228060 04/07/21 01:28 PM
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Originally Posted by topwater13
There are guys that hunt Pennsylvania that think 10 acres is massive. The hunter to available land ratio in that state is terrible from what I understand. A 120 class deer is a trophy.
I hope we aren't headed there in my lifetime.



Do they really think 10 acres is massive? I doubt that is the case, but it may be all they have available to them.

Lots of bow hunters in the northeast they hunt small wood lots in the suburbs in between houses. Different style of deer hunting all together.

I think the OP’s real question is “ can I get away with killing a deer on 4 acres”


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8228272 04/07/21 04:04 PM
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Never thought I would see the day when people would go deer hunting in their yard.


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: How Much Land [Re: Texas Dan] #8229162 04/08/21 03:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Texas Dan
Never thought I would see the day when people would go deer hunting in their yard.


Since the statue of limitations has long since passed, when I was a kid we had a place that bordered canyon lake, prolly about 5 or 6 acres total. We had about an acre fenced in with the house and we had a feeder set up to watch some deer while sitting on our deck.

Well, my stepdad ( I could go on for hours about the weird things he did that would make no sense to a halfway normal person ) decided he would start shooting them off the porch with his bow. He ended up killing about 3 of them. The last one he decided to shoot right at dark while we had a house full of people and ended up wounding it, the deer eventually died but it became a spectacle so he quit doing it after that.


I know other people who will bait them into their yard and snipe them from inside the house.

If a person needs the meat, hey, it’s a means to an end, but I don’t see how an adult would derive any pleasure shooting a deer in their own yard.


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8229186 04/08/21 03:56 AM
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Originally Posted by FullDraw55
I stayed off of THF for 10yrs. When someone ask a question and needs some help, help educate them and not make fun of them. You started out not knowing everything. Your parents taught you how to wipe your azz. so shut the hell up and grow up!!!

You've had a few people crack jokes at your expense. We all have. If you can't handle that, you need thicker skin. You've also received some serious responses. Buck up and join the campfire. There's always trash talk around the campfire.

Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8229215 04/08/21 05:57 AM
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I have 100 acres in Shackelford County that butts up against the Moran city limits. Looking to put about 150 guns on the place. May sound like too many guns but I figure it will take that many to compete with the free-range poachers in town.


Re: How Much Land [Re: txtrophy85] #8229236 04/08/21 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted by txtrophy85
Originally Posted by topwater13
There are guys that hunt Pennsylvania that think 10 acres is massive. The hunter to available land ratio in that state is terrible from what I understand. A 120 class deer is a trophy.
I hope we aren't headed there in my lifetime.



Do they really think 10 acres is massive? I doubt that is the case, but it may be all they have available to them.

Lots of bow hunters in the northeast they hunt small wood lots in the suburbs in between houses. Different style of deer hunting all together.

I think the OP’s real question is “ can I get away with killing a deer on 4 acres”

Doubt all you want I guess. Did you read the second sentence? Must not have because you regurgitated what I already said. Comprehension is a thing.

Last edited by topwater13; 04/08/21 10:23 AM.
Re: How Much Land [Re: topwater13] #8229313 04/08/21 12:25 PM
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Originally Posted by topwater13
Originally Posted by txtrophy85
Originally Posted by topwater13
There are guys that hunt Pennsylvania that think 10 acres is massive. The hunter to available land ratio in that state is terrible from what I understand. A 120 class deer is a trophy.
I hope we aren't headed there in my lifetime.



Do they really think 10 acres is massive? I doubt that is the case, but it may be all they have available to them.

Lots of bow hunters in the northeast they hunt small wood lots in the suburbs in between houses. Different style of deer hunting all together.

I think the OP’s real question is “ can I get away with killing a deer on 4 acres”

Doubt all you want I guess. Did you read the second sentence? Must not have because you regurgitated what I already said. Comprehension is a thing.



You said “ the hunter to land ratio is terrible from what I understand”. That may be the case, but I’m not seeing how anyone calling a 10 acre spot to hunt “ massive”. I’ve bow hunted a 10 acre tract in the suburbs, it was nice to have at the time but it was not massive.

That’s like saying a VW beetle is fast, because gas is expensive.


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8229455 04/08/21 01:59 PM
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You’re looking at buying land for the purpose of deer hunting but only looking at 4 acres? Spend that money on 4 years for a good lease.
Is 4 acres enough to deer hunt? Yes, as long as it’s legal, can be done safely and your neighbors are ok with you probably trailing a deer on their property.
If I were you, I’d buy 4 acres to build a house and dig a nice 3 acre bass pond.

Re: How Much Land [Re: unclebubba] #8229663 04/08/21 05:00 PM
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Originally Posted by unclebubba
Originally Posted by FullDraw55
I stayed off of THF for 10yrs. When someone ask a question and needs some help, help educate them and not make fun of them. You started out not knowing everything. Your parents taught you how to wipe your azz. so shut the hell up and grow up!!!

You've had a few people crack jokes at your expense. We all have. If you can't handle that, you need thicker skin. You've also received some serious responses. Buck up and join the campfire. There's always trash talk around the campfire.

I started to tell fulldraw(before he came back on) to not take the harsh comments too badly. Thats just the only way that some guys on here know how to get their opinion across. The main thing, regardless of how its delivered, is to consider all the actual content of what EVERYONE is saying. Take out all the extra verbiage and basically the THF answer to your question is "NO".
And remember, you DID ask us to answer that question.

Last edited by freerange; 04/08/21 05:02 PM.

At some point in life its time to quit chasing the pot of gold and just enjoy the rainbow. FR
Keep your gratitude higher than your expectations. RWH
Re: How Much Land [Re: FullDraw55] #8229678 04/08/21 05:05 PM
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It's the integrity of the sport as defined by the level of challenge placed on the hunter that matters most to me and I'm sure many others. Otherwise, we might as well look forward to days when it's legal to sit on you couch and shoot at live deer using a smartphone app. Such an app could even alert you when there's a deer at the feeder just waiting to be shot, at a certain price of course. IMHO, shooting deer on such small tracts is just another step in that direction.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 04/08/21 05:11 PM.

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Re: How Much Land [Re: Texas Dan] #8229692 04/08/21 05:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Texas Dan
It's the integrity of the sport as defined by the level of challenge placed on the hunter that matters most to me and I'm sure many others. Otherwise, we might as well look forward to days when it's legal to sit on you couch and shoot at live deer using a smartphone app. Such an app could even alert you when there's a deer at the feeder just waiting to be shot, at a certain price of course. IMHO, shooting deer on such small tracts is just another step in that direction.

^^Lots on here give Tex Dan a hard time but I cant find a word wrong with this particular statement.


At some point in life its time to quit chasing the pot of gold and just enjoy the rainbow. FR
Keep your gratitude higher than your expectations. RWH
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