Trying to decide if a lease I’m on is worth it to renew next year. We have shot 4 bucks in 5 years. 0 does. We see a deer about 20% of the time at most. All the bucks shot have been good mature deer, it just is not a place the stay at. It’s mainly a cattle pasture with cows year round and a small section of woods by a pond where we see the deer. Lots of cover across the road and food so really hard to compete. We have a feeder up most of the year, just nothing else really to offer them.

So essentially how many deer do you see each time out and what are your expectations for how many you expect to see?

What part of the state are you in?

I'm in Llano county. If I don't see a dozen deer in a sit it's a really slow hunt. At a couple of blinds, you can easily expect 2X that on a regular basis.

Great question, btw. On my small place, probably average 1-2 deer per sit, more in mornings than late afternoons. On the lease maybe, 3-4 a sit whethervmorning or evening. Ranchette in SW Young county and lease in Throckmorton county. Considering smaller sizes of each, I am happy with what I'm seeing; generally seeing a buck or more per sit.

Seeing deer for some is more important than killing them so it depends on what your looking for. We have property that we can easily see a dozen or more per sit with some big bucks mixed in but another that you can hunt for a week and not see many however a giant could step out at any moment and generally does. I hunt both depending on my mood but I do have to see animals on occasion or I get burnt out looking at squirrels and listening to that Boone and Crockett armadillo slipping up every evening. On a perfect place I’d say 2-5 deer every sit with some mature bucks mixed in with zero pigs.

I usually see 10-18 at the corn feeder stands. At my wheat field it will be 20-35 on average. Have seen as many as 74 in that wheat field. I'm south of Breckenridge.

When I hunted in east Texas, there were more days with 0 deer than with any deer. In West Texas, at least 10 a day.

Where at and how big is the property? With limited cover what is the chance you spook them out before you see them? Run cameras? What do your mature bucks look like?

In Oklahoma, if I don't see 8-10 total I consider it a bust

Here in Texas, about 1/2 that amount...4-5

In my part of Texas, if I don't see double what procraft sees, I consider it a bust.

A normal sit at my place is 8-15 deer per sit.

That said, some stands are better than others.

That’s how it was in Ohio.

No feed, only food plots. Saw 2-4 deer a hunt but you would see mature bucks every hunt.

It was different than what we are used to but was not unenjoyable

Probably half dozen per sit, many times the same ones, especially the does.

I can hunt Texas for numbers over ag fields, I enjoy seeing big deer way more than lots of deer.

Agree. I would be happy with less deer if every hunt saw a whomper stomper

I have seen probably 2-4 on average this season which I am happy with. Between whitetail, hogs, or exotics I rarely get skunked. My expectations have grown over the years though, when we bought the ranch it had been over hunted to the point that we didn’t get a single deer on camera let alone in person the first year. Now we are at 1 deer/10 acres and struggle to keep up with our MLD tags.

What’s your alternative if you leave? I would figure that out before making any decision.

15-20

I hunt public land. Some days I don't see any and some days I see a bunch. At the end of the season I nearly always have venison in the freezer, venison obtained through glassing and stalking. Venison that has never seen a feeder and never been fed protein. Natural venison from wild deer and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Boy ain’t that the truth! Second year hunting in Gillespie county, I see about about a ten deer a sit. I see more in one sit, than I saw all year long, in most years hunting in east Texas.

My first deer hunt was in east Texas, and old growth pine tract north of Huntsville

Very few deer and if you were lucky you saw a doe or two per hunt.

I hear populations have increased in the area though

Sounds like your deer may be a little stuck up.

Hunt during the middle of the week during those final weeks of the season in East Texas and you may very well see more deer than you did on Opening Weekend. Once the season opens and all that lead starts flying, it doesn't take them long to pattern hunters and adjust their travel habits accordingly. Natural browse is far more scarce and the colder temperatures pushes their hungry button.

Used to see 15-20+, 4-6 bucks a sit down in Webb County on corned senderos. Also javelina, hogs and yotes and bobcats pretty regularly, damn zoo down there in high deer density areas.

I’d say I see on average about 7 deer per sit sometimes a few less but many times more. I’ve seen 16 deer A couple times mostly bucks late season.

Depends on the property, might see 3-6 a year or 4-20 a hunt!

Sat this afternoon and saw 10 doe, 3 fawn, 6 bucks and 2 gobblers.