Anyone hunting with them this year? My buddies and I got our letters over the weekend and we're debating joining. If we're going to do it it'll be our first year. Scouting seems to be a must but is it really worth it? Maybe if we do join I can meet some of you gents out there. My buddies are closer to the Howe side and I'm closer to the Leonard side.

I was on it for a couple seasons 10 years ago or so. The folks that run it are good people, but ya gotta know what you're getting into. The opener is on a Sun so everyone that is on the lease will be out there. You absolutely have to scout, we used to divide and conquer splitting up areas to check out. Your best bet is to find a spot that is out of the way as possible that has a decent (but not a ton) of birds. Any place that is loaded up will also be loaded up with hunters. And it won't matter what time you get there, folks will setup on you right before shooting time. We had some guys run out of room and went out into the middle of the field screwing up everybody's hunt. So, locate that hard to find spot that you might be able to have to yourselves or at least without a lot of pressure.

Usually after the first few days the birds are hard to come by. You can scout it all again in Oct after that second cold snap and there may be some new birds around that you can pretty much have to yourself. Most of their fields are corn so by Oct you'll want to try to find something else cuz they'll be picked over. Look for croton (dove/goat weed) or sunflowers in pastures around ponds in the late fall.

Very similar experience to Larry Cooper. Overall, not a great experience about 11-12 years ago. Was on there with a few guys for 2 seasons just to be able to hunt after work in areas not too far north on 75 near Howe. Most the fields didn't have many birds. The ones that did were often filled up on the weekends. I would definitely scout before just showing up to some of their random fields. I do remember a couple times driving an hour from downtown Dallas and not seeing more than 3-5 birds the entire hunt. It was cheap, but not worth it.

2006 I did a season lease, 2008 hunted it one days as a guest.

Back then it was a one step upgrade over public. And public dove hunting sucks.

I was on it for two or three years about a decade ago mainly out of convenience. I only live about five minutes from two of their fields. One of those fields is now covered in houses. Awesome. Anyway, I'll echo what the others said about the birds. I never got into many. I never hunted opening day but the weekends thereafter I had any field I wanted practically to myself which was nice. We did have a good hunt during a decent October cold front and another right before Christmas. It was nice having a handy place to go but not $350 nice.

Friends were on it last year, said it was no better than public. Think they only went to 2-3 fields though.

Where is it located?

They had many fields around here, long time ago, probably has not changed.

The problem with public and DJ is no sun flower fields, or lack of. Especially the shredding of sunflowers. The one season I hunted there, they best spot was a field that was next to another property (not DJ) that had shredded sun flowers, I would pattern the birds and shoot them flying to/from that sunflower field.

I emailed the late Ray Sasser of the DMN about 10 years ago at least and he said go west. Even further than the traditional line that ran from Wichita Falls to Laredo.

If you hunt doves anywhere east of the metromess it really needs to be on a food field or good water hole. So many "dove fields" are just Johnson grass pasture.

I like going west, it’s more about the adventure tho. When I see cactus I’m getting close. But in Dallas if you have a field with sun flowers they are normally loaded with dove. A lot of birds get shot every year in Frisco sun flower fields, been that way for years, but the hot fields are getting developed more and more each year.

I've done the DJ Farms lease for 4-5 years now.

I think my best hunt I shot 7-8 birds. I'll be honest, I don't have time to scout so I usually pick a field off the map and roll the dice.

For the money and convenience it's been worth it to me. Especially because I'm able to bring my kiddo's with me. I've thought about doing the bigger package this year and giving the varmin hunting a go this year. I know nothing about the duck hunting though.

I was on it a number of years ago. The dove hunting was marginal. There was plenty of land to hunt, just not many doves. Preseason scouting is a must. On year I found a great field for opening day. I got there well before shooting time, to get a decent spot. A group of three hunters got there about 20 minutes into shooting time, and saw that the edge of the field, was lined with hunters. So, they walked about 40 yards directly in front of me, and sat down in chairs to hunt. Beyond rude, in addition to being unsafe. I left and was lucky to find a nearby field that held some birds. It really felt like a public land area. Pack your patience. If you have nowhere else to go, and put in the time to scout, it is worth considering.

I was on their leases for 2 years a couple of years ago. Did tons of scouting and hunted all of their fields on the Howe side and hardly ever saw anything.

It was basically a cheap way to just get my kids out there and have them shoot their BB guns while we watched mostly-empty skies.

Did it for one year many years ago. Did a lot of sky watching. Not much else.

Same thing here but I was set up on a weed line that ran through middle of field. Dude sets up 15' directly behind me. I turned around and said sorry I was here first. He said I am facing the other way. I said I don't care. Then he said "not my first rodeo". I said "looks like it to me". He decided the best thing to do was move on down the weed line that was several hundred yards long. Hunting out there seems to have gone downhill last few years. My favorite and best producing field is no longer part of it. When I lived in Roanoke I had places to hunt near Ranger and Ponder. Also had a,friend that had a place between Brownwood and Brady but he and his wife are no longer with us.

I will add that if we get the predicted rains there will be some people stuck in the mud out there. The roads on the Leonard side can get real nasty. I was out scouting 1 year and slid off the side of 1. Without a rear locker I would have been walking.

I live 6 miles due south of Leonard ,there are no birds out here. Years ago I was on it and had yahoos to pulled a old bronco on a trailer unloaded and drove straight across the field. Put two blue tarps out with mojo’s on every corner. I ask what the h..l y’all doing there answer was imitating water holes. Omg did I get a laugh. That is the type of idiots you will run into out here. Be safe

This time of year I normally text Vernon at Richardson's gun shop but have not this year.

I did dj many many yrs ago. It’s alot of just open land. The birds really don’t have a reason to be there. That being said. It rained that opener we hunted a cut corn field. That am up in Howe the birds were high and all over the place. Me and a buddy shot a two man limit that am. The property ran against hwy 5 if I could remember. There was a little white farm house on the backside of it. I went back to the same feild and was able to pick a few white wings off but other than that, the birds were minimal…. In order for that lease to produce, the birds have to be here in the metroplex in general. they simply have not as the migration pattern has gone west and far south. Try to hunt the fronts that’s how you will get a few out there.