I've been a public hunter for over 10 years. I've seen properties mostly go, with very few ever added. Now, Stiles Farms is gone. Something is very wrong with the TPWD Public Hunting division, or whatever they are called. Most of the properties aren't the greatest to begin with, the majority being 1st split dove only, but now the ones that were good enough are going or gone. The value of TPWD Public Hunting is disappearing. Someone in this organization needs to read the book "The Art of Negotiation" or something. That or quit screwing over (or whatever is causing) the landowners to drop out of the program.

One of the very things that make The Great State of Texas great is disappearing before our very eyes.

People paying more than tpwd & people get tired of the public trashing their land. I wouldn't lease my property to tpwd for any amount.

Did you notice richland creek wma cut their waterfowl hunts in half. Use to have a hunt every weekend. Now it is every other weekend. Youbhad to draw to begin with, but now your draw odds just got cut in half.

Public land turning not so public seems to be the name of the game these days.

The amount of trash on all public land is disheartening. I get that you can't pick up every hull, you overlook some or they get ejected into brush to thick to see. But there is no reason to not be able to pick up 80-90% of them. Then leaving redbull cans, and beef jerky wrappers laying all over the place is pure trash.

I try to clean up after other people when I can, and I've found some good spots over the years where people have left heaps of hulls behind. I don't feel bad about stealing their spots if they're gonna do that. Leave it cleaner than the way you found it is what I was taught in scouts.

The term “public land” in Texas is very lose. There is. Lot of land owned by different government entities. But true multi use government land is rare. For instance SRA owns some prime land out around Tawakoni below the dam. I mean prime bottom land. I think it would be awesome for deer and duck draws. But sra is not obligated to provide access.

I wonder if we could get a state rep to tag an amendment into a bill that would require state entities/ municipalities to allow hunting access where feasible.

I just found that out last week. On OnX you can see a lot of SRA land, but when I started internet scouting all around I could clearly see deer stands and feeders. I texted the GW and he informed me that it is in fact SRA land, but they lease the land back to the waterline to adjacent land owners. Great for them I suppose, sux for us tho. When the water is up there's some really good looking stuff in the bottoms.

Yes the stuff along the lake is all lease back

This was taken off the Sabine near Wood county.

Dig into what TXPWD pays to lease and you will understand why so many land owners give it up adn run thier own hunts. It is pathetic, they have the budget to pay more but dont.

I'm sure this is more about the lazy POS's that leave their trash behind than the TPWD not "negotiating" with land owners.

I'm with Soonerdg on this one

I agree. Stiles Farms was nice when we had it. Was just up the road.

Yes there's always the guy that leaves their crap behind, but for the most part I have found the public lands to be cleaner than one would expect. As a rule, I normally pick up other people's hulls that I see and they miss. It's not normal for me to pick up a box of empties, but I have done this too. I don't think it is enough to piss off a landowner to the point that they pull a contract away from TPWD, which is why I wrote my opinion the way I did when I opened this thread. There's more to it - I'd like to hear an answer from an owner that does or did least to TPWD on their thoughts.

Regarding Stiles, I loved it and knew right where to go. It took some walking, but I wasn't afraid to do it.

Trash, messed up roads are a factor but it’s more about the money than anything else. Landowners can get way more money with more control and less liability risk.

I pick up empties when I see them. No big deal. I just put them in my chair hopefully with mine.

TPWD needs to work on the public land here in Texas. It's really going down hill fast.