So Ive always been fortunate enough to hunt private property however Im going to try my luck at public hunting since trying to find a place anywhere is going to cost me the price of my house. Can you guys in here that are public hunt masters give me some tips and tricks for this type of hunting? Ive been trying to do my research but Im just having trouble trying to figure out where the best spots are, whats the best weeks to go and trying to figure the draw. Seems like since Im a Texas native I should be able to hunt on any public land at anytime but apparently thats not the case. I saw on the TPWD website that they offer free hunts if youre willing to buy the tickets to them but that almost seems like youre wasting money. Also when I was looking at all the public land, WMG, C.O.E, National Forests, they only let a certain amount of tags out. 115 tags are available but youve got 2500 people putting in for those tags. Maybe im just too dumb to figure it out but like I said, if any of you who do this annually and have it mastered it would be greatly appreciated for the help. I mainly want to shoot some mule deer out west or do some south texas hunting. Honestly I want to try them all. Appreciate any of you who took the time to read all this and help me out.

Pretty simple really. For Texas, buy a hunting license and an annual hunting permit (APH). Get the map booklet and start learning where public lands are located. Visit all of the ones within an hour or two of your home. Learn what's available and talk to anyone you meet. Public hunt applications for 2025-2026 start in July. By then, you should know where to apply.

For all the Western states, they are applying between now and June. Park your azz in front of the computer, download and bookmark all the game/fish websites and start reading

There might still be one area in the panhandle where you can hunt mule deer without a permit, but there would be lots of hunting pressure and a legal deer there would be a needle in a haystack. Otherwise there are no public hunting lands for Texas Mule Deer or South Texas Whitetail that are not going to be a lottery draw. Your options for those are to apply for the drawn hunts each year and hope you get lucky. For public Mule Deer, a better option might be applying for tags in states like New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, etc. Another option if you have the time. Texas drawn hunts will have standby draws on site before a hunt for any permits not allocated during the online draw and for no shows. It can make for a long drive home when not drawn, but if a permit is available the odds on the hat draw are typically much better than the original online draw.

APH permit will get you in to lots of areas. Like Blank said get the APH booklet see whats in your area and get after it.

You will do best in a tree climber but it is not needed if that isn't an option for you like me. Hunt low lying areas with old growth forests. Walk the creeks and look for signs. This is definitely not the same as sitting in a stand over a feeder. The gratification that comes from taking a nice animal on public land is worth all of the troubles of scouting and walking in a mile or 2 before the sun comes up etc etc.

You will definitely improve your hunting skills but you will have to put some walking/scouting in to make it worthwhile.

When I was younger I loved walking the creeks for pigs in the Sam Houston natl forest.

I grew up in VA until moving to Texas in early 90's.. We hunted a lot of National Forest as a kid. My last hunt there was '76 when I was sixteen. I got on stand about an hour before daylight. When the sun finally provided enough light to see. I was surrounded by four or five orange vest/capped hunters in all directions. I immediately got up waved my orange hat and walked out hoping to find a place with no hunters. Last time hunting National Forest. Never hunted public land in Texas.

Mule deer and south Texas? So is everyone else.

Start putting in for the TPWD drawn hunts. Its kinda hard to be drawn in your first couple years. You will need to build up points in different categories.

Yep

Honestly, don't bother. Dangerous shooting, stolen gear, and just generally never killing anything. Imagine the largest amount of pressure in the world. Thats public hunting.

Unfortunately for many of us that's about the only option we have. Having searched for leases I keep seeing price tags in the five digit range per gun. Absolute lowest I saw was 8K a year per gun.. I don't know what world those price tags are justified in but it makes zero fiscal sense to pay a price like that.
If hunting is left as a sport for wealthy or old land owners then nobody gets to be surprised when it's relegated to the past tense.

Bovine, lease hunting in Texas isn’t cheap but I would think way less than a majority are 5 figures(as you stated).
Leases are hard to find but 4 to 5k should get you something decent if you can find it.

There are some, and some have come down since. (It's basically a daily search now... after quite literally searching for years all I've come up with is disappointment...) however 6k or 100k are both equally out of reach. I don't really know what people do to be able to afford 4-5k a month per head, but that's rapidly closing in on what I can only call a wealthy hobby. I'm not exactly poor, but 4-5k is way outside what I can justify. Leaves me sorta priced out, and that's a huge part of why this has become so infuriating.

I think you would have better chances of putting in on western hunts. Public hunting in Texas is not what it is in other states. Best public hunting in Texas are probably those TPWD draw hunts, and those are few and far between. I put in for some every year. I’m 38. I’ve been drawn for what would be considered a “good” deer hunt once.

I am not a deer hunter but I have deer hunted the SAM a few times. And yes I did have one guy walk by me and I walked down a path with another guy to different areas. That was my extent of seeing people on the 5 or 6 hunts I went on. That being said I am a pig hunter and I have never seen another hunter nor have I ever heard another shot while piggin. That was over dozens and dozens of trips. I am sure opening weekend and weekends in general are busy and crowded but you just dont hunt on those days for deer. You will be fine. I had the entire 100,000 acres to myself every time I went on a pig trip.

Used to enter draws for T,P & W hunts and get drawn every few years but those odds have since gone way up! But, still try every year. Perhaps they can improve odds for those that have built up Preference Points?

They have. Your points are now cubed so they increase exponentially. The last big game hunt I was drawn for I had 27 points, so 27x27x27 was really 19683 points in the draw.