Texas Hunting Forum

Any advice or tips? Bee County

Posted By: usmc1355

Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 01:04 AM

I just got a 200 acre track in Bee county to hunt. Two low fence lines boarder the Welder ranch. Anyone that hunts take area know what to expect on deer size and time of the rut. Any good tips would help as well new to hunting that area and gonna get started setting up. Thanks

Any day in the woods is better than any day at work! Hunt on

Posted By: skinnerback

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 01:28 AM

Got my first deer just outside of Beeville, used to hunt on the Welder Ranch. The Welder has some AWESOME bucks on it, (though I could never afford them). Bee County in general has some great deer, not to mention the turkeys, hogs, etc. As far as what you can expect, it's hard for me to say from behind a keyboard. If I were you, I would get set up as soon as possible (feeders & trail cams). Alot of what you'll see or don't see kinda depends on water right now, but start right away & be patient. The rut usually starts around early to mid December, you may hear other folks try & give you an exact date when the rut begins & all of that....take it with a grain of salt, the beginning of the rut always fluctuates a little from my experience. During the winter, especially after a good cold front during the rut...you just might get a monster jump your fence so don't get too dissapointed if you don't see wallhangers on your trail cams. Hunt "on the ready", you never know. Also, if there is not any water on the property, try & get some there if at all possible. Good luck to you!

Posted By: rtp

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 01:37 AM

If you can get a food plot ready for the season that would be great. I use just straight oats and plant normally 1st week of Oct. May plant a little earlier or later depending on when I see some rain coming in the forecast. Dont laugh about the rain Im being optimistic that it will start up again. If not just try to lay out as much corn as possible to attract some deer. I would not hunt the fence lines. Some might argue but I dont see that as being very neighborly. The Welder's have tons of money and I know people that have high fenced out "bad" neighbors because they can. Good luck and be patient. If your place has not been mistreated in years past, the hunting should get better as the season goes on.

Posted By: usmc1355

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 01:41 AM

Yeah I hunted Roma and Freer which was really tough. I got a decent size tank with a well being ran by solar power so at least its full. No joke on the hog signs and wonder how much it hinders the deer. Only can eat so much pork. Heard the area had good deer so I'm pretty stoked about this season. More so I ain't gotta drive only 30 miles to get thwre.

Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 01:45 AM

I grew up in Bee County. That area has produce some really great deer over the years. Just south of you they killed an upper 190's buck last year LF. A book deer was killed in the 80's if I remember right in between Refugio and Beeville that netted in the low 170's LF. Some areas do get hunted rather hard though so you will have to deal with that if any LF sides are leased to hunters. Numbers of deer seem to be inline with what the area should carry. You can get from thick South Texas looking brush to more open Post Oak country to large Live Oak trees to Oak Mott country. Creek bottoms are really thick with and some really large mesquites also. Mast crops can be tough to hunt on wet years which won't be a problem this year.

Posted By: skinnerback

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 01:58 AM

That's great you've gotta tank/well set-up, that's a big plus. On the hog sign:yes, it hinders them. Once you set up your feeders/cams you're going to see more & more of them. The deer don't get along with the hogs at all, I've watched hogs run deer off of feeders MANY times. They are aggressive & don't like to share. I used to guide/babysit hunters on the Welder & had to shoot more than one big-ol-hog that would not leave the feeder....kept running the deer off. Personally, I truly enjoy hunting/shooting/eating pigs & don't mind cleaning them at all. But yes, you can only eat so much pork. There are a number of things that you can try & do to reduce your hog population, and/or give your deer a better chance to feed.....but the truth is they're never gonna go away.....the battle will go on lol! If I were you, I would start looking into hog traps. Box traps work but if you're gonna get serious you need to build a good round pin trap. You can google that, Texas A&M has some pretty good illustrations & videos on them.

Posted By: usmc1355

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 02:00 AM

It looks like it was taken care of and no over hunting pressure. Very limited access to my spot through several locked gates and large sections of land. I believe another boarder ranch is the Silverberry ranch. I got lucky as to be the only gun on it. It is off 181 in Papalote.

Posted By: skinnerback

Re: Any advice or tips? Bee County - 08/08/11 02:11 AM

Man, you may have hit the lottery there. If you can afford it I would feed that place year round. A small tract of land like that bordering big ranches can be truly awesome. I say feed year round to try & bring in as many does as possible that will stay & live there, when it's time for them big-ol-Welder bucks to chase tail...be ready buddy lol. Best wishes!

© 2024 Texas Hunting Forum