Posted By: ChanMan
How to go about the public - 06/09/20 07:52 PM
Ok, some background first.
I have been to this forum many times and lurked about. I finally decided to ask a question and joined last night.
This may be a long story, but I feel the background is useful.
I was born and still have family in west Texas. My heart is still there. When I was in middle school, 20 years ago, my dad got transferred to a different part of the state. 6 hrs. Away. We Have always tried to get out there as much as we can, but now that I have a real job, family, etc. trips are limited to The school breakS (Labor Day, thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, summer.) We still have a place out there (a section) and a long time family friend leases it to run his cattle and keep the place up.
Anytime I’m out there, I’m out at the farm as much as possible. I know every inch of it like the back of my hand. If I could, I’d live out there and be a rancher and hunt daily. But, things aren’t so.
With all this being said, I have all my life hunted our place, or some other family spots out there. Dove, deer, quail with the occasional turkey hog and coyote have been thoughtfully harvested with the best interest of nature in mind.
Here’s the problem:
I need more hunting! Lol. My poor dove days are usually limited to Labor Day weekend. As you all know, sometimes that’s a full weekend of hunting and sometimes that’s a day depending on when sept. 1 is. Deer is limited to thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, when deer are pretty skittish and family time is paramount over stand time. Quail, deer, turkey, dove I get during Christmas break, and usually just limit that to quail and dove. Spring break and summer are spent fishing on one of the stock tanks, or .22 plinking.
I have recently started looking into Argentina dove hunts. I’d like to take my dad as dove hunting is a big part of our hunting history. Saving money has started for that. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull it off anytime soon. I want it to be 5 star and no worries about how many shells we blow through/tipping/ etc. so in the meantime I thought a pheasant hunt here in the states may be more affordable.
They are...barely. Lol. At least to do it big.
Then, I started seeing and researching a lot of Kansas walk in hunts and public land hunts. This piqued my interest. So I started researching how to do this.
Then, I decided to see if Texas had anything like this. Well, wouldn’t you know, they do!
I think.
I googled Texas public land hunts. Went to TPWD website and read up on the stuff. It looks so promising!
Here, at last is my question(s).
How do I do this?
I saw where one needs a hunting license and then a $48 permit for WMA’s and private property leased by TPWD. Now what?
Do I let someone know I’m using this area? The game warden in the area? Rangers? The landowner?
How would I do this without disturbing other hunters or the private land owner that has leased their place?
I want to be respectful of the land and people too. So I would love y’all’s feedback. Forgive me if I haven’t dug deep enough on this forum and have missed answers y’all have already covered. (I usually stay in the upland and shotgun areas of the forum while lurking). I am so used to private land, and being mindful of others’ land I have trouble grasping this. Lol. I would be mad if someone was using our place without permission, however am more than generous to those who do things right. I know the private land leaders and the state want these lands hunted, I just want to do it right and ethically.
Thank you all in advance.
ChanMan
I have been to this forum many times and lurked about. I finally decided to ask a question and joined last night.
This may be a long story, but I feel the background is useful.
I was born and still have family in west Texas. My heart is still there. When I was in middle school, 20 years ago, my dad got transferred to a different part of the state. 6 hrs. Away. We Have always tried to get out there as much as we can, but now that I have a real job, family, etc. trips are limited to The school breakS (Labor Day, thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, summer.) We still have a place out there (a section) and a long time family friend leases it to run his cattle and keep the place up.
Anytime I’m out there, I’m out at the farm as much as possible. I know every inch of it like the back of my hand. If I could, I’d live out there and be a rancher and hunt daily. But, things aren’t so.
With all this being said, I have all my life hunted our place, or some other family spots out there. Dove, deer, quail with the occasional turkey hog and coyote have been thoughtfully harvested with the best interest of nature in mind.
Here’s the problem:
I need more hunting! Lol. My poor dove days are usually limited to Labor Day weekend. As you all know, sometimes that’s a full weekend of hunting and sometimes that’s a day depending on when sept. 1 is. Deer is limited to thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, when deer are pretty skittish and family time is paramount over stand time. Quail, deer, turkey, dove I get during Christmas break, and usually just limit that to quail and dove. Spring break and summer are spent fishing on one of the stock tanks, or .22 plinking.
I have recently started looking into Argentina dove hunts. I’d like to take my dad as dove hunting is a big part of our hunting history. Saving money has started for that. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull it off anytime soon. I want it to be 5 star and no worries about how many shells we blow through/tipping/ etc. so in the meantime I thought a pheasant hunt here in the states may be more affordable.
They are...barely. Lol. At least to do it big.
Then, I started seeing and researching a lot of Kansas walk in hunts and public land hunts. This piqued my interest. So I started researching how to do this.
Then, I decided to see if Texas had anything like this. Well, wouldn’t you know, they do!
I think.
I googled Texas public land hunts. Went to TPWD website and read up on the stuff. It looks so promising!
Here, at last is my question(s).
How do I do this?
I saw where one needs a hunting license and then a $48 permit for WMA’s and private property leased by TPWD. Now what?
Do I let someone know I’m using this area? The game warden in the area? Rangers? The landowner?
How would I do this without disturbing other hunters or the private land owner that has leased their place?
I want to be respectful of the land and people too. So I would love y’all’s feedback. Forgive me if I haven’t dug deep enough on this forum and have missed answers y’all have already covered. (I usually stay in the upland and shotgun areas of the forum while lurking). I am so used to private land, and being mindful of others’ land I have trouble grasping this. Lol. I would be mad if someone was using our place without permission, however am more than generous to those who do things right. I know the private land leaders and the state want these lands hunted, I just want to do it right and ethically.
Thank you all in advance.
ChanMan