Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire West Texas Elk

Here's the LAW in Texas:

It is against the law to:

•Hunt an exotic without a valid hunting license.
•Hunt an exotic on a public road or right-of-way.
•Hunt an exotic without the landowner's permission.
•Possess an exotic or the carcass of an exotic without the owner's consent.

Penalty: A person who violates these laws commits an offense. Hunting exotic wildlife without a license is a Class C misdemeanor ($25-$500 fine). The remaining listed offenses are Class A misdemeanors ($500-$4,000 and/or up to one year in jail).

http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/nongame-and-other-species

The landowners with elk are not obligated to let strangers trespass on their ranch (posted or not) and the landowners are legally entitled to charge the going rate for elk.

Butt hurt really?

Is Texas any different than Africa?

Its all pay to play, and the rich pay and the rest......

If you were lucky enough to have a grand father who scratched out a living trying to keep his cows alive where rabbits died,right up until the oil wells hit, well then lucky you.
But never brag about hunting in a place that damn few will ever get a chance, simply because of their name, or their income.

no, i never pay to hunt, unless i choose too.

Jimy, Go cry some where else, you don't have a clue what it takes to ranch in Texas, or any where else, no oil wells here, just hard work. Rio7

Sounds like your own personal problem to me. Some love hunting here, some do not. Take your pick. I'd bet the majority of folks who whine about it, or make assumptions, have never been down here.

Yes, in MS and AL you buy a hunting license, but you don't get tags.

I made enough of a living to get the fu~ek out of there.

There are places in America that even have trees, trees that a man can't see over the top of, meadows with water and beavers, and the craziest thing of all is the birds, some of the birds float on those big pools of water, water that team with fish, that a man can actually eat, and forest that are free for any man to hunt or lakes to fish, America is a great place.

Oh I miss Texas, no really I do...... I can't stop laughing as I type that, its like missing a bad some thing......I can't think of what it is that I miss, maybe thats why I have never been back.

I spent the day outside and saw nary one Mexican, how hard is that to believe?
It is nice to know some one likes Texas, hopefully enough to take it back form the Mexicans at least one more time.

Well nice elk. I don't know about fences and such! Pay to hunt happens everywhere!

It does seem strange to those of us in states with big expanses of public land that almost everything is private land in Texas. But probably fair to say that the best hunting in every state is likely on private land.

I wish my cattle ranching great grandfathers and uncles had held on to their place in the mountains in southern CA but they didn't. We still have a small place and I always had better opportunities than public land hunters so hard to complain. I have let friends and brand new hunters or kids hunt the family place for deer and the place I live on for turkey and never charged a dime, but never allowed or invited any jackasses either.

I can hunt elk on public land in CO for about 1/4 the cost of west Texas and by putting in the extra miles and packing them out boned instead of whole from a couple miles in have better than 80% success on killing at least one elk, cows are very tasty and make a nice consolidation prize if you don't get a bull. For $25K I can hunt/kill a bull not in high fence but pretty much contained a couple of hours away that I'm sure is similar to the West Texas hunt except it still has very rugged terrain.

I don't think that I would ever kill an elk in a petting zoo high fence operation but when I can't climb the hills any more a flat ground hunt in Texas would be an OK option as would some in the other states where Ranch elk are hunted. Heck the same herd we bust our ass to hunt can be hunted from flat ground guided if you write a check for $5K but then I'd have to deal with a rancher who I know is a complete jackass.

I've hunted a fair amount in Texas, and also public lands in California. Saw some wonderful country in California; only managed one mule deer while I was there. A couple different times I was in a "premium X" zone, and was covered up in other hunters.

One year I'd drawn a good zone, scouted it hard, and hiked in a good distance to a meadow with lots of feed and deer sign. I got into it on opening morning, well before dark. I nearly stepped on a another hunter walking in, then got in position. As the sun came up on this premium zone, I was at the edge of the meadow ~300 yards in diameter. There were eight orange spots around the meadow, of guys who had the same idea.

I'm sure I'll do western hunts again, but the private land stuff is a lot less frustrating.

Because Texas is largely private land, people tend to make this sort of discussion about "Texas".

In reality, it's about private land. No matter where it is.

No matter what state it's in, if someone with private land has good hunting, they charge a fee.

It's just the way things roll.

Just because the public owns big game animals doesn't mean any landowner needs to let you on his land for free.

We miss you too!


specneeds.....have you ever been to the "flat ground" called the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas?

There are a few elk on our place in Burnet Texas. I'm sure they are escapee's from high fenced area during a flood. They come and go as they please. We have s low fence. Its cool to see them.

Same in South Llano county on Cedar Mountain. Result of 2005 flood.

Very nice animals Mulie Mike.

Somewhere in Alaska an idiot is sighing the sighs of relief after opening his piehole.

I lived in beautiful downtown Odessa, and worked and "hunted all over west Texas.
Worked the gas plant in Hobbs N.M. and Monahanns fields.
I have some great friends down there, but no desire to ever go back.

Glad to see this thread is not in the Elk Hunting section of the forum……..is there a reason…just asking?

I was invited by a friend once to whitetail hunt with him in Texas on a high fenced ranch. I remember riding the ATV to the shooting hut and climbing the ladder so we had a great view of the feeders. (Don’t know why they hadn’t installed elevators.) And by the way…….the hut was very comfortable with very comfortable chairs. I remember waiting until dawn when the bucks started appearing a few yards away under the feeders…nice big bucks. I didn’t pull the trigger…just wasn’t right for me. I have no problem with my friend who killed a nice buck that morning and was happy for him. Different strokes for different folks and I will not criticize those individuals who enjoy this type of hunting.

After reading through all of this thread I decided to Google Elk Hunting in Texas. Man there are some huge elk killed in Texas. I saw one site where they classified the bulls as Record Book 400-425, Monster Elk 376-399, Trophy Elk 350-349 and the lowly Colorado Elk 300-349……….priced accordingly. Accommodations were outstanding with gourmet meals included!

Another ranch offered kangaroo hunts……don’t know how they are scored…but may put it on my bucket list……….nah!

Maybe some of us judge Texas hunting….fair or not……by these things we read and hear about hunting in Texas. I am glad there are free ranging elk in Texas and hope they will continue to flourish as they are in other states…from Pennsylvania to Arkansas.

According to the Manager of the large ranch mentioned earlier, and possibly one you reference, over 80% of their elk hunts and mule deer hunts are sold to out of state hunters.

And, s far as high fence deer hunting in Texas, the majority of high fencing is done by guys wanting to allow bucks to live long enough to produce decent racks and they are not for client hunters.

Of the commercial high fence hunting places, I'll bet the majority of their clients are from out of state.