Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting In defense of Texas hunting leases

Are you bragging or complaining?

You do realize that deer live other places, right? You stated that you 'read that most deer don't go more than 1 mile' you didn't say the deer in your woods don't go more than 1 mile.

So, once again, it's BS that MOST deer don't go more than 1 mile.

To each his own choice. Thank goodness I don't have to hunt in Texas. Shooting deer at a feeder seems too much like shooting livestock in a pasture; I have no interest in either.
Northern New England still has a lot of land, both private and public, that is open to the public at no charge. It may take a little work to find and the deer densities aren't real high but it isn't tough to escape the crowds. The hunting isn't a lot different than when I was a kid hunting with my dad 50+ years ago.

He's complaining. As usual.

If we could buy him for what he's worth, and sell him for what he THINKS he's worth, we'd all be rich, and go shoot deer on many leases...

The sad thing is you dumb SOB's think you're really hunting down there. God forbid you actually get off your azz and go in search of deer.

Neither. Just stating how it is.

I'm not interested in defending the private model of hunting in Texas. It's pretty much the same as Europe or South Africa where hunting is for the very rich and their friends/family. I much prefer large areas of public land that have reasonable access.

Could you please explain to me the difference between building a quick ground blind from brush on the edge of a cornfield in Iowa, or using a small brush pile for cover near an apple tree in Vermont and hunting a corn feeder from a pop up ground blind in Texas? Seems to me that the guy with the corn field in Iowa has the advantage.

There is a lot to your statement.

A lot of folks these days are management minded. Its the older folks that still think about shooting anything or at least any 8 so they can say to friends, I got another 8.... its the younger(hell we are pushing and over 50 now though) crowd that cares more about the herd and less about shooting an 8, we are after a mature wall hanger. Don't really care if that comes every 10 years or never again. We shoot to manage and eat. And now and then we get lucky.

I'm really amazed that folks get taken to task for that. You would manage livestock of any kind exactly the same way except for taking out the best breeder, but since we do that when the best no longer breed basically, its of no harm to the herd.

Re high fences, it seems that many think that high fences are all over the place... they really are not. I've hunted TX since the early 70s. Its this last lease that we are on now for the last 6 or 7 years that we hunt next to one. I've never been close to one in all the other years. You see them here and there but they are expensive to build and maintain, and really are not that common IMHO. Down south TX they might be a bit more common.

But having been on a 10K acre one a few times as a guest, I can tell you this... we hunted a 181 inch buck for weeks.... and never even caught sight. I know this because my buddies grandpa's cardiologist finally killed him... IE I knew the final score... We knew his area, had him on camera, and hunted hard on 3 day weekends for about 3 weeks.... go figure. Not that it bothered me but it sure wasn't fish in a barrel.

We all obviously hunt with what we have to work with. But to explain part of the difference. Texans will correct me if I'm wrong.

I can open and slam the front door and then throw out a dozen apples on the front yard. Usually, within 30minutes, they will be there eating them.

Cousin has a timed feeder in his backyard. It starts spinning and they will be there shortly most times.

Pavlov reflex when it comes to feeders.

To everyone who thinks they understand Texas hunting, guessing and opinions are a piss poor substitute for actual experience.

I am a firm believer in Fair Chase and I am also a believer in high fence hunting. I've never done it, but I had a trip that took me to the Texas Hill Country, and spent a good deal of time riding roads that were high-fenced on both sides for miles at a time.

I'm not against fencing, and I'm not against feeding. I don't feed on my property as a general rule, simply because I find I get better bang for the buck using other methods.

What I worry about is based on my hunting experience in Kentucky and Ohio. Public land hunting is too crowded and never to my taste. I never liked bumping into other hunters, and I never liked strangers' bullets zipping through the trees over my head. I opted for 200 acres of abandoned farm land and have been happy to hunt there with my family since 2001.

When I got there, I found the farm had been used as an unofficial WMA by the locals for a generation or more. Everyone knew my property. The old lady that lived there never denied anyone a hunt and regularly entertained them in her house. There was bitterness when I took over the place and posted it.

Now let us look at it from the other side: here's an out-of-state hunter swallowing up the local honey hole and hoarding it for himself. Damn! That's not right! What I see is that's the way the whole world is going. Everywhere the private land is being put off limits to hunters and the hunters that remain are being pushed onto ever more crowded public land.

Now here is a high-fenced alternative. Is it wild? Nothing is wild anymore. Everything has been touched by Man. I see hunting these days as sort of a Zen Garden type of thing. We aren't going to find true Wilderness anymore, so what we need to do is find an acceptable venue that reminds us of it. What I see is a future where folks can rent a spot in a simulated wilderness to capture that feeling. This may be where hunting is headed.

The Zen Garden

My point here is that we should not be too quick to knock hunting behind high fences. If you're in the middle of 3,000 acres or even 300, it feels wild. Fair Chase? Look I've got 200 acres of land. Statistics say there is probably one mature buck on the property at any given time. My chances of seeing him? About zilch. If I'm in the middle of the property, I couldn't tell if there was a high fence going around the perimeter or the Great Wall of China.

Supplemental feeding? I understand why that is part of the deal in Texas. You've got vast tracks of land covered with low brush and the odds are in the deer's favor. When a hunter talks about a deer running 30 or 40 yards after the shot and the carcass getting lost, I listen. It isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I understand.

So why do I think the Texas model may be the future of deer hunting? Look at where I am-- 60 some miles from Cincinnati. A Dad wants to take his son hunting. He has no access to private land and every WMA within a day's drive is filled beyond capacity. Now what? Let's say a place opens up an hour or two away from the metroplex that offers a weekend hunt, rustic living, full meals and processing for a father and son for a reasonable price. The only catch is that you're hunting inside a high fence. Who is going to mind? I've hunted with my back to a K-Mart. I've bowhunted in the 'Burbs. As long as you're not staring at the fence, the Zen Garden Effect is going to be just as real.

Just before the Deer & Deer Hunting forum folded tent, there was a fellow on there that was railing about how high fence hunting was complete anathema. He hated foodplots, minerals, etc. He took every opportunity to take umbrage with a couple of guys who ran Texas exotic ranches and pay-for-play hunting. He insisted that he would only hunt a wild, untouched place. As his story came out, I found he was hunting a large Wisconsin dairy farm exclusively. I don't want to call him a hypocrite, only because he was absolutely clueless as to what a dairy operation entailed. He showed up in the fall and did his bowhunting thing and had no idea what was going on around him.

Texas boys hunt high fence and over feeders, Ohio is a bunch of flatlanders, steer clear of the Pa crazies, wait you want crazy go South when they run them with Dogs. The Montana boys are unethical and use .22cal, etc, etc. Heck in some places they come in and take a nap all afternoon. Deer don't move during the day you know. Up in Michigan, you can bait them with potatoes. Two bushels max in one spot. How big is a spot and how do they tally up a bushel? Again, etc, etc.

Just who are the real Deer hunters?

Texan's get chit on for hunting methods dictated by what is allowed by 95% private land owners.

It would be great if we could at least target practice on the public land available, but that chit aint' happening either.

I would concur. There are reasons Texans do it the way they do it..you may not agree with them all, but when in Rome....

Sit back, watch and learn why.

If you don't want to hunt like Texans, don't go to Texas. No one is forcing you...

Pa is turning into Texas more every season and so are all but a few of the States. Ak being perhaps the only one, but then again there is a lot of cash changing hands up there to hunt.

Texas doesn't have to defend anything when it comes to Deer hunting. In fact, with their example along with other places like Kansas, it could be argued they are responsible for bringing more into the hunting ranks than those who think they are the pure Deer hunters.

Those two statements pretty much answer this entire thread, regardless of what else is said....

I love going to Texas and hunting Exotics. Have done free range and high fence.

I once shot a deer eating juniper berries.


Trust me! Don't do it!!!!



Those berries taste like schidt!