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

A little history first. FWIW I was a history teacher for close to 30yrs. I have only hunted Texas, except one trip to New Mexico and one to Africa.
Texas was an independent nation before it became a state. There are many nuisances to this, but one of the main ones is that Texas retained all it's public land. There are national forests now, but those were purchased from local landowners.
I grew up on the edge of East Texas. I spent lots of time driving the roads and hunting small areas in the mid to late 60s, for rabbits, squirrels dove and quail. I never saw a deer until 67, when I saw one doe. There were deer in pockets, but not many. Driving the back roads to college in the piney woods I never saw a deer along the roadside. There were some deer in the national forests, but not many. Much of this was probably due to hunters that would shoot any deer any time of the day or year. I once knew a guy that always carried his gun on Wednesday and Sunday go-to-meeting night and drive the long way home hoping to get a shot.
Most hunters, from basically Dallas-Houston east, if they wanted to deer hunt, went west or south west. The ranchers in these areas, seeing a way to make money began to lease for deer hunting. My father and a bunch of his buddies, began leasing a place near Kerrville, in what's called the Hill Country, in the early 50s. It was a big deal, and still is to many, to go 'to the deer lease.' It use to kill me when Daddy would leave and not take me.
Beginning in the mid sixties problems began to show. It was illegal to shoot spikes, and does, and for a long time afterwards many landowners frowned on it. The rules on our lease said 12yrs was minimum age to go and 14yrs to hunt(accompanied.) It was not uncommon to see 20+ does and a handful of spikes per morning or night. The deer were small also. A mature buck (3.5yo) might not weigh 100lbs. I once shot a buck that had an 8pt, perfectly formed, rack that had an 8", that's right, 8" inside spread. At that time 'forward thinking' landowners began to high fence their ranches. A friend's father was on a lease. We used to see lots of deer, but few bucks.That was 50yrs ago and I've forgotten some of the details. I believe he had over 3000 acres and they wanted 75-100 or so, does and spikes killed. The leasees took local boys club and scouts on a one day hunt. A good day was had by all, except the deer. There was also a management plan where bucks and does were to be killed in equal numbers. The next year the leases were worried because they were not seeing many deer. The following year both size and quality improved. Unfortunately, due to college I was unable to hunt that ranch again.
There has been good and bad connected with high fencing. As with anything abuses do occur. On the whole I believe that they are for the good. On hunting high fenced areas, I have never had to make a shot at an un wounded running deer, nor a 'texas heart shot.' I don't practice these shots as I'm sure you do. I have never had a shot close in my direction nor had anyone walk by where I was hunting. I have never had one jump a fence and get away ( although I have on low fences,) nor have I ever had one run 200yds only to be claimed by someone else.
As far as hunting over a feeder from a deer stand. Is that so much different from hunting over a mast crop, or an agricultural field, from a popup blind or a tripod. Also I have never had my hunt made miserable or shortened by bad weather, except 100+% during summer axis or hog hunting.
This leads to my last point. Many animals are in hunting numbers today due to high fencing. This had lead to the establishment of a free ranging population of Audad, blackbuck and axis. These seem to be a good fit with our deer herds as these are grazers unlike whitetail which eat forbes. Although everyone that kills a hog claims that it is part Russian, it's not true. But, the ones that are are because of escapees.
We basically play the hand we are delt. I hunt the way my father hunted. I have also still hunted, been part of mini drives and hunted choke points on high fence, low fence and national forest.
So before you criticize it too much, come down, try our way, try your way and make your judgement. Let us keep this civil! captdavid

The story of the screw worm fly would fit right in with what you write.

There is a lot of things I like about Texas, and some really unique hunting opportunities I would love to experience.

High fence, private lease, blind over a corn feeder, "bunk house" type deer hunting is not one.

Just my opinion of course.

I too, grew up in Texas and hunting in Texas. I never hunted a high fenced area until I was in my late 40's.
One part of Captdavid's story is that a lot of the reason for the 'no doe shooting' in the 60's was due in large part to the drought of the 50's. There was a study done in the late 50's by Texas A&M in Llano county that showed some 90% of the deer there had died off due to no rain.
(as an aside, they closed the gates on Lake Belton in 1959 and stated that with the current rate of rainfall in the area, the lake would be filled in 5-6 years. That spring [1960] they had record rainfall and the lake was filled in less than 18 months)
Screw worm in South Texas kept the deer herds lower than carrying capacity for many years.
When Texas became a state, the US allowed Texas to keep it's lands in lieu of the US taking on the debt the Republic had piled up. The only requirement was the forfeiture of the lands in what is now parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.
Texas traded away some 'useless' land to have the current capitol built. This formed the XIT Ranch in the panhandle. They used convict labor for a lot of the workforce - the reason there is a street in Austin named 'Convict Hill Rd'.
The opinions of High Fence vs Low Fence will never be over. There is some good that comes of having high fencing to some and some mistaken beliefs involved by some that have never hunted it.
Methodology of hunting varies all over the country. Some would never hunt deer with dogs, to others, it is a way of life.
To each their own. The main thing to remember is the famous quote from one of our founding fathers - if we do not hang together, surely we will hang separately. If you don't want to hunt a certain way, don't.

Theres lots of pros and cons and opinions all over the board..What I get a kick out of are those that would refuse to hunt a 4,000 acre high fenced place but are perfectly content to confine themselves to a 114 acre "lease"....complete with feeders.

There are a lot of variables on a 100 acre small lease. I've seen some that are outstanding, because they are just over the low fence from a large ranch that is heavily managed. One is ok as long as the management strategy is adhered to. Problems arise when you are on a hundred acre lease by yourself, surrounded by five other hundred acre leases with ten hunters each. I once had a chance to buy 25 acres with a small house, surrounded by national forests. It would be a great base and one person might never have to hunt outside the fences.
Ingwe is right when he speaks of 4000 acre high fenced property. I've read that most deer never go more than a mile from where they were born. That being the case, what's the difference is in the writer's mind, not the deer's. The fact that one can hunt exotic deer's or antelope year around is a positive. I would've loved to hunt the prairies, or Rockies, but those weren't in the cards. I've only hunted outside Texas twice, once Africa, once New Mexico. I am not physically able to doo much walking or mountain climbing, but I do have a bucket list that includes the Texas Panhandle and 'up north'.
Captdavid

Texas with it's lease system and deer management practices has destroyed deer hunting in my lifetime. The lease system and "trophy management" has spread like a disease from Texas throughout the Country. When I was young, your average deer hunter here had no idea how to score a rack and didn't care. Folks hunted for fun/recreation and meat. Farmers looked at deer as a nuisance and consequently most didn't post their land and welcomed hunters. Any legal buck was considered a "good buck" and the odd big one a fortunate curiosity. Texas's bullshyt management practices, intense focus on "trophy bucks" and "score" has changed what was once a simple, inexpensive form of entertaiment for the rural masses into a rich mans competetive sport for the fortunate few. Thanks alot and congratulations you azzholes. Now GFY.

I don't do too many guided hunts, but when I do...it sure is nice to not see vehicles parked on every bend of the road...though most of those guys don't get 100 yards from the road.

I am happy that I can hunt public lands to my heart's content...but if I want to get away from the crowds, I'm glad I have the option to go on a hunt somewhere and have the place to myself...

And then the economy picked up and I could afford a gun to go compete with blackheart for cheap hunting and run up his cost.

Where I hunt it would be hard to walk 2mi in any direction and not hit a corn, soybean, alfalfa, buckwheat, etc field. No high fence, but one heck of a big feeder. And boy am I glad of it.

It wasn't Texas or leases that changed anything.

It was far better hunter awareness and a conjoined effort to improve deer herds, and not just shoot anything with hair on it.

If game conservation and management is a by product, then we are all the better for it.

If you still want to hunt cheaply, then put in for a tag out west on public land, or get in on management hunts for does or cull bucks.

Public land has become alot more crowded since all the private land got posted up and leased. Luckily there is alot of public land here and you can still get away from other hunters if you want to and work at it. I've hunted state land a ton here and have hunted many days without seeing a single soul or so much as a boot track in the snow. The woods are expansive, sparsely populated with deer and there are no feeders, food plots, blinds, shooting houses or stands. No four wheelers allowed either and the mountains are steep. It can be a chore getting a deer out.

Boy are you full of shyt as usual. Whitetail trophy buck madness got it's start in Texas. It was the greed of land owners, hunting product manufacturers and hunting video producers aided by the magzine publishers who all assisted in spreading the disease in the name of $$$$$$.

Pa has more than a little high fence hunting compliments of the State to keep Deer off heavily traveled roads. They can be hot spots, especially where one finds a break or it runs across a ditch.

In some ways I agree with Blackheart. I guess his attitude matches his name. But he doesn't have to be vulgar. I'm sure he wants the most pay for his work. Why shouldn't the property owner want the same.
Where I so much agree is that trophy fees have gone bonkers. But, they have allowed hog and doe prices to remain fairly reasonable. Something large and good to eat is available to hunt and eat year around. Remember, there isn't much public hunting land in most of Texas. So we need to be positive and live with we have. Captdavid

And the 'deer not going more than a mile' is a crock.

I know what it takes to make me happy and that's all that matters.

There is not much public land in Texas. My brother and I did try one public land hunt in east Texas, it was like my worst nightmare, so many tents everywhere, like a boy scout camp!

I invite critics to come to Texas, spend your money here, and hunt public land, enjoy!

It has become an overpopulated state, back in the late '50s and early '60s the population was 7 million, now it is over 21 million and that drives up prices big time.
I believe in land owner rights and see nothing to apologize for about paying for the privilege of hunting their land. but we have free choice and I don't hunt trophy fees by the score. I will still hunt friends of friends land to help them cull a doe population etc.

The thing that irks me from the high fence shenanigans is the trophy fee idea bleeding over to land owners of low fence hunting. It ruins the experience of hunting in my opinion.

But I can't afford to hunt Texas for trophy deer so I hunted the mountain states public lands for fun, camping and mule deer. Now that I'm too old to climb much I will trophy hunt Canada, Kansas or Missouri for whitetail, and be content passing on small bucks.
Happy Hunting Wherever You Hunt,

I can't scientifically prove it, but by experience I have seen the same deer, year after year coming to the same feeders. If they are spooked they might leave for a couple of days but most return. These BTW are low fenced. Im not doubting your experience, just saying it differs from mine. If you have a study I'd love to see it. Captdavid

Yeah, the study is seeing the same deer on a game camera 2 miles away a couple of days later. Further even, and I'm talking about bucks in the fall out cruising for chicks.

Not even discussing deer that 'migrate' between summer/winter locations.

Here's another hint, if the food source disappears, do you think they lie down and die, or go hunt for more food?

I should probably exclude rutting bucks. As far as starving, of course not. As far as seasonal migration, we don't have that here. Captdavid