Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Need recommendation fair chase Texas ranch/outfitter for trophy deer

A business partner and I want to take our sons on a first class fair chase whitetail hunt in Texas. Both our sons are in college and we have talked about it and now we need to do it before the go off on their own. By 1st class I mean we are looking for a ranch that has high quality & quantity hunting. We will need to do it between Christmas & 2nd week in Janurary. Anyone got a good contact??? Thanks in advance, 163bc

You won't find that in Texas.

There are guided hunts. But the guides job is to get you a buck as quickly as possible, take your money, and get your azz out of there so they can bring in another hunting party ASAP.

There are day hunts. You pay your money to hunt for X number of days on property that's over hunted to the point that any deer left are totally nocturnal. That's not a "first class" hunt.

Any of those operations are going to be under high fences and that rules out "fair chase" in most hunter's book.

Your best chance of getting the hunt you want is to lease some land that has good numbers of deer. Then you can hunt them anyway you like.

I'd avoid guided whitetail hunts in Texas if "fair chase" is an issue to you.

However; if you just want to shoot a trophy class whitetail buck there are plenty of ranches in the South Texas brush country that have lots of them. All you need to do is bring your check book. They charge according to the B&C scoring system. A 140 class buck might go for five grand, a 160 will bring eight or nine grand. Or you could kill a "management buck" for a bargin price of a couple of grand.

They will have a ranch hand (I ment to say "hunting guide" sorry) take you to a blind and point out which buck you are to shoot. Don't worry, if you muff your shot they will bring out the tracking dogs and a few more ranch hands (there I go again, "GUIDES" I'll get it right in a moment) and they will find your buck while you relax back at the "lodge" (ranch house where the hands live). Then get out your check book because they are going to measure the rack with a quarter inch steel tape measure, do the "fuzzy" math and hang a price tag on that ole buck.

If you would like to hook up with a ranch like that just purchase a copy of "Texas Trophy Hunters" from any news stand, book store, or convience store in South Texas and read all about the quality deer hunting here in the great State Of Texas.

Sour grape mode now turned off. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

pds pretty well got it nailed down and the bung driven in about the deal. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

There are some places which will drive you around in a jeep or mule and let you pick out the one you want to shoot. I don't know any spefic but I have heard about them.

And yeah, it is some what sour grapes because neither pds or me are doctors or lawyers or oil men so we don't have more money than it takes to burn a wet mule so we can set up a place like that just for our ownselves.


BCR

"..more money than it takes to burn a wet mule ..."

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Good one, Bog.

163bc did not mention he wanted big racks or even big deer. But sad truth is in Texas, more inches = more dinero.

Tough crowd!!! I hunted Texas 1 time in 05 by invitation. It was a huge ranch owned by a corporation I do business with. The ranch does not sell any type hunt or lease. It is used for company employees and vendors but hunting is strictly managed. More importantly the hunting was all fair chase without any game fences a fact which the ranch was proud of. We were dropped off at blinds in the morning and could hunt the blind, still hunt, spot & stalk or whatever we wanted. Everyone was instructed on what age class deer to harvest and for the most part either followed the ranches requirements or did not shoot. There were no fees of any kind involved. There were feeders and the ranch ran a pretty intensive feeding program as part of their overall game management plan. The deer hunting was excellent but by no means easy. I did some still hunting and the deer acted the same as they do in hard hunted areas I have seen in other parts of the country. The big difference is they had one heck of a lot of em!! That certainly makes it easier to see more game. Although quite different than the deer hunting I am used to I have to say that all in all I was very impressed with the place. I'll probally never get on a ranch like that again without paying but I know that is the reality in Texas. I'm just looking to see if anyone has found a similar place to expierence fair chase Texas deer hunting with my son for a week or so. Thanks, 163bc

Is there such a thing?

<joking... and ducking> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hi,

I hunted with these guys 2 years ago, and I had a great time... They are NOT high fence, and hunt spot & Stalk western type hunting for White tail & Free ranging aodad on IIRC 35,000 acres. http://www.ulazysranch.com/

They are a family run outfit, they have NO treestands, as everything is glassing, and stalking on these deer. They shoot some big ones out there. It was a fun time. I was invited on an aodad hunt there, and after 4 days of running up and down hills, I harvested a nice 32" ram. We saw lots of whitetails while glassing for the rams. The bunkhouse is very comfortable.

you might do some searching in the west hill country area, and out here in west and north west and sout west Texas-even up into the pan-handle. Things are still pretty reasonable, not a lot of "game farms" around where I hunt-all fair chase, no high fences and there are some big deer out here. I personally have not hunted the hill country, but I have hunted as far south as Sweetwater and it looks like there may be some good folks around San Angelo...Some good places around Paducha and Matador and I am sure you could find some places east of Amarillo and north to the border-make some phone calls to the city chamber of commerce and local feed stores or do an internet search and see what you come up with.

Good luck and for the peanut gallery, not all of Texas is a high fence game farm with insulated tower blinds with electric heaters, TV's, recliners and built in deer radars to tell you when and from which direction they are comming... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

PM sent

There are many excellent deer hunts in Texas. You can obtain a wealth of info by subscribing to The Hunting Report. I hunted with The Lazy R Hunts in Eagle Pass. WWWLazyRhunts.com. Contact is Chris Roswell & cost is app. $2700. He donates a predator hunt to our SCI chapter. Rough Creek is another & was written up in Hunting Report. Cost was about $2500 & if you don't shoot a deer you return for free except for meals & lodging. Contact Brannon @ www.roughcreeklodge.com. Good hunting.

What PDS & BCR said. Money and high fences talk. Sad but true. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Best to ya in your quest .. BP...

Never been one to like the high fence concept but if your talking 5,000 acres plus like a lot of these ranches are sized then high fence or not i could hardly call that unfair chase.
I mean we are talking several square miles of land on acreage such as that.
But no way in hell they are gonna let you out there without a guide to make sure of what you shoot.

I would recommend AA Outfitters in the Texas Panhandle. You can pull them up on web. I'm partial to the panhandle.....many times the highest scoring deer in Texas come from up there.

163bc, how big is a trophy to you and your group?

And I respectfully disagree with PDS and BCR.

Oh, and don't go buy a copy of Texas Trophy Hunters Assoc magazine, especially after a meal, b/c it will make you throw up...at least it does me.

I have to disagree also, you havent hunted with the right outfitter. Yes TX is mostly high fences and trophy fees, but there are a few good ones left. Not all of us hunt out of high rise blinds, and corn feeders. You wont find a one of either on any of my ranches.

Toby Joe

Please, prove me wrong.

Where in Texas can I find a whitetail deer hunt under three thousand dollars with no high fences and I will see a buck that goes 140 or better?

Inquiring minds want to know.........

Big business leasing up the best lands for client entertainment causes the prices to go sky high.
For what you have described you will have to pay more than I feel it is worth.
I am aware of one hunt operation in northern Mexico near the border town of Laredo that does not sell hunts by the antler score. They have a few ranches that are not high fence and they supplement feed and manage their bucks. You may want to check them out "Laredo Hunt Club". They help you get your guns through customs etc. There are probably some other good ones in northern Mexico.
But if you are not in a season lease in Texas, they will most likely charge by the inch. I hate it.
Also you may want to look at Kansas, they have a few outfitters that provide what you are looking for at about half the price a Texas ranch would charge you for the same deer.

And where can we find a place that will let us just wander around un-escorted, should we want, fair chaseing white tails?

BCR

I don't measure trophies in inches. We are looking for a quality hunt that we can share with our sons. We would like for our sons to be able to see some quality animals in a fair chase enviornment with the opportunity to harvest an animal. My friend and I are much more interested in sharing a good time with our boys with the hunting being a bonus. We're looking at Texas because we could hunt late Dec. early Jan. to accomnadate our boys school schedule. I hunted Texas once before and enjoyed it and hope to find a quality ranch to hunt with no fences and good people running it. 163bc

Sadly, the times of good "day" leases are behind us. Every ranch seems to be season leases or packages hunts. But I suspect with lots of searching, you can find a ranch that will accomodate you. Some type of one week long lease of a pasture. It won't be easy, but it sounds like you have started early. I also suggest west or north tx for your search. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

pepaw