Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Deer Lease Tx Hill Country -

Don't get me wrong $500 deer leases are out there, but they are about 1 in 200, even 5 yrs ago. You just got lucky.

And like you said the $500 ones have been leased by the same people for decades.

There are also $500 leases that have not been leased by the same people for decades, and 99% of them suck for deer hunting.

And BTW, NO I am not a lease broker. I am a land owner but NO I do not lease any of my land for deer hunting.

But since I'm around other land owners and ranchers all the time, plus I'm an avid hunter, I have a pretty good handle on what leases go for on average in the hill country.

Bill

I never said anything about spikes, you have a problem shooting does?

270 - no problem here - Does are better for meat - but thats just me ...

Bucks are great for sausage & jerky etc etc..on the bucks for sausage - just make it 60/40 .I use everything for sausage and jerky with exception to the loins and backstrap..
I guess I'm just old and set in my ways ..if I want some sausage meat and or jerky meat I should be able to kill a buck to do so -without it having to be 13 inches inside..

I shoot a 270 140gr Nosler Accubond (handloads) - everything is stone cold dead DRT...I switched to that when the great state of Texas came up with the new Fence law !! I dont have to worry about deer and hogs running 75 to 100 yards anymore..God knows I aint gonna be able to find the Landowner or Game Warden in order to go across the fence to retrieve game...

But then again- go read the Wanton Waste law...makes alot of sense huh...

Don't get discouraged Rod, keep looking. You'll eventually find the one that fits you.

Something else to think about, your looking for a lease in May, kinda late. Most leases that are "good" and "reasonable in price" were snatched up months ago.

January is the time to start seriously looking for a lease for the next season. It doesn't hurt to start looking in December.

Good luck,

Bill

If you want to think about cash.... think about AK... just a bush plane flight can be more than the 500 buck deer lease. No guarantees on game either. And doesn't count the expenses to get to where you got on the bush plane.

Life isn't cheap. But I'm with ya on costs, to me around 800 bucks is probably where leases should be.

Have ya priced em down south lately? I know of a ranch where the hunters end up paying almost 20,000 a year per hunter by the time the lease is paid, all the feed, protein feed, and food plots are paid for...Just sayin.....

BTW if you find a cheap one let me know... grins.... I got on one after waiting for almost 20 years for a spot. That was 2 years ago. It was under 800.... of course with my luck they had not gone up in probably 10 years... but the 2nd year we were on, it went to 1100..... and I don't even enjoy deer hunting and didn't want on the lease... I just wanted to hunt public in E TX and shoot some does for meat here and there, and do lots more ducks and fishing...... but we got on it since its second family for us.

Good luck, Jeff

I didnt just start looking - I keep a constant eye out for a lease-the right lease.To me its always been right after Spring Turkey season - most people hold onto a lease even if they plan on leaving it - until after the spring turkey season is over-

The avreage Joe is geeting priced right off of a deer lease- sad but true .

Or just complain about it on the internet. That produces big bucks every year too.

I didn't read no pointless bitching, mostly info being exchange.

Central Texas is going to heck and getting ruint at least as fast as anywhere else in the US and probably faster than most places. Lots of folks moving to Texas, and enough of them with money.

Enough land-holding families selling out too as the older folk pass on. Fer example, I was fortunate to see the Luckenbach area 25 years ago, it since having become a travesty of what it was, crowds of minivans, and development racing up from Boerne.

Once places is gone under they are gone forever.

It might be ya gotta get out past Rocksprings and Mason anymore, far from the I 35 corridor, to get away from this.

Birdwatcher

Hey guys,

We owned 140 acres in Security, between Cleveland and Conroe, Tx. for 47 years. You couldn't pay me to deer hunt east Texas. I've had all the skeeters, pine cones, humidity and lack of game diversity that I wanted.

I've hunted the Hill Country every year since 1999. For about 6 years between 2003 and 2009 I paid for two leases. Hunted RockSprings, Brackettville, Vanderpool, and now am at Reagan Wells. In 1999 we paid $1100. Since then I've been paying between $1500 and $1800 per year. All low fenced ranches between 3,0000 and 50,000 acres. Been hunting with the same group. This will be my 12th season with them. Don't kill big deer like south Texas, but sure do enjoy nailin' hogs, varmints, turkey and hill country deer, not to mention sheep, goats, audad and javelina. I've taken free range blackbuck, Sika, and Audad with no trophy fee. I guess I could bitch about the price, but I don't. On the leases we've been on I can go up any time I want. I go up once a month, stay 3 or 4 days, snare and shoot hogs, call varmints, hunt spring turkey, hunt dove, can take 5 deer. So, when considering deer season, I probably make 18 trips a year. Now it costs money for Ice, diesel, food, beer and sundries. But what else/where else can I spend 3 to 4 days, having a ball, riding 4 wheelers, sitting around a campfire, away from civilization, this cheap ($1800 divided by 18 trips).
Best
GWB

Hell,even east Texas leases are running around $750 per gun now.Starting to see more managed places going for $1500 to $2500 per gun.

I recommended free bucks in East Tx but that won't work. I recommended CO but he doesn't need that. P&W set antler restrictions bt that's not cool either because if he wants to shoot a basket buck for sausage he should get to do whatever he wants.

Point being there are free bucks to be had all over the state if you're willing to look. In the last two years I've shot a basket buck and two more with a combined 300"+ of bone on their head, on free publc land.

You can go find bucks like that or you can talk about how thIngs ought to be in the place that they never will.

Good Grief :
I wasnt trying to start a pissin contest -
I just made a drive on Hwy 16 - looking around .One of the best ways to find a lease is driving through the Tx Hill Country - stopping at all the feed stores & coffee shops & cafes..
I just noticed in doing so how far off track hunting is going - I just for the life of me cant understand how some ol boy can flop down 10,000 dollars to walk into a pen
(anything with a High Fence is a pen to me )dont matter if its 300 acres or 1,000 acres- walk in and shoot a 150 class buck and then plaster pictures of it all over the internet talking about the " great hunt " ...I guess I just grew up in a different era -when hunting was hunting.The average Joe is just being pushed out of hunting in Texas - its time we as Texas residents start trying to correct the problem - if "complaining" on forums like this - gets some attention and different opinions and thoughts - then thats what I'm looking for ...
Deer ,Turkey,Quail ,etc etc - are state wildlife resources- NOBODY owns them ....

We the hunters and texas residents are " allowing " this to happen right before our eyes.

I own property in Texas - lived here all my life - and pay land taxes - education taxes etc etc-

This high fencing crap has got to stop - period - no more permits - no more allowed ...

We have discussed this until we are blue in the face at local region areas- People say - I dont want to be told what to do with my property- in reality - people are told what to do with their property EVERYDAY - try and turn your property into a landfill and see what happens - the state already controls what you do with " your " property - So for someone to say - the state should not tell someone what to do with thier property is null and void !!The state already does it -

We should do the following :

1.We the hunter should see to it that no more High Fences are erected
2.We the hunter should see to it that only Texas residents hunt in Texas
3.We the hunter should see to it that the state of texas put a
"Cap" on lease fees- if a person makes a profit off of a state wildlife resoures - then the state should be able to regulate what that person or ranch can charge to do so.

As trivial as this may sound to some - go visit the
Hill Country - Fence wars are in full combat mode in some areas- the owner to the adjoining land that the Zoo fence is putting up - has a bonafide complaint !! State wildlife resources are being diverted from one area to another - thats just a small example -

I'm not looking to start a war or pissin contest - just curious if other "true hunters" are as tired of this crap as I am.Out of state hunters are welcopmed to comment - I encourage it .

sidenote : Ive been deer hunting and hunting and fishing in Texas for the last 43 out of 50 years - Ive seen it all and hunted and fished all over the state -

Sounds to me that you are trying to start a pissin' contest.
Can't go with you on that. You sound like a coercive utopian liberal. You're gonna do what's good for me and others (of course as you see fit) even if it infringes on my personal property and individual rights. I'd rather see folks do what they want with their property, both real and personal without government interference.
I love to hunt. I've also been hunting texas for the last 53 year or so. I've never hunted high fence, but if someone else wants to, I have not problem with it. Never paid a trophy fee to hunt, but again , if someone wants to, that's up to them.
Land use is typically determined by highest and best use. Economics will determine how Texas land will be used in the future, not hunters decrying changing times.
Best
GWB

LOLL- Your so far off base it aint even funny ...Life long Republican here...like I said - no pissin contest - just wanting to see other people views and thoughts and opinions..just like yours- but thanks for the response./

ps..visit my Website - you'll find out real quick - I'm no liberal ...LOLL - that was funny though

Rodngun,

We probably agree on more, than not.

I can appreciate you defining yourself as a "Republican". I would define myself as a christian conservative with libertarian leanings. I decry the encroachment of government by "fiat" on our inalienable rights.

So without going to deep, or if you like, we could take this to a PM.
However, I've a question for you. How, whether or where you answer is up to you.

I understand playing devil's advocate. But it would seem that in the post I responded to that you were endorsing increasing control by someone, be state or local government or some type of group over an individuals property rights. I understand that we live subject to certain governmental control, but I certainly do not endorse increasing regulation over what an individual can do with their own property. Evidently by your post you do.

As an aside, I've quit watching the hunting programs. The emphasis on taking trophies has gotten to be to much. I've been self employed all my life and I understand marketing and the free enterprise system, and I wouldn't change that, but it seems that most shows these days are basically infomercials for the different sponsors. I usually take my limit of deer each year, I have taken sheep, goats, exotics, dove, turkey, javelina and hogs. Don't remember scoring one of them. Do remember the braggin' rights, and campfires shared with the 9 other old farts I share a lease with, the hunts with other guys I hunt with and the times shared with my oldest son while hunting.

I haven't hunted high fence as it hasn't been a necessity. Would I hunt a 300 or 400 acre trap where animals have to rely on supplemental food sources to survive. Where guides sit with clients in blinds waiting for hungry/thirsty animals have to come for survival, then choosing which animal to shoot. No I would not. Do I think it should be illegal. No. I do have a problem with calling that hunting. I would call it shooting or harvesting.

If I had the opportunity to hunt a high fenced ranch of say 2,000 acres or more, where there was plenty of feed and reliance on a supplemental food source was not a factor, I probably would.

Best
GWB

No need for the Pm system - your type of opinion is what I'm looking for -

Me and you line up at about 90 percent- ideaology on hunting is nail on head !!but my opinion on the Rules and Regulation part is making me waiver -

We already do what we are told to do on "our" property - ie Like the other guy said - Go out and shoot 6 deer on " your " property and see what happens...

Hunt on "your " property without a license - see what happens-

Govt infringements are all around us- you cant even drive down the highway without the Govt being in your backseat! So its not really a matter of the Govt telling me what I will or will not do with my property - that happens daily.

Believe me - I'm against Govt infringements and so forth - but I also believe that its pople like me and you that will ultimaltely preserve our wildlife resoures !!

If we as the hunters dont do something soon - we will be no different than say - Hunting in Europe - the "guide" takes you out - points out the animal he wants you to shoot and then charges you per pound for the animal- at the rate we are going we are not far from that type of hunting.

The TexasPWD needs to be totally shut down & reorganized- from the bottom up !!

And like I've said - been hunting and fishing in this state for 43 out of 50 years - so I have paid my dues and then some - but the Dept its self is in shambles -

"...in our area they have come up with this new - 13 inch restriction rule..."

?? that sounds short, even for a central TX deer.

I HATE that rule - management of deer and property comes from within...its the attitude of - if I dont shoot him my neighbor will - I am so tired of hearing that crap -

The last lease we had in Fredersicksburg we had a mutual agreement with everybody inside the WMA ..no high fences - etc etc - 8 pointer or better ..we didnt need the TPWD to come in and set new rules and limitations for us - we already had them in place .
Same thing goes for crappie fishing - if I snatch a crappie out of 25 feet of water and he is foul hooked or hook set deep in his throat- the fish is gonna die - but I have to throw him back - Crappie was only 9 1/2 inches - but then again - like I said earlier - go read the wanton waste section....