Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Hunting on Fort Hood in TX

I have just been offered a position as an NJROTC instructor at Hebron High School in Carrollton, TX. Unless something unseen comes up, I'll accept the position. So, it appears as though I am TX bound.

I have done a little research and found that as a retired member of the military I am able to hunt on Fort Hood. I'm curious if any of the other members here have any experience with the base? I've hunted a number of other military bases but not on Hood. It appears as though the base permits will cost $65.00 for retirees so that means the hunting is cheap by TX standards. Mostly I'm looking for a couple of does and hogs each year for the freezer. Antlers no longer have any appeal for me and all my hunting now is for meat.

I'm also looking into the Navy's Escondido Ranch near Freer, TX. They also allow retirees to hunt and I know a couple of guys that have hunted there. Any info anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Pirate

When you find out let me know, my SIL is stationed there. They live in coppers cove.

I was stationed at Hood in the late 80's. Hunting on post consisted of being dropped off at a plywood outhouse looking blind in areas closed to training.

Never did see a buck with a rack that was any better than back home in AR but there were quite a few deer around.

Some IMPRESSIVE damn rattlesnakes though. At that time there was a pretty nice Rod & Gun club on post. Don't know if it's still there or not.

I've talked to some guys who did it and it and the whole process seemed like a pretty big hassle.

I've hunted on Ft. Hood quite a bit. It is not ideal, but for me, it beat not hunting at all. Archery hunting is quite a bit more user friendly than gun hunting and I killed a pretty decent Whitetail there with my bow. For rifle hunting, you show up really early at the Rod and Gun Club for the drawing that determines which area you can hunt and to get linked up with your "guide". Once drawn, you link up with the guide and he leads you to your assigned box blind where you have to stay until he returns for you. You are not permitted to get more than a short distance (I don't remember what the distance is) from your blind. Even if you killed something, if if is more than the prescribed distance from the blind, you have to wait for your "guide" to go with you to retrieve the animal. There is no spot and stalk hunting with guns. Period.

With Archery, you can generally call and sign into a prescribed area, position your stand as you wish.

There are some decent animals taken off Ft. Hood every year. They have whitetails, pigs, and some exotics. I have seen Axis deer there.

Like I said, if you have no other options, it beats not hunting at all.

John

So much for retiring. I know the feeling,retired @ 55 and went back to work @ 55 1/2!! Good luck with your new job.

Thanks for the relies. I'm aware that hunting the base wouldn't be like hunting my native CO but I'm willing to make some adjustments to fill the freezer. Like I said a couple of does would suit me just fine and sitting in a blind to get them wouldn't bother me much.

I grew up in CO and could always go there if I wanted a big buck or a bull elk. For TX I'm just after meat.