Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game West Texas Lease vs guided hunt

Curiosity has me thinking!

Would it be practical to get a West Texas lease if one wanted to hunt Mule Deer and Aoudad, and could get 4 or 5 guys to go in, or is a guided hunt really the way to go?

I know some of you have west Texas leases, and am curious about your thoughts. I am in Florida, so would not be able to make it out more than two or three times in a year. I do have a BIL in east Texas so he could get a bit more use from it. From what research I have done, it looks like starting about $ 5,000.00 per person and going on up from there. Do Axis and other exotics inhabit the same areas as Mule Deer, or are they more in the Hill Country? I have two boys, 21 and 17 that I would want to be able to hunt as well as myself, trophy fees for a guided hunt for three would stack up pretty fast.

What do ya'll think?

Generally, mule deer are not in high fences with exotics.

Stray, there are a slew of free range aoudad in West Texas, living with the mule deer. Once you get out of the Central TX area you see much fewer high fences anyway. Not sure what it would cost, but I'd imagine a guy could find a piece of ground to lease in the Trans Pecos, caprock country, or Palo Duro country in the TX Panhandle that has plenty of both.

Keep in mind the Mule Deer Season is only two weeks long. I have not seen many Axis west of Sonora except on the game ranches and where they have escaped from game ranches. While Central and South Central Tx. have high Axis numbers.

Aoudad can be from Central Tx. and South West Tx. all the way to the New Mexico border but the distribution is not uniform. If you could find a place that has Whitetails, Mule Deer and at least one type of exotic you would have a great place. These places exist but are hard to find and can be expensive when you do. If I had limited time rather than a limited budget I would go on a guided hunt for at least two species, this is not that difficult to find. Just about any area except far West Tx. can have hogs and you will find Javelina anywhere South or West.

Most leases are for one gun. You would have to pay for three spots on a lease. You can’t pay for one spot and everyone you know gets to kill all they want. A lease would be shot out quickly. I pay for one spot, my boy pays for his. We get a good buck and a cull buck, and one doe. We have Aoudads, but nothing has been said as far as a limit on them. We can shoot all the pigs we want. We can shoot whatever the legal limit is for turkey. I’ve had elk on my game camera, but never laid eyes on one.

This^^^^^^

Just depends on the experience you are looking for. Its been hard for me to find a lease, many are gobbled up as corporate leases paying exhorbitant amounts (5K plus a gun, lots of restrictions).

Its hard for me to imagine driving 8 hours to a lease in that country very often, much less a couple states over.

But a lease is always more satisfying than a guided hunt for me.

But you asked if it was practical. Hell no. At least 18 hours driving for you, or flying to El Paso with guns and gear.

So probably a guided hunt is best. Hope that helps.

This is in the paper often.

Thanks for the info everyone. I did not realize the Mule Deer season was so short. I assume that means pretty low density?

That is also interesting about the corporations gobbling up the leases.

On our GA lease the kids can hunt under the parents lease util 21.

Bracketville is some fine hunting

I
I agree for logistical and practical reasons.

Trying to maintain a lease from a distance could be more frustrating than rewarding, IMO. If one had relatives or trusted friends close by, different deal.

Otherwise, guided hunts are the way to go, more "bang" for the "buck"... (pun intended)

DF

Personally I'd take my $5,000+ and pay for a couple nice guided hunts...which is what I do. Good lodging , lots of game, nice relaxing atmospheres, plus you have the advantage of mobility...dont have to hunt the same place for the same species each time.

Yep, a lease ties you to that one piece of dirt.

Lot less trouble spending those dollars on a great hunt or two, frees you to pick and choose..

DF

Living so far away would make it hard to justify a season lease, unless you could spend a week there several times during the season.

[quote=Great_Wazoo] I did not realize the Mule Deer season was so short. I assume that means pretty low density?
quote]

I hunt sort of marginal places but it has happened several times where I don't see a shootable buck after 6-10 hunts. The better/bigger ranches you may see multiples by driving around "safari style". I am only 300 or so miles away and it is difficult to maintain a camp and very difficult to do more than one or two hunts. Also they are fracking like crazy in the Permian Basin so lots of areas are screwed up and there are lots of people looking to hunt. Most leases are per acre and due to the size of the better ranches the price can easily be $20-30,000 or more. These are the desert mule deer subspecies and even though you do run across some big ones occasionally the typical deer is more usually a 16-20" 3x3 or 4x4. It seems like many areas the dear don't bifurcate until really old or sometimes not at all. Some areas have mixed whitetail genes is one theory why this is prevalent.

Look up the Auodad hunt thread for more options.

Thanks for the info everyone.

I pretty much suspected that guided would be the way to go, but wanted to explore the other possibilities.

When you see posts like Geedubs from the petting zoo it makes ya a little jealous.

GW

Curious what the Fracking operations due to the area, other than just workers ruining the hunting, what are the negatives?

That could be a fun hunt. I've no experience with aoudad sheep, I imagine they would taste similar to lamb chops.

The lambs and ewes are edible. The big rams not so much. About all they are good for is to grind and mix with something else to make sausage.

Aoudad are quickly becoming the next feral hog in Texas. Worthless freaking varmints in my opinion. They way outcompete the native wildlife.

In addition to the big increase in activity. You have allot more people in the area looking for a place to hunt. Someone needs to be keeping an eye on the property or poaching can potentially be a problem.