I am trying to find a place to go deer and hog hunting in Texas. I cannot afford the expense lease and day hunt fees. Does anyone know of a place to go? I am not looking for trophy bucks and hogs, I am just looking for a place to get dinner. If you have any suggestion of an inexpense place please let me know.
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Need a place to hunt in TX
- Thread starter thumbtack
- Start date
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
On weekends, drive rural areas and look for farmland in creek and river bottom areas. Ask the owners about hog-hunting, and indicate you'd trade some weekend labor for the right to hunt as well as give them a share in the meat.
As you become known and (hopefully) respected as one who doesn't make messes and leaves gates like you found them, you might be allowed to take a deer.
You don't need to wear a suit, but dress neatly and cleanly. Mid-morning or mid-afternoon would generally be the least interruption of somebody's usual routine. Always think of what your visit means to them, not to you.
Best luck,
Art
As you become known and (hopefully) respected as one who doesn't make messes and leaves gates like you found them, you might be allowed to take a deer.
You don't need to wear a suit, but dress neatly and cleanly. Mid-morning or mid-afternoon would generally be the least interruption of somebody's usual routine. Always think of what your visit means to them, not to you.
Best luck,
Art
slick slidestop
New member
Also check the public hunting areas the State has to offer.
slick slidestop
New member
Several people I work with have hunted them with success (meat in the freezer) they tend to have more restrictions at times as far as shooting does etc, but most of the guys seem to enjoy the hunt.
Ya might also want to check out LBJ National Grasslands. Maps can be ordered online or purchased for under $10 at office just north of Decatur on east side of 287. Lots of land up there, some with very heavy cover. Archery and muzzleloaders only for deer. Had a father/son who in hunter ed. class who got 'em a gobbler up there last spring.
Byron Adams
New member
Greybeard, It appears you are a Hunter?Safety Instructor. I shall be moving to North Central Texas in the Dennison area soon. I am a Hunter?Safety Instructor in Georgia near Blue Ridge. What is required to become one in Texas. I too will be looking for areas to hunt next Fall.
Bryon - Sorry for delay in getting back at ya. I often get tied up other places and miss out on TFL stuff unless PMed. I could be wrong, but I think your out of state instructor cert. will be recognized. At worst, might have to do a weekend course - 1 1/2 days or so. Texas Parks and Wildlife has good web site that can direct you. They will start up instructor schools in various areas heavily again next spring. 1-800-792-1112 (I think) gets to 'em cheap, at least from Texas phones.
Most hunting in Texas is on private land, leases most common, but can be expensive. There is a lot of acreage of public land, but as the name implies, it is very "public". In fact, got a hunter ed. instructor buddy who lives in McKinney and was complaining just tonight about others bow hunters invading the area where he had set up (public land north of Bonham.) Anyhoo, give a shout if I can suggest more in the future. Regards, Greybeard.
Most hunting in Texas is on private land, leases most common, but can be expensive. There is a lot of acreage of public land, but as the name implies, it is very "public". In fact, got a hunter ed. instructor buddy who lives in McKinney and was complaining just tonight about others bow hunters invading the area where he had set up (public land north of Bonham.) Anyhoo, give a shout if I can suggest more in the future. Regards, Greybeard.
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Here is more advice. We have a ranch that we used to lease out but due to abuses, we now only hunt by invitation only. The abuses were the following:
1. leaving gates open.
2. leaving unGodly ruts in the pastures (just because you have an F350 4X4, use some common sense and walk the extra 70 yards!).
3. leaving beer cans, bottles, and cigarette buts all over. (even though there are many smokers in our family, they always burried the butt or stuffed it in their pocket, not flicked it on the ground).
4. Cutting down big oak trees rather than moving deerstands.
5. Drunkeness while out in the woods with guns.
6. General uncourteousness.
OK, that is the rundown of things that will surely get you tossed, lease or no lease. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you might weasel yourself into a squirell hunt, and if you show respect and good behavior, they might add fishing the next year, and maybe hogs the next. If you are really doing well, you might even get to kill deer in 2 years.
I have found that in Texas, you have to know somebody. I have been invited to kill axis does and inferior bucks for nothing but being willing to kill and clean a few for the landowners too.
Remember that courtesy is the primary concern. If you are smart, you will also send cards and thank-you notes when you find a place to hunt for free. You might also take the landowner and his wife out to eat or bring them something when you come. You might be surprised at what you can get if you are willing to earn your priveleges rather than buy them. The good thing about earning them is that once you're in, you're really in!
Good luck!
1. leaving gates open.
2. leaving unGodly ruts in the pastures (just because you have an F350 4X4, use some common sense and walk the extra 70 yards!).
3. leaving beer cans, bottles, and cigarette buts all over. (even though there are many smokers in our family, they always burried the butt or stuffed it in their pocket, not flicked it on the ground).
4. Cutting down big oak trees rather than moving deerstands.
5. Drunkeness while out in the woods with guns.
6. General uncourteousness.
OK, that is the rundown of things that will surely get you tossed, lease or no lease. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you might weasel yourself into a squirell hunt, and if you show respect and good behavior, they might add fishing the next year, and maybe hogs the next. If you are really doing well, you might even get to kill deer in 2 years.
I have found that in Texas, you have to know somebody. I have been invited to kill axis does and inferior bucks for nothing but being willing to kill and clean a few for the landowners too.
Remember that courtesy is the primary concern. If you are smart, you will also send cards and thank-you notes when you find a place to hunt for free. You might also take the landowner and his wife out to eat or bring them something when you come. You might be surprised at what you can get if you are willing to earn your priveleges rather than buy them. The good thing about earning them is that once you're in, you're really in!
Good luck!
A friend used to bring me with him to his Dad's ranch to hunt. Every year I would bring as a gift the best bottle of Vodka/Gin/etc. that I could afford. Never shot a single deer or hog, but the invite still meant the world to me. One of these days I hope to buy a little 100-acre plot of my own.