I'm not talking about the most expensive or most prestigous ranch you've hunted on. Although that may be your best place to date, and if it is, that's great. What I'm talking about is the place with the most memories, the place where you learned how to be a better hunter every time you went to the stand. The place where the "bowhunting game" came together for you.
Currently I hunt in S. Texas on a 7800 acre ranch that is very well managed, I have waited for a spot on this place for atleast ten years. So I guess you could say this is my "dream lease". But it's not the best place I've ever hunted. For me, it was a little 125 acre cattle ranch in Madison County, about 2 miles NW of Madisonville. A buddy of mine started bringing me along when I was 14, his dad owned the ranch and knew nothing about bowhunting. He would drive us up there so we could hunt in the mornings and evenings and work cows and whatever else he could come up with in the afternoon. At 14 our bowhunting knowledge was very limited to say the least, heck we didn't even know you were supposed to cut your arrows. At full draw we had atleast a foot of arrow in front our rest, we still flung em though. We started out hunting with what I would consider today, horrible brush blinds and finally graduated to hanging lock-ons.
I hunted on that place from 14, til I was 29. The last 6 years, I had the place entirely to myself. My buddies parents had moved to Canada, and my buddy was busy hunting down at our current place in S. Texas. Besides he didn't want to mess with them little E.Texas deer. It really worked out well, his parents needed someone to take care of the place and my buddy was busy with work. So for a little tractor mowing and ranch work I got to hunt for free. The free part isn't what made it nice, I would have gladly paid whatever they wanted. What made it nice, was for a good while I had my own little hunting paradise.
The land was 50/50 pasture and wood lots, it had 3 stock tanks, that you just tear the bass up in, or you could sit on them and wear the doves and ducks out. The ranch was at the end of a road and for good many years hunting pressure was minimal. The place had a lot of deer and hogs so you always had a target rich environment. My wife killed her first deer there, my daughter fetched her first dove there at 2 years old and I got to share my last hunt with my Pap-paw on that place. I ran 2 feeders year around and would plant food plots, I had a lock-on at each feeder and 4-5 more scattered around on various game trails. If I got tired of hunting a feeder, I would change stands and hunt the trails. I don't know how many deer and hogs I killed, and I surely never killed any monsters, but man I always had a great time.
When my buddies parents returned home from Canada, they had kinda got the whole Cowboy/ranching thing out of there system. They ended up selling the ranch for about 200,000 more than they paid for it, I wish I could have bought it but I just didn't have the scratch. I mostly hunted that place by myself and when you do that, you lot of things the hard way. I know for sure that place made me a better hunter. I catch myself thinking about how simple hunting was for me back then, I wasn't sitting in a double bull scoring and aging, I was just hunting and I miss that.
Currently I hunt in S. Texas on a 7800 acre ranch that is very well managed, I have waited for a spot on this place for atleast ten years. So I guess you could say this is my "dream lease". But it's not the best place I've ever hunted. For me, it was a little 125 acre cattle ranch in Madison County, about 2 miles NW of Madisonville. A buddy of mine started bringing me along when I was 14, his dad owned the ranch and knew nothing about bowhunting. He would drive us up there so we could hunt in the mornings and evenings and work cows and whatever else he could come up with in the afternoon. At 14 our bowhunting knowledge was very limited to say the least, heck we didn't even know you were supposed to cut your arrows. At full draw we had atleast a foot of arrow in front our rest, we still flung em though. We started out hunting with what I would consider today, horrible brush blinds and finally graduated to hanging lock-ons.
I hunted on that place from 14, til I was 29. The last 6 years, I had the place entirely to myself. My buddies parents had moved to Canada, and my buddy was busy hunting down at our current place in S. Texas. Besides he didn't want to mess with them little E.Texas deer. It really worked out well, his parents needed someone to take care of the place and my buddy was busy with work. So for a little tractor mowing and ranch work I got to hunt for free. The free part isn't what made it nice, I would have gladly paid whatever they wanted. What made it nice, was for a good while I had my own little hunting paradise.
The land was 50/50 pasture and wood lots, it had 3 stock tanks, that you just tear the bass up in, or you could sit on them and wear the doves and ducks out. The ranch was at the end of a road and for good many years hunting pressure was minimal. The place had a lot of deer and hogs so you always had a target rich environment. My wife killed her first deer there, my daughter fetched her first dove there at 2 years old and I got to share my last hunt with my Pap-paw on that place. I ran 2 feeders year around and would plant food plots, I had a lock-on at each feeder and 4-5 more scattered around on various game trails. If I got tired of hunting a feeder, I would change stands and hunt the trails. I don't know how many deer and hogs I killed, and I surely never killed any monsters, but man I always had a great time.
When my buddies parents returned home from Canada, they had kinda got the whole Cowboy/ranching thing out of there system. They ended up selling the ranch for about 200,000 more than they paid for it, I wish I could have bought it but I just didn't have the scratch. I mostly hunted that place by myself and when you do that, you lot of things the hard way. I know for sure that place made me a better hunter. I catch myself thinking about how simple hunting was for me back then, I wasn't sitting in a double bull scoring and aging, I was just hunting and I miss that.
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