Cisco/Eastland County Hunting

[Codym]

I have the opportunity to lease 500 acres NW of Cisco, not quite halfway to Moran. I’ve always hunted hill country, so I have no experience hunting out that direction. I’ve read about every forum I could find online and the majority act like it’s tough hunting; few deer and mostly nocturnal. The majority of posts are old and I haven’t stumbled across anything up to date, so I figured I’d inquire about the production of this area more recently. Also, what does land typically go for around that area?

Thanks for the help!

[ElCid07]

I hunt around Cisco. We lease about 200ish acres. It’s about 4500 a year for us. Hunting is generally good. Last year we had a huge acorn crop so the hunting was terrible. Was still able to get a doe in the freezer. I see a ton more deer than I did when hunting East Texas. I like hunting there, will probably eventually buy a ranch in the area.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jerp]

I have been hunting that area for 6-7 years now. This is probably no help but I can best describe the deer hunting as "spotty". I don't think there is a huge deer population to begin with (nothing like the Hill Country) so to be successful in that area I think you have to put in a lot of work. Case in point - a buddy and I leased 450 acres right on Hwy 6 that looked like awesome deer habitat, but we gave it up after 3 seasons because we saw remarkably few deer. (all we did was put out corn feeders) In contrast, the guy who owns the 500 across the road has put a lot of time and money into management - multiple food plots and tons of protein. He is very selective and kills a really nice buck every other year or so. The increasing number of high fence places has restricted deer movement as well. We are now hunting a place east of Moran and it is somewhat better.

[HDWRENCH]

I hunt South of Cisco and we have a great deer population in my area and have bucks in the 120 range .

With that said we plan to feed protein this next year ( new lease for use this year ) and work towards growing a better herd .

this guy is on my list this year , I had him at 71 75 and 100 yards this last weekend . also seeing a few new bucks as well .

Will see how it goes . will be back out there this coming weekend again .

we have over 400 with power and water . we love it

I let two smaller bucks go this year . they are 14-15 inch spread but its clear they are young . Hope it works out . Time will tell .

I do not think your going to see monsters out there , but I feel its not the worst area you could hunt . And me posting a pic of a NON monster is not going to bring people to my door step to try and get that deer .


Untitled by GMR Performance, on Flickr

[MQ32Shooter]

I bought my place there in 2004, just to the West of the Junior College. We have feed protein and put in food plots since about 2006. Most deer ever taken off the place was 3 in one year on 120 acres. No, having said that, we are only bow hunters. Never taken a buck over about 110'. But, have had years where we had fleeting glimpses of bigger deer. On my neighbors property to the East, his grandson comes to Texas every Thanksgiving and kills one of our target bucks that we've been watching and feeding all year. It's actually pretty easy with a rifle. Now, if you are going to gun hunt, then Cisco/Eastland might not be a bad area. If your coming from the hill country, I think you will be sorely disappointed with the total number of deer. Quality might actually be a tad better in Cisco, but you will see far less deer than you are used to seeing.

[2B4Him]

I think you should definitely pass on this opportunity. If you will provide the name/number of the landowner, I'd be happy to contact him for you to let him know you are no longer interested.

[MQ32Shooter]

You might not see as many deer, but I'll guarantee you there will be a ton of hogs on your place. We are overrun with these lousy things. Literally kill at least one every weekend we are out. Most of the time, more than 1. Neighbor on my west side got serious about trapping and has taken close to 70 in about 3 months. I can't tell he's done any good as far as the one's I'm seeing. Here's a couple of the protein hounds. That feeder tube is about 34" off the ground.

[TxDispatcher]

It's been a couple of years since I hunted Eastland Co, my friends mother sold their section before last season. But I was the first person to kill a nice buck up there. I remember asking about what their plan was was far as age structure went, and he laughed and said "if you see a buck, you'd better kill it. We don't see any around here". I was in the stand a grand total of 2 minutes when I saw a decent 9 pt cruising thru the cactus and scrub brush at a pretty good trot. I broke the window in the blind trying to get it open, and whistled at the buck to get it to stop. When I shot, he texted me in a panic, thought that someone was trespassing and poaching. I calmed him down and told him it was me who shot. He couldn't believe that I'd even had time to walk to the blind, much less get settled and ready

I talked him into getting game cameras, and they were surprised by what they had coming into the feeders. But since they weren't going up enough to keep the feeders full and running, the deer were going to where they had easy grub, and weren't coming in to check the feeders in the 2 days time that they would be there. By the time they would get back up to hunt again, the feeders were empty and the deer were elsewhere. The buck I killed may have scared 110, I never have scored anything I've ever killed to get an accurate score.

But I loved the area they had, it was just outside of Gorman, basically the same distance on the SE side of Cisco as Moran is on the NW side. I wouldn't hesitate to lease up there, I just liked being somewhere other than behind the pine curtain for a change of scenery

[justindfw]

I hunted the other side of 20 near carbon one year. Had plenty of doe but didn't see one buck all season. That was 7 years ago though. Wouldn't mind finding a place out that direction again

[JDH875]

Decent area

I currently hunt north of Cisco. I have hunted the hill country near Llano and lots in East TX. In short, the Cisco area is better than most of east TX but not as good as the Hill country. There are definitely deer there. I like the area and I do recommend it. We have had to put hog panel up around the feeders we actually want the deer to come to. Otherwise the hogs run the deer off and or will eat everything before the deer have a chance. There are decent bucks in the area. I think the biggest problem is probably like most places, guys shoot them to young and don’t let them mature. The pigs and turkey do provide lots to shoot at.

[kingranch]

I killed this buck a few yrs ago in Morton valley close to your spot
Missed a chance at a bigger buck the same day

[MQ32Shooter]

I killed this buck a few yrs ago in Morton valley close to your spot
Missed a chance at a bigger buck the same day

Wow, beautiful buck!

[HDWRENCH]

I currently hunt north of Cisco. I have hunted the hill country near Llano and lots in East TX. In short, the Cisco area is better than most of east TX but not as good as the Hill country. There are definitely deer there. I like the area and I do recommend it. We have had to put hog panel up around the feeders we actually want the deer to come to. Otherwise the hogs run the deer off and or will eat everything before the deer have a chance. There are decent bucks in the area. I think the biggest problem is probably like most places, guys shoot them to young and don’t let them mature. The pigs and turkey do provide lots to shoot at.

Funny at first the deer and pigs seemed to be ok but now the pigs are pushing the deer out . New lease to us but hog panels going up for next year for sure , and adding protein feeders as well .

[jerp]

I will echo what others have said about the pig population. On our new place we weren't going to put up pens because there are no cattle to worry about, but the pig mobs took over. This summer we penned all but one - left that as a dedicated pig feeder. Deer sightings have been up dramatically since then.

[walker1983]

Our place is N of Moran.
Before we put up the HF our deer numbers were about a deer to 35 acres.
We lease a small LF pasture that adjoins us, and I don't think there is a deer on it.

Their is a big soil change a few miles S of Moran - basically the Eastland/Shackelford co line. The terrain goes from red sandy/rocky post oak country to Mesquite country w/ live oaks. I think the deer quality probably improves in the mesquite country.

As others have said - I think the area south of Moran will have deer, but can be very spotty. Lots of pigs. I would personally want to be W or NW of Albany if leasing a LF place.