2021-22 east texas season

[Quackerbox]

Dang T....now I know why you sat in the rain. Been a little further south within good service for a few days

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[Greenheadless]

I’m here to tell you in the three counties I hunt the numbers are WAY down.

My lease is MLDP and we’ve never got more than 12 doe permits. The last 4 seasons we’ve gotten 9, but I don’t think we’ve ever used them all. Even at just 9. So blaming MLDP is out of the question.

Our farm is not MLDP, but I know full well the blame lies on the 16 day doe season we’ve had for the last 4 seasons. Ever since they instituted that the numbers have plummeted steadily.

If anyone know who to contact at TPWD about petitioning to revert it back, I would love to know.

Since you are MLDP, what are your numbers saying year over year in the reporting?

Seeing a lot of does at every sit does not always equate to a healthy population.

[Greenheadless]

this is exactly what I have experienced. Also most in my club will say we have no deer and that they are not seeing deer. However, They are ALL hunting over a corn feeder where as I have no corn feeder where I hunt and I am seeing tons of deer. I have seen a huge increase in 6 month to 1.5 year old bucks this year. Way more than normal.

You mean, you have to hunt the deer? . I am seeing the exact same thing, little interest in the corn slingers and the clear cut edges are covered up.

If you have hogs consistently hitting up your feeder, that will also negatively affect seeing deer.

[U.S.ArmyRetired]

You mean, you have to hunt the deer? . I am seeing the exact same thing, little interest in the corn slingers and the clear cut edges are covered up.

If you have hogs consistently hitting up your feeder, that will also negatively affect seeing deer.

Are you hunting hand corn or rice bran or anything?

[Greenheadless]

Are you hunting hand corn or rice bran or anything?

Travel corridors and known openings that have been scouted from a distance right now.

I am putting hand corn down and some are eating it. Some are just taking a nibble or two and then moving on to natural browse as well.

[Rwc]

Did my annual family Thanksgiving week hunt last week. Brother and cousins mostly hunted our family lands while I hunted the national forest. I must say I saw more deer this year than I have ever seen during this hunt. I had opportunities at 3 legal bucks and was brow beat pretty hard for not shooting one of them…ha ha I think I ended up seeing 12 does and 5 bucks.
Brother and cousin killed a couple legal deer so all was good. We ended the trip by killing ducks out of a cypress slew located in the upper Patroon Bay area almost directly in front of my new lake lot.

Rwc

[Gumbo Man]

Bucks are traveling now in my area. Yesterday morning a 3 1/2 year old 8 was chasing and I’ve never seen him before yesterday. This morning a 6 1/2 year old 8 shooter that I haven’t seen since last season showed briefly and took all the girls with him. Fog saved his life as it took to long to identify who he was. Glad to see some that didn’t freeze after all from last year.

[RJK70]

Bucks are traveling now in my area. Yesterday morning a 3 1/2 year old 8 was chasing and I’ve never seen him before yesterday. This morning a 6 1/2 year old 8 shooter that I haven’t seen since last season showed briefly and took all the girls with him. Fog saved his life as it took to long to identify who he was. Glad to see some that didn’t freeze after all from last year.

My activity went way down for a week after my wife shot the nice 10 point. But things picked back up yesterday with a few decent bucks coming through. One of them is a no doubt management buck. Big body, wide, 7 point.

[Etxbuckman]

Travel corridors and known openings that have been scouted from a distance right now.

I am putting hand corn down and some are eating it. Some are just taking a nibble or two and then moving on to natural browse as well.

I'm not just camped out on feeders either. And part of my section of the lease has select-cut back in the spring, so I've got a nice area of about 40 acres like that to hunt. The problem is the **** timber company piled logs and limbs and all their trash crap in every lane were they cut. I've never seen such a mess. And forget about trying to traverse it, let alone do so quietly (and safely, especially in the dark). I do have a stand and feeder in there that were already in place before they cut though.

I've got another spot, a 1+/- acre clearing I found in the timber that I planted a really nice food plot in, and the only thing coming to it are the same few deer hitting a feeder about 300 yards to the south. LOL

I've got a stand on a pipeline that serves as a major crossing, and another ladder stand on a fencerow where deer cross and walk down, plus one other stand and feeder in the middle of a pine thicket next to an SMZ. And I've got cameras everywhere. They're just not there.

[Etxbuckman]

If anyone that's concerned about deer numbers cares to be proactive, here is a link to TPWD's website for their biologists by county. I suggest sending them an email and letting them know, otherwise if no one does anything they'll just leave it status quo until there aren't any deer left:

https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/land/habitats/county/

[Allpublic]

Etxbuckman, im sorry you are not seeing the deer you think you should be, and maybe there is something up with your property, but the deer numbers are good. Especially in trinity county. More regulation and restrictions is the last thing we need. Tpwd has done a great job in my opinion and in recent years the hunting has been better than ever. I can go out anyday of the week and see deer in any of the counties around me, almost guaranteed. I have hunted east texas all my life and it hasnt always been like that. I hope tpwd keeps up the good work and nothing changes.

[bollomb]

Etxbuckman, im sorry you are not seeing the deer you think you should be, and maybe there is something up with your property, but the deer numbers are good. Especially in trinity county. More regulation and restrictions is the last thing we need. Tpwd has done a great job in my opinion and in recent years the hunting has been better than ever. I can go out anyday of the week and see deer in any of the counties around me, almost guaranteed. I have hunted east texas all my life and it hasnt always been like that. I hope tpwd keeps up the good work and nothing changes.

Trinity county here and my deer numbers are down roughly 50% over from last yr. Does and bucks are both down, I used to average 6-8 deer a sit now I am lucky to see a deer this yr.. Could be that myself and Etxbuckman are the only ones seeing this

[Tyrex750]

Nope, i hunt hardin county and havent seen anything in the last week.

[Etxbuckman]

Etxbuckman, im sorry you are not seeing the deer you think you should be, and maybe there is something up with your property, but the deer numbers are good. Especially in trinity county. More regulation and restrictions is the last thing we need. Tpwd has done a great job in my opinion and in recent years the hunting has been better than ever. I can go out anyday of the week and see deer in any of the counties around me, almost guaranteed. I have hunted east texas all my life and it hasnt always been like that. I hope tpwd keeps up the good work and nothing changes.

I'm glad someone's seeing deer. LOL

Look if it was just me having a problem I'd say, OK, I'm not doing something right. But there's guys all over here saying the same thing, and it's true for some of the pages I follow on FB as well.

Obviously there's going to be pockets holding good deer numbers, but there's a growing number of places not holding good deer numbers. I've been hunting east TX since '87 or '88 and I remember well all the years you were lucky to see a deer in a season, let alone kill anything. And while we're not doing that bad currently, whether people want to admit or not there's a lot places trending that direction.

[Etxbuckman]

I'm not trying to ***** and moan because I'm having crappy deer season, so please don't anyone take it like that. I'm just saying I'm seeing a trend that I don't like for the future.

I don't want to wait till it's too late to fix it either.