Why in East Texas?

[bollomb]

No deer and lots of meth, head south amigo!

[Mayhem]

Why in East Texas?

I know there are some leases in east Texas that have big deer that are killed on a regular basis but those places are the exception not the rule. Those lease are also big money and are managed like a south Texas lease. The normal east Texas hunting club are not like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cactusassjohn]

Big deer in Texas are yearlings in Ia and MI [emoji56]

nebraska too!!!

[Gumbo Man]

nebraska too!!!

We apologize.

[curtintex]

Reading what some of you guys think about East TX hunting is funny. It reminds me of someone from across the pond thinking everyone in Texas has cows and wears a cowboy hat. I'm glad it has that stigma for most though so it doesn't draw more hunters from other parts of the state like South TX and the Hill Country does. There are some true giants here that most guys are way too smart to post on the ole interweb. These threads always crack me up.

Shhhhh

[HNT ETX]

I hunt behind the pine curtain. For sure too much drama and too many poachers and hogs. Hoping for a bad akern crop, so they will have to come stand in my corn pile. I got a raise at work, maybe I can afford to get outta here, try West or South where all the civilized hunters are. Maybe start a youtube channel and post my hunting shenanigans......boost my cred.

[Death from Above]

When you say, "If yo can consistently kill big deer in east Texas", do you mean legally kill them or just have the ability to kill them? Are you talking with a gun, bow or a truck?

Yes lol...cause the "king of poachers" took place east of I35

Is he the guy that has been looking for a lease for three yrs and offing a grand finders fee��If so I suggest DrDeath get a new screen name as it is SCARY ��

Dude... you drinking or smoking the meth that ET is known for?

What?

[Gumbo Man]

I hunt behind the pine curtain. For sure too much drama and too many poachers and hogs. Hoping for a bad akern crop, so they will have to come stand in my corn pile. I got a raise at work, maybe I can afford to get outta here, try West or South where all the civilized hunters are. Maybe start a youtube channel and post my hunting shenanigans......boost my cred.

SPlain to me this YouTube thing you speak of. Is some kind of new fancy shpancy corn feeder tube? I gotta get to town more often.

[tps7742]

I’ve been hunting East Texas exclusively for the last 10 years. My lease is 15 minutes from my house. I’ve never seen a deer on my lease in that amount of time but for 69 dollars it’s a steel. I can always rely on the meth heads to sell me a breakfast taco at the store going to my stand and that’s a huge bonus. The short drive makes it easy on me so I only have to pick up cans on the road 3 days a week for gas money. Us banjo pickers don’t have much but we do like to share with our families as far as allowing our young children and grand children to be part of the hunting experience and get them interested in a tradition of hunting instead of always leaving them behind because we’re gonna be gone for too many days and they can’t miss any school. You guys that have it so much better than us driving them fancy trucks and indoor plumbing better hold on to those leases. We know that we’re gonna hit on a scratch off one day and be bumping you guys off of the good property. And not to be overlooked is the fact that our wives and sisters ( one of the same) are so ugly they can knock a squirrel out of a tree just by looking at em !!

Lol you got it.

[txchuck]

I am in Grayson county where people lease very small places for a fortune. I know 2 people that lease their 15 and 20 acre spots for a fortune. (Hagerman Boundary) I have trespassers on camera frequently. One of them leases to a person for the season or until he makes a kill. His season is then over and another hunter takes over for the remainder of the season or until he makes a kill. Usually 3 or 4 guys / kills a year off a very small acreage. I believe after the first guy there is a BC score fee.

[WinslowBoy]

I've was on a Trinity County hunting club/lease for 20 years and decided to get off of it last year. Not because of any one issue, just felt it was time for something different. This was not a "$69" lease and we had management practices in place before the antler restrictions. Also became an MLD property when that program started. As with most parts of the state, you need to understand (1) what the requirements are (2) how many folks per acre (3) potential for trophies, etc. To stereotype all E. Texas leases as the same is a big mistake.

Now believe me, there were things I liked about my lease and things I would have liked to have seen changed. What I liked - cost (less than $1000/yr), roughly an hour from my front door, great campground atmosphere, high number of doe tags and pigs, family friendly and year around unlimited access to name a few. What I would have changed - number of members (but this is what kept the price lower), biologist believing it was a "trophy" lease (and starting the raise the $$ accordingly), even though MLD I would have preferred no gun hunting until Nov and typical lease member drama.

I guess the big thing is..... I knew exactly what my lease was. Not expensive, close to home, I could take my boys there (shot of my tag allotment) and year round access. Does and pigs to be had every year and I had the chance of taking a decent deer (but definitely didn't expect this every year). In 20 years, I (or my boys) only took 3 decent bucks but we shot a crap load of does, pigs and squirrels. And had awesome campouts.

I guess ultimately it is "what do you truly want out of your lease?". I was happy with what my E. Texas lease had to offer. As with any part of this state, do your research and if it's not something you would like being a part of, find something else.

Just my two cents worth on my E. Texas experience. Best of luck.

[hpdrifter]

The Hostile Lease Member thread has me wondering why in the hell do leases in East Texas do it that way����
1)Why do the put 50 guns w 5 kids apiece and aunts,uncle’s and cousins on one lease membership on 3000 acres?
2)What do they call the ranch manager the lease President?
3)Do new members get the worst spot and have to build up deer lease cred to get one of the better 60 acres?
4)Why are East Texas deer are said to be big bodied deer when most wont dress over a buck 30?
5)Where can I get the $69 lease and what do you get for that $69?����������

1. because timber management doesn't care, landowners care.
2. pretty much.
3. pretty much, first come, first choice.
4. quit shooting yearlings.
5. beats the heck out of me.

[SaltwaterSlick]

If you guys bad-mouthing East Texas deer hunting had any real idea of what kind of deer are regularly killed in "East Texas", you'd **** your pants! Over 60 years ago, my dad told me, "Son, if these people here in East Texas ever learned to protect their deer like they do in West Texas, this would be the most wonderful place in the country to deer hunt." It has taken a loooong time, but it's happening now... I live in Liberty County now and there are 200" deer killed every year within a few miles of my farm... I grew up in Angelina County, hunted Polk, Hardin, Trinity, and Liberty counties all my life, and today hunting in the area is better than it ever has been and rivals any South Texas lease for deer quality... I have a fancy South Texas deer lease because I like hunting that brush country, but the potential for me to kill a truly big deer is just as great within an hour of my house as it is 6 hours from my house... And yes we do have big bodied deer in East Texas... maybe not like the corn fed deer in the agriculture states spoke of in this thread, but if you want to go to those states and try to draw a tag and get lucky enough to hunt one deer, that's great for you... I can go buy my standard Texas hunting license and kill 3 monsters if I so desire, or at least I have the potential to do so... I'm not bad-mouthing the fact that the Midwest has big deer but few get to harvest them. It's just different and here in Texas, we have too many deer so our game regulations allow us to kill a good number of them every year... To me, that gives me more bang for the buck so to speak...


It is just very disappointing to me that fellow hunters that hunt somewhere else see fit to **** and moan about another area and its hunters... No wonder we are dwindling in numbers... new person sees/hears all this bitching and griping and slandering of one another, when we're all supposed to be common in our desires wouldn't want any part of that crap!

So yea, I guess opening day isn't what it used to be, but MLD didn't have a dang thing to do with it. WE SCREWED IT UP OURSELVES!
Carry on...

[WinslowBoy]

SaltwaterSlick, I usually say "Amen" at the end of your awesome prayers for folks on here and I'm going to give another big "Amen" to the end of this post.....

[Bone Thug]

If you guys bad-mouthing East Texas deer hunting had any real idea of what kind of deer are regularly killed in "East Texas", you'd **** your pants! Over 60 years ago, my dad told me, "Son, if these people here in East Texas ever learned to protect their deer like they do in West Texas, this would be the most wonderful place in the country to deer hunt." It has taken a loooong time, but it's happening now... I live in Liberty County now and there are 200" deer killed every year within a few miles of my farm... I grew up in Angelina County, hunted Polk, Hardin, Trinity, and Liberty counties all my life, and today hunting in the area is better than it ever has been and rivals any South Texas lease for deer quality... I have a fancy South Texas deer lease because I like hunting that brush country, but the potential for me to kill a truly big deer is just as great within an hour of my house as it is 6 hours from my house... And yes we do have big bodied deer in East Texas... maybe not like the corn fed deer in the agriculture states spoke of in this thread, but if you want to go to those states and try to draw a tag and get lucky enough to hunt one deer, that's great for you... I can go buy my standard Texas hunting license and kill 3 monsters if I so desire, or at least I have the potential to do so... I'm not bad-mouthing the fact that the Midwest has big deer but few get to harvest them. It's just different and here in Texas, we have too many deer so our game regulations allow us to kill a good number of them every year... To me, that gives me more bang for the buck so to speak...


It is just very disappointing to me that fellow hunters that hunt somewhere else see fit to **** and moan about another area and its hunters... No wonder we are dwindling in numbers... new person sees/hears all this bitching and griping and slandering of one another, when we're all supposed to be common in our desires wouldn't want any part of that crap!

So yea, I guess opening day isn't what it used to be, but MLD didn't have a dang thing to do with it. WE SCREWED IT UP OURSELVES!
Carry on...

I agree 100%. Great post Charlie!

I’ve never understood why other hunters gripe or even compare all the other areas of Texas to hunt.

I think all areas of Texas are really special places to hunt. We are all blessed to live here. IMO.

I wish all the very best this coming hunting season.