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Hunting lease
I have finally closed the deal for a hunting lease, after two years of not being able to find anything decent that I could afford. For you non-Texans, it's a pretty big deal to find a place close to home for affordable rates. There is very little public land in Texas, compared to the number of hunters, so prime leases typically go for a lot more money than the average guy wants to spend, and are still hard to find. City folks will pay big bucks for a good place, so the locals have trouble getting anything good for reasonable prices. Landowners have wised up in recent years and make their poor land pay for itself with hunting fees. I don't blame them for it - it just hasn't done me any good, till now.
This place I have secured is only 200 acres, but is brushy enough to handle 6 hunting blinds, easily. It has no water or cultivation, but deer travel through it and bed down on it, so feeders will likely draw some spikes and does. Where they are, the bigger bucks will follow, when the rut starts, especially if there are a few acorns to eat. It also has feral hogs, occasionally, plus coyotes and bobcats. It's nothing to compare with the river bottom locales I have enjoyed in the past, but it gives me a chance to hunt with the grand kids, who will be plenty excited about it, and that's what I've been trying to get.
Best of all, it's 30 minutes away, or less, for me, and only ten minutes from where my grandsons live. I will have the keys in the mail tomorrow (or so), so we can start scouting it this weekend and maybe get our feeders and blinds up during the next 2-3 weekends. Yippee!
This place I have secured is only 200 acres, but is brushy enough to handle 6 hunting blinds, easily. It has no water or cultivation, but deer travel through it and bed down on it, so feeders will likely draw some spikes and does. Where they are, the bigger bucks will follow, when the rut starts, especially if there are a few acorns to eat. It also has feral hogs, occasionally, plus coyotes and bobcats. It's nothing to compare with the river bottom locales I have enjoyed in the past, but it gives me a chance to hunt with the grand kids, who will be plenty excited about it, and that's what I've been trying to get.
Best of all, it's 30 minutes away, or less, for me, and only ten minutes from where my grandsons live. I will have the keys in the mail tomorrow (or so), so we can start scouting it this weekend and maybe get our feeders and blinds up during the next 2-3 weekends. Yippee!
Replies
Your place is small but with good management it can be productive. You gotta be quiet, something that can be hard with kids involved. But feed hell out of it. Try some of that Deer Caine or other attractants. You'd be surprised how many deer you can sucker in. Are there coons around there? If so, get you a bottle of **** piss scent mask. That's what I use and deer will walk right past you. May not be the ones you want to shoot but in rut who knows? Our place is 860 acres total but my part is only about 200 acres. So we're in the same boat basically. Except we do have water. If you can put a small water tank on it and haul water to it, that may bring in some good deer. Around your part of the country, I'd bet the water table is not too far down. You might ask the land owner if you can put in a small pump and tank. You'd probably hit water at 15-20 feet. You can drill that by hand.
Just a thought.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
I've got two grandsons who have been pushing a blocking sled around all summer with a football coach on it, so they can drag their own, this time, and dress them out, too.
This place has been hunted for years, but never managed. We will be the first hunters on it who will actually follow the rules, so it may not yield much this year. But if we can hold on to it, it will improve, if the knuckleheads adjoining it will let the young bucks live long enough to get legal. It will be a regular sanctuary, under our control, if we can keep the poachers out. We will concentrate on culls this year, unless a big boy screws up and gets too close to a feeder.
Without a lease, I am subject to the desires of ranchers and how many deer they need culled that year.
I used to have some 'contacts' like that, but they all died off. Their kids always have different ideas.
At least with your own lease you can lure the youngsters to a feeder and hope the good bucks will sneak around in the shadows and get too close.
Best of luck and congrats on the lease!
John 3: 1-21
Good plan, just concentrate on some good meat for awhile. The kids won't mind. They'll be happy to get a deer period.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Good idea Jeff. I think I'll get some turnip seeds too. Fence in about a 30'x30' plot. Plant turnips and peas. Deer love peas too.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Look forward to seeing the progress as you develop the property. Don't forget to take 'before' pics if you plan on carrying out any improvements. Also looking forward to seeing some game cam pics of the local wildlife.
About 50 miles south and a little east, about halfway between Mineola and Hawkins. I may try the turnips - never tried them before.
The only 'development' will be in letting the young bucks with nice racks live and shooting the culls. I can mow a little and put up blinds and feeders, but otherwise I'll leave it alone. It is 1/2 hardwoods and 1/2 managed pines.
I bought a cheap game camera so hopefully I'll be getting some photos.
Sako
I hear you Bisley, I used to have the run of 3 ranches for helping out at Branding time or fence/gate repairs. The old timers all passed away and our agreement went with them. The kids now charge big bucks for a trespass fee, or they lease it to an outfitter. Now, it's BLM or National Forest for me.
Whatever, I hope you all get some deer. Those pesky animals need shooting! And if one has a rocking chair growing out his head, then all the better.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Working on a lease is nothing new, when I moved to Texas in 80 my buddy's got me on a waterfowl/deer/hog/ fishing lease in Anahauc and Katy , the place's were huge, the man that owned it farmed rice, cattle, and crawdads, the deal was we had to help when he needed us, we spent a lot of time down there, if I remember right he only charged us $200.00 each a year which was cheap even back than.
When he drained the fields we would place nets across the outflows to get the crawfish and we could keep 2 5gal buckets each.
JAY
JAY