Hunting the short trees

[Txmusfan]

I live in Jacksonville, TX and have hunted in East Texas all my life. This year, I have gotten on a lease between San Angelo and El Dorado. I have talked to the fellas on my lease (who have been there for a year already) and they told me that they only hunt, in the mornings until 9 or 10. There are no pictures of deer on cameras after about 9 o'clock in the morning anywhere on the lease. In East Texas, I am used to sitting on my stand until at LEAST lunch and sometimes up to 2 o'clock or as long as I can sit. I have seen deer at all times of the day. Would I be wasting my time to sit past 9am? Also, what other differences can I expect to see, with the exception of actually seeing more deer?

[DonBon]

You cant shoot them from your couch.

[jooger17]

It's a totally different game from E. Tx. The rut is later, usually starts getting good aroud Thanksgiving and the 1st week of December it's on fire! Expect to see better bucks at the feeders. One way I really like to rifle hunt them was sit til 9:30 or so and then get up on a tall hill. You need good quality optics for this... I'd stare at cedar bushes where deer bed. It takes some practice to find what you're looking for but you'll see an ear, or an antler, or a tail twitch... Then put a stalk on them. It's a really fun way to hunt while everyone else is in camp.

They don't get pics at the feeder later in the mornings that's for sure. Usually the 1st 20min of daylight is when you'll see the better bucks but I had more luck in the evening.

[Txmusfan]

Thanks for the input. I was told that, last year, most cameras had the same bucks visiting until about a week before Thanksgiving. From then through the next couple of weeks there were pics of several bucks that were not seen any more. I am sure that some of these were due to the rut and some may not have made it off of another lease, but I do know that there is little to no hunting pressure on the leases surrounding us. I don't think that I will be doing any rifle hunting this year, which may be a mistake, but I just don't get the excitement that I do while bowhunting.
On another note, the drive REALLY sucks!!!! My lease is 6 1/2 hours from my house and that is including 2 stops for gas and no stops to eat. If I stop to eat I have to add another hour. Our lease is 5 miles off of the nearest county road. That 5 mile lease road is everything but smooth!!! I am used to pulling off a paved road and maybe driving a few hundred yards on a smooth dirt road. Not so this year!!

[lameduck]

Sounds like you have deer lease regret. Give it a year.

[Txmusfan]

Oh, NO regrets yet! I am excited and looking forward to this year, I just realize that I am in for a complete culture shock. Finding a rattler right outside the camp house was a little unnerving, but not much different than having a copperhead outside my house. Just curious though, do rattlers ever rattle any more? This one never did.

[ColinR]

I feel your pain on the drive....Last year I was on a lease 6.5 to 7.5 hrs from home depending on stops. It really sucked...but once you got there it was great! Not sure if your schedule will allow but what I did was went for a minimum of 4 full days usually about 6. To me it was crazy to try to leave afterwork on Friday evening not getting to the lease until the wee morning hrs Saturday and then have to be back home sunday evening.

[Txmusfan]

Yeah, I am planning on 4-6 day trips as well. I don't think my hips can take back-to-back 6-7 hour drives. Not to mention the price of 4 tanks of gasoline!!

[SaltwaterSlick]

I too grew up in East Texas hunting there, and I've always said that anyone who can successfully hunt and kill good bucks in East Texas can hunt deer anywhere. It's harder to hunt deer in East Texas than anywhere else on the planet as far as I am concerned. You'll do just fine. Put your woodsmanship skills to work. Do some serious scouting. Walk around. Look for sign. Find out what they are eating and where they bed, then plan your hunt. Of course feeding changes their habits a bit, but if you're hunting a place that has been fed for many years, the feeder parts will be a natural part of the deer's habits too.

Keep us posted... look forward to some LDP's!

[TX_Kevin]

There will probably not be any trees in which to hang a stand. It's really hard to hide a tripod. My preference is to hunt out of box blinds.

[Txmusfan]

I have a tripod nestled in an oak tree. One of my friends that has hunted out there a lot helped me put it up and he told me it was fine. I am not so sure about that. There is plenty of foliage behind me, but little, actually, NONE, in front. I like to be either hidden or elevated. I may consider building a box blind there, but I have never bowhunted from a box blind. I wouldn't even know where to begin to build one.

[holdem]

Hunt the Solunar tables, deer act like fish.

[Ron]

I think your in for a treat, once you get use to the small trees

[Mayhem]

ground blinds is what i hunt out of, there isnt enough trees to even hide a 10ft tripod on my place.

[jooger17]

You'll be fine hunting out of that tripod. If you can draw from a climber in the piney woods those cedar tree deer won't know what hit'm