Utopia/Garner State Park Area Hunting

[elliscountyhog]

I know I know. I am doing a lot of checking on different areas and YES I have looked through the searches. SO I am asking about the area between Utopia and the Garner State Park close to the state park. Lease is in the hills. Has live creek/river water on the ranch. Surrounded by large ranches and is a large ranch itself. Ranch is off Cherry Creek Ranch Rd. Thanks for any insight to this area.

[daniel044]

I would bet thats a nice area. I would expect their to be nice whitetail and exotics.

[jt400]

PM Sent

[Triple 7]

whitetails would be on the smaller side 100's to maybe 130. If it has good water then you might have some axis and other exotics. But the beauty of that area is what makes it worth it.

[elliscountyhog]

whitetails would be on the smaller side 100's to maybe 130. If it has good water then you might have some axis and other exotics. But the beauty of that area is what makes it worth it.

Yea this is one part of texas I have never hunted and always wanted to try it. Sounds like a good place but I am skeptical of the number of animals in that area.

[Triple 7]

I hunted in Leakey for 15 years. I got off when they sold the property. Since then I have hunted better places with bigger deer. But that's the place I would go back to in a heartbeat


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[K. Lane]

I'm not saying this ranch or any ranch in that area is this way but I'll tell you what I'd wonder the most about.
I'm 48 years old and have been going to Garner twice each summer since 1969 and have hunted numerous ranches in the area. When I was a kid and teenager, you couldn't swing a dead cat in the park with out hitting or at least spooking whitetail.... I mean herds of them. Over the years in the park the whitetail numbers have diminished while the axis numbers have drastically increased. I mean to the point that after spending 3 full weeks in the park last summer, I can honestly say that I did not see a single whitetail. Axis a plenty and turkeys but not one whitetail.
Of course I'm not saying there are no whitetail in the park but I do ask myself if the axis are pushing them out?? If so, what are the ranches near the park like. Don't get me wrong, I love the axis being there and will kill the shat out of as many as I'm allowed but if I was paying for a deer lease, I'd pay special attention to the whitetail numbers as well

[Triple 7]

Oh the axis have pushed them out for sure

[bwool]

Looked at one of the pastures at the end of that road once. Lots of aoudad, not many whitetail. Some Axis & turkey. Very vertical terrain. Beautiful country

[Mexico]

Tons of Axis. A big deer will be anything over 130 if the ranch is all native.