So, the quail hunters killed the longer deer season in the north zone

[ttechdallas]

Think about this....you are mad because nothing was taken from you. You are mad because nothing was given to "them".....think about that real hard.

Thank you for clarifying this. I was under the same impression from what I read. Figured I must have missed something given all the anger.

[cehorn]

Since you figure the landowers were chicken, greedy ,etc for not wanting you on their land another 2 weeksmaybe you should go buy your own and go mld and you can hunt longer. You may not realize it, but landowners have things to do on the property and may want some undisturbed time on THEIR land, that they are nice enough to lease to you.

Ha, a lot of wrong assumptions in there. I don't lease land and I fully understand having a list that never gets any shorter of thing to do on the property. My family has land that I hunt on. I may go MLD but it is my family's land not mine exclusively so the decision isn't all mine.

A landowner has every right to not want you on there land for an extra 2 weeks. That is their choice. They also have every right under the current laws to make deer season as short as they want on THEIR place. If they only want people out there in November then lease it for only November. This is no different than bow only or rifle only leases as far as not matching the state's guidelines. Somebody will take that deal and pay full price for it. Again, their choice and hunting opportunity statewide shouldn't be set because landowners don't want people on their land. Sorry, that is a bogus argument to me.

This is all about increasing hunter opportunity to me and the decision of TPWD did not increase hunter opportunity. BAD decision on their part.

[rjtkdplus]

I voted to extend the season but I no longer hunt up north so it doesn't affect me. I did deer hunt a ranch North of Sweetwater for several years, with quail hunters. I'd tell them where I saw coveys and they'd tell me where they saw nice bucks, it worked pretty well for several years.

I do remember that alot of the bucks on that ranch shed their antlers in December so we had to be very careful shooting does at the end of the season. Maybe that was factored into the decision as well?

[Dale Moser]

So, the quail hunters killed the longer deer season in the north zone

Maybe I am greedy but I still say more hunter opportunity for everyone the better and TPWD's decision on this doesn't provide more hunter opportunity. I have already admitted this one hits close to home for me because I hunt less than 5 miles off of 90...on the north side.



Back to your point, I don't see how the landowner doesn't have every right to keep what they have if the deer season date is changed, maybe greedy isn't the right word. If currently a landowner leases for deer season thru the first weekend in January and then quail season from second weekend in January until the end of quail season he is free to set that in the terms of his lease no matter if the end of deer season is changed or not by TPWD. The deer hunters then have a choice for their agreement with the landowner. They can either keep on keeping on and probably ***** here and there about not being able to hunt the whole deer season or they can find a new place. That is their choice and the landowner's. The landowner won't be affected because they can always find a new group to lease their land for the same or probably more money if the current group leaves.

Thank you for making valid and reasonable points. I would argue that leaving the season the same does provide more opportunity because you can still hunt deer or for a generous amount of time, and the landowner can still lease for quail after. If they extended the deer season the deer hunters would want to lease through the end for the same price that they were paying before. Yes, the landowner would still have the right to decide when he leased for what, but you and I both know deer hunters would ***** about it, making it harder to lease.

Dear/quail aside, I still think deer season is plenty long enough, and would not want to extend it. If it were up to me I would shorten the MLD season.


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[tradtiger]

Twenty years ago, my Dad used to lease 1,200 acres for quail-only with a partner for us to hunt -- 3 hunters total -- using 3 or 4 bird dogs. Price was about $2 per acre, in Fischer County, about 60 miles north of Abilene. We lost that lease when some out-of-state businessmen offered the rancher triple what we were paying in order to start up a $500-a-day-per-gun quail day lease operation, running water to various spots and setting up feeders. Really don't know how that worked out for them, but it pretty much spelled the end of quail hunting for us, outside of sporadic day-lease hunts over the next few years until Dad's last dog died.

While we had the lease (7 or 8 years, at least) that 1,200 acres was barely enough territory for three of us, plus maybe a guest, to hunt on a long weekend. You need a lot of acreage to hunt quail. I know of folks who prefer to lease 10,000 - 30,000 acres and hunt on horses. So, yes, it can take resources. And, yes quail hunting is pretty much exclusive of deer hunting because quail hunters don't want to get shot by a stray rifle bullet and deer hunters don't want bird dogs running off all the deer.

As far as the season issue goes, the TPWD Board's action simply maintains status quo. No real reason for anyone to get up in arms one way or the other. Any kind of hunting is expensive in Texas. The Board's action just represents a balancing of interests.

[DUKFVR]

Ha, a lot of wrong assumptions in there. I don't lease land and I fully understand having a list that never gets any shorter of thing to do on the property. My family has land that I hunt on. I may go MLD but it is my family's land not mine exclusively so the decision isn't all mine.

A landowner has every right to not want you on there land for an extra 2 weeks. That is their choice. They also have every right under the current laws to make deer season as short as they want on THEIR place. If they only want people out there in November than lease it for only November. Somebody will take that deal and pay full price for it. Again, their choice and hunting opportunity statewide shouldn't be set because landowners don't want people on their land. Sorry, that is a bogus argument to me.

This is all about increasing hunter opportunity to me and the decision of TPWD did not increase hunter opportunity. BAD decision on their part.

My Bad on guessing you were leasing, you are acting like you were. You own land so just go mld & you can hunt longer & it doesn't put a burden on the landowners that don't want it. They don't have to listen to the hunters wanting to hunt 2 more weeks. I agree with you 100% the LO's can dictate whatever, just easier when they can say ,that's the law or season set by state. They don't have to be bothered or listen to whiny hunters wanting 2 more weeks. I honestly believe [just my opinion] the deer need a break after being pursued for 3 months. Does are pregnant & bucks need the time to build up from the rut undisturbed. They have enough pressure from natural predators after winters tough times.

[cehorn]

Thank you for making valid and reasonable porch. I would argue that leaving the season the same does provide more opportunity because you can still hunt deer or for a generous amount of time, and the landowner can still lease for quail after. If they extended the deer season the deer hunters would want to lease through the end for the same price that they were paying before. Yes, the landowner would still have the right to decide when he leased for what, but you and I both know deer hunters would ***** about it, making it harder to lease.

Dear/quail aside, I still think deer season is plenty long enough, and would not want to extend it. If it were up to me I would shorten the MLD season.


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The deer hunters would ***** but I still think it would get leased. I can't say that I've ever heard of a property owner (within reason) not finding someone to lease their land.

I would probably agree that deer season is long enough when talking just length. BUT, for where I hunt it doesn't really matter how long it is before Thanksgiving or at least the middle of November. As far as I'm concerned, move everything back a month and call it good. I know there are other parts of the state that would flip out if that happened as early as the rut is in some places so I'm not advocating that. We have been hunting at our place for almost 20 years and I can't think of a single buck we have killed before the weekend before Thanksgiving. We have never shot a deer (although could have shot does) during archery season.

I love to hunt quail but I honestly don't know a lot about the biology of quail. Would it not be possible to move quail season back 2 weeks so the number of overlapping days stay the same? Is there something special about the dates the way they are now? The only drawback I can think of is it may start getting hot for the dogs. Would that not be the best of both worlds from a quail vs deer debate?

[JLivi1224]

You guys are exhausting. Go do something.

[JeffK]

I voted against it and don't have any quail to hunt. I would be up for shortening the season in the county I hunt to help the age structure of bucks.
AR helps get bucks to 3, but those 3 years take a licking around Christmas time.

[Slow&Steady]

Texas has one of the longest deer seasons in the country, as well as one of the most liberal bag limits. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you can't punch a few tags during the 3 1/2 months you get to hunt deer (especially fed deer), two more weeks likely isn't going to do much for you. I've never hunted quail a day in my life, but my grandfather was an avid quail hunter. He was lower middle class, certainly not elitist. I'm siding with the quail hunters on this one. If I hunted quail on property I shared with an avid deer hunter, I can't hunt during October, November, December, or the first half of January without potentially messing up his hunting situation.

Every once in a while, try lacing up the boots of your fellow hunters who pursue different species and walking a mile or two. Whether you lease, gain permission, or hunt public land, we hall have to share the land. I don't see the benefit in extending our already comparatively long deer season by two weeks at the expense of losing solidarity with other hunters.

[double bogey]

My father, me. and 3 more guys used to quail hunt 20 or so years ago. We usually leased 1 to2K acres for the whole season. It was almost as expensive as a deer lease. (we did lose a couple to deer hunters) We then leased another 2 to 4k acres after deer season. We paid $.50 to $1 an acre for that. My experience pointers don't make good house pets, so keeping dogs 8 months to use them 4 is tough. Priced a good bird dog lately?
And quail populations are so cyclic, that a dog could end up hunting only a couple of good years in their lifetime (we hunted 16 sections one year, each section pasture had a pond in it, and the only quail in each section would be one covey within 200 yards of each pond.

Dads gone, none of the survivors keep dogs or quail hunt anymore. None of us were well off, and still aren't, but you guys are right. Lots of quail hunters are well off, and some use the same model we did. You cut them out of the after deer season time, and they may well be able to lease your place for the entire quail season. Pricing most of us out of deer hunting. I know there are a lot of people on this forum who are well off, but there are more like me, who can easily be outbid for hunting opportunities.

I am rambling, but you are missing out on one of the best hunting experiences there are, if you have never quail hunted behind a good pair of bird dogs.

Doesn't the south zone start deer hunting after the north zone? Therefore not really having a longer season. I have not looked, so I apologize if I am wrong.

Good hunting everyone.

[Take Dead Aim]

Even though I start my stalk in October, I sometimes don't complete it until February. They never see me coming.

Sounds like you lull them to death.

[SolocamShooter]

So basically because you don't quail hunt, you don't think they should be considered in this?


I'm glad. Truth be told I wish they'd shorten your MLD season, but it doesn't really affect me that much so I don't complain.

It's becoming blatantly obvious that most people on this site don't know **** from wild honey about quail hunting.


I would suggest if you can't kill a deer from October to mid January, you don't know that much about deer hunting either...

You have two months of rifle to shoot a deer. Another month if you bow hunt. It’s plenty long enough already.

x2000!

[Les]

Just some thoughts.

South Texas has the longer season (and a larger deer bag limit) and it doesn’t seem to bother quail hunters there...

Also, is it OK to shoot down two more weeks of hunting opportunity for 650,000 North Zone deer hunters – bringing them up to a season length equal to the one South Texas has now – for the concerns of maybe a few thousand quail hunters in one small (maybe 20ish-county) areas of a 226-county zone? I’m sure all the folks who hunt quail in East Texas and the Post Oak Savannah and Hill County (all 10 of those quail hunters) are glad to not have deer hunters messing up two more weeks of their quail hunting...

Quail hunters have a 17-week season. Deer hunters in North Zone have a 9-week season. In South Texas, they have an 11-week deer season. So which of those has more opportunity?

And for the folks saying “the season’s too long now; cut it back.” You don’t have to go hunting... But there’s the OPPORTUNITY to go. And what can be bad about that? As long as the resources can handle it, enjoy!

[SmTx]

This decision should be made at the landowner level and not the state. In regards to quail hunting being interrupted by an extended deer season.