Went on a doe hunt near Harper this weekend, 300 acre place kind of split up into small parcels, not really my type of hunting but it was cheap and I don’t have a lease this year. What really caught my attention was the number of shots fired in vicinity every morning and evening, age of deer, lack of bucks, and number of fawns by themselves. This led me to look on acrevalue and I noticed that most of that area has been divided into small parcels and it seems like there are a ton of hunts being sold in the area. Kind of sad, pretty country with what seems like a ton of deer but will be shot up before long at this rate. Just sharing my experience!
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Hunted there for seven years a couple years ago. It is getting too populated for me. I’m surprised there are as many deer in that area as there is. Got some good bucks there though. -
Well how many doe(s) did yall get?Comment
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was a honey hole back in the 80s 90s. not anymore.Comment
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Shot my first bow deer in Harper in the early 2000s.
For that reason alone I've always enjoyed hunting that area.
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I hunted Harper for over 35 years and there was plenty of deer. Some of the guys I hunted with are still on the same ranch. Years ago there wasn't much along the lines of deer or habitat management, then that all changed. Some for the better, some not so much. Land fragmentation and economics has also caused some negative effects on the hunting out in that part of the world as well.Comment
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My goal was not to bash Harper hunting, I was just surprised at the number of hunters and shots. It is a beautiful place and the deer were plentiful.Comment
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Shot my first deer in 1968 in Harper, Harper will always be dear to my heart
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I own a small parcel in Harper 6.5ac. Surrounded by large tracts all low fence. I have hunted it with success. My neighbors are starting to have a hog problem in that area and my cousin cross the road shoots one or two a week. So maybe all the shots you heard were not deer dropping. Yes, many ranches are being broken up into 5 ac plots. My land was not one of them. Good deer can be had in that area. The number ONE SCI Reeves Muntjac was shot on my place about 7 years ago. So I do get a good assortment of exotics stopping by. Harper is still magical for many.Comment
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I left my lease down there last year. Through inheritance and land sales it was down to 500 acres. Still plenty of deer there and some decent ones but we got a chance to buy some more land here around the house so I decided to do that instead. Pretty area and I do miss it some. The best time to hunt Harper is prior to rifle season opening.
-johnComment
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I hunted there for 21 years off of Klein Branch Road. Deer were always plentiful and we shot some decent bucks. Axis were just getting populated the last few years we were there. But, we ended up surrounded by smaller acreage and homes. I grew up hunting that place and even had some hunts with my son when he was younger. Most of my deer hunting memories are from Harper.Comment
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We have had a smaller place in Harper since ‘01
Shot very few deer over 3.5 YO in that time..
However Between us and two neighbors we now have a little over a section of contiguous land we are managing for age structure and just 2 years in we are seeing some nice 4.5 YO bucks.
It’s amazing the fecundity of the deer population in the area! You are absolutely right about the small tract. 5-10 acres is the average size to the north of us and we know a lotttt of deer get harvested that direction
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Grew up in Harper. Still hunt between Doss and Harper today. Anyone who says it’s “shot out” or the hunting is poor there is either hunting too close to a bunch of small tracts of land or some day leasing guys. There’s still plenty of large pieces of property all over that area. Seems like management has really taken ahold of some people in the last 10 years or so. With any management minded hunting and some feed you have a good chance at killing 150” deer. Lots of really nice deer get killed down there that no one ever hears about because of the boom in hunting down there.Comment
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