East Tx vs Hill Country Deer Debate

[Snowflake Killa]

Clear cuts really help east Texas for sure

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[PondPopper]

The biggest factors are legal hunting pressure and outlaw hunters.. You wont see many "deer leases" in the hill country or South Texas advertised as "Looking for 25 guns to fill 3,000 acre lease, guest welcome".. This is the norm for east Texas though..
Almost all leases in east Texas are WAY over pressured which leads to too many deer being killed and the remainder pressured into being nocturnal... It is a shame because east Texas is really where i would like to hunt.. It grows GIANT bucks if done right..

[Gumbo Man]

Actually ET numbers have been on the rise and year round hunting is on the decline. I contribute these factors to the overwhelming rise in Meth users. Meth heads only eat about once a month!!

[HogHunter34]

Actually ET numbers have been on the rise and year round hunting is on the decline. I contribute these factors to the overwhelming rise in Meth users. Meth heads only eat about once a month!!

Terry you never disappoint

Sounds like many contribute lower numbers to a cultural problem
I guess the next question is why did all the outlaws & redneks move to East Tx

I will add when I was a youngster on our place I did see more deer
Not uncommon to see a group of 10-15 at a time crossing the farm road
Now days only see 3-5 in a group

[PondPopper]

Terry you never disappoint

Sounds like many contribute lower numbers to a cultural problem
I guess the next question is why did all the outlaws & redneks move to East Tx

I will add when I was a youngster on our place I did see more deer
Not uncommon to see a group of 10-15 at a time crossing the farm road
Now days only see 3-5 in a group

The small towns of west Texas and the Texas hill country are ate smooth up with meth heads and meth labs...

It is totally out of control...

[Gumbo Man]

Well as already discussed I contribute the decline in certain areas to large properties being sold off in small parcels with a lot of hunting pressure and tag filling. As irritating as it is, every license holder has the right to kill their legal allotment. But that mentality WILL take its toll on population and quality. My BIL owns 350 acres in Anderson County ( Slocum) and I used to hunt with him up till about 6 years ago. Where I hunted I expected to see about 15- 20 deer per sit. Neighboring properties have sold off and he has alot of pressure around him resulting in lower numbers. I good sit now will result to 5-6 deer. But he does still have some quality bucks but they are very crafty becuase of the pressure.

[Mayhem]

This goes back to 1970 when hill country deer weighed 50 pounds on the hoof - there were zero deer in east Texas - and south Texas had a few large survivors. Since then there have been a lot of additions and subtractions in all the regions mentioned.
The biggest doe I have ever seen killed was 5 minutes from Carters Country off Telge, blocks from Intercontinental Airport N. Houston. So is it a E Texas deer or a S Texas deer? Maybe a bit of both...

Cool story but Carter country isn’t off Telge, it’s off treshwig.


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[Pernell]

Clear cuts really help east Texas for sure

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These people who are talking crap about east texas would crap if they saw some of your pics!

[Barney1971]

Every east Texas lease I see posted.

“400 acres. Looking for 26 hunters at $1k per spot”.

Might be a piece of the puzzle

ive hunted East, south and hill country parts of texas, one of the biggest factors is quality of browse-- a lot of very high protein stuff in south texas, which turns into lots of numbers and big, heavy deer. east texas can produce some giants. i grew up hunting on family land in grimes county in the 70's and 80's my uncle knew how to hunt those woods and he killed some BIG bucks, but there were big tracts of land back then and not alot of hunting pressure- most hunting was just family and just around holidays, not "leases". most big tracts in east texas now are paper mill owned, thats where you end up with 1 hunter per 100 acres and alot of folks just wanting to shoot at something and ride 4-wheelers around

[txtrophy85]

When I first moved to Houston(1978) the Houston Post had a picture where some apartments were being built in the background. There was a tree line in front of the apartments and there were 3 monster bucks walking the treeline.
We did some pipeline work over in Atascocita and there were deer tracks all up and down the right of way, some were huge.

Client of mine has 200 acres that borders the San Jacinto river in Kingwood. He has some great bucks.

[curtintex]

These people who are talking crap about east texas would crap if they saw some of your pics!

SHHHHHH. East Texas is horrible. There are no deer here. There are no pictures of Pat's deer. Any pics of big deer are photoshopped. There is nothing for them to eat. Everyone should hunt in the Hill Country.

[SaintBlaise]

Every east Texas lease I see posted.

“400 acres. Looking for 26 hunters at $1k per spot”.

Might be a piece of the puzzle

Agreed. It’s all about the number of hunters per acre and how much they take off it.

Also, I’ve seen a lot of high fence in ET. Do you need to exclude that from the discussion?

[lovemylegacy]

Some parts of the hill country and especially South Texas actually have more food and higher quality food than east Texas. Timber is a food desert. Brush country is a buffet.

I find that hard to believe, especially for the Hill Country. Please specify what type of plants are there. I have always been curious about how the EP can have so many deer. Tiny deer, which is why I say they dont have much food.

SETx has so much browse, I find it hard to believe, thats all.

STx, I can kinda see maybe as much. I am guessing the limestone leeching has a lot to do with it?

[Huggybear]

Pine forests and hay meadows are not the most nutritious things for deer.

What you see as lush, green and productive can actually be very a very sterile environment.


Lots of natural browse in the hill country

x1000
They dont like pine needles !lol

[Top Of Texas]

shhhhhh. East texas is horrible. There are no deer here. There are no pictures of pat's deer. Any pics of big deer are photoshopped. There is nothing for them to eat. Everyone should hunt in the hill country.:d:d

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