For those of you that live in areas where you can hunt multiple deer in a year, you dont know how lucky you are. In my state deer tags are by drawing only, and there are more hunters than deer... so every year a sizable percentage of hunters dont get a tag.

This year, I failed to draw anything... zero... nada... zilch. No deer, no Elk, no Moose. They have a few left over archery tags I can try to get one of in june, but no hunting with my smokepole th is fall

I am sad.


-DallanC

What a bummer! Wyoming always has left over so keep and eye on the leftovers that will be posted in July. My trouble is coming up with the cash to buy all the permits I want. Gotta get the BOSS a job soon! Good luck!

Below is the Atascosa County, Texas (my county) season and bag limits.

White-tailed Deer
Open Season: November 3-January 20. Special Late General Season: January 21-February 3 (antlerless and spike bucks only). Bag limit: 5 deer, no more than 3 bucks, all seasons combined.

Archery Only: September 29-November 2. Bag limit: Same as the general season. No permit required to hunt antlerless deer unless MLDP antlerless permits have been issued for the property.

Special Youth-Only Season: Early open season: October 27-28, 2007. Late open season: January 19-20, 2008.

Licensed hunters 16 years of age or younger may hunt deer by any lawful means during this season, except in Grayson County, where legal means are restricted to crossbow and archery equipment.

Javelina:
No closed season. Bag limit: 2 per license year.

Squirrel:
No closed season. No bag limit.

Turkey
The annual bag limit for Rio Grande and Eastern turkey, in the aggregate, is four (4), no more than one of which may be an Eastern turkey.
Fall:
Open season: November 3-January 20 Bag limit: 4 turkeys, gobblers or bearded hens.

Archery Only: September 29-November 2.

Spring:
Rio Grande turkey: Open season: March 15-April 27 (gobblers only).

Special Youth-Only (Rio Grande turkey): Open season: March 8-9 and May 3-4, 2008.

Quail:
Statewide: Open season: October 27-February 24. Daily bag limit: 15 Possession limit: 45

Cary

A resident hunting licence is $23.00. Non-resident is $300.


In addition to a hunting license, a migratory game bird stamp endorsement ($7) is required to hunt any migratory game bird, including mourning dove(a FREE Federal Sandhill Crane Permit also is required to hunt sandhill crane). An upland game bird stamp endorsement ($7) is required to hunt turkey, quail, pheasant, lesser prairie chicken, or chachalacas.

Just about all other game has no closed season, no bag limits, or licence requirments.

He's braggin", Dallan....

I thought the problem with Texas hunting is getting access to ground to hunt on... and that people spend upwards of a thousand+ a year to secure hunting property?


-DallanC

There are no areas of the state that you can just go hunting. All state park lands are by drawing only. The ranchers that own lots of wooded land are sitting on a gold mine. They can make more on hunting, than ranching.

There are lots of day leases that range from $100 per day on up. The high fenced ranches charge the most, but if you want a trophy and can afford it, that's the way to go.

The game population down here is huge, so the success rate is high.

Cary

The huge downside to hunting Texas

"There are no areas of the state that you can just go hunting."

Even tho in CO we can only get one and maybe two deer in a year...if you know the system you can get drawn every year. Lots of public land and easy access private land make it an attractive option. We can hunt without the added cost of access or trophy fees.

My brother keeps two hunting leases, one near Laredo, Texas and one in Wilson County, Texas. Both are good areas. He pays $500 per gun per season for the Wilson County lease and $1,500 for the Laredo lease.

Cary

Of course, it's a lot different if you don't have far to travel and can hunt all the time.

I know of places that charge a lot more than that. Mostly high-fenced ranches.

Elk is that way in Michigan, But the White-Tail is a matter of going to buy a tag or 3 and go hunting.
Sorry for your luck Dallan, Good luck with the archery.

Sorry to hear that Dallan, hope next year will be better.

In Ontario its a buck only tag good anywhere in the province, with a draw to get a doe tag, and a additional 5-6 (I think) at the most archery only tags that can be purchased within specific numbers/areas. Not all areas let you buy all that many tags but some do.

Dimitri

Dallan- really sorry to hear this. Bummer.

97% of Texas is private lands. So these all require permission to trespass or lease. Some are yearly leases and some are day leases. The lease price is getting outrageous. I would say the average hunter is paying somewhere around 1000 to 1500$ per year for a descent lease per gun. I think prices will fall short term after this year because of the economy. Too many miles to travel in Texas with gas prices like they are. But there will always be more people and the same amount of land.

There are a lot of lower cost options available if a guy does his research.
Several Military installations sell permits.
Texas Parks Drawing Hunts-Great area and lot of different type hunts on State Parks, Wildlife management lands etc.
Texas Parks Annual hunting Permit for Public lands. (Land that is owned, leased, or controlled, by the state.)
USACOE land around all the lakes but a lot of restrictions.
National Forest in SouthEast Texas.
Lot of timberland that is controlled by Paper Timber industry.

Sounds like a great excuse to hunt out of state this fall. Come up to Alaska and hunt caribou. Archery hunting along the Dalton highway is open year round except for May, June and July. I was up there last week and killed a nice cow this past Sunday with my bow. For nonresidents it is bull only, can buy two tags over the counter.

That Sucks .