I guess what I'm asking is, what county has the best bang-for-your-buck if you were to buy some land. Everything has been skyrocketing lately.

I used to think Stephens/Throckmorton county, but it has jumped up lately. Even the Junction area has gotten pricey. Are there any good hunting areas left that are still reasonably priced other than far west Texas? I don't just mean $/acre, but taking everything into account - # of deer, quality of deer, etc.

Kimble CO, In My Opinion or Mason, Co

i would have to go with kimble also, and possibly maverick county for the south texas region

i would have to go with kimble also, and possibly maverick county for the south texas region

Here are the "sleeper" Counties of deer hunting, IMO. Pecos and Terrell Counties in west Tx. These 2 counties may not have the numbers as the Hill country, but they sure are getting there. I had never seen more deer at one feeder then In the Hill country(Doss TX). I thought I was going to be trampled by the deer as they came to the feeder. The deer were as close as 5 feet from me, as they ran towards the feeder when it went off(I was in a ground blind) I had at least 20-25 deer at that feeder. Only problem was, they were very small deer. I know the Hill country has come a long way in managing the deer herd, from my years at that place. Shooting a 60 lb, doe was common and a 90 lb buck was average. Last year we did the forum hunts, Most in here that went can testify, there were 15 bucks at one feeder, at a time, with as many as 8-10 does. The deer are much larger, yes even the does. The does would average in weight about 100 lbs, is that fair to state? The biggest one shot was by KWR, His could have gone about 130 lbs. I guess it goes to show a well managed place can produce some good quality deer. Here is another County, since I know all of you think I am being partial, because I guide in those counties mentioned above. Howard county. One will never see a deer on the side of I-20, but Hwy_Man has some EXCELLENT deer on his place, and plenty of em. I never knew, that deer were that plentiful and above average, close to where I live. Guess Howard County isn't doing to bad with a 5 deer, alloted limit. Mike takes great care of his place, and also feeds year round. He is one of the most selective type landowners I ever met. It shows on what is shot off his ranch.

Probably be the Sterling, Tom Green, Irion county areas for me.

Well I dont keep up with land prices so I will just base my opinion on quality of deer, numbers of deer seen, and price of a lease in that area.

My favorite lease that I have ever hunted was in Kimble county which some of you have already mentioned. We had 1000 acres for $1000 per gun. There were deer and turkey every where, some realy nice bucks, few hogs, and tons of bobcats. If I was going to buy some land this would be the first place I would look.

Running very close behind Kimble Co. would be Freestone Co.
We had a little 100 acre track of land that had a ton of deer on it and some very nice ones I might add. There were a few hogs on the place but not too many. When we left the lease in the late 1990's we were paying $300 a gun. The pictures below are a couple of bucks that were taken in a two year time period on our Freestone lease.

The first picture is my dads 18 point 176" buck that he took with a bow.

The other picture is a mid-150s" 10 point taken by another guy on the lease.

JUST FOR THE RECORD...THESE ARE NOT HIGH FENCED DEER!!!!

very nice deer JCB. my vote would be Edwards - still very reasonable and lots of game including free ranging exotics. i would love to pick up a small tract some where down the road.

Howard County? Everybody knows there ain't no deer in Howard county. You must be thinking of another county.

Move along folks, nothing to see here!

I am just going by what I have seen traveling thru the various parts of the state.

I feel that one of the big sleeper areas in the state, or it seems to be a sleeper to me, are the counties that are within the area bordered by the following highways.

Starting at Wichita Falls, the counties that are north of 82, south and west of 287, and east of 27.

I have seen some really good bucks up thru Baylor, Wilbarger, Foard, Knox, and Cottle counties. Also mule deer ar increasing in that area or a large part of it.

I have not been keeping up with the land prices, except out toward the counties 7mag mentioned, and the overall numbers of deer in the area I am talking about aren't that great yet, from what I have seen. The quality of the animals, body size, is really good, and I have seen some excellent bucks.

I do not know how available land is in this area, most of it is tied up in some really big ranches, Waggoner's and the 6666 come to mind, but I think it bears looking at.

Quote:

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I feel that one of the big sleeper areas in the state, or it seems to be a sleeper to me, are the counties that are within the area bordered by the following highways.

Starting at Wichita Falls, the counties that are north of 82, south and west of 287, and east of 27.

I have seen some really good bucks up thru Baylor, Wilbarger, Foard, Knox, and Cottle counties. Also mule deer ar increasing in that area or a large part of it.

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Try getting all the information into your quote next time, SFB.

The area I was describing covers all or part of less than 20 counties, not all 254.

I had no idea deer like that came out of Freestone Co!

San Saba

San Saba gets alot of pressure in most areas, although i did see some whopper bucks in velvet on a buddy's place clost to the mccollugh county line.

when i was a kid, throckmorton and shackelford counties were the big "sleeper" counties. in the mid to late 90's they recieved a fair amount of press though. had a buddy who hunted just outside of baird, north of 20, and they always shot really nice bucks, comparable to the freestone deer in the bottom pic.

hopefully, with hunters becoming more managment minded, we can achieve deer like these in most every county in texas.

IMO Throckmorton and Young County, Ive hunted all over Texas from Matador out west to Maverick down south. For the price and the quality of deer, you cant beat these counties

I would say parts Wilbarger and Fisher counties. I've taken my largest buck in Wilbarger and have seen some much larger.
Fisher county used to have very few deer, however, that has changed dramatically. There are record book deer in both counties and they don't get hammered as bad as most. Exept, for any tract of land next to the Waggoner Ranch. Hunters are thick as flies anywhere around the Waggoner and they pay some of the highest lease prices that I have ever heard of.

i think that with the new antler restrictions in place we will see several sleeper counties i would look for east texas to surprise some people the genes are there they just need some age

There are some whoppers in East Tx, you just dont get good, extended looks at them.

Anderson Co. is a real sleeper, I have a friend who has 300 acres down there, and the pictures he gets on his game cams would make some of those S. TX high fence dudes do a double take.

Here you go:

SPECIAL ANTLER RESTRICTIONS:
In Austin, Bastrop, Bell, Bosque, Bowie, Brazoria, Burleson, Caldwell, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Colorado, Comal(E. of I-35), Comanche, Coryell, Delta, DeWitt, Eastland, Erath, Fannin, Fayette, Fort Bend, Franklin, Goliad, Gonzales, Gregg, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Harrison, Hays(E. of I-35), Hopkins, Houston, Jackson, Karnes, Lamar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Marion, Matagorda, Morris, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rains, Red River, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Somervell, Titus, Travis(E. of I-35), Upshur, Victoria, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Williamson, Wilson, and Wood counties, there are special regulations for buck deer. In these counties, the bag limit is two legal bucks, but only ONE may have an inside spread of 13 inches or greater. A legal buck deer is defined as having:
-a hardened antler protruding through the skin AND;
-at least one unbranched antler; OR
-an inside spread measurement between main beams of 13 inches or greater.

To determine if a buck has an inside spread measurement of at least 13 inches, look at the distance from ear-tip to ear-tip on a buck with ears in the alert position (see illustration).

Definition of a point: A point is a projection that extends at least one inch from the edge of a main beam or another tine. The tip of the main beam is also a point.

Does not apply on Level 2 or 3 MLDP properties.

i wonder why montgomery, walker and trinity counties arn't AR'd yet????

Best question is why isn't HUNT an AR County??????

You guys are missing one of the best in Texas.. Llano is prime deer hunting deer are huge. Kansas like.. Ha no not really.. I have never hunted anywhere other than my ranch which is in Leon.. We would have good deer if I could convince our surrounding neighbors to not shoot everything with horns.. Last year I crossed there radio frequency and heard them say.. Its a good 4 point maybe a year and a half.. pshhhh take em jim... BOOOOOOM... I have also hunted my buddies 10,000 acre lease in Seymour.. Saw some monster jokers... So my vote goes for Leon and Seymour..

Brandon

Seymour = Baylor county. Which as someone mentioned earlier in the thread, borders the Waggoner Ranch.