Theveing, poaching, destroying stuff for no reason, ARs, can't see deer, does for half a season, screwed up genes,...thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours spent....haven't even been presented with a shot, much less fired at one...in two years. Patience hell! So much for the wonderful experience of watching all those deer !

I don't know any other hunting other than East Texas hunting. I'm used to it (minus the ARs) I guess.

Its tough to hunt East Texas!!! AR's just make it tougher!!!

It is tough to hunt (certain places) in East Texas. My parents place has never had a problem with poachers. As a matter of fact, I have never hunted on a place that has. Hunting is more than killing a deer, I'm sure you know this. Enjoy the time you have to be away from the job and stress of everyday life while you are out in the woods.

TPW and the ar rules aint helping either!

I really don't mind the ARs here in Etx, it seems to be letting these younger deer walk if everyone would obey it the quality of deer I think would be much better. A lot of the mld properties around here aren't shooting anything smaller than 14in.

ARs are a good concept in Etx but seems the people that don't agree with them are the guys tagging out on 2 year old bucks not trying to stir the pot but from the people I have talked to in my area that's what I came up with

Maybe not helping you but I'm pretty sure I've seen some good deer posted recently that the OP claimed the ARs have helped tremendously. Just give it time. I personally don't hunt East Texas but do hunt central texas and I love the ARs. It'll never please everyone but atleast give it 5 years and make a rejudgement.

How much time 10, 15, 20 years??? In 3 years, I'm seeing less deer every year!!! Hoytman's county has had them for 5 and he's seeing less than me!!! Kagomez85, I shoot mature bucks myself and have seen 3 mature bucks, (4.5/5.5 year olds), this year that will only go 12 - 12.5"!!! BTW, before we became AR we had a 2 buck, 2 doe limit in Tyler County and I would only kill 1 deer and not "tag" out!!! E. Texas just DOES NOT have the genetics for wide racks, so I think a lot of people are killing young spikes and does because they can't shoot old narrow racks and that is where our problem lies!!! In some counties AR's work great and I'm happy for those hunters in counties where they work but "blanket" rules don't work everywhere and all TPWD had to do to accomplish increasing the age structure of bucks would have been to lower the limit to ONE and I would have also lowered the doe limit to ONE also!!! In a few years, (5 or 6 maybe), they could have raised them again!!!

I ought to fit right in, sounds like hunting in Wisconsin. Years ago, we'd run out of room on the meat pole, now we're lucky if we hang 1 deer a year, and thats probably a 1 1/2 year old that was killed in frustration as the hunter quits hunting. Also knowing that kill will get him kicked off the property.

My 166 acres in Anderson County has 3 neighboring stands and feeders less than 30 yards from my fence. One stand and feeder touch the fenceline. I don't hunt the place and don't live on it, so I'm pretty sure the other guys are taking liberties. None of the adjoining properties exceed 30 acres, so my land probably serves as a bit of a sanctuary of sorts.

One guy cut a shooting lane from his stand out into my land for about 100 yards a few years back. I left a note in his stand regarding the illegal behavior in shooting across a fenceline, but I hold no illusions as to its effect.


It is the old EasTex problem: too many hunters hunting too small properties for too few deer. This heavy competition naturally drives otherwise decent people to push the envelope of ethics and legality right to the very edge.

Hence, while I love living and observing nature in my native East Texas, I hunt large ranches out west and take several guided out-of-state hunts yearly. I am lucky that I can afford to do so.

You said the word; East Texas. Only thing good that comes out of East Texas are the pine trees.

People or deer?

Bannon, boy does that bring back memories!

We have been right there with you. East Texas is very hard to hunt, when you do see a deer, it is probably a doe and you do not have a doe permit, if you do see a buck, it will not pass the AR's. However, I must say East Texas has provided me with lots of "real hunting" memories.

There is a reason it is called "deer hunting" and not "deer killing"

I do agree with you seadog on some points such as the blanket rules but I think that is just an easier way for them to regulate it "all or nothing" as far as narrow bucks I think that may just be part of it there is always going to be a downside to every rule and regulation no matter what they changed there is always going to be something that someone doesn't agree with, I hate seeing mature narrow deer walk but what do you do. But people shooting deer out of frustration is just crazy!

Camerons

East Texas hunting would be great if the sun was up between 6 pm and 6 am. That's when all my pics are.

The hunting is great, just have to focus on hunter density and can't be trigger happy. 1 buck per 600ish acres and you have a steady flow of deer to shoot.

This is what I'm saying!!! There are always people out there that want to fill their tags anyway they can so when you change the system from 2 bucks/2 does to AR's where it is still 2 bucks/2 does with the exception that only one can be 13" and the other a spike or 2 spikes, (2 young bucks), you get people shooting a lot of young bucks that they are trying to save and does!!! You get a lot of frustrated hunters out there trying to fill tags especially in genetically challenged Counties where there is predominately narrow racks!!! The best and most logical solution in these Counties is to lower bag limits for a few years until the herd builds up!!!

You could always cross over to the dark side

In East Texas you really have to hunt deer as opposed to South Texas where all you do is just sit around and wait on the one you want to shoot.

Pass the salt please!!!

I've hunted Etex for all of my life, and I will say it is hard hunting... especially given all of the things you mention. Between the vandalism, theft, poachers, hunting pressure, poor genetics, etc.. but there are some big deer are there, as I have seen them on the Game Cams and in the off season.

I got off my last lease because of the same thing, and realized I was wasting my money. I only hunt public now and have seen more deer.