New to Texas can't quite come to grips with this $$$$ hunting lease thing. Was brought up hunting to fill your freezer so you can save money on the grocery bill. Any decent public hunting land for deer, pheasant.

I can't really imagine any hunting anywhere in this country where you could actually save money on food. Hell even hunting on free land with the price of shells, gas, equipment...you might spend $30-40 bucks a hunt minimum for what a few pounds of meat? I guess if you are a hog or deer hunter it might work out better than birds.

Welcome to Tejas where 97% of land is private.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/407932/an/0/page/0#Post407932

Look at TPWLD drawing hunts, Annual Public Hunting permit, and the USACOE to start with.

Upland game on public is going to be tuff to find.

Your location??

Grand Prairie south of DFW.

pheasant hunting
Your going to have to head to the High Plains area North of Lubbock. Check with the Chanber of Commerce in Hartley, Dumas, Hale Center, Plainview,
These cities will have a listing of area hunts. GL and welcome.

Welcome to the THF and to Texas.

You are not the first person to experience the culture shock of having come from a place with lots of Public Land to hunt on, possibly even some Private Lands that charged little or nothing, to a place where Private Land is the name of the game and paying for the ability to access that land is how the game is played.

You are not alone on your feelings about the situation, many Texans feel the same way.

The pheasant hunting will be the more difficult to find.

If you are an archer, your prospects for deer and feral hog hunting are much better.

Gotta feeling you're gonna be hungry for a short period of time!!! Welcome to the forum!!

Thanks for the welcom guys, your right I am going through culture shock hunting is becoming an aristocratic sport instead of a feed your family activity. Where I come from I could pretty much hunt where ever I wanted just ask permission and the landowners were more than happy to let you hunt pheasants or deer. Guess I'll just go fishin.

NYY,

check out here for some public upland hunting areas. You have to buy a $48 permit to get access.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/public/lands/

also check out this article on pheasant hunts in the panhandle. these towns have some good hunts.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/article_gallery/Deep-in-the-Heart-of-Roosterland

Fishing not a bad idea. Just be sure to check the lake regulations especially any slot limit if you are going after bass. On some lakes there may even be a slot on cats.

Well, no doubt Texas has led the way in the commercialization of hunting. I grew up pretty much the same way as you NYYankee. On one hand, I can appreciate that wildlife now "pays it way" which probably ensures continued habitat, but I worry that hunting numbers will decline as recreation dollars competite with everything else. I would not have been able to hunt in Texas growing up as my dad/mom could not afford to get me hunting right. Thank goodness I grew up in the Rockies. I am just counting the days until I am able to leave Texas. Nice place but not for me. FWIW

Where are you from?

I can appreciate what you're going through. When I decided to move here, I couldn't wait to get back into Deer hunting. I've pretty much written that off, until I get a lease.

The biggest thing I can tell you is tie into this forum, and check out the links everyone sent you.

Oh, almost forgot, Welcome to the THF.

It's a free market my friends. Landowners will charge what hunters are willing to pay. If anybody wants to point the finger maybe a good look in the mirror would be the first place to look. Sure in a magical land where "some" seem to come from and the deer are like rats then the price to hunt them will be adjusted accordingly. Unfortunately the number of deer to the number of people in Texas who want to hunt them sets the price and thats where we are today. Seems ironic, but the more people we get involved in hunting the more crowded your duck holes will get and more expensive the leases will become. Don't get me wrong I want to get more and more people into hunting everyday, but just realize it can result in a higher demand for a limited supply. Just my two cents.

Supply and demand. More people = higher prices, for everything.

I have been trying to avoid saying this but since you keep pissing and moaning you leave me no choice. I guess if you don't like the way it's done here you can just carry you yankee [censored] back to ny.

NYYankee, 1st of all, welcome to the Forum. You will learn that some Texans aren't found of people from up north. for that I preapologize. (?) Back in about the mid seventies, farmers and ranchers realized that there's a new cash crop in Texas. Its called Hunting. As more and more people got in on this LEASE concept, The price went up. Some even got the idea that they could FATTEN up the game, let them grow older and that could demand a higher price. That all brings us to where we are today. Some weekend hunts in Texas can be as high as ten thousand dollars. People keep paying it. As long as people will pay it, land owners will charge it. It is a very VERY sore spot for Texans that aren't independently wealthy. There will come a time in Texas where you will only be able to hunt is family land without paying major bucks. I wish I knew the answer to this problem. But for now, we pay it or sit at home. I hunted public land here for several years, with minimal rewards as far as harvesting game goes. Alot of our public lands are way over crowded. My advise to you is look hard for a private lease that you can afford, Or, you might want to hit the road and ask for permission to hunt, however you'll find alot of no. just my .02 cents worth of free advise. Good luck in your search. TP

as a land owner it pains me to charge the prices that leases are going for these days,,,however it also pains me to pay the taxes, price of fuel and MORE TAXes that it takes to keep up with the property.. and with the breaking up of large family farms and ranchesthe new owners first improvement is a high fence which is a blessing for farming but really changes the game population...how to cope,,devolope a group of friends who will help support your hunting habit or devolope a talent that you could trade for hunting access[do you do a/c work}

Obama's gonna fix all that............

Have you ever been in the cattle business? If you have then you'll know that they are a secondary living now! It doesn't pain me when I get my bills paid because of a natural resource like deer, turkey, quail, and doves are my primary reason for having the land!. Other natural resources are oil and gas.

We should not have any hesitations when it comes to survival and the means to acquire it. On our place we are blessed with abundant game. There are plenty of people that love to hunt because its a priviledge to do so. The cost of hunting is going to esculate as time wears on and so is the cost of operation. Like I said, we are blessed with opportunity to be able to offer hunting as a wholesome sport to hundreds of families and at the same time try to conserve what resources we have for the future of the sport! My2cents

One thing a lot of people don't realize is that the states with a lot of public hunting land also have higher *taxes* to pay for rangers, maintenance, and management of those public lands. They don't see the cost directly because it's distributed among the state's whole population, hunters and non-hunters alike.

Hunting isn't cheap, and even when it's (relatively) cheap, a lot of people still complain because it isn't free (see all the endless discussions about "greedy" landowners who won't let every pig-shooter in America access his land at will).

Amen NG!! I'll tell you how I deal with people that have accused me of that! If its face to face I just take their name and tell them I'll talk to my outfitter and see if I can get them a hunt at cost!!.............................Just what it cost everybody else!!

Someone that is trying to barter with you over a hunt probably won't respect your rules and regs on the place. I agree, I wish it were affordable for everybody to hunt at a great price but the cost of operating is tremendous as you well know.

I am in NY's shoes but at the same time understand why the lease concept is what it is. The other part that leasing does is control who's on the land. So many people take advantage of the opportunities they do get and leave a bad taste in land owners mouth. They tear up the land and make it to where owners can't trust people.

Exactly right, TBK. I'm from Panhandle, we had couple thousand acres farm land and lots of pheasants, 3 lakes full of ducks and geese. After the opening of pheasant season we'd let people come and hunt - free. One time this guy asked if he could bring a couple friends, we said sure. He showed up with over 20 friends. They were invited to leave immediately. I can't tell you how many opening season days I've spent chasing cattle and fixing fences. We finally said enough and started asking folks to pay to hunt. Made it easy to tell folks no, usually fences were all hot and cattle stayed in the pastures. I know I've posted this before, but sloppy, uncaring hunters are what forced our hand.

Most if not all game laws in this country come from the English Common Law. In this private land ownership is respected, but ECL recongnizes the game as belonging to the king and hence the state. In that the state can put any regulation it so chooses on the landowner with regards to game.