At Cabela's in Ft. Worth I was looking at the "Wall of Fame" or whatever the big picture board is touting the big deer of the area. I noticed that 7 of the 21 (1/3) pictures were from counties in the same area - Eastland (the "Carbon Buck" was present), Erath, Throckmorton, Stephens, Young, and Brown (I think). My question is: Are the bigger deer being killed in my backyard? I realize that these counties are a bit closer than, say, Upton or Pecos Counties. But does the Eastland Co. area carry some of the bigger bucks? (Yes, I also realize local shoppers aren't driving from Midland to post pics in the Ft. Worth Cabela's)

Your thoughts.....

I've always found it funny in the big country area taylor, jones, shackelford, callahan counties those who live here we all drive east and metro hunters drive west on I20 and we pass each other coming and going. I think we all think the grass is greener in the others back yard. there are big bucks in all counties there is a lot of luck to hunting.

There are some really big deer shot in throckmorton, shackleford, Callahan, and Stephens Counties. I know of a ranch in shackleford county that has shot at least a 160 every year since i can remember.

truthfully, nowadays a big 'un is likely to show up just about anywhere. QDM is actually making a difference

Yep the biggest deer i got on pic this year was at my house near dallas. I went to kansas and west texas hunting.LOL

My thoughts are you can kill a big deer in ANY county with a lot of luck. To have an actual shot at killing a big deer without as much luck, you still gonna have to go to where the majority of them live.

My old lease in Montague stunk per deer #'s. I saw 13 in a whole season and half of those were opening morning. Biggest buck seen was a 4 point and I sat in the stand over 20 times. The next year I moved to a new pasture 2 miles away and a first time ever hunter on his first deer hunt ever shot a 149 inch on my old pasture from exact spot my stand was. Pure luck. It can happen anywhere. Just depends on how long you want to sit and wait.

If you went to Cabela's in Buda you see a lot of brusiers from the south... most people that hunt Erath, Stephens, ect are from the metroplex..more or less just a location thing... But with that being said there are some great deer coming out of the area... I've seen some huge deer in Erath... Erath county is mainly Dariey farmers and they feed high protien diets year round. I know of a 160 class 8 pt that i personally watched for 30 minutes that would come out and eat at feeding time.... and they feed three times a day... it was the Dutch Dariymans pet for say... He wouldn't let any one hunt... Little worried about one of his 3k Holestines getting shot. I would say the hunting pressure is mild in Erath county due to that very fact.. it is changing as the dairies move out west and to NM.

my first deer
shot last day out
friends took 2 bucks, 1 each day before

luck was 99%
the other 1% was involved with the 185 yards between myself and this deer

Bosque