Have been scouring YouTube, the internet, and the actual forest all season…plus. Have come up short. First year hunting deer. Luckily ran into a guy who has been a mentor to me so far and helped out a lot. Still struggling to get deer in my set up. I can bump deer all day long. I can find sign, and determine fresh compared to old. Probably all season many, many hours in the tree saddle, had a handful of does (during gun season, none during bow season), and one nice buck that I missed. Other than that it’s been pretty lonely. I have learned from many mistakes, but have a long way to go. The issue with trying to learn off YouTube, is most of the videos for public land, are not in/from Texas. I am sure a lot of it does transfer from Iowa to Texas, but it seems different. Didn’t put anytime in last year, as I was just starting to gear up for this year. Plan to do a lot of scouting and actually getting spots picked out. I hunt a national forest in Texas, non WMA. I found a pretty decent place with little human sign and pressure from what I can tell. It’s there, just not excessive. I hear “go deep”. But with all the forest service roads it’s hard to find places that are a mile from a road. I find most success if hunting near high stem count begging/clear cut areas. Any recommendations for anything that could help me fill my first tag would be greatly appreciated.

The “go deep” advice has been around since the time of Moses. When everyone is going deep, then what?

Deer are going to be where you find them; usually near food sources which are close to travel corridors. You don’t need to go deep, just where the deer are. If your finding sign then you’re finding where they are at.

Access by boat if possible

Yeah, I get a kick out of people parroting that nonsense.

Now that I think about it, it’s actually pretty brilliant. Convince everyone to go 5 miles in, and you can hunt close without any company.

If you’re really serious about hunting whitetails on public land, you listen to or read everything you can get your hands on that Dan Infalt has ever had to say about hunting pressured deer, and you’ll absorb it as though it were the gospel of hunting pressured deer. Because it is.

Best advice I can give is the same I utilize to hunt private property, be absolutely as quiet as possible, keep movements to minimum, conceal your smscent as much as possible and play the wind if so inclined. Besides that, luck, lots of good luck and good fortune.

This is great advice. There are public land options where this can be very effective.

Scout until you find deer sign, trails, droppings, scrapes, rubs, etc. And then look for a location to take a stand. Heavily used trails are the most reliable. If you find sign in a area that is very open, be aware it may be mostly night activity. Look for edges of heavy cover, where it transitions to a more open area, to give a shot opportunity. I use a Ameristep Doghouse ground blind, which has worked great for me. Many hunters on public land don't know the area, and will spend their time walking in circles. If you can sit tight, they will push deer for you. The longer you sit in a decent location, the greater your chance of success. Good luck.

For pressured areas, weekend warrior hunting, places you know there are other hunters moving around look for escape routes, pinch points, saddles, crossings, and funnels. Get there early, set up on one of them, and don't move. Consider what you just wrote "Still struggling to get deer in my set up. I can bump deer all day long.". Those deer you bumped ran a long ways. And multiply that if there are other hunters moving around. My strategy is to be on those escape routes where those deer get funneled through. Be the blocker, not the pusher. You can scout the terrain online first, then scout it on the ground for those areas. If you find some good ones, they will probably be huntable for years to come.

Awesome, thank you. What is the best way to determine the best exit path to sit over? Is it the main trail leading to or from the bedding? I guess you have to predict where the pressure will be coming from and then sit down wind of the expected escape path?

Rather than the text book trail from bedding to food source, hunting scrape lines, etc, I more of the idea with a heavily pressured area with hunters over a weekend wandering about bumping deer, those natural routines of deer movement are out the door. It changes or ends until the pressure is gone. Thus why I think more along the lines of "escape routes". By pinch point think of game trails that have to converge in a narrow area due to the lay of the terrain. It could be two fields in the woods where one field corner meets up at the corner of a second field. It could be a stretch of deep river with steep sides where there is only one easy access shallow ford across the river. It could be a saddle between two hills. It could be where the point of a long finger of steep bluff meets a deep river bottom or a lakeshore. There are any number of terrain, cover, or obstacles both natural and man made that could cause escaping game to have to get pushed through a narrow area when bumped up by wandering hunters. But if your hunting in a vast flat area of woods or mesquite flat, you might not find such places. It is just another strategy to keep in mind. It has been an often recycled hunting magazine article topic for years and years. Google hunting pinch points and funnels. There should be several on it with examples. It is old school, but it does work. Two of the the trophys on my wall where killed on public land by plan with this strategy.

I killed my first archery deer, this year, literally less than 100 yards from a parking area with a home right across the street. It was not an impressive deer by any means but i killed it with a bow on public ground, on the first weekend of bow season. The only reason i even knew they moved through the area is because i saw them when i woke up from a nap one day. Its a high traffic area for the deer.