Moving from GA to the San Antonio area

Hey all, preciate the your time reading my post. Come the March time frame I will be moving to the San Antonio area. I'm currently up in the mountains of North Georgia as a Ranger Instructor for the Mountain Phase of US Army Ranger School. For the last three years my partners and I have had the pleasure of being able to hunt nearly every free moment we had in the North GA mountains for whitetail, black bear and mountain gobblers.

I'm looking for some good info on the area with regards to hunting whitetail and turkey. I definitely DO NOT want to live within the city limits. Any info regarding rural places to live (rent) and most definitely areas to hunt (not asking to scout for me lol - just hunting areas in general. Public or leases). I hunt mainly bow.

Again thanks for your time! RLTW!

Texas does not quite have as many public hunting opportunities as many other States. There are some, but not as plentiful as you might be used to. There are many rural areas around San Antonio. The cheaper areas are going to be to the south and west. North, and northeast are high price (to live, leasing for hunting is exactly opposite) You might be able to find a rental house with some property and you can throw up a feeder. Or maybe find a lease. You can PM me if you have any other questions. Live just north of SA.

West and north of SA is Hill Country. South of SA is Brush Country. Deer leases to the south are generally more expensive but the deer are typically bigger. Hill Country generally has smaller deer but leases are more affordable.

Check into hunting opportunities on some of the area military bases. Not much public hunting in Texas. 95% of the land is privately owned.

Leases can be had from $1000/year to more than $10,000/year.

Thanks Stxranchman.

txff05 - Noted. Your the second person to tell me that about the West and Northern areas. Absolutely going to check them out. Like I said - no desire what so ever to live in an apartment in the city. Definitely going to check out some of the military managed lands too.

LandPirate - Im glad you told me that because I didn't think the public hunting areas where as scarce as you mentioned. But it makes sense seeing as how most of the land is private. I've never leased. I need to find a leasing for dummies book I guess.

Thanks all for the responses! Looking forward to hearing more.

I hunted some out West of SA kind of on the transition from hill country to brush country. We'd see some small deer and then we'd see some that were slightly larger. For a person who is used to living in the sticks, SA and its outskirts is a rude awakening.

Yeah Im not thrilled about living in or near the "7th largest city" in the US. I am however pumped at the prospect of doing some different style of hunting and being in a new area. Kind of bummed though at leaving GA's hunting laws - 2 bucks and 10 antlerless deer is the limit here. Hardly anyone fills all their doe limit though. Seasons here last from Sept 8th - Jan 1st/15th. Little shorter in TX right?

they are unless you happen to find an MLD3 place.

AS far as processing deer/hog - what do most people do? Here deer processors are a dime a dozen. Personally I like doing my own but that wont be feasible if I end up living closer to the base or in an apartment (God forbid). Am I going to get laughed at asking about deer processors lol?

You won't get laughed at. I never took any deer to processors around there, ended up doing them at a buddy's houst, so not sure of the reputable ones. STX would know though.

Welcome, Your best bet is to check out is what's available on Camp Bullis.

X2 on Bullis they can produce some decent deer. Processers here are the same, there is at least one in every little town. A few in SA. Hopefully some people on here will have some insight. I only know the processers in Kendall Co. Just north of SA.

Will a processer do a hog or just deer? Seems like my bro in law has to take hogs to Uvalde to have them processed.

My processor will do both, but will not guarantee the quality or taste of the hog. He is in Katy though.

There are plenty of processors around the North West side at least. Most of the taxidermist either do it or know of one. There is one in Helotes, another between Helotes and Pipe Creek. Kerrville has a bunch. I think the guy close to me does it. If push comes to shove do it yourself. It is not that big or hard of a deal. Welcome to the area and hope you enjoy your stay. A lot of military that get transfered here end up staying.

Granzin's in New Braunfels is pretty good. A bit pricey, but their jalapeno/cheese sausage and bucksticks are danged tasty.

I have nothing to add, but just wanted to say welcome to Texas, and Thank You for your service to our country.

First, thanks for your service!

There are several nice small towns near San Antonio. I live in Natalia just south of SAT near Lytle and Devine. Some other options are Castroville, Hondo, and Somerset.

Welcome to Texas........almost!

Bob

Some shots from my deck.




Coyotes too.

Welcome to TEXAS!

Not much public hunting here. You can do day hogs hunts pretty cheap south of san antonio. If your interested in hunting exotics junction is 2 hours north of SA and you can find leases that have Axis, Sika, Fallow deer and black buck all free roaming.

There are some nice areas to live on the outskirts of san antonio. A lot of military families moving out near the rio medina area near castroville which is not too far from Lackland AFB. Helotes is a very nice area as well. It just depends on what part of town you will be driving to work as traffic can be bad.

Welcome to the forum and the SA area. Would not worry too much about all the San Antonio haters... I love it here, and it is nothing like the what you'd expect from the 7th largest city. I choose to live outside the city, too. I'm up north toward Boerne, and its an easy commute into town compared to most metros. West on 90 toward Castroville, or east on I-10 toward Seguin will also get you a bit out of the city.

My son has been through Ranger training as well and probably shares a few common experiences with you. I know its been quite a ride for him. He's in the 10th SF right now in CO.

Sounds like you'll be out here in time for turkey hunting this spring. Keep in touch. I have a place a few hours west that usually holds some good rios. Hunting can be good if you time it right. Give me a shout when you get into town...

As others have said, there are lots of processors, but unless I am getting sausage made up, I process it myself. Not much to it for hogs. I smoke many of the small ones whole, or quarter them up as needed. I too recommend Granzines as a processor. As LandPirate said, a bit more, but I know they do not mix my well kept hog meat with anyone else's road kill. Had a cheap processor give me some nasty tasting stuff I know 100% was not mine. Threw it all out, so how cheap was it really? Now I don't skimp on processors.

Hunters will fit right in. Seems every other vehicle on the road is a 4x4 crew cab diesel with a big deer sticker in the back window. Like I said, not your typical big city. Even the non-hunting people at work line up to take any extra feral hog I may have from the ranch. Not a peta friendly area...

For public hunting information, check out the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. They are the state agency that oversees the hunting and fishing in Texas. Not sure about the public hunting land around SA, but up around the ft. Worth area there are lots of places to hunt, but you have to get out and really do some scouting.

Most of the Public Hunting you will find is in East Texas w/Davy
Crockett Nat'l Forest, ect. You may get on a canned hunt on Bullis and with you being in the svc. you'd get preferred treatment. Re: Hog or Deer..Were I you I'd skin and quater and debone myself..that way you get your own meat, know how it was handled and don't spend several $ per pound on it after the kill.
My Buddy & I usually clean and quarter about 8 to 10 deer a wkend
if we go to our friends and there are many hunters. Hogs usually
on one or two annually..but they are cleaner and easier than deer
most cases..we don't kill big stinky ones..DD