Hunters per acre ?

This may be a relative question, but I am new to deer hunting an just need some experience folks to chime in.
How many people could safely hunt on 800 acres of land?
What are the things that you look for when picking a lease?
Any area's of North Texas not so good for Deer hunting?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

s

depends on the location of the state. we hunt 8 people on around 2000 acres in west texas.

In East Texas Big Thicket area, I'm on a 6200 acre lease with about 60 hunters, (about 30 hunt)!!! It is so thick there that many can hunt safely!!!

About 100 acres per hunter is a good rule of thumb for most of East Texas. This number is based on what a wildlife biologist told me in terms of what it takes to support one good buck per season. It also works out to be the ratio the TPWD appears to use most often when issuing antlerless permits on managed properties. When we participated in the program, we ALWAYS received one antlerless permit for every 100 acres.

it all depends on the cover and terrain. Could get by with 100-200 acres per hunter, but usually just b/c you can safely hunt that many doesn't mean it's a smart choice in terms of 1 buck/hunter allotment.

X2 Hunted on 14,000 acres in Stonewall and Kent counties and we 8 guns and it was crowded at times. Have 8 guns on 70,000 acres in Pecos county now and it can get crowded on that large of ranch if all areas of the ranch did not get rain that year. Have seen a gun to 100 acres with lots of deer and lots of cover. Just depends on location and cover and what your buck to doe ratio is as well as deer density. If you goal is meat then you can get by with more on a ranch than if it is trophy quality then you will need more acres per hunter.

I was on a 650 acre lease in Fredricksburg and we had 8 hunters on it and I thought that was too many, I'm now on a 1400 acres lease in east texas and we have 16 hunters on. Like others have said it all depends on tree and brush cover. You want to be able to hunt safe and not have so many hunters that the deer can't move around the property without getting wind of them or spooked everytime they turn around. Things to look for are availability of water, food sources and cover for the deer to move around on, bed down and feel safe in. And you don't always need a food or water source if it's on another adjacent property look for signs that the lease might be a crossing area for the deer moving across it to get to the food or water. I personally would like to hunt only 4-6 hunters on 800 acres if it was wooded east texas forest. That way the hunters are spread out fairly good and it provides a lot of area that the deer feel safe and less pressure. But you can have several hunting areas/stands and feeders to rotate hunting on during the season.

800 acres I would say should be limited to 2 hunters. But the way leasing is going now days they will try to cram about 20 hunters in there and charge them all $2k. It has gotten ridiculous!

personally if i was lookling for a lease

This is what I limit it to

hill country- no more the 2 per 400 acres max
Central texas to north texas no more then 2 per 400 acres max
Panhandle/west tx no more then 1 per 1000 acres
South texas 1 per 400 acres max.

But it depends on what your looking for if its big bucks well then it depends on the management in place and what you classify asa big buck.... Safety wise depends on the the hunters hunting it

Seriously, even if it was wide open 70,000 would not be crowded for 8 guns. There is no right or wrong to this question. You do what you can afford and are comfortable with. You just have to realize that if you put several guys on a smaller place you are not all gonna shoot trophy deer. I have hunted with up to 4 guys, all on places less than 600 acres. Me and a buddy hunt a place in ETX that is probably 40 acres of woods and we hardly ever see the same deer.

we have 10 on 2300 in the rolling plains, half are bow only which really helps on blind placements.

we have 2 on 276/652, but only kill one buck off the property

putting 2 on 288 and limiting to 1 buck for the property

have 8 on 5000 w/ an 8 buck limit.

Some of you guys cannot compare your situation to the average hunter. 1 hunter per 1000 acres is not gonna fit most budgets!

Agreed.1000 acres per hunter is overkill not only in amount of land but cost as well. I hunt 2 on 400 acres in the panhandle and we do fine, but then again were not running a trophy program and were not shooting basket racks either. I think he's right there is no right answer. Depends on situation.

I can assure you that with 8 hunters on 70,000 acreas and the low deer population and vast areas of the ranch getting no rain last year we seemed to be running over each other hunting the same areas. There are areas that will not hold deer at times. Water and cover are not the issue as much as forage availabilty is on that ranch. You are moving and glassing and not sitting at at feeder and waiting on deer to hunt you. This is Mule Deer only and not whitetail. I agree you can put however many hunters you want on a ranch and some will not get a legal deer if the deer are not there in huntable numbers of deer to support the guns allowed.

It depends what you're looking for. On my place that is 600 acres, I'm the only hunter. However, I could safely put 8 hunters in different spots and all would be safe.

That said, if I put 8 hunters out there, all wanting a mature buck, but using the same standards I do when it comes to pulling a trigger, all would likely end the season unhappy.

Even with me being the only hunter, I've only pulled the trigger once in the last 5 years on a "trophy". However, there would be enough of a population for everybody to shoot a couple of does for a season. The problem would become the following season.

In the end, every property is different as is every hunter.

Another angle to consider is family members. I hunt with a Buddy in Central Texas and we have 450 acres. But his wife or mine may hunt a few weekends in the year. And maybe our kids will too. So 2 hunters is just fine for 400 acres but if you add guests, it may be a little tight from time to time.

And if you want to shoot only mature deer, 400 is NOT enough.

3 of us (family memebers) have hunted some smaller properties with good success. we set our expectations to kill 1 good buck and maybe some culls or does. we did this to keep our costs down, but realistically knew that everyone probably would not kill a big buck. we were all fine with it and just enjoyed the outdoors together.

It all depends on how the property is layed out. Some properties hunt bigger than others.

The man I work for has property he lease out it is about 45 acres and has 3 hunters on it for the past 4 years and they told him that they each got a buck and 2 does each. there is a creek runs thru it. I don't know how big the bucks were but they have fun when they go

My neighbor hunts about 5 people on the 60 acres that he leases.

We have 650 acres and have 6 hunters. Each hunter has at least 2 feerers and stands. No problem overlaping or getting someone shot. We have pretty much cover though.

6 hunters on approximately 7,000 acres in Jim Hogg Co.

5 on 4k roughly

How big and how many hunt on the outlying properties, should also be considered. At one lease I had a 40 acre neighbor that had four people that would shoot a buck. We were MLD and had 4 buck tags on 1800 acres.

Another neighbor of mine apparently leased his 100 acres to 5 people, all of whom shot deer.

Shocking that there aren't better bucks in my area. Fortunately, the ARs have stopped them from killing everything that walks through that 100 acres.

We should all join hands and thank our lucky stars for ARs.

10 people (5 hunters, 5 whiskey drinking fire watchers) on 7000 acres in Rolling Plains

3 hunters bow only on 250 acres of thick river bottom in Central Texas

3 hunters bow only on 225 acres of thick river bottom in Central Texas

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REPSONSE. I have really learned a lot from everyone who responded. I need to do an in depth review of the land, food, coverage and water. I was trying to see how many other hunters I could get to help me pay for a lease I certainly can't afford one by myself. So it looks like 800 acres if the situation is right (food, water coverage ) could hunt 3-4 hunters. But the situation has to be correct.

TAL

On our place we hunt one person to about 400 acres and it has worked well for us.