deer hunting in hamiton, erath county

i Have a ease just outside of hico texas and was wondering if anyone ese hunted in the area? 2 seasons ago we saw alot of deer and i shot a good 9 point and my dad got a decent 8 point.That was all that was shot the whole year. But last year i sat probably 10 different settings in our blind and did not see ONE deer the whole season. Any thoughts on what happened??
Im curious on what its gunna be like this year.

I hunt 15 miles south west of Hamilton. Past 3 years have seen plenty of deer. No problem tagging out if I wanted to. Already have 4 nice 8 point velvet bucks on camera pics. Another 6 or 7 that are ok but too young to take out.

I have never hunted that area before, but I have a good friend who was on a place in that area for several years and said the same thing. Never knew what to expect one year to the next.

well we filled up the feeders and i set up a camera last weekend.so we will see!

No reason for the deer not to be there, unless there was some type of unusual activity going on that had them spooked. Better be on the lookout for poachers or some other type of shenanigans going on.

I would have to agree with that.Are there a lot of Postoaks or Blackjack oak?We don't have either.We have liveoak,spanish oak on the hills.Those deep dark postoak woods with acorns dropping really limits the deer's movement.Sometimes they will not show up at feeders.I'm not sure what the drought will do to this years acorn crop,the deer need the protein and fat though.Good luck,The rut usually peaks around Thanksgiving.

You must be real close to us.....we're pretty much right between Evant and Shive as the crow flies.

For the OP, the Hico area can be hit and miss depending on a lot of factors, but there's generally decent numbers in that area and I've seen some real hosses taken there. We're in a great area of the far southern part of the county, but probably a good 30-35 miles from Hico so it's hard to compare.

We live and hunt between Hamilton and Evant..Lots of deer around here..Not alot of big bucks but there are some..My son shot a big 10 last year just east of Shive..

I'm on a lease just outside of Hamilton... we had lots of bucks on camera up until season started... and they then all left . One 8 pt was taken by one of our guys and he regretted it after he took it as it was a good small buck that we should have left to get bigger... but he was tired of not seeing anything. We only saw a couple of smallish does during season.

After season was over, bucks on camera again sporatic times eating on corn.. nice 10 and 12 ptrs. Who knows where they went during the season. Hoping for better this year, but doubtful. Our lease has a butt-load of cows on it, and with the drought, who knows. I'm not impressed so far...

I used to live down there, There are some really nice bucks, usually hear, or see a good one every now and again, but not the numbers. The better deer numbers I recall for Erath, where North of Stephenville.

I had almost 400 acres for 12 years, my back neighbor had 600 and didn't hunt. I never shot a doe and few bucks and I think the largest number of deer I had ever counted in a 5 acre Dryland Alfalfa patch was 14. There are some darn nice good deer, but few and far between. Also had a few people get busted for poaching ,so that can be a problem.

Hunted 3 miles West of Evant, that small area is in the TPW program and totally loaded with deer.

ya last year our feeders had been literally distroyed and our feeder motors were smashed to pieces. It really pissed me off. we went exploring on the 4 wheeler and found that a neighboring property had a ladder going over the fence to get over. so who knows

I understand! I once was sitting in a new bow blind I had build and watched as 3 neighbors crossed my fence and set up in 2 different places. Being in LE, I snuck out, called the game warden and 15 minutes later the cavalry arrived. All 3 where caught.

There are some real good deer there, I still have friends that live around there and they see some nice bucks on occasion, just isn't allot of deer compared to other areas.

What are they charging you down there now?

its actually my dads friends place. and is only 150 acres or so. the only people that hunt are me my dad and another guy. The owner is planning on building a house there so i think this is our last year out there. We used to hunt in callahan and jack county and i have been begging him to get a lease in one of those 2 countys but says we can not afford it right now. it sucks

I hunt in Hico about 2 miles north of the high school. we always see deer and we always get one for the freezer, but the numbers have started to dwindle. part of the reason is our neighbor set up a shooting range. once he started shooting all the time the deer vacated that part of our property. we also had hogs for 1 season then somehow they all disappeared. there doesn't seem to be a ton of game but enough for me to get a little bit of everything: dove, ducks, turkey, and deer

i hunt about 2 miles north or so of the high school.i dont think there is a name for the road but its right when theres a sign that your entering hamilton county.

I hunt just north of hico in the duffau area. Last year we had more deer on the cameras than every before until october 20th then they just dissapeared. I guess the acorns hit the ground and they completely left the feeders and kept out of sight