Virgin Land

I just bought a place down here in Hamilton County that hasn't been hunted in over 23 years! What is y'all's opinion on hunting virgin land??? The Dove hunting should be excellent due to having fresh cut Milo on three sides, and a stock tank in the middle of my place but what I'm wondering about is deer.

Hasn't been legally hunted. Hopefully no trespassers hoping to hunt for free. I think there are a lot of factors. Put out some trail cams and see what ya got. Maybe go sit on the edge of a field and see what is out moving.

Not sure of what is your question here? Set up some feeders and cameras and see what you see.

What they said. Walk around the tank at the waters edge, and you will know if there is deer there pretty quick.

Land is only "virgin" to you though.

Not hunted in 23 years? Who said that the real estate agent?

If it is not over 600 acres in size then the neighbors have been drawing deer off of it for 23 yrs and hunting them. I would set up some TC and see what you have.

exactly

I thought I married a virgin.

I put a feeder up and took a walk around the stock tank today, and there are plenty of doe tracks! Now to get a couple of game cams up and see what I've got coming in!

I guess my question was, what kind of experience have y'all had hunting on land that hasn't been hunted in years? The reason that I say 23 is that's how long the lady I bought it from had lived here. She's been a widow for the last 15 years, and she said that her husband was wheelchair bound and never did hunt.

Good luck! How many acres is it? Post some pics, I love seeing land!

Everyone is told....buy this or lease this....it hasn't been hunted in xxx years.

Amazing that people still believe that crap.

It's not crap.

I know ranches that haven't been hunted in 10+ years

Not every piece of property is shot up

Says the real estate guy!

I don't have to lie to people to sell ranches.

Not every landowner hunts or leases his property. It's a fact

It's only about 29.9 acres but I'm not complaining. I saw deer every day that I hunted last year on a place about three miles from here last year.

How do I put pics up?

Here is one way to post pics.
http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/754445/How_to_Post_your_Pics#Post754445

Thanks! I'll put up some pics tomorrow. I'm going to jump off of here and spend some time with my better half! Night y'all!

Find a guy named Jimmy Dale who lived west of Hamilton, and hunted the Long Pasture regularly all over the County according to the folks that should know. I'd bet he could tell you 'zactly how many deer have come off that place every year. Never met a feller that was as "well known" as he was.
Ron

While your land may have not been hunted in 23 years, the land on all 4 sides has

Congrats on your new piece of Texas

Put up a feeder and some trail cams. Walk the fence lines and look for crossings. Check the wet areas for tracks. Enjoy and good luck

Here are a few pics of the place.

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/coryelli...pg.html?filters[user]=141173788&filters[recent]=1&filters[publicOnly]=1&sort=1&o=0

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/coryelli...?sort=3&o=5

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/coryelli...?sort=3&o=1

Don't mean to be pessimistic, but if it's only 30 acres, the fact it hasn't been hunted in several years is irrelevant. Good luck though.

Thank you sir!

good looking pond

good luck 30 acres you can put a tripod in each corner and hunt the wind and sun

doesnt matter if its been hunted or not put up a feeder or 2 and run them year round and enjoy the Hell out of your own place

looks good and I am sure you will enjoy it

Why is it so hard to believe? Especially if this lady has been living there.

I don't think they are "calling out" the previous owner, just pointing out that with just 30 acres, it doesn't matter if a hunter set foot on it, hunting around it pretty much = the same as being on it.

Personally, who cares, you have your own dirt!! (hopefully hunting wasn't the only factor for the purchase)

The biggest negative IMO, (from a hunting standpoint) STX mentioned early on, you are at the mercy of the LO's that border you. You will have to live through a season or 2 to see exactly what your dealing with as far as hunting pressure.

You now have a slice of heaven, so I would enjoy it for what it is.

Place a protein feeder in the center of that 30 acres. Keep it going year around. The trick is to NOT hunt the protein feeder, but find the trails the bucks are using to access the feeder. If you see lots of does, those bucks will start showing up in October and November.

We should all ignore his question about virgin land and tell him that he was lied to in his new purchase.

No we should all tell him congrats on his new land!!! That's awesome and you should be extremely proud! Who cares what happened before you now it's all yours, and you can do what you want. Put some corn feeders out and enjoy. I wouldn't do protein unless you can get it as cheap as corn. Plant something if you can and that would help even more!

x1

lol I was being sarcastic after reading the replies. I hope everything works out awesome.

Hamilton county is loaded with deer and turkey. Feed heavy, you'll have deer. Congratulations on your new place

The land has likely acted as a refuge area for awhile. The advice to put a protein feeder in the center and hunt the trails leading to it is sound. You want to treat the center 10 acres or so as a refuge to keep deer on your land. Having surrounding milo fields helps, once they are harvested, there is little cover the deer have to go somewhere.

^^^

Best of luck with your new property - you'll [hopefully] enjoy it regardless of the degree of success!

Congratulations on getting your own piece of Texas, it feels very different when you can all it your own no matter how large or small! Enjoy the experiences you have, the improvements you make and the memories that will come down the road.

Before I bought my place north of Lampasas, I walked all 21 acres of it twice and just looked at the ground. It was 21 acres wall to wall deer poop. Bought it and never looked back. It was the right decision.

if you say you've got fresh cut milo on two or three sides....then does that mean that your place is a brush island in the middle of all that? might be good. in agricultural areas where you have lots of open field, deer will hold in relatively small pockets of brush at times. again though...unless the property is pretty big....if there's deer in the area, then its a likelihood that someone has been hunting them.

there's a lot of nice deer every year shot out of the cab of a tractor. so even though you don't see any blinds or feeders or anything. there may be more hunting going on than what is visible.