Where do you hunt?

[Papa762]

Clubs that are associated landowners (farms usually) are great but tough to get in. For 20 years I have paid clubs fairly close. Now, 2000 acres leased - crop, swamp, timber- for 12 hunters with a plantation house on site with year round access and river fishing! Had a vacancy open this year until recently. In the southeast, get in the area and talk.

 

[sxssixteen]

Pennsylvania has huge State Game Lands that are open to hunting. Out-of-state hunters only need to purchase a non-resident hunting license to use these areas.

 

[Huntnful]

I've killed deer and elk on public land, State & Federal, in CA, UT, MT, CO, AZ, NM & WY. It just takes some research. But plenty of public land in the west out here.

 

[Veteran]

There are lots of online ads and small town newpapers and hunting lease brokers that advertise season leases in Texas.

You get a group of 5 to 10 guys together, do a season lease, (not day hunting) and split the costs.

It can work if you find the right friends, and the right place

 

[Josh06]

In Texas it's pretty much find a lease. I've had good luck on public for ducks but that's all. If you want to go after deer/pigs you'll need to find an annual lease or day hunt. You should be able to find something 2-3k annually within a few hours of Frisco. I suggest joining FB groups, watching Craigslist, ask everybody you meet that hunts if they know of anything.

 

[adam32+P]

I hunt where the deer are.

 

[Lee Deming]

Here in Montana we have block management land where ranchers/farmers get a fee for everyone who hunts on their land.
Some years we have way too many hunters for a decreased amount of Elk.When I got here in 1998 I saw hundreds of elk many times and sometimes I would only see a half dozen but I always saw something,Elk or Mule Deer.Now its a pleasure to see a couple of elk a year and maybe a Mule Deer buck and a few doe's and last year I did not see any elk.
If I could I would hire an outfitter and let them take me high up in the Bob Marshal Wilderness and see some elk but my health won't allow.
Wolves and Cougars kill their share

I have to say that this info on MT is inaccurate. Not sure if you are trying to discourage people from coming here or just had a bad decade. Montana's elk numbers are through the roof with numbers in many districts 200% over objective and everyone scrambling to find ways to mitigate the damage the elk do to ranches and farms. This despite a hunting season that begins August 15 and runs to February 15 in some places. There are plenty of elk but access is the main problem. I hunt mostly public land for elk. Two years ago I hunted a new piece of private land that allows limited hunting next to a vast swath of private land that doesn't. For two days we watched the neighbor's elk loaf around a little pond in broad daylight. I stopped counting at 300 head including 6 truly gigantic bulls. Remember, I was on private land also. As we walked into position the third day that herd got up and moved our way with the cows staying on the neighbor's place but still moving West with a group of giant, medium, and small bulls jumping the fence 70 yards in front of us onto the place I had permission to hunt. No one had a bull tag, so I got beautiful video of that tail end of the bull herd jumping that fence and trotting into the timber. I very nearly shot a spike-which was legal-but thank goodness I waited until his head turned a little to show a small fork on one side. This last Fall during archery season I was hunting 350 miles from this same spot and saw 400 head including a wide 7-point as we were driving to a relatively small state section. They were on private land, naturally. We did call a nice 5X5 into range about 15 minutes after legal light. Heard a number of hunters that I know driving past a herd of 4,000 elk up in the Missouri Breaks hanging out on private land which doesn't allow hunting. Many of these herds stay on private land that doesn't allow hunting during the day and then disperse at night to ravage the neighbor's places that do allow hunting. The problem is access to those elk, not the actual elk numbers.

 

[RUFFIAN R - NY]

Am lucky enough to still have relations with farmer from whom I bot camp from still has over some 1200 acres in Delaware County NY besides deer hunt also help out with the chucks and bunny hunt and up-land bird's ( good Grouse hunting on one side and pheasant on the corn field lots. ) His neighbor also a farmer still has some 3-400 acres, which holds bird's . Got to know these farmers from there father's and the kids are running the farms now from chuck-hunting during the summer months.

 

[Lee Deming]

Growing up, my dad always had friends who had thousands of acres of land so we hunted there. I haven't hunted as an adult so I never really thought about where I would hunt. Now that I have the time and am getting back into it, I realize that we don't really have enough land to deer hunt on... so where do you guys hunt if you don't own your own land? I've seen online where people pay many thousands of dollars for a single day of hunting. That will never be me as I don't have that kind of money. I also don't have the money to buy hundreds of acres. So... thoughts?

Cannot speak to where to hunt in Texas. A friend of mine drove up from West Virginia with his son and his son's friend two Falls ago to hunt in MT. Including the tag and his fuel I think he had $2,000 into it. He stayed in a hotel part of the time and I helped him quite a bit with logistics and a starting place. He and his son got Mule Deer bucks that they were very happy with and my buddy shot a big cow. These were on public land in the Southeast portion of Montana. They got to see 350 or so elk besides the small herd he shot the cow out of so that was a successful hunt in my opinion and in the opinion of most of the hunters I know. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico are closer to you and I have never hunted there so can't offer any opinions but I think my buddy is going to try CO next. You might think about that.

 

[chav0_12]

You could always try hunting out of state on public land. There's a lot of it west of Texas. This is why I refuse to live anywhere but the west. I'd be just as lost as you are trying to find land to hunt.

 

[tony d willIiams]

Public lands, Federal and State lands.
I am retired so I have plenty of time, and a distinct lack of money. I scout throughout the year, and fish now and then. The game wardens know me as we see each other a lot.
If you police in, police out, make it hard for anybody to know you have been there, and are friendly, the wardens will help you out.
If you share tips, locations, where the fish are, what they are biting, depths, where the nests are so they will direct others away. Where you have seen deer sign, where the bears are, they will also share with you. Not specifics, but the general areas/locations.
And if your coffee is good, and the fire small and warm, all the better.

Posted and then remembered the following. Last fall the warden asked if I had tried Javelina, nope. He suggested an area about a 150~200 miles ENE of where I was. He said the deer are there, more than where I was at, but Javelina are thick. They taste good if prepared properly.
I will also start scouting that area also, it is closer to my son & family.

 

[TBell]

Growing up, my dad always had friends who had thousands of acres of land so we hunted there. I haven't hunted as an adult so I never really thought about where I would hunt. Now that I have the time and am getting back into it, I realize that we don't really have enough land to deer hunt on... so where do you guys hunt if you don't own your own land? I've seen online where people pay many thousands of dollars for a single day of hunting. That will never be me as I don't have that kind of money. I also don't have the money to buy hundreds of acres. So... thoughts?

Leasing property is best option in Texas. Even that can get expensive. Here your talking $1,400 /year and up, but with that it is a years worth of out doors.

 

[trodgers]

I was blessed to have Grandparents as farmers and started by shooting sparrows for .05 cents each with ratshot at the local grain coop. That led me to some awesome invites, but that was 50 years ago. Texas is 97% privately owned, so so public lands, but as you guessed crowded. I've hunted as standby on some public land have have had cheap fun...hogs, whitetails, axis, fallow deer and a few auodads.
I do hunt private lands, helping folks with farm chores ~ hauling hay, feeding livestock and bustin ice off water tanks (yeah, this happens in Tejas) and they reciprocate and let me hunt.
Good luck and be persistant!

 

[Deleted member 115360]

Get good at killing coyotes and pigs. Find ranchers who have a coyote/pig problem, and thin them out. Get to know them, be respectful and useful, and helpful, and in some cases, before you know it, you'll have full access.