Deer Hunting in the Texas Hill Country, Beyond



Deer hunters in Texas know that it has been one a heck of a dry year, and the Hill Country has been no exception. Dry is never good for wildlife. The whitetail deer hunting forecasts have been poor, with habitat taking it on the chin. What else is there to say after drought, a lack of forb production, no fawn cover, below average antler growth and no rainfall since last September. It’s a grim deer hunting forecast if you look at just range and habitat conditions. However, there’s more to a deer season than just the habitat and game conditions.

Deer biologists always talk about buck antler development as a three-legged stool, with each leg being genetics, nutrition and age. Genetics is beyond the scope of a deer hunting forecast. In fact, genetics are the hardest factor to delineate across a ranch or area. Deer nutrition gets more press from year to year because changes in rainfall are so visible, as they certainly have been for the last 12 months. With most of Texas in an exceptional drought, all plants and animals are stressed. Nutrition has been poor.

Deer Hunting in Texas

But what about age? This third leg of the stool is often overlooked by the nearsighted. With bobwhite quail, hunters looks to the current year’s hatch to determine quail hunting prospects. Not so with whitetail deer. A whitetail’s body is considered mature at 4 1/2 years of age, but antlers continue to increase until about 6 1/2. Habitat conditions at birth also factor in to future body and antler development.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologist David Veale points out that the 2007 South Texas fawn crop was an excellent one, and got off to a healthy start in life. Out of a large class, more animals will survive. Those that did are 4 1/2 years old this year. Look back at last season, too. Because of excellent range conditions, deer did not have to move around to find food. The deer harvest was lower than usual. More carryover.

The deer hunting forecast compiled for the Hill Country quotes TPWD Derrick Wolter saying, “A lot of deer did not get shot, and there should be some nice, older bucks in the mix.” Deer hunting in the Texas Hill Country looks a lot better when hunters consider the fact that there are a lot of older bucks in the herd. Less buck harvest in the past means more mature bucks will be shot in the future.


In the Trans-Pecos, biologist Jason Wagner speaks of hunters reporting seeing many 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 year old bucks last season. In Northern Central Texas, James Edwards as said of last season, “Fewer young bucks are being reported in the harvest. Landowners have seen better quality deer over the entire area.” Deer management is helping. David Sierra reports that in the post oak region of East Texas, antler restrictions are bringing more older bucks into the harvest. The younger bucks that were allowed to walk last year are a year older now.

There can be no disputing that body conditions and antlers will be below average this year, and the Texas Hill Country is no exception. As Charlie Newberry in Henrietta and Ralph Suarez in Ballinger and practically every other contributing wildlife biologist mentions, habitat conditions could be a lot better. It’s a statewide thing. Current range conditions, however, when coupled with the low harvest of a large age class of deer, indicates that there could be a lot of 4 1/2 year old bucks out there looking for something to eat this season. Deer hunting will be good, but the deer themselves may not fair as well.


Deer Urine Ban: Deer Hunting Hit Below the Belt

White-tailed deer hunting can be fun, but it’s also a lot of work. Hunters have tried for years to get the edge of big, mature bucks. Bait, calls and decoys can all be effective when used at the right times. However, one of the most-used methods hunters use for attracting bucks is the use of deer urine. But many states have started a deer urine ban. This is because some scientist believe that deer urine can carry chronic wasting disease (CWD). Vermont is the latest state to ban deer urine.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking hunters to help protect Vermont deer and moose by avoiding the use of urine-based attractant scents. The infectious agent of CWD, a fatal disease of deer, is a mutant protein or prion that research has shown can be passed in urine. This mutant protein can bind to soils and remain infectious for many years. Okay, so why the deer urine ban, you ask? Some captive deer facilities producing urine products for hunting have not complied with mandatory CWD disease prevention and monitoring regulations. Continue reading Deer Urine Ban: Deer Hunting Hit Below the Belt

Deer Hunting Looks Good in East Texas

Question: Went out to our deer lease in Anderson County this past weekend to gear up for the upcoming deer hunting season. We saw 10 bucks and two additional groups of whitetail deer, with another bachelor group of six bucks. There were several good looking eight point bucks, and an 11 point that is going to be a real nice buck in another year or two. It is dry out there, but it seems like we’re seeing more deer then we normally do.

A few years ago on our lease, we would only see a deer or two at a time, at best. Now the other hunters and I are seeing as many as 10 animals in a group on a regular basis. In addition, a young eight point buck actually came to corn feeder while we were hog hunting on Saturday, which is rare. Deer have not come to our feeders very much in past years. Will the drought cause us to see more deer activity this year due to the need for deer to find food? Continue reading Deer Hunting Looks Good in East Texas

Swamp Donkey Deer Attractant for Whitetail Hunting

Hunters are looking for a product that can give them an edge while out whitetail deer hunting. Deer attractants are seen as a way to do just that. A new product from Primos they called Swamp Donkey may put another arrow in the quiver of hunting taking to the woods. According to the manufacturer, they have been field testing, modifying and documenting the amazing results of Swamp Donkey for over 7 years! Can it help you this deer hunting season? Check out what Primos has to say:

“Swamp Donkey, which until now, has been used exclusively for deer hunting on a select number of professionally managed game ranches. Now, hunters serious about drawing big deer from their hiding spots and out into the open can utilize Swamp Donkey’s™ line of easy-to-use attractants to greatly improve their odds for success. Continue reading Swamp Donkey Deer Attractant for Whitetail Hunting

Deer Hunting: Cull Buck Harvest for Deer Management

Question: “I have a question regarding cull buck harvest for whitetail deer management. We are trying to improve our deer herd and are not sure about one of the bucks we have on a game camera. With the deer hunting season just around the corner we need another opinion. Would you shoot this whitetail buck as a cull or let him go at least another year?

My ideas on this deer are split right now. My question is, did his antler get hurt which is why his rack is off? Or is this genetically based and we should expect to see this buck with an oddball rack from here on out. We don’t have any other deer like him on our ranch. The buck does have a decent right side. We are a low fenced property in Cottle County, Texas.”

Answer: I think the question to answer with regards to your deer management outlook is, how does this buck compare to the rest of the bucks in his age group? Based on the deer surveys conducted on your property, what kind of buck age structure does your survey show? Do you need to be protecting this age class of bucks due to a small recruitment number for this age? Continue reading Deer Hunting: Cull Buck Harvest for Deer Management

Deer Feeders and Parts: Feeder Spinner Plate

Providing good nutrition is the key to keeping white-tailed deer healthy on any property. Good deer nutrition comes from high quality native foods and this comes from the landscape, habitat. However, an important part of any deer management program is harvest. Deer feeders are the easiest way to attract animals for harvest. They are not legal in every state for hunting purposes, but feeders are highly effective and necessary for reducing deer populations were numbers exceed the available habitat.

An important component of an effective feeder is a properly working motor. One of my deer feeder’s motors had a spinner plate that had come loose. Some feeders have a small screw than can be tightened with an Alan (hex) wrench while some have a nut with a coupling that holds the plate to the eighth-inch motor shaft. This one had the coupling style, but as I took it apart to see what the problem was, the coupling fell to the ground—never to be found again. Continue reading Deer Feeders and Parts: Feeder Spinner Plate

Dove Hunting Season in Texas – Mixed Reports

Most hunters look forward to September simply because the first day of the month has traditionally been the dove hunting season opener. That held true again this year, but hunters across the state found mixed results. Despite dry conditions, hundreds of thousands of Texans headed to the field for the opening weekend of dove season, which started last Thursday in the Central and North Zones.

Texas’ North Zone dove hunting was decent, but many properties lacked the water necessary to hold birds. Plowed corn fields along the Red River in Lamar County have held scattered shoots of mourning doves. The recent front did bring new birds to the area, but watering holes are scarce at best. The best dove hunts in the High Plains have been in harvested corn and milo fields in the morning.

Texas Dove Hunting Season Opens to Mixed Dove Hunting Reports

Most playa lakes in the Texas Panhandle are dry so feed lot ponds have been better dove hunting areas in the afternoon. Sunflowers and plowed ground have held most of the doves in the Abilene area, and any watering holes has been a magnet in the afternoon. The season runs through October 23 and the near-term hunting prospects are fair.


The Central Zone dove hunting held up better. Steady shooting could be heard around San Antonio with resident white-winged doves keeping gun barrels warm over cut corn fields. Hunters there have taken limits in dove lease fields with water sources, but those are few and far between. Uvalde, Sabinal, Hondo and Del Rio hunters saw good dove shoots over the weekend, but resident birds are becoming wiser by the day.

Further East, dove hunters have taken half-limits an public dove hunting lands around Beaumont, Dayton, Liberty, Nome and Winnie, mostly due to high winds and rain associated with the tropical storm. Better shoots have come from around Sealy and Columbus, but hunters there have had to deal with extreme north winds from the storm and the cool front that passed through the region on Labor Day. The front also brought new doves to the region. The Central Zone dove hunting season runs through October 23 and prospects look fair to good for hunters headed to the field over the next few days.

Deer Lease in Stephens County

September is just around the corner and that means hunters are scrambling to find a deer lease for the upcoming fall. I will be happy when it arrives because the weather this year is Texas has been some kind of hot. Very hot. I don’t know much about this deer lease in Stephens County, but I can put you in contact with someone that does. It sounds like a good situation for the right guys.

“We are looking for a couple of guys to fill out our deer lease south of Breckenridge, Texas. We have a little over 900 acres on the western edge of the Cross Timbers region. The land has 7 tanks with a bit of elevation change, with a good mix of oaks and mesquite with a little cedar. Good for bow and rifle whitetail hunts with over 7 stands and 10 feeders already in place. Most of us have been together for a long time on the lease and are looking for a couple of guys that fit with us. Continue reading Deer Lease in Stephens County

Deer Hunting Food Plots in Texas: Lab Lab for Whitetail

Question: “We have been deer hunting for a couple of years now and I finally got a game camera this last season. So this year was the first that I had pictures of deer during the summer, and there were some nice bucks showing up on camera. Now I am fearful that I will lose them during the deer hunting season unless I supplement them with some type of food or mineral. What would you recommend? I have three places each with two to five acres of open grass. Would it be better to establish deer food plots or put up protein feeders?”

Response: There are many options when it comes to supplemental feeding for whitetail deer. The important thing to keep in mind is that there are many variables that come into play when deciding what feed source to use as a supplement. Do you have cattle or hogs? Do you have a tractor and implements to get the land ready? Do you own the property or lease the land? How many deer do you have on the place or that will utilize these plots? What is your average rainfall?

Lab lab Food Plots for Deer Hunting and Management

If you can not perform or cover most of what is in the questions above then I would use protein feeders to hold your deer rather than lab lab or any other type of food plot. When you calculate all of the expenses, it is usually less expensive for most people to spend the money on protein feed.

To plant food plots properly you will need rather expensive equipment, and then you are hoping once you make an investment and plant the seed that it will actually rain and grow. At least if you buy protein pellets you know what you have. Food plots are more of a gamble.


If you have the right soil and equipment and can get the food plots to grow well, then it’s cheaper than any pelleted protein. Lab lab is an excellent food plot selection, but if it rains and grows really well, then chances are you will have enough native forage that you will not need a food plot for the whitetail deer on your property.

If you are looking to just hold animals during the deer hunting season, then my suggestion for you would be to run a protein feeder or two and also have a couple of timed corn feeders going. A lab lab food plot can do the trick, but you will need the equipment and rain.

Deer Hunting Lease in Lampasas County

Question: “I am live in Austin, Texas, and used to be on a deer lease in Mason County. That was about 10 years ago. Now that my kids are getting older, I would like to get them outdoors and show them some of the things you can find stomping around on the ground. I have an opportunity to get on a Lampasas County deer lease, but was wondering if there are some good bucks in that area?”

Answer: I think it’s a great idea to get your kids outside and teach them about plants and animals and pass on the deer hunting heritage. Lampasas County is located on the northeast edge of the Texas Hill Country. The habitat found in that county can vary quite a bit. The best hunting can be found along the Colorado River, Lampasas River, and the major creeks found there, but good bucks exist all throughout that country. Continue reading Deer Hunting Lease in Lampasas County