Texas Public Land

[guitarpreston]

I drew a multi species tag at the chap and went in Jan. It was amazing, I had 1 square mile to myself and it was hard hunting. 20+ mph winds the first 2 days. I would go back in a heartbeat! Ended up with a doe. From what I gather most of the walk in places get pretty covered up with people who, like so many of us, don't have a good lease for various reasons...But the good draw hunts have honestly awful odds imo.

 

[lcall47]

I'm in Fort Worth and am not aware of public land around the area for deer hunting. Does anyone know of any within an hour or two?

Checkout LBJ National grasslands and Caddo National grasslands north east of Dallas.

 

[PurpleDriver]

Texas is routinely mentioned as one of the states with the least public land, but it can be found or you can go up to OK for some more access if your on the north side of the state. That’s what my in-laws in Wichita Falls do.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

As a Montanan stuck in TX, the public land game here is stupid, sad, and disappointing. Yes I hunt it. A ton. If you're just wanting extra meat, and you're coming from a TX lease background, you probably will have more success finding a different lease. To be successful on public here requires an entirely different mindset, and the willingness to fail a ton till you figure it out.

 

[DirtyLee]

Angelina NF. Our lease is surrounded by it and over the last few years we have seen less and less hunters.

 

[Mojave]

Texas is one of those states that has public land hunts. All the information is on the Internet I do not share information on Texas public, because so much information is available. Most guys want something easy and free and all it takes is one or two post to run an entire situation for everybody else. Kind of like other states. I have drawn three Texas public land draw hunts. They have all been good hunts. I did not kill anything on any of them but they were still good hunts. You just don’t have a lot of time if you don’t live in that area to figure it out. You don’t know what block they’re going to put you in when you get there.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Angelina NF. Our lease is surrounded by it and over the last few years we have seen less and less hunters.

I'm assuming you like seeing fewer hunters around... so why would you just throw the name of a place out there for anyone to find? I'm gonna have to go look that place up now, and see if it's close enough for me to hunt myself.

 

[DirtyLee]

I'm assuming you like seeing fewer hunters around... so why would you just throw the name of a place out there for anyone to find? I'm gonna have to go look that place up now, and see if it's close enough for me to hunt myself.

There's plenty in the woods for everyone my man

 

[rkcdvm]

You may try to register at fort hood . Everyone I know that hunts it does pretty well. They have an “interesting” system of hunting but it gets you out there .
As a side note , the largest set of antlers I’ve ever seen on a whitetail were on a buck at grapevine lake. Saw him last year while driving to work.
I may be wrong on this , but with my search for public deer hunting in Texas , you significantly broaden your available areas to hunt if you are willing to hunt with a bow .

 

[sharkhunter]

Texas has some great options. The people I know that are successful all use climbers and get high to look down into thickets. Deer on public land in Texas are hunted hard and stay for the most part in the thick stuff.

 

[rkcdvm]

I'm in Fort Worth and am not aware of public land around the area for deer hunting. Does anyone know of any within an hour or two?

Grapevine lake. You need to register with the corps of engineers building. It’s down the street from bass pro shop. It’s limited but they actually have a lot of deer and pigs. I see them all of the time while I’m fishing . It’s all archery though.

 

[cuerro viejo]

I'm in Fort Worth and am not aware of public land around the area for deer hunting. Does anyone know of any within an hour or two?

yes, Need to apply for All the COE properties around.

there are 200” deer in DFW. Also lots of public in Okla.

 

[cuerro viejo]

In Texas, we have very limited public land available for hunting. Some of what we do have is extremely restricted on who can hunt it.

negative, unless you are just lazy.

 

[ETX-Tyler]

I'm in Fort Worth and am not aware of public land around the area for deer hunting. Does anyone know of any within an hour or two?

Drawn Hunt Catalog - 2023 - 2024 Hunt Areas - Drawn Hunts - TPWD

tpwd.texas.gov

Check the map

 

[Unckebob]

They used to do a public hunt in Navarro County at Navarro Mills Lake. I’m not sure it they still do but it’d be worth checking out. There are some very good deer in that area right around the lake.

I just found out I drew a chance to hunt the Trinity River NWS - Brierwood. From Onyx, all I see are trees and a creek/bayou. Any tips for hunting East Texas w/o a tree stand or much prep would be appreciated. With young kids, it is hard to get away on weekends (I love going to watch them play club soccer).

I honestly don't care if I get a deer. I just want to hunt hard in the limited time (1 week) I have.

 

[glennsgunstuff]

I just found out I drew a chance to hunt the Trinity River NWS - Brierwood. From Onyx, all I see are trees and a creek/bayou. Any tips for hunting East Texas w/o a tree stand or much prep would be appreciated. With young kids, it is hard to get away on weekends (I love going to watch them play club soccer).

I honestly don't care if I get a deer. I just want to hunt hard in the limited time (1 week) I have.

There are some good deer in there but it would be a great deal of help if you could make a weekend scouting trip before season to narrow down an area to hunt. It is really easy to spend a week looking at nothing but cotton mouths and copperheads if you don't find a place the deer want to be and aren't getting pushed too hard. Private land around will bring pressure as well.

 

[Unckebob]

There are some good deer in there but it would be a great deal of help if you could make a weekend scouting trip before season to narrow down an area to hunt. It is really easy to spend a week looking at nothing but cotton mouths and copperheads if you don't find a place the deer want to be and aren't getting pushed too hard. Private land around will bring pressure as well.

Having learned some lessons, I am definitely going in better prepared next time.

 

[txpanhandle88]

There are plenty of options out there, just don't expect it to be easy