I'm coming to Texas to hunt on a friend's property in Brazos County next week. He is not a hunter, nor are his near neighbors, and according to him the land has a lot of deer and hogs - its 100 or so acres with adjacent properties of similar size, no hunting pressure in the immediate area.

From my reading of the TPWD regs for Brazos County, doe hunting on his property ends on Nov 16, but general season goes til early January, subject to antler restrictions.

If my friend had something called an MLDP then I could harvest a doe through the general season.

I now live on the east coast (virginia) where deer hunting is much more 'primal' and requires a lot of effort and skill - no feeders, no hunting over bait whatsoever, no natural urine based scents. Deer season runs through early january, with extended antler less seasons in some counties until April, to control runaway deer populations. you can always take a doe for meat if you don't get a shot at a decent buck.

I'm trying to understand the new restriction on hunting antlerless deer in Texas. growing up there, I don't remember these restrictions on taking does at all. usually hunters are given incentives to take does. why would this not be the case in Texas? why does a landowner who does not lease his property for hunting have to have an MLDP just to enjoy a full season on private property?

appreciate any explanation on this, in terms of what motivates these regs, or if I'm misunderstanding something maybe somebody can fill me in.

Urine, baiting, feeding may be illegal here in VA but the feed and outdoor stores sure do sell a lot of feeders, corn, etc!

I've been here a year and I'm not sure many hunters follow the laws. The seasons and their dates are TERRIBLE compared to Texas.

Sorry this doesn't help your question at all

DuckDown2013 said:

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Urine, baiting, feeding may be illegal here in VA but the feed and outdoor stores sure do sell a lot of feeders, corn, etc!

I've been here a year and I'm not sure many hunters follow the laws. The seasons and their dates are TERRIBLE compared to Texas.

Sorry this doesn't help your question at all

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i see that too and it always makes me wonder - I've seen wardens on two different properties here and if you hunt over bait they will nail you. fines are heavy for violations. I hunt a lot on a number of locations and haven't seen anyone violating regs, but they must given how much corn is sold.

what part of VA are you in?

I don't find the seasons in northern VA to be limiting, but rifle season here doesn't overlap the rut much. archery season here is long and several counties in northern VA have extended seasons til April.

im taking my Hoyt raptor bow that My dad gave me to an archery shop tomorrow to be tuned up for that exact reason. I am in south central VA (outside Martinsville) and I think you can hunt with a rifle less than a month throughout the whole season here.
Rifle season doesn't line up with the rut like you mentioned so I'm going to start bow hunting.
It's shocking to me how many people hunt deer with dogs here- growing up in Texas I just find it weird and not appealing.

Yea just confirmed.
28 days rifle season and about 70 days bow season in my county in Virginia.

Harvesting does pretty much started in Texas.

Some areas can sustain a heavy doe harvest, some can't.

Running deer with dogs used to be pretty common in deep East Texas.

Virginia/West Virginia(same difference)... Like east Texas... But with more hillbillies.

You don't say! I always hunted in hill country and south Texas so I gues that makes since why I wasn't familiar.
I think you have to have a confederate flag decal on your vehicle to hunt deer with dogs here in Virginia.

Except for "Nova" where owning guns is frowned upon.

DuckDown2013 said:

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im taking my Hoyt raptor bow that My dad gave me to an archery shop tomorrow to be tuned up for that exact reason. I am in south central VA (outside Martinsville) and I think you can hunt with a rifle less than a month throughout the whole season here.
Rifle season doesn't line up with the rut like you mentioned so I'm going to start bow hunting.
It's shocking to me how many people hunt deer with dogs here- growing up in Texas I just find it weird and not appealing.

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dog hunting here is a pain in the ass. been on a long sit multiple times with conditions perfect - esp on properties east of I95, to have a *******ed pack of dogs come running deer through crossing property lines.

different place for sure.

Keep in mind much of Virginia (northeast in general), has had a major habitat flip. The growing deer herd has little to do with lack of hunting pressure (human or predator), and mainly due to areas becoming great deer habitat that were marginal before.

Deer population management is not a one size fits all approach. What I recommend on one ranch may not be remotely the same as what I might recommend down the road (literally a mile apart), and certainly not between changes in habitat/ecoregion (hince the move to manage by Resource Management Unit).

DuckDown2013 said:

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Except for "Nova" where owning guns is frowned upon.

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NOVA firearms is not far from me. sells a lot of guns. you get ten miles outside the beltway, and its not much different than suburban Texas.

a confederate flag here will get you ostracized real quick though. there's a huge confederate flag flying over I95 driving south just before Richmond. mentally it sort of defines where the south begins every time I pass it.

DuckDown2013 said:

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Urine, baiting, feeding may be illegal here in VA but the feed and outdoor stores sure do sell a lot of feeders, corn, etc!

I've been here a year and I'm not sure many hunters follow the laws. The seasons and their dates are TERRIBLE compared to Texas.

Sorry this doesn't help your question at all

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no hunting on Sunday too

California Ag 90 said:

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DuckDown2013 said:

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im taking my Hoyt raptor bow that My dad gave me to an archery shop tomorrow to be tuned up for that exact reason. I am in south central VA (outside Martinsville) and I think you can hunt with a rifle less than a month throughout the whole season here.
Rifle season doesn't line up with the rut like you mentioned so I'm going to start bow hunting.
It's shocking to me how many people hunt deer with dogs here- growing up in Texas I just find it weird and not appealing.

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dog hunting here is a pain in the ass. been on a long sit multiple times with conditions perfect - esp on properties east of I95, to have a *******ed pack of dogs come running deer through crossing property lines.

different place for sure.

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Not sure what kind of dogs these guys are using for deer hunting, but the damn beagles everybody uses for rabbit hunting Are Apparently hard to keep in a pen or something cause I find them at the farm running game and raising hell About every 2-3 weeks and they are not the same ones. I also don't fine shooting cottontails appealing unless I need meat for a predator trap but maybe that's just me.

ursusguy said:

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Harvesting does pretty much started in Texas.

Some areas can sustain a heavy doe harvest, some can't.

Running deer with dogs used to be pretty common in deep East Texas.

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so i can assume Brazos County deer populations are not so high, hence the restrictions? i read it as some sort of reverse incentive to get landowners to have MLDPs, if they want to benefit from normal harvests, which seemed like a penalty to a private landowner who doesn't lease his land. if its simply to better manage population then fair enough.

if you ever want to hunt NOVA drop me a PM. have access to a number of properties via a hunting club that permits guests. a lot of deer here - still haven't taken a deer on my bow yet but rifle season I always put meat in the freezer.

that one got repealed for the 2015-16 season (sunday blue laws for hunting)

This is like Biigie/Tupac all over again.

Beagles are escape artists

Good bull. I appreciate the offer!! but I have plenty of access to deer here on good private land and I haven't taken the time to hunt them. I have more hatred for waterfowl, so let me know if you have any duck hunting opportunities because the lack of birds in my area has been the worst part about moving to Virginia BY FAR.

Brazos County has a decent population, but population is very pocketed and is the land of 100 acre parcels with heavy hunting pressure.

Keep in mind, MLD is supposed to be a be a habitat based incentive program. Do some habitat improvement, get more doe tags and a longer season.

Too late to do anything for a hunt next week but if hunting there is going to become a regular thing for you in future years, I would be happy to help do the surveys, etc since I'm local and you are out of state. Depending where he is located, you may be surprised by how many permits they are willing to give him. Especially if he has good relationship with his non-hunting neighbors and they agree to let him do surveys on their acerage as well.

skelso said:

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Too late to do anything for a hunt next week but if hunting there is going to become a regular thing for you in future years, I would be happy to help do the surveys, etc since I'm local and you are out of state. Depending where he is located, you may be surprised by how many permits they are willing to give him. Especially if he has good relationship with his non-hunting neighbors and they agree to let him do surveys on their acerage as well.

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very cool - thanks for this offer. part of this trip is to figure out just that - whether to hunt this property every season, and maybe with some others depending on how it looks (haven't seen it yet).

i'll report out next week sometime, hopefully with some photos.

I have a gunsmith / outfitter business that is my side job. Because of it, I know a lot of land owners around the area. I do game surveys for a few places. Shoot me an e-mail (shawn@kelsoarms.com) with the general area and I'll provide you with whatever info I can.

skelso said:

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I have a gunsmith / outfitter business that is my side job. Because of it, I know a lot of land owners around the area. I do game surveys for a few places. Shoot me an e-mail (shawn@kelsoarms.com) with the general area and I'll provide you with whatever info I can.

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Another Texags OB hookup. You guys are great!

skelso said:

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I have a gunsmith / outfitter business that is my side job. Because of it, I know a lot of land owners around the area. I do game surveys for a few places. Shoot me an e-mail (shawn@kelsoarms.com) with the general area and I'll provide you with whatever info I can.

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will do. i will see the property for the first time on Thursday pm, will send something by early next week.

ursusguy said:

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Brazos County has a decent population, but population is very pocketed and is the land of 100 acre parcels with heavy hunting pressure.

Keep in mind, MLD is supposed to be a be a habitat based incentive program. Do some habitat improvement, get more doe tags and a longer season.

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Do you have any info about the new "harvest" MLDP option that is supposedly coming in 2017? I believe number of deer per thousand acres in my RMU is around 113. I'm thinking this MLDP option would likely reduce the number of tags available on the place, but the extended season is nice. From what I understand, it's similar to the current LAMPS system. Tags are provided automatically and no WMP is required.

Deer hunting after January seems sacrilegious.

Heck, fishing season cranks up here late February.

I'm right at a year removed from listening to those convesations, but what you described is what I remember. The harvest option gets you doe tags, but you are stuck with whatever the overall RMU recommendations are, and not tailored to the individual property. Under the old MLD program, even level 1 properties took an incredible amount of time for that area's biologist, and the landowners rarely wanted to do more than simply feed the deer (remember it is supposed to be a habitat management incentive). Under the conservation option, you get the individualized wmp, longer seasons and more flexibility on buck harvest....but you also get the required wildlife management practices...time and $$$ There was also talk of removing supplemental feeding as an allowed practice to count towards the plan (an idea I endorse, but don't lose sleep over).

I'm hunting with a buddy who is a District 5 biologist next weekend, I'll pick his brain and try to get a general update on the program.