Rather than hijack the lease thread, I wanted to see how you guys thought this season went?

I've had a number of interesting conversations with folks that seem to have had very slow seasons. However, it seems like some of the folks down south and maybe a few other areas are having decent years.

I'm not looking for a honey hole report, rather just something as simple as:

"Hill Country, near Junction, above average year"

Or whatever else you feel like sharing. Just trying to gather info and compare results.

First season on our place. So can't compare to past seasons. But we had a lot more deer than we were lead to believe.

Callahan County

Upshur County - Very poor season. Didn't see anywhere close to the numbers we've seen in previous years. Acorns killed us. Never seen so many in my life.

Ours is good, but not over for another month and half. All culls taken thus far and several more to go.

Where are you hunting?

Webb County. Real slow. Mature bucks not showing up. Thinking mix of bucks gone from drought and the the ones that did make it are so covered up with grass that they aren't coming out. Seems to be similar with others in the area.

Our lease is 220 acres, heavily grazed by cattle about 50% pasture. Erath county E of Stephenville. There's a ranch across the road that feeds deer in troughs and has an alfalfa field. They're will be 40 deer laying in the sun on a cool day in the middle and edges of the pasture grass. We see a lot of our camera deer over there when leaving. Also see alot over there that are never on camera. Literally across the rock road.

As for this year it was about the same it's very hit or miss but the rut is the best chance to get one cruzing off safe land. We saw good size this year.

Shot this 3.5 or 4.5 yo 7 point. 1st deer for me off this property in 3 season


This deer my son yelled "deer" at and he walked away before the boom.

Brazos County, can't say it's just this year but it definitely felt exacerbated by drought but below average. Only saw one buck on camera that was fairly mature/shootable but never saw on hoof. Had a good bit of activity the early part of Nov when we had that cool weather, but went ice cold basically after that.

Not good on the lease. Had some great TYHP/TPWD hunts with my 2 boys though and I had a really fun bowhunt at Richland Creek WMA.

finally found a lease in August for my family that I jumped on in the Hamilton area. Pretty cool property along the Cowhouse Creek. Unfortunately the drought was brutal there plus it was overgrazed by the neighbor who leases grazing rights so the condition of the place was very poor this year. The one for sure legal buck we even had on camera showed up the first of November with his entire right antler broken off. After hunting all of October and November we never saw a single legal buck besides 1 spike so at the first of December I decided to take the rest of the season off and wait for next year. Lots of young bucks on the place so I expect next year is a lot better.

Duval Co.

Interesting response so far and for the most part in line with what we saw.

Uvalde County, very slow. Only saw two mature bucks the entire year and shot one of them. Not really any mature deer on camera this year.

I'm wondering if the stress from the 21 freeze plus the drought of 22 had a big impact on the deer population.

I'm in northwest Oklahoma, but I saw A TON of deer. Lots of good bucks and I'm looking forward to some of the dudes I saw this year showing up next year.

Bucks have already shed up there though, signs of the bad drought.

Killed three deer with my bow and 7 with a rifle. Hope to double my bow kills next year. One buck weighed almost 200 pounds and the other 185 pounds.

Nice

Western Brazos county, another good year for us, pressure in our area seems low. Probably more deer than ever, possibly due to west side Bryan development.
We don't feed, but the buck I got had been finding great groceries, he was fat, internal globs in body cavity, lots of exterior fat on back and hams.
3 bucks, 3 does, killed in 2022.
Mid-November buck I got...132 lb field dressed.


Added: As the last 13"+ buck was taken in late November, the several 8pt+ bucks seen after that on camera makes me hopeful for 2023.

highvelocity said:

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I'm in northwest Oklahoma, but I saw A TON of deer. Lots of good bucks and I'm looking forward to some of the dudes I saw this year showing up next year.

Bucks have already shed up there though, signs of the bad drought.

Killed three deer with my bow and 7 with a rifle. Hope to double my bow kills next year. One buck weighed almost 200 pounds and the other 185 pounds.

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which county do you hunt? I've wanted to find a place up in Woodward county since I spent some time up there for work. I really like the look of that area and saw tons and tons of wildlife up there. I was planning on spending a week hunting public land in NW OK this year but then found my lease down here.

First year at the new family ranch in Goliad. 2 bucks and 4 doe. We are absolutely covered in deer with a lot of potential for years to come. Starting protein already we will be year 2. Should really see the results in year 3 and def year 4.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I'm wondering if the stress from the 21 freeze plus the drought of 22 had a big impact on the deer population.

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Absolutely these both had a huge effect. I'd be surprised if many places west of I-35 were even seeing lots of does, regardless of the bucks thet were seen. Bucks born in '21 and '22 are going to be behind come the '26 and '27 season. Hopefully we'll have a good year this year but several killing freezes already down south don't bode well for an already stressed deer herd.

I've been on the current lease I'm on in Brady since the 2020 season and this was definitely the worst of the three seasons. Shot a big, mature doe and probably could have taken a cull buck but only ended up with the doe and I was in the stand for at least 25-30 sits. The guys who have been on it for 10-20 years have also said it was the worst as far as doe numbers go. The freeze last year and the drought this year obviously played a huge part in that. All we can hope for is good, timely rain throughout the spring and summer.

Family place in Grimes was slow the one nice deer showed on Game camera opening week with a swollen/infected jaw. Then disappeared completely, from the looks of the infection likely died.



On the other hand my hunt outside of Yancy was very successful.

Yes it was! Congratulations

Northeast Blanco county. This was the worst year we have had in 30+ years on our place. Very few mature bucks seen combined with numbers much lower than what we are accustomed to.

Been on our place over 20 and this was one of the worst years too.

Was? I still got seven weeks and plenty doe tags. 4 down so far. Mostly all eaten

San saba county. Worst year in 30+

Duval County: Great season for me on counts and variation on different age groups. I supplental feed year round and provide water throughout.

First time in 15 years I haven't killed a deer.

Add in tag soup in Colorado, and yeah. Coulda been better.

Probably time to hang up my hunting hat and put on my dad hat. Kids are getting old enough to start shooting 22s at home, and sit in the stand in the fall. I'll circle back to hunting for myself in 15 years or so, but yeah. Its likely time to put my own hunting adventures on the back burner. Was a good run.

The majority of folks on here aren't hunting MLD properties. I'm well aware the season extends later in South Texas and on those properties but for a big chunk of the state, the season is over.

What part of the state?

Once the kids get into it you can just bring them along. My oldest hunted a few times with me this year and it was really fun.

TikkaShooter said:

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First time in 15 years I haven't killed a deer.

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This….. population is down and horn mass was well below normal even with supplemental feeding.. San Saba county

We supplemental feed as well and have live water on the entire ranch.

What I am reading so far lines up with what I suspected and have heard. The ranches down south don't seem to have missed a beat.

Thats awesome. Cool to have your kids along!

My primary hunting place is no-go on bringing my kids. I have a secondary option, but its much smaller, much more controlled on what gets taken, so I'll be defaulting into dad mode. Maybe a chance to bow hunt for a doe. I live on a little big of acreage, so might just take up 3D archery, buy some targets, and keep the skills up.

My lease is in Hardin County so I usually don't see a lot of deer. I was able to kill a small doe and my first legal buck (13.5" spread so cutting it close). The buck was the first one I've ever seen in my ten years of hunting.

Beckham county. I'm looking for something along the red river or something that has more pigs on it as well for this next season

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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The majority of folks on here aren't hunting MLD properties. I'm well aware the season extends later in South Texas and on those properties but for a big chunk of the state, the season is over.

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I'm well aware... just like to brag the few chances I get.

One of our best year's ever for seeing deer. We had more activity this year than we have since we bought the place 45 years ago. A lot of young bucks and spikes. Not that many does. Lots of pigs. Probably shot 30 pigs this year and did not seem to make a dent in them.

Shot this old guy second weekend of the season.