Posted: 6/25/2007 7:04:43 AM EDT
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Hello, I am coming to Llano Texas this fall to hunt Deer and Pigs. I will be there on opening day for deer. What can you tell me about Hunting in Texas? For Deer, How long of shots? What caliber gun? Is the land mostly flat with rough brush around LLano? Treestands??? Pigs, I think they hunt them at night. is that right? What caliber gun? What distances? I am thinking about bringing my Remington 700, 30-06 for deer, and an AR-15 for pigs. Is that OK? I assume the semi auto rifle is ok in Texas. How about night vision scopes, are they legal? Thanks, Tom |
Fixed it. A 150 lb deer (dressed) is a huge one for around here. 150lbs on the ground is still on the large side. ETA - a 243 or 6mm is almost overgunned for most TX whitetails, and about perfect for wild hogs. |
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LLano huh? People pay a lot of money to hunt in the hill country of Texas. Here are some tips: You are from PA so the deer will look like dogs but you will see 20 or thirty in a sitting. We hunt from a deer stand, over feeders- The big bucks don't typically run to the feeders like the little yearlings and doe do so watch the edges of the cover surrounding your feeder. We have had a lot of rain this year and things are actually growing fir a change. If things don't change pretty quick then the feeders might not be as effective. You need to eat BBQ in Llano. Its one of the best places in Texas- which means its one of the best in the entire WORLD. :) It the Hill Country- so its beautiful and not flat at all. Lots of rattlesnakes. Be careful. Good Luck, |
Very true, bring your snakeboots.......and good luck... |
i don't think you need to buy a pair of snake boots. you are very unlikly to see a snake and would almost never be bitten. not on one trip anyway. now if you were kicking around in the bushes building fence or claring brush then yea. you might see one. most deer that don't live behind 12' high game fences weight 60 pounds or so. they do look like big dogs. you will likely be hunting over a feeder. it will do off at dawn and dusk and a ton of deer will come running. just pick one out and shoot it. if you are on a guided hunt (behind a game fence) you will pay about $200.00 a day to hunt and get the unique thrill of arguing with tht guide about how much each deer costs extra to shoot before you shoot it. then they score to come up with the final price. the 30-06 is plenty. just about anything will work. .223-243 is more than enough. oh, and please don't call it hunting. it annoys folks that hunt in states where it's illegal to bate deer. |
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when i first moved to texas from iowa in 1998 some of my wife's co-workers took me deer hunting near brady, tx. on the way there we stopped to look at a dead buck complete with a rack along the side of the road. while we were looking at the road kill deer i commented that i was glad we had stopped and looked at the deer to see an adult white tail. the reason being i would have sat in a blind for a month waiting to have an adult white tail come out to shoot and the whole time not realizing that the "german shepard sized deer" were the adults. imagine a german shepard with antlers and you pretty much have an adult deer picture in your head for parts of texas. the does around brady, tx weighed about 70#. the bucks weighed about #117 if i recall correctly. i only shot does $100.00/each versus bucks $700.00/each. you can't eat the horns. oh yeah, don't pick up any white tail deer, white tail deer parts or antlers from the side of the highway as it's a felony in texas. some gonads were putting corn on the road to bait deer and then running over the deer with their vehicles to get a deer. |
I hunt 80 miles west of DFW and see on the average of 2-5 rattlers everytime I go out to my lease.... its better to use caution, its a bit smarter to wear snake boots and not have a trip to the hospital..
The above animals that I posted were shot and hunted free range...once again the word MATURE animals rings true to the weight issue, if your shooting animals that weigh 60lb your shooting 1.5 year old buck or a field dreesed doe, average weight on a doe is around 90 lbs for a average 3.5 year old doe...
Yes it upsets the northern folks a bit, but you know what Its legal, and hunters have been doing it since the early 50s when John Sweeny built the first wildlife feeder here in Texas... |
| hock.gifthere you have it, A high fence, the only way those STICK chunkers know how to hunt, they hunt mostly small places that are high fenced, from a pallet in a tree, WOUND AND LOOSE more game than I care to talk about. In my part of Medina County, Those of us that lease, REFUSE to allow stick chunkers, EVEN FOR HOGS, |
So is that a copyrighted term or can I borrow it?  Snake boots are like 4 wheel drive. When you need it, it's great to have but usually, you only got yourself into the situation because you knew you already had it.
Man, so did you spend jail time? Did they let you keep the meat? So the ranch hand bumper held up ok? 
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Thanks Guys, I have a nice pair of snake boots from my days hunting in the swamps of North Carolina. I have seen way too many Cottonmouths to take any chances. I also have several pairs of snake chaps that will be making the trip. You are correct, after growing up in PA. I moved to Virginia and N. Carolina, the deer are quite a bit smaller there. I am not certain about the "high fence" issue, But I think we are just hunting on an open ranch. I need totalk to my uncle and clearify that. As for the feeder issues, it is what it is. I never got into the "hunt club" "dog running" while in Va. but still managed to kill many nice deer. |
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Llano is beautiful. I think you'll have a great time. Don't worry about snakeboots.... just don't step where you can't see and you'll be fine. Still, if it makes you feel better it's up to you. I hunt in sneakers because I can walk quieter than in boots (if you're going to be sitting in a box next to a feeder it doesn't really matter anyway... it's not my style of hunting so I can't say). The deer are much smaller in the hill country than in PA, as others have said. 30-06 will work fine for anything you'll see, maybe bordering on overkill (which is fine). Whether you use a slingshot or a bazooka, please make every shot count. Shooting from a box is entirely dependent on the placement on the box with respect to range. I rarely shoot deer more than 100-150 yards tops, mostly at much shorter range than that, but I stalk everything. And slaughtering hogs is just plain fun. Do your damnest to kill every on you can. Good eatin' too. Eat BBQ at Cooper's while you're there. It may not be the best there is, but it's pretty damned close. If you don't like brisket, get your yankee self back home  .Enjoy your hunting trip! |
LOL!! Somebody is on the  LOL!! By the terms your using, I would venture a guess that your around 50 years old, LOL!
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there you have it, A high fence, the only way those STICK chunkers know how to hunt, they hunt mostly small places that are high fenced, from a pallet in a tree, WOUND AND LOOSE more game than I care to talk about. In my part of Medina County, Those of us that lease, REFUSE to allow stick chunkers, EVEN FOR HOGS,
WTF 
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I seriously hope you are kidding..................... 2006 buck shot on low fence lease, didn't go 30 yards before he piled up..........and no I am not a horn hunter, never have been , never will be................ http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v625/HunterTed/bowkill1.jpg Spot and stalk javelina back in March................... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v625/HunterTed/me001-1.jpg Out of all the game I shot last year with a bow, (deer, javelina, hogs, coons, rabbits) I didn't loose a single thing.................... |
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You know in light of all this "BOW BASHING" maybe I should just bring my bow instead of the 30-06. I am going to give this serious consideration. Oh by the way, I found out that we are hunting a no fence area. The only fences around are for cattle. Also no feeders. |