Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

Public land advice

TexasTransplant

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Aug 18, 2015
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Hello everyone,
Last season I Hunted both bow and rifle in the public area of the map provided. I had little luck and am not sure how to plan my hunt around a large body of water. I recently had twins so my scouting time has been very limited.
The group of you are public land experts so any advice on how to scout public lands, how to hunt around a large body of water, and public land tips in general would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all your help
 

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Look for natural funnels either by looking at a topo or aerial map. Areas where the deer can get from point X to point Y without having too cross many major roads or be out in the open too long.

I assume those blue lines are power lines? You may be able to set up on those and see deer crossing through there if they keep the brush mowed down under them.

Looks like a pretty small place with lots of disturbance, I wouldn't expect any big bucks to be hanging around in that kind of an area.
 
Weekdays less busy with hunters, campers,fisherman than weekends.

South of 215 and north of road 1375 close to the lake seems to be the furthest spot from a road nearer a water source, so think like a whitetail and hide yourself from prying eyes.

If it's a deer looking spot, another choice could be the far SW finger as it too is farther from roads, campers, fisherman than other spots on this non-topo map. Adjacent private land agriculture can be a significant pull for deer.
 
Areas like that are hard to just analyze from the air because the infrastructure means is never really too hard to get almost anywhere. The concept of just go further in and get away from people isn't really a good catch all in a situation like this and a lot of times the funnels/saddles and other features have been used to build roads. Its a fine line between there are lots of people and the deer don't care about camping/fishing and they are skittish as can be. Me personally I like to hunt public land close to private property lines because the animals understand where those imaginary lines lie. My experience is public areas tend to have more bedding and any private is much more often having food.

On thing to really consider is the other public areas around with respect to that area. The rules where I'm at vary quite heavily so usage changes pretty heavily though the season. A good example is an area I hunt a lot is near another DNR property specifically managed for deer hunting that opens later than the statewide opener and doesn't allow small game hunting. As a result the area I hunt gets hammered the first 2-3 weeks of bow season then overnight no one is hunting there even during the peak rut. The point is the habits of people using there area have proved more important then the actual physical geography.
 
Adjacent private land agriculture can be a significant pull for deer.

That's a big one for me. Also those coves have creeks running into them. Look for spots where the deer cross the creeks close to the lake. The deer will probably want to go around the coves to get to the other side...find out where they cross.
 
Thanks for all the advice, some really good tips. Rancho Loco, the saving has already begun to hunt out of state.
 
I lived closed to this area for several years. That is about the only area my sons and I hunted. We had really good luck there. Actually it doesn't really get hunted that much for being so close to Houston. You can go by and get a really good map at the ranger station. If you get one of those maps you can call me sometime and I can give you some tips. Also, you have to apply for a doe tag. I don't remember the deadlines but it is worth getting one.

I had really good luck with hogs in the area boarded by 1375, 208, 215 and the lake. and also right on the east side of the lake from that. There is a parking spot right by the bridge on 1375.
 
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