Buying Hunting Land in Texas

[smokeywolf]

Studying a relocation to Texas. Hoping for at least 10 acres so I can build a range but, might settle for less acreage close to hunting and a public range. It sure would be nice to be able to harvest deer and hog on my own property.

What say you Texans? Where in Texas should I be focusing my search?

smokeywolf

[bearcove]

Most hunting is by lease in Tx

[smokeywolf]

bearcove,

My intention is to retire in Texas. Not to conduct any type of hunting business.

I would have worked at least 5 more years but, thanks to Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and particularly Bill (is that a cigar in your pocket or are you just happy to see me) Clinton who signed the NAFTA agreement, my job was sent to Canada.
So, with a somewhat more modest budget than I'd like, I've started looking for my retirement spot.
Wife kinda likes the San Antonio area. When I say area, I mean an hour or so, give or take, away from the city. I'm leaning toward an unincorporated area. The Mrs. is the outdoorsy type; loves camping, fishing, and shooting.

smokeywolf

[bearcove]

I meant if you want to hunt you have to pay. The land owners lease out hunting rights. One downside is the folks that do it to hunt deer, get exclusive hunting rights. So if you want to go shoot some hogs they have to say no because they sold that to someone else.

A lot of texans I know don't like San Antonio. I have heard it is expensive also. I have little first hand knowledge just what I hear.

Property taxes are hard core. You almost have to get classified as agricultural property. Especially if on a budget.

[Char-Gar]

There is very little, very very little public hunting land in Texas and most leases are out of the financial range of retired people. There is lots of land available for purchase and and the price varies quite a bit from $600 to $10,000 an acre depending on where it is. Land has decreased in some areas while remaining steady in others.

Ten acres is a mighty small tract to hunt and shoot on. On a tract that small you are likely to have some neighbors who will not take kindly to that. I suppose it would be possible to find a small tract like that in a notch of a much larger ranch where shooting and hunting would not be an issue to the neighbors, but that would take some looking.

Texas is a very big place and the terrain and vegetation will vary greatly from region to region. Best thing is to decide where in Texas you would like to go and then look for your place.

A good place to go and look is landsoftexas.com You can spend many hours of fun looking for ranches on that site.

I like San Antonio, but it is quite large now. It is bigger than Dallas. If Hispanic/Mexican folks bother you, dont move there as it is heavly hispanic in population. That doesn't bother me and you can get great Mexican food there and visit the Alamo at the same time. The entired I35, San Antonio - Austin corridor has experience great growth and any land within commuting distance from those places will be very very high in price. One hour would be an easy commut for a Texan.

New Braunfels is just north of San Antonio and would be a great place to retire. Good shooting ranges there and the New Braunfels Shutzenviern (sp)has been holding shooting matches for over 160 straight years. Check out Ft. Davis Texas in the Big Bend. It is a quaint little unincorportated community in some very pretty mountains (Davis Mountains) and a great climate. land there is not out of reach yet. You will have to drive 30 miles to Alpine to buy much of anything, but that is just around the corner on those parts. If you like lots of green trees and ticks, then East Texas is the place for you. Check around Athen, Palistine, or Tyler.

I know of no public ranges in Texas if you mean owned by some goverment. Lots of private ranges with a fee and shooting clubs with a yearly membership. Membership fees in the clubs run from $70 to $120 per year. You are less will have a better class of people at a club and less likely to get shot by some idiot with a gun.

Oh yes, here is a place I would buy if I had the money. In the middle of nowhere, but a solid house there. The nearest town (12 miles away) is Hebbronvile which is 90 percent hispanic, but everyplace in South Texas is like that. 240 acres, good water, and good hunting and nobody around will object to shooting and hunting. Price is very good for that part of the country. This place is far enough away from the drug and wetback smuggling routes for security not to be a big issue. You are 100 miles from larger cities like Corpus Christ, and San Antonio.

http://www.busbeeranches.com/listing...s-240/153.html

[unclebill]

i have been here in san marcos (actually outside of town) for a few months
and i cant wait to leave.
i was dumbfounded when i realized there is NO public land in this state
what that means is no hunting/fishing/hiking/shooting/camping/bike riding/four wheeling
unless you own the land or have permission
anywhere i go
if i get out of my truck.
i am tresspassing.
i am going back to the desert 4 corners area where i belong
no open carry in this state either.

[sixshot]

My wife & I spent a winter in Fredricksburg & Bandera, both are very nice towns & about an hour from San Antonio if you want to visit. Bandera has 2-3 nice eating places & a private shooting range that is very reasonable. Lots of bikers like to make the run to either town on weekends, several bars if you get dry!
If you are going to hunt in Texas you are going to pay somebody, land in the Hill Country is very expensive. If you start going west from Junction towards Sonorra the prices for land come down a bit but not much. Figure on marrying into one of those familes if you want to hunt whitetails & hogs.
I love Texas, 2 of my kids were born there but its hard to even find a rest stop on the side of the road. Everything is private.

Dick

[unclebill]

meh
it is prolly just sour grapes
if i owned a 10,000 acre spread here i would feel differently.....

[2ndAmendmentNut]

You might like the Hill Country land around the Bandera Kirrville area, ideal drought conditions for growing rocks year round. Also plenty of hog problems all over SW Texas.

[onceabull]

Traveled to and from Kerrville to the Gulf through Cuero,to visit Mrs.Cousin.Kind of liked the looks of things in that vicinity,but it's been 8 years now.. We do have a member(Ranch Dog) there,who might offer some insight..Without more research I'm guessing it's some distance North/northeast of the HebbronVille,Realito area..No need to leave Cuero for most weekly shoppng needs though....fwiw, Onceabull

[Fishman]

Smokeywolf, you need to do a lot more research. Folks outside of Texas have a hard time comprehending how hunting works in Texas. Texans don't see the need to comprehend how hunting works anywhere else because, well, everyone else is wrong.

Free public hunting can be found around large corps of engineer lakes but often it's bowhunting or shotgun only and there may be a draw. Forget hunting near a big urban area like San Antonio. If you don't mind paying for deer "hunting" to the tune of $2,500 a year, then you can shoot deer under a feeder. It's great for getting some meat, but not much sport, unless your standards are pretty low.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I wish someone would have told me how it was 15 years ago. However, in retrospect I probably wouldn't have believed them.

Texas is VERY gun friendly though. I like it here, I just don't pay for a lease.

[geargnasher]

I live in the Hill Country, it's not for hunting or shooting anymore, to damn many retired imports trying to make things like New Hamshire or Santa Monica or whereever they're from. Land is outrageously expensive in a lot of the places, and most of the pretty parts and old, private working ranches have been chopped up and turned into "ranchettes" for those who can afford it. 30 minutes to an hour out of SA is still SA these days, just more trees. The development has been exploding toward the pretty country from the cities around SA, Austin, and Waco, same as all the area NW of Ft. Worth and NE of Dallas, it's just nuts.

If you want to move to Texas to retire and have a place to shoot and hunt, buy yourself a couple hundred acres in West Texas (desert like NM or the flatter parts of AZ). Land is cheap, people there aren't scared of guns or shooting/hunting, and if you befriend your neighbors they might let you extend your hunting area. West Texas has some nice mule deer and a few good whitetails, not to mention an endless supply of coyotes and jacks rabbits. If you stick yourself around the Alpine area you will be closer to decent health services, too. If you move into or near the "big cities" you're going to find the same thing you have in California, minus the public land. The only public land here is the state park system, county parks (very small, no hunting), and the water access points. Lakes and most "navigable waterways" are state property with public access.

I have a friend retired here after 35 years as a fire chief in San Francisco. He said prices here were cheap compared to there, so I suppose it's a matter of perspective. If you want a better idea of what you might be getting into before you commit to an area, when you DO retire, plan a trip and look me up, we can sit down with a map and some coffee and Google Earth and I can give you an idea of what you might be in for. But if you don't like heat, humidity, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, or floods, this might not be the place for you.

Gear

[kopperl]

We live in North Central Texas about half way between Ft Worth and Waco. Our county borders Lake Whitney (Brazos River). Corps of Engineers owns hundreds of acres in the flood plain. It is open to year 'round pig hunting and deer by permit.
Land here runs from $2500 to 25000. Houses are very cheap because jobs are scarce. Lots of OF's like me. Good medical and shopping is about 50 miles. TV and internet is mostly satellite (hate it).
People are mostly friendly but reserved. You start the conversation and they will welcome you .
If you want more specifics or any other help just let me know. I'm willing to help anyone escape SoCal. We did that in 1970.

Regards, Bill

[popper]

smokeywolf - what they ALL said. With your requirements, I'd try the panhandle or other states, NM, CO, OK, MO, KS. AR is nice but the ground is mostly ROCK and politics are like Ca. Well, the politics most anyplace pretty much sucks anyway.

[x101airborne]

Traveled to and from Kerrville to the Gulf through Cuero,to visit Mrs.Cousin.Kind of liked the looks of things in that vicinity,but it's been 8 years now.. We do have a member(Ranch Dog) there,who might offer some insight..Without more research I'm guessing it's some distance North/northeast of the HebbronVille,Realito area..No need to leave Cuero for most weekly shoppng needs though....fwiw, Onceabull

Yeeeeuuuup! You can live in Chupacobbler land! (Intentionally misspelled)

[texassako]

Lots of good stuff here. Another area you might consider is the chunk of Texas east of Dallas and north of I30, maybe even I20. There are some nice, relatively undiscovered areas in that region if you don't mind trees. We have a nice small place in Red River county, 16 acres w/ a 3 acre pond, turkey, deer, hogs, ducks, and geese. We never considered the bird hunting, but it sure has become a fun addition.

[Char-Gar]

I am a 6th generation Texan so the lack of public hunting land seems perfectly normal to me. What little public land their is is often very crowded. I hunted on the breaks of the Canadian River once back about 1976. There were so many people, I went back to camp as soon as day broke and cooked breakfast. On a private ranch or hunting lease, you know who is there and where they are. I like that.

Texas has never had great gobs of Federal or State owned land. Most of it passed into private hands a hundred and fifty years ago through land grants, railroad land and public school and college land. The railroad and schools sold off what they got, but kept the mineral rights.

I have lived in the 4 Corners area of New Mexico(Famington) and later in Luna County, New Mexico (Deming) but never hunted on public land. The notion of god knows what kind of idiots are are roaming around there with loaded rifles, made me jittery. So, I have the Texas state of mind when it comes to hunting and hunting land.

Texans never expect the goverment to furnish them with a place to hunt! That is something you are supposed to do for yourself.

[Char-Gar]

i have been here in san marcos (actually outside of town) for a few months
and i cant wait to leave.
i was dumbfounded when i realized there is NO public land in this state
what that means is no hunting/fishing/hiking/shooting/camping/bike riding/four wheeling
unless you own the land or have permission
anywhere i go
if i get out of my truck.
i am tresspassing.
i am going back to the desert 4 corners area where i belong
no open carry in this state either.

Sounds like you didn't do your homework before moving to San Marcos. BTW my ancestors moved to that area in 1850 and my GGGrandfather laid out the town of San Marcos and owned a lots of land along the river. When Blanco Country split off from Hayes, he donated 200 acres accross the river for the County seat. That is now the town of Blanco. So, I have lots of connection to that part of Texas.

It is like we tell all of the so called "winter texans" (Yankees) who infest this area down here in the Valley come winter time, when they start to complain about being here. The highway that brought you here, will also take you back to where you came from.

[unclebill]

The highway that brought you here, will also take you back to where you came from.

yep
and thats exactly which one i am getting on.
i came here for a temporary job
the job is done
and so am i!

[sixshot]

Winter Texan's....Yankee's......... I"ll have you know I from southern Idaho! I've always felt a strong connection to Texas & I know that Texan's are very proud of their state, as they should be.
I was stationed there for 4 years in the Air Force & my 2 oldest were born there, I love it but those "Yankee's" need to understand the rules!
In the late 60's we were dove hunting on a friends place outside of Whitesboro, Texas, there were 4 of us, & the farmers son told one of the others that I was from Idaho, he said, well, thats ok if you can't be from Texas & he wasn't cracking a smile when he said it. Sure miss that old farmer, he took me hunting to Brownwood (lease) Sonorra, Possum Kingdom, etc. he treated me like a son.

Dick