I having been looking into Sam Houston National Forest as a place to go try to shoot a deer this season. I understand that public hunting lands are not ideal for quality hunts but when its all you have, beggars cant be choosers. I just wanted to see if anyone had any helpful advice on the matter and if anyone has any success hunting there or if y'all recommend a different public hunting area. I am extremely new to deer hunting and plan on learning on the go. So any advice will be greatly appreciated.
RDEM
If you put a little work in, you should be able to bag a deer or pig. My advice is to get a good Handheld GPS for starters. If you can find an area that has a source of water like a creek or pond, it helps.
Get a semi auto rifle and learn how to shoot it with open sights. A scope is not useful in many areas as you have to be ready to shoot when an animal goes through a clearing.
Get in the woods now, and look for scrapes and other signs of deer. Concentrate on one area instead of trying to learn the entire forest.
Get a semi auto rifle and learn how to shoot it with open sights. A scope is not useful in many areas as you have to be ready to shoot when an animal goes through a clearing.
Get in the woods now, and look for scrapes and other signs of deer. Concentrate on one area instead of trying to learn the entire forest.
Good Info
You've already gotten some good information. Look for signs of deer in an area (hoof prints, droppings, scrapes, rubs) and when you find them try to hunt that area. Look for oak trees that are dropping acorn and a deer trail around the tree's drip line. Go to your area early and let things settle down before the sun rises or sets. Be still and quiet. Use good binoculars to continually glass the shooting lanes around you. Try to look on either sides of these opening to try to see deer approaching them (look for movement). Relax and squeeze the trigger after you exhale and before you inhale. Once you fire, wait a while before you go after the downed deer. I'm no expert but I do enjoy a good hunt (and it doesn't have to result in a kill). Good luck.
You've already gotten some good information. Look for signs of deer in an area (hoof prints, droppings, scrapes, rubs) and when you find them try to hunt that area. Look for oak trees that are dropping acorn and a deer trail around the tree's drip line. Go to your area early and let things settle down before the sun rises or sets. Be still and quiet. Use good binoculars to continually glass the shooting lanes around you. Try to look on either sides of these opening to try to see deer approaching them (look for movement). Relax and squeeze the trigger after you exhale and before you inhale. Once you fire, wait a while before you go after the downed deer. I'm no expert but I do enjoy a good hunt (and it doesn't have to result in a kill). Good luck.
I shot an eight point 140".
Also an eleven point 150"
And a fifteen point 160".
All on public lands. All with my bow.
Get good mobile stands (some of my climbers, strap on treestands, and tripods are for sale in the classifieds and on Craigslist Houston). I would set up to hunt in the afternoon, same set for following morning, stay till about noon ish (most pull out at 9:30 to 10:30....use that and hunt the escape routes). Then reset for that evening hunt and repeat. More than two hunts in the same spot is too many.
Hunt the escape routes and consider most hunters are end of the road hunters. They go to the end of an internal road and setup. Many of the deer are halfway to right out at the beginning of a road. Although you cant bait consider many of the nearby houses and areas may have feeders. Hunt the trails leading to.
My favorite rifle for SHNF is an old school Ruger 44 semi auto deer stalker with a 1-4x super heavy reticle shotgun scope. Most places you cant see more than 80 yards or so. You will have a lot of jump shoot opportunities. Having said that dont shoot at running deer. Sometimes they stop sometimes they dont. But be ready. With similar to the above rifle setup you can shoot offhand very well. I have taken many many on public lands nationwide.
Go talk to the forestry people. Make friends. Bring them pies and such....
Stay patient. The 150 and 160 whitetails i shot i hunted them on public lands for four years. Four years for each one....set up and scout and know that deer is that. And i hunted hard hard for four years.....
The FIRST time i ever saw those deer was the day i shot them.... four hard years of hunting and scouting and getting better and tighter on that specific deer without ever seeing the deer im after. Most cant do that.
I do not own and have never owned a feeder or trail cam....
Minimal gear. Least impact. Stay mobile. Find a way in and out that will never bust your deers area. Think of it like your house. If something in your bedroom or kitchen is out of place you would notice and be on high alert. If something in the hallway is out of place you may not notice. Hunt the hallway....avoid the bedroom and kitchen. Find the bedroom and kitchen and avoid without leaving your scent everywhere. Perfect your scent control regimen....
One of my hunt areas if i walked straight to it was only about a 15 minute walk.... but would have to go right by his bedroom.... instead i took a route thay took me about an hour to get in there but left his bedroom undisturbed.
Public lands mean pressure. They get used to amd live within that pressure. Learn how to use it to your advantage since it is unavoidable. Hunt escape routes. And after the woods get full of people sometimes the least pressure areas are right near a neighborhood or nearby development or houses or something. Get close to those as everyone else avoids people going deep into the woods.
Hope some of that helps. It is super rewarding. I have hunted and fished and guided on 4 different continents all of the world. Public lands is my favorite. My house looks like a Cabelas with taxidermy literally everywhere EVERYWHERE. The only whitetails i have mounted are the three above as they mean the most to me and where the most rewarding....
Also an eleven point 150"
And a fifteen point 160".
All on public lands. All with my bow.
Get good mobile stands (some of my climbers, strap on treestands, and tripods are for sale in the classifieds and on Craigslist Houston). I would set up to hunt in the afternoon, same set for following morning, stay till about noon ish (most pull out at 9:30 to 10:30....use that and hunt the escape routes). Then reset for that evening hunt and repeat. More than two hunts in the same spot is too many.
Hunt the escape routes and consider most hunters are end of the road hunters. They go to the end of an internal road and setup. Many of the deer are halfway to right out at the beginning of a road. Although you cant bait consider many of the nearby houses and areas may have feeders. Hunt the trails leading to.
My favorite rifle for SHNF is an old school Ruger 44 semi auto deer stalker with a 1-4x super heavy reticle shotgun scope. Most places you cant see more than 80 yards or so. You will have a lot of jump shoot opportunities. Having said that dont shoot at running deer. Sometimes they stop sometimes they dont. But be ready. With similar to the above rifle setup you can shoot offhand very well. I have taken many many on public lands nationwide.
Go talk to the forestry people. Make friends. Bring them pies and such....
Stay patient. The 150 and 160 whitetails i shot i hunted them on public lands for four years. Four years for each one....set up and scout and know that deer is that. And i hunted hard hard for four years.....
The FIRST time i ever saw those deer was the day i shot them.... four hard years of hunting and scouting and getting better and tighter on that specific deer without ever seeing the deer im after. Most cant do that.
I do not own and have never owned a feeder or trail cam....
Minimal gear. Least impact. Stay mobile. Find a way in and out that will never bust your deers area. Think of it like your house. If something in your bedroom or kitchen is out of place you would notice and be on high alert. If something in the hallway is out of place you may not notice. Hunt the hallway....avoid the bedroom and kitchen. Find the bedroom and kitchen and avoid without leaving your scent everywhere. Perfect your scent control regimen....
One of my hunt areas if i walked straight to it was only about a 15 minute walk.... but would have to go right by his bedroom.... instead i took a route thay took me about an hour to get in there but left his bedroom undisturbed.
Public lands mean pressure. They get used to amd live within that pressure. Learn how to use it to your advantage since it is unavoidable. Hunt escape routes. And after the woods get full of people sometimes the least pressure areas are right near a neighborhood or nearby development or houses or something. Get close to those as everyone else avoids people going deep into the woods.
Hope some of that helps. It is super rewarding. I have hunted and fished and guided on 4 different continents all of the world. Public lands is my favorite. My house looks like a Cabelas with taxidermy literally everywhere EVERYWHERE. The only whitetails i have mounted are the three above as they mean the most to me and where the most rewarding....
Great advice, thanks! I have been looking at a Garmin eTrex 20x GPS as it seems to be about the middle of the road price wise. I have a .308 Remington bolt action. I do understand the need for a semi with iron sights/ low magnification scope while hunting in heavy brush. Is there any currently produced guns y'all recommend? From what I understand about the Ruger Mini-14 is the accuracy is a little bit lacking.
450 Bushmaster
458 Socom
500 Beowulf
6.5 Grendel would all be excellent in an AR platform.
Even a 30-30 is excellent in the National Forest.
The AR is easiest to load and unload as you cannot have bullets in the chamber or magazine in while on forest land. Remember most are Federal....
458 Socom
500 Beowulf
6.5 Grendel would all be excellent in an AR platform.
Even a 30-30 is excellent in the National Forest.
The AR is easiest to load and unload as you cannot have bullets in the chamber or magazine in while on forest land. Remember most are Federal....
SHNF
Buckshot is legal, killed some hogs with it. I love hunting SHNF and did so for years. I now own some property on Toledo Bend, lake front, but I am surrounded by Sabine National forest where I shoot some big bucks. At SHNF, I would bicycle up to 3 miles from the pipe gate on Bethel Road and predominately hunt the left side, down into the swampy area. Before the season started, I would cart in my 3 climbing stands and stage them 1/2 miles apart or so by hiding them near trees I scouted out to hunt. I'd cover them with leaves and twigs and someone would have to step on them to find them, still do that at TB. I hunted a stand depending on the wind and rarely hunted them more than a couple of times, leaving two or three weeks in between. I'd also cart in cases of water and Gatorade in the preseason so I wouldn't have that to carry in on hunting days, just carry out the empty bottles. My wife says I am like a squirrel. I'd also hide two deer carts, one near the beginning of my area and one on the other end. This way when I shot a buck, a cart wouldn't be too far away. I hunted for 13 years at SHNF and shot a buck every year except the first year, some bigger than others, and I usually shot my doe, if drawn. I would 'bow hunt' but really scout for the real season, though I shot 4 does with the bow. I also hunted during muzzleloading season in January and connected a couple of times. One year I saw the biggest buck I'd ever seen at SHNF during muzzleloading season. Because I was hunting so far off the road, I would go years without seeing another hunter, except back at the gate. Always, I would be the first there and the last to leave except when I would shoot a buck in the morning. When I shot bucks in the afternoon, it was very late getting back to camp.
Your .308 is a great caliber to use and bolt action is great as well. Remember, your best chance is to find a good spot and wait on the animal to come to you. You don't need a semi-automatic rifle as you should be in the frame of mind of one shot- one kill. Flinging lead at running animals is stupid, you aren't dove hunting. 1 shot, 1 kill. There is much more and if you have any questions, PM me.
Buckshot is legal, killed some hogs with it. I love hunting SHNF and did so for years. I now own some property on Toledo Bend, lake front, but I am surrounded by Sabine National forest where I shoot some big bucks. At SHNF, I would bicycle up to 3 miles from the pipe gate on Bethel Road and predominately hunt the left side, down into the swampy area. Before the season started, I would cart in my 3 climbing stands and stage them 1/2 miles apart or so by hiding them near trees I scouted out to hunt. I'd cover them with leaves and twigs and someone would have to step on them to find them, still do that at TB. I hunted a stand depending on the wind and rarely hunted them more than a couple of times, leaving two or three weeks in between. I'd also cart in cases of water and Gatorade in the preseason so I wouldn't have that to carry in on hunting days, just carry out the empty bottles. My wife says I am like a squirrel. I'd also hide two deer carts, one near the beginning of my area and one on the other end. This way when I shot a buck, a cart wouldn't be too far away. I hunted for 13 years at SHNF and shot a buck every year except the first year, some bigger than others, and I usually shot my doe, if drawn. I would 'bow hunt' but really scout for the real season, though I shot 4 does with the bow. I also hunted during muzzleloading season in January and connected a couple of times. One year I saw the biggest buck I'd ever seen at SHNF during muzzleloading season. Because I was hunting so far off the road, I would go years without seeing another hunter, except back at the gate. Always, I would be the first there and the last to leave except when I would shoot a buck in the morning. When I shot bucks in the afternoon, it was very late getting back to camp.
Your .308 is a great caliber to use and bolt action is great as well. Remember, your best chance is to find a good spot and wait on the animal to come to you. You don't need a semi-automatic rifle as you should be in the frame of mind of one shot- one kill. Flinging lead at running animals is stupid, you aren't dove hunting. 1 shot, 1 kill. There is much more and if you have any questions, PM me.
safety
wear blaze orange, there can be movement shooter on public land. keep in mind there are some desperate trigger happy hunters on public land. they haven't killed or even seen a deer and are very ancy. not to scare you but be careful. i'd almost go so far as to say, do some talking to yourself and make a lot of noise on the way to stand, but that goes against hunting quietly. :texasflag
wear blaze orange, there can be movement shooter on public land. keep in mind there are some desperate trigger happy hunters on public land. they haven't killed or even seen a deer and are very ancy. not to scare you but be careful. i'd almost go so far as to say, do some talking to yourself and make a lot of noise on the way to stand, but that goes against hunting quietly. :texasflag
Lance Rosier
You might also check out the Big Thicket area as an option. Lance Rosier and several others are available with a permit. You can pick the permit up at the NPS office. GPS is a must. Make sure to turn in your kill survey or you cant get a permit for next year. Oh...and then there's Bigfoot. Gotta watch out for him.
You might also check out the Big Thicket area as an option. Lance Rosier and several others are available with a permit. You can pick the permit up at the NPS office. GPS is a must. Make sure to turn in your kill survey or you cant get a permit for next year. Oh...and then there's Bigfoot. Gotta watch out for him.
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