Public Bird Hunts
Jason -
I started buying Annual Hunting Permits when my son got too old for me to convince the leaseholder that he was just along as my birdboy. Once day leases reached $40 a day, it was just too pricy to do much hunting. The AHPs helped solve that.
For doves, I've been on some TPW leased lands and really good hunts and I've been on some where the birds were few and far between. By the same token, I've paid day lease money for equal results. The main thing for dove hunting on the TPW leased lands is to do some pre-season scouting. You can't get on these ranches before the season starts, but you can drive past or stop on the road and watch for birds and flight patterns to get a feel for a place. Even a place that is full of birds one day, may not be holding any a few days later.
This past Friday was a perfect example of that. I hunted a TPW lease that I hunted opening day last year. Last year, I took a limit of mourning doves and so did my wife. While I was cleaning birds at the tailgate of my pick-up, the white-wings started flying over heading back into Dilley. If we hadn't already limited out, we could have easily taken our limit of WWs in a short time. This year I hunted alone on Friday and could only scrape up 5 birds with no WWs in the mix. A week or so from now, who knows what one will find. In my opinion, tho', any day in the field (or on the water) is better than an afternoon in front of the TV or at the office.
At $48 the AHP is worth every dime. It grants you access to virtually all the state owned or operated lands. You can hunt ducks on Matagorda Island and the TPW staff will drive you out to your own personal fresh water pond. You can hunt quail at Chaparral or around Choke Canyon. Without having to be drawn in the lottery, you can hunt endless acres of of east Texas forests for whitetail deer or run up the Angelina and Neches rivers to hunt ducks in the timber. You can go back to Chap or Choke in April and hunt Rio Grand turkey. You can have access and do it all for about what you have to pay for one day's dove hunting if you're booking a hunt on a day lease. Are you guaranteed a successful bag? Not hardly, but then that's why it's called hunting and not killing. IMHO, it's worth the $.
Bob
Jason -
I started buying Annual Hunting Permits when my son got too old for me to convince the leaseholder that he was just along as my birdboy. Once day leases reached $40 a day, it was just too pricy to do much hunting. The AHPs helped solve that.
For doves, I've been on some TPW leased lands and really good hunts and I've been on some where the birds were few and far between. By the same token, I've paid day lease money for equal results. The main thing for dove hunting on the TPW leased lands is to do some pre-season scouting. You can't get on these ranches before the season starts, but you can drive past or stop on the road and watch for birds and flight patterns to get a feel for a place. Even a place that is full of birds one day, may not be holding any a few days later.
This past Friday was a perfect example of that. I hunted a TPW lease that I hunted opening day last year. Last year, I took a limit of mourning doves and so did my wife. While I was cleaning birds at the tailgate of my pick-up, the white-wings started flying over heading back into Dilley. If we hadn't already limited out, we could have easily taken our limit of WWs in a short time. This year I hunted alone on Friday and could only scrape up 5 birds with no WWs in the mix. A week or so from now, who knows what one will find. In my opinion, tho', any day in the field (or on the water) is better than an afternoon in front of the TV or at the office.
At $48 the AHP is worth every dime. It grants you access to virtually all the state owned or operated lands. You can hunt ducks on Matagorda Island and the TPW staff will drive you out to your own personal fresh water pond. You can hunt quail at Chaparral or around Choke Canyon. Without having to be drawn in the lottery, you can hunt endless acres of of east Texas forests for whitetail deer or run up the Angelina and Neches rivers to hunt ducks in the timber. You can go back to Chap or Choke in April and hunt Rio Grand turkey. You can have access and do it all for about what you have to pay for one day's dove hunting if you're booking a hunt on a day lease. Are you guaranteed a successful bag? Not hardly, but then that's why it's called hunting and not killing. IMHO, it's worth the $.
Bob
