Outdoors
Sponsored by

TPWD takes another one off the map.

3,000 Views | 29 Replies | Last: 2 hrs ago by CactusThomas
Shoalcatter22
How long do you want to ignore this user?
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/annual_public_hunting/resources/785.pdf

This used to be some amazing, free, walk-in turkey hunting for hard core turkey hunters. As per usual, one by one, the state has taken control of another large property and will only let us peasants walk around to plink for hogs and small game.

There is still only one TPWD managed property that allows the peasants to turkey hunt. Slowly but surely, they'll take more of these USACE lands and eliminate walk-in deer and turkey hunting.
CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
TPWD sees public property as their baby to nurture along as they see fit. Only allowing as much hunting as necessary, to keep the money flowing and their baby well fed. They are not a friend of the public hunter.
Tarponfly
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Texas is a prime example of why you don't sell off your public land. There simply is not enough to count as a viable opportunity for those who don't have access to private or can afford to lease. Sure, you can hunt parts of east Texas. Good luck with that. Sure, you can put in for a draw. Buy a lottery ticket while you are at at. The odds are similar. I love hunting the west because there are actually places you can leave the truck without going to jail. Who I feel sorry for is all those potential hunters that will never get introduced because access to the sport is simply too expensive for most.
mosdefn14
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Unpopular opinion, but how many more million (potential) public land hunters live in Texas vs New Mexico, the Dakotas, Montana, Kansas?

At some point the math just becomes pretty difficult to manage public land hunting in Texas.
SanAntoneAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
It could be the result of a COE decision.

A quick way to find out is to contact TPWD.
Yesterday
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Tarponfly said:

Texas is a prime example of why you don't sell off your public land. There simply is not enough to count as a viable opportunity for those who don't have access to private or can afford to lease. Sure, you can hunt parts of east Texas. Good luck with that. Sure, you can put in for a draw. Buy a lottery ticket while you are at at. The odds are similar. I love hunting the west because there are actually places you can leave the truck without going to jail. Who I feel sorry for is all those potential hunters that will never get introduced because access to the sport is simply too expensive for most.

Asking because I do not know, but what public land has Texas sold?
Mas89
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
The Davis Hill state park has never opened to the public. It's near the Trinity River and TPW has owned it for many years. Not sure what they are waiting on but imo it's ridiculous to not open it by now.

I guess tpwd is short of money like every other government agency…
SanAntoneAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Fairfield Lake State Park is one that they screwed the pooch on recently.

However, lately TPWD has been purchasing acreage, some of which is included in this year's public hunt (draw) opportunities.

ETA:

823 acres next to Government Canyon State Natural Area (near San Antonio)

3,073 acres next to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area (this is in addition to the 630 acres bought last month)

1,721 acres in Uvalde County, about a mile from Garner State Park. This property includes "over a mile along the Frio River, rugged hills, and a diversity of native habitat" and is intended to be a new state park.

2020 acres across the river from Colorado Bend State Park

Also, a section at Black Gap WMA.
Pro Sandy
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yesterday said:

Tarponfly said:

Texas is a prime example of why you don't sell off your public land. There simply is not enough to count as a viable opportunity for those who don't have access to private or can afford to lease. Sure, you can hunt parts of east Texas. Good luck with that. Sure, you can put in for a draw. Buy a lottery ticket while you are at at. The odds are similar. I love hunting the west because there are actually places you can leave the truck without going to jail. Who I feel sorry for is all those potential hunters that will never get introduced because access to the sport is simply too expensive for most.

Asking because I do not know, but what public land has Texas sold?


Back in 1850 we sold New Mexico and Colorado to the Feds. 67 million acres for $5 million.
HSEAG13
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Yeah to me it seems there are a lot more state parks that are now open for the drawn hunts than there used to be.
SanAntoneAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Mas89 said:

The Davis Hill state park has never opened to the public. It's near the Trinity River and TPW has owned it for many years. Not sure what they are waiting on but imo it's ridiculous to not open it by now.

I guess tpwd is short of money like every other government agency…



FYI. Perhaps you voted in favor of this.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/park-information/parks-fund
Captain Winky
How long do you want to ignore this user?
If that land was privately owned, how does that increase the hunting opportunities of someone who doesn't own land of their own?
AgDad121619
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
TPWD needs to drastically increase OOS licenses and use those fees to lease and open WIHA like nearly all of the Midwest and western states do. With the massive amount of public land in Montana, they still pay landowners for walk in hunt areas open to the public.
Shoalcatter22
How long do you want to ignore this user?
TPWD not allowing turkey hunting on 12,000 acres they just acquired from the COE is not a result of the previous manager/owner's decision. Do you think they said "we'll let ya take it over but ya have to promise not to let anyone turkey hunt it, okay? Otherwise we will take it back and let people turkey hunt it." ?
Shoalcatter22
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Actually, they do this and are increasing the number of places, which sounds great. But it appears they're gonna keep it all dove and small game. Just enough to keep increasing the number of "public land acres available!!!".
Shoalcatter22
How long do you want to ignore this user?
They could buy up millions of acres and have drawn hunts on it, still doesn't make it our public land to freely walk into and hunt game. You can be arrested walking into some of these places. At the very least reported, fined, etc. Drawn hunts are for national wildlife refuges or state parks, not the vast tracts of no-mans land or bottomland.
Shoalcatter22
How long do you want to ignore this user?
They're coming for Navarro Mills Lake soon. Better get your hunt in this year because soon, you'll be fightin' nonresidents for a drawn hunt there once every 10 years.
CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Shoalcatter22 said:

You can be arrested walking into some of these places. At the very least reported, fined, etc. Drawn hunts are for national wildlife refuges or state parks, not the vast tracts of no-mans land or bottomland.


We were on the coast catching redfish where water dumps out of a wma. I took a quick look on google earth and could see some good looking spots a short walk in. I had my public lands permit so proceeded to walk in and tear the redfish up.

Thinking I had found the honey hole of easy access, I went home to figure out how to access it by land. I was blown away to find out the public is never allowed on the property. You can schedule a guided tour if you want to go bird watching and that's it. All they have to do is claim they don't have the staff and it's an instant excuse to make public lands not public. Its bull**** and I don't know of any other state that gets away with this crap.
Gunny456
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Careful what you wish for. We have a state conservation area of around 7,000 acres right across the highway of our ranch here in the Ozarks. The state has quite a few of these.
Open to all hunting. All you have to do to hunt on it is drive up…have a valid hunting license, wear orange, and abide by the seasons. No permits or fees collected. No restrictions on numbers of folks. Just drive up and hit the woods.
Sounds like the TET Offensive every opening morning. People all over it. Good for me though….my whitetail population doubles in about 6 hours. Whitetails literally running for their lives to get out of there.
Then we start finding all the gut shot deer, and wounded deer that make it across the highway to our place.
Anything with a calcium deposit on their head is in grave danger.
Yesterday
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
This is a generalization from my personal experiences but look at majority of park rangers who work for the TPWD. They don't exactly come off as hunters. They're hippies. Same goes for the National Parks service. And the one's that do hunt probably protect those lands like it's their baby.

I honestly feel like private land owners are more responsible for passing on hunting traditions than the state of Texas will ever be. Which is why it's important to offer free hunts to kids when you/we can.
Gunny456
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
When we had the ranch in Texas we always participated in the " Operation Orphans" program with TPWD. Every year we would host kids ( both boys and girls) to hunt on our ranch. It was very touching to take those kids.
I could not take the girls out but my wife could with a female game warden. We were one of the only places that would take the girls.
So I would take the boys and my wife take the girls. It was a blast watching and helping those kids.
Hope maybe we created a future hunter.
SanAntoneAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Shoalcatter22 said:

Drawn hunts are for national wildlife refuges or state parks,


FIFY
Drawn hunts are for national wildlife refuges, state wildlife management areas and state parks.

Texas is 96% private property. The cold harsh reality is that public hunting opportunities are limited. Here, you have to pay to play or you're not hunting very much or taking advantage of APH opportunities to hunt with a bunch of other folks for game that may not be present on the property.
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
There is literally nothing the state can do that would satisfy anybody, much less everybody.

Not enough public land. But don't spend taxpayer dollars buying it.
Not enough money to manage the land. But don't allow OOS hunters.
Need OOS hunters! But now residents get screwed because OOS hunters take all of the hunting spots!
Need more public access! But don't dare step on private property rights, this is TEXAS!

Texas isn't the western states where the feds won't let go of the land that they are constitutionally required to not own - never has been and it never will be unless we have a revolution that nobody wants to go through. The state has done a really good job recently of both buying land where it can buy it as well as working with landowners to turn their land over to the state (Powderhorn is an example) after the owners pass.

And this will upset some folks - but not every square inch of public land needs to be accessible for hunting. That is a really good way to see what little public hunting success there is dwindle even more. Some areas need to be sanctuaries simply to allow game to have places that are devoid of human hunting pressure. Some areas just don't need a bunch of useless *******s trapesing all over the place F'ing up everything in their path - we have enough of that with most of the public areas in the state today.

There are 30MM people in Texas, and that number is only going to increase as time goes on. It's swimming against the current at best to keep the public areas accessible but not having them being overrun every day.
SanAntoneAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yesterday said:

This is a generalization from my personal experiences but look at majority of park rangers who work for the TPWD. They don't exactly come off as hunters. They're hippies. Same goes for the National Parks service. And the one's that do hunt probably protect those lands like it's their baby.

I honestly feel like private land owners are more responsible for passing on hunting traditions than the state of Texas will ever be. Which is why it's important to offer free hunts to kids when you/we can.


My kids had great success through TPWD's youth draw hunt program. Lots of good memories!

In my experience, staff at the state parks and WMAs were always helpful and did their best to ensure that the participants had a safe, enjoyable and successful hunt.
BCO07
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yesterday said:



I honestly feel like private land owners are more responsible for passing on hunting traditions than the state of Texas will ever be. Which is why it's important to offer free hunts to kids when you/we can.


Problem is unless you have family land from the 1800s or are a multi millionaire it's not gonna happen for you. It sucks to get your kids into something that they can't do as an adult without shelling out serious cash. We just moved to Wisconsin and have thousands of acres of public land just in my county
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
BCO07 said:

Yesterday said:



I honestly feel like private land owners are more responsible for passing on hunting traditions than the state of Texas will ever be. Which is why it's important to offer free hunts to kids when you/we can.


Problem is unless you have family land from the 1800s or are a multi millionaire it's not gonna happen for you. It sucks to get your kids into something that they can't do as an adult without shelling out serious cash. We just moved to Wisconsin and have thousands of acres of public land just in my county

The flip side is that even if you are a multi millionaire....you'll never get a chance to own any of that land either.

There are always 2 sides to a coin.
Yesterday
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
BCO07 said:

Yesterday said:



I honestly feel like private land owners are more responsible for passing on hunting traditions than the state of Texas will ever be. Which is why it's important to offer free hunts to kids when you/we can.


Problem is unless you have family land from the 1800s or are a multi millionaire it's not gonna happen for you. It sucks to get your kids into something that they can't do as an adult without shelling out serious cash. We just moved to Wisconsin and have thousands of acres of public land just in my county


I agree. It's very very difficult for the blue collar guy to afford hunting for his family but it can be done by leasing and even if that is not attainable at least the kids will remember the good time they had and hopefully be friendly to pro hunting ideals and legislation.
BrazosDog02
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Unless you are going to pony up some dough for your own place, you can't really get upset with land being sold. It's going to go to the highest bidder. Folks may not understand this but it takes a fair bit of money to maintain and keep large tracts of land. It is a full time job without vacation. Most younger generations want the benefit of the land without the hassle of the labor/financial commitment. Why keep land and make 5 figures per year when you can sell it for 8 figures and just do stuff you like? Because of that, those tracts are sold to developers by the old folks and I guess somehow that ends up at state land. Everyone just says "Well, I'll just sell peepaws 1000 acres and use the money to get a lease. Before long, there won't be any leases to have. The population is expected to be 5 Million higher than it is now by 2036. All that nice land is going to be developed into tiny tracts and homes. There simply arent enough land resources. So, my suggestion is to get your **** together now and buy some big piece of **** property anywhere in the state that allows the acreage you want because in a few short years, we will be a cookie cutters state from border to border.

You can always get a lease, but that seems crazy. I think I saw a 5,000 dollars per person per gun or something somewhere. That seems absolutely nuts to me. I would be figuring out how to own 20 acres to shoot a deer before I paid 5,000 dollars to someone to hunt 10,000 acres. That's just not my idea of fun.

The dark part of all of this for me is that what we are witnessing is the dying of the hunting culture. As places are harder to find and hunt, kids aren't brought up with it. It lives and dies in one generation. Land for doing it is not accessible for many. Hunting is a luxury now. Some don't want to hear that, but it is for the most part. If hunting was banned tonight, no one on this message board would starve or die. It's a natural progression from nomadic lifestyles to agrarian to "HEB centrist". As that hobby dies, so does the firearm aspect. I would be seriously surprised that if in 200 years, assuming we survive as a culture, guns and hunting are anything but a historical factoid. We are in the transition period where a lot of us still keep that ritual, culture, and skill.
normaleagle05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yesterday said:

Tarponfly said:

Texas is a prime example of why you don't sell off your public land. There simply is not enough to count as a viable opportunity for those who don't have access to private or can afford to lease. Sure, you can hunt parts of east Texas. Good luck with that. Sure, you can put in for a draw. Buy a lottery ticket while you are at at. The odds are similar. I love hunting the west because there are actually places you can leave the truck without going to jail. Who I feel sorry for is all those potential hunters that will never get introduced because access to the sport is simply too expensive for most.

Asking because I do not know, but what public land has Texas sold?

Depends on how you view the concept of sold. At independence, Texas only had maybe in the hundreds of thousands low millions of acres of private land. In 1898 the Texas Supreme Court declared in Hogue v Baker that there wasn't any more unappropriated public domain, and we were short of land for promises made (Public School Fund). Texas "sold" all that for settlers/population, railroads, canals, military service, etc.

Did we get good value for it? Some yes, some no.
If the federal government sold most of its western states land would we get good value today? I suspect the answer in another 127 years would be some yes, mostly no.

We're a case study. There's not much going back.
CactusThomas
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Pro Sandy said:

Yesterday said:

Tarponfly said:

Texas is a prime example of why you don't sell off your public land. There simply is not enough to count as a viable opportunity for those who don't have access to private or can afford to lease. Sure, you can hunt parts of east Texas. Good luck with that. Sure, you can put in for a draw. Buy a lottery ticket while you are at at. The odds are similar. I love hunting the west because there are actually places you can leave the truck without going to jail. Who I feel sorry for is all those potential hunters that will never get introduced because access to the sport is simply too expensive for most.

Asking because I do not know, but what public land has Texas sold?


Back in 1850 we sold New Mexico and Colorado to the Feds. 67 million acres for $5 million.



And somehow the value of that land in NM has gone down.
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.