Howdy! The Annual Public Hunt permit offers many WMA allowing deer hunting, archery and firearms. Go to Texas Parks and Wildlife website and checkout some of the Wildlife Management Areas that you might want to hunt. Call the wildlife biologist for those WMAs and get advice on the deer population and where might be good places to hunt within the WMA. Your chances of finding deer usually increases if you hike into the WMA far away from roads. Good Luck!

Always,

Gene

Thanks for the reply Gene. I've reached out the the wildlife biologists in my area. Great idea!

Looks like Caddo National Grasslands is the closest to me. Would love to hear experiences others have had there. Thanks!

I hunted Caddo last year and we had pretty good luck. We took 3 does and a spike. We saw alot of small bucks but nothing big enough to shoot. There were about 12 people in our hunting area but never saw them during the hunt. Go early and stay late and off the beaten path. You may get lucky and the other hunters will actually push the deer to you.

Wow. Congrats on the great hunt Eric. Thanks for the solid info. I think I'll try to make it out there. 

I hunted Unit 903  Bannister (in the book) for years, and pulled deer out of there almost everytime we went. Here's some pointers that might help you have success on public land.

Pre-scout in the summer if you can - Watch your scent - Use a GPS so you can go really deep in the woods far away from all roads and other people & you can also set waypoints everytime you spot a deer or a scrape or rub - use a climber & go as far up the tree as possible - bring a snack & hunt as long as you can stand it with all of the activity from other hunters the deer move a lot more than normal - get a doe tag I forgot where to call to get it, but they always give doe tags for unit 903, and if it's too late to apply for a doe tag if you go to the office they will give you one. Actually the game warden ussually showed up opening weekend & passed then out, but don't rely on that.

The deer are very skidish on public land during season, but the guy that hunts the hardest ussually gets deer. I see so many people hunting the edges of the forest, or stalking. These methods do not work on public land, and if you here of deer being harvested on public land this way it was luck. Good luck and have patience.

Once you kill a deer.What is the best way to get it out of the woods?Most WMAs have limited or zero motor vehicle access.

drag it, or buy one of those cart things.