Great looking deer, and a lifetime of blessings...

Any freakhorn dies.

Any 4.5+ year old bucks that are not at least 8 point and 16" spread too.  In bad precip years this may not be as valid.

Hard to give a concrete number on buck harvests per 100 acres.  Has a lot to do with food (rain), buck:doe ratios, and normal deer density.

Paul,

I've hunted near Blackwell before, and the ruts I've seen are right around Thanksgiving.  In my experience in WTX how bucks behave during the rut will depend on buck-doe ratios as well as rainfall.  Good buck-doe ratios, regardless of where you are, will help with how the bucks will behave during rattling.  That is, the lower the number of does to bucks the bucks will respond much better to rattling and will have a greater tendency to expose themselves.  Rainfall is kind of an odd duck, but it definately has an affect, because lack of rainfall/food sometimes throws the does off, and they can be receptive early or late.  Where we hunt south of San Angelo the rut is usually right after Thanksgiving, and last couple of years due to low rainfall some does were in the first week of the season. 

Hunting pressure is often the reason I've heard for going hunting early in the season.  It is true that relatively unpressured bucks may be more predictable, but the big boys usually aren't (again my opinion).  That said, the biggest mature buck I've ever taken was during the first week...and the other was rattled-in during the rut in early December.  In the end, there's no replacement for being in the right place at the right time.

Because there is always a degree of rut unpredictability (it can come late too) I'd go prepared to rattle, grunt, stalk, watch, whatever.  Once I got there I'd try to get to a place where I can watch the most activity: usually food sources and/or fields. and see what the deer are doing.  Then, adjust how and where I hunt based on their behavior. 

One thing that Tim didn't mention in the scent game is a good pair of boots...make sure that what you buy will not hold scent.  We're just about paranoid on that account...we hunt close-in too, and more than once when we've tried to take scent short cuts I've seen bucks refuse to cross my trail as long as 3-4 hours after I've walked it.  

We will spray our boots down with ordor elimination spray, keep them in a plastic bag, and not put them on until we're sufficiently away from our vehicle, camp, or whatever.  Even then, one of the first things we'll do when we put them on, depending on where we hunt, will be to either put more spray on the bottoms or find a cow patty to stomp in in, or cedar tree to rub our boot bottoms on...anything to diminish the scent. 

A couple other things: I'd learn that gun of yours inside and out.  Find a brand of ammunition your gun shoots well (try several different bullet weights/mfgrs).  Be sure to shoot at the ranges you plan on hunting  Learn how to clean your gun properly (there are some good videos on this website under the "Gun Talk "Section, here).  Also, be sure to practice at the maximum distance you're willing to shoot so you have a good idea how the bullet will behave.  Second, I'd try to put the best scope on your gun I could afford.  You want something that's reliable and clear, and you don't have to pay an arm and leg to get that.  Last, get some help on tracking and reading deer sign.  In public hunting areas that skill is critical. 

I've hunted around both those area before (Blackwell and north of Robert Lee)...you ought to have a lot of fun out there.  There are also some pretty decent bucks in that neck of the woods when food is plentiful.  From what I've seen up there in normal years William's date is about right. 

You may already have seen this, but here's something from TPWD that will give you a feel for rut times in that general area.  You may already know this too, but a lot of things affect the timing of the rut: rainfall, availability of food, weather, and some even think moon phases, so there easily could be a two week swing or more on when the rut starts and peaks.  For example, the last couple of years where we've hunted around Eldorado (about 80 miles south of you) the rut has been strung out because of lack of water and food...with no real peak.  Bucks were actually running does a full 4 weeks before the normal peak!  I'd also think about making contact with the TWPD wildlife biologist that handles the specific area you're hunting as well as the local game warden. 

Hope this helps.

They already are well on their way...should start rubbing off velvet early to mid September.

I lived and hunted in ETX for 8 years and have hunted WTX for the last 12 years.  The big difference between ETX and WTX, at least the places that I've hunted in WTX, is that you can see a whole lot further and that means seeing more deer.  Now, if you can find a big oak bottom in ETX you can see pretty well, but unfortunately there aren't a lot of those around anymore.  Now even in those oak flats I'm talking about 80 yards when in a lot of WTX, especially if you have elevation, its 500+ yards.  Also, generally speaking, most of ETX doesn't have the deer carrying capacity...so combine that with lower visibility and that translates into seeing fewer deer under most circumstances.  Certainly there are some well-managed areas that are the exception, but most of the land I've been on has been at least partially cut over and replanted in pine.  As a result there's just not the food to support as large a population as in many parts of WTX. 

Another consequence of all this in ETX is that, again in my opinion, you're going to have to put in your time to know your land a lot better.  Where is the food, what type of acorns drop when and where are those stands of white oak versus pin oak, etc.  In years of big acorn crops they could be any one of about 10 places.  And, while they were at place 'A" one day doesn't mean they'll be there the next.

And, while I generally agree with Tim about the size of WTX bucks there certianly are exceptions.  Mature bucks in some areas out there can go well over 160 pounds (I took one a couple years back), in good years even more than that.  ETX bucks can get over 200 lbs, but in my experience they're not all that common anymore.

Trinity County is a great place to go.  But, like any deer habitat it has to have the right stuff.  In my opinion the vast majority of ETX just doesn't have it anymore.  Its a shame too because at one time there really were some woozers in places like the Trinity, Neches, Sabine, and Red River river bottoms.