Andrew,

I agree - the price of land is getting insane.  10 years ago it was way less than half the price it is today, sometimes less than a quarter depending where you're talking about.  In ETX you'll have to work very hard to but land for under $2,000/ac.  The places I've looked at in Coleman Co. usually aren't less than $1,500/ac, and you really wonder what you're getting at that price.  If you lease land, with prices lately getting up into the $8-10/acre range, at 200 ac/hunter that's anywhere from $1,600 to $2,000 a gun.

We're considering getting a small place...problem is, it keeps getting smaller!!!!

I understand your frustration with the lease situation, and rest assured you're not alone when it comes to losing a lease because of greed.  But, the problem I have with what you're proposing isn't about hurdles and issues, its the fundamental premise on which you base what you want to do.  These landowners have every right to do what they legally want with their land!  To try to get Ted Nugent (I doubt he'd go along with it) to drum-up support from a large group of people to coerce a 'rich' landowner into giving his hunting rights to 'poorer' hunters, or being paid less than what he thinks is fair, is exactly the entitlement thinking that Mike talked about earlier.

Read what happened to the Kulaks in Russia during the late '20s and early '30s'.   Stalin's Soviet government 'demonized' these family-run (and mostly peasant) farms and threatened them with the force of their 'poorer' populace and their army: either join the collective farms or get wiped out.  Now before anyone twists what I am saying I fully realize that you are not suggesting the same thing.  But, the reasoning you are employing is similar.  My question is - who gave the Soviet Government the right to do that to a landowner?  My question to you is - who gives you that right?

Brice,

The only real dependable way you're going to keep water on a parcel of land in WTX without a natural 'catch' for it (draw, drainage, etc.) is to drill a well and put a pump or windmill in it to supply your trough/tank.  Do you have a well?  If not, getting one put in is usually a pretty expensive proposition.  I doubt you'd be able to dig a tank deep enough, the problem being evaporation and no natural source to support refilling it.

As far as bedding goes, look for patches of grass or places under a tree that have been flattened...often when a bed is fresh you can see the outline of the deer.  These patches usually will not be found in the same place, depending on how much the deer move for food, though generally deer bed on the edge of, or slightly away from, open fields like William said.  But, if you have deer staying on your place they will bed in the same general area. 

Jan,

My wife's family is from up in Red River Co. - there's some good deer hunting there, especially if there's hardwoods around your place.  As far as hogs go, I've seen some folks take 'em well over 400 lbs up that way.  Congratulations!

P.S.: Be prepared though.  I about fell over first weekend of rifle season a few years back when they were in full rut.  I've heard they can get pretty active even at the end of bow season.

Since Texas doesn't have a lot of public land, I'm sure you've figured out that you're just about going to have to pay someone to hunt here.  There are packaged hunts for hogs, but really with the hog epidemic we have there are a number of ranch owners that will let you hunt about for the asking (and some $$$).  I'm not as familiar with specifics around Del Rio, but up in north Texas they are really having hog problems, and that spells good news for folks that want to hunt them.  I'd start getting with as many ranchers in that area as I could and just ask. 

Some notes of caution - I would be careful hunting hogs as the temperatures get warmer, mainly because the meat spoils more easily and they'll have more parasites.  In case you didn't know, in that part of the world there are also a LOT more rattlesnakes out too. 

And...welcome to Texas!

Assuming you are hunting in Lampasas County, TPW says this:

"Open Season: November 3-January 6. Buck bag limit: 2, to include no more than one with an inside spread of 13 inches or greater. Antlerless bag limit: 2. A legal buck deer is a deer having at least one unbranched antler, or an inside spread of 13 inches or greater. The inside spread requirement does not apply to to any buck having an unbranched antler. These provisions do not apply on properties for which Level 2 or Level 3 MLDPs have been issued. No permit is required to hunt antlerless deer unless MLDP antlerless permits have been issued for the tract of land."

If you're not hunting in Lampasas Co., you can get county-by-county summaries here .