I want to go shoot a huge whitetail in South Texas during the Rut next year.(low fence)
Any guide recomendations?
When would the best time of year be to go?
Thanks in advace,
W.

Can you be more specific as to what you consider huge? How much are you willing to spend?

I prefer to hunt before the rut as the deer are easier to pattern. The deer down here tend to fight a lot because there are so many of them. They have a tendency to get broken up right before and during the rut.

I wold like 150+, and cost isnt that much of an issue, but maybe between 5-8000.
I just figuired the rut becuase I would think i would see a ton of differnet bucks.
Not neccessary though.
Mike

The King ranch is hard to beat for a low fenced hunt. http://www.king-ranch.com/pricing.html

Well,

There are a few good places,

I have heard good things about Characo Marrano ranch www.charcomarranoranch.com

TTHA own Double J ranch. Have not hunted, but have seen some photo's of deer there and some were huge! www.jjtexasranch.com

I have also seen some good deer come off the La Bandera ranch. www.labandera.com

These are some well know south texas places. I have a few around Albany or San Angelo if your not stuck on the "golden triangle"

Ed

For a big trophy book whitetail on a big low fenced ranch I would look around around Laredo, Texas and stay within the Golden Triangle...

Most of the big whitetail that come out of Texas are from behind a high fence and have been bred up from wild stock either by importing big Northern bucks or by artificial insimination, along with good nutrician and some pretty fantastic management practices.

Actually your best bet would be South of the border in Mexico across from Laredo, Texas. There are some huge ranches there with some real monster bucks in the 200 plus catagory on them..

The problem with the King Ranch is the charge a trophy fee by the inch. Go to their website and see how it scales.

Just something to think about. I worked there one year...

Are you prepared to let a true 200" gross deer walk because you couldn't afford the trophy fee? Don't forget also at almost every ranch - if you draw the slightest drop of blood and the deer can't be recovered even with dogs your hunt is over and break out the checkbook to pay the trophy fee. Just saying ask all these questions so there's no suprises.

Personally for someone to come down on a once in a lifetiem hunt in South Texas I would think you want to do an all inclusive fee deal instead of paying by the inch.

Lots of guys do pay by the inch tho...and I've seen guys who regretted it when they saw a true Muy Grande walk off because they couldn't afford it even on a low fence operation.

If you were willing to shoot a deer under 150" say 145" you could get by on a non management buck on the king and reduce your cost a LOT.

BTW if you want to hunt in the rut you might be looking at 2010 at the really good spots or going on stand by. Just FYI.

If you've never hunted an area with that quality of bucks get a 1 on 1 guide. I don't know how many times I had to nearly wrestle guys from states like PA who said they wanted to shoot a really big deer on the ranch (and even some other ranches I've worked with) who were trying to shoot the first 115" deer that came out. People from way north of the Mason Dixon line were bad as well because they were looking at body size...if the antlers were in proprotion and our deer were as big as Canada they would score 400" lol

Personally if it were me and I was from a different part of the world I'd look at some of the ranches that charge a lot less and have a good chance at a deer between 125-145" to get a feel for it.

Some people don't like the hunting down here either for the style or the landscape. To be honest I'm not a fan of the brush other than the big deer. A lot of people won't want to sit and look over a sendaro - espeically one that has a corn feeder on it. Some ranches high rack - ask about that as well if that's not your thing.

Not every place is going to do rattling even during the rut. If that's what you want be sure to ask ahead. Some places you get a true guide who is working 24/7 to get you the deer you want and some have guys who simply drop you off at a box blind for the day. Ask lots of questions.

quote:

Actually your best bet would be South of the border in Mexico across from Laredo, Texas. There are some huge ranches there with some real monster bucks in the 200 plus catagory on them..

Really? Can you name some of them? I can't ever recall seeing a 200 class whitetail coming out of Mexico for quite some time. Inquiring minds want to know. I do know of four coming out of Texas so far this year.

As mentioned above, there are some places outside South Texas where you might get a 150+ for less if there is an opening and if you are lucky. Mesquite Country Outfitters on the Pitchfork, the Nail Ranch, or Stasney's Cook Ranch in the Albany area, for example.

In South Texas there are still a lot of low-fenced places. You can look at the low-fence categories of the Los Cazadores or Los Cuernos contests and look at the ranch or outfitter names to see where last-year's bucks came from.

M16 seems to keep pretty current and I have not hunted South Texas in a few years so I would pay attention to him.

There are a lot of ranches with hunts so do your due diligence and check recent references. If they do not feed protein be sure to see if they had good rains last spring.

I have seen guys hunt where you pay the package price and shoot the best buck you see. Some never shoot, some take 140-class bucks, and some get a 170. You never know.

505ED,

The Double J is high fenced and the LaBandera if not totally high fenced I do believe a good portion of it is.

Macho Creek Lodge in Christine is 12k acre low fenced with some great deer. Call the manager, his name is Shawn Griffin and his # is 210 260-6777. They have a website under Machocreek.com or machocreeklodge.com.

Perry

You might want to check out the Mariposa Ranch. It is a 45,000 acre low fenced ranch wedged in between the King Ranch and the Kenedy Ranch. Their trophy Whitetail hunts are $4,000 flat fee (no per inch charge). You might shoot a 140" or you might shoot a 190".....either way you only pay $4,000. I've talked to people who have been there and they talk highly of the place. Here is their website: Mariposa Ranch

While you are looking give killamranch out of Freer a look as well.

La Bandera is high fenced on all their deer hunting land. I've hunted dove and quail there a few times on corporate boondoggle trips.


It's weird to see 120"+ deer standing at the feeders 20 feet from the road at 11:00 AM and have the bird guides refer to them by name.

come to montana -

16$ for a tag, millions of acres of public land, no fences.

hey tas,
I'm flying into bozeman on the ninth and heading over to Gardiner/Jardine on the 10th.
Heading out on the 11th. Supposed to do a little mule deer/elk hunting. I know I could look it up and may do so but what part of Montana is Chinook in?
GWB
Ps; blood, chocolate or tomato sauce?

Hey Tas,

So a non-resident can hunt deer in Montana for $16? What's all this crap on the Montana Fish and Game website about drawing applications and $343 tags and $1100 tags?

quote:

Originally posted by Geedubya:
hey tas,
I'm flying into bozeman on the ninth and heading over to Gardiner/Jardine on the 10th.
Heading out on the 11th. Supposed to do a little mule deer/elk hunting. I know I could look it up and may do so but what part of Montana is Chinook in?
GWB
Ps; blood, chocolate or tomato sauce?

GWB - chinook is right in the center of montana, but along the canadian border, so it is way up north. unfortunately several hundred miles from bozeman, but if you find your way up here, the first beer is on me ~

PS - tomato sauce ~ i have no idea why!

quote:

Originally posted by M16:
Hey Tas,

So a non-resident can hunt deer in Montana for $16? What's all this crap on the Montana Fish and Game website about drawing applications and $343 tags and $1100 tags?

holy crap, m16 - forgive me my error ~ i forgot about the resident/nonresident thing. RESIDENTS pay 16 dollars - i guess the original poster would have to move here to take advantage of that! even so, checking fwp.mt.gov, i see 205$ for antelope (non-resident), 643 for combination elk/deer and 75-80$ for antlerless deer. an either sex/either deer tag is 343$, but also includes conservation fee, state lands access fee, fishing and upland game birds. not too bad. the 1100$ tag is for outfitter-sponsored tags, which i've never heard of and looks to be pretty stupid as a DIY hunt in montana is very easy and just as likely to produce a very fine deer.

Yeah but how long would that last if they let everyone come for $16 a pop?

quote:

Originally posted by Nathan_1:
Yeah but how long would that last if they let everyone come for $16 a pop?

And how many out-of-state, self-guided hunters end up with a mature 150+ whitetail?

Tas raises a good point about alternative hunts but he is answering a question that was not asked.

quote:

Yeah but how long would that last if they let everyone come for $16 a pop?

good question, nathan - to me, anyone willing to move to montana just for the hunting and fishing, and is willing to put up with the extremely low wages and cold winters, deserves an affordable shot at a good deer.

quote:

And how many out-of-state, self-guided hunters end up with a mature 150+ whitetail?

charles, if you amend your question to read "whitetail or mule deer," i see at least one a year, every year, hunting on public land every year just around my hometown. i am sure that there are quite a few all over.

quote:

Tas raises a good point about alternative hunts but he is answering a question that was not asked.

indeed, i have a proclivity for raising good, albeit irrelevant points; drove my college professors crazy

back to south texas, my friends!