East Texas Hunting

Wife and I are doing our retirement planning and part of that is looking at where we want a winter home when we do the snow bird thing from Alaska. We are looking at something in East Texas, and in the next several years will be making several trips to check out places and start the process of looking for land to buy and eventually build on. One of our biggest wants is a place 100+ acres that we can hunt deer, dove, hogs, and hopefully turkey's on. With all that in mind, what I am hoping folks here can help with is suggestions for areas to look, hunting pages like T-man I should start looking at, and any suggestions for land realtors to start checking out. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.

-TJ

Look at south-east Arizona, too. The most incredible bird hunting I have ever experienced. Javalina, mule deer, Coues whitetail, coyotes beyond count

I would, but the wife wants to be able to get to the ocean within about 2-4 hours driving. No way I am doing that in AZ.

-TJ

You're talking about starting a TMAN hunt club right ?? Turkeys, quail, doves, etc ?

White, I am sure we could find some space for a few chosen ones.

-TJ

178 views so far and nothing but Alaskan's posting. No Texans around here?

-TJ

personally, I'd be asking here:
https://texashuntingforum.com/
and here:
http://www.texashoghunter.com/forum.php
and any other forums that pop up when ya google what you want info on

Yep, there's some Texans on here but East Texas as you posted is like a "whole other country" to some of us.

Deer, Ducks, hogs, and Beaver that is east Texas. Deep East Texas (Nacadoches) is still pretty reasonable on land prices and with the National Forests the hunting possibilities are endless

Thanks! Registered for both.

-TJ

Sam Houston National Forest, The Sabine and Angelina National Forests are in east Texas. I would get at least 1.5 hours north out of Houston and the same south of Dallas. If you find Centerville on a map and draw 100 mile radius, that a pretty good area and the land is reasonable.

We have circled Lufkin as a starting point and will go from there. Probably head down a couple times to spend a couple weeks and drive around to check stuff out.

-TJ

I think Sheepdog1 works in Lufkin

I was stationed in west LA (Fort Polk) and spent a lot of time in east TX, some very good small game hunting in the area and plenty of beaver trapping if you want to play around with that. Public land can be tough (crowded) but doable and driving east to LA is always an option, they have huge blocks of public land (WMAs). Owning a few acres of your own would be a big help.

I've been looking at that EXACT same area for 2 years while I formulate my Illinois Exit Strategy!. Looks like it's filling up so you might want to get something quick. My Nephew lives in Houston and says there are fights over public land hunting. He also said people have been buying large tracts and starting a feeding program for deer and hogs. When they get to feeding a lot of game they hire 40 or 50 guys and they build a high fence around it as fast as possible. Presto chango - now it's a hunting club. LA is looking better all the time me.
I have noticed the prices going up some for a while. Everything's filling up.

I have been going to east Texas fishing for over 15 years. Nice people, nice towns. At least around the Centerville / carthage area. Lots of outdoor stuff and as someone else said, LA is right next door.

I was expecting to see some pictures of a guy with overalls on and only one strap buttoned, big fat dip in and shootin deer out of the back of a truck with an open sights rifle. Kind of my vision of east Texas hunting lol

.....we quit that due to the high fines lately...started on yanks instead since their an invasive species

been there done it they can have that whole state and the high fences

I figure by the time I am ready, the next market crash will be in full swing. Pick up some nice property on the cheap....

-TJ

You can get you some real cheap property right now on the border with Mexico.

You have to remember the gold rule in R/E: Location, Location, Location!

Not the neighborhood I want to be in.... LOL

-TJ

Jimmy, when you say "East Texas" can you narrow your focus down a little, East Texas covers a lot of territory. I live in NE Tx in the Longview area we have a lot of deer, ton's of hogs, some dove if you work at it, and not very many turkey. Land is going to run you $2,500 and up per acre. If you are going strictly for hunting activities the Centerville area as mentioned is a good one. I have a trapping friend in Lufkin and he has access to thousands of acre of land to trap on, but you will have to deal with the human element when trapping and hunting in this area.

For a snowbird report, a number of people from here winter in Texas. The first reality is, you must have a pile of money for 100 acres of Texas land, building and retiring there. You will also like PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE as they are growing that crop in Texas.
Now for the realities. The people I have spoken with stated they had a very hard time in their small communities in their RV's because that last big hurricane soaked up all the big contractors and supplies in Houston. The outskirt communities were still waiting. The gal who related her story said Walmart was still doing business out of trucks parked in the parking lots there.
As my friends in Austin say, "You are not going to build a basement in Texas as the clay soil crushes basements in the wet and dry seasons." and "You are going to learn to spray for insects and deal with the cockroaches once winter comes".
Just remember that 2 to 4 hours from the ocean is still hurricane country.
For advice in rural areas, do a search for population densities, growth rate in populations, CRIME and yes the ratio of Americans to foreigners as Texas has numbers of them. Once you have that information, then go to google maps and start looking for the kind of area you would want for wildlife and then start realtor shopping or placing an ad.

In conversations I have had with people who lived in the south, one said as I was in Kansas CIty and she had moved to there from Arizona, was because of all the foreigners flooding the area. The other searched the entire United States as they lived in Florida and they went north instead of south, because as he told me, "You are going to regret the day that you started changing the dynamic of the population in your area. When you want Texas, just be aware what comes with Texas and it is only going to balloon by another 20 million souls moving there, as they do not have income taxes, have an expanding oil infrastructure and wall or not, legal foreigners are looking to that part of America as the population is moving to a majority Latin.

It is though a tough sale when your wife has decided she wants ocean and no one maybe has asked the question of how much time will they ever be spending on the beach. A nice off season rates vacation of a couple weeks might be all the ocean a person might ever want.

I hope some of that snowbird information helps.

Ranger, looking to start in the Lufkin area and then work our way out from there.

-TJ

Thanks for the info. All good things to consider. We lived in San Antonio as a kid a few times and still have a few friends scattered about as well and have heard some horror stories on crime and the illegals moving in. Hoping to avoid most of that if we can.

Money is always an issue to those of us not independently wealthy, but based on what I have seen on the internet, I should be able to swing 100 acres, and maybe more if bought right at the right time. This isn't something we are doing in the next 24 months, but we are starting the process of looking. So when the time comes, we have everything ready to go to pull the trigger on a good deal. For this, time is on my side right now.

-TJ