The Lone Star State has a lot of land that’s primed for hunting and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is offering outdoors enthusiasts the chance to win several hunts of a lifetime.

Current year Texas hunting and fishing licenses (except year-to-date fishing licenses) expire Aug. 31, and new licenses for 2010-2011 will go on sale Sunday, Aug. 15.

This is an 8 gun ranch (total), 1 of those spots is available. I am one of the 8 guns.

4,100 acre year round lease in Zavala County approximately 7 miles south of LaPryor and 8 miles north of Crystal City. Classic South Texas mesquite brush country, lots of drainage, rolling terrain. There are lots of good roads cut throughout the property which provide better access to the brush and an increased amount of terrain for “joy riding”. The property has about 3.5 miles of Nueces River frontage. There is a dam about 4 miles downstream that creates a small lake (reservoir). We are on the top end of this reservoir and it makes our entire river frontage approximately 60 yards wide and 20 feet deep (even in drought conditions). The water is a clear/blue/green color, not muddy like most rivers that you find in South Texas. It is perfect for taking the kids swimming in the summer, launching a small boat/canoe/kayak, or tying out limb lines if you like big catfish. The river bottom supports an entirely different ecosystem than the brush and has huge live oak trees, some of which are over 5’ in diameter at the trunk.

There are 4 tanks and the fishing is great. Several black bass approaching 8 lbs have been caught, 4 kids with night crawlers and bobbers will land about a dozen 2 lb. channel cats in about 45 minutes.

There is a 160 acre field by the river that can be irrigated (irrigation is unusual in South Texas). We currently have 40 acres of oats planted in the river field and another 25 acre plot in the center of the ranch.

I have hunted this ranch for the last 4 seasons. The owners and their family could not be nicer people and their desire is to establish long term relationships with quality hunters who are respectful to them and to their property. Any hunters who can fit that mold will have the opportunity to hunt on their ranch for a long, long time. The opportunity for longevity is invaluable to anyone who is looking for a new lease.

The base lease cost is $7,950 per gun. There are additional camp expenses that are split by the group (electric bill, insurance, all feeder corn, protein, biologist fees, maintenance, etc.). If you sign up for this lease, you will be required to pay $2,500 to our camp account for your portion of the expenses for the year. This amount should cover all of your camp expenses for the rest of the lease term which runs through February of 2010. If there are any surplus funds in the camp expense account at the end of the year then those funds are redistributed to the group. I take care of keeping all feeders full and batteries charged. You will be required to contribute 2 corn feeders and 2 protein feeders (protein feeders must be at least 700 lb. capacity). We may request that you contribute a blind at some point, but that isn’t required or needed at this time. All corn/protein feed pens are built and in place (17 total). All hunting locations are established. All members have equal access to all hunting locations. There are currently 18 hunting locations set up (1 without a pen for corn only). You only need to bring the feed equipment to the ranch and I will get it set for you. If you are buying new equipment I may be able to pick it up for you and deliver it to the ranch.

We operate under a MLDP Level 3 permit. This extends “rifle season” for bucks and does from Oct. 1^st  – Feb. 28^th, doe harvest may be limited after the rut. The MLD also allows/requires hunters to use tags provided by the TPWD. Under MLDP Level 3, any one individual may harvest many more than 5 deer per season which is the traditional individual tag limit.

We are a management minded group and it is expected that any trophies taken are Post Mature (6.5 years old and older). We have harvest guidelines for management deer that will be provided to those that are interested in this lease.

Over the last 4 seasons we have harvested 79 Does, 88 Cull Bucks, & 2 Trophy Bucks. One of the Trophy Bucks taken scored 171 B&C and was a natural 13 point with a broken drop. In a typical season we see around 3 - 4 deer that score near or above 160 B&C. Most of those deer were aged on the hoof as being “4.5 – 5.5” and not post mature so they were not taken. We have shot several large 8pt. culls that were in the mid 130 – mid 140 B&C range. Antler growth was down in 2009 like it was all over South Texas and we only identified 2 bucks over 160 this past season. One of which is included as a picture in this ad (dated 9/4/09). The doe to buck ratio has consistently been 1.5 Does: 1 Buck. The herd density is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 deer per 18 acres.

This is a low fence ranch. The west boundary is HWY 83 and across the highway is the La Chaparosa which is a top end ranch. There is a high fence on the La Chaparosa about 600 yards in from the highway and runs parallel to our fence line. The north neighbor is a 5,000 acre pasture out of the Mac Pryor Ranch. This north neighbor is leased by a 12 gun group of 6 bow hunters and 6 rifle hunters. The north neighbor has been managed for 15 years, they shot 3-4 deer over 160 B&C this last season and the largest of those was mid-170 B&C (in a drought year). The ranch which is on the west end of our south fence line is rarely hunted and this property is wild and raw. The neighbor on the east end of the south fence line leases to hunters that corn our fence line and have corn feeders close to our fence line, we consider this neighbor a bad neighbor concerning management. The east boarder is the river which is deep & wide and is probably as good as a high fence. Overall, out of the 14 miles of fence line that surrounds the ranch, I would say that about 80% of it is occupied with “good” neighbors or is has boundary that is similar to a high fence.

This will be our 5^th year feeding protein and we have 17 protein feeding locations (one per 241 acres). We have completed 4 years of herd management. When we took the lease in 2006, the ranch had been basically not hunted for decades (probably not since the 1970’s). The only hunting pressure prior to our 2006 lease came from an outfitter who purchased 6 bucks per season during the 2003 & 2004 seasons. As far as trophy management goes, in 2006 we were starting from scratch. The rancher to our north told me that it took them 8 years to develop their herd to the level that it is today (3-4 160 class deer or better taken each year). I believe that our herd will develop more quickly than our north neighbor’s because their herd mixes with ours, they don’t have a protein feeding program, and they were bow only until a few years ago (rifles cull more efficiently than bows do). Point is, the ranch is still a work in progress concerning herd development, and hunters on this ranch need to be willing to let the better deer grow old. In the last 4 years I (personally) could have killed 2 bucks at or above 160 B&C on this ranch; neither of those bucks were clearly post mature, and they both walked.

We have an open guest policy on this ranch and lease members do not need to sit in the blind with their guests, but lease members are responsible for their guest’s actions and for any game that is harvested by their guest. Guests can shoot management bucks, does, etc. A lease member may bring multiple guests, but we are limited to 12 adult hunters on the ranch at one time so we just have to coordinate with each other when we are bringing people down so we don’t overfill camp (I don’t believe that we have ever had more than 9 hunters on the ranch at one time so overcrowding has never been an issue). Kids are welcomed and encouraged; we have no set limit as to how many children can be on the ranch at one time. The owner likes to saddle up horses for the kids a few times each year. We have the opportunity to arrange access to horses and riding equipment by contributing something to the owners feed costs. Keeping your own horse on the property could possibly be arranged (for a fee).

Our camp consists of a well/water system, septic, a 16,000 s.f. crushed limestone pad/parking area, covered deck, cleaning area, and 2 Conex storage boxes (one for feed and one for storage). New hunters will need to bring down their own mobile home or R.V. There are spots set up on the crushed limestone pad for trailers to be parked. They have septic lines, electric, and water hook ups in place for easy set up.

The owner also has a relatively new three bedroom mobile home that sits behind their homestead (this is about 1.5 miles from our camp). We can use this trailer whenever it is needed for spill over, or if you were down there with your wife or a guest and you didn’t want to stay in an R.V. This trailer has a big screen TV with a dish so we typically watch the football games over there. The owner’s mobile home is intended for spill over and is not meant to be any hunter’s primary lodging when on the property.

There are lots of turkeys. Quail have been good in wet years but not in dry years. Dove hunting on the tanks is always steady, there are some fields that have re-grown old plantings and have been full of dove. There are lots of ducks & sand hill crane. Plenty of pigs, coyote, etc. We can’t shoot bobcats.

Thank you for your time and interest. If you are an experienced management minded hunter and easy to get along with then you will be welcomed. Anyone who is laid back will enjoy our group and this ranch.

When Mother Nature shines as she’s done this spring, it makes anyone with a plot of dirt look good. But, it’s those times when the rains don’t come and the heat turns most of Texas brown and crunchy that a landowner’s mettle is put to the test. Those who can keep habitat conditions going in tough times as well as good are true conservation heroes.