Except for a small percentage who own land holding game or have access to land controlled by family or friends, Texas hunters face three options: hunt public land, become a member of a hunting lease or club, or use the services of a guide or Approximately 97 percent of Texas is privately owned, and the state's landowners long ago learned hunters are willing to pay for access to tracts with good game populations. [...] some of those areas can provide high-quality hunting for those lucky enough to draw one of the limited number of permits issued for some of the sites or willing to put in the time and "sweat equity" to scout and learn areas open to low-cost or no-cost access. Federal lands - including portions of the Angelina, Sabine, Davy Crockett national forests, Caddo National Grasslands and Big Thicket National Preserve - offer the largest tracts of no-cost hunting for deer, squirrel and other game. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department offers the state's most diverse and popular public hunting program. The agency's special-drawing hunts offer opportunities for deer, antelope, feral hogs, turkey, alligators and other game on the agency's wildlife management areas and dozens of state parks. The $48 permit gives holders access to hunting for a variety of game, including deer, waterfowl, quail, dove, feral hogs, squirrel and other game. Other options include commercially run hunting lease registries, many of them online, where landowners or lease managers advertise openings and, for a fee, hunters looking for leases can access information about those leases. While guided deer hunts are out of the price range of most hunters, guided hunts for feral hogs are moderately priced and increasingly popular.

Full camouflage is legal when hunting on private land in Texas (bright orange required on public land and strongly advised on any quail hunt), but many hunters fail to include a simple mesh face mask. A simple mesh mask can turn 40-yard flaring shots into "ice cream" incomers at 25 yards. A heavy parka is SOP during the late-fall/early-winter deer or waterfowl season, but a lightweight jacket makes sense even during a September dove hunt. A pair of specialized shooting glasses should be mandatory on any hunt. The proper pair features shatterproof lenses with a wrap-around design to help block blow-back from the gun, or a stray pellet on a bird hunt. High-contrast lenses of yellow or orange can really "snap out" birds against drab sky or low brush.

First of all, congratulations on your successful hunt. On one of her visits to Texas in years past, I served her bacon-wrapped and grilled venison tenderloin, which she thought was the best filet mignon she'd ever tasted. [...] your freshly killed and field-dressed game should be iced down immediately and kept that way until you get home. Pick an oil, an acid and an herb or herbs to create your marinade, and include fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt to taste. Steep a cup each of kosher salt and sugar (raw, brown or white) plus crushed peppercorns, garlic cloves, juniper and allspice berries and a few bay leaves and sprigs of thyme in a pot of water; cool; pour over the meat in a large food-grade kitchen trash bag; seal tightly; and place in a large ice chest. In colder climes, venison and duck can be dry-aged in a garage or shed; in Texas, we can accomplish the same dry-aging by placing the uncovered meat on a rack in the refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours before cooking. If you've taken the time to pluck your ducks, separate the skin from the flesh with the tip of a knife and insert bacon or prosciutto under the skin to add flavor and moisture. Build your coals on only one side of your covered grill (or light only one side of a propane grill) and place the meat away from the heat source.

The overwhelming "Top Gun" among several generations of Texas hunters is a bolt-action rifle fitted with a variable-powered telescopic sight. The bolt rifle is inherently the most accurate of the various actions, and models from reputable manufacturers are rugged and reliable. The .270 cartridge with a 130- or 150-grain factory round is a fine choice, combining excellent trajectory with exceptional "out of the box" accuracy and mild recoil. At least a dozen center-fire calibers suitable for deer are readily available, and most of the popular ones offer "hold on" accuracy out to at least 250 yards with a properly scope-sighted rifle (say, 1 to 2 inches high at 100 yards). [...] of caliber, a good way to tame the felt recoil is to select a fairly heavy rifle weighing 71 Avoid the 6-pound mountain rifles favored by sheep and goat hunters in the high country; the Texas deer hunter spends most of the time sitting and waiting, so rifle weight is not an issue. Pump or autoloader, the third shot with the magazine gun can help maximize decoying opportunities or rake down high "dusted" birds (remember that federal law requires a three-shot plug in the magazine when hunting migratory birds). Non-toxic shot must be used on waterfowl, and steel is the most popular of the non-toxic options. Because steel shoots so tight, a full choke is not the best choice for the all-around waterfowl gun (superior, though, for specialized long-range pass shooting). Conversely, if your main interest is decoying ducks, with many shots inside 30 or 35 yards, go with the open pattern of an improved-cylinder choke. The bigger bore also rules when jump-shooting random birds feeding in stubble or when pass shooting under high flocks.

Hunting feral hogs over the past couple of decades has become one of the most popular pursuits among Texas hunters, and participation in hog hunting continues growing almost as fast as the population of prodigiously populous pigs. Through their ceaseless rooting, eating or otherwise destroying crops and other vegetation, feral hogs cause as much as $400 million in damage to private property in Texas each year. Because the state would be better off if there were no feral hogs, Texas law offers no protection to the pigs. A lot of people who can't afford to deer hunt can afford to hunt hogs, said Gallenbach, whose River Ridge operation - riverridgetx.com - offers a limited number of guided hog hunts during October and January. Most hogs are taken by hunting from an elevated stand overlooking a game feeder or an opening frequented by sounders of feral hogs.

When those birds get here, they'll see habitat conditions much improved from a year ago, when record-setting drought and heat evaporated or damaged wetlands upon which the migratory fowl rely. The combination of strong waterfowl populations - numbers of some popular species are at levels not seen since standardized surveys of nesting grounds began in 1955 - and decent habitat to support them mean the 2012-13 duck and goose seasons have potential to be outstanding. Todd Steele, partner/manager of Thunderbird Hunting Club, a private waterfowl hunting club that leases and manages about 20,000 acres of coastal prairie and wetlands in Jackson and Matagorda counties, and a veteran waterfowler with decades of experience pursuing ducks and geese, offers these tips to hunters looking to improve their odds of success this autumn: Carrying heavy loads of gear (decoys, shotgun, shell bag) even a couple of hundred yards across muddy fields, boggy marsh or the other challenging terrain typical of waterfowling while wearing clunky waders is hard work. [...] is wrestling boats and ATVs off of and onto trailers, enduring cold, wet conditions, and many of the other activities associated with waterfowling. A few rounds of sporting clays over the coming weeks allow a hunter to sharpen the skills - consistent mount, swing and almost subconscious lead calculation - necessary to shoot well. Particular places on a marsh pond, flooded prairie wetland, reservoir or field are more attractive to waterfowl than other spots that look, to human eyes, indistinguishable from the place the birds obviously prefer. The attraction might be a concentration of aquatic vegetation, seeds, grain or other forage; offer protection from wind and rough water and a sense of security; or have some other attribute that draws birds to a specific spot.

In a state where more than 95 percent of the land is privately owned and gaining access to property offering high-quality hunting for most species can cost thousands of dollars, Texas duck hunters have tens of thousands of acres of world-class duck hunting opportunities available at little or no cost. More than a dozen public hunting units on federally run national wildlife refuges and state-operated wildlife management areas along Texas' upper and middle coast are open to waterfowlers during the duck and goose seasons. Seasonlong access to public waterfowl hunting areas on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife Management Areas is $48, the cost of the agency's Annual Public Hunting Permit.

If doves locate a thick stand of croton, especially if the ground under the plants is bare so it's easier to find dropped seeds, a stream of the birds will daily pile into the spot and greedily gobble until their crops bulge. The abundance of native food, decent production from small-grain commercial crops such as milo, and a relatively mild and wet spring and summer have been a boon to dove production and fledgling survival, Mason said. The abundance of forage - all that croton, pigweed, sunflowers and commercial grain - may scatter those doves over larger areas than this past year, when they were more concentrated because of limited food availability, Mason said. [...] bet on this approaching dove season to produce outstanding hunts for wingshooters with access to fields being hit by hungry birds.

[...] it fields the nation's largest number of dove hunters, with as many as 350,000 or more wingshooters participating in hunting season, which opens Sept. 1 in most of the state. [...] dove hunters can increase their success, and certainly their enjoyment of the hunt, if they follow a few pointers from folks such as Robert and Mario Trotti, who run Texas Dove and Waterfowl (txdovehunts.com), a wingshooter-oriented outfitting business that puts clients on hot dove fields in the state's Central and South zones. Mourning doves like smaller seed such as milo (grain sorghum), croton (dove weed), sesame and native sunflower and grass seeds. Even a few standard static dove decoys clipped on a fence or in the branches of a dead tree or shrub can draw the attention of passing doves.

Preparation is the biggest key to deer hunting success, said David Green, manager of Inflight Outfitters (inflightoutfitters.com), a full-service hunting outfitting and guide service based on a 10,000-acre Twin Oaks Ranch in game-rich South Texas. If a hunter wants to see that buck and, just as important, be able to cleanly take it when the opportunity presents itself, he can greatly improve the odds by following a few pre-hunt tips. 3 When determining where to place a deer stand, try to place the stand where it overlooks a travel corridor or feeding area. Showering with scent-free soap should be standard procedure for deer hunters hoping to increase their odds of success.

Once upon a time in Texas, deer hunting was a simple affair ­- put on whatever drab-color clothing was handy and suited for the weather, slip a pair of work brogans on your feet, retrieve a rifle from the closet, stick a handful of cartridges in a pocket and head afield, where you either slipped quietly through the woods or sat against a tree or rock overlooking a game trail. Today, deer hunters employ a stunning amount of equipment, including commercially built blinds or stands that invariably overlook corn-slinging feeders designed to attract deer and feral hogs. Increasingly, that clothing is claimed to either block or absorb human scent, preventing these human smells from alerting approaching deer. Controls body scent by using patented Nano Silver fiber technology to help eliminate causes of body odors. A good basic trail camera with 5 megapixel images, flash range of 50 feet, infrared night photos, video capable and time/date/temperature/moon phase stamp. The 600-pound-capacity model easily converts from a spin feeder throwing grain to a gravity-fed feeder dispensing protein pellets. Large (60-inch by 70-inch) blind with exterior of molded fiberglass, roof with drip edge to keep rain off of tempered automotive-grade glass windows and vertical and horizontal windows to accommodate gun and bow hunters. Weighing less than 3 pounds, the decoy is a high-definition picture printed onto a polyester/cotton fabric for a realistic view.

Known for his ninja-warrior moves on the field, the defensive end was named one of the defensive captains of the 2011 squad and responded with a career-high 6 1/2 sacks. Thinking back to his first hunting trip at Eagle Lake with a few friends, Smith said it's still his favorite hunting story. The trial-by-error experience caused more damage than Smith originally intended. [...] he has bought proper hunting equipment to sit in the deer blind with his buddies, talks about "man stuff" and eats sunflower seeds, though he still prefers to hunt hogs.

Texas holds a remarkably strong, vibrant hunting culture, a reflection of the state's diverse wildlife resources and a tradition of outdoor recreation that stretches across, and stitches together, generations of Texans. Many Texans rightfully pride themselves on their hunting-related knowledge and skills. [...] in a state as large as Texas, with its diversity of game animals and hunting opportunities, that can cover a lot of territory. Correctly answer eight or more, and you're either a wildlife biologist or a widely experienced and engaged Texas hunter. Which of the following is NOT classified as a game animal under Texas statutes, and thus has no closed season, bag limit or rules governing when or how it can be taken? Mallards, the most abundant duck in North America, are the duck species most commonly taken by Texas waterfowlers. 3.Texas is the nation's top dove-producing state (about 40 million mourning doves at the end of the nesting season) and sees the most dove hunters (about 300,000). Approximately how many doves are taken by Texas wingshooters during an average season? 6.What percentage of Texas hunters hunt on private property? 8.What percentage of Texas' 600,000-plus deer hunters are likely to be successful (taking at least one white-tailed deer) this hunting season? [...] a few species nest and raise their young on Texas soil. 10.Which major Texas city owes its creation to a hunting trip? C (mountain lion), D (cottontail rabbits) and E (elk). Gadwall, blue-winged teal and green-winged teal have dominated the top three spots for years. A 2004-05 survey indicated about 70,000 Texans hunted squirrels.

That Texas in 2011 saw a record-low number of hunting-related injuries (23) and fatalities (two) shows the recreation can be safe and fun as long as hunters follow a handful of basic safety tips. [...] Texas' hunter education course, which covers safety, skills, regulations and responsibilities of hunting, wildlife conservation and the outdoors, is a big reason for that. "The reason we do it (make it mandatory) is to lower the number of accidents that happen, bring more people in compliance with hunting laws and instill a sense of respect and responsibility for the resource out there," said Terry Erwin, hunter education coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. According to Erwin, the four main safety rules to remember are: 1 While wearing "hunter orange" clothing is not a legal requirement when hunting on private property, it is a good idea, especially for deer hunters going to and from stands and for quail or pheasant hunters.