My brother and I hunted public land around Palestine and it was very crowded. We hunted Saturday and Sunday and all we saw was blaze orange and hog sign. There is public land near Bonham at Coffee Mill Lake, Grainger Lake near Austin, and I think there's some public deer hunting near San Angelo that might be good land. I buy the TPWD Type II permit every year for the dove hunting alone, but it comes with a map book full of info on public lands. The permit costs $40 and you can register for draws on many hunts. (deer, antelope, desert bighorn, javelina, etc) Well worth the price of admission. Basically, you are buying access to over a hundred thousand acres of land, and it is all over the state. You can probably get info on TPWD's site or email me if you want (I don't hang out much in this forum) and I'll try to find the number for you. They go on sale in August.