I bet it' s way too late to get in on Hagerman this year.

What little public land there is within a hundred miles of DFW is packed until near the end of general season, especially the LBJ Grasslands. Horse riders have dang near ruined that place for hunting. You might check into the Caddo Grasslands up by Bonham. It' s further out from the crowds.

I went down to the Crockett Nat' l Forest ONCE. There were so many Winnebago' s parked everywhere that there wasn' t any place to hunt. One pinhead even parked his motor home right on top of the ground blind I' d built the afternoon before! That was 20 years ago and I' ve never been back since. Maybe things have changed.

Most everyone I know has a lease. There are some ranches down in the Hill Country that do weekend hunts, but most of them are booked up for deer season, for several years in advance.

Best thing you can do is try to find a group of guys that are on a lease and looking for a partner. There' s always someone screwing up and getting booted off a lease, so there' s always an opening somewhere.

And check into TPWD' s Type II program!