# Duval County County Road 213



## thadhunts (Mar 10, 2013)

I Just took a Deer Lease on County Road 213 in Duval County.
This Lease is about 12 Miles from the Gonzalitos Store.
I am just curious about the Type and number of Deer I can expect to see.
Are there very many Hogs in this area.
Any Information would be appreciated.

Thank you for reading this post


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## paulss (Aug 16, 2007)

Duval County about says it all. Hope I'm wrong but I hear very few good things over the years. Lots of small properties, trespassing and road hunters. At my friend's place near San Diego you're lucky to see a deer, much less a decent buck. There are some hogs around there.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.


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## TxDuSlayer (Jun 24, 2006)

I hope you did your homework. Good Luck


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## KASH (Oct 6, 2009)

I hope you didn't pay much, Good Luck. It's not high fenced by chance is it? That is the only way I would even consider that area.


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

Don't know how far from San Diego you are, but, I had 2 friends that leased there years ago; both ranches sucked, noone killed deer, or even saw deer on those ranches, I wen't as a guest a few times. I guess it's super shot up/poached around there.

Funny thing was that on both ranches, my buddies saw lots of deer tracks all over the ranch when they wen't to go see the place for the first time, when the season started, there wasn't a deer to be seen....all season.

We came to the conclusion that the landowners would prolly let goats loose in the properties before showing them to hunters, so there would be tracks everywhere, then remove em'???


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## KASH (Oct 6, 2009)

I think all landowners own deer foot canes in that area.


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## Fuelin (Jun 21, 2005)

Yeah I hunted that area as a kid and never saw anything even then.


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## KASH (Oct 6, 2009)

Dove hunting is usually great in that area if you have a tank or are in the flyway, never seen many hogs in that area, but you will have plenty of corn hoovers (javelina).


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Friend has property there that paulss is talking about. On one of his game cameras he got a picture of a guy on horseback toting a rifle lol. 

One of the "neighbors".

TH


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

I just added a 3000 ac place b/t Freer and Benavidas to my list of hunting spots and it is covered up with deer and hogs. Fed year around and huge food plots on the place. Deer in the 140's killed this past season. Its not all bad if you find the right piece of property. Try to get a long term deal, feed the snot out of it and manage the place.. G-Luck


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## KASH (Oct 6, 2009)

Rack Ranch said:


> I just added a 3000 ac place b/t Freer and Benavidas to my list of hunting spots and it is covered up with deer and hogs. Fed year around and huge food plots on the place. Deer in the 140's killed this past season. Its not all bad if you find the right piece of property. Try to get a long term deal, feed the snot out of it and manage the place.. G-Luck


That's a little different than between Alice and San Diego, don't you think?


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

Thats a highly poached & over hunted area...the only good low fence places in duval are near 285, ramirez, and sejita, and west by the webb county and jim hogg border by crestonio and south of cr 263 from realitos.

You might want to look to leasing a place that borders the hidebrand ranch or formally the sweden some places are still low fenced and its 56,0000 acres so you can build a nice management program from that if being a long term lease. Most of the large ranches are high fenced but some of the wagner ranch is low fenced too so thats a nice location or places near the eshlman vogt ranch.

By 285 you will have mostly quail hunters leasing. since that big fire the was in brooks it moved alot of deer and turkeys into the southern portion of the county and alot of hunters had high success rates as to previous yrs.

If leasing know your neighbors and see if you can co-op with them or you will be wasting your money.....avoid the subdivision ranches and day hunt properties but you will only know that from talking with locals.

North near mcmullen border there are still some good places but the majority of the county has been hunted pretty heavy.......just do your research before leasing in duval. 

213 you will have immigrant bail outs, drug smuggling, and night hunters....you might see alot of hogs but deer numbers are low in that area. might think you have alot of deer from all the tracks but could be the same deer or only deer in the area.

You might not see anything crime wise but you will hear about it from locals.

There are 2 game wardens now in duval jesse garcia and some other man but dont know his name. But you will ony have 2 unless dove season wardens from neighboring counties help out in looking for violations.


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

^^^I hunted with a friend in Realitos 2 years ago, same deal there, no bucks killed off the ranch, lots of hogs though....


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

Whatcha talking bout willis?? I don't think anyone is talking about hunting the four miles between those two towns...........



KASH said:


> That's a little different than between Alice and San Diego, don't you think?


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

I remember the kaffie ranch had some big native deer almost like the deer you would see on the king ranch, that was just out side san diego.....what a cool ranch to visit growing up. Not sure if the ranch is still big like it used to be. I think its been broken up some.


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## KASH (Oct 6, 2009)

Rack Ranch said:


> Whatcha talking bout willis?? I don't think anyone is talking about hunting the four miles between those two towns...........


You know what I mean, would you trade your 3000 for 3000 in that area, we both know that answer, quit laughing.:cheers:


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

I grew up in the area... from your location description, that area is pretty far removed from San Diego and Benavides... that's a good thing.

I don't know your area personally, but because it's "out there" away from the townies, it should be better than being right up near town. That being said, I believe you are near Concepcion which could be just as bad as being near SD and Benavides (only with a lower population).

I grew up hunting between SD and Freer. Low fenced, plenty of deer, javelina, doves, quail, rattlesnakes, coyotes, bobcats, armadillo, badgers, you name it... and recently overrun with hogs within the past 10 years. We'd plant oats and get 15+ deer showing up every evening. Never killed anything too amazing, but I did get 2 bucks in the 130 range over my lifetime.

Haven't hunted in the past 5 years or so though, so I couldn't tell you what it's like today. But 5 years ago, it was still very good (for the 130 minus class of deer).


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## HELOLT (Aug 1, 2013)

We hunted there about seven years ago, we had plenty of hogs, deer was moderate. Road hunting in the area is a problem. Good luck to you.


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## pg542 (Oct 9, 2006)

I had a place out of SD off of El Toro rd about 10 yrs ago. Lotta hogs, good dove, saw 3 deer all, ALL season. It was a 1yr deal for me. I hunted almost every wknd too. There was 1 doe shot in our whole group. I know there are some good places in Duval cty but they're a long way from Alice and SD.


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## longhorn_cop (Dec 29, 2011)

Same story here. Buddy lives in alice. Have hunted places all around alice , san diego, west of fal. Saw some deer. No huge bucks. Young deer. Poachers were always around. If you live close maybe can keep an eye out. If not, could get bad.


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## KASH (Oct 6, 2009)

I was thinking that road came out of Alice back behind the women's prison, I must be mistaken. Is it the area south of Concepcion? If so I have actually seen deer there in numbers, albeit at night, but none the less deer were seen. I left that area in 98 and have not been back since other than driving through Freer going to Mexico, hogs would have been fun back then, never saw one.


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

I know a couple of low fenced people that just feed corn and border a big quail ranch by crestonio and they kill 160 class deer every other yr and dont really manage it but have been lucky to be in a good place and they have about 1200 acres. but their neighbor only hunts quail. 


same goes for some ranches off cr 313 and 312 you have better luck harvesting a 150 + buck than the rest of the county only from people ive known that have leased in those areas have had good success, and is still prime area for hunting and long term leasing.

For those that have ranches by realitos a friend of mine that bought sheds all over south tx last yr bought a right hand shed from a worker off a small low fenced ranch and had 15 pts 32" main beam and 7 inch base 14" g2 and 13" g3, and from the looks of it came from an old buck around 7 or 8 yrs but there were no high fences near by which freaked him out that a shed like that would come from that area. There are still big deer around just dont see them as much.

Toro road is notorious for poachers since its very secluded area.


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## T-Muney (Aug 12, 2005)

I hunted in the area for 3 years on 600 acres. Saw a lot of deer. Bigger bucks were 130ish.


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## wellconnected (May 30, 2005)

Have hunted this area for years growing up. I know some may tell of a few success stories, but as a norm, you will be lucky to see a deer with horns. I hunted some properties in the area where I did not see one deer all season. The area has been over hunted and poached probably as hard as any area in Texas. I truly wish I had better comments. One positive is the incredible dove hunting you will get!


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## tropicalsun (May 21, 2004)

I was on a quail lease in that are for many years, Sejita area. Biggest buck I have seen in Texas was there. 160s easy...marched right up the center of field a hundred yards from me while I watched with 20ga O/U in my hands. There are some good deer.


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## txsmith1 (Feb 13, 2012)

Had a place near Ramirez 2 years ago. Most of the deer population (which is minimal) is nocturnal. Plenty of pigs. +1 for poaching. Our trailer would get ransacked from time to time. Also had a blind stolen off our property. Fairly lawless land.


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

The sejita area used to be a couple of big ranches several thousand acres but was broken up into lots and blocks like south of realitos into 80-160 acres tracts.....some land owners bought out others to have bigger properties but most of it remains the original lots & blocks. Duval county , developers have profited off the land since the price per acre has not risen much over the yrs as neighboring counties and have broken up 500+ acre ranches in to 10-40 acres ranchettes, and thus increasing the price per acre and affecting the over all land value for the county.

You have alot of road hunters because of the lots and blocks since most of the tracts are surrounded by county roads on all 4 sides or 2 sides. If you border any ranches near the 285 corridor you should have fairly good hunting but immigrant traffic has been at its all time high so break ins on hunting camps is normal as so some hunters just leave their camps unlocked. 

The only time hunting was good in duval was in the 70s and 80s and early 90s after that most of the ranches were started to be divided and subdivided or high fenced. 

The 1930s to early 1950s hunting was not the best either since their was alot of over hunting and by then land had been overgrazed from sheep that took over in the 1900s and 1920s. Texas Parks and wildlife put a no hunting restriction for 5 yrs in duval in the 1960s when george parr was around, and almost every ranch in the county had high success and trophies but george parr still hunted from helicopter as well as other big ranches from other counties and ticked off alot of large land owners.

The welder estate was at one time one of the best hunting in the whole county, and dougherty properties as well as the clint mangus ranch.


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## Jock Ewing (Mar 26, 2006)

I have hunted the Parr ranch. It has great deer.


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

los orcones always historically had nice deer, but atlee brought some does TTT from laureles division king ranch and some urban deer from san antonio, and made a nice blend of genetics over a decade. 

The parr ranch has alot of fenceline hunters around the ranch and atlee decided to sell the southern portion of the ranch that borders los olmos subdivision. The miller ranch across the street was a nice place too for hunting but they have divided the ranch up and sold off a piece.


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## Cynoscion (Jun 4, 2009)

Great historical info Rangerfab! It is very sad to see big places chopped up and quality deer go by the wayside as a result.

I have caught some pretty good deer for folks out in that area over the years but they have all been on high fenced places.

Good luck!


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

^^X2 on knowledge of the history/area.


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

I grew up in duval most of my life so I know all the places in the county good and bad, and know most of the large land owners in the county as well. Duval county has more famous billionaires and millionaire land owners than any other neighboring county.

The klebergs used to hunt in duval back in the days when they leased land out for cattle for the king ranch mostly on the barronena and lasater ranches and some ranches north of freer...... back then deer were almost extinct anywhere by the coast since in the 1920s it was mostly grass land and oak motts had not invaded the area so deer were easy targets for trappers and hunters. 

laureles, norias kenedy and armstrong, el sauz, yturria had low population deer numbers and with the help of ceaser kleberg on wildlife management and the help of us fish and wildlife help bring back the numbers back in those times.


The last reported mule deer was in 1932 near freer and last reported herd of pronghorn was in 1955 on the gould ranch in jim hogg county. clint mangus had a herd of 200 buffalo on the now duval county ranch but all had to be shot when the usda found tuberculosis. Jagaurundi are prominent around the realitos area and cougars mostly follow santa gertrudis, olmos an macho creeks.


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## Mongo45 (Aug 3, 2013)

My grandfather has lived and ran a business (feedstore) on 1329 about 11 miles south gonzalitos store for 50+ years. He's leases and owned lots of ranches in that area.I've spent a lot if time down there, more in my younger years. There is deer down there just nothing overwhelming. Like others have stated the illegal/drug traffic is high and the poaching is probably 2nd to none. If you have water, you certain to have dove and turkeys.


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## Hookem2012 (Feb 24, 2012)

There are a couple of guys in Benavides to steer clear from. They play themselves off as lease brokers, and they are fast talkers. PM if you need details. Not here to publically bash anyone.


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## Leviathan (Dec 13, 2013)

I have a ranch a few miles away from Benavides H.S. on 2295. Is been in the family since the late 1800's. Hunted there since I was a little boy and still do now. Was leasing the land to a Benavidien until I found out he was subleasing the land to 6 other ppl. The land sits only on 100 acres of land. You can imagine my horror when I found out. 

Needless to say, I raised his lease cost by 100% the next season and heâ€™s been gone ever since. That was 5 years ago.

I agree with Hookem2012 if you need details, PM me.

Plenty of deer, hogs, quail, dove and the occasional turkey on my ranch.


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## Hookem2012 (Feb 24, 2012)

Leviathan said:


> I have a ranch a few miles away from Benavides H.S. on 2295. Is been in the family since the late 1800's. Hunted there since I was a little boy and still do now. Was leasing the land to a Benavidien until I found out he was subleasing the land to 6 other ppl. The land sits only on 100 acres of land. You can imagine my horror when I found out.
> 
> Needless to say, I raised his lease cost by 100% the next season and heâ€™s been gone ever since. That was 5 years ago.
> 
> ...


Possibly one of the same guys

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

Leviathan said:


> I have a ranch a few miles away from Benavides H.S. on 2295. Is been in the family since the late 1800's. Hunted there since I was a little boy and still do now. Was leasing the land to a Benavidien until I found out he was subleasing the land to 6 other ppl. The land sits only on 100 acres of land. You can imagine my horror when I found out.
> 
> Needless to say, I raised his lease cost by 100% the next season and heâ€™s been gone ever since. That was 5 years ago.
> 
> ...


Are u all going to lease that land out again? Sounds interesting.


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## Leviathan (Dec 13, 2013)

DCVA I sent you a PM.


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

Cool


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

hunting is fair off 2295 west of benavides high school but still alot of hunting pressure and road hunters. But dont expect a trophy unless your closer to the sweden ranch. most of the lease hunters in duval county are from the houston east tx area about 60% ,and the southern portion you have lease hunters from the mcallen and lower rio grande valley area. You also get your occasional lease hunters from miss and LA, alabama but they make up a small percentage. And about 1% from Cali and colorado and new york.

the middle portion between san diego and freer and la rosita area you have a mix of san antonio, austin and corpus.

Sub leasing is commonly practiced in the county but you do have your loyal long term lease people as well and watch out for the sub leases that day lease the property out thats pretty common too. I have heard people have had better hunting success in webb county than the coastal bend region but expect to pay more.


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

Overall deer population is low unless you are lucky and border a large place. I know a couple people that have nice deer, but they also have nice high fences. 

Fortunately it's still a five deer county since TPW carefully analyzes deer population and really understands what is going on with the deer population they have responsibility of managing.


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## SoTxCoog (Sep 19, 2012)

My experience to date (knock on wood), has been fairly positive in Duval county. Know most or all neighbors, get along with them too. Only a couple d times in 3 years have we had a cut in our fence but we figured that was probably someone screwing with us or an illegal passing through. We have game cameras set up at house, along fences, at gates, internal ranches. We would know if someone were coming through to poach.

You can find good deer in the county, the problem is there just don't seem to be that many deer. I would guess we see an average of 1 deer per 20 acres or so. They can also become quite nocturnal during the season.

I recommend feeding protein, setting up LOTS of cameras, and doing your homework. If all works out you will just appreciate it more.

Dove can be great. Pigs too.


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## rangerfab (Aug 22, 2012)

the drug smugglers use the pipelines from south duval west of 16 all the way up freer so most of your fence cutting will be there since its mostly secluded......and they cut high fences too maybe about 3 times a yr. So be careful with your deer stock. Also north duval near 624.

Had a landowner off las lomas road that purchased a high fence ranch and his first yr saw a group of armed mules back packing the pipeline north to freer. 

Immigrant traffic has slowed down east of realitos but is still prominent along the rail road from realitos to hebbronville as well as 716 concepcion area and towards premont.


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## Jamie (Aug 2, 2011)

I owned a 4,000 acre place there for a few years back in, like, 2007.

We managed the deer and had food plots but we didn't feed protein.

We had a ton of deer. Best we killed while we owned it was a 160, couple of 150s and a lot of 140s.

We had pics out of the helicopter of some few 170's.

I liked the area but for whatever the reason it never produced the level of deer we had on our Cotulla place.

Still, I liked the country and the dove hunt was incredible.

If you can find the right piece of property down there, by all means lease it.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=604890&highlight

TH


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