Howdy,
Looking to purchase around 75-150 acres of land hopefully within the next year. Just waiting for the right place to pop up. I'm in south Texas so I'm looking at Duval county due to proximity. I am open to any location within about two hours of corpus. I've heard a lot of mixed things regarding freer, San Diego etc.

To be fair all of the old threads I've searched go back to the early 2000s. For those of y'all who do hunt Duval, would you say things have improved or more of the same regarding poor deer populations/poaching/hunting pressure? I'm more of a bird hunting guy but would enjoy to have the opportunity to kill a few deer.
Appreciate any insight.
Thanks.

Five years ago I had similar thoughts and reservations prior to purchasing our property NE of Freer in Duval County. It's in the same acreage range that you're considering.

I phoned the two Duval County game wardens and the county biologist to get their takes. FWIW, all, especially the game wardens, cited years of focus on cleaning things up in the county, especially in regard to poaching, spotlighting, trespassing and everything else associated with nefarious activity that Duval County had become known for.

From my own personal experience, I have not had any know issues of trespassing, poaching, etc. on our property. The one white pickup that I caught on a game camera turned out to be AEP, checking meters. To add, we are literally on 59 and have the ability to drive a side by side along the perimeter fencelines and have not come across any signs of illegals.

I've found that the folks who own businesses in town are friendly and quick to help with a name and number of other people who do work associated with rural ownership--AC service, irrigation lines, roof work, etc. The seller's real estate agent was also a big help in this regard, as well.

Based on past experience on previous ownership in Edwards County, you're likely going to experience more headaches if you're purchasing acreage in a subdivision.

Naturally, your results may vary. Best of luck, and enjoy!

ETA, we have plenty, and likely too many, deer. Mostly nocturnal hogs, sometimes javelina, and a covey or two of bobs. During spring on occasion, turkey. Dove hunting can be good, some years better than others. Looking forward to TPWD approving a Sept. 1 south zone start for this year.

A buddy of mine has about 600acres in duval almost halfway between SD and freer. Gets good deer numbers. Not a lot of mature bucks but His one or two stud bucks are probably touching 150. he feeds corn year around and some protein. Never had issues with trespassing or illegals. Dove hunting is decent. And there are native quail (we've never been able to get on em even with dogs ). Plenty of hogs and turkey as well


IMO the land is good value and there's definitely game but it's rough- rocky/Sandy , thorny and brushy , not a lot of nice trees, etc.

If you're driving home after a long day or a hunt , the DQ in San Diego always sounds like a good idea. And it's always a terrible idea so just avoid it lol. But the luchese store and Lowe's in town are friendly and helpful and should have most of everything you need.

Contact Luke Rogers (Class of '06) at Texas Land Associates to assist you in finding a property in that county. They specialize in farm and ranch properties, but also deal with smaller properties. He is based out of San Antonio but has done lots of deals in south Texas.

By the way, I was invited by a co-worker to dove hunt on his lease several years ago in Premont (next to Duval county). Without a doubt, that was the best dove hunt I had ever been on. The dove were numerous and our party shot 72 dove in about 45 minutes one evening.

Texas Land Associates

We were on a lease around 5 miles Sw of Benavides years ago. On the road to Realitos. There were too many smaller ranches in that area and we never shot any deer over 150. But the dove hunting around the pond was always awesome. Also had some bob whites and blues. We figured out the deer were not as advertised the first year but stayed a couple more due to the dove hunting. The only downside I remember were the ranch roads often being wet /muddy and really bad during the winter hunting season than our hunting out West of there over the years so on average it rains more the closer to the coast you get.

I've got just over 200 in Duval county located south of Concepcion. I've never had any issues with people down there. I've got plenty of deer, dove, quail, hogs and javelinas. I've done alot to foster the habitat and made it a nice place for the animals. Thankfully I don't have alot of hunting pressure around me. The closer you get to Benavides the worse it is with ranchitos everywhere. You don't want to border any of that stuff. San Diego has its fair share too so be aware there too. I may put my place up for sale so I can step down and have a smaller place but we shall see. I've been looking around but just haven't found just the right place. Good luck.

Someone is trying to put in a sub-division on 285 between Falfurrias and Hebbronville, not sure how they are going to pull that off with the lack of utilities out there, but they are selling land.

Several other places with for sale signs on the FM roads around Benevidez and Conception.

I'm looking northeast of freer right now. Most places are between 50 and 200 acres but pretty wild. Surprisingly number of ponds with water as well. Would like to have bigger neighbors (wouldn't we all) but this seems to be the norm for these areas now. Our family place growing up had a bunch of 15-40 acre places that surrounded us and ruined it so I'm trying to avoid getting in that situation again.

We'd practically be neighbors.

https://www.land.com/Duval-County-TX/all-land/bounds-27.955475905654893-n98.47134753671303-28.061627416877243-n98.39464065087324/

I went and looked at one of the places in that map and decided it wasnt for me. Its a tough market for sure.