Top New Year’s Resolutions for Successful Hunting in Texas

As we enter the second month of 2024, it’s time to stop and check in on our New Year’s
Resolutions. No, we’re not talking about your weight loss goal, personal habits
improvement, or your promise to finally get the garage organized; we’re talking about
your goal to up your game and experience successful hunting in Texas!

Any seasoned hunter knows that the hunting season for most particular games never ends.
Rather, we just move from active hunt to active preparation. With that perspective in
mind, let’s discuss some excellent New Year’s resolutions for hunters.

1. Clean Your Weapons
Resolve to clean your hunting weapons after every hunt, whether you’ve been
successful or not. Clean inside and out, oil anywhere metal touches metal, and
use heavy metal remover every time you’ve fired your gun. If you took your gun
out in rain, snow, or mud, disassemble it and thoroughly clean it.

Following this routine will improve your accuracy, boost your self-discipline, and
ultimately make your costly gear last many years longer than it would if you
neglected it.

2. Organize Your Gear
You may not feel like spending a weekend organizing your hunting gear, but the
feeling of knowing you’re ready to take any opportunity to jump in your truck and
hit the hunting trails can’t be overstated. You don’t have to get ready if you stay
ready.

3. Practice Your Marksmanship
Can’t get out of town for a hunt but have a hankering for some sport? Take your
gun out and work on your marksmanship. Like any other skill, your aim is
only as good as the effort you are willing to invest into it.

4. Take a Friend Hunting
Remember when you first learned to hunt? Whether you learned from your
father, uncle, or a family friend, you are no doubt grateful for their lessons. You
wouldn’t be the hunter you are today without that series of introductions to the
sport.

This year, resolve to be someone else’s mentor. Pass along the knowledge and
heritage of hunters who brought this skill to you.

5. Cook up Some New Game Recipes
Unless the hunt is rough on you all year, you’re going to have some delicious
game to cook up before long. Instead of relying on the same old recipes and
techniques you’ve used for years, branch out a bit! The internet is a great
resource for tips and tricks to level up your game cooking skills.

Once you find a recipe (or three) you love, invite friends to share the meal(s). Nothing will give someone a positive perspective on hunting like enjoying flavorful meats the grocery store just can’t offer.

6. Plan a Hunting Trip
Of course, hunters deserve vacations, too! This year, we’d love to see you here at
Nine Bar Ranch. Take a look at the incredible packages we offer, choose the game
you are most interested in tackling, and then book the getaway of your dreams. We
can’t wait to hunt alongside you, and join you around the campfire after sunset.
Happy Hunting!

4 Cold Weather Hunting Mistakes to Avoid

Winter hunting can be tranquil and restorative, but it can certainly be uncomfortable and challenging as well. It isn’t easy to wake up at 3 a.m. on a frosty Texas morning and head out into the wilderness, yet success rates of hunting on days like these make it worth the effort. 

With proper preparation, you can adapt your hunting skills to suit any time of year. Avoiding the following four cold weather hunting mistakes will give you a great jumping-off point – but we do recommend that all hunters create their own custom plans for hunting in any weather. 

At Nine Bar Ranch, our winter hunting packages include Whitetail Deer, Aoudad, Red Stag, and Fallow Deer hunts in addition to the Wild Boar hunts we offer year-round. If hunting options are slim near you, we invite you to join us in a true prize game pursuit! Take home your meat as well as your trophy and incredible photos to share with your friends and family. Hunting this winter here at the Ranch will be the most memorable hunting trip you and your party have ever had. We look forward to meeting you. 

Four Cold Weather Hunting Mistakes to Avoid

1. Wearing the Wrong Gear 

No one wants to be out hunting while cold or wet, so it’s natural to want to bundle up for comfort and safety. However, it is also possible to be wearing too many layers, resulting in clumsy movements or even overheating. 

We recommend wearing wool base layers, then a Gore-Tex jacket, a wool cap, wool fingerless gloves, and a lightweight, synthetic or wool scarf that you can pull up over your mouth and nose to stay warm. 

If the weather forecast predicts a late-morning heat spike, leave room to stash layers in your pack as you go. 

2. Hunting Hungry

Cold weather can sap your strength because keeping yourself warm burns calories rapidly. Bring trail mix, jerky, dried fruit, hard-boiled eggs, or mixed nuts. These items are lightweight, calorie-dense, and full of a broad range of nutrients to fuel your hunt. 

3. Zero Hydration Situations

You may have left home with a travel tumbler of coffee, but it’s 9 a.m., the sun is beginning to warm the ground, and your layers mean you’re getting thirsty. 

Don’t get caught off-guard by this common mistake! Hunting while thirsty means hunting while distracted, and distracted hunts usually fail. Bring a full bottle of water and sip it slowly yet regularly as you wait for the game to cross your path. 

4. Skipping Rainy Mornings

Very few of us wake up in the pouring rain and feel excited about heading outdoors. Still, we recommend persevering through weather challenges and wearing the proper outwear to make sloshy conditions bearable. 

Deer love the sound cover, scent masking, and fresh hydration rain brings, so you are quite likely to encounter MORE deer in the rain than you would on a crisp, dry morning. 

The Takeaway

Cold weather hunting is a challenge, but the rewards are well worth the extra effort required to persevere. If you’re a serious hunter, avoid our four common winter hunting mistakes, and bring home the buck you’ve been pursuing since October. 

5 Tips for Successful Winter Hunting in TX

As enjoyable as the holidays can be, it’s no secret that many of us struggle with the unrelenting, frenzied activity leading up to Christmas and New Year’s Eve. If you are looking to relax, get away from it all, and reconnect with the beauty of fall and winter outside of the commercialized aspects, winter hunting in TX is the best way to make it happen!

In December, Texas has a wide variety of game animals in season. With an Annual Public Hunting Permit (available for just $48,) you gain access to more than 1 million acres of Texas hunting land. With this permit, you are also invited to begin scouting for prime hunting spots a full week before your target game’s season opens.

To find the best locations for your hunt, start with the public hunting map. While crowds tend to pack in on any given animal’s opening week, you can beat the rush by heading out as early as possible, hunting mid-week as often as you can, and choosing spots that cover more challenging terrain that might deter less capable hunters. 

In December, the following game is in season: 

  • Javelina
  • Mule Deer
  • Squirrel
  • White-tailed Deer
  • Chacala
  • Pheasant 
  • Quail
  • Rio Grande Turkey
  • Dove
  • Duck 
  • Goose
  • Rails
  • Gallinules
  • Moorhens
  • Sandhill Cranes
  • Snipe
  • Teal 
  • Woodcock
  • Rabbits
  • Hares

To learn more about our state’s robust public hunting program, check out the Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine story, Hunting for a Place to Hunt? 

Nine Bar Ranch’s Winter Experience

Of course, the best way to avoid crowds as a hunter is to book an exclusive hunting trip at Nine Bar Ranch. Our winter hunting offerings are more diverse than those found in the wild, and include the following:

  • Aoudad
  • Red Stag
  • Fallow Deer
  • Sika Deer
  • Wild boar
  • Scimitar Horned Oryx

Our spots for holiday hunting packages do tend to sell quickly, so please contact us as soon as you can to reserve your desired dates and game package. 

Hunting at Nine Bar Ranch in Decatur is private and customized to your plans, yet remains a challenging and satisfying experience. Stay for two days, sleep in our cozy hunter’s lodges, relax around a roaring campfire at the end of a long day, and enjoy the option of having our crew dress and pack your game for you to take home with you.

Whether you hunt here at the ranch or out in the wilds of Texas on public land, we wish you a relaxing and successful winter hunting season. Happy holidays from our family to yours!

Is Hog Hunting in Texas Permitted Year Round?

Here in North Texas, we’re in the midst of the fall hunting season. In early November, the general white-tailed deer, turkey, and duck hunting seasons open while the dove hunting season temporarily comes to a close. What you may not realize is that hog hunting in Texas is permitted year round. Why is that the case and what should you know about it? Read on to find out.

Why Are There No Time Limits on Hog Hunting?

There are an estimated four to six million hogs across North America, and roughly half of them are right here in Texas. Hogs have become one of the most destructive invasive species to walk our lands, destroying crops and making beautiful parks dangerous for visitors.

Hogs have no natural predators in Texas and reproduce at a high rate. They’re tough creatures, surviving in just about any climate and evading the traps set by frustrated farmers and public groundskeepers. Hog hunting is a year-round activity in Texas because state officials determined an unending open season the best way to control this stubborn population.

Do You Need a License for Year-Round Hog Hunting in Texas?

Any seasoned hunter would naturally assume that you need a valid hunting license to hunt wild hogs. As of 2019, the state lifted this requirement under specific circumstances. If you have permission to hunt wild hogs on private land, you do not need a hunting license to do so.

That said, you always need a hunting license to hunt public lands in Texas, even when you’re specifically tracking hogs.

When Is the Best Time of Year for Hog Hunting?

Though you can hunt hogs at any time in Texas, you may find it easier to find and bag them at certain times of year than others. Many people reserve their hog hunting for the spring, specifically between the months of March and May.

By far, you’re going to have the best luck between December and February. In the winter months, hogs have to work harder to find food, which means they’re moving more frequently and exposing themselves to keen hunters.

Why Choose NineBar Ranch for Hog Hunting in North Texas?

The hog population may be booming, but that doesn’t mean that hogs are easy to find. At NineBar Ranch, we foster conditions that keep hogs nearby without sacrificing the challenge of the hunt.

Tips for Fall Hunting in North Texas

The summer is behind us and it’s time to prep your gear for hunting in North Texas. At Nine Bar Ranch, we’re always looking to share our expertise with new and experienced hunters alike. Read on for five fall hunting tips you won’t want to miss.

Extend Deer Season with Archery

White-tail deer are active this time of year and you may not want to wait until November to start hunting them. Fortunately, you can get started as early as the end of September if you’re willing to give archery a try. Bowhunting requires a whole new set of skills and mastering the art can bring you back to that thrill of your first bagged deer.

Prep for Thanksgiving with Turkey Hunting

The fall and winter holidays will be here before you know it, and what better way to celebrate than with a turkey you caught yourself? Most Texas hunters associate the turkey hunt with spring, but you’ve got another opportunity between November and December. That said, turkeys tend to gather in large numbers in the fall, and you’ll need high-quality camo to escape their keen sight.

Get Ready for the Rut

Seasoned hunters know that the rut is the best time to go searching for a buck. When bucks are tracking the scent of does, they throw caution to the wind, moving out in the open and paying less attention to the sounds and smells of nearby hunters. Unlike the southern part of the state, the rut in North Texas can begin as early as October, and you won’t want to miss this window to bag an impressive buck.

Track Cold Fronts

Though we get most of our below-freezing temperatures in the winter, there are occasional cold fronts that pass through North Texas in the late fall. If you get the chance, schedule a hunting trip the day before the temperature is predicted to drop drastically. Many animals, including deer, tend to increase activity when they sense a major shift in weather, seeking out plenty of food to sustain them through the coming chill.

Go for Exotic Game

White-tail deer and wild turkeys are great native species to include on your North Texas hunting bucket list. However, at Nine Bar Ranch, you aren’t limited to the animals that call Texas home. We’ve got populations of aoudads, sika, red stags, and more, so book your trip today.

Best Places to Hunt in North Texas

Best Places to Hunt in North Texas

As we approach the fall hunting season, Texas hunters around the state are getting their permits, scheduling their hunting trips, and entering the public drawing system. If you don’t want to travel far west to the Edwards Plateau or down to the South Plains, what are your options?  We’re here to talk about a few of the more accessible hunting spots in the North Texas area that you can knock off your bucket list this season.

The Post Oak Savannah is a long stretch of land that spans from North Texas to parts of South Texas, creating a border between the prairie land to the east and the forest to the west. While much of it consists of private land, there is one WMA bordering North and East Texas that hunters can enjoy, and that’s Engeling.

For small game, Engeling is open to all who have their Annual Public Hunting permit. For deer hunting opportunities, hunters can enter the public drawing system with a better chance of winning, as typically only a few hundred people (as opposed to thousands) try to snag Engeling each year.

The Piney Woods are North Texas’s claim to fame when it comes to both big and small game hunting. However, much of the Piney Woods have been divided up into lots that are controlled by private owners. If you’re looking for a public hunting opportunity not too far from Dallas, it’s time to head to Lake O’ the Pines.

Lake O’ the Pines is home to hogs, ducks, squirrels, and deer. For best luck sighting deer, head to areas that are flush with oak trees, including the lake’s upper floodplain.

Nine Bar Ranch

If you’re planning a weekend hunting trip in North Texas, check out Nine Bar Ranch. Located just east of Decatur, we offer some of the best hunting opportunities North Texas has to offer—with lodging to boot. Nine Bar Ranch is comprised of over 12,000 acres of land, offering diverse topography that supports wildlife ranging from whitetail to sika to hogs and more.

The fall hunting season is right around the corner, kicking off with dove hunting and moving swiftly into deer and whitetail season. To book your trip, contact us today.

Can I Train My Dog to be a Hunting Dog?

Dogs are some of the best companions when you’re on the hunt, especially those that were bred to track, retrieve, or expose game. However, even hunting breeds will need training before you bring them out in the field. Let’s look at the signs that your dog could be trained to be a hunting dog, regardless of breed.

Fitness and Obedience

A hunting dog needs to be quick, agile, and adaptive. If your dog isn’t in good physical shape, she’s at risk of getting injured during a hunt, especially if you’re hunting big game. In addition to physical fitness, a suitable hunting dog is going to listen to commands and respect your authority. If you can’t get your dog to hold a simple sit-and-stay, it’s more likely that she’ll scare animals away than help you bag them.

A Sharp Nose

Dogs have a much sharper sense of smell than we do and can smell a wild animal long before you’ll ever see or hear it. Take your dog on a walk through the woods and see where she guides you—if she’s immediately treeing squirrels and pointing at birds, her sense of smell is well-attuned to game. Unfortunately, not all dogs have the gift of sharp smell. Breeds with short airways, like pugs and bull dogs, aren’t quite as powerful in the olfactory department.

Consistent Retrieval

Toy-driven puppies tend to excel at retrieval. If your dog takes naturally to the game of fetch, you can train her to retrieve your fallen game. To graduate from tennis balls to fowl, practice a no-throw game of fetch using decoys, rewarding her when she locates and returns each one. Not only can this develop her recall, but it can also prepare her for blind retrieval.

Limited Reactivity to Sound

If you haven’t tested your dog’s sound reactivity and desensitized her to gunshots, she may take off the second you aim and fire. With the help of another hunter positioned at least fifty yards away, toss something for her to fetch seconds before your training partner fires a gun. Continue this process, closing the gap and rewarding her until she’s no longer scared of the sound.

At Nine Bar Ranch, we welcome experienced hunting dogs and their owners. Contact us to learn more about our packages or schedule your next trip.

Tips for Deer Hunters in Texas Summer Heat

Tips for Deer Hunters in Texas Summer Heat

There are a ton of advantages of hunting in Texas, and one of them is that there is available game all year round. That said, a lot of our native deer species are off-limits in the heat of the summer.

Does that mean that there’s nothing you can do as a deer hunter in the coming months? Not at all. We’ve got a few tips you’ll want to use before the summer is over.

Start Scouting

Scouting out the deer population in the summer in preparation for the fall isn’t a flawless system. Plenty of the bucks you spot in the summer are bound to shift to a new home range in the fall.

Still, a combination of trail camera and long-distance scouting can help you take an early inventory and assess the popularity and livability of your favorite hunting ground. Where there is a strong doe population, there is often a strong buck population during the rut. This is also a great time to start looking for new hunting ground, like Nine Bar Ranch, and reserve some trips before hunting season gets underway.

Do Some Target Practice

At Nine Bar Ranch, we’ve created the optimal conditions for your hunting trip. Still, you’ll need to be a sharpshooter or accurate archer to take down a swift-moving and self-protecting deer.

Don’t get rusty during the off-season. Head to your local range for some target practice. This is especially important if you’re planning on using a new gun or bow in the fall and you haven’t developed that much-needed muscle memory with it yet. When you have a deer in your sight, you don’t want to have to stop and think about what to do next.

Branch Out from Whitetail Deer

The whitetail season doesn’t start until the end of September for archers and even later for everyone else. The good news is that in Texas, you don’t have to switch to birds and small game to enjoy hunting in the heat of the summer if you don’t want to.

Sika, axis, and fallow deer are all part of our year-round hunting season. You can hunt all three of these deer populations at Nine Bare Ranch and these impressive species provide a memorable and exciting experience.

Ready to schedule your upcoming deer hunting trips to Nine Bar Ranch? Contact us today!

North Texas Wild Boar Hunting Tips

Here in Texas, we aren’t too thrilled about our wild boar situation, but we have to admit that it has led to some excellent hunting! North Texas wild boar are a unique game hunting experience: techniques for tracking, approach, aiming, and takedown are all somewhat different from what you’re used to if deer, turkeys, and doves have represented the bulk of your hunting portfolio so far.

Today, we’re sharing our North Texas wild boar hunting tips! Read on to learn just how to bag one of these invasive animals for yourself in 2023.

Tracking Wild Boar

Like their domestic counterparts, wild boars love to eat! If you’re hunting with us here at 9 Bar Ranch, we’ll be able to scour our feeding stations for our targets. If you’re on your own in the wild north of here, keep an eye out for circling vultures. If the carrion is large enough, wild boar will gather around to join the vultures for a meal.

Essentially, when it comes to boars, the stinkier the food, the happier they are! Use this to your advantage anytime you’re tracking them. 

How to Safely Approach Wild Boar

Wild boars are the fearless kings of their surroundings. Their intimidating size, impressively thick hides, and enormous tusks completely protect them from would-be predators. As a result, they aren’t too picky about their surroundings, and don’t stay on high alert like vulnerable deer and gazelle species.

Furthermore, boar are mostly blind. They rely on their noses (and to a lesser extent, their ears) to clue them in to their surroundings. If you stay downwind of them, take a stealthy approach, and mask your own scent for good measure, it’s unlikely that your presence will be detected by boars.

Where to Aim

When you’ve located a herd of boar, and have narrowed the gap between you and them, it’s time to take aim. Now, boar have incredibly tough skin. Their heads and shoulders serve as their armor. If you shoot them in the shoulder, their strong flesh and thick fat can close up behind the bullet, leaving not so much as a trail of blood as they flee.

Consider that they have delicious shoulder meat as well! Therefore, we recommend that you aim directly behind a boar’s ear. This spot will have the greatest impact on them while preserving their tastiest cuts of meat.

It Takes More Than One Shot

Once in a while, one perfect alignment of timing, aim, and the position of a boar’s head MAY result in a one-shot kill. Because this is unlikely to happen on your hunt, we recommend that all hunters prepare to deliver two or more shots as quickly as possible.

SHOOT UNTIL THE ANIMAL STOPS MOVING.

The Takeaway

These powerful animals are not easy to bring to their knees—but you can make it happen.

To book your wild boar hunt at 9 Bar Ranch, please contact us today!

 

 

Pros and Cons of Hunting Alone

At 9 Bar Ranch, we love to hunt both solo and in small groups for wild boar, deer, and small game that makes its home here just NW of Fort Worth, Texas. There are times when hunting solo is just the meditative experience you need, while at other times, having company along makes the hunt a fun, social event. Today, we’re sharing our own list of pros and cons of hunting alone. This list draws on our experiences, but will likely apply to you as well.

Pro: You can enjoy quiet independence.

We are highly experienced in hunting both here on the ranch and in the surrounding countryside. We know which signs to look for, how the day’s weather will affect the game, and how the direction of the wind will impact our scent carrying.

With all this shared experience, you might think we’d agree on the best approach for tracking down our game. Instead, it’s more common for us to disagree!

When we hunt solo, we don’t waste time and energy discussing our competing plans. Instead, all we have to do is think through one plan, then execute it immediately. When we’re happy with our cover, we can hunker down as long as we like. When we want to move, we just get up and move; no chatter or bickering will alert nearby game to our movement.

In short, hunting solo means you can move twice as quickly with half the noise.

Mixed Bag: No Shared Job System

Usually, a group hunting party will create a system that rotates who shoots and who calls. If you’re hunting on your own, you’ll have to manage both calling and shooting.

Now, if you’re hunting for whitetail, pronghorn, or mule deer, this isn’t an issue. These animals don’t respond to calls, and tend to present hunters with only a fleeting chance to fire.

If you’re planning to hunt callable game like turkeys, ducks, doves, and coyotes, taking a teammate with you will improve your success ratio.

Con: Recovery and Pack Out

We can’t be the only hunters who have taken down game only to be unable to find the downed animal if it bolts. This frustrating experience is less likely to happen to  you if you have an extra pair of peepers helping keep a lookout.

Packing out the meat is an arduous chore for all but small game. If you have a buddy with you, this part of the hunt goes much more quickly.

Mix it Up

The alternative here is to combine your favorite parts of solo and group hunting. If you’re planning to be out for the entire day, you could spend your morning with your hunting partner, then spend the evening doing your own thing on your own. You can then meet back up to either camp or head back home. 

The Takeaway

There’s no one approach that’s better across the board. Instead, consider what you want out of your hunting experience, then factor in the kind of game you’re going after. For some hunters, the result is all that matters, while for others, the experience is king

Anyway you go, we wish you happy hunting!

We look forward to answering any questions you may have.

DECATUR OFFICE

940-626-4948

WICHITA FALLS OFFICE

940-723-8125

JIM BOB LITTLE

940-393-5853

jimbob@ninebarranch.com

come relax at this historic Texas ranch

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