The opening day of hunting season in Texas always kicks off on September first, regardless of which day of the week it falls on. This year it was on hump days, so the first hunting trip of the year took place on Friday. The plan was to leave South Austin a little before 6 am and hope to avoid all traffic and head 30 miles east of Georgetown. There are two areas to hunt, Still farms, a private farm leased out to the public land use, and Granger lake. Both are open for the start of dove, and you can shoot hogs on Still Farms, Archery only for Lake Granger for hogs, e-post card draw for archery deer.
Opening Day Checklist
- 2021-2022 Hunting Season License
- Texas public land permit and
- Supermax set of tags
- Shotgun with #7 ammo for dove
- Buckshot for a Hog
- Boots and Camo
- Texas Pride
Still Farms | Opening Day Dove
This was my first attempt at dove hunting, so I didn’t know much about how it’s done. My first stop at the Stiles Farms just a few blocks outside of Thrall Texas in both directions, was slammed with other hunters. So I headed to the southern unit where there were less cars. They had a sign on the entrance, “closed today for farming”. But there was a group on the far fence line with nice fancy spinner decoys and they were firing off shots every few minutes. There were two ponds that looked good for duck hunting. Not sure if there is enough cover for hogs.
Hunting Stop #2 Granger Lake
Granger Lake is a United States Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the San Gabriel River in central Texas The lake is located near the towns of Granger and Taylor, in Williamson County. It’s boasts almost 11,000 acres of hunting land that surrounds much of the lake. After my first visit, it looked like it might be fun to travel between areas in the big fishing boat. There is also one nice access point for the canyon up the river. There are 4 major units of the lake.
San Gabriel Unit
My first trip was to 2 locations inside the San Gabriel Unit on the south west side of the lake. I took my rabbit in the larger more open area near the bank of the main lake. On the way back I checked out the Cameo Landing on the river. It was a nice spot and maybe a good area for teal and duck. There is also a campground on the other side of the river, but I didn’t make it there. There are two campgrounds and parks that are off limits to hunting, but probably nice facilities and right next to wide open Texas Public Hunting Land.
Hunting Units on Granger Lake
- San Gabriel Unit
- Willies Creek Unit
- Sore Finger Unit
- Pecan Grove Unit
Rabbit Hunting in Texas
You can shoot rabbits in many of the public hunting grounds in the lone star state. While out trying to land a few dove. I was lucky enough to take my first meal on public land this year. The whitetail was a fine dinner on a trip I will never forget.