I think you really want to consider:

what region of Texas (differences is habitat, water, etc.)

is there supplemental feed or food plots?

are you just looking to shoot a deer and have fun or do you really care about mature trophy deer hunting?

and finally, from a safety perspective, think about rifle hunters and their proximity to each other and whether or not you mandate staying in the blind because of how close hunters might be to each other.

With all that said I think you end up with ONE high quality buck per 500 acres in South Texas and West Texas; and maybe ONE per 300 acres in East Texas.

The Hill Country seems different because there are so many deer and so many small properties and if you have water, the deer congregate from all surrounding areas. In general the deer are the poorest quality, but I have seen places with NO quality deer and I have seen times (like right now around good water and protein feeders) when I have seen four great quality hill country bucks at the same time on a 82 acre free range parcel.

Hunt Hard. Fish Smart. Explore Texas.

I am thinking more in terms of saftey with my question, rather than quality/size of game.  I just want to know what is the minimum acreage for 3-4 hunters max and it remain safe.  My main goal here is safe and fun for the family.

also the region of Texas is West/Central  (Abilene to Ft Worth) anywhere inbetween.

I have 4 blinds set up on our 200 acres in Brown County.  But we never have more than three rifles out at a time.  Two rifles are ideal; me and Dad.  I might get four bows out there if I have an extra buddy with us and its nice to have the extra eyes scouting for rifle season.  Never more than that.

We have three  2 acre tanks and will push the birds around really good when dove and duck seasons roll around though.  With ducks, we have a get together on closing weekend and get three guys on each tank and never run out of birds.  We see a good influx of birds every year and the closing weekend shoot doesn't seem to negatively impact things.  It's more about the fellowship anyway.

Just the way we work things on our place.  Haven't had any trouble, we're safe, and it works for us. 

Generally speaking, I don't see any reason the I-20 stretch between FTW and Abilene couldn't be hunted similarly - 1 hunter per 70 to 100 acres.  That should get meat on the table, but like Jason said, maybe one solid buck a year on 500 acres.  I am sure the hunter density and pressure is higher in some places along the 20 Corridor.

I'd be more conservative than Andrew about hunting the I-20 corridor.  When you think about it with an almost even split between 1 and 2 buck Counties, and if everyone hunted 1 hunter per 70 acres it wouldn't be too long until the deer population really took a hit, especially if everyone tried to fill their tags.  And, hunter density depends on deer density...it gets back to the old food and cover discussion, as well as the size ranches in your specific area (read hunting pressure).  If you want a decent deer herd, not a trophy one, in general I'd shoot for 200-300 acres a hunter.  Believe me, I know that's pretty much a pipe dream with lease and land prices the way they are these days.  But, if you get much lower density than that and really hunt, at least in my experience, in WTX the herd eventually suffers.

It really depends where the land is located and the terrain.  In a heavily wooded area 100 to 125 per gun is reasonably safe. In open crop loand with mixed mesquites it at least doubles that. I've sat in the middle of a 300 acre rectangular field of oats and hunted the whole thing up near Seymour. I have also sat within 200 yards of another bowhunter in old growth oaks along the Brazos in Palo Pinto Co.

"It takes 32 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, but only 3 for a proper trigger pull."

David does have a good point about filling tags.  I bet it would be tough to sustain a herd for someone looking to fill tags every 70 or 100 acres.  But surely, a modest 1 MAYBE 2 deer off of that 70 or 100 acres would work, right?  The biologist we had come out said it shouldn't be a problem on our place.  David and McClain are right it definitely depends on the terrain and food/cover.

I may be echoing another forum's post I read, but what about the economics of going up to 200-300 acres per gun?  Just food for thought; and venting a little about price escalations in general.  (Seems to be a farily common topic of late.) 

Figure land is going for $1,500/acre (again depends on area, but keep the math simple) on average and you want 200 acres per gun.  Blech...$300,000 per gun to buy a decent deer hunting place.  For a family of 4 hunters you are talking $1,200,000.  Plus fuel, corn (it really is up around $10.00 per 50# bag), and other associated costs.  That price tag wasn't realistic for us and we adjusted our expectations accordingly (1 to 2 deer a year times two hunters).

Anybody else out there have some insight?

Andrew,

I agree - the price of land is getting insane.  10 years ago it was way less than half the price it is today, sometimes less than a quarter depending where you're talking about.  In ETX you'll have to work very hard to but land for under $2,000/ac.  The places I've looked at in Coleman Co. usually aren't less than $1,500/ac, and you really wonder what you're getting at that price.  If you lease land, with prices lately getting up into the $8-10/acre range, at 200 ac/hunter that's anywhere from $1,600 to $2,000 a gun.

We're considering getting a small place...problem is, it keeps getting smaller!!!!