Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge

[howabouttheiris]

Arrived at 3:00 for the evening hunt. One hunter registered on site.

Met the other hunter walking back to move his truck. He apparently just arrived, walked 500 yards and shot a spike, just off the entry road.

Deer were already in motion, we spooked 3 does on the way into the blind, they seen us long before we seen them ... Got settled in and then the heaven opened. At last check 5.25" according to lcra. Gave up after seeing nothing by 5:15 with no signs of it letting up... Easier to walk out with some light.

Half way out had a shot at a doe.... don't want to talk about it.

[howabouttheiris]

OK, now I want to talk about it (see previous post)

Arrived on site at 5:30AM. Walked back to the blind, as all roads except the gate road were impassable. Waited for sunrise, then set to work searching for the doe that I was forced to give up on in the sleet/storm the night before. Found it, dressed 72lbs, ~18m old. Luckily it was colder than a fridge out.

Took care of the paperwork, processing, etc.... went back out with the buck tag. Seen a nice buck but it pulled a David Copperfield and did not come out of the other side of the cedar it had walked behind.

One more kick at using the tag tomorrow.

ps if you setup in the far SW corner, ensure you are capable of making it there in all weather. 2200 yards I dragged the deer (according to google maps). Need a beer.

[viper3853]

Good luck today with the buck tag.

[howabouttheiris]

Never converted on the buck tag, but had a sighting of 2 good bucks on the same run (one in the early AM, one late evening).

Went out and checked the tracks from the 'Copperfield' buck sighting, looks like he bedded down and waited out until after dark, as the exit trail led across the open field. Had assumed he may have turned and walked straight back away from the blind behind the tree, but there was no sign of that.

Had a good chance to talk with an adjacent land owner over the fence. She confirmed a medium size 8 and a large 10 were back and forth in the area quite a bit lately. And she had seen them sparring in the field in the past. (she was not willing to wish us luck on either of them, but did wish us luck in general) The sleet seemed to keep most of the movement down. We really only seen deer during the few breaks in between. Had the cold and had the wind, but I guess the constant string of heavy precipitation storms was just too much. She mentioned a lot of hog traffic up from the canyons at the bottom of the property. Did not see a single hog, only prints. She mentioned that she had not seen turkey in quite a while, aligned with the increase in hog population.

Wasn't surprised that the gut pile was gone the by the next morning.... but was surprised by the size of the feline paw prints that were around it (and a few coyote tracks). Neighbor said she seen bobcat crossing the road on occasion. Never heard the coyotes at night, but the may have been hiding out from the weather too.

All in all, a good hunt. After last weekend I expected to be in a t-shirt, but did get to rough test my wet gear / cold gear / etc.

Best of luck to those following up on future weekends.

[viper3853]

thnaks for the info, too bad you couldn't connect on the buck. im sure the weather kept them from moving a bit. Mind PMing me where you were setup?

[howabouttheiris]

Will do.

Just need a ....

[howabouttheiris]

.. couple more posts to get to 15.

[howabouttheiris]

PM sent.

[clark98ut]

Any updates? Anybody get lucky this weekend?

[howabouttheiris]

Think they were shut down for the holiday.... Next hunt is this weekend.

[clark98ut]

Yeah, I missed that. So we've had the youth hunt and one regular hunt so far. Only one hunt report that I've seen???

[Timemachine]

My son and I are hunting this weekend. Unit 8. We will be on line and reporting our day. We are going the soft route and staying in a hotel. Plan on hunting pretty hard. I'm even hoping to bribing/pay some younger hunters to skin and quarter our deer. We are leaving Houston early, get to the 12:00 orientation, find good place for pop-up and be ready for evening hunt.

[captainmike]

I will be out in Unit 7 this weekend and also plan to hunt hard. I like it that it will be cold, maybe keep the game moving. I will also jump on the forum, if I can get cell reception out there. It was spotty in my area when I was out scouting.

[viper3853]

i will be with my wife on her hunt this weekend. ill keep you all posted. hope to have something on the ground on friday afternoon.

[clark98ut]

Bundle up! It's supposed to be a cold sumbitch!!!