Drawn for Richland Creek - Looking for Pointers

[BTLowry]

It says ATV/ORV is recomended. Is that a must? Or can a High clareance trucks be OK ? whats it like are there main roads then have side trails for atvs can mountain bikes be useful. Can climbing stands be used . We have game carts and muscle we frequent public hunting lands in East Texas and are use to walking miles is it just real swampy any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I can tell you from experience that the South zone can get very nasty with just a little rain, blackland that turns to grease with just alittle water on it

If you have an ATV I would recommend it to get further back away from the roads. Roads that were driveable were few and far between unless you want to take some scratches home driving down the trails (they could be overgrown by now)

I think the road in the South zone may be paved all the way to the pipeline but nott sure about it

[HotRod Hunter]

Hey thanks for all your info. Still trying to figure where to stay if anyone knows of a resonable priced cabins within 20min or so please let me know. we have a group of 3.

[Richard]

You can stay at motel 6 ($40 a night) )in Corsicana about 22 miles north of there. There is a camping area next to the the Entrance at Gus Engeling WMA down the road I'm guessing 15 miles south on 287. Its free I believe and they have hot showers. Call the Manager there and he can tell you more.

Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk.

[Sparkles]

I heard the North unit is closed to hunting now. Also I have driven the main road down thru the south side and it looks quite a bit thicker. I ( actually my kid) have also only hunted the north. Seen alot of good deer. I took my Jeep the first time she was drawn didn't need it the second time just drove around the in 2wd in my truck. ATV may come in handy on the south side.

[NF HUNTER]

I have been drawn for Richland Creek For Oct 10-14. I would like to see about finding a map of the hunting area, north and south zone and the compartments. I have used google earth but i don't know the compartments or the zones. Thanks in advance for any help

[BowhunterB]

Hey NF HUNTER, there is a map on one of the Richland Creek threads from a prior year. If you do a search on the threads that contain Richland Creek in the title you can find it. I don't recall which one off hand. I talked to the rangers at the WMA and much of the North Unit will be closed to deer hunting this year, there will only be 2 or 3 units open I believe. They also said some of the unit numbers may be changing, but at least this will give you an idea. I was able to match up all of the units on google earth.

[grizzman]

Yeah, from what I heard the North side is closed this year and all hunting will be done on the south side. I got drawn twice for GDE and hunted the north side, so I don't know what to tell you on the south side except there were some nice deer that came out of there last year.

[NF HUNTER]

Thanks Guys. I did find the map to the south zone and a lot of tips. This will help so much, this will be my first time back since the late 90's duck hunting the north zone.

[NF HUNTER]

Thanks for the help guys! I found the maps on an older thread. That's just what I was looking for. We've got 37 days to go until the xbow opener at Richland Creek!

[BTLowry]

Hey thanks for all your info. Still trying to figure where to stay if anyone knows of a resonable priced cabins within 20min or so please let me know. we have a group of 3.

There is a marina on the west side of the lake near the dam that has cabins, can't think of the name but they are not much other than a dry place to stay with a shower and reasonably priced

[NF HUNTER]

I've got some more questions. Does the north zone have the marsh's and slough's on it? Are their a lot of pines or hardwoods on the south and north zones? Do the compartments have roads or trails on them or are they just woods? Is the underbrush very thick or do they have prescribed burns? Just trying to get visual on the lay of the land. Thanks again in advance for any help.

[Gom]

The north side is closed for the completion of a wetland project. They have bulldozed a lot of timber and it will contain flooded cells in the future.From what I understand, water will be pumped from the Trinity River, thru the vegataion cells for filteration and back in to Richland Chambers Lake for Tarrant County Water District water usage.It will be good news for duck lovers, but deer will be looking for new homes. The south side has a camping area off 488 and the area further down where their checkin area and main headquarters is, there is one paved road that runs thru the unit. It runs out before you get to the river.Everything else is thick native hardwood bottomland woods with acess by bike trails or rightaways. We have hunted both RC and Gus Engeling. Gus Engeling is much more easier to get around in and they create clearings,prescribed burns,food plot experiments etc. I think the intent is to mainatain RC it's native habitat form and the trade off is paying off. RC has some HUGE Bucks if you can get to them!!!

[NF HUNTER]

Thanks for the Info Haveagoldenday, I'm glad you said they have bike trails and rightaways there, That will make it easier to scout. You cant see the Wma well on google. it looks very thick. My group normally hunts the Sam Houston NF, So we are ready to walk or ride on the bikes how ever far we have too.

[Gom]

NF Hunter, you might want to call their headquarters before you plan a scout trip to check out the trails. A friend of mine said they had them closed during the summer to travel. Maybe because of the fire danger from vehicles ?

[budrow]

there is really no pine. not just a lot of oak/acorn trees either. this is to your advantage... Lot of elm, ash, and other stuff - talk to the folks there and they can tell you where the clumps of acorn trees in the compartments are. will be lot easier than trying to find them yourself. it's thick. no telling what you'll see. there are critters everywhere - i plan to just hunt the acorn trees if/when i get around to hunting it - i would plan your approach to an acorn area more than anything to minimize deer bumped.