Garner State Park Youth Hunt

[bigharge]

Well we are headed to GSP in the morning for the youth hunt this weekend. Going in with low expectations but will be sure and report back on how it goes.


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[jp77]

Good luck! Should be awesome!!!


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[17ncs]

Good luck!

[OleTomTalker]

Good luck! following

[Jen-Man]

Watching for reports. Lots of negative reports from there previously.


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[Graysonhogs]

In

[kruppa24]

Good luck

[trophy8]

Following. Be there in 2 weeks

[bowhunt3]

Good luck

[bigharge]

So we ended up coming back early after the first hunt.

First off, let me start by saying how inviting the park ranger and all the volunteers made us feel. I have 0 experience with any other public texas hunts as this was our first experience, but they made the kids feel welcome, gave them all sorts of goodies and had them very excited for the hunt. Everyone was friendly and very accommodating. There was even hot chocolate for the kids when we got back from the hunt. Not a huge deal but little things like that go a long way with a 9 year old.

All the other hunters we met were awesome as well. My son loves being around other hunters his age as he's usually stuck with just me and his grandads lol. So it was nice to sit and talk with other dad's and hear about all their successful hunting trips.

As for the hunt itself we just happened to get the lucky straw and were the only pair that even saw a deer to shoot that evening. About 10 minutes to spare a young axis buck walked out and my son dropped him DRT. We were very fortunate and grateful to have the chance.

It's definitely a different type of hunt being hunting in a park area. Our ground blind was in between some cabins and the deer walked out next to the bathroom lol. But it is what it is considering the type of hunt it is. It's not something I'd ever do by myself personally but I think it's great for the kids.

We ended up leaving last night since we got our deer as my son actually said he wanted to give someone else to sit in our spot since it was "lucky". But honestly I wanted to show up early and surprise the wife as we have been gone quite a bit this hunting season.

Also a special shout out to David the Park Ranger he was very kind to the kids and patient with my sons 200 questions. He even helped when quartering the deer and removing the head. (It never fails, I can clean and quarter a hundred deer but when there's a group of guys all watching I feel like I've never done it before lol.)

But I wanted to give my opinion on how we felt based on some of the negative reviews we read. My expectations were low based on them but at no point did we ever feel like we were not welcome as hunters. Also got introduced to the Texas youth hunters program that I never knew about that my son is excited to sign up for.

Hopefully someone else that was there can chime in and let us know how the rest of the weekend goes.



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[megger89]

Any pics of the young axis buck?

[bigharge]

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[bigharge]

The deer are definitely healthy out there. I don't know if it's the camp food or what but it had more fat on it than just about any deer I've ever cleaned in Texas.


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[Old Mathews]

Congrats to you and your son! Great buck and awesome memories made

[WBT]

Great deer.

[Graysonhogs]

Congrats


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[trophy8]

Heck yeah!! I'd smoke that buck no questions asked out there lol.

How were the blinds? Did you need to bring a chair? How far are the shots?

[bigharge]

Just your typical 2 man bow type ground blinds. The blinds have 2 chairs but some guys brought there own.
The spot we sat in had about a max 80 yd shot probably which is about where the buck was standing when he hit the dirt. The feeder was sitting about 50 yds away but nothing seemed interested in it, at least last night they didn't


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[trophy8]

Did they hang around long or just passing through?

[bigharge]

They walked out with about 10 minutes of shooting light left. They came into the shooting lane for about 10 seconds before the trigger was pulled lol
They acted like there was a good chance they would be back in the same spot the next day so hopefully someone else got a chance at one


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[trophy8]

Sweet. I'm looking forward to it. If I get one then great. I know it's low success rate.

[Huntindad]

Congrats to your son. Nice axis buck. I am glad y'all had a good experience. It sounds like they have have improved over the years. My son hunted there as well many years ago and the staff didn't seem real enthused about a hunt of any form.

trophy8...I would take a comfortable chair, something to pack corn in and maybe some extra camo cloth. We could only shoot in certain directions and could not track a deer if it ran off. for safety reasons.

OP, again congrats to your son, and nice gesture on his part to give someone else a chance in that spot.

[seadog]

Just returned home with my son from this hunt. He was one of the fortunate kids to get a deer, a WT spike (1 1/2 years old, 90#).

The harvest total for the 20 youth hunters was three axis deer and two WT. I had expected a better success rate for this hunt. 20 hunters for a hunt area the size of GSP is a stretch, but it does allow 20 youths to participate. Overall, I think the park staff and volunteers did a good job (it's not their fault that the deer did not seem to be moving).

Good luck to the youth hunt scheduled for next weekend. I hope the change in weather gets the deer moving for a better harvest.

[seadog]

Originally Posted by trophy8

Heck yeah!! I'd smoke that buck no questions asked out there lol.

How were the blinds? Did you need to bring a chair? How far are the shots?

We were at Blind #15. Below is the blind. I think most are similar.
The feeder was 57 yards from the blind at #15. The maximum shot there would have been around 100 yards. His deer was taken in front of the feeder at about 55 yards. Bring a cushion, the plastic chairs get hard after a couple of hours!

[trophy8]

Dang. 4 deee is nuts. I wonder if the full moon had them bedded during the day? I'll bring a chair. Those shots will be easy money if they'll show up.

[Randy]

No hunters saw anything tonight. Hope for tomorrow.

[bigharge]

Bummer, hopefully the morning will be the ticket


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[trophy8]

Originally Posted by Randy

No hunters saw anything tonight. Hope for tomorrow.

Dang. This isn’t looking like good place to hunt. Oh well. Gotta try anyway. Are y’all baiting besides the feeder they set up?

[Randy]

Everyone left empty handed.

One blind had an axis this morning but wouldn’t come out of the brush then spooked. They were the only couple to see anything.

Ranger said this is his first ever hunt to kill nothing in 15 years.

[bullets13]

Ouch.

[bigharge]

Wow, I'm sure that's quite the let down for all those young kids.


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[Randy]

Originally Posted by trophy8

Dang. This isn’t looking like good place to hunt. Oh well. Gotta try anyway. Are y’all baiting besides the feeder they set up?

No use in baiting. Save your money.

The deer aren’t feeding, acorns are still falling, not to mention every spot is covered up with bait from the past several hunts.

[trophy8]

Originally Posted by Randy

No use in baiting. Save your money.

The deer aren’t feeding, acorns are still falling, not to mention every spot is covered up with bait from the past several hunts.

You think the moon had anything to do with it? Is it even worth going to?

[Randy]

Originally Posted by trophy8

You think the moon had anything to do with it? Is it even worth going to?

Tough call on that one.

We saw lots of axis just not on gsp but adjoining properties.

Saw about 10 leaving the cabin 2 miles north of the park then saw nothing on the hunt.

Our hunt was only one morning and one evening.

With longer time, sure I’d do it again.

One other thing is we did t hunt on the other side of the river that’s where they have been killing at. We were all within close range of the hq.

[trophy8]

Originally Posted by Randy

Tough call on that one.

We saw lots of axis just not on gsp but adjoining properties.

Saw about 10 leaving the cabin 2 miles north of the park then saw nothing on the hunt.

Our hunt was only one morning and one evening.

With longer time, sure I’d do it again.

One other thing is we did t hunt on the other side of the river that’s where they have been killing at. We were all within close range of the hq.

I’ll be with the last group. No idea where. I’ll have 2 days.

[seadog]

Originally Posted by Randy

Everyone left empty handed.

One blind had an axis this morning but wouldn’t come out of the brush then spooked. They were the only couple to see anything.

Ranger said this is his first ever hunt to kill nothing in 15 years.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[red-fin]

Hmmm....Wife and I will be there Wednesday to give it a try. Sure hope it's a better hunt than this.

[trophy8]

Originally Posted by red-fin

Hmmm....Wife and I will be there Wednesday to give it a try. Sure hope it's a better hunt than this.

I’ll be there too. Where ya stayin?

[red-fin]

In park at some campsite? Called and they said its ok. Have new to me overhead pickup camper gonna try out. Going to be my "out of state" hunting rig for next year. You going to bring any bait of any kind?

[Wence]

Cousin and I will be there in the morning also. Dragging a camper along to stay in.

[Wence]

Ttt

[trophy8]

Originally Posted by red-fin

In park at some campsite? Called and they said its ok. Have new to me overhead pickup camper gonna try out. Going to be my "out of state" hunting rig for next year. You going to bring any bait of any kind?

No sir.

And has anyone heard from anyone from the group currently there?

[trophy8]

Headed out. Y’all be safe traveling. See ya there

[Budman68]

Seems like the major of the axis sightings are in front of the gate. Not sure why they don't set up in that area.

[Czechoholic]

Originally Posted by Wence

Cousin and I will be there in the morning also. Dragging a camper along to stay in.

Good luck Wence and to all the hunters!

[trophy8]

I shot a young axis buck. Like real young. 1.5 haha. But meat in the freezer!! I was the only one to see any deer. 1 hog was **** diiiiiirectly in the face lol. I’m leaving tomorrow. 25mph wind on an already slow hunt. Only deer I saw. I dropped the hammer a few seconds after seeing him. Will give a write up about my thoughts later. I’m very lucky to have seen one.

[bigharge]

Well I'm glad someone else was able to get some meat in the ground!


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[Wence]

Thank you czechoholic. We are still deerless but tomorrow should be as good as it can get.

[BigThicketBoy]

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