Drawn for big lake bottom!

[Athens-Assassin]

Got drawn for big lake bottom for the crossbow hunt. Who else is going? The dates are oct. 24-28.

[SanAngeloBowman]

Got drawn for big lake bottom for the crossbow hunt. Who else is going? The dates are oct. 24-28.

Is this Big Lake,Tx. you're talking about?

[Bilbo]

Is this Big Lake,Tx. you're talking about?

It's down by Palestine in SE Texas.

[treeMonster]

I'll be there the 15th thru the 19th. Do you know anything about the place? This will be my first time there.

Oops, just noticed this thread was from last year. Anybody have the scoop on Big Lake Bottom???

[axisbuck]

Treemonster
I was drawn for the gun hunt last year and took a doe within a couple of hrs of sitting in stand. Pretty thick bottom land. Had my summit viper but couldnt get good visibility if i climbed over 5ft so ended up sitting on base of a tree. Park officials drew compartments and helped you out if u kill anything way back. Everyone i talked to had seen deer and hogs. You can pm me if you need any info

[treeMonster]

Treemonster
I was drawn for the gun hunt last year and took a doe within a couple of hrs of sitting in stand. Pretty thick bottom land. Had my summit viper but couldnt get good visibility if i climbed over 5ft so ended up sitting on base of a tree. Park officials drew compartments and helped you out if u kill anything way back. Everyone i talked to had seen deer and hogs. You can pm me if you need any info

Thanks for the reply! Im glad to hear everyone was seeing game last year. I've been looking on Google Earth trying to decipher how to get into some of these areas! Do you remember where you hunted?

[treeMonster]

Treemonster
I was drawn for the gun hunt last year and took a doe within a couple of hrs of sitting in stand. Pretty thick bottom land. Had my summit viper but couldnt get good visibility if i climbed over 5ft so ended up sitting on base of a tree. Park officials drew compartments and helped you out if u kill anything way back. Everyone i talked to had seen deer and hogs. You can pm me if you need any info

Im glad to hear everyone was seeing game last year. I've been looking on Google Earth trying to decipher how to get into some of these areas! Do you remember where you hunted?

[axisbuck]

big lake

Believe it was compartment 3 and had a 25 yard dry slough right through the middle of it.

[Verne243]

We have a party of 3 that'll be doing the crossbow thing there this year during the 15th-19th hunt....IF the place doesn't flood out and the hunt gets cancelled. It's our first time there too and we were hoping that we could find some information on place too.

I was on the crossbow hunt at Gus Engeling last year and the area manager, who also manages Big Lake Bottom and Richland Creek told us it was a lot better than Gus. A lotta deer and, according to him, uneducated. He did say that your chances were slimmer than the other two of seeing a truely good buck, but he said if he was just looking to shoot some deer, that would be where he'd choose to go.

Downsides we've heard so far:
Prone to flooding and having your hunt cancelled (same a Richland Creek).
MUST have an ATV or be willing to walk a lotta miles just to reach your unit.
Poor visibility in a lotta areas.
Over-run with hogs.

We've hunted Gus Engeling a lot and the facilities there have really spoiled us. Yeah, we use an RV and bring along a generator, but the campsite we use is really nice and having a walk-in cooler to store your deer is a huge plus. From what I've heard, the camping area at Big Lake Bottom is more like an open parking lot than anything else.

Either way, we're going to find out all about it this year. Any information anyone can throw my way would be greatly appreciated, and if I can help anyone out on Gus Engeling let me know.

[huntinfool]

I got drawn for the archery hunt in Dec. Bottom land and either the tail end of the rut or the begining of the 2nd rut. Might be good. Can you use bait?

[FishnHunt]

x10 on the area possibly flooding.
I hunt private nearby and when it floods the entire riverbottom is way underwater.
Should be a fun hunt, watch out for poision oak...its everywhere.
Hogs are everywhere, look for funnels and pinch points using google earth.
Good luck!

[Verne243]

Well, we head for BLB next week. I'm thinking this will be the 2nd hunt of the season. Any word on how the first hunt went?

By-the-way, the ac units on my travel trailer got infested wirh dirt dobbers over the summer (just learned this last week), so we'll be doing the tent thing. Think we'll camp at Gus Engeling and make the drive back and forth.