Info on Devil's River SNA Big Satan Unit

[Darkarcher159]

Me and my buddy got drawn for a youth gun hunt with our sons!!!

Anyone one ever hunted it before? I was hoping to just camp at the SNA during the hunt but I am not sure that is an option.

Any information you can provide on the hunting or accomidations will be greatly appriciated!!!

Thanks!!!

[dhmc03]

Watch for black bear and don't shoot em. They look a lot like a pig. Ranches in that area have em on camera

[Leef]

My son was drawn as well...Dec. 20-23 hunt. I will be digging for information and I will let you know what I find out. Should be an amazing hunt.

[denowt]

Deer or exotic?

[WinslowBoy]

My soon did the first hunt ever offered out there a couple years ago. At that time, no camping on the SNA. Had to stay way down in Del Rio and drive up every morning. Took about 45 minutes and includes a border check. The SNA Manager at the time was a super guy. He went out of his way to make sure the kids had a good hunt.

Now the good part. Used to be an old Corporate hunting lease. Some REAL nice deer out there. My buddies daughter had a BIG buck at 50 yards but got busted before she could pull the trigger. Also exotics, specifically aoudad, blackbuck and a few axis. You will get a BIG compartment to hunt. Cover some territory but don't be afraid to put out a popup and sit in any open areas you can find.

As far as harvest, we never connected on a good buck by my son took the aoudad in my avatar and a doe. Strangest thing was we hunted the canyons for 2 days straight and when we went up on top to the flats for deer, the aoudad just wandered across the open at about 3 in the afternoon. A couple other aoudads were taken as well as 2 blackbuck. I think only one good buck but several does as well.

It's some pretty but rough country. It's pretty thick out there as well. I think the former owners used to keep it open in areas but the state is letting it "revert" back to a more natural setting. Roads were surprisingly good and didn't need 4wd to get around. You will definitely enjoy this hunt. We hunted Compartment 8 which has a large canyon running right through the middle of it. The compartments up by the ranger station are flatter but that's where the blackbuck and axis were.

[Darkarcher159]

Leef - where are yall planning on staying? Me and my buddy are coming with our 2 sons. We are set up for primative camping and were really hoping just to set up camp at the SNA. Email me at darkarcher159@yahoo.com

denowt - its BOTH!!!! :-)

[Darkarcher159]

Thanks Winslow for the great info!!! If you ever get drawn for Van Horn or Daughtery let me know, I have info for both.

[WinslowBoy]

Looking back at the info I had, looks like there were 15 total compartments to hunt. During that hunt, they only had 10 kids. They had us "draw" numbers and we got to select starting with #1. Compartments 2 and 3 are behind the ranger station and are flatter with more open areas. The kids that hunted there saw more deer and shot the blackbucks, BUT because of the lack of canyons they didn't see any aoudads. The compartments toward the river have more relief and canyons.

When we hunted you could bait but I think I saw this year they weren't allowing baiting. If they do, you may be able to find areas where I'm pretty sure the old lease used to have feeders put hand corn those areas. They were open areas with multiple trails leading to them. On Google Earth, we were able to see stands and feeders in previous Google satellite shots. Even if no baiting, these may be areas to set up ground blinds and see what passes through.

[Darkarcher159]

Is everyone ready? Been packing up all weekend. We are heading out Friday after the "early out" of school, setting up camp and be there Saturday morning for the hunt to begin! I think I am more excited than the boys are!

[Darkarcher159]

Hunt Results!

We got back from the youth hunt a day or two ago and what a hunt it was!!!

Nice weather, saw lots of animals and the boys had a great time! This was a first time each of them to hunt in this type of environment and we had a blast. My son got a nice aoudad and the biggest buck of his life! My buddy's son got a nice 8 point.

We saw lot of other game being brought in...an axis buck, a blackbuck and a few whitetails including a huge 9 point that was at least a 135 BC.

We had a great time and thank you to Joe and Roy with TPWD for putting on a great hunt.

[Froggy]

Them boys just made a lifetime memory.

[TP3]

Great hunt yall! Really pretty buck. Nice aoudad too.
We love that area it gets into your system.