Balcones 2019

[Haunting]

I am hunting in unit 4 this weekend and experienced some the same stuff that someone else mentioned from an earlier hunt. Chainsaw, rapid fire gunshots, loud banging, and atvs. Despite that I saw a group of 4 does last night, should have shot one but waited to see if any bucks came out. Waited too long and missed the opportunity. Did shoot a buck this morning but feeling regretful about it since it was a young 6. I am in the section with no antler restrictions so it is legal. Wished I would have waited a little longer before going to check it out too, I spooked a doe when walking over to it. It is the cooler now, I am back in my pop up and I have not seen activity since.

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[jaredmartin]

Glad you are seeing action. When I get home I will post some pictures. I was high enough to overlook probably 300 acres and had nothing but pigs. I moved into an area a sounder crossed last night, if they cross again I will pop a smaller one for eating.

[erikbeagle]

We moved out of the open and into the woods so our shooting lanes are limited. But I figured with all the pressure they would move where the most cover sets. We hunted that tonight and heard a turkey but saw nothing. Had I not bought a hotel and drove from Waco, I’d call it a weekend. I figured I would give it one more morning hunt since I heard so many shots thus morning I will try this new spot in the morning hours.

[jaredmartin]

I packed it up and headed home. The log sheet on unit 7 was pretty empty. When I left only one person had shot 1 doe. 7D is open for tomorrow if anyone wants it. Lots of open room, just not any activity. I heard some shots from other units, just got stumped where I was at. Fun trip, great scenery, just no animal activity.

[m10]

Did you get a count on the deer taken?

[ChainReactionGC]

I packed it up and headed home. The log sheet on unit 7 was pretty empty. When I left only one person had shot 1 doe. 7D is open for tomorrow if anyone wants it. Lots of open room, just not any activity. I heard some shots from other units, just got stumped where I was at. Fun trip, great scenery, just no animal activity.

Im really starting to think that the dude that gave you uodates on what they are killing out there is just making up numbers, so people put in for that draw. You don't ever see much success from thise that post on here about it, unless there is just a few hot areas that no one can hear shots from. Lol

When I went one gentleman was just talking and said....man I hope can kill a few and the dude that gave our brief chuckled and said in a very you ain't gonna kill **** out here kinda way..."good luck".

[jaredmartin]

I starting to think the numbers were just made up. I know a few units did have a few taken, but 7 was not one of them. It is the largest unit out there with the most people covering it, and I believe only one doe was harvested. Two guys wrote down on the log that they harvested a turkey, but overall I think that was all. I saw plenty of pigs while sitting high and glassing, and heard tons in some real thick areas, by that was all the action I had. I am not going to say there are no animals there, but the numbers are definitely not as high as they should be. I will post a few pictures in a little bit to show the areas I covered.

[jaredmartin]

7D

First two pics are from the area I was sitting, In the first one my truck is in the dead center, it is a gold color so may be hard to see. The second two are a quick sketch of what all I could see, and the star is approximately where I was sitting at. I just sat up and glassed for hours. I could see the vehicle parked at spot C as well.
Basically I had a pretty good view of a lot of area. The land to the west that I could not see due to terrain I walked throughout mid day on Saturday. It is loaded with pig sign and tight trails through a bunch of thick stuff. But no sign of deer.
I did find one old rub line from what looked to be a young buck, but it had not been touched in quite some time. If someone actually has spot 7D, I would just take an AR or some form of autoloader, and walk the dry creek bed through the middle and bust the pigs that are down there.
I enjoyed the time in the field, and the views are awesome. It was a short drive for me, so overall it was not bad. If it was a long drive, and was going to cost excessive money for travel and lodging, I would not recommend the trip unless you are just trying to get out of the house for a bit.
However, if you have a different unit, give it a try.
One last thing, a large section of land touching the west fence line of Unit 7 is currently being cleared for housing. A lot of large and loud machinery was in there all day going to town of the rock. So that may also have an impact on where someone decides to hunt.

[dudeson]

Thanks for the updates - I've been following this thread to get an idea of things for next weekend - I'll be out @ 7J and was curious how craggly it'll be getting to the far part of it.

[m10]

It is a beautiful place. I’m in unit 9 this weekend. Southeast of 7. It’ll be a good weekend. I’ll keep y’all posted

[Rounder]

Been kind of crazy for me since my sons hunt there a few weeks back but here is my update on Unit 12.

The unit is 279 acres and there were two hunters in it. I didn't know this before we got to the unit but there were actually two very nice ground blinds in the unit that were set up over food plots. With no baiting, it seemed kind of silly to set up somewhere else so we just flipped a coin with the other hunter for blind selection. My son chose the blind farther back in the unit as we has run some does off of it when we drove up on it. He ended up killing the good size hog I posted earlier in the thread on the first evening but that was it for us. We did see a couple of bucks Saturday morning (one was a pretty good one) but the bigger one never slowed down for a shot and the smaller one was not legal as unit 12 is in an AR county. We also saw a doe that morning but she came out right on top of us and with the height of the blind windows we couldn't get my son up on my knee without spooking her and she didn't hang around too long. I set up my tent blind after the morning hunt so my son could use the Caldwell dead shot rest and wouldn't have to sit in my lap to shoot but we didn't see any animals Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

The other hunter in our unit shot two does the first evening and a turkey on Sunday morning but didn't see much other than what she shot.

Overall, I had a great time with my son in the woods and will definitely put in for it in future years.

[jronning77]

Man its not looking good for the visiting teams it sounds like. I headed there tomorrow to 7H hopefully they will be moving a little more. Anyone else in 7 this weekend? Maybe we can work together and have a better chance on being successful. Anyone have a suggestions on camp grounds?

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[CentralTXHunter]

Scouting unit 8 today. There is at least 1 deer here, lol.


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[CentralTXHunter]

Just finished logging 15+ miles of scouting Unit 8. For those of you hunting it or hunting in the future, the hill when you come in the hunter access gate is STEEP. I didn’t need 4 wheel drive, but I was slipping. I could definitely see how it could be impassable for some.

The rain a couple days ago definitely helped me out. The soft ground allowed for a bunch of tracks to be seen. This place is covered in hogs. The undergrowth was torn up everywhere. Unit 8 is thick. I hiked to the top of the largest hill in the unit to glass and, much to my disappointment, what I thought was some potential clearings to hunt on my satellite maps was not.

I did find deer sign. Several tracks and rubs. So they’re there. I’ve got a couple of spots I’m debating between, but I think the odds to shoot a hog are high. Because of the thickness of the area, I may bring my bow instead. Longest shot at both the spots I like would only be about 50 yards.

The place is beautiful though. I’m excited about hunting a new area. We’ll see about being successful or not in harvest.




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[CentralTXHunter]

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