Devils River SNA - Dan Allen Hughes Unit

[MASTERS]

Just got back last night from the hunt. We got there late, due to the weather conditions (snow), we where supposed to leave home 5pm on Thur. the 7th and stay in Mason that night, leave the next morning for Devils river to get there by 10am. The snow started coming in and not knowing what to expect we contacted the staff at Devils River and they said since there was bad weather just get there as soon as we could on Fri. the 8th.
We arrived about 3pm on Fri. and man was the road muddy going into the place. We had to put the truck into 4 wheel drive at 2 or three places. The truck was covered in mud by the time we left. Met the staff, they were very helpful and easy going guys. I think 7or 8 of the 12 hunters showed, probably due to the weather, no standby allowed. I believe there were 3 compartments left to choose from, we chose 5. Compartment 5 is at the very front of the property. The first day of the hunt all we were able to do is set up a pop up and that was about it before dark.
The next morning we saw nothing while in the blind. At lunch we decided to walk one the roads next to the canyons and jumps 2 black bucks and one whitetail which we think was a doe. That afternoon back in the blind we saw nothing again.
The next morning we saw probably the biggest body buck I had ever seen following a doe, out of cedars and then back in. Just about all the tines were knocked off his left main beam. My buddy just about pulled the trigger on him, but he tuned and went back in the cedar. As luck would have it my buddy started having back pain and we left that afternoon.
We had to leave early and did not get a shot off, but we still had a good time. To the best of my knowledge before we left 2does, a 6 point and 10 point whitetail, a fallow buck and a couple of Aoudad were taken.

The road going into the place is like 20 miles and 14 miles is gravel/dirt/mud, couple that with a 30+miles to Del Rio and that makes for a long drive in every morning and a long drive out every night. So, stay as close as possible.

We weren't successful and had to leave early, but I would love to go back.

Oh, forgot to mention we were stopped by a game warder leaving the place second night we were there. He set up on the road leaving the property. Needless to say he came up empty with us. Seemed like a real nice guy.

Warden there is a family friend, too bad you had to leave early......