Laguna Atascosa 2017-2018

[m10]

Heading down tomorrow for this weekends hunt. Anybody else hunting this weekend?

[TXFireFighter]

Looks like people did their homework, sucked it up and headed to unit 3 on this hunt. Glad the unit was overlooked during our hunt.


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You are correct Sir! We had done quite a bit of homework prior and also had a unit 3 report from a few fellow TBHers. Unit 3 is no joke, be prepared to put in lots of miles! we put in 30+ in 2.5 days. Sometimes if you want something bad enough, you gotta go get it! Im happy to share info with anyone wanting it.

[1riot1ranger]

You are correct Sir! We had done quite a bit of homework prior and also had a unit 3 report from a few fellow TBHers. Unit 3 is no joke, be prepared to put in lots of miles! we put in 30+ in 2.5 days. Sometimes if you want something bad enough, you gotta go get it! Im happy to share info with anyone wanting it.

Congrats on the kills and kudo's for making the effort into 3. I kept looking at the harvest records and distance and couldn't convince myself it was worth it. Next year though.... Interested in the rifle calibers you used and how long your shots were. good job and great write-up.

[TXFireFighter]

What caliber are y'all shooting? what grain bullet? Average shot distance? Unit 3 is pretty open.

We had 3 rifles. I shot a 30.06 with 178gr ELDX, I practiced out to 400 quite a bit.
The other two were a 7 mag and a .308 w/ 168gr Barnes I believe

My buddies custom .308 was the ticket, he regularly shoots 500+. We also practiced with it prior to the hunt so we could all take some long shots.

Our closest shot was probably 150y as they were running at us. Longest was probably 450. Average was 300. The main problem we encountered was that it was so flat that it was very difficult getting good ranges. My buddy left his wind meter at home and our middle of the road rangefinders were just not cutting it.

[m10]

You are correct Sir! We had done quite a bit of homework prior and also had a unit 3 report from a few fellow TBHers. Unit 3 is no joke, be prepared to put in lots of miles! we put in 30+ in 2.5 days. Sometimes if you want something bad enough, you gotta go get it! Im happy to share info with anyone wanting it.

When going to unit 3 is it better to start in the north or cut over across the lake in the middle?

[gemini2759]

I can't post link, but google valley morning star, laguna Atascosa tick. There could be an emergency firearms hunt for section 7.

[TXFireFighter]

Laguna

What a hunt fellas! Ive never had a hunt that was so enjoyable and so painful at the same time! Haha! We arrived late Wednesday night and setup camp at Adolph Thomae park. Woke up headed to Orientation at 0800. Orientation consists of a 30 min video full of info about the park and about your hunt. Good video but a bit long imho. You do a quick meet and great with the park employees, volunteers and the federal game wardens. All very nice helpful people. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to scout. We already had our mind made up on checking out 3 since we had done the most research there. The first 2 miles of the trek is a large trail through 8 that takes you straight to the top end of the Laguna where you cross a small muddy creek straight into 3. We did bike this leg to save us a bit of time (I recommend if your able to). Almost immediately getting into 3 we already spot our first group about 800 yards away! We make a stalk towards them to get a better look at what the group consisted of. Its about 20 strong with a mature bull and a young bull. We back out and let them be, in hopes that theyll be around in the morning. We make our way further into 3 and start to get a better look of the lay of the land. Wide open with several large and small thickets of wooded areas. We would use the wooded areas to move along if able to. We spotted another group and made our way toward them. We got to within 500 of them and decided to sit in this small thicket and glass in all directions. Within 30 min we had a bull walk to within 250 yards of us and sit down in the wide open. We would later find out that they actually do this alot since it allows them to see a long ways in every direction! We watched him for 30 more min and then he made his way off. We had already spotted a few other groups in the distance but since it was getting late we backed out and started making the long trek back. We were pumped for the start of the hunt tomorrow! We get back to camp a bit late after grabbing a bite to eat and some groceries in town, only to find that the winds from the front moving in had collapsed our tent and broke most of the poles! It was chaos in the park, campers were struggling to pack up to leave and others just left their stuff and went. Not exaggerating, probably 40-50 mph winds! Sand was beating us in face, smaller tents were being blown away, stuff scattered everywhere! Long story short we pulled everything out of our box trailer and slept on the air mattresses in it! It was a long night! We got up and ready late the next morning and finally got into the field around 0900.

Friday morning the first official hunt day. We made our way into 3 and almost immediately had a bull and a cow come running out of the thicket to our left. We had to jog up to a small hill in front of us to try and get a shot. We make our way there but realize that the bull has made us and is moving off to our right. I duck back down and run behind this small hill about 100 yards to where I think he will come out. I see him come out and I setup up on my bipod for a shot. I shoot at what I think is 300 when he slows a bit. He kinda stutters but doesnt jump or fall and then continues in a full sprint. I make my way towards where I shot and dont find any sign of me hitting him. Come to find out he was at about 350. I must have just scared the crap out of him when I shot, no blood. It is very difficult to shoot after a full sprint even with a bipod! We made our way back and found another small group. We followed the group until we knew we wouldnt be able to catch up and get a shot on them. We headed back towards the area we scouted and found another group. It was moving towards us down and old fenceline. It would turn out that this old cross fence(only the posts remained) would be quite the Nilgai highway. They would use it to get up to the northern part of 3 and back down, this fence line was centered on the property. We made a move to get in position as there were 2 ways this group would probably go. We get to our spot and of course they move the other way. We decide to sit and glass on top of a small tank berm and take a lunch break. 30 min later we spot another group about 1000 yards across headed for a watering hole. We sit and wait for a bit to see where they go. They come out of the tank and walk 50 yards and sit down. We notice that this group has no bull with it but decided to pursue them anyways. We sit and mule over what we should do for another 30 min, when they decide to stand up and start moving. We realized at that time that these animals dont stay put for long. They start moving for another pasture to our right. We decide to use the small berm as our backstop and move towards them to try and get in position. We get to with in 500 or so and realize that one of the cows has made us out and she is not sure what we are. We kneel down for a bit until she calms enough not to alert the group and we then start crawling. They are still slowly making their way towards us! We finally get to a good open position where we can make out the trial they are traveling on. We setup and wait for them to get right in front of us. Once that happens I range them at 311y. This seems close considering we have been stalking them for a few hours at 800-1000y! There are 17 in this group. My buddy to my right picks out a big cow up front, my buddy to the left finds a target at the end. I pick the biggest one right in the middle and call out that we are ready. We decided to let my buddy with the .308 shoot first and then we would quickly follow up our shots before they scattered. Boom, he shoots and then we follow up. Next thing you know they are running and we are unloading on them! One falls, then another and then two more! The herd moves off out of range and we get to hootin and hollerin and high fiving! It was awesome! At the time we didnt know exactly how many we had dropped. We quickly found out it was 3 mature cows and a calf! Now the work began! About 30 min pass and we are field dressing them all when my buddy looks up and realizes there are 2 standing about 250y away! They look confused and dont know where to go. We yell to my other buddy as we didnt have our rifles close. He immediately sets up and nails one of them! DRT! The other moves off to our right a bit and it gives a chance to move to his postion. I range it at 250 and he drops that one as well! More high fives! The picture I took above of him using the cow as a shooting base was at this moment! We walk up to them and realize that they are 2 more calves that must of separated from the group. Even better! Better tasting and less to haul out! We spent the rest of the afternoon quartering and moving animal. It was close to getting dark so we called the park to let them know we would be out out late. They asked where we were and said they had a volunteer that could drive down a park road close to our location, but that they would not be able to help haul game from the field, We said send them as we had already worked on getting most all of it to this point anyways. They drove in and were able to cut the last 2 miles off our haul! On they way in is when the volunteer asked of we could shoot an extra cow for a volunteer family there. We said heck yeah and at the time didnt even realize who they were. We got the full story of there life journey so far and decided to make it our mission to drop some meat for them. He also agreed to help pick us up again the next evening for helping them out. We returned to camp and ate and celebrated a bit before getting into bed late(back into the box trailer).

Saturday morning comes around and once again we get up and out to the field late. We had dang near killed ourselves the day prior hauling out kills that we decided to sleep in a bit. With the animals constantly moving we knew that we would find them no matter the time. We get into 3 and start glassing, making our way into the area we always find them. Its not long and we find a small group moving across one of the pastures. It consists of a bull and 3 cows. We spend a bit of time trying to get on them but they never get within 500 and our dang rangefinder aint helping us. We walk to another area with a small bit of cover where we can sit and glass. We spend about 30 min there and then find a good size group way off in the distance. We glass them for a bit and talk about how we should get closer. This group has about 25 total and 2 were nice bulls! Right before we decide to make our way towards them we see that they are actually moving and are going to come our way! They are moving towards a watering hole behind us. We move to our right about 50 yards as it will provide us the right cover and the best shots and we wait! They finally get in front of us and we get a range of 400. My buddy sets up his .308 so I can get a shot at one of the bulls. At this point the wind is a constant 20-25 with gusts up to 35 and its a cross wind! We guess at the wind holdover and I crack off a shot. Well dang it if we didnt guess wrong! The shot is dead on yardage wise but the fearce cross wind sails it left and it skates right behind his back side! NOOOO! I setup for another shot but by this time they are a good 500y away and running. I think about another shot when my buddy quickly realizes all the cows are running right towards us! We turn and I pick out the biggest at about 225y and let her have it! Boom she is now running with only 3 legs and is bleeding like a stuck pig! She barrels her way into the thicket we are in and falls over 20 yarda away from us! I hand the rifle off and my 2 other buddies drop 2 more! 4 total were hit in the mad dash but we only found 3 of them when it was said and done! What a rush! Its 1pm and we have 3 more mature cows down! The picture above with them on the game carts are the 3. We spend the next 2 hours, field dressing and hauling them to the road. By that time we have a few hours of light left and decide to do some glassing in the area close to the road. We dont find anymore and we are picked up after dark. Thank you to the park volunteers and staff for going out of thier way to help us! We fully intended to haul everything we shot out, but their willingness to help was awesome! Although it was only 4 miles, after putting in 25+, those 4 miles helped alot! We got back to camp and decided to head out in the morning since we had a 6+ hour ride back. To be honest Im not sure I could have put another 10 miles in on Sunday! We were all beat! We had a blast and would do it all again in a heartbeat! All the staff and volunteers there were very helpful and nice, we never encountered anyone that was rude or gave the sense that hunters were not wanted. Thanks for reading and good luck on the next hunt!

[TXFireFighter]

When going to unit 3 is it better to start in the north or cut over across the lake in the middle?

Ill PM you some maps and info I have later this evening. Although we didnt make it up to the northern part of 3, Cutting across as we did was not difficult. We did glass the northern area and didnt see much movement. We shot all of ours in the center of 3, and another group shot 5 out of the southern part of 3.

[TXFireFighter]

I can't post link, but google valley morning star, laguna Atascosa tick. There could be an emergency firearms hunt for section 7.

Thats great! They are loaded in 7! We spoke with several of the staff and they verified that they see the most there! Not sure why its been closed to hunting.

[gemini2759]

Thats great! They are loaded in 7! We spoke with several of the staff and they verified that they see the most there! Not sure why its been closed to hunting.

I've got an email into refuge manager. I'll let the fine folks here know if I hear anything.

[TXFireFighter]

I've got an email into refuge manager. I'll let the fine folks here know if I hear anything.

Good deal thanks!

[gemini2759]

The emergency hunt for section 7 is a proposal by the refuge to the USDA, which is accepting comments. There is a link on the lanwr website for your comments. Comments will be accepted until Friday. This is according to the refuge manager. Start making your comments be known tbhers.

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[Mr. Public]

The emergency hunt for section 7 is a proposal by the refuge to the USDA, which is accepting comments. There is a link on the lanwr website for your comments. Comments will be accepted until Friday. This is according to the refuge manager. Start making your comments be known tbhers.

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Excellent info. Thanks for sharing Gemini

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[gemini2759]

I just made some comments to the link on the LANWR website recommending year round hunting for nilgai there, hunting other areas that have not been hunted and opening up the hunting for archery and muzzleloader from October to January in hopes it would harvest animals with the fever tick.

[RGV Hunter]

I just made some comments to the link on the LANWR website recommending year round hunting for nilgai there, hunting other areas that have not been hunted and opening up the hunting for archery and muzzleloader from October to January in hopes it would harvest animals with the fever tick.

I hope you all have better luck. Section 7 and section 4 have always been closed. Even though they are considered public land they are not open to the public yet they allow commercial companies like "Broken Arrow" come in and slaughter the animals from a helicopter. I

I understand that we cannot get selected for every hunt every year but it makes no sense to not get more hunts when the park allows these companies to cut in line and kill these animals and sell the meat for a profit. There is lot more I have on this issue but the local community has fought a losing battle on this issue.

I hope next year or in the near future you guys send me a message and tell me I was wrong but I seriously doubt it.

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