old sabine bottom

[hand grenade]

has anyone hunted the old sabine this year. if so did you do any good and is there plenty of hog sign. i usually camp out for a week for hogs after deer season and was wondering how the hog hunting was looking. any info would be usefull. thanks

[sprayn2]

been hunting there off and on all year, the hogs are bad this year, they are almost everywhere. right now it is pretty wet so finding fresh sign and trails isnt much of a problem.

where do you normally hunt out there?

i usually hunt along the river behind long lake or between the camp and duck marsh parking area

[hand grenade]

i usually hunt the east trail on the atv side of the park. the beaver slough trail is one that i hunt alot too. im just planning our annual hog hunt and we usually come down to the old sabine. the hog action was heavy during the may season so im glad to hear the hogs are still around. thankyou for the info. good luck on some porkers this season. thanks again. by the way are the trails flooded.

[sprayn2]

we got a lot more rain last night, went over there today and the trails were ok for the most part but some areas were knee deep in water, may wanna bring some rubber boots thats for sure. i will be back over there saturday takin the kids squirrel huntin so maybe it will dry out a little before then

[buzzcut]

Hogs are about the only thing left on the area,the deer herd has been pretty much wiped out.I'm afraid the local poachers have used the hog and squirrel season as a "free ticket" onto the area with thier shotguns and .22's. That combined with the fact that some hunt club has moved in and set up on the south side of the old river channel,and they probably been hunting on the WMA too.Hunted there 6 days this year and didn't even glimpse a deer.Sorry about the rant,I'm just ****** off at how the WMA is being managed(or mis-managed).

[boss bowman]

Send TPWD a letter or e-mail letting them know of your findings. If they get enough complaints they will change the WMA to draw only (like gus engling WMA) or archery only (like cooper WMA). Draw only produces bigger deer but your then only allowed to hunt a few weeks out of the year, so archery only is ideal, gets rid of the gun hunters and more deer survive every year. The few public lands we have in texas are getting pressured heavier than ever and and TPWD needs to get behind the ball before the deer herds in some of these unrestricted WMA's get wiped out. I don't know about you but I'd take 5-10 days of good hunting each season over an entire season of crappy hunting anytime.

[sprayn2]

the old sabine bottom is already archery only, then they have 4 or 5 draw hunts a year. you can hunt hogs and squirrels with a shotgun, muzzleloader, rimfire or archery equipment.

sorry you didnt have any luck but i know a bunch of guys who did. i personally didnt get a deer out there this year but did see plenty. i can also tell you the 2 guys that work out there are on that place nearly everyday and were pretty upset with some of the deer taken during some of the draw hunts, so next year dont be suprised if they have the antler restrictions in place.

[buzzcut]

I just worry deer are being killed by poachers pretending to be hog or squirrel hunters.Gun hunters were a allowed onto the area over 4 months this year.Way too many in my opinion.I'm not trying to run off the hog or squirrel hunters,I know most are law-abiding people who wouldn't shoot a deer if it hops out in front of them.I wish the people managing the place would put it back the way it was a few years ago(I been hunting there since 1991)....archery only for deer and hogs oct 1- dec 31,squirrel season in october and let the hog hunters go in feb through march.And issue no more than 75 permits for the rifle/draw deer hunts.And maybe plant a few food plots.

[hand grenade]

not seeing any deer may be because they allow atv use now. ive been out hunting on the atv side and you see or here a few clowns riding the trails during times when animal movement is prime. i think they need to ban the whole atv thing. even ran into a few hog hunter piled up on an atv riding the trails as if they were on a safari. then they have the nerve to ask me "where are the hogs" my reply was not anywhere around here as long as you keep spotting and stalking from your atv. i think anyone who has an atv and no lease is heading to the old sabine because its the only place where they can ride their toys around. at least thats what ive seen.

[sprayn2]

i wont go on the atv side just for that reason. as for the squirrel and hog huntin dates, it doesnt bother me cause it gives me a place to take my 5 and 6 year old boys squirrel hunting without having to drive to family land in carthage, its also not my main hunting place ,but my lease is a 6 hour drive and the bottom is 15 minutes from my house, so its an easy place to run to to get a days hunt

[boss bowman]

ATV's should not be allowed on public hunting lands with the exception of very remote areas (4 miles or more) on draw hunts.

[hand grenade]

sprayn have you been down to the old sabine at all this week? if so let me know how the water level is and if the the trails are gettin flooded. im plannin a trip out there in a few weeks and i know how water logged it can get. hopefully the water level doesnt move the hogs out of my sweet spots. any info on conditions would be nice. thanks

[sprayn2]

they are callin for rain all this weekend into tuesday, IF it isnt raining tomarrow i am going out there, if so i will let you know

also, talked to one of the guys who works out there and he said there were 30 deer taken there this year

[hand grenade]

wow 30 deer!! i wonder how many were nice bucks. keep me posted if you can. thanks again. im iced in over here so i doubt i can get my scoutin trip in before we head out.

[sprayn2]

right now i can tell you it is flooded, we got about 4 inches of rain today and still raining.

i dont know if any were to nice or not, but the few i seen were young 6 points, 2 nubbers, a 2 does, thats the ones i seen myself that were harvested. i personally feel there were more then that taken, just were not reported on their registration cards. also most of those 30 were probably taken on the draw hunts