South Llano River SP exotic hunt report

[Grizz83]

Replied

[ZINS708]

We were on the same hunt. I hunted in stand 5 then. Did you draw antlerless/spike in January?

Yes- Sorry for the late reply- I don't get on this site too often. We are set for Jan 9-11.

[Tomkat70]

Congrats on the success

[Grizz83]

Well, I'll give an update on our hunt that was on Nov 28-30 that myself and JW774 were on. He's a good dude! Ours was the antlerless/spike hunt, and we were allowed 3 whitetails and unlimited exotics. I didn't get the exact final tally as I left early on the last morning, but it was somewhere around 20 whitetails killed and 3 axis when I left, with 10 hunters.

We drew for blinds and I drew first pick. The staff told me the same thing that was said here before, that 33 was historically the best, but it had been slow this year and that 31 was the doing the best this year. I went with 31. The guy who got 33 ended up killing a nice axis buck that first evening, and wounded and lost another smaller axis buck the next evening. Another guy killed an axis doe back up in the hills on the 2nd day.

I didn't see much the first evening. Sat in the blind almost the entire day the next day and saw lots of WT, but I was holding out for axis. I think I was the only person there that was doing that. Everyone else seemed to be shooting whitetails left and right. The last morning I finally killed an axis buck that had both main beams broken off, and it dressed 108 pounds. Had another axis doe come through right after that but she never gave me a shot. I did see a couple of nice 13"+ whitetail bucks in the mornings chasing doe, and even had 2 do some sparring out in front of me the last morning. Lots of turkeys as well.

There is definitely no shortage of animals on that place. I would park my truck in one of the campsites in the campground then walk to my blind a few hundred yards away. Both mornings, I saw lots of axis bedded down right in among the campsites, a stones throw from my truck. They wouldn't even hardly move as I got out the truck, gathered my stuff, and walked by them. The staff thought the axis were getting more weary and were turning nocturnal, as this was the 3rd time they had been shot at this season.

[Grizz83]

Another thing...If you have Verizon, prepare for zero cell service all around Junction and in the park. If you have AT&T you will be fine.

[Codyo250]

Nice axis