Trinity NWR, Brierwood

[30-30]

Any advice/experiences to share? A buddy and I drew archery permits.

From quick searches on here, Brierwood sounds like one of the more open units; at least during gun season. I'm curious if the understory will be full of ragweed in October. Hopefully visibility will be decent but not so open that it's hard to hide.

Looking forward to the hunt!

[jmw]

I hunted squirrel in the Boar's Den unit a few years ago. I also won the "big game" hunt there, but the river had it flooded by that time. I don't know how different the units are between each other, but there were some pretty open areas. I walked the power lines/pipelines mainly. Once you find a spot to get into the actual wooded part off the trail there wasn't much thick stuff in your way. Good luck!

[Bryan]

Any advice/experiences to share? A buddy and I drew archery permits.

From quick searches on here, Brierwood sounds like one of the more open units; at least during gun season. I'm curious if the understory will be full of ragweed in October. Hopefully visibility will be decent but not so open that it's hard to hide.

Looking forward to the hunt!

I was also drawn for October. If I hunt it, it will be weekends and maybe evenings only. I have seen some big deer in the area, but I have never been inside the unit.


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[thisisbeer]

https://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=743470

I drew brierwood and boars den last year. Brierwood doesn't have a lot of underbrush, but the trees are thick. It's easy to hide and find shooting lanes. Tons of hogs and really short on deer seems to be the consensus. I have seen maybe a dozen or so people online/in-person that drew there last year over all of the hunts (archery, rifle, muzzleloader) and haven't heard of anyone harvesting a deer. Hogs are super thick. You could have a great time hog hunting in there.

[30-30]

Last hunt for me this morning. I’ll update this thread with a write-up/review of this place sometime soon. I have enjoyed it.

Hogs galore.

[30-30]

I didn't end up taking a deer home, but Brierwood was a neat place to hunt.

The area is all woods. Tall trees with a thick canopy that seems to limit the growth of underbrush. Lots of oaks, and it seemed acorns could be found everywhere. Some giant cypress trees as well. Visibility is good over most of the area, which limited hiding places on the ground. We spent most of our time hunting on the west side along a series of drainages/tributaries that seemed to hold more underbrush than the rest of the area. We saw a few deer on the walks in/out and off in the distance way out of range. But both my buddy and I saw 10+ pigs every sit...

Did I mention this place has hogs? They're everywhere, and not particularly spooky. They consistently let us stalk up to within ~30/40 yards. I ended up missing one, and my buddy killed two.

No vehicle access; there's a roped-off parking area with three walking trails leading into the property. Being run by the USFWS, some of the rules differ from TPWD properties. Full, solid orange was required for bowhunters. Only one stand/blind was allowed per hunter, and it had to be labeled with the hunter's name. No bicycles, no chemical deer attractants, no trimming/cutting for shooting lanes, no flagging tape, no camping, etc.

The deer are out there, but they're not easy to pattern considering the lack of edge habitat and topography change. Had this been a rifle/muzzleloader hunt, we would have been successful. I would have loved to spend more time out there than I was able to. I can't think of a better place to hunt pigs other than under a corn feeder.

[Josha6783]

I drew the November 5th rifle hunt. Is anyone here hunting Brierwood this year?