Aransas 2018

[Thumper]

Lol. The refuge hasn't been able to sell all their permits for a while, no draw, all OTC. 50% or more of the people that show up the first day won't hunt the second day. There's a reason it's fallen off, low success, tough hunting conditions. The only reason it's gotten any kind of hype is because they threw it in the TP&W draw and people just apply for everything now and happy to get drawn for something.

Yep, and at half the cost, $65 dollars and not the $130 we now have to pay.

When we went to the internet for all our information we lost the news papers and sport writers reports/reminders on the refuge archery hunt. Loosing the free camping along FM2040 outside the refuge by far caused the biggest drop in the number of hunters. I sure miss the Camaraderie of everyone camping together along the road, only time of the year you'd get to see good friends you'd been hunting with for generations.

[Leonitas1306]

Camping by the sanctuary

Yep, and at half the cost, $65 dollars and not the $130 we now have to pay.

When we went to the internet for all our information we lost the news papers and sport writers reports/reminders on the refuge archery hunt. Loosing the free camping along FM2040 outside the refuge by far caused the biggest drop in the number of hunters. I sure miss the Camaraderie of everyone camping together along the road, only time of the year you'd get to see good friends you'd been hunting with for generations.

I understand your point . I knew y’all have been hit hard by the regulation changes. I’m sorry to hear that .I can’t believe they have no camping there . They charge and put out so many hunters on such a small area. The odds are stacked against the working man . Seems like ,all over the country the attitude towards hunters is, give me your money and if you harvest anything your lucky attitude. I found that some ranches have fair fees in comparison to these areas . But I’ve hunted public lands for so long I can’t enjoy sitting in front of corn all day . I hope we met sir.i wish you the best . Back home we lost most accessible coastline to the rich and couldn’t dive to spear or lobster unless you paid for a cattle boat trip. My point is , we as hunters are putting ourselves out by not standing up to regulations that control your dollar and make hostage your peace of mind in the woods or the ability to be human and feed your family real healthy meats! Unless this generation says , enough.Hunting will no longer belong to everyone ,unless your wealthy. Then when the wealthy are face with more of the same they will be forced out because they lost 90 percent of the voting power they had and never thought of it .If it were up to me I would write into the constitution, PS . “ the right of the people to hunt shall not be infringed on “ . God bless America y viva Texas !

[Leonitas1306]

Big buck hanging

Hey, Leonitas my info may be wrong I have the 28th (Friday) as the only scouting day after this weekend, I will miss the Saturday and Sunday hunts (might make Sunday evening) then try to hunt all week. Hope to see you there with a buck hanging!

To you also , you will have the place all to yourself . Looks like opening is close to the full moon , the best times will be towards the last portion of the week . I wish you the best also. God bless.

[GMGIRL]

Hey everyone. I know this is a needle in a haystack, but while I was out scouting a spot today, my military ID fell out of my truck. If you happen to spot it, please message me!! I know it is a long shot but stranger things have happened.

[CoswayTyler]

Well, it’s official!!!

I gave my 1st quart of blood to the Aransas mosquito population. Ladies and gentleman, I can not stress enough the importance of mosquito control! It was literally insane at the amount of mosquitoes. I wasn’t to worried about scent control today so I had my clothes SOAKED in 100% deet and I had a 50% deet lotion covering every inch of exposed skin to the point I looked like a albino. I mean caked it on thick!!! Guess what!? They didn’t care one bit!!!!! Good lord, I literally had 1000’s of mosquitos around me and on me at a time. When I stopped to set up a stand I ran my thermacell and that helped the best. Soooooo pleaseeeee for your own sake, get a thermacell and bring a TON of extra pads and propane.

Water, water everywhere. Let’s just say if you were planning on staying dry forget it. I’m not a fan of being in snake/alligator infested waters, but you don’t have a choice right now. 75% of my walk to my spots is through water shin to thigh deep. Your only option is waders if you really wanna stay dry.

On a lighter note everything else looked awesome, got my two areas set up and now I can’t wait until Saturday!!!

P.s. if I was hunting today I could have easily already had a big ol doe dead that walked out while I was setting up my stand and stood broadside at 20 yards.

Good luck everyone!!!!

[Jen]

Yep some of the mosquitos were as big as dragonflies today and they don’t give a **** about your spray! Also spotted a few doe, one buck at the entrance, and a big fox which was cool. Good luck everyone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thumper]

Aransas is a trophy hunters dream...

[Slim79x]

I had a conversation with officer Giles on my way in on Saturday afternoon and he told me 2 people had already done a few hours of scouting and told him they were never coming back there! Haha, it is definitely not for the faint of heart. I took y'alls advice on have multiple repellent options for the mosquitoes and came away without a single bite. That isn't to say they weren't swarming me annoyingly at all times but they didn't get any of my blood. Deep woods off coupled with picaridin lotion on any exposed skin, plus the thermacell on my hip at all times. I only got to meet GBludau in person but y'all might have seen me rolling around the refuge in my Honda Civic. Good luck to everyone and maybe I'll see y'all out there next week!

[CoswayTyler]

I had a conversation with officer Giles on my way in on Saturday afternoon and he told me 2 people had already done a few hours of scouting and told him they were never coming back there! Haha, it is definitely not for the faint of heart. I took y'alls advice on have multiple repellent options for the mosquitoes and came away without a single bite. That isn't to say they weren't swarming me annoyingly at all times but they didn't get any of my blood. Deep woods off coupled with picaridin lotion on any exposed skin, plus the thermacell on my hip at all times. I only got to meet GBludau in person but y'all might have seen me rolling around the refuge in my Honda Civic. Good luck to everyone and maybe I'll see y'all out there next week!

At least I wasn’t the only one rolling around in a small car! My wife said, why are you taking my car?! I said well, my truck gets 14mpg your car gets 32mpg. Plus they have a cooler at the refuge, I can always throw a deer across the hood until I get to the cooler. Then I’ll bring my truck the next day to pick it up! 😂

[Thumper]

I was told 1000 hunters put in for the drawing for the Aransas Archery hunt and TPWD sold only 250 permits ????. Seems like they draw just twice, hunting permits that do not get bought after the second drawing go unused. Pretty crappy deal for those who put in for the drawing willing to buy a permit but was not selected...

There were only 9 bowhunters who bought standby permits. , so 31 were left unused. Not surprising with just a couple days notice.

[Thumper]

Got a copy of the current contact number for the hunts. This is the new temp trailer set up after Harvey. I've been calling old number that's still listed on their website, it goes to a line in the old building where no one is working.

Laura A. Bonneau
Visitor Services Manager
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
1 Wildlife Circle
P.O. Box 100
Austwell, Texas 77950

Visitor Contact Station: 361/349-1181 On mon and tue you'll have to leave a message.

[Timemachine]

I hunt this place several time back when you just went online and bought a permit. It is a VERY hard hunt. It had finally gotten so over grown that you could not see a dang thing. But then there was a massive fire followed up by Harvey. Don't know what you guys will encounter. I killed a few deer in there including two 10 points. That said, i ain't never going back there. Just too old now. Best of luck. If you hunt hard, yo have a chance at a nice deer.

[ibethemarc]

Makes me feel better about rolling around in my versa. Abother great thing about small cars, is that they float real well if go fast enough[emoji1787][emoji23]

At least I wasn’t the only one rolling around in a small car! My wife said, why are you taking my car?! I said well, my truck gets 14mpg your car gets 32mpg. Plus they have a cooler at the refuge, I can always throw a deer across the hood until I get to the cooler. Then I’ll bring my truck the next day to pick it up! [emoji23]

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[CoswayTyler]

Makes me feel better about rolling around in my versa. Abother great thing about small cars, is that they float real well if go fast enough[emoji1787][emoji23]

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Hahahah we should hold a “car drivers are hunters too” meeting 😂🤣😅

[RobertD]

This is all good information.

Is anyone bringing a sidearm?