Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge

[viper3853]

Saw some rooting and tracks while driving to the blind. Well see of they come out and play.

[anchorman]

I heard a hog but never saw him. On my way in I saw a spot that I thought was better and moved my blind back there before I left, lots of fresh tracks, but I bet we don't see much till it gets cold Sunday

[viper3853]

Saw a fawn, spike, and small 6 point buck. Heard a doe blow when I was watching the buck but never saw her. Gonna wait for a doe, if not that spike is getting shot.

[anchorman]

Nice, glad to hear you saw some deer. I saw tons of fresh tracks so I know they are there in my unit too.

[viper3853]

Heading to the gun range. Saw the same single horned spike from last night. Gonna wait for a doe tonight.

[anchorman]

Well I saw a guy in the spot I had picked out in the pasture on 11 and didn't wanna crowd him so yesterday I setup on a spot that I could use my bow at. Didn't see anything this morning so I went to my truck to eat lunch real quick and nobody is out here and there are no blinds or anything setup so maybe he moved or never ended up setting up here. I setup my popup facing the tree line in a good elevated spot in the pasture, so hopefully I do better here. Definitely using my gun in this spot though, wish I had brought something with better range than my 30-30. At 100 yd it starts to drop and just gets worse the further away the shot is. Right now I'm trying to make sure my blind doesn't blow away since its so rocky I can't get the stakes in the ground properly :-).

[anchorman]

Didn't see a thing

[viper3853]

Same here. Hopefully that spike or a doe walks out tomorrow morning. Gonna enjoy some wings and watch the fights.

[anchorman]

I am headed back to Granger tomorrow, good luck!

[viper3853]

Lots of movement this morning. A couple of does before shooting light. A young buck and a very nice tall tined 8 cruised about 70 yards from blind. I hate this doe first rule!!

[viper3853]

Well the spike decided to step out and I put him down.


Biologist said that they didn't get many kills this weekend. So they were pumped when I showed up. Said alot of people complained about coyotes.

[hookembevo]

2 deer shot all weekend (1 doe and 1 spike). NO hogs. There were tons of animals, but all moving at night. Weather was rough.

We had some fun hunts, and it's beautiful country. We were on hunt unit 7. We never saw 1 deer while scouting or hunting, and we hunted HARD. It's funny that you mention the coyotes. We never said anything to the biologists about them, but we were covered in them, and they looked REALLY healthy. We had 1 literally touch the popup while we were sitting in it. He caught a whiff of us and all hell broke loose. 5 coyotes ran 250 yards up the hill. About 5 minutes later the alpha dog came right back down the hill and straight to the blind, passing 20 yards in front of us in the wide open. Wish i had a camera running.

I'll try again next year.

[HUNTING_COACH]

Are you not allowed to shoot the coyotes out there. When we went three years ago, we didnt see much either.

[viper3853]

cant shoot anything but deer, hogs, and turkey. you cant use any bait(corn, block, acorn rage..nothing) you can use scents.

i think if you could corn the sucess rate would way up!

[anchorman]

I heard what sounded like 50 coyotes all howling at the same time just was I was leaving Saturday night. Viper glad to hear you shot something, I wish I had gone there Sunday too after all. I got to Granger and the wind was so bad I wasn't willing to take my boat out in it, and by the time I had driven all the way there and back home to drop my boat off I was too worn out to drive to Balcones after. Well congrats, and it was good to meet you.