Best and Worst Public Land/Draw Hunts for Texas-Opinions Wanted

[White Falcon]

Most places are divided up, compartments, Some make you stay in that area, some places let you go anywhere. I think they are used mostly for special hunts.

[Low Fence]

If the ones in Texas I’ve hunted old Sabine and white oak are neck and neck for the worst, if deer are your target. Probably slight edge to white oak for worst, just due to its layout. It’s more accessible by private land owners and that area is about as outlaw as I’ve seen (actually only East Texas area I’ve seen that falls into the stereotypical East Texas hunter)

Not sure why OSB sucks as bad as it does.... but it ain’t what it should be

Richland was probably the only one I ever hunted that I would call “good” and that was back before you had to draw. Ain’t been back since around 01’

[Killer]

Worst by far was Hill Country State Park. As stated above staff did not care if we killed anything or not. It was set up as a equestrian trail ride park. Us hunters were in their way. I would assume they had bad poaching as we drove by hundreds of deer on the side of the road to get there and in three days of hunting hard and putting out corn we saw two does total, none of the corn was ever touched; all the rest have been ok or great.

First hunt I went on with my dad that we killed anything was a Gus Engeling spike and doe hunt as a kid loved that trip.

[simek]

Hunted Kerr-Schreiner, Pedernales Falls SP, Chapparal (youth), Kerr WMA (youth), Travis County Private Lands, and LANWR. I had shot ops at every location, and killed at 4 locations. Best facility/staff was Kerr Youth. Coolest hunt was probably LANWR, b/c I was solo, the place is remote, and I killed way back in and had to pack it out (definitely type 2 fun). I did, however, get into it a bit with the USDA staffer there checking for cattle fever ticks. Chapparal hunt was cool also, b/c I don't get to hunt SoTex much, the weather was good, we saw lots of animals, and i got to share the hunt with my kiddo.

[Briar Friar]

Everyone has their own opinions on sharing information, which is great. I personally enjoy discussing these hunts with like minded hunters especially on the TBH forum. Now am I going to post a pin drop of an area or advertise standby spots at a highly sought after location? Probably not, but PM me and I'm always willing to help where I can as several have helped me in the past.

More than anything I'd like to understand people's opinions on places, especially hunts that they may feel aren't worth the time. I was picked up for the Mason Mountain Gun Deer Hunt a few years ago. We put in for so many hunts, that sometimes we dont read all the info on new places. We had 13 preference points in the category. When we were selected, I researched it and saw that you could only shoot a 6 point or less! 13 years of putting in for the gun deer category and we get picked for a hunt to shoot a cull at best and would burn all our points! Luckily we called TPWD and declined the hunt and got our preference points back (also good to know that you can usually do that if you ever get drawn). Now some people stated that hunt was amazing because they had a great lodge to camp at and there are a ton of exotics and big WT that you can see, but not shoot. It just wasn't the hunt I was looking for. That kind of information is great to share and have available to other hunters in this community.

Once again, totally understand individuals willingness to share information, but you dont know until you ask!

Best of luck this season!

Good info to know. Thanks for sharing Zins.

[HighwayHunter]

I am not familiar with the draw hunts at all. To be honest I never knew about them till I got on this site. I used to put in for the big game hunts many years ago but once I got on a lease I stopped doing that. When I first moved to Texas 23 yrs ago I would buy the public land permit to duck hunt but never deer hunted on public land.
So if someone is willing to explain the draw hunts I would be more than interested to listen. I'm not asking for specific places but more of general information like compartment sizes, can you scout year round, etc.

Technically if you wanted to I think you could scout these places year round. Being state parks you could probably use hiking trails to scout.


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[big_smith]

I've been on some good ones (South Lano River SP Youth was the best) and I have been on some not so good. I don't really fault the location so much as the staff. I have been to a couple hunts where it was apparent that the hunters were a pain to the staff and they really did not want us there. Garner was a good hunt, as far as the fact that all four in our group killed an axis, but the staff made it clear to us that they did not really want us there. Nannie Stringfellow was a tough hunt as it had rained constantly for about 3 weeks. We had trouble finding a dry spot to hunt. Staff was great, but the hunting was tough. Enchanted Rock had great staff. Lots of hunters took deer (each of us 3 in our group shot a deer). Devils River had great staff, but it was a TOUGH hunt. We walked 5 miles on day one.

[denowt]

Technically if you wanted to I think you could scout these places year round. Being state parks you could probably use hiking trails to scout.


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Most are not state parks.

[bossbowman]

Been to a bunch and one thing for sure they are all different, been to some where the people running it were up-tight and it was full of red tape, like it was said before on this thread they didn't act like they wanted us there (that was big surprise to me how many work at some of our state parks aren't just non hunters but in fact anti-hunting) and been to others where they rolled out the red carpet and were super welcoming. Was at one way down south this year that was easy peasy but kinda surprising, they didn't even check our permits or if we had hunting licenses just took our word for gave us the gate combo and directions how to get in out and said have at it, I liked that one.

[HighwayHunter]

Most are not state parks.

I didn’t know if you could cruise around WMA’s or not without permission. Some do some dont is my understanding.


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[KcRoyalsScout]

Is their any public hunting within two hours of dfw worth a hoot?

[TN_boy]

Between the boy and myself we have been drawn and hunted:
Granger Lake
Abilene SP (youth)
Chap (youth)
Richland Creek North

All places we had excellent opportunities to harvest. Staff were excellent on the youth hunts.

Abilene SP, biologists ran feeders in each compartment for 60 days prior to increase the kiddos chances and it worked. My son took his first 2 deer and hog.

The Chap was a slightly harder hunt for kids with most only hunting from established blinds at sendero crossroads. My son took his 1st Javelina here.

Youth hunts are harder due to orientation being on Saturday mornings so you only get the afternoon and Sunday till noon or so because most people have to drive a long ways home.

Richland Creek and Granger are both e-postcard hunts and both were Amazing! Not understanding how to hunt Granger really hurt my chances. Yes, I got my 2 does and shot a buck, although didn't recover on the last day of season. Richland offered plenty of does and several large bucks only in one area and withing 60yds of a main road.

I put in many many miles on both areas which gave me insight, but knowing how to use the information gained was my downfall. I have asked Santa for John Eberhart's books for Christmas.

[jaredmartin]

Balcones Canyonlands. Staff is not interested in having you harvest any animals. Units vary from no life to so thick a Sasquatch wouldn’t go in there.

I just left there a few hours ago. I was in a unit over 3000 acres with 10 hunters covering it. 1 doe was taken between all of us.

[jaredmartin]

I just left Balcones and I feel like it is dependent on what unit you get. Some units seem to just be a hiking/bird watching trip, while others actually have game animals present.
I am taking my daughter to inks lake next month for a draw hunt, hopefully I have a better experience.
I will say Balcones is a beautiful place. I put some miles in on my feet, and never saw another hunter. Never saw a deer either, or any recent sign, track, or droppings for that matter. I did have pigs non stop in the area. I was not really interested in hogs since I have an area to kill them. Overall, I will continue to put in for Balcones, but if I am assigned unit 7, I am not sure I will go. Spend more in gas and supplies than the tag.

[jnd1959]

So far we've drawn:

Dinosaur Valley
Richland Creek
Alazan Bayou
Big Lake bottoms
Balcones Canyonlands
Martin Dies SP

Of these, the most disappointing was DV. This was back in the 90s. I drew, called to find out the process and was told there were no animals and if they had their way we wouldn't be allowed there at all. The hunt was then promptly cancelled. I was so turned off I didn't apply for 20 years. Next worse was Balcones. Mostly because we didn't know how to hunt that terrain. I did find that when I talked to the biologists during orientation I got a lot of info. I try not to ask the obvious questions.

Best was Martin Dies and Big lake, mostly because I got to take my daughter on the youth hunt at MD and my son to BLB.

We haven't been to alazan or Richland yet. Hope the ducks are fired up there.