Laguna Atascosa 2021

[RifleBowPistol]

Got about a 2 minute video of this guy howling about 35 yards infront of me.

Would be cool to see that video. You can put it on youtube, then post the link to the video. That's the only way I have been able to post a video.

[osochuck]

Doe at 50 yrds, let her walk.
Barely taller than the grass!

Ya we saw some skinny / small does walked right up to us, crazy, they weren’t even worth shooting no meat


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[RGV Hunter]

Jumped two hogs tonight. Hammered both. First just kept running. Second got knocked down, but then got up and kept running. Couple other hunters popped up and yelled, since the hog was between us, so I didn’t follow up. Dead pigs either way.

I hear these stories and sometimes I am glad I have never been selected for the rifle hunts. But it wears off as soon as I see nilgai too far bow a shot and could have easily taken them with a rifle. Hahaha.

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[Tiburon1]

Would be cool to see that video. You can put it on youtube, then post the link to the video. That's the only way I have been able to post a video.

I will see what I can do tomorrow.

[CityLimitSlayr]

Last sit of the hunt.

[Mr. Public]

Sounded pretty uneventful for most, again. Anyone see the chalkboard total?

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[Tiburon1]

Sounded pretty uneventful for most, again. Anyone see the chalkboard total?

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I don't know if anyone shot anything beyond pigs this weekend. Plus everything is kind of different with check in / check out with how they are running the show. I went by after Friday mornings hunt to let them know I was leaving but coming back and there wasn't anyone there. I called the number on the door and someone called me back about an hour later and I asked what protocol was on checking out when leaving. I was told you did not have to swing by check station or call. They still had the previous hunt's harvest information on the board on Friday. When I went back in on Friday afternoon I bumped into one of the federal game wardens and confirmed with him that there was not any need to check out. Someone would drive the road when hunters were suppose to be out and contact the hunter if there truck was still parked there past hours.
There just wasn't anything moving. I had two bulls on Friday evening as close as 75 yards from me (got great video on my iphone) but I wasn't wanting to shoot any more nilgai this year so they got a pass. I saw several bucks but nothing I wanted to harvest. Still a fun hunt (challenging) and I burned lots of calories, didn't bump into any rattlesnakes, and for the most part am parasite free.

[Mr. Public]

Finally got him back.


RW's Taxidermy located in Bryan, Texas does all my mounts. Robert has mounted numerous many whitetail bucks and muledeer and I'm always impressed with his work. You can find his facebook page, RW Taxidermy if your interested.

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[FlyGuyy]

Is there another hunt going on this weekend, or is this a break until the 17th?


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[ZINS708]

Is there another hunt going on this weekend, or is this a break until the 17th?


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Yes- another rifle. I’ll be there.


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[FlyGuyy]

Yes- another rifle. I’ll be there.


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Good luck to you!


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[FlyGuyy]

Can anyone who’s hunted this year speak to the level of hunter turnout?

I’ve hunted LANWR twice pre-covid and (in my estimation) the attendance was probably 60-80% at the start of the hunt but dropped off significantly (~50%) by day 3 (Sunday) and maybe 30% were showing up by Monday or Tuesday. One of my hunts was rifle and by day 3 I’d bet there were less than 4 of us still pounding it, not a single truck was parked along the main gravel access road.

But, on the archery hunt last year Id say the attendance was closer to 90% to start and it didn’t seem to drop off much at all! Felt like there was still 75% attendance on the last day. (Unit 6 was closed during my hunt last year which probably made it seem a good bit more congested)

Again, these are just my personal observations so don’t get too focused on those numbers, just that there were significantly more hunters last year than the year prior. There may be actual records of the attendance kept somewhere (?) but I’ve never seen any.
My guess was that during covid people didn’t have much else competing for their vacation days and everyone was happy to be out of the house so they stuck it out more.

Anyway, it seems like the success rates are extremely low this year, likely from a number of factors, but I’m curious if lower attendance might be a contributing factor?

The amount of standing water seems to have played a role in some of the early hunts (not sure if that’s still a problem?) and it sounds like the subsequent over abundance of vegetation from all that moisture has made it tough.

But, I also have to wonder if that Freeze we had wasn’t a lot tougher on those critters than anyone thought? Could it have pushed them further south? Could it have taken out larger number than expected? It would seem that hunters would be reporting a lot more deadhead finds by now if the freeze killed them on the property, so maybe that’s not it?

Anyway, something on the landscape seems to have changed and I doubt that everyone became worse hunters…. I know some folks will say the feds did too much helicopter removals, and maybe they did (?), but would like to know if there are any facts behind that or just speculation.

I’ve got 10 days until my archery hunt kicks off and this is about all I can think about, so I’m curious what the conspiracy theories are!


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[Tiburon1]

Can anyone who’s hunted this year speak to the level of hunter turnout?

I’ve hunted LANWR twice pre-covid and (in my estimation) the attendance was probably 60-80% at the start of the hunt but dropped off significantly (~50%) by day 3 (Sunday) and maybe 30% were showing up by Monday or Tuesday. One of my hunts was rifle and by day 3 I’d bet there were less than 4 of us still pounding it, not a single truck was parked along the main gravel access road.

But, on the archery hunt last year Id say the attendance was closer to 90% to start and it didn’t seem to drop off much at all! Felt like there was still 75% attendance on the last day. (Unit 6 was closed during my hunt last year which probably made it seem a good bit more congested)

Again, these are just my personal observations so don’t get too focused on those numbers, just that there were significantly more hunters last year than the year prior. There may be actual records of the attendance kept somewhere (?) but I’ve never seen any.
My guess was that during covid people didn’t have much else competing for their vacation days and everyone was happy to be out of the house so they stuck it out more.

Anyway, it seems like the success rates are extremely low this year, likely from a number of factors, but I’m curious if lower attendance might be a contributing factor?

The amount of standing water seems to have played a role in some of the early hunts (not sure if that’s still a problem?) and it sounds like the subsequent over abundance of vegetation from all that moisture has made it tough.

But, I also have to wonder if that Freeze we had wasn’t a lot tougher on those critters than anyone thought? Could it have pushed them further south? Could it have taken out larger number than expected? It would seem that hunters would be reporting a lot more deadhead finds by now if the freeze killed them on the property, so maybe that’s not it?

Anyway, something on the landscape seems to have changed and I doubt that everyone became worse hunters…. I know some folks will say the feds did too much helicopter removals, and maybe they did (?), but would like to know if there are any facts behind that or just speculation.

I’ve got 10 days until my archery hunt kicks off and this is about all I can think about, so I’m curious what the conspiracy theories are!


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I think I saw 6 trucks total on this last hunt. The weather was terrible and the weather guessers had it pegged pretty early. I imagine that probably was a determining factor for many people deciding not to go. My buddy who puts me in all of these draw hunts lives in the Dallas area and he called to cancel the Monday before the hunt. I have a house close to LANWR so it was easy for me to give it a go. But had I been traveling, I probably would have bailed on the hunt too. There are plenty of animals if you are willing to work for them.

[jkelbe]

Can anyone who’s hunted this year speak to the level of hunter turnout?

I’ve hunted LANWR twice pre-covid and (in my estimation) the attendance was probably 60-80% at the start of the hunt but dropped off significantly (~50%) by day 3 (Sunday) and maybe 30% were showing up by Monday or Tuesday. One of my hunts was rifle and by day 3 I’d bet there were less than 4 of us still pounding it, not a single truck was parked along the main gravel access road.

Talking to the Game Wardens on Archery Hunt #2, they felt like about 100 of the 200 selected hunters showed up. Which was down from Archery Hunt #1.

[Helland76]

Is there another hunt going on this weekend, or is this a break until the 17th?


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I’ll be there too. My first trip down there.