Hagerman NWR Hunt Segment A - November 5-7, 2021, Opening Thread

[Landrover]

I luv it. [emoji1018] Hopefully more feel it ain't the same.......my odds geaux up with less applicants!!![emoji6]

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[jnd1959]

I luv it. [emoji1018] Hopefully more feel it ain't the same.......my odds geaux up with less applicants!!![emoji6]

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Yes. I don't know why anyone bothers to enter the draw...

Congrats to all who hunted. If you learned something or enjoyed your sits you were successful even if you didn't get a deer. And that's not a participation trophy. As I tell my kids, deer hunting is a journey of periodic attempts strung together by periodic learning. At some points the two converge.

[ganngus]

This was my first weekend ever hunting Hagerman. I struck out but learned a lot.

Having never hunted any public land in Texas before, I approached it like I approach hunting out west. Accordingly, my goal was to get away from people. I figured people wouldn't want to pack in a tree stand on their back, I was correct. Ended up hunting all weekend with absolutely no one around me completely isolated. Nonetheless, I logged about 70miles worth of scouting leading up to the hunt.

Even though I wasn't around anyone, the South Winds and flooding in a few prime locations I scouted made me fall back to plans E-H. That front needed to stall for 2 days and hit on Thursday and I would have been in a better place for the best locations I scouted.

Passed a few legal bucks that were young. Nothing responded to calls or rattling. There was endless debate on here about the rut status, and I am in the camp that we it is not here. To begin, all of pushing I was seeing was done by younger bucks. Additionally, I was out there every week past 3 weeks and most of scrapes I saw this weekend were at locations were none existed last weekend (literally mean walking over exact location and having multiple scrapes just not popping up that wasn't there the week before). Similarly, most of the bucks I was seeing were in groups of other bucks still. Talking with landowners and ranch managers in Grayson County, all say that the rut in the county usually kicks off around the third week of November and is hot around Thanksgiving. Finally, admittedly as someone who has only hunted in West and South Texas for whitetail in my life, the true sign the rut is going on is seeing the monsters walking around in the open without concern for the safety. To my knowledge, there was not any reports of that type of activity.

Upon drawing, a ton of research was done into Hagerman, much of which was on here. People said there were deer all over Hagerman, however, the deer density in Hagerman and Grayson County is low in my book. People who claimed there are a ton of deer there need to go drive around Crockett, Irion, or Kimble Counties at night and see what high deer populations look like.

Not being able to utilize game cameras is tough for a three day hunt in my book. Unless you see a big buck, all the sign in the world could be little bucks. Without having the ability to use game cameras to scout, its impossible to pattern a big deer. At the end of the day, your hoping whatever sign you see is a big deer and that he is not nocturnal.

As an side note, this hunt made me realize how much more enjoyable chasing elk and muleys out west is for me. Sitting still in a stand all day looking at the same thing all day is mental torture to me. To the guys who like it, more power to yall. I'd rather strike out after hiking 15+ miles at elevation, than strike out sitting still looking at the same thing all day. For me, its basically like being stuck in ISS back in the day...

Nonetheless, it was a great learning experience and congratulations to all the tagged out!

[Chad C]

The reason they think it kicks off around the 3rd weekend of November is purely due to movement and that goes for the state in general. Less un-bred doe's creates a lot more movement. The Rut is well underway. The math is simple, gestation is 190 days or averaged at 200 days, does are breed from mid-October into December every year. Born late May to mid-June in this area.

Congrats to the successful Segment A hunters.

Segment B has the floor.

[Razorback01]

Segment B will take the floor!

[Razorback01]

Nice to say hi to some old friends, as well some new. Some guys still know how to hunt the H. Some say the H is done, I disagree, don't hunt one or two half-days, man-up and do it.

Ready for Seg B, my hunt.

[SFAbowhunter]

Man, I sure miss the H. Hopefully I'll get drawn again some day. Shake my head at some of these comments and tactics guys are using. Good luck to the segment B hunters.

And, the rut is in full swing in Grayson county and will be for the next 2 weeks. Get out there and hunt!

[CAP]

I didn’t see any bucks so impossible to tell if they were in the rut, but the doe I saw were completely at ease.

On the private land thing, I haven’t hunted there enough to comment on long term trends but I can say the closest private to me was hunting HARD. Every morning and evening I could hear the four wheelers heading to the stands, Multiple rattling sequences, Coyotes howling at what I suspect were gut piles, etc. Also, not at the same private but I also heard the rapid fire shooting going on.

I know Hagerman’s been doing it for decades so who am I to suggest they change anything but it sure would be nice to make it a longer hunt. 3 days is tough. In my case by the time I figured out my plan A wasn’t working it was halfway done.

[Pistol]

Congrats to all the hunters in A. I wish I knew where some of those bucks were taken, but that's ok, they are gone now
I be there for C, watching for the B thread now.

[Redlegwar]

Brother Cade, back from his golden ticket last year got it done!



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[jnd1959]

That there be a deer. Congrats!

[eliteweldingco]

Not sure if that is completely true. Lots of random target shooting goes on by the neighbors during hunt and non hunt weekends.

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I heard what seemed like muzzleloader shots Sunday around 3. I highly doubt someone would shoot to keep hunters from harvesting. I would be a really Richard thing to do, and spook game even more.

[SCRIBNER7]

Good work Cade, way to stay after em’!!!

Congrats to everyone who harvested!


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[AWnNETX]

Congrats again Cade!! Glad we met and got to share the hunt!!

[coop2564]

A little more on my 10pt I shot him Saturday evening getting close to dark. Wasn't real sure of shot hard to see impact looked slightly forward. He ran like hit hard, and heard the plop of a chest shot. So thought all good until...the snort! Right where he ran a deer started snorting, so now I'm thinking is that him? So started thinking maybe it was to forward and hit low base of neck??? Waiting about 30 mins dark now. Go look at arrow, soaked in blood, so thinking OK looks good thinking if I did hit neck maybe artery, but keep thinking about the snorting. Long story short, trailed about 60yds blood was spotty a first then started getting heavier like a chest shot. Then deer snorts again in his direction of travel. So I'm just not sure if him or another deer...so backed out until morning. Hunted for doe until 9am then took up trail of buck. He only went 80 yds passed where I stopped. Hit in chest top of heart he was dead that night but with snorting just wasn't sure. Yotes had found him overnight ate some of the hams but straps and front shoulders untouched and cape in perfect condition. Taxidermist scored him this morning 163 2/8" 20" exactly inside spread 11.5 g2s, 11, 10.5 g3's. A nice Hagerman beast! Hagerman is a very tough hunt...but love those beast buck!