I have wanted to get this post up for a couple days now, but due to lack of time haven’t been able to do a proper write up. Forewarning I’m long winded… Pics at the end of post if you want to jump ahead.
This is my second year to hunt out at Ft. Hood. For those that don’t know, the base offers a hunting pass to civilians for $130 for year round access. Once set up with the pass, you essentially have free roam of the land with certain limitations. I could be wrong, but I’ve heard from others that the approximate size of base and the hunting acreage is around 200k acres. The land is split up into Training Areas (TAs) that range in size. For hunting purposes, each TA is labeled into one of three different classifications - Archery only (unguided), unguided limited range (Shotgun/Muzzleloader) and Guided TAs. If anyone wants the specifics on each feel free to PM me and I would be happy to explain it.
You are allowed to set stands/feeders/cameras. This brings in a whole new aspect to “Public Land” as I can’t think of any other public offering across the state that allows any permanent stands or feeders. At times this can be the frustrating as you can scout an area all you want on OnX and get there and find out that the area has a stand/feeder every couple hundred yards. On the flip side, if you put in the effort and with a little bit of luck you can find some really untouched areas. The geography is essentially a stepped down version of the Texas Hill Country. Rolling hills with valleys connecting to multiple spring fed creeks and rivers which eventually trickle down and feed into Belton Lake. I enjoy hiking there almost as much as hunting and in all reality I have barely scratched the surface of the land available.
As I said, this is now my second year hunting “The Great Place.” Last year I signed up late, didn’t get in any scouting and didn’t even have my own set. During my first hunt ever I walked a creek bottom and setup in a pile of undergrowth surrounded by oaks directly on a heavily traveled trail. About an hour into my sit I had does all around me. Eventually a doe stepped out at fifteen yards. Looking back I should have shot her. I was really hoping a buck would be following behind so decided to let her go. No buck ever showed and after that first sit I never got an opportunity at another deer the rest of the season.
Fast forward to 2021. During the spring I took the opportunity to familiarize myself with some more of the TAs. I decided I also wanted to go back and explore that same area where I had the encounter with the doe during the 2020 season. I finally made it out to the TA in August. As I explored the the area I noticed the lack of other sets. I eventually found myself back in the same creek, exploring the same area I sat the year before. While I didn't see anything telling me the area was packed with deer I could tell they we’re definitely in the area. It seemed like the perfect pocket far enough off the beaten path that was providing food, water and bedding. I decided to hand corn an area and set a camera up directly on a game trail. I Went and checked the camera a week later and was I wowed! First picture on the cam was what looked to be a mature 10. I was stoked! At this point I knew I wanted to get a stand and feeder up ASAP.
I bought a small hanging feeder and had an existing ladder stand and got both setup the last weekend in August. At that point I was set. I was hopeful the buck would keep hitting my feeder, but wouldn’t be surprised if he moved on and never saw him again. Was I wrong. In the last month I have over 500 pictures of this buck. The pocket of woods was just as I thought, a sanctuary in an otherwise heavily hunted piece of land. Now all I needed was for the TA to be open when I could hunt. That is one of the main frustrations to the hunting on Ft. Hood. It is a reservation system per TA (this in itself can be a train wreck) and just because you put in the effort it doesn’t guarantee you will even get the opportunity to hunt that TA. First and foremost the land is used as a military installation and if your TA is closed there isn’t anything you can do about it.
On October 1 at 6pm reservations opened for opening weekend. Per TA they only allow so many hunters a reservation at a time. If you don’t get in on time and get a reservation you won’t be hunting. As soon as the clock hit six I hit refresh on my browser. And just like last year the influx of reservation seeking hunters essentially brought the website to a halt. Somehow the screen finally loaded, I clicked “Confirm Reservation” and I was in! Or so I thought. I was on cloud nine Friday night envisioning shooting my big buck at first daylight on opening morning. I went to bed like a kid on Christmas Eve thinking it was all going to work out.
4:45 Saturday morning “RING” alarm clock goes off and i’m up and out the door. As I start driving towards base I decide to login to the website and confirm my booking one more time. As I open my reservation the screen is blank. What happened?? As far as I can tell, the application has a defect that gives false confirmations when the system gets bogged down and that’s what happened to me. I drove home fuming. All my plans were shot. The rest of the weekend/week was already planned and who knows if the TA would be open in the week after. All I could do was sit and wait to see if anyone logged out of the TA and I could get a reservation for the afternoon. As luck would have it around 10am someone logged out! Usually this does not happen. Guys will stay logged in for the afternoon even if they can’t hunt to keep the TA from getting shot out (each TA is allotted so many bucks/does). I couldn’t believe it. I clicked confirm reservation and I was in, this time for real.
I got to the TA early, around 2:45 and it was hot! By the time I walked in and got all setup in my stand it was about 3:10. Nothing to do now, but sit and wait. I checked the wind and what little breeze we had was pushing directly away from my feeder, perfect. After about ten minutes the wind swirled. I felt it hit my back and sure enough it was pushing right towards the feeder. As comfortable as the buck seemed on my trail cam pics I knew this could cause issues. As I sat, the woods were quiet. I pulled my card prior to the sit and to my surprise the buck had not visited the feeder that morning. To say the buck had been consistent is an understatement and not seeing him had me wondering if someone crossed by my set that morning and blew him out. I decided I was not going to worry about it and if it was going to happen it would. Little did I know it was all about to come together.
My ladder stand is about 15 feet up with the feeder in a small clearing. There is a creek to the west and a grove of oaks and dry creek bottom to my north. My ideal scenario was that the buck would come in from straight in front where I could see the furthest. At about 3:50 I noticed movement, directly in front of me about 100 yards out. DEER! At first I couldn’t tell what it was as I saw it and quickly lost it in the brush. Next clearing I could see into was about 60 yards out. When he hit the opening there was no doubt in my mind, that’s my buck! He slowly cruised in and stopped right before coming into the clearing. He poked his head out from behind a big cedar and at that moment I knew he could tell something was up.
He slowly walked out, directly facing me and sniffing the air the whole time. At this point my heart is pounding. He was directly under the feeder at 18 yards with no shot. He started eating some corn, but after about 30 seconds decided something was up. He looked up directly at me. The sun was directly to my right and I’m sure profiling me as I didn’t have much brush behind me to break up my outline. At this point the buck decided it was time to go. As he turned and started to walk off I drew my bow. I made a small bleat at him at the perfect time. It caught his attention just long enough to stop him. I followed that green pin up his leg, covered the vitals and thump, arrow away.
I instantly knew that I smoked him. I have replayed the shot in my head 100 times at this point. It felt like something that I watched as a kid and dreamed about doing one day. After the shot he kicked and took off. He ran out and around back to the same path he came in on. I saw him stop about 80 yards away. He stumbled off out of view and then I heard it. Thud and then kick, kick, kick he was down. For good measure I waited about 30 minutes. As I got down and grabbed my arrow it pretty much confirmed what I knew. The QAD Exodus cut through him like butter. As odd as it is I didn’t find a single drop of blood. Might have been the fact that I essentially heard where he crashed and took the wrong route, but in all kinda odd. I took off and within just a minute I saw a white belly. I did it. Second buck ever, first Bow Buck and all on public land. This was by far the most rewarding harvest I have made. We roughly scored him at 138 and will get an official measure later. If you stuck around this long thanks for reading. I have wanted to do a write up on a successful hunt for a while and finally got that opportunity!
This is my second year to hunt out at Ft. Hood. For those that don’t know, the base offers a hunting pass to civilians for $130 for year round access. Once set up with the pass, you essentially have free roam of the land with certain limitations. I could be wrong, but I’ve heard from others that the approximate size of base and the hunting acreage is around 200k acres. The land is split up into Training Areas (TAs) that range in size. For hunting purposes, each TA is labeled into one of three different classifications - Archery only (unguided), unguided limited range (Shotgun/Muzzleloader) and Guided TAs. If anyone wants the specifics on each feel free to PM me and I would be happy to explain it.
You are allowed to set stands/feeders/cameras. This brings in a whole new aspect to “Public Land” as I can’t think of any other public offering across the state that allows any permanent stands or feeders. At times this can be the frustrating as you can scout an area all you want on OnX and get there and find out that the area has a stand/feeder every couple hundred yards. On the flip side, if you put in the effort and with a little bit of luck you can find some really untouched areas. The geography is essentially a stepped down version of the Texas Hill Country. Rolling hills with valleys connecting to multiple spring fed creeks and rivers which eventually trickle down and feed into Belton Lake. I enjoy hiking there almost as much as hunting and in all reality I have barely scratched the surface of the land available.
As I said, this is now my second year hunting “The Great Place.” Last year I signed up late, didn’t get in any scouting and didn’t even have my own set. During my first hunt ever I walked a creek bottom and setup in a pile of undergrowth surrounded by oaks directly on a heavily traveled trail. About an hour into my sit I had does all around me. Eventually a doe stepped out at fifteen yards. Looking back I should have shot her. I was really hoping a buck would be following behind so decided to let her go. No buck ever showed and after that first sit I never got an opportunity at another deer the rest of the season.
Fast forward to 2021. During the spring I took the opportunity to familiarize myself with some more of the TAs. I decided I also wanted to go back and explore that same area where I had the encounter with the doe during the 2020 season. I finally made it out to the TA in August. As I explored the the area I noticed the lack of other sets. I eventually found myself back in the same creek, exploring the same area I sat the year before. While I didn't see anything telling me the area was packed with deer I could tell they we’re definitely in the area. It seemed like the perfect pocket far enough off the beaten path that was providing food, water and bedding. I decided to hand corn an area and set a camera up directly on a game trail. I Went and checked the camera a week later and was I wowed! First picture on the cam was what looked to be a mature 10. I was stoked! At this point I knew I wanted to get a stand and feeder up ASAP.
I bought a small hanging feeder and had an existing ladder stand and got both setup the last weekend in August. At that point I was set. I was hopeful the buck would keep hitting my feeder, but wouldn’t be surprised if he moved on and never saw him again. Was I wrong. In the last month I have over 500 pictures of this buck. The pocket of woods was just as I thought, a sanctuary in an otherwise heavily hunted piece of land. Now all I needed was for the TA to be open when I could hunt. That is one of the main frustrations to the hunting on Ft. Hood. It is a reservation system per TA (this in itself can be a train wreck) and just because you put in the effort it doesn’t guarantee you will even get the opportunity to hunt that TA. First and foremost the land is used as a military installation and if your TA is closed there isn’t anything you can do about it.
On October 1 at 6pm reservations opened for opening weekend. Per TA they only allow so many hunters a reservation at a time. If you don’t get in on time and get a reservation you won’t be hunting. As soon as the clock hit six I hit refresh on my browser. And just like last year the influx of reservation seeking hunters essentially brought the website to a halt. Somehow the screen finally loaded, I clicked “Confirm Reservation” and I was in! Or so I thought. I was on cloud nine Friday night envisioning shooting my big buck at first daylight on opening morning. I went to bed like a kid on Christmas Eve thinking it was all going to work out.
4:45 Saturday morning “RING” alarm clock goes off and i’m up and out the door. As I start driving towards base I decide to login to the website and confirm my booking one more time. As I open my reservation the screen is blank. What happened?? As far as I can tell, the application has a defect that gives false confirmations when the system gets bogged down and that’s what happened to me. I drove home fuming. All my plans were shot. The rest of the weekend/week was already planned and who knows if the TA would be open in the week after. All I could do was sit and wait to see if anyone logged out of the TA and I could get a reservation for the afternoon. As luck would have it around 10am someone logged out! Usually this does not happen. Guys will stay logged in for the afternoon even if they can’t hunt to keep the TA from getting shot out (each TA is allotted so many bucks/does). I couldn’t believe it. I clicked confirm reservation and I was in, this time for real.
I got to the TA early, around 2:45 and it was hot! By the time I walked in and got all setup in my stand it was about 3:10. Nothing to do now, but sit and wait. I checked the wind and what little breeze we had was pushing directly away from my feeder, perfect. After about ten minutes the wind swirled. I felt it hit my back and sure enough it was pushing right towards the feeder. As comfortable as the buck seemed on my trail cam pics I knew this could cause issues. As I sat, the woods were quiet. I pulled my card prior to the sit and to my surprise the buck had not visited the feeder that morning. To say the buck had been consistent is an understatement and not seeing him had me wondering if someone crossed by my set that morning and blew him out. I decided I was not going to worry about it and if it was going to happen it would. Little did I know it was all about to come together.
My ladder stand is about 15 feet up with the feeder in a small clearing. There is a creek to the west and a grove of oaks and dry creek bottom to my north. My ideal scenario was that the buck would come in from straight in front where I could see the furthest. At about 3:50 I noticed movement, directly in front of me about 100 yards out. DEER! At first I couldn’t tell what it was as I saw it and quickly lost it in the brush. Next clearing I could see into was about 60 yards out. When he hit the opening there was no doubt in my mind, that’s my buck! He slowly cruised in and stopped right before coming into the clearing. He poked his head out from behind a big cedar and at that moment I knew he could tell something was up.
He slowly walked out, directly facing me and sniffing the air the whole time. At this point my heart is pounding. He was directly under the feeder at 18 yards with no shot. He started eating some corn, but after about 30 seconds decided something was up. He looked up directly at me. The sun was directly to my right and I’m sure profiling me as I didn’t have much brush behind me to break up my outline. At this point the buck decided it was time to go. As he turned and started to walk off I drew my bow. I made a small bleat at him at the perfect time. It caught his attention just long enough to stop him. I followed that green pin up his leg, covered the vitals and thump, arrow away.
I instantly knew that I smoked him. I have replayed the shot in my head 100 times at this point. It felt like something that I watched as a kid and dreamed about doing one day. After the shot he kicked and took off. He ran out and around back to the same path he came in on. I saw him stop about 80 yards away. He stumbled off out of view and then I heard it. Thud and then kick, kick, kick he was down. For good measure I waited about 30 minutes. As I got down and grabbed my arrow it pretty much confirmed what I knew. The QAD Exodus cut through him like butter. As odd as it is I didn’t find a single drop of blood. Might have been the fact that I essentially heard where he crashed and took the wrong route, but in all kinda odd. I took off and within just a minute I saw a white belly. I did it. Second buck ever, first Bow Buck and all on public land. This was by far the most rewarding harvest I have made. We roughly scored him at 138 and will get an official measure later. If you stuck around this long thanks for reading. I have wanted to do a write up on a successful hunt for a while and finally got that opportunity!
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