Alazan Bayou WMA 2021

[Rivershack21]

My son and I draw the oct 21 to 25 archery draw as well. Looking forward to this hunt.
My son went and scouted it Sunday said it looks good they have lots of the area mowed with good trails. It’s all compartments and they said they smalls trac is 70 acres. They saw three doe while they were there

[ctom87]

Blueprints inbound. I will put something together.

[ctom87]

Well, I'm pretty upset. C-dubyah provided me with a TON of information last year that really helped me out, and I was hoping to add to that information to help the next guy...but somehow the scouting report that I had created in anticipation of posting got lost - I imagine when I formatted my computer. So there's a lot of stuff that I had written that is gone. I will do my best from memory.

Last year was my first year to put in for any drawn hunts and on my first attempt with one lonely point I drew Alazan Bayou for Archery. I couldn't have been excited. I have no problem with any type of hunting, but to me, a drawn public land hunt with a bow is you versus nature, and more often than not, you end up losing.

Scouting in person was impossible due to work and being a new father. There was no time to go out prior to the hunt: It would all have to be done as soon as I got there, or by talking to folks like C-dubyah and Luna-Tuna, just like you're doing.

Right off the bat I can tell you there's a ton of mesquitos. And for every mosquito there's a dozen hogs...tracks filled the ground. Everyone says it is a hard hunt and they are right. The truck got stuck, I got stuck... but if I remember correctly, every single day I saw deer. I think I jumped three of them walking, however, keep in mind that no one in our group shot a deer and no one in the group that went ahead of us shot anything, either. I think the opportunities are there though.

C-dubyah suggested compartment #1 - and he is absolutely right on that. I believe I saw deer in that compartment every night driving through it to get back to camp. If you get the opportunity, take compartment 1.

I ended up with Compartment 2 as 1 had already been drafted by my turn to pick. I was just as excited for Compartment 2. I believe that deer are coming from the SFA Experitmental Forest and feeding in areas of compartment 1. And to get there, they have to go through Compartment 2.

I downloaded Google Earth in order to try and see trails that opened up when the trees died and sure enough I found some in years when they took pictures in January thru March. This helped.

I'll upload some pics later but basically if I drew compartment 2 again, I found a valley maybe 3 foot deeper than the resf of the floor of the forest. It was maybe 20 yards across and it was near the west side of the compartment. I believe another 50 to 100 yards was the fenceline. I would probably sit in that dried up creek and wait for them to come across and feed, or even bed in there. I jumped a doe that was bedded down in there.

The first place I sat was near the marsh on the north side of the compartment. I had a young buck - not legal - within 10 yards about 30 minutes after sun rise. Neat experience!

Good luck. I'll post up some screen shots of my scouting on OnX.

[ctom87]

I didn't scout anything bordering the river. But here were potential spots i wanted to sit if I ended up in these compartments.

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[luna-tuna]

My son and I draw the oct 21 to 25 archery draw as well. Looking forward to this hunt.
My son went and scouted it Sunday said it looks good they have lots of the area mowed with good trails. It’s all compartments and they said they smalls trac is 70 acres. They saw three doe while they were there

Good info ctom.
I scouted there one day last week. Was surprised to see that several bucks still had their velvet. Hardly any mosquitos but the deer flies/buffalo gnats were out ! Acorns seemed to be spotty.

Howie, the Winston property that I mentioned is across the hiway from headquarters, Their south boundary stretches from the Moral creek bridge to hiway 59.

[Rivershack21]

Yes thank you for the info ctom. Hoping it come in handy for us.
I am hoping to get over there my self and scout before hand. Hoping it should be about rut time when we hunt and want have to worry about the food lol

[C-dubyah]

Ctom I just read your stuff. Good post and glad you enjoyed yourself.

[TXMountaineer]

Good luck Gopher! I entered for the bow and gun hunt in Alazan and got drawn on the gun hunt. I hunted the WMA one year with a bow the year before the bow hunting went to epostcard. I saw a nice 10 point that stayed just out of bow range and killed a doe. I enjoyed the hunt and the area, but a thermocell is a must. I went the last week of October and the bucks were just starting to rut.

[Rivershack21]

Man I am ready for that hunt to get here. Come on 21 at 11 o’clock I be rolling out work
And planning on stay the first night there to bond with the woods lol

[Gopher]

Got the call from the biologist today. Excited for the meeting Thursday and getting out in the Piney woods. Hope y’all are having a good archery season so far.


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[Gopher]

Man I am ready for that hunt to get here. Come on 21 at 11 o’clock I be rolling out work
And planning on stay the first night there to bond with the woods lol

See you on 21.


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[C-dubyah]

Good luck guys. I'm curious to know how it goes.

[Rivershack21]

It was a good hunt. It’s a hard hunt as hot as it was and how big compartments where. I saw one shooter buck but didn’t get a shot. Now the bucks with the radio collars and ear tags. Encountered 3 different ones. All legal one was really good deer and the amount of small bucks are really good. Saw deer every time in the stand.
My son did kill a 200 pound yesterday morning. I will be putting back in for that place every year

[luna-tuna]

Rivershack, glad you had a good hunt and saw several bucks. Were any of them on does ? Did your son get a big hog ? Any other game taken by other hunters during your hunt ?

Gopher, did you see anything in your compartment ?

[Rivershack21]

Lol yes son did kill a big sow hog. It was a group of 11 come out on him. We did see some does but they were all on the walks in before daylight. Only one small doe was taken on the first day of the hunt. Everyone was seeing a lot of deer they just all seamed out of range for ever one.