Draw Hunt - Hill Country State Natural Area

[Texas Grown]

What kinda vehicle need for this place? Hoping gonna be ok but my old truck was acting up a little yesterday and little nervous about a 3 hour drive. Do i need try borrow a buddy's truck if mine not ok? Wife has a minivan (We put deer and pigs in it all the time on a tarp)

Just not sure if that work for going to hunting location?

I've had three minivans. And have had a ton of fun with them hunting, fishing, camping, and cycling. All while pulling a utility trailer or boat too! Gas milage was much better at the time than any P/Us. I felt like my stuff was much more secure in them too (important when ya got $10k in bicycles). Like you, I just used a tarp for critters when I needed to.

[7sdad]

I felt like my stuff was much more secure in them too (important when ya got $10k in bicycles). Like you, I just used a tarp for critters when I needed to.

If it was more than one bike you were riding those cheap ones.

[Texas Grown]

If it was more than one bike you were riding those cheap ones.

Sometimes 1. Sometimes 2. Ones I put together. Not bike store store-bought stuff. That was 20-25 years ago.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[jpb1999]

How did the hunt go?

thanks!

How did the hunt last year go?

My son and I also drew this hunt, but the "either sex" category. The hunt is on Nov 21-23. I have never been drawn before, so pretty pumped! Based on the previous comments I have found here, it sounds like our hunt dates should be pretty good as it is only the 2nd hunting dates available there.

Lots of questions though:
Can we request the blind we want?
Which blind would be the best for Axis?
Or which blind/areas would be the best in general to get a kill?
Just bring corn to bait with?
So these are pop up blinds? Do we need anything to help? Shooting sticks or tripod to shoot off of?

Thanks all!

[OleTomTalker]

How did the hunt last year go?

My son and I also drew this hunt, but the "either sex" category. The hunt is on Nov 21-23. I have never been drawn before, so pretty pumped! Based on the previous comments I have found here, it sounds like our hunt dates should be pretty good as it is only the 2nd hunting dates available there.

Lots of questions though:
Can we request the blind we want?
Which blind would be the best for Axis?
Or which blind/areas would be the best in general to get a kill?
Just bring corn to bait with?
So these are pop up blinds? Do we need anything to help? Shooting sticks or tripod to shoot off of?

Thanks all!

I think we were assigned blinds, don't remember for sure.
There are the occasional axis but from what rangers told us, not very common to see. When they do see them it is along the creek. We only put out corn. Deer movement on my son's hunt was almost non-existent. Only deer spotted and shot were from the couple blinds along the creek. He shot a big boar first afternoon and had an even bigger one next morning but didn't want to shoot in hopes of seeing a deer. We had really warm and REALLY foggy so our experience may not be the best on the deer hunting side of it. It is however a beautiful place and definitely recommend staying at the ranchhouse onsite. That was a really cool experience for us.
They did have a really nice, really big popup for us. Seemed to be in a good spot but the hogs were the only movement we saw. Take some sticks or tripods.

Hope I don't sound discouraging, I just don't wanna tell ya gonna see a bunch of deer or exotics. Think normally better than when we were there but not a lot. Having said that, my son is a very accomplished hunter for his age and we've had a lot of great memory conversations about that place even not seeing a single deer.

[goofiefoot]

How did the hunt last year go?

My son and I also drew this hunt, but the "either sex" category. The hunt is on Nov 21-23. I have never been drawn before, so pretty pumped! Based on the previous comments I have found here, it sounds like our hunt dates should be pretty good as it is only the 2nd hunting dates available there.

Lots of questions though:
Can we request the blind we want?
Which blind would be the best for Axis?
Or which blind/areas would be the best in general to get a kill?
Just bring corn to bait with?
So these are pop up blinds? Do we need anything to help? Shooting sticks or tripod to shoot off of?

Thanks all!

Congrats on being drawn. With either sex, you have more options.

Can we request the blind we want?

• No, the staff will assign you one.

Which blind would be the best for Axis?

• From what we heard when we were there, there weren't many axis seen at all for some years

Or which blind/areas would be the best in general to get a kill?

• We were in the very southeast corner and didn't see much.

Just bring corn to bait with?

• We brought corn and alfalfa. Corn was eaten up overnight. Alfalfa was barely touched.

So these are pop up blinds? Do we need anything to help? Shooting sticks or tripod to shoot off of?

• Yes, big pop-up blinds. Shooting sticks are a must. If you have a comfy chair, you may bring that. The metal chairs they provide are brutal over a long sit.

I hope the hunting has improved over the past year. We talked to one of the park hosts before we started our hunt last year, and he let us know how little game had been taken on any of the hunts for at least 2-3 years. Needless to say, we did not put in for draws at SNA this year.

I do wish y'all the best of luck!

[salth2o]

How did the hunt last year go?

My son and I also drew this hunt, but the "either sex" category. The hunt is on Nov 21-23. I have never been drawn before, so pretty pumped! Based on the previous comments I have found here, it sounds like our hunt dates should be pretty good as it is only the 2nd hunting dates available there.

Lots of questions though:
Can we request the blind we want?
Which blind would be the best for Axis?
Or which blind/areas would be the best in general to get a kill?
Just bring corn to bait with?
So these are pop up blinds? Do we need anything to help? Shooting sticks or tripod to shoot off of?

Thanks all!

My son hunted there back in 2020. We drew for blinds. No one on our hunt saw or killed an exotic.

We put out corn and they cleaned it up. The popups are nice and spacious. I always bring rest to shoot from.

Its a good hunt, beautiful country

We stayed in the lodge for $30 a night or so. At the lodge there is an area with a light that you can use to clean deer. I brought a gambrel and rope. There is a light and running water there.

[CaptTank]

We were on a doe only hunt. We didn’t see many of those. The one I saw I shot at almost the very end of the hunt. It was around 10:30 and had to be out by 12. I did see a few bucks, but they were off limits. My dad saw a respectable 12. We saw hogs each sit. Place seemed kind of hit and miss as far as activity. Still always fun to see new country.


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[Aggiebush]

My son and a friend drew this for the youth either sex Dec 26th. Hoping for a successful hunt, but will be happy to just spend time there with him, my buddy and his son. Can’t wait!

[jpb1999]

Any updates from the 1st hunt?

Our hunt is coming up next week. Weather and timing look to be good except for some rain chances Tues/Wednesday.

Looking forward to it!

[Towboater]

Any updates from the 1st hunt?

Our hunt is coming up next week. Weather and timing look to be good except for some rain chances Tues/Wednesday.

Looking forward to it!

My Sons and I hunted there on the first hunt, and like the above post it was slow. When I left on the last day only two does had been taken, but we left early around 0930 had a long drive home. We hunted blinds 1 2 3 only saw one buck on blind 1 and 1 buck & hog on blind 2. There game out there because something was cleaning up all the corn we would put out. If you have a game cam set it up to see what eating up that corn at night. Good Luck!

[Aggiebush]

Planning on taking a couple of cameras on our hunt, never know what might show up. It will be the last hunt, sounds like not a lot getting taken, maybe the boys will get lucky.

[Bowtech Shooter]

Any other reports. My dad and I go on a doe hunt next week Monday to Wednesday. Hoping to see a few.

[Aggiebush]

Good luck Bowtech, hope to hear a good report after your hunt. Staff guy I spoke with said that they assign blinds on the youth hunts, don’t get to chose them yourself. Our boys are excited, just hope the weather and critters cooperate.

[Bowtech Shooter]

Same to u. Looking through old threads looks like it can be a tough hunt but I always enjoy seeing new places. Gonna be hot Monday and Tuesday