State Forests?

[Yakinthebox]

These are youth only hunts but I can't seem to locate any info on them.

Has anyone ever hunted on the State Forests?

Specifically;

ID Fairchild
E.O. Siecke
John Henry Kirby
Masterson

If you've hunted or taken a kiddo hunting here, will you please weigh in on anything of note. Camping/lodging, deer density, hogs, staff, etc.

[WinslowBoy]

My oldest drew a hunt at ID Fairchild about 8-9 years ago. Typical east Texas type property. LOTS of pine trees but some good creek bottoms too. Staff was great, biologist was a little cranky but at that time, he said he was retiring in the next year. At that time, antler restrictions weren't in place on the hunt and my kiddo was able to shoot a 3.5 yr old 8 point that was barely under 13" but heck, he was excited about it.

They tried to set the kids up for success. They had pre-placed popup blinds in areas where they had some open shooting lanes (Logging roads, fire breaks, etc.) They also pre-baited them at that time and most kids were successful with most at least getting an opportunity to kill a doe.

They transport you to the blind which is good because there really isn't anywhere to park a vehicle out of site at each spot. At the time, they gave us radios to call back to the office when we wanted to be picked up OR if we shot something. One of the staff actually had a small terrier mix that ended up tracking 2 of the deer the kids shot.

It looked like most of the area around ID Fairchild was timber company land and I'm sure most were deer leases so I wouldn't expect to shoot a monster. It was a good hunt to shoot a doe or hog and user friendly for the kids.

Don't remember but don't think they had camping onsite. We stayed in a hotel in Palestine. Roughly 25 min drive in the morning. They had a skinning rack with running water and they said at that time, they had money to "upgrade" it so I'm assuming that has been done.

Another thing I liked about the hunt was they only had ONE hunt, the youth hunt. Some of the State Parks with assigned blinds have multiple hunts and the hunts later in the year can get a little shot out. Didn't have to worry about it on this hunt and I believe that lead to the higher success rate.

Not sure about the other State forest hunts but I'm assuming they are similar. The State Forest regional guy and the regional biologist were "over" all the State Forest hunts in the area so I'm guessing they were all set up pretty much the same. Hope this info helps.

[Yakinthebox]

My oldest drew a hunt at ID Fairchild about 8-9 years ago. Typical east Texas type property. LOTS of pine trees but some good creek bottoms too. Staff was great, biologist was a little cranky but at that time, he said he was retiring in the next year. At that time, antler restrictions weren't in place on the hunt and my kiddo was able to shoot a 3.5 yr old 8 point that was barely under 13" but heck, he was excited about it.

They tried to set the kids up for success. They had pre-placed popup blinds in areas where they had some open shooting lanes (Logging roads, fire breaks, etc.) They also pre-baited them at that time and most kids were successful with most at least getting an opportunity to kill a doe.

They transport you to the blind which is good because there really isn't anywhere to park a vehicle out of site at each spot. At the time, they gave us radios to call back to the office when we wanted to be picked up OR if we shot something. One of the staff actually had a small terrier mix that ended up tracking 2 of the deer the kids shot.

It looked like most of the area around ID Fairchild was timber company land and I'm sure most were deer leases so I wouldn't expect to shoot a monster. It was a good hunt to shoot a doe or hog and user friendly for the kids.

Don't remember but don't think they had camping onsite. We stayed in a hotel in Palestine. Roughly 25 min drive in the morning. They had a skinning rack with running water and they said at that time, they had money to "upgrade" it so I'm assuming that has been done.

Another thing I liked about the hunt was they only had ONE hunt, the youth hunt. Some of the State Parks with assigned blinds have multiple hunts and the hunts later in the year can get a little shot out. Didn't have to worry about it on this hunt and I believe that lead to the higher success rate.

Not sure about the other State forest hunts but I'm assuming they are similar. The State Forest regional guy and the regional biologist were "over" all the State Forest hunts in the area so I'm guessing they were all set up pretty much the same. Hope this info helps.

Thank you a ton for this writeup! Exactly the type of info I was looking for. I assume they're all still under the same manager just due to the fact that the hunting dates are the same for all 4 of the forests.

I really appreciate your input! Couldn't care less if we don't get into any monster bucks. Both my girls will be chasing their first deer so we won't be picky. I have to wonder though if the antler restrictions have helped the bucks get better racks. Hopefully we'll find out!

My youngest is determined to shoot a bigger buck than daddy! My best is a 120" from the Trinity River bottoms.

[Swamphunterfw]

I took my friends son last year he was drawn there was doe and several bucks he got one of each the buck was 8 point 14in wide nothing huge but his first buck
The post above pretty well sums it up

[Yakinthebox]

I took my friends son last year he was drawn there was doe and several bucks he got one of each the buck was 8 point 14in wide nothing huge but his first buck
The post above pretty well sums it up

Which property did y'all go to?

[Swamphunterfw]

Which property did y'all go to?

Id Fairchild

[Magoo]

My son was drawn for the John Henry Kirby State Forest youth only "Either Sex" deer hunt 2 seasons ago. We arrived on time on the day of the hunt for a brief orientation, then were chosen at random to walk up to a map and pick which area of the property that we wanted to hunt (I let my son pick). After everyone picked their spot, we were told that we could head into town and pickup some lunch before the hunt, or we could head out and start hunting right away. We packed a small cooler with drinks and food, so we opted to start hunting right away. There were some Forestry workers onsite that drove everyone out to their chosen spots to hunt out of pre-placed popup blinds. The blinds were placed on service roads running through Pine plantations consisting of younger/newer growth from recent clear-cuts to more mature stands of Pine (depending on which spot you picked). They had been baiting the service roads with loose corn for about a month. We made it to the blind around 11:30 AM on the first day of the hunt and sat until dark. Throughout the day we saw a young buck, a couple of young does and a big mature doe. My son took the big doe just a few minutes before sunset. After the shot, we called the Forestry guy who dropped us off and he brought his truck and assisted with the retrieval. He drove us back to the parking area where they had setup a tripod with a winch and a gambrel. A TPWD biologist was there to age the deer and to pull the lymph nodes from the deer's neck to be sent off to a lab to test for CDW. The doe ended up being 5+ years old. The biologist gave me a business card with sample # on it so that I could follow up on the CDW test (deer tested negative). We then skinned and quartered the doe, got her in the cooler and then headed into Kountze where I had reserved a room at some cheap motel. Just about everything in town was closed when we got there, but found a Sonic that was still open. Had a late dinner and went to bed. We were out early again the next morning (I think we met at the parking area at 4 AM). We sat in the same blind the next day and didn't see anything the second day (the deer may have been skittish from all of the shooting the day before). I think 1 or 2 of the kids may have been successful on the second day. I think in total, 5 of the 6 kids harvested at least one deer. My boy and I had a blast and the staff were really nice and eager to help. It was a great experience for us both and we will be applying again this year. Good luck!

[Yakinthebox]

Thanks for the write-up Magoo! Sounds like they're all good hunts. Really hoping one of my girls draws one!