texas draws

[SwampBuck]

Do you mind sharing which wma’s you’ve gone to?

[Yakinthebox]

I'm assuming that every WMA has the potential to do things a tad differently but every hunt I've been on with the exception of one has been by compartment. During my hunts you were assigned a compartment with your entire group and could hunt it however you wanted (legally of course).

I've heard some people had to share compartments before with other groups. But personally never happened to me.

I responded in the other thread but I'll second what BradBryant1000 said...

My experience was from 2 hunts at The Chap. Have not drawn any other WMA's or State Parks. Been on several NWR hunts and they are very different. Pretty much a free for all on those with the exception of Balcones Canyonlands NWR which was assigned blind and easily the worst hunt I've been on out of all my drawn hunts.

[SwampBuck]

Sorry I completely missed your reply on the other thread.
Thanks for the help

[Deerguy]

So far, I've hunted Chap, Elephant Mtn, Black Gap, Gene Howe, Matador, Daughtery, North Shore, Engeling, Garner, Caddo, Colorado Bend, Bedias Creek, and San Angelo. Garner was assigned blind so it doesn't count, but all of the others were compartment. For Colorado Bend, it was a compartment hunt but had to share with another group. For the San Angelo turkey hunt, it was advertised as compartment, but the whole area was open for everyone.

[sqiggy]

I asked in the other thread but I’ll ask here too.

If a group gets drawn and it’s compartment style do both people in the group get to hunt together?

I answered in the other thread as well, but will reply again. I’ve been on a lot of hunts as well. Everybody in your group will hunt the same compartment. There have been times where they might add another person or group to the same compartment. Only time it happened to me was on a youth hunt, twice.

[tward1604]

I responded in the other thread but I'll second what BradBryant1000 said...

My experience was from 2 hunts at The Chap. Have not drawn any other WMA's or State Parks. Been on several NWR hunts and they are very different. Pretty much a free for all on those with the exception of Balcones Canyonlands NWR which was assigned blind and easily the worst hunt I've been on out of all my drawn hunts.

What made Balcones so terrible?

[C-dubyah]

Old Sabine Bottom is pretty horrible too. Kept having people, that were not picked to be hunting anywhere out there, coming onto our compartment and hunting. One guy was drunk and sitting in his lawn chair under a tree in our compartment.

[Yakinthebox]

What made Balcones so terrible?

Hunted it for 4 days. They put you in an assigned blind that doesn't really appear to be very strategically located. No baiting allowed. I think compartment may have made it better then I'd actually be able to setup on a game trail, etc...

Over 4 days, I saw exactly one small spike buck that ran through super fast and never presented a shot. Very nice area but it's very thick vegetation and doesn't appear to be very target rich.

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[tward1604]

Hunted it for 4 days. They put you in an assigned blind that doesn't really appear to be very strategically located. No baiting allowed. I think compartment may have made it better then I'd actually be able to setup on a game trail, etc...

Over 4 days, I saw exactly one small spike buck that ran through super fast and never presented a shot. Very nice area but it's very thick vegetation and doesn't appear to be very target rich.

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Well that blows you had such a bad experience out there. Points on these hunts are precious, and it sucks to burn them on a bad experience. I was going to send in an app for there but if its all that bad i might save my money here. Thank you for the heads up!

[Magoo]

So far, I've hunted Chap, Elephant Mtn, Black Gap, Gene Howe, Matador, Daughtery, North Shore, Engeling, Garner, Caddo, Colorado Bend, Bedias Creek, and San Angelo. Garner was assigned blind so it doesn't count, but all of the others were compartment. For Colorado Bend, it was a compartment hunt but had to share with another group. For the San Angelo turkey hunt, it was advertised as compartment, but the whole area was open for everyone.

I've yet to participate in a compartment hunt and have always been curious about how much land you'd have access too. I'm sure that it varies from property to property, but what size range have you seen hunting all of the places you mentioned?

[sqiggy]

I've yet to participate in a compartment hunt and have always been curious about how much land you'd have access too. I'm sure that it varies from property to property, but what size range have you seen hunting all of the places you mentioned?

From my experience, they put the larger groups in the bigger compartments. When I drew Kerr, I was by myself so they put me in a 132 acre pasture. When me, my brother and dad drew a turkey hunt, we were put in a 700-800 acre pasture. At chap, I was by myself again and they let me choose. It was between 300-400 acres. At Richland creek my group had close to 1600 acres. Actually, it was 2 compartments. The next time there, we only got one compartment and it was 700 acres. Then at Devil’s River, only 5 showed up. So we pretty much had the whole place. I knew where the others were so I hunted 5 compartments that were all together. I hunted Fort Boggy and I don’t remember how many acres I had but never saw all of it.
If you ever get drawn, you’ll have more land to hunt on than what you can handle.

[Huntindad]

At Chap, I bet they assign compartments for you. Started in 2020 due to pandemic I think & I bet it will be permanent.

[Yakinthebox]

At Chap, I bet they assign compartments for you. Started in 2020 due to pandemic I think & I bet it will be permanent.

My daughter drew Chap Youth Antlerless/ Spike in 2020 and I can corroborate what Huntindad said. Our compartment was assigned and I believe they were going to stick with that method going forward from what I recall being told.

[tward1604]

Well I made my first check on TPWD about 30 minutes ago. I can't help it.

[SwampBuck]

Well I made my first check on TPWD about 30 minutes ago. I can't help it.

Lol ditto. I’m worse than a kid on Christmas