Well its a few weeks since we got back but life got crazy trying to get caught up on everything.
First off thank you to the couple of guys that helped me in my preplanning and scouting. It is greatly appreciated and helped out a lot.
Second, that place is something special. Amazing country, beautiful views, and some down right fun hunting.
We started of by leaving a day early and making the 11 hour drive out the the park. Fueled up in Presidio and got off the pavement to start the long bumpy drive in to the Bunkhouse. Met Border Patrol on the way in and they said the were on the look out for reported smugglers. We got to the Bunkhouse after a slow almost two hour drive and checked in. Then we drove for the last hour of daylight and glassed a big basin from a high ridge. No deer seen but did spot a nice 4 point shed about 1/4 mile down. We saw some quail and javelina on the way back in and a ton of dove. The sunset was amazing. Cooked a nice steak dinner in the bunkhouse and made ourselves at home. Met some of the other hunters and made new friends. The Bunkhouse is really nice accommodations.
About 3 am a bad thunderstorm rolled in and kicked out the power for a while. Not sure how much rain but it was a downpour. We awoke to cool temps and new people in camp. Everyone was getting ready for the orientation. Met the hunt director and checked in. Met all the other hunters and went through the rules. Drew units. We got drawn as a group of 4 so we had 1/3 of the tags. Sadly we still only got one unit to hunt in which was big but splitting up we covered most all of it and saw only a handful of bucks.
Day 1
We were let loose to go to our units before lunch. Most groups were camping in their unit but we decided to stay in the bunkhouse as our unit touched the headquarters area. Our group split up and picked two areas to focus on for the afternoon. The unit was square and guessing about 3000-3500 acres. It had some decent peaks in it with a huge bowl in the middle and a large arroyo that ran through it. With all the recent water we decided to glass and stalk instead of sitting water holes as they were everywhere and the arroyo was actually running water.
My friend ,Toastie on here, and I walked up a rim to glass a large section of the biggest mountain in the unit. We slowly made our way into the bottom. I thought it was him making noise coming around a ridge but when I see him he is pointing up the other side of the ridge to a saddle where he just saw a nice buck run over. We then spent a good portion of the afternoon walking to different glassing points a scanning the country. We didn't see anymore deer and eventually made our way back to the truck.
The other guys went to the back of the unit and walked into the North side of another bowl and hiked in down the arroyo ridge glassing along the way but never turned anything up. We met back at the working pens and decided to drive to the Southwest side and come in a hiking trail to glass two different ridges on the other side.
We spotted some Aoudad, including a monster that just sat there starring at us. We sat and watched him and caught movement in the canyon below near the waterfall that was cascading down the sheer rock drop off we were over. Two grey fox were chasing something in a rock slide below us. jumping in and out of the large boulders and the small brush that grew within them. I also found a big 2x2 up a draw that was still in velvet. As it was getting dark we made our way out to the trucks. Sat under the stars just taking in all we had seen the first day. Slowly made the drive back to camp. Cooked diner and spoke to the other hunters that decided to stay in the bunkhouse. The saw a few does.
Again, in the middle of the night a huge downpour. Lighting and thunder crashing. I left central Texas which has been in a bad drought and go to the desert to find rain. Go figure.
First off thank you to the couple of guys that helped me in my preplanning and scouting. It is greatly appreciated and helped out a lot.
Second, that place is something special. Amazing country, beautiful views, and some down right fun hunting.
We started of by leaving a day early and making the 11 hour drive out the the park. Fueled up in Presidio and got off the pavement to start the long bumpy drive in to the Bunkhouse. Met Border Patrol on the way in and they said the were on the look out for reported smugglers. We got to the Bunkhouse after a slow almost two hour drive and checked in. Then we drove for the last hour of daylight and glassed a big basin from a high ridge. No deer seen but did spot a nice 4 point shed about 1/4 mile down. We saw some quail and javelina on the way back in and a ton of dove. The sunset was amazing. Cooked a nice steak dinner in the bunkhouse and made ourselves at home. Met some of the other hunters and made new friends. The Bunkhouse is really nice accommodations.
About 3 am a bad thunderstorm rolled in and kicked out the power for a while. Not sure how much rain but it was a downpour. We awoke to cool temps and new people in camp. Everyone was getting ready for the orientation. Met the hunt director and checked in. Met all the other hunters and went through the rules. Drew units. We got drawn as a group of 4 so we had 1/3 of the tags. Sadly we still only got one unit to hunt in which was big but splitting up we covered most all of it and saw only a handful of bucks.
Day 1
We were let loose to go to our units before lunch. Most groups were camping in their unit but we decided to stay in the bunkhouse as our unit touched the headquarters area. Our group split up and picked two areas to focus on for the afternoon. The unit was square and guessing about 3000-3500 acres. It had some decent peaks in it with a huge bowl in the middle and a large arroyo that ran through it. With all the recent water we decided to glass and stalk instead of sitting water holes as they were everywhere and the arroyo was actually running water.
My friend ,Toastie on here, and I walked up a rim to glass a large section of the biggest mountain in the unit. We slowly made our way into the bottom. I thought it was him making noise coming around a ridge but when I see him he is pointing up the other side of the ridge to a saddle where he just saw a nice buck run over. We then spent a good portion of the afternoon walking to different glassing points a scanning the country. We didn't see anymore deer and eventually made our way back to the truck.
The other guys went to the back of the unit and walked into the North side of another bowl and hiked in down the arroyo ridge glassing along the way but never turned anything up. We met back at the working pens and decided to drive to the Southwest side and come in a hiking trail to glass two different ridges on the other side.
We spotted some Aoudad, including a monster that just sat there starring at us. We sat and watched him and caught movement in the canyon below near the waterfall that was cascading down the sheer rock drop off we were over. Two grey fox were chasing something in a rock slide below us. jumping in and out of the large boulders and the small brush that grew within them. I also found a big 2x2 up a draw that was still in velvet. As it was getting dark we made our way out to the trucks. Sat under the stars just taking in all we had seen the first day. Slowly made the drive back to camp. Cooked diner and spoke to the other hunters that decided to stay in the bunkhouse. The saw a few does.
Again, in the middle of the night a huge downpour. Lighting and thunder crashing. I left central Texas which has been in a bad drought and go to the desert to find rain. Go figure.
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