South Llano River State Park Youth Hunt

[kingfisher_jr]

My son got drawn for South Llano River in Early January. Wanted to see if anyone has any experience with this area, as far as what to expect, things we must bring, ect. We are both really looking forward to the hunt. It's about a 6 1/2 drive for us, but well worth it just to be able to hunt a different area with the boy.

I would love for him to be able to shoot an Axis, Fallow, or Blackbuck but just going is awesome.

[Yakinthebox]

I've only been able to dream of going.

Congratulations! Put the kids as well as myself in every year!

Should be great from everything I've ever heard!

[CTR0022]

I've only been able to dream of going.

Congratulations! Put the kids as well as myself in every year!

Should be great from everything I've ever heard!

How's Keechi been? Do they have water? Many ducks using it?

I drew the waterfowl hunting January.

Please keep me posted on how you do.

Send me a PM if you'd like.

TIA

[Walker]

My 2 grandsons will be there with me and their dad. All I know for sure is you can only use corn that is labeled less that 20 ppm aflatoxin. Supposed to be available in junction. Box blinds of some sort are in place and the kids draw for choices. I called the park and they were very nice and I'm sure they'd answer any questions you might have. We booked a hotel in junction instead of camping.

[SM69]

My kids got drawn for it back in 2018. Park folks were great back then. Whitetail were plentiful, axis were around but never came out in the open while we were hunting. We took a couple bales of alfalfa, the axis would decimate it over night but we never had them come to it during shooting hours. Lots of hogs and turkey as well. There were quite a few WT's killed on our hunt, didn't see any axis come in. Lots of hogs too. Back then they assigned you a blind and were open to moving you around if you weren't seeing much. Best of luck and enjoy, it's an awesome place.

[kingfisher_jr]

My 2 grandsons will be there with me and their dad. All I know for sure is you can only use corn that is labeled less that 20 ppm aflatoxin. Supposed to be available in junction. Box blinds of some sort are in place and the kids draw for choices. I called the park and they were very nice and I'm sure they'd answer any questions you might have. We booked a hotel in junction instead of camping.

Thats awesome. Looking forward to seeing some people from TBH there & hopefully the all the kids get some deer. We also booked a hotel in Junction. From what little info I have found online, it says that there are a lot of Whitetail & a few Axis but the better stands tend to be by the river for both.

The last TPWD hunt that I went on park members had trailers and took people to/from stands. I am trying to figure out if this is the same here or if you walk to/from. Just want to know if I need to bring a game cart along.

[Yak blue]

This is the write up I sent to walker back in September if yo didn’t search or read it. Funnest hunt I’ve done with my kid.



“Lucky grandkids!

which hunt date?

Lodging-
you can camp on site if you so choose. My kid drew last fear. We stayed in an Airbnb in junction. Kid drew the latest hunt date and I didn’t want to roll the dice with cold/wet weather. Mid week Airbnb was cheap, worth the heater and shower.

Blinds-
there are numbered blinds. The kids each drew a number, 1-10, out of a coffee can. Kid with one gets first choice, and so on. hope for a good draw…
the park host keeps track of the harvest data for that years previous hunt periods. It helps with deciding where to choose. Most axis are killed in the blinds along the river, but not all..
some blinds have good views. Others are limited to a single 5m wide shooting lane. When I went, all kids saw game. Not everyone killed and several saw zero axis. All depends on luck of the draw…

staff-
the park host (Charlie) runs a tight ship, he is a good guy and will do what he can to make sure the kids have a good time and are successful. if it’s cold, he has coffee and hot cocoa for the kiddos. Cody, the park superintendent, is also good people…he begs you to shoot everything you’re allowed, too many mouths and not enough resources…

extra tidbits-
last year, they had a pig kill contest. Some serious prize money… incentive to stack the pigs up. I think it was like a $1k gift card. One hunter killed six, and he was on the leaderboard after my kids hunt. You don’t have to bring the pigs in, a time stamped photo of pig and kid was accepted.

bait/corn- better be in bag and labeled with its ppb aflatoxin…they check every bag…
I brought chaffaye/alfalfa. Didn’t get touched. Corn was the ticket.

good luck to the grandkids. Hands down the best hunt I’ve had with my kid. She’s hoping she can draw again before she ages out….”

[Yakinthebox]

How's Keechi been? Do they have water? Many ducks using it?

I drew the waterfowl hunting January.

Please keep me posted on how you do.

Send me a PM if you'd like.

TIA

Man! I wasn't able to make it for the orientation because I got forced onto a different shift at work.

I called them and canceled a few days before the orientation on 12/1

Keep me posted how the January duck hunt's are.

This next year my schedule should be more concrete. I've been in a floater type of role at work this year and it's screwed up several plans/hunts!

[ZINS708]

This is the write up I sent to walker back in September if yo didn’t search or read it. Funnest hunt I’ve done with my kid.



“Lucky grandkids!

which hunt date?

Lodging-
you can camp on site if you so choose. My kid drew last fear. We stayed in an Airbnb in junction. Kid drew the latest hunt date and I didn’t want to roll the dice with cold/wet weather. Mid week Airbnb was cheap, worth the heater and shower.

Blinds-
there are numbered blinds. The kids each drew a number, 1-10, out of a coffee can. Kid with one gets first choice, and so on. hope for a good draw…
the park host keeps track of the harvest data for that years previous hunt periods. It helps with deciding where to choose. Most axis are killed in the blinds along the river, but not all..
some blinds have good views. Others are limited to a single 5m wide shooting lane. When I went, all kids saw game. Not everyone killed and several saw zero axis. All depends on luck of the draw…

staff-
the park host (Charlie) runs a tight ship, he is a good guy and will do what he can to make sure the kids have a good time and are successful. if it’s cold, he has coffee and hot cocoa for the kiddos. Cody, the park superintendent, is also good people…he begs you to shoot everything you’re allowed, too many mouths and not enough resources…

extra tidbits-
last year, they had a pig kill contest. Some serious prize money… incentive to stack the pigs up. I think it was like a $1k gift card. One hunter killed six, and he was on the leaderboard after my kids hunt. You don’t have to bring the pigs in, a time stamped photo of pig and kid was accepted.

bait/corn- better be in bag and labeled with its ppb aflatoxin…they check every bag…
I brought chaffaye/alfalfa. Didn’t get touched. Corn was the ticket.

good luck to the grandkids. Hands down the best hunt I’ve had with my kid. She’s hoping she can draw again before she ages out….”

Great write up here! I've done this hunt twice the last 7 years. The few things that I would add- they had a very nice walk in cooler on site to store harvested game in. The park is less than 10 minutes from Junction and there are several places that sell corn marked with the appropriate aflatoxin levels and several good restaurants that serve breakfast lunch and dinner.

The park is basically separated into two different sections: the South Llano River park area and then what used to be the Walter Buck WMA section. They are combined into one park now, but the legacy South Llano portion is more river bottom terrain with tons of pecan trees. The legacy Walter Buck section is more traditional hill country terrain with rolling/rocky hills and more oak/cedar trees. Most axis are seen in the South Llano side, but they get pushed out pretty quick with hunting pressure and tend to go nocturnal. We would see a parade of axis leaving the park at about an hour before daylight on our hunt, lol. They go back up into the Walter Buck side and seemed to lay up in there during the day in bigger groups. Plenty of whitetail roam through all areas and corn holds them pretty well. Our plan was to get to where we could see a long ways and catch axis crossing through. We ended up shooting two or three axis and a handful of whitetail doe on each of our hunts. Axis were all just crossing through and nothing would stop for us to eat during the day. All were quick shot opportunities so be ready. Nothing impressive with the axis harvested, but good eating!

Good luck and keep us posted on the green screen!

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

Great write up here! I've done this hunt twice the last 7 years. The few things that I would add- they had a very nice walk in cooler on site to store harvested game in. The park is less than 10 minutes from Junction and there are several places that sell corn marked with the appropriate aflatoxin levels and several good restaurants that serve breakfast lunch and dinner.

The park is basically separated into two different sections: the South Llano River park area and then what used to be the Walter Buck WMA section. They are combined into one park now, but the legacy South Llano portion is more river bottom terrain with tons of pecan trees. The legacy Walter Buck section is more traditional hill country terrain with rolling/rocky hills and more oak/cedar trees. Most axis are seen in the South Llano side, but they get pushed out pretty quick with hunting pressure and tend to go nocturnal. We would see a parade of axis leaving the park at about an hour before daylight on our hunt, lol. They go back up into the Walter Buck side and seemed to lay up in there during the day in bigger groups. Plenty of whitetail roam through all areas and corn holds them pretty well. Our plan was to get to where we could see a long ways and catch axis crossing through. We ended up shooting two or three axis and a handful of whitetail doe on each of our hunts. Axis were all just crossing through and nothing would stop for us to eat during the day. All were quick shot opportunities so be ready. Nothing impressive with the axis harvested, but good eating!

Good luck and keep us posted on the green screen!

That's good to know because the paperwork I got said no place on site to store harvested game. Thanks for the info

[Jay9]

Kingfisher_jr - My daughter was lucky to draw the youth hunt November 20-22nd. We arrived on Sunday evening and camped in the park. It was $20 a night for a spot and out of 10 hunters only 4 stayed in the park. The park staff and hunt host, Charlie Rooke, are some of the best host you could ask for. They will go out their way to help you out.

What to bring:
- There are 16 blinds spread out throughout the property. We only saw a few of the blinds but for the most part they are 4x4 blinds with a wooden bench and 8 to 10" open windows, to small to fit two chairs in but you may want to bring some sort of cushion to sit on the board. They have dirt floors but keep you out of the weather which was all we needed.
- Baiting is allowed but you want to make sure you get corn that has less than 20 ppb aflotoxin, we picked some up at West Bear Creek store in Junction, some of the hunters also fed alfalfa hay.
- Make sure you and your hunter have your hunting licenses and hunter education card, they do take a look at them at orientation.

Orientation: The orientation last about 45 minutes. The staff and hunt host covered what animals are fair game and which exotics are on the no shoot list. Then they drew dominoes 1 thru 10 for stands, lowest domino picked first and so on. You will be given a folder with the location of your stand and directions on how to get to your stand. That is over about 11:00 am. Hunting parties are then given an hour to drive to their stands and put out feed or do whatever you would like. Once noon or 1' O clock rolls around we were then allowed to start hunting. You will have to stop by the check station every time prior to and after entering or leaving your stand. After that you are free to come and go as you please throughout the hunt period.

The Hunt: From our experience, if you are wanting to get an exotic, closest to the river was the best opportunity, granted we drew one of the first hunts. of the year, so the deer had not been pressured much at this point. My daughter drew domino number 2 and picked stand number 5, which backs up to the river and overlooks Buck lake. The first afternoon we got in the stand around 2:30, up until 5 minutes before end of shooting period we had only seen a whitetail spike and doe, with 4 minutes of shooting time left a good axis buck walked out and my daughter was lucky to get a shot off and connect, picture below. This was our first axis and it was a trophy in our books for any hunt. The second day we saw several whitetail but nothing we wanted to take a shot at and we also saw a group of 10 axis does that afternoon, they were following a trail that the whitetail had been taking across Buck lake. I told my daughter to wait because the whitetail had been coming out about 100 yards from the stand, thinking the axis were taking the same route we were hoping to get a shot off at them, only to have them come out about 200 yards further down. The last morning hunt we also caught a glimpse of some axis walking down in the Buck lake drainage but couldn't see them long enough to get a shot.

Just a short distance from the stand we were in was stand number 7. The hunter in that stand shot 2 axis spikes and 3 whitetail. They also said they saw a nice axis buck the second day but it did not stick around for them to get a shot. Total harvest for our hunt period was 7 whitetail, 3 axis and several pigs.

If you are looking for big whitetail the hunt host said the stands further in the hills 15 and 16 were the better option.

Hope this helps you out and good luck to your son. If you have any other questions let me know and I will try to help

[Mule Skinner]

Congrats to your daughter, great axis buck!

[DUKFVR]

Just got back from the doe/spike hunt. The write ups above are spot on. Charlie & the park staff are as good as the get. Great people that try to get you on animals. They tell you to kill everything you are allowed. 7 was the hot stand on our hunt too. I got 11 & it to me was a waste. Very little area to see & wind would mess you up before you ever saw anything. I hunted it 2 hunts & never saw a thing. Changed to 16 2nd evening & saw hogs & 4 bucks. 1 being a great hill country buck. 9 pt, 18 in wide or so & tall tines with some mass. Killed a hog right at the end of legal shooting time. My wife was at stand 3 & killed 2 pigs & a WT doe the 1st evening. She never saw anything tues that offered a shot. Weds morning we both killed a WT doe. There were 7 axis & 8WT killed. 10 pigs. All the axis were killed at 7 or one other blind next to it. As far as I heard no one else saw an axis while in the blinds. Probably half of the 10 hunters there did not kill a deer.
We truly enjoyed everything about the hunt & place. They have a walk in cooler to put deer in & a good cleaning rack/area.

We had 26 points so took us a long time to pulll this hunt. Hopefully it doesn't take that long for the next one.

[Walker]

By any chance can the wood benches be removed from the blinds. My old boney butt will be in agony.

[DUKFVR]

By any chance can the wood benches be removed from the blinds. My old boney butt will be in agony.

They can ,but have a chair that will be high. They had chairs in #11. Had to get 3 pillows to make it work. I sat on a pillow in 16. No issues with being uncomfortable.