Hill Country State Natural Area Draw Hunt

[Red_RaiderHTC]

I am interested in any advice or tips from people who have hunted this area before. I spoke with some of the staff but wanted to get advice from the green screen or possibly meet others who also drew for the hunt.

I know the hunt is by compartment and i would be interested as to how that worked out for others in past hunts. It appears that they run their hunt different than others in that multiple groups are put into one compartment. I was also told that the order you were drawn in no way effects you getting to pick compartments.

On a seperate forum i saw someone mention standbyhunters. Surely this isnt true seeing how they are combining groups into small compartments already but i would love to hear from others about their experience on this draw hunt.

[medic911]

Hey man, I'll try to stop in the office this week. We hunted there 2 years ago. Trip I told ya about when we fished. Of course you might not remember with all the stories told.

Jeff

[Bowhnt247]

Does anyone else have any info on this hunt? I have a buddy who was also drawn and has never been there before. How is the lodging/camping/hunting? Like the OP, any additional info/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks

[animalhse]

Myself and two buddies hunted there 3 years ago. When they handed out compartment assignments they told us they were giving us #6 because we looked like the only ones in the group that could make it up there. It's a tough place to bow hunt but we were drawn for rifle. Out of 7 deer taken on the hunt 5 of them were taken by the 3 of us. Two bucks and 3 does. One good 8 And smaller 6. We saw a bigger buck but he came out where it put two of us in a crossfire. We hunted the power line senderos on the ridges and that's where all the deer were taken. Along about a mile or so distance. The power line clearings proved to be busy avenues and baiting was allowed. Hope it helps. Good luck.

[animalhse]

This is the area where we hunted. Those ridges make your earn it.
We stayed in an rv park in town with our own travel trailer. About a 20 minute drive to park. Really nice place on the river. I don't recall the name but it was cheap and has showers if you choose to use them. The parks rv spots were under construction. They may have hook ups now?? Oh yea. There's a super nice couple that owns a cold storage facility at their house. The park people have their info. Really nice family and reasonably priced to store your game for you. Through town and opposite side of town from park .

[Bowhnt247]

Thanks for the reply! Has anyone else ever hunted this place???

[Cable]

Yes. I was drawn and hunted there last year. 24 hunters. 3 deer taken. One buck and two does. All by the same group who were hunting the flat land with the only open field in the entire place.

The staff was friendly and had some knowledge but I would never put in for that hunt again. We hunted our rear ends off. Both sitting and still hunting after the waiting game proved no bueno. NEVER saw one deer.

To be fair it rained all weekend. Some of it was a downpour. Also, we were the 2nd hunt group. The first group did fairly well I believe. Something like 13 deer and a couple hogs. Not bad compared to the lackluster output of our group. We hunted the most rugged compartment out of all of them. It was the one with the old goat barn- don't remember the number. The other fellas they put us with took the low area and we ended up hunting the power lines and actually found some really decent areas with tons of deer sign. I think they wanted to be down in the bottoms though. Out of the wind and rain. The compartments are HUGE on the plus side so you have plenty of room to move around and find a good spot.

Good luck

[Red_RaiderHTC]

Thanks for all replies. I am looking forward to the hunt which starts next week. Hopefully i can get some meat in the freezer and get to enjoy some time around a campfire.