Changes to this year's TPWD draw hunts?

[Mule Skinner]

Speaking of name changes Devils river Dan Allen Hughes unit formerly Big Satan unit, no hunts there this year. There are so many areas that are gone from the draw hunts in years past, Huntsville, Possum Kingdom, Lost Maples, Dinosaur Valley, Guadalupe River (main park), Devils Sinkhole SNA all used to be a regulars in the catalog. I wonder why these places aren't doing hunts anymore?

Under GDE I'm seeing:
Guadalupe River SP
Guadalupe River SP - Bauer Unit

[Phorizt]

Speaking of name changes Devils river Dan Allen Hughes unit formerly Big Satan unit, no hunts there this year. There are so many areas that are gone from the draw hunts in years past, Huntsville, Possum Kingdom, Lost Maples, Dinosaur Valley, Guadalupe River (main park), Devils Sinkhole SNA all used to be a regulars in the catalog. I wonder why these places aren't doing hunts anymore?

I live near Dinosaur Valley SP and go hiking there a lot with my son. I don't think we've seen a single deer there. I've seen a couple of sets of deer tracks and a hog track but that is it and I've probably put in 50 miles hiking all over the place. I can't imagine them being able to hold a hunt there compared to a lot of other state parks I've visited where there is wildlife everywhere. If they did have a hunt I certainly wouldn't apply for it.

[bossbowman]

I live near Dinosaur Valley SP and go hiking there a lot with my son. I don't think we've seen a single deer there. I've seen a couple of sets of deer tracks and a hog track but that is it and I've probably put in 50 miles hiking all over the place. I can't imagine them being able to hold a hunt there compared to a lot of other state parks I've visited where there is wildlife everywhere. If they did have a hunt I certainly wouldn't apply for it.

Looking at the old draw hunt books they had 35% success rate there, I wonder if that was feral hogs or something else they are counting.

[Shane]

Some others I noticed missing from past years,

Walter Buck WMA
Kickapoo Caverns
Bob Sandlin (may just be corp hunting now)
Pat Murphy unit of Gene Howe WMA?
Somerville SRA?

Walter Buck isn't a separate WMA anymore. It's part of South Llano River State Park now.

[Lone_Wolf]

Yeah, I took my boys on a hunt last year, and the place wasn't supposed to have been hunted, but there were beat'n down trails to alot of the stands, and the biologist straight up said he shot hogs when he saw them.

So.... sure didn't help the hunting.

[ABWGTX]

Don't see Kickapoo Cavern State Park. It is a beautiful place. I would think there are some axis and whitetails there.

Do know they did cancel a while back for Anthrax. I looked for it too and was disappointed.

Should have read ahead, someone beat me to the Anthrax info.

[Etxnoodler]

The State has had it since 1996, I have been writing about it for years and they would not let anyone but State employees have access.

It’s a State Natural Area not a Wildlife management area. There is a big difference.

[Phorizt]

Are there bighorn sheep in the Chinati Mtns? Seems anywhere there are bighorns they are ant as little human activity as possible.


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[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

I noticed the construction disclaimer on the South Llano hunt. Wonder how much it will affect the hunting.

[SC-001]

It’s a State Natural Area not a Wildlife management area. There is a big difference.

Do explain how pertains to lotto hunts?, they have or had draw hunting at most all SNA I see on google maps https://www.google.com/maps/search/s.../data=!3m1!4b1 Remember drawing Texana SP and Neasloney WMA neither of which are listed hunts anymore.

[Etxnoodler]

State natural areas are run by the state parks division not the wildlife division. And state parks tend to have hunts out of necessity not to provide opportunity (not always). Being a very arid environment I doubt hunts are necessary. Also depending on who donated the property or funded the property they could donate it for a specific purpose. Such as Neasalony that is only 100 acres and donated to be made into a outdoor education area. So maybe they had hunts on it until it was developed or something.

It’s just funny on here that people think you should be able to hunt everything everywhere and if you can’t the big bad state employees must be making money of of it lol.

[BradBryant1000]

I noticed the construction disclaimer on the South Llano hunt. Wonder how much it will affect the hunting.

I saw that as well and wondered the same thing. Think I'll put in an application there anyways. See what happens.


I'm thinking that the critters there won't be affected to bad.

[SC-001]

State natural areas are run by the state parks division not the wildlife division. And state parks tend to have hunts out of necessity not to provide opportunity (not always). Being a very arid environment I doubt hunts are necessary. Also depending on who donated the property or funded the property they could donate it for a specific purpose. Such as Neasalony that is only 100 acres and donated to be made into a outdoor education area. So maybe they had hunts on it until it was developed or something.

It’s just funny on here that people think you should be able to hunt everything everywhere and if you can’t the big bad state employees must be making money of of it lol.

There are a ton of state owned properties that could be offering deer hunts that aren't, at a minimum they should be hosting youth only hunts for recruitment.

[doug]

Kickapoo allegedly got hit hard by anthrax. If memory serves, the hunts were cancelled there last season. Which is likely why it wasn't included in this year's catalog.

They did get hit hard! Glen and I went on the first archery hunt in 2019 and saw this in person. I think we saw 2 deer the whole trip and saw numerous skeletons. They cancelled the remaining hunts and we got our points back. We had a great time anyway! Saw the bats come out and they took the group on a cave tour. Beautiful place that hope to hunt again one day.

[bossbowman]

They did get hit hard! Glen and I went on the first archery hunt in 2019 and saw this in person. I think we saw 2 deer the whole trip and saw numerous skeletons. They cancelled the remaining hunts and we got our points back. We had a great time anyway! Saw the bats come out and they took the group on a cave tour. Beautiful place that hope to hunt again one day.

You got to hunt and they gave you your points back?!