Anyone encounter illegal aliens while deer hunting?

After reading the thread about leaving your gun in the stand I was just curious.

Last weekend I took my son down to south Texas for his first deer hunt. He shot his buck Saturday morning and wanted to go sit in a rifle stand Saturday night to try and shoot some pigs. We were hunting a high line that is about 800 yards long and ends at a gate that backs up to another ranch (high fence). We were in the stand about 30 minutes and while watching down the high line I noticed two people walking down the road on the other ranch. They walked to the fence and climbed over onto our side and walked down the high line toward our stand. They got to about 80 yards and I hollered at em to leave. They just waved and took off to the left of the stand which is only about 100-150 yards to the fence line on that side. I was just curious to hear how often people actually see them. I know we have seen a lot of belongings and trash left behind but never seen them in person like that.

I've seen 'em walking senderos, pipelines and ranch roads. Never encountered any at camp or in the deer stand. I don't leave weapons or keys in my truck over night either.

My brother skillet shot some quail below his trap-door blind around Freer years ago. 'Took 'em back to the cabin and had them on the grill. He went inside to get something and when he came back there were no quail and huarache prints leading into the brush.

10-4 constantly at our family ranch in Hidalgo, Webb, and Starr counties

It is creepy to think someone is watching you, just waiting for the moment to grab your lunch.

Had a couple show up on a lease near Rocksprings, years ago. I busted a rock with my .270 about 5 yarda behind them . Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt could not match their speed after I shot.
Ruined an afternoon hunt

Most places in South Texas you will sooner or later have an encounter.
Be careful opening and closing gates. If there is brush around be careful as they may have one approach you and the others are hiding back in the brush. More than one look for an escape route or keep them where you can see them. Be careful also if they spread out.
Regular illegals aren't a threat, but the drug runners are the one's that I worry about.
If they show no fear of you then you need to worry.

Never seen any and don't want to. We have one set of picturs where two guys filled up some empty milk jugs with water at one of our water troughs but that's it.

I watched them very closely the whole way down the high line. When they got a little closer I could tell they didn't have any belongings with them so I didn't think they were smugglers or anything. I just basically watched their hands the whole time after that and they never once looked up at the blind until I hollered at em. My son, who is only 8, was pretty nervous. I just told him to sit on the floor and keep quiet. We ended up just getting out of the stand and going back to camp after they left. My buddy had shot a buck anyhow so we went and helped him load it up. I haven't hunted south texas much so I was just wondering how common it was to actually see them. My buddy said in the 8 or so years they have owned the place they have only seen one who was left behind by a bigger group. He came out under a feeder he was hunting and started eating the deer corn.

I have a funny old story with Illegals. About 20 years ago my little brother and I are down bow hunting on our family place in Junction. I step out the door of the cabin at 0500 and across the draw from our camp site I see a camp fire rolling with 2 old guys warming their hands. I am a 19 yr old kid full of piss and vinegar and I thought it was trespassers hunting. The draw feeds into the LlAno river bottom and from time to time people float down and camp all over private property or spot light poach. So I fumble around and realize I do not have any gun with me just bows because we are kids still pretty much. I find a old Marlin 22 we left in the cabin. So I put the sneak on up to this trespasser camp. When I get about 30 yards from them I see it is a couple old Mexican dudes so I figured it was illegals. I do the only thing I can think of. In the biggest and baddest voice I can muster up I yell "Bamanos" as loud as I can. Well it just wasn't 2 dudes. Every cedar bush in the draw blew up when the guy sleeping under it took off. Must have been 10-15 of them all together. It sounded like a kickoff in a football game. Rocks rolling and brush breaking everywhere.

If they only new it was a 19 yr old kid with an old 22 scared to death.

down in south TX (dimmit county) I see them on my game cameras usually in the off season. I'd like to think they know when deer season is. I still carry a pistol with me to make me feel better walking those roads early am and late at night.

that's funny

it's a common thing. I hunted north of Tilden for several years and we would usually have 3-4 sightings per season. Usually they would just cross the senderos and walk though the brush. The most unusual thing we ever saw was an old guy with a beard riding an old bicycle across the pasture. Not kidding.... He was seen for 2 seasons, several times each season. The ranch owner said he never saw him.

Many years ago I hunted in Junction, and our lease was on the North side of the I-10 and Hwy 83 intersection. Illegals would come up 83, and come on to our lease. Several times we found them in camp sleeping in our trailers. We left them unlocked because they keep getting broken into.

I've had a lot of encounters with them over the years and no problems. I actually learn something every time I talk to them and have heard some crazy stories. I've been in bow stands in the dark and had them pass under me and I don't like that type of encounter but as long as I'm holding the gun, I'm real friendly.

Once, I was told about how a family member had died from a rattlesnake bite. They wanted to know if I had a map as they wanted to mark the spot as best they could for the family. I spent time going over the pages of the Texas Road Atlas I carry in my truck until we found the appropriate page. I tore it out and gave it to them so they could carry it.

Ran into another fellow, solo, from Guatemala with a terrible bite on his leg. He was sleeping real hard from a tough day and woke up as a very large feral hog bit him and started to drag him off into the brush. I properly dressed the wound for him. He said the wildlife since crossing into Texas scared the hell out of him. Found another guy from Guatemala that was experiencing hypothermy after crossing the Nueces in LaSalle County on an extremely cold day. He was totally out of it but I got him in my truck and took him back to camp. Warmed him up and got him on his feet. He told me he prayed for an angel to help him when he passed out and I'm the next face he saw. Never thought of myself as such but I was glad I found him. Been glassing for mule deer in Brewster County and saw a pile of rocks with a pasture made crucifix stuck on top; some things are best not messed with and I hope that person finally rests in peace.

Other than having food & clothing stuff stolen from me, I haven't had a bad experience and I've had a bunch of them.

Funny you should mention that. I was talking with a group of about 18 and I asked them if they were using a map. They showed me a hand drawn map that was being sent back to the next group and it had all kinds of notes on it along with windmills, deer stands and camp houses. Our camp house was on it so I told them it was deer lease where our wives and children were with us on weekends and the encounters were scaring the hell of of them. The main man wrote some notes on the map and we never saw them on a weekend again although during the week I continued to see large groups. That was in Uvalde County on the Nueces River. My daughter is still buggered a bit from seeing so many in the woods.

I admire their courage; leave their home for a new country, learn a new language, and find work. Knew a guy once that said he didn't live for Money, but needed money to live.
Maybe the folks who lost their factory jobs up North could follow their example and move to where the jobs are, instead of waiting on the Fed to bail them out.

They leave their country for our social programs as well as work. Illegal is wrong, let them become citizens the legal way.

Hell if the people in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio plus every other large city in America would start mowing their own yards, a huge amount of jobs would disappear and there would be less reason for them to come.

We found a floater when I was a kid in the Rio Grande. He'd been in there a while and looked pretty bad. We went into town and called the sherif. He came out and looked him over. He asked if we minded if they worried about him downriver. We said no and the sherif put his foot on his head and kicked him back into the river.

Only ones I have encountered is those I have worked with or worked around...

My Mother in law lives alone on her ranch in Cotulla and a couple years ago an illegal knocked on her door asking for water and some food. She gave him a sandwich and a bottle of water. He then asked to use the phone, she refused and he then requested a few more bottles of water and left. She called the GW and told him what had happened. He caught them on the next ranch. There were 6 of them and 4 of them were mules carrying drugs. When we go to the ranch I wear a Border Patrol cap. Don't know if it does any good but haven't had any encounters yet.

where in south texas was this?

You forgot fixing their own tires, trimming their own trees and putting roofs on their own houses.
They can still do all that mentioned, but do it legally like others have done.

I like that lawman......

Nice feeder, table top height!

In Uvalde County I had them take corn out of my feeder and cook it. Fire ring of rocks set up right next to the feeder. Lid was loose with burnt corn on the ground. There was a very large flat topped boulder near by and they had built a fire on top of it as well. It looked like they had heated tortillas on it.

This happened between an evening and morning bow hunt on that feeder.

Imagine all the stuff you pack to go to the camp for a weekend and compare that to what these guys are carrying to travel hundreds of miles by foot, I'm not an illegal sympathizer but I can tell you it would take a lot to push me to do what these guys are doing. Interesting stories, keep them coming.

I never saw one while hunting but they dropped by while we were gone to town and cleaned out our camper and did $2800 worth of damage to the camper. They literally stole everything they could carry including some steaks out of the freezer. Neither the Border Patrol nor the Sheriff's dept. would respond. We quit hunting S. Texas because of it.

In the 90s I worked for a Coors distributor and only had a week of vacation so on Fridays, I'd start my route early so I could get done and leave by noon to get down to Webb Co by 3:30 or so. I had the guys leave the water trough stand (there was a water trough about 120 yards down a sendero) open for me as it was within walking distance of camp. Just got settled in and looked toward the trough and there were 5 of them filling their water bottles out of the trough. Eerie feeling...makes the hair on your neck stand up. They finished filling up and were on their way through the brush.

Another time my brother in law and father in law were down there hunting the evening hunt. My brother in law drank Budweiser at the time and my father in law drank Coors Light. They stole all the Budweiser plus an apple pie while they were hunting. Never touched the Coors Light,lol.

You and scale buster probably also had family in the klan 😂 Sound like pieces of [censored] anyhoo...

Well, that was uncalled for!

Yep. Hunted S Texas all of my life and had plenty of encounters. Fire rings made with rocks within spittin' distance of deer blinds during deer season, with piss puddles and empty bottles all around. Apparently slept in and under the blinds. Seen quite a few walking through while hunting. Have had them come right into camp several times, asking for food/water/phone/a ride etc....all cut up & bleeding from the brush country. Had one from South America passed out from exhaustion sleeping on the ground butt necked by the water hose at camp. He took his clothes off and washed them, took a bath, and went to sleep right there. Nothing like mowing and turning around to find a group of illegals on your property approaching you. So far none have ever been aggressive, but you never know who you are dealing with. Never turn your back on them, and I'm always armed. Have had all sorts of things stolen over the years by illegals, corn/food/drinks/cookware/clothing/flashlights/lighters etc.....To me it's one of those things...part of me wants to help them, and the other part wants to bust their butts/ zip tie them and call the BP. I forget now how many times a section of our fence has been driven through when a car load loses it on the corner running from the law, crash and bail out on the property. The last group that came into camp had a boy my Son's age in it. He was missing a shoe, bleeding/dirty/starving...they got fed and sent on their way. We didn't call the BP that time. What's the point, they're just gonna get turned loose and come back anyway.

This is almost all in Duval County BTW.

I'm not sure if that's supposed to be an insult or not.
Keep working at it though, your English is getting better.

Have seen and caught many through the years in Medina and Uvalde County while hunting and working . Some have been in pretty bad shape needing water etc. Only had one act anything but scared when I caught him but a 12ga pointed at his gut kept him civil till the game wardens showed up. We had an old camp house on the back side of the ranch that we kept water jugs and a little food items in . Guess word got around so we had very little to no breakins or thefts that amounted to anything.

My BIL's Dad found one dead in a deer blind. Went to go deer hunting, climbed up/opened the door and there was a dead bloated stinking body on the floor.

Except in Goldstein's pics the mule has a pistol on his hip....that ain't food in those packs....

are you saying the mule is the one on the camo hoodie

I do notice that he has no "load" and yet he seems the best dressed, least dirty and the least worn down from the trip....hard to tell what is in his pocket though

all the ones in that pic look like they have experience though and have made the trip many times

the REALITY is these days they can be 8 to 80 and if they are with the wrong coyote they will be packing drugs by force and more and more the wrong coyote is ALL the coyotes

the cartels control who crosses and you got to "pay to play" and if you do not have enough cash or enough "pull" then you haul a load and so do all those you are the coyote for

Exactly what I'm saying... they can't be too worn out they are within 10 miles of the border

We had a lease about 30 miles south of Sonora for a long time, there were a lot of aliens that crossed through our ranch. We did learn to leave out food and clothing and some blankets for them so that they wouldn't break into our trailers and steal all of our stuff. We never encountered any hostility from them and sometimes they even left notes thanking us for the food.

I talked to an ex coyote this weekend..he said he's seen things we'd never imagine. He said about 15 years ago he would get paid $10k/person to bring over. I asked him for advice, he said if you encounter them be cautious tell them to go away, if needed show your gun. Also, he mentioned be very cautious if you only see one, that means the others are hiding planning an attack or hoping the coyote takes care of business for them.

We used to hunt near Sonora. we never (to my knowledge) busted them in camp, but they would break into our campers and spend the night, so we started leaving the campers unlocked. Occasionally we could come to camp and there would be cleaned coffee cups in the sink, and knew they came, slept, made coffee, probably ate some of our food, and left. Never an issue though.

i wouldnt touch the Coors Light either!

We haven't had any up close and personal experiences as of yet, but we have had our cabin broken into and one of our deer blinds slept in. The ones that broke into the cabin stole food and water and a small, old digital camera I'd left, used the bathroom and threw their dirty toilet paper on the floor, but didn't touch the rifles we'd left in the bedroom (we don't leave guns out there anymore). Now I make sure to leave food and water in a box on the front porch, and so far we haven't had any problems. We're on a known route from the border to Juno, and our unfenced neighbors/fellow landowners have had a lot more experience with illegals than we have. I mean, why would they bother climbing over fences when they can just as easily go around?

Lucky they did't have no corona in there. They would've drank it right then and there and left all the empty bottles.

My wife's Hispanic family told me that Mexicans hate corona. It is the equivalent to us drinking Bud Ice. When we went to visit Mexico, a street vendor was selling beer. Corona = $1. Bud light = $4. Cracked me up.

actually the funny thing I have always noticed is that even IN Mexico the Mexicans drank Budweiser or Miller Lite and that was pretty much it

same with the ones (from Mexico) that I worked with in the past.....they had nothing to do with Mexican beers or Coors or anything else it was regular Bud or Miller Lite

another comment to what Bobo said as well

they have backpacks on that are clearly loaded....and yet they are stopping at the feeder to see if it has corn they can eat......why no food in the backpacks?....must be something else

Not an expert, but illegals mules appear more like this:

I don't want to claim to be an expert either and the pics you are showing it is CLEAR what is happening

but one of the "newer" trends is to have anyone and everyone that is crossing over carry something excluding the coyote in case they are caught so he will not get more charges

and the ones in your pic (at least the trash bags) are almost certainly carrying weed while the ones in the prior photos have packs that look to have something pretty heavy in them in a smaller amount.....probably something much "harder" like coke or meth

you are not going to get massive quantities of coke or meth carried over like the pics you posted it is too big of a financial risk generally and it is just too massive of a quantity as well to distribute like that because you need a BIG buyer to take all of that and then move it in the USA

for the hard stuff it is just as easy and less risky financially to send it over in smaller quantities with those "already making the trip"

the one scary thing to be cautious about is even those that are "innocent" and force to carry something now mostly know the drill and that is lose the load and possibly face consequences

People that's never been around them get excited

There's very few true "Mules" come thru South Texas anymore..Its just mainly human trafficking..people stopped buying Mexican Dirt Weed 10 years ago. We have experienced them for years, we have more stuff stolen by Ranch Hands than Illegal's.

Not as familiar as you RAB, just pointing out that a mule's appearance (today or yesteryear) is different than a dude carrying a change of clothes and a bottle of water in a day pack...

Especially when that lunch is grilled quail.

Oh I agree Sir..
And you are 100% correct. Have a friend that is BP and he said Product still comes across, cheap Meth is pretty common and smaller and easier.
A lot of product is vehicular now more than foot traffic, I am sure it still exists. Traffic has increased substantially over the last few months it seems, we found two smaller "campsites" this weekend. Be nice if they would just pick up the trash for starters

Wish you had a spring loaded snake under that feeder lid. Prolly bust a gut laughing so hard

Well, Miller Lite is a damn good beer. lol

make sure the game cam is set to video mode. I wanna see this.

been in deep south texas for years. Never had a direct encounter. By and large they are just trying to get from point A to point B. They know that the country they are traveling in is full of hunters with high powered rifles. They also know that a deer camp is also full of weapons - would be insane for them to try to mess with your camp while you are there.

Here is my question: not saying it never happens but with the thousands of hunters in south texas when is the last time you heard of any of them being assaulted or bothered directly by illegals? We are careful in our camp but certainly not paranoid

My father-in-law and I hunt turkeys south of Falfurrias, near Encino. I have been 4 times and had encounters 2 of them.

1st time I was hunting on my own neat a windmill fed tank. Had about 15 of them walk in and most were filling their water jugs at the tank. I was probably 15-20 yards away watching when one of the group separated, I assume to take a piss. I was in a leaf suit and he got within about 5-10 feet before I popped out of the brush. He and I both pissed our pants Im sure. In my best Spanish I told him and his group to get out of dodge, Finally shouldered my shotgun and just said run. They all took off and I went back to camp for a change of clothes.

2nd time was hunting with my brother-in-law and a young woman came out of the brush with a hurt leg. We put her in the back of the truck. Gave her food and water. We contacted BP and they came and picked her up. She was from Honduras and was in her early 30's. Left her kids back home in hopes of getting to Florida. She was grateful for the help.

Encountered 18 on Xmas Day this year. Just the wife and I driving out to hunt points. Wind was out of the south at about 20 with higher gusts. They were walking northbound and we approached from the north. They scattered and we hauled azz. I took out a gate backing up so fast, but got the H out of there while the wife called 911. Webb Co. Sheriff patched her through to Laredo sector BP who patched her through to Laredo N sector BP. Told them ranch names and location and went to meet them out on the county road where Lincoln-Nicholson and Callaghan Roads intersect, for those of you who know that country.

I took them back to the spot we saw the uninvited guests. One guy climbed the fence and took off the direction the illegals scattered while the other agent started tracking back south. As I walked back to my truck headed north, I came across three footprints, still headed up our ranch road to the north. I whistled for the agent tracking, he came up and looked at the prints, drew a line in the road with his boot and started pursuing the tracks north. He jumped over a gate (the one I bent up) and took off into waist high Buffelgrass and super thick brush.

A few minutes later his partner came running from south to north asking us which way his partner went. He jumped over the gate and took off into the brush while talking to his partner on the radio.

As it turns out, the group had only traveled another 300 yards north of the initial sighting and had bedded down. Agent #1 found them sound asleep and hunkered down. He grabbed a young girl, cuffed her and took off after the other 17. She jumped up and took off running with her hands cuffed behind her before agent #2 got there, so agent one had to chase her down again. This time he separated his shoulder tackling her.

He and his partner came back to the gate and called for back-up. Agent #2 took the girl to their Tahoe, cuffed her feet and locked her inside. Wife and I tended to agent number one pulling cactus spines and stickers out of his bare skin and pants. He was able to get his shoulder back in place, held it with his left arm and he and his partner took off into the brush again.

We offered to wait there with them and they said to go back to our headquarters. We apologized to the agent about his shoulder and he said..."Don't apologize, sir. My shoulder will be ok. We were sitting in the office staring at the wall when this call came in. We got to get out and do what we love to do and we caught one and will catch the rest. It's about the best Xmas I could have had!"

Back-up got there and they pursued these illegals for three more hours, to no avail. BP felt the rest were dug in like ticks but still on the ranch. We left all the gates open for the night shift, but have no idea if they came back on the ranch, or simply set up a perimeter between us and the Junco.

I'd like to say that those BP agents were some badarse, fearless hombres. Those guys aren't the ones letting them go after they're caught and, hopefully, we'll begin to enforce the laws on the books with a new administration.

We were at the ranch three weeks ago when BP caught 8 of them at our front gate while we were sleeping. And the ranchero next door saw about 15 a week before our encounter.

All were dressed in black or other very dark clothing with hooded sweatshirts. Watch your six if you are near the border right now. They're coming through select areas in droves , as fast as they can. They believe the U.S. is about to get much tougher on illegal immigration. I sure hope they're right!

Sorry for the long write up. p.s.-This was 35 miles from I35 down gravel and ranch roads. The first two agents were there in less than an hour NE Webb Co.

^^^^^^^^^
BUMP for those of you hunting near the border. Stay armed and vigilant. We've had A LOT of traffic through our area in the past month or so. Haven't heard of anything bad happening, but stay safe folks.

They kill trespassers and poachers in Africa.

Encountered them often over the years hunting and living in the RGV, I eventually quit hunting in Starr Co after having to constantly replace items stolen in camp, hunts ruined by 15-20 people living in the victim of your feeder, and the last straw was gun stolen out of a blind when one lease member made a quick trip to camp to get a sandwich. It was no longer worth those headaches combined with landowner issues.

Callahan County now, but Starr county was pretty cool.

I went on a bow hunt in Bracketville in 07 had an illegal come in the camp house at 2am on the first night. Ranch owner drops me off at a setup and says,,, walk down this trail and you will see a pop up and behind it is a tripod pick one and get quite. So I chose to sit in the tripod, as it gets light enough to see I hear a weird noise and this guys opens up the popup blind and gets out, he then proceed to take a leak in front of me until he looked up and saw me in the tripod with a .45 pointed at him. Needless to say he put it up and hauled arse, I proceeded to get out of the blind and load my chit and went back home.