Chapparal Youth Hunt

No I did not go. I looked at their facebook page and saw they they had a great turn out, about 150 people and over 300 quail include one? scaled quail. They said in there 43 years, they have had 500 hunters there at once! Insane. Well they said they limited it this year to first come first serve and they had about 150 people that they would allow at once time. I assume it will be the same during the rest of their open dates. Did anyone go? I plan on going in December and January. Its just too hot for me and the pooch in October.

I was there, the quail population was better than past several years. Yes they limited the amount of people they ended up letting in 152 on Saturday. We were worried about getting in Saturday morning, we were in line at the gate at 5:15 with about 6 other vehicles. One reason for limiting the amount of people was because the were only hunting about 11k acres, they said they will have new areas open for each hunt, but still only hunt about 11k acres each hunt. Face book also said only 5 dove harvested but Saturday evening one tub at the cleaning station was full of dove feathers... I will be back for the January hunt. not sure about the December hunt.

I hope they limit it again to about 150 even if there's more land available.

Yea I went last January and found about 7 covies saturday during about half day. Lots of fun!

Also noticed they said there were lots of violations.

+2 on the ~150 limit and better enforcement...gets a little crazy in there sometimes.
Something about quail and S. Texas that seems to make "some" people throw decency and respect out the window.
I'm pumped and plan to be there rain or shine.

Edited to add: "some" people...I don't want to give hunting at the Chap a bad rep.
There are lots of really nice folks as well, just takes one or two to mess up the day though.

From their facebook post, it seems they had added help from game wardens, more than usual. I've been going there for quite some time and never ran into one there but good to know they are there checking things out especially with the youth hunt.

They had a warden come out and help last year during the Oct. regular hunt. I think it was Sat. afternoon when we ran into him at the sign-in table. Was a welcome sight for me anyway, given the run-in we had with someone holding nearly an entire compartment hostage....they were blocking one of the main senderos leading into the main interior of the compartment and absolutely refused to move.

By "blocking" I literally mean pacing the entrance off the paved road +30min before legal shooting light with a shotgun in hand looking like someone pulling guard. We pulled up and SHE stood in front of our truck and refused to move. She then approached our window and angrily shouted "I'm hunting this area". Well, we meant no disrespect and we really wanted to get back into the compartment a good mile or so to then start out on foot. Luckily the husband, sitting in a Tahoe about 50 yards up the paved road from the sendero, was a little more reasonable. Maybe not a "violation" by any game laws, but of course would not be tolerated by the WMA staff or the warden, especially after I informed them of the incident later on. It certainly got my blood pumping at 6:30am. It was the first time that had happened out of the 5 or so trips I have had to the Chap in my short life thus far...and hopefully plenty more to come in the future.

We talked to 4 game wardens they were in groups of 2, all were real nice guys. On youth weekend even with the limit of 150 nobody got turned away. But the regular season hunt in October usually has more people show up so some may be turned away.

Forgot to ask, did you see any snakes?

I started hunting there around 2000 and this was the first time that we saw no rattle snakes.

Hmmmm. Waiting in line. Front gates. Limiting people to get in. Sounds like going to disneyland

Just call me mickey mouse!

I've been going there since 1994 and seen my share of rattlers but not as much as one would expect. Had a dog get bit once. This weekends forecast is for heavy rains Friday 90% and partly cloudy Sat and Sun with highs in upper 80's. The water might get the snakes moving. Be careful, wear protection, keep dogs hydrated so they can scent and stay away from danger.

Good number of birds, cover is real thick and green, they had just received a few inches of rain and the river in town was out of its banks. No snakes, we only hunted a few hours Sat morning, it got up to 90 later that day.

I changed my plans not going this weekend. I have seen more rattlers hunting there than anywhere else but so far we have not had a dog get bit there, but now in Caldwell county have had dogs bit.

Please note. This is the way a gun should be held while approaching a dog on point.

That is a good looking setter. My first one was black & white. Last 4 have been orange & white.

Very nice pictures and nice looking young hunter.

Thanks Bill, and his finger off of the trigger. He is only 12 but this will be his third season shooting over the dogs. He handles his gun better than some adults i have seen over the years.

Nice pictures! How many did yall kill?