Has anyone hunt the James Daughtry WMA in South Texas. I was drawn on the management hunt and am allowed 2 bucks, must have spread greater than 12" and must have 7 points or less or one that has one unbranched antler. This is a management hunt. Just curious if anyone has hunted this area and have any tips, like feeding or tips for hunting near Choke Canyon Lake. I know the deer population is good down there and they should be healthy this year... just wondering on set up for a blind on that WMA. Any info is greatly appreciated. thank you.

We hunted the Daughtry um mebbbe 5 years ago on a javvy Hunt. Lots of Hogs and some decent deer. Find the boat ramp on the south shore mid lake and see if you can get in there somewheres. Our Compartment was on the NE corner of the mid lake peninsula where the old east/west hwy is still there behind the locked gate. That compartment has a BIG tower blind that over looks a couple senderos and we always saw deer early and late. Huge thickets of huisatch give the critters all the cover they want. I'd also bring a couple extra spare tires, a good jack, an air tank and some Slime if ya'll are planning on driving around the compartments, as the mesquite/huisatch stumps are cut just below brush hog height and will for sure punch a hole plumb thru a truck tire's sidewall if'n the thorns don't getcha first thru the tread...BTDT.
The tire shop in Three Rivers is run by good guy too...but he goes home promptly.

These days there is a new manager in place from when we were there, David Synatsky, who was the guy that put the Chapparal program together and now over sees all the TPW activities in South Texas. David is a super guy and easy to talk to.

To see what kind of critters come off the surrounding ranches, stop in at the Exxon Truck Stop... (or is it Shell station I fergit) in Tilden but there's one the one with a big C Store and take a gander at all the killer heads that ring the walls.

Good food in Three Rivers couple places in those days and some nice looking motels too. We camped out in a small motorhome at a very nice small RV park just west of Caliham that I'd use again. They also allow tent camping and have a clean bath house.

Check in will be about 10 miles away back towards Tilden and then north to the Park Road entry from that RV Park, and make sure ya'll are on time 'cause there will a line of StandBy's for sure. Good Luck
Ron

My son and I hunted the mngmt and the javi hunts last year. We fed corn and it worked great. There are good stands set up but you can take a pop-up or something similar to set up where you like. The roads and shooting lanes were cut pretty good and you can expect some long shots. All the hotels are far away, the primitive camping is a good option. We saw alot of javi and deer. Other hunters took hogs also.

Good Luck to you.

Thanks for the info. we are going to take some tripod stands to get some elevation. Hopefully we are allowed to feed corn as well.

any success with the deer? did either of you take deer home or see any that would fall into that management range? thanks again.

Only buck I saw was way over the Managment profile...enough so that I hesitated a second or two when I put the scope on him at 400 yards. He had a harem with him and fed at the end of a sendero for 30+ minutes unfazed by my presence up in the tower.

If we had had tripods we could have gone into more areas in the compartment assigned but at ground level it was tough country beyond the sendero cuts.

When we were there in early early '06 the lake was down a few feet from normal pool, and hog damage was unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere on the lake front areas...100's of yards of continous churned dirt at a stretch but never saw a live one or we'd popped all of 'em for sure. But back in those days we were covered up in duck hunters coming and going 'cause the old mgmt team scheduled everything all at the same time ...I understand Mr Synatsky has changed all of that to alleviate scheduling conflicts and increase the harvest.

Daughtry is too far for me these days but if what I heard from Mr Synatsky has taken place I'd go back in a heartbeat ... otherwise that one time under the old system was one time too many, as it was the poorest run Hunt operation I'd ever seen under the previous manager.
Ron

On the mgnt hunt, the second day in the morning, about 7:30 ,my son got a 7 point 11 3/4 inch spread, there was no 12 inch rule last year. We were hunting together and stayed in the stand after the shot. Not even 3 minutes later a spike stepped out and I shot it. We saw alot of does, other hunters took 3 and 4 pointers. We left on the second day, I don,t know what else was taken that evening or the third day.

On the javi hunt we saw agaign alot of does, a spike and a buck that was too far to determine what it was but it looked like an 8, and alot of javi. We hunted right in front and to the right of the check station.

What dates were you drawn for. I was drawn for this hunt also.
Mine is Nov. 8-12.