Any one have any experience deer hunting here? What pastures might be good to hunt? Any pastures to try to avoid? Any info would be appreciated.

Never been there but from what I here any of them will give you a shot at a good deer.

mbavo they used to have 2 seperate HF pasture with one on each end I would stay out of. Also if I remember right it was split into 2 big pastures also by HF. The wildfire really opened the ranch up from what I have heard they had a couple of yrs ago now. Most of the ranch has great browse on it so just about any area should have good deer. Numbers are not to high though and normal for that area. If I remember right in the lows 20's on acres per deer. Age structure will be very good. Rattling can be awesome but seems to be much better right around Jan 1st or so for some reason. Did you get drawn?

Has been years since I was drawn to hunt but we always quail hunted in a pasture that was in the farthest northwest corner of the ranch. We got drawn for archery hunt one year and corned the heck out of this pasture during a quail hunt (walk in) the week before our archery hunt. Saw quite a few good bucks but was never able to draw down on one. Do not remember the name of the pasture but do remember it being around 900 acres. Had a nice sized tank on it near the north fence. All of this before the fire and not sure what can of shape it is in right now. Did you get drawn - good luck!!!!

Have gotten to hunt there several times over the years by draw and standby. East Blocker and Mustang are my favorite and yes as ranchman stated ir is 17,500ac divided into 2 seperate h/f pastures. Hate to bust your bubble if you got drawn this year but I personally know the manager there and he says its gonna be their worst year ever....even worse than the fire year. Numbers and horns are terrible he says.

One more comment. They're only running one hunt this year(instead of three) b/c of the conditions.

Been lucky in the past at Chap. Been drawn for youth deer and javelina. My nephews have taken deer, hogs, and javelinas. That was all before the fire. Hopefully it will restore itself. BTW they definetely have snakes. They also have a great campsite.

thanks for the info guys. yes,i was drawn for crossbow hunt 12-5 thru 12-9. i am sure it will be tuff hunting,but i bet it will beat the heck out of work. i was there about 10 - 12 years ago on an archery hunt. cant remember the pasture,but seems like it was a high fenced pasture in the north east corner,could be wrong. i did not see many deer,but i did see 1 big boy at last light 100 yards away. maybe i will have better luck this time.thanks again for info and keep it coming.

I've never hunted the"Chap" but it has always had a mystical quality about it.Whoever gets drawn,please take lots of pictures and share with fellow THF members.I can only dream.

well start putting in for the draw

south texas will get in your blood

I will.

Man, that's awesome! Good luck compadre!

ive hunted it about 5 times all before the fire, 5 times was not enough to give any advice on where to go, these were all youth hunts except one archery hunt.
the youth hunts we were allowed to feed and there was an amazing amount of animals every hunt. we filled are tags on every youth hunt. archery was a bit different no feeding and i hunted thick stuff, not nearly the amount of game as the youth hunts where we were allowed to feed.

thanks,i am sure i will need it.

There were some nice ones entered in the TX Big Game Awards website from Chap last year including a 160+" with bow.

Been there once hunt the draws on some of the units.

Drew a Mule deer hunt there about 5 years ago, saw some Nice whitetail bucks, the largest racks I have EVER seen,no mulies. There was 3 of us so they gaves us some where in the middle(peace river?)I think it was about 8-900 ac. The only one that got a deer was a standby hunter who was there for every hunt, he hunted the eastern end not far from HQ.

think your confused with somewhere else, the chapparral is located in south texas and is around 15k acres, but one things for sure theres no mule deer on the chapparall

I think you are getting Chapparal confused with Matador. Matador has mule deer and the Middle Pease river runs through it.

The "Chap" is a great place to hunt. I had been putting in for over 20 years and was finally drawn in Jan 2009.

I did a lot of research before the hunt and at that time the best pastures were called the Long Pasture and the East Guajolote. We were second to choose where we wanted to hunt so we chose Long Pasture as the group that went 1st, chose East Guajolote. Both of our groups had the best luck for that year anyway and we had the best luck on Long pasture. Be sure and talk with the biologists and other people at the Chap and they will tell you where they think is best.

Below are photos of the bucks that me, my son and buddy shot in Jan 2009.

congrats! those are nice bucks! thanks for the tip on pastures. i will sure keep them in mind.

take their map and throw a dart at it, the whole place rocks, wouldnt say any is better than the other, i personaly think right dab in the middle of the place is best, one year i picked way in the back near the fence, ehh it wasnt very good at all

I think vanguard is right in that there is not really any better pastures on a continuing basis. I have been down there hunting 4-5 times; javelina, management, youth management, etc. and have selected the same pasture every time. I like it because I am totally familiar with every stand on it and very road, sendero, and clearing. It will save me a lot of time if I ever get drawn on the GDE one. With 14 PP, you would think it would be soon! But, I also understand that the way our PP's work, it only slightly increases your odds!
To add, nice bucks! Look at the grass in the last picture and that is after the fire.

what happend to that deers neck?

Those are some beautiful bucks, that one in the middle is awsome.

matt

looks gutted to me and slit all the way up.

He has a broken back leg too... that one must have had a rough death!

There are plenty of nice deer there. I too was there in Dec. of 2009. Their were several nice deer taken on that hunt. I don't know how to post pictures.

where did you hunt?