Looking at putting in on the draw hunts at devils river. Before I do wanted find out how ruff of a hunt is it? What size of deer can one get a chance at, what kind of exotics are at this place and is it a huntable size heard or slim picins. Did anyone have issues with flats or blow outs. Did you have to use 4 wheel drive very much. If you all camped and any suggestions on that. Or if you all stayed at hotels suggestions on which ones to stay away from and which are good.

thanks everyone

Interested in a report on this one as well. This is my first year to put in, although I should have been doing it for the last twenty.

I hunt all around and near there. Beautiful, scenic, and yes rough. Good hunting if you put in the effort.

ttt

Might give them a call at DRSNA

I hunt Devil's River in 2004. It was excellent Audad hunting! We shot two HUGE rams. I even dropped a spike Sika deer in our compartment. However, be ready to give your feet and anckles a BEATING. It may be strange to suggest this, but it may not be a bad idea to tape up your anckles if you plan on going to the top of the canyons, and look down the headers for Audad(sp) as well as Corsican sheep.

Post some pics of the rams you shot.

didn't have a digital camera at the time. Just a one time use disposable one. I'll see what I can do.

West side of the Devil's River at Slaughter Bend, a ways down from the Natural area, but the auodad's are mostly on the east side lots of Corsicans and Texas Dall roaming around all along the river because the floods wipe out the fences that reach down to the banks.



Same ranch, just the opposite side of the bend. Look closely, the buck (the one on the left in the center of the pic) was in the mid 140's. That's a little bigger than average for that area.

how do you get to hunt there?

isn't there an area you can hunt with the $48 APH

Great pictures DF.. Some remote country.

I took a trip down there last October for a hunt...pretty rough to say the least. Lots of areas where you don't necessarily *have* to have 4wd, but if you slip up then you might be rolling down a couple hundred foot cliff.

This was the "guard rail" on one of the roads, about 150' drop on the other side



These indian paintings are supposedly the most well preserved in the country for this particular tribe



Mouflon were running all over the place, I popped this one on off the hood of the jeep on the way back from swimming the river



Client's first buck of his life



Overall it is pretty awesome down there, it nearly killed my big azz, but I plan on going back and think everyone should do it at least once.

Love the Cormac McCarthy reference on the gate sign! Great photos!

Doesn't look as intimidating as I thought it was. Wouldn't want to go solo on a hunt there though.

It's a lot worse in person,but if u get in shape its not that bad.

Thanks for the great pictures. Never been to DRNA and always wondered what it looked like. Rough natural beauty for sure.

It's definitely worse than it looks, especially when you gotta get down into a bowl and up the other side.



It's too bad only one of the cliffs had a rope

The pictures and information is good, keep it coming. Is there any other exotics besides aoudad,corsians, texas dall and mouflons? The close up pic of the white tail was nice, is that average or above average? If any one else has any pic of the place could you post some, if you dont mind. thanks for the information and pics.

Don't be fooled. The distances and angles are deceptive in pictures. The softest thing out there is a cactus. I ruined a pair of boots in two days. They were cut to pieces by the rocks. The ranch managers truck had special tires for the same reason. Hunting is awesome there or at least on the management ranch I went to. 18,000 acres and we had to shoot aoudad because they were a pest and would run the deer off the corn and protein.the caves and Indian painting are awesome as well as the river itself. I'll try to find my old pics and post them up if I can figure how to use the scanner.

My father and I got drawn for the exotics hunt at DRNA a couple of years ago. It was certainly one of my most memorable Texas hunting experiences.

This place is remote, so you have to bring everything you need with you. Forget something and its well over an hour to Del Rio to get a replacement. There are no hotels nearby so you have to stay on site. We stayed in the bunkhouse, did all our cooking in the camp kitchen next door. IMHO this is better than camping out as it saves time and you don’t need to haul in some extra gear.

They assign you a section based on what type of vehicle you drive and your physical condition. Those of us with yuppie SUV’s got the easier terrain, the guys with beat up Jeeps and trucks got the hardest stuff. My 4Runner would have been fine on far worse terrain. I didn’t even need to put it in 4WD. To my knowledge no one had any problems with tires.

There were maybe 12 hunters that weekend and 4 of us got animals. I got one aoudad and passed on a Corsican. One couple got seven Aoudad. There seemed to be a direct correlation between the effort put in, willingness to hike the hills, and success rates.

As mentioned there were Aoudad and some Corsicans, and lots of animal sign. The rangers said there were a few Sitka, but I never saw a deer of any type there. I do believe that there was more success in the very remote compartments, but all of them had a good number of animals.

The hunting itself was rough. We basically went up one hill (mountain if you prefer), walked the top, glassed everywhere, went down, and started up the next hill. Did this all day long. Grades are steep (I would bring a rope to assist on some of the downhill’s), there’s lots of loose rock, they are covered in vegetation, and everything has some kind of thorn to stick you with. We had some hunters who quit after the first day because they weren’t physically prepared for the hunt. That said, I’m middle aged and not in great shape, my father was 69, and we did fine.

I am on 5000 acres right next to the park. It is very remote. If you carry much weight in your vehicle, you will have a high chance of a flat. We usually have a spare tire in the back of the truck with as jack waiting. Dolans Creek Road can be a beast on tires.

Comments on boots is legit too. You will want good boots and you will want them already broke in.

There are Axis, Aoudad, Goats, Corsicans, Mountain Lions, and white tail.

i'm gonna put in for the draw for devils river

Good info here guys

bump