I was fortunate enough to be drawn for the gun deer either sex hunt at gus engaging wma next week. I haven't had the chance to scout the area. Good compartment numbers? Is the rut usually going on around this time? Last year we hunted Richland Creek WMA and the rut was in full swing at the end of october. These WMAs are not far apart so I am hoping to be in the middle of the rut again. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Been there 3 times on a youth hunt. Always seen deer. My son killed his first 2 deer there. That was a doe/spike hunt but did see 2 shooter bucks, one 8 and a MASSIVE 10.
Once you find out your compartment, just do a speed scout. You'll find lots of trails. Just have to pick the right one to hunt.

I wish I could help with info, but I'm trying to find out some info on the area also. My son got picked on Youth either sex hunt for Nov 21 and 22. I hear its pretty hard hunting and the deer are super smart. Good Luck! Let us know how it turns out for you.

They may ask what your driving and assign your compartment related to that and the size of your group, or they may let you pick in the order you were drawn or from a hat draw. If you get to pick, when it is your turn just let them know what your driving, what your shooting, how you prefer to hunt, what is important to you and ask the biologist to pick for you. They usually have you follow one of them to your compartment after the orientation or they will get with you on the compartment map and point things out for you. I did the bow hunt out there for several years, but that was a very long time ago so I don't have any specific location advice. The biologists on that place both back then and now have always been very helpful and want you to be successful. On a gator hunt a couple years ago, biologist Tucker went a few hours into unpaid overtime helping us to get my son's trophy alligator out from a difficult spot. Pick their brain for current advice and you can't go wrong.

Ditto on that. Once they take you or show you the compartment you will be in, just ask them what they know about it. They will tell you. That's how my son got his first 2 deer there. The guy worked on the place all the time and told me right where to go.

Thanks for all the info. We are excited to go next week. I will hopefully be able to post some pics next weekend.

Awesome! I was drawn for an anterless in December. So curious to see how you do. Please post pics!

Got back from the doe and spike hunt. Very wet no driving in comp . everything is walking.

How was the hunting? Are they in the rut yet? Thanks

Young ones pushing does around. The older ones not yet.

Around 30 does and spikes taken in 2 days.

Hopefully this small cold front will kick it off.

Report

Gus Engeling WMA GDE on 11/10-11/14 was a success for our group. The deer were in pre rut when we arrived and on the last 2 day they were in full swing. Total deer killed was around 13 for the entire hunt that included 39 hunters for 4 days. 5 Bucks and the rest does. 3 pigs were also killed. The success rate wasn't excellent but not bad for public land. I ended up with the biggest buck scoring 123"


my brother killed the second largest scoring 118"


I also ended up with a pig that had 3" cutters on both sides. He will make a great euro mount pig.


In my opinion this place is a morning hunt place. I saw 11 deer total and all but 1 doe were in the morning. We hunted compartment 4 since it had several cleared strips of land. We assumed the bucks would be chasing the does in and out of the clearings. It ended up paying off on the last morning. My brother shot his around 6:30 am and I shot mine around 6:45 am. These bucks responding to rattling very good the last 2 mornings. On the morning of 11/13 I passed on a tall but narrow 8 point and 15 minutes later I rattled in an 8 point and 10 point at the same time. They both came running and stopped within 40 yards but were both right at the ear tips so I opted to pass (which was hard to do). The next morning which was also the last morning is when I rattled in the buck I ended up shooting. This was the most fun and exciting public land hunt I've been on due to the fact they responded so well to rattling. I would definitely go back. The staff there is awesome.

Congratulations! Very nice!

Congratulations on two nice bucks and hog

Nice Bucks and Pig. Congrats on a great public land hunt

Congratulations. Nice bucks and hog.

Nice!

We are going this weekend for the Youth Either Sex Hunt. Super excited! My boy scored two hogs last weekend at Cooper WMA. Hopefully pics load, first time trying

Report for youth hunt please.

congrates

Gus England Youth Hunt Nov. 21-22

In total I believe there was 46 or so kids show up. We drew compartment 13. First day of the hunt was extremely windy and very few groups saw much of anything. Harvest for first afternoon hunt was one spike which was kicked up while scouting their compartment and a small 3 legged hog that eve. (Still never got the full story on the 3 legs). That night the wind died off and the moon was nearly full so most all wildlife feed throughout the night after being bedded all day I would imagine. A huge bonus the Texas Parks and Wildlife employees along with some students from Texas A&M cooked the entire hunting party (100+) a venison chili dinner. All of which came from donations.

Second day the weather was much better. Deer activity was up and a few groups did manage to rattle in a few bucks. There was a one more deer harvested that morning. At the check station we visited with the staff and biologist. They did mention with the abundance of acorns on the ground, plenty of cover and recent rains that week the deer activity was down due simply because the deer didn't have to move very far to acquire anything. We broke camp, packed up and left around 1pm.

Just got off the phone with the office and the total harvest was 3 Whitetail and the one hog. Based off scouting and tracks in the sand from were we drove the evening before there is a fair amount of deer so don't let this discourage anyone in the future from hunting Gus England in the future. Hogs too!

All together the hunt was a huge success for quality time afield with my son. Although we did not harvest we had a great time camping and meet a lot of great guys and gals. Hats off to the Gus England staff for some Texas style hospitality that was first class!


Brian

PS Shout out to our friends in Victoria

Wish I would have read you post before going on the YDE hunt last weekend and I would have made sure to pack my rattling gear. Thought with cold weather after the wind laid Saturday evening that hunting Sunday would have been good but as of Sunday afternoon there had only been three deer killed, 2 does and a spike. There was basically no movement all three hunts. My daughter and I hunted hard to no avail. Skunked all three hunts with the exception of seeing a group of 8 turkeys on the way to stand first afternoon. We hunted new box blind in Compartment 23 Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning and then walked around at lunch and found a double fence crossing on the west compartment line that had a massive amount of tracks running through both. The roads in this compartment were closed and it was about a mile walk to get to the spot which made it difficult but my daughter and I packed the popup and gear all the way back there and setup the blind approximately 80yds downwind of the crossing. Again to no avail. The deer were just not moving this past weekend. No one saw much of anything. There were50 kids hunting with little success. The acorns were dropping by the truckload though and that probably had a lot to do with it. This is really a nice place and well taken care of with a great group of people running the hunt. Tucker was top notch. My daughter is 16 this year so this was her last chance for youth draw this year. Compartment 23 appears to be a good area. I know the deer are there we just did not see them. I thought timing was going to be perfect with the cold weather moving in Saturday night, but for some reason there was hardly any movement.

Engeling is a tuff @ss place to deer hunt for seasoned hunter much less a kid, its deer density #'s are just so much lower compared to richland creek.

What is Richland Creek like vs Gus E.?

RC is trinity river bottom land flood plane, just down the road from GE but very different.

OK biologist mentioned it while discussing various WMA/S.P. He said it has better density numbers.

Several of the WMA's are river bottom flood planes & are hard ta hunt... When WMA opened up ta public pretty much switched ta archery only for deer hunting... When not flooded, can be some of the best hunting, when flooded it pushes wildlife out ta surrounding privet land...

Got this from the staff this morning:

Dear Gus Engeling WMA hunter,
As a result of recent rainfall, current flooding, and associated road damage, WMA access is limited. Some hunting units are only accessible by foot and others are only partially accessible. However, we do still plan to provide a safe and enjoyable hunt and are currently making preparations to do so. In an attempt to refine our hunt numbers, we are requesting that hunters not planning to attend please respond to this e-mail. Those still planning to attend do not need to take any action. These challenges require additional planning on our part but we feel confident that we can provide a safe and quality hunting opportunity. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to seeing you soon.

Sounds like there will be limited access, not sure what the numbers of hunters attending will be. My wife is sick, so I won't be attending, hopefully I will catch a draw next year. Good luck to everyone that heads out, I will be watching for updates.

Report from the Dec. 16-18th hunt? Just wondering how many showed up, and if successful at all. Thanks

Report was 7 deer total, three of them were button bucks, one was a 120 class 8 point which was not on the bag limit and illegal for this hunt so the green cops showed up, only 60 of the 80 drawn hunters attended.

yikes, how do you accidentally shoot a buck that size on a spike and doe hunt?? Thanks for the info

Anyone else headed down today for doe/spike hunt? I'm hoping to see some movement since weather has been pretty decent!