First off, let me start by saying how inviting the park ranger and all the volunteers made us feel. I have 0 experience with any other public texas hunts as this was our first experience, but they made the kids feel welcome, gave them all sorts of goodies and had them very excited for the hunt. Everyone was friendly and very accommodating. There was even hot chocolate for the kids when we got back from the hunt. Not a huge deal but little things like that go a long way with a 9 year old.

All the other hunters we met were awesome as well. My son loves being around other hunters his age as he's usually stuck with just me and his grandads lol. So it was nice to sit and talk with other dad's and hear about all their successful hunting trips.

As for the hunt itself we just happened to get the lucky straw and were the only pair that even saw a deer to shoot that evening. About 10 minutes to spare a young axis buck walked out and my son dropped him DRT. We were very fortunate and grateful to have the chance.

It's definitely a different type of hunt being you are hunting in a park area. Our ground blind was in between some cabins and the deer walked out next to the bathroom lol. But it is what it is considering the type of hunt it is. It's not something I'd ever do by myself personally but I think it's great for the kids.

We ended up leaving lafter the first night since we got our deer and my son actually said he wanted to give someone else to sit in our spot since it was "lucky".

Also a special shout out to David the Park Ranger he was very kind to the kids and patient with my sons 200 questions/opinions. He even helped when quartering the deer and removing the head. (It never fails, I can clean and quarter a hundred deer but when there's a group of guys all watching I act like I've never done it before lol.)

But I wanted to give my opinion on how we felt based on some of the negative reviews I have read. My expectations were low based on them but at no point did we ever feel like we were not welcome as hunters. Also got introduced to the Texas youth hunters program that I never knew about that my son is excited to sign up for.