I was just drawn for the Lake Allen Henry antlerless whitetail hunt. I’m allowed 2 antlerless WT and unlimited hogs. Anyone have experience hunting there?

Yep, been there on a mule deer hunt. Antlerless should be easy in any area. They plant a lot of food plots, a popup, well hidden would work.

Any specific questions? There are a lot of rules as to how the hunt is conducted, be mindful of them all. I found the two managers very friendly and ready to help you make a good decision on where to hunt.

Be sure you can identify the difference in a mule or whitetail deer.

Oh, if it gets sloppy, four wheel drive is a must. Just getting from where the pavement stops at the boat ramp to the the entrance of the hunt unit might not be possible in a two wheel drive. We had a very wet front come through, by the last day, our 4x4 trucks were struggling to get up that road.

There is a general store at the boat ramp, they serve good food. We stayed at the Lake Henry Lodge. Post is the closest town, still a drive. There is a great dinner on the main drag through town.

Thanks for the advice! Any tips on baiting? My current plan is to just hand spread corn and alfalfa pellets. I grew up hunting both whitetail and mulies on the Columbia River Plateau so I’m pretty confident in my ability to tell them apart.

I'm traveling without my laptop, so I cannot read through the volume of rules. I think you can spread corn by hand, but not use a tailgate feeder. Please check.

Also, they do not have the cleaning facilities of most TPWD wildlife management area facilities. Be prepared to work on your kill old school and get it to storage. For my group we used a tailgate game hoist and all brought two boat coolers full of ice.

Oh, they want you to shoot hogs and you do not need to recover them. Of course, check with the staff to make sure that is still valid.



Typical terrian.



On the spillway heading to the eastern units.



My hunting partner's mule deer, his first! The deer was ghosting the edge of a food plot, about 25-yards back in the brush. He was in a popup, the shot was about 125-yards. I believe he was shooting a 300 Win Mag.

He was drawn forthe bowhunt the following year and shot a very nice whitetail. I believe it was larger than the buck he killed on the Chap which was very impressive.

Also, this is not a very large property as far as public hunting goes. The rules restrict travel to certain times. I suggest that you hunker down and sit it out. Show up during the allowed scouting period to learn the country and setup. We were a group of four so we took all the available mule deer permits. They allowed us to scout two days prior to the hunt, so we took advantage of those days and it made a difference.

That’s all excellent information! And yes, it’s only hand spread or “non-automated feeders”. There’s gonna be 10 hunters on during that time so I’ll just keep to my area and wait for others to drive them to me. I really appreciate this insight, it’s really going to help up my success rate, and I really need the meat! I haven’t deer hunted since 2012 and I am ready to get back into it.

Good luck, please give us a report!

Got my permit in the mail today! I’ve been assigned Food Plot 1, Pond 1...whatever that means

Let me pull out my stuff tonight, I think you are golden. The place is antlerless easy.

Glad to hear it! I haven’t been whitetail hunting in 6 years and I just want some meat! How’s the hog population out there?

In that it is along a fork of the Brazos. They have them. Saw a lot of sign, but I did not see one. Will get you that map via pm in the morning.

I wish I would have put in for it now. Checked and deadlines are past. Oh well best of luck and looking forward to stories and pics.

Just got back from setting up my blind and laying out some bait. It’s absolutely awesome out there! I’ve got 2 ponds and food plot to hunt over with hog and deer tracks crisscrossing the whole area. I actually saw a buck chasing a doe as a pulled through the gate! Can’t wait to head out tomorrow and see what I can get!

Heck yea get after it!!

So last night was interesting. Before I started my hunt the on site biologist explained that even though this was an antlerless hunt, button and spikes were allowed (but not recommended). He told us to only shoot antlerless deer that were accompanied with a buck to avoid shooting yearlings. Well with 15 minutes left of shooting time I came across a herd of 4 deer with a 8 point buck. I chose the largest “doe” and took it. I get up close and it turned out to be a 1.5 year fallow buck! It was as big as a large whitetail doe or average buck and had been grazing with the whitetails. There has never been another fallow taken out there so it’s very confusing. Thankfully I got to keep it as I had followed the rules and this was such a freak occurrence.

Very good. I'm glad you enjoyed your hunt!