Hunted the Matador WMA doe hunt Dec. 5th - 9th. Had nice weather the first 2 days, it rain most of the 3rd day then woke up to snow on day 4 & 5. Overall we (4 of us) had a great hunt. 5 whitetail does and 3 pigs. 1 other group had 1 doe and 2 pigs, the other 6 groups nothing. Most of the hunters that I talk to saw very few deer if any.

Looks like a successful trip

That's really good, from what I've heard the deer #'s are way down there from what they used to be. Drought and too much hunting pressure. What compartment the put you in?

Congrats. We had no shortage of does to hunt in November, but we only saw one hog and did not get a shot.

Too much hunting pressure? You do realize how tightly they restrict the tag numbers right?

I was one of the other hunters. I seen multiple WT bucks almost everyday and four big mule deer bucks. I hunted the north middle compartment. I sit, walked, and hunted a pop-up blind but only seen one doe the entire hunt and she was running away from me and stopped at 500 yrds. The group of 3 hunters that was camped next to me hunted shorty and part of suite case. They saw a few doe but got no shots and also ended up not taking any. Needless to say I was disappointed with the lack of success and sightings. It was an interesting hunt and very different landscape which varies greatly in just a few miles. I can say it took me two days of cleaning my truck and camper to at least knock off the red dirt and sand from the exterior. I suspect it will take much longer to get it out of all the cracks, crevices, and interior. Here is one of the Mule Deer I caught on a camera that I walked up one morning.

I'm referring to pressure on the private land around the WMA, its gotten bad enought they started an antler restriciton for mule deer in that county this year.

We hunted in OX and east side of suitcase. We have been hunting up there for the past 12 years and I agree with you that the #of deer is way down same with the pigs. I hunted hard all 5 days and only saw 5 does.

Hell yea!!

I have to ask if you guys walked around, or sat on stand every day??? We were in the same two pastures as you, and the does were all over. A lot of them were crossing the county road to the East of the WMA and hitting the private land food plots, then coming back. We moved and walked quite a bit, but 3 of us saw at least 20 WT does every day. The rut was in full swing and the bucks were pushing some of the does, but other groups had 2-4-6 together. Just shows how deer hunting can change from day to day.

I did a little bit of everything. The first day earlier in the afternoon I drove around the entire compartment glassing to get a feel for the lay of the land. I then setup a blind in the NE corner as there was a feeder across the fence. I came back late in the day and sit in the blind but seen nothing that evening. Before sunrise the next morning on Thursday I parked way back on the road and walked into the blind. I seen one doe come out around 7:30 but she was 300 yrd away and running away and stopped for just a second about 500 yrds out. I broke the blind down about 10, set it out on the road and then proceeded to slowly walk some of the ridges of the draws up in that area stopping and glassing as I went. Late in the day I ended up back down towards the Middle Pease river and sat on the bluff and glassed the bottom area. I seen two WT bucks moving west to east. So just as it got dark I setup the blind in the bottom area where I could see in multiple directions. Overnight into Friday the rain showed up so I sat in the blind most of the day on Friday. I seen three WT bucks move through the bottoms on Friday sitting in the blind but no does. Friday night the rain turned to snow and we had at least a couple inches when we got up Saturday. I sat in the blind for about an hour and a half Saturday morning and then broke the blind back down. I moved across the river and walked up the ridges on several of the draws on the east side of North Middle again sitting, glassing, and then slowly moving forward. I seen a couple more WT bucks but no does. Sunday I moved up the road on the west side of North Middle but once I got on top the road was pretty sloppy. I stopped the truck and walked and glassed a couple of the draws on the that side of the compartment on top. I seen an 8 pt and another WT buck that was probably at least 10 pt or larger. But again no does. I had a camera out on the water hole by the wind mill on the west side of North Middle on Wednesday and Thursday. That is were the mule deer picture came from. I also had pics of a 10 pt WT buck and one WT doe. I walked the Mule deer up back in one of the draw not far from the water hole. I seen more doe driving to/from the camp ground to the North Middle compartment. Probably seen 3 or 4 cross the road during the entire week. The weather didn't help but overall it was one of the tougher hunts I have been on in the last several years. After speaking with others I was at least glad to know most of the other hunters didn't see much either. Pkhunter and his group by in far did the best in OX.

Sounds like you guys had fun.

I would love to live closer and have the opportunities to hunt some of these WMA's for quail and other species besides deer. That way you could learn the lay of the land, and get some scouting in too. I was really impressed by the overall area, but you can certainly see how the landowners try to set up all around the WMA boundaries.

Definitely learning more and scouting the WMA would be a big plus. Matador is massive WMA at over 28,000 acres which changes greatly across its miles of landscape. I believe Pkhunter had hunted there several times which I am sure helped. The other group which got a doe and a couple pigs had been there the week before scouting and doing some quail hunting. They also had been there before and did have some amount of knowledge about the lay of the land. I am sure the neighboring landowners setup on the boundaries and may have some effect but there is a lot of land there for wildlife. It is quite a way out from North Texas but not so far I couldn't get there on a weekend. I will have to consider maybe making a few trips in the spring/fall next year before hunting there again.

I think the hunting pressure has a lot to do with not seeing a lot of deer in the doe hunts.By the time we hunted Dec. 5th - 9th there had already been 4 5day deer hunts plus no telling how many quail hunters are up there running all over the place. Plus all along the east and north fence there are plenty of wheat fields and feeder set up that have to pull some of the deer out of there. Still 1 of the best WMA's that we have hunted. I'm curious what the hunters in the 2nd doe hunt saw? If any one was there let us know how your hunt was.

I have to admit, I saw more spent shotgun shell a tMatador than I ever have on any other WMA. Only saw a few coveys, but did see them.