We had the pleasure of joining a youth spike/doe hunt at San Angelo State Park this past weekend (Jan 2019). It was a drawn hunt and we were one of the lucky group. Also noticed about 5 standby hunters that showed up and were allowed to hunt with the group.
I’ve attached the rules from this particular hunt (expect similar, not necessarily identical rules in future). In general, the park staff was excellent at providing guidance during the hunt. They were patient with our questions and accommodating when we asked to move on the second day. The park is beautiful, a bit spread out with residential areas close by. Lots of small juniper trees. Excellent phone reception (Verizon is my carrier). Be sure to ask early if you can shoot across any fences that you see. The park has cattle and a fence does not necessarily mean a barrier to respect during the hunt.
Some of my suggestions/findings:
1. Safety first – be sure to wear orange at all times when moving outside of the stand. Be sure to strictly enforce this with your youth hunter as well. This was a stand hunt which minimizes the roaming but still, good practice.
2. Stands – you will draw a hunting location. They mentioned 40 available hunting spots. We hunted B27 and our friends hunted B32 near the south portion of the park (see map attached, both pop-up blinds). B27 had numerous deer in sight at 300+ yards. A large doe came in at about 50 yards in the morning and Nate made a great shot with his 243. B32 was overwhelmed with javelina that did not intend to leave until every piece of corn was devoured. Both B27 and B32 had a very short walk to reach the stand. Our group moved the second day for the afternoon hunt. We hunted stand 8 in area 6 (see map attached), our friends went to stand 40 (no map available). They each had a longer hike (~800 yards). Stand 8 was a small box blind. We saw 4 fawns and 3 bucks that all lingered for over an hour. One buck was about a 13 ½” wide 8 point and he lingered at 40 yards broadside. From what I could tell, the north part of the land is more productive. They also reported seeing axis in the north.
3. Bring – comfy chairs! If you get a box blind it may have a bench. We used it as a shelf and sat on our folding chairs.
4. Just a note – they insisted on field dressing the deer. My hunting posse does not gut our deer so this was a learning experience for me. Messy, not pretty, but the staff provides handouts with instructions and it wasn’t too bad.
5. Animals – based on what we saw, they have plenty of whitetail deer. Although they spotted some axis, none were shot at the park this season from what I could tell. They claimed to have a lot of hogs and wanted them shot on sight – we never saw one. At least one javelina was shot, my friends decided not to mess with one but had lots of time to shoot if desired.
6. Cabins – about $26 per night with full bed and 2 bunk beds. They have a separate building with toilet but no shower and only cold water. Heater thermostat in our cabin didn’t work so we alternated roasting/freezing throughout the night.
See attached photos. Had a great time. Let me know if you have further questions. I will be thinking about and reliving this hunt for months to come.

Well done!