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Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) #7388173 12/27/18 10:50 PM
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AdanV Offline OP
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Since I got my first ever TPWD draw hunt in 2 weeks, I have some questions for those of yall that have been on TPWD Draw Hunts in the past.

The draw hunt I got was for Bastrop SP (Gun Deer - 3 Deer (Buck or Doe) - Unlimited Hogs - Unlimited Exotics).

According to the letter they sent me, I need to report there by 10 AM on the first day.
How early can I show up?
I would like to be there early to make sure I have everything in order (paperwork I have to fill out and any meeting I must attend), but I don't want to sit around in the truck for hours.

Apparently, baiting is allowed.
Should I just get a bag of corn and sprinkle around the shooting lane or pour a mound of it in the middle?
I've never baited deer or hogs, but I would like to up my chances as this hunt is a chance to fill the freezer.

Unlimited Exotics.
What exotics can I expect?


Other than my usual gear, is there anything else I should consider bringing?
I'm normally a spot & stalk hunter, but I've purchased a cheap ground blind, shooting stick, and seat for this specific hunt.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7388409 12/28/18 03:19 AM
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Don't show up early the park will be closed/locked, exotics are at bastrop?, maybe some axis running around there but don't expect to see many exotics. On these state park hunts they usually stick you in one spot rather than compartment, and tell not to move more than 30-40 yards from it and only shoot in one direction, this is done for for safety so people aren't shooting at each other. Don't expect to spot and stalk, I know someone who tried to do this on another state park hunt and he was warned not do it again or they would throw him out.

Last edited by Legend LE-195; 12/28/18 03:22 AM.
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7388437 12/28/18 03:56 AM
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Congrats on the draw. I put in for it but didn’t draw.

Call the Park to see what time you can come in. Most of them will let you in that morning.

The book says it’s by compartment, meaning that they will assign you an area of the park to hunt with boundaries being defined by TPWD personnel. I would bring a pop up blind if you have one. Being park deer they are usually more accustomed to People than Most other deer.

As far as baiting...I am on the more is always better. I would fiqure our where you want to set up and scatter corn on all your shooting lanes. I want any deer walking across the shooting lanes to cross corn. Most of the time Deer will stop and eat it giving you a shot. Corn is 7 bucks a bag, don’t go cheap on it.

I have no idea what exotics are there, but they will tell you during the orientation.

Good luck and have fun.


Last edited by Erny; 12/28/18 03:58 AM. Reason: Stupid I phone autocorrect.
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7388616 12/28/18 03:20 PM
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Okay, thanks for the responses.
I'm both excited but also apprehensive.

Yes, the ground blind I bought is a popup blind.
https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/am...-with-tripod-stool#repChildCatid=3676088

I'll take a couple of bags of corn for baiting.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
Diamond Edge SB-1 - Compound Bow
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7389091 12/29/18 02:47 AM
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Just a couple other other notes. I usually take a couple gallon zip lock bags of corn with me into the field. You will need a good back pack. I would also suggest taking a simple shooting stick with you. I have that exact blind and using a shooting stick when in it sure increases your accuracy. I bought a different chair a back support. The chair that comes with it is not comfortable after sitting in it all day. They may or may not want you to field dress any deer you take. You can ask when you call. Include a good knife and anything you normally use when field dressing in your backpack just in case. You will want a good light also as it will be dark when you are coming out and/or going in. If you have never been there you may or may not want a handheld GPS. Again ask if you can move with-in the compartment or if they have an assigned blind. Most of the compartment hunts I have been on they show you your boundary markers and where to enter. After that, you drive yourself to/from your compartment and can move around in the compartment. I would definitely call and talk to the park attendant. Also ask if you need a deer cart or if they have one to loan. Good luck.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7393438 01/02/19 03:45 PM
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Thanks.
I have a shooting stick as well.
I wasn't aware that you could get a free chair with the blind (I bought it from Field & Stream), oh well.
I bought one that seems comfortable.

And I bought this deer corn for $7 when me and the gf were out shopping a few days ago:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Manna-Pro-Top-Score-Double-Duty-Deer-Corn/930644261


I spoke with someone whose managing the draw hunt.
He informed that I can field dress, but I have to keep it intact as the TPWD will be there to do some inspections and tests on the carcass.
After that, I can quarter it to store in a cooler.

Hopefully I have enough cooler space if I get more than 1 animal.
I only have 2 - 48 quart coolers.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7393669 01/02/19 06:48 PM
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I hunted that exact hunt at Bastrop about 7 years ago. I would show up at 9:00am (an hour before.) You will get a compartment to hunt so you will will have a couple of different areas to set up within your compartment. Take yourself plenty of corn and spread it out wherever you can see. When we hunted there, the roads and lanes were not cut and the grass was 3 feet tall. We took a couple of 6' tall tripods which really helped to see over the grass. We hunted open areas and long, open power line areas. Be darn well sure to ask the people who are taking you to your area, where the best places are to hunt in your area. This is very important! We hunted compartment #7 and my buddy and I limited out on deer (5 does and a spike.) we did see some nice bucks also in this compartment. If you do select this compartment, hunt under the power lines on top of the hill. Also, there is an overgrown field toward the back that was also good to hunt. Don't expect to see an exotic.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: Hunter Daddy] #7393762 01/02/19 08:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Hunter Daddy
I hunted that exact hunt at Bastrop about 7 years ago. I would show up at 9:00am (an hour before.) You will get a compartment to hunt so you will will have a couple of different areas to set up within your compartment. Take yourself plenty of corn and spread it out wherever you can see. When we hunted there, the roads and lanes were not cut and the grass was 3 feet tall. We took a couple of 6' tall tripods which really helped to see over the grass. We hunted open areas and long, open power line areas. Be darn well sure to ask the people who are taking you to your area, where the best places are to hunt in your area. This is very important! We hunted compartment #7 and my buddy and I limited out on deer (5 does and a spike.) we did see some nice bucks also in this compartment. If you do select this compartment, hunt under the power lines on top of the hill. Also, there is an overgrown field toward the back that was also good to hunt. Don't expect to see an exotic.


Okay, thanks.
I guess you went before the drought wildfire took most of it?

I've been scouring through Onxmaps, Google Earth, and Bing maps to get a good view, but it shows lots of fallen trees which I'm guessing were from the wildfire.
Not sure if they've already been picked up or left as-is.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
Diamond Edge SB-1 - Compound Bow
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7393850 01/02/19 10:07 PM
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I was there when hunter daddy was there that year. It was after the wildfire. I think I have a map of the spots still. I’ll look for it.

I could have limited out on deer in the first hour of hunting. There were tons of deer. Bring a tripod because you won’t be able to see over vegitation.

One guy killed a red stag. The red stag were mainly in one compartment area they said. I don’t remember which one.

Not many people killed much though. Some people just hunted from in their truck and put corn 40 yards away from them. That’s why everyone didn’t limit out.

First day scout out and look for deer trails. There are tons of deer so trails should be easy to find. And it’s been wet.

I found a trail that was super traveled. Looked like a cattle trail but with deer. Set up on that and watched tons of deer travel through every 15 minutes. Even after I shot one 15 min later more would travel through.

If it’s wet make sure you have a 4x4. Roads are not good. I had to drive through lots of ruts and standing water to get to my compartment.

They had left all vegitation as it was after the wildfire.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7393858 01/02/19 10:15 PM
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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7394405 01/03/19 02:28 PM
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Wow, thanks.

I wasn't aware these hunts can be like that (hunting from the truck, deer just being oblivious even after the shot).
I don't have a tripod, so I'm going to have to make do with the shooting stick.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
Diamond Edge SB-1 - Compound Bow
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7394696 01/03/19 06:41 PM
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Another note to you. When my buddy and I hunted there, the park police took us to our compartments and showed us the boundaries on a map which was given to us. We could walk around in our compartment and stalk if we wanted to. They also had some all-terrain 8 wheeled "mules" that they used to haul our deer out of our compartment. Back then they liked it if you would "gut" your deer out in your compartment. Then they would take (or you could take) your deer back to the park site to have it weighed and checked before you skinned and quartered it.
At orientation, they called your name in the order which you were selected, than you picked out a piece of paper from a hat which had a number on it. Which ever number you pulled...that was your compartment to hunted. But they may do it differently now.
Also, you had to stay in your compartment till a certain time (like 10am) than you could leave and get back into your compartment by 2pm and stay till dark. You could not leave your compartment when you wished. This is because you would be disturbing others in their compartments driving out. You have to drive through other compartments to get to your compartment. We had to drive through compartment 14, 11 and 10 to get to compartment 7. We were the last compartment and nobody came through ours.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7397177 01/06/19 09:29 PM
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My son was drawn for a youth hunt in 2015. He drew compartment 5, 291 acres. I would suggest doing nothing but walking and scouting the first afternoon/evening after orientation. We walked most of that 291 acres and found a real nice clearing that had 4-5 game trails criss-crossing it. Set our popup blind and brushed it in that evening and spread a couple of bags of corn. Got busted by some does that came up behind us Saturday morning. Shot a real nice doe Saturday evening. Northern came in Saturday night so Sunday was cold with about 30 mile an hour winds. Didn't hunt long on Sunday. As others said, spend a lot of time scouting your compartment that first afternoon, you'll find a good place to set up.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7404255 01/14/19 05:55 PM
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Again, many thanks for yall's responses.
Overall, I had a great time, learned a lot, met and befriended many good people.

Sadly, I didn't get to fire a round as I never had an opportunity.

I was assigned to Compartment 5A, which was the northern half of Compartment 5 (they divided it in 2).
The bucks that we're allowed to harvest were only Dual-Spike Bucks or Mutton Bucks.
Nothing with forked antlers can be taken.

After orientation on Wednesday morning & midday, we proceeded to the compartments around 3 PM. Where as each evening hunting session closes at 6:15.
Walking in, I would find tracks & rubs around. But I felt I was too close to one of the gravel roads, so I went in deeper for safety's sake.
After setting up my blind and sprinkling corn at a clearing and waiting for an hour, I had a good size hog (at least 120 lbs) come by but went back in the woods as I was about to aim.

Thursday morning (check-in at 5:30, hunting session opens at about 6:55) I spooked a hog as I was walking to the blind.
The corn that I sprinkled down looked to be disturbed, so I waited in the blind. But didn't have any activity other than the spooked hog and a deer snort and stomp behind me (This day, the wind shifted from Southbound to Northbound, so I was winded).
During the session, I heard 3 shots fire within 5 minutes of each other. When the session was closed, I went back to the truck where an older father/son duo had 2 does and a small mutton buck sitting on the rangers' ATV.
They were in 2 compartments north of mines. The son had the 3 deer show up, he shot one and the other 2 didn't know what was going on. He seized the opportunity and shot the other 2.

Back at camp, I helped them clean the kills. The rangers asked how my hunt was and they recommended that I relocate my blind to the northeast of the compartment, which I did on the Thursday evening check-in and hunt.
I poured the last of the corn I had as well. However, I didn't have any activity at all that evening.

Friday morning (last hunting session), I went back to the blind as quietly as I can.
Since it was so close to the truck, I was in the blind within 10 minutes and sat in for over an hour until the 6:55 hunting session opened.
During this time, I was hearing something rustling ahead of me but couldn't tell what it was. Also, I was hearing a lot of turkeys calling each other.
When the daylight came and it was 6:55, there was nothing ahead of me and all the corn was practically gone.

After waiting for nearly 2 hours and only having about 1.5 hours left, I finally lost patience and went to spot/stalk while keeping the Onxmap app available.

After walking around for about 20 minutes, I found 3 whitetails walking behind these shrubs and heading towards a cut. We were no farther than 20 yards from each other.
I crouched down and aimed my rifle towards the cut and waited for them to come by...
1st was a 6pt buck with borderline spread (illegal to shoot), it took a glance at me and went off it's business.
2nd was 6pt buck with illegal spread (illegal to shoot), it didn't even took a glance.
3rd was a 8pt buck with legal spread (illegal to shoot), it would stop and we would stare at each other for a whole minute before it got ahold of my scent, snorted, and all ran off.
Pretty much then, the hunting session was over.

However, the older father/son duo offered me one of their does after the last hunt as they and their family had great success this past season (14 deers to be exact as they have year-round access to family farms/ranches).
For which I'm very grateful for. We swapped stories and they were really respectful when I told them I can only hunt public grounds. I gave them tips about hunting Somerville and SHNF.

The only thing that didn't go so well were the nights.
I wasn't fully prepared for the night's upper 30 degree temps, plus my campground was less than a quarter mile from the main highway.
The noise from the truckers woke me up often during the night.....
It's been quite a long time since I slept in a tent.


Either way, I look forward to entering into more draw hunts next season.
And me and my son are looking forward to his TYHP hunt in 2 weeks as well.


God Bless Texas
texas

Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
Diamond Edge SB-1 - Compound Bow
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7404368 01/14/19 07:35 PM
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Nice write-up but I gotta ask,what's a "mutton buck",a sheep?

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: swampthang] #7404467 01/14/19 09:21 PM
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Originally Posted by swampthang
Nice write-up but I gotta ask,what's a "mutton buck",a sheep?


It's a buck that never grows it's antlers, or at least don't grow beyond 1" out of their head.
The hunter that shot it thought it was a doe, and I did too. Until we did a close inspection.

I never seen nor heard of one until this hunt.
If you handle one, you'll see it's antlers are nothing more than 2 nubs.

I should've took a pic.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
Diamond Edge SB-1 - Compound Bow
Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7404474 01/14/19 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by AdanV
Originally Posted by swampthang
Nice write-up but I gotta ask,what's a "mutton buck",a sheep?


It's a buck that never grows it's antlers, or at least don't grow beyond 1" out of their head.
The hunter that shot it thought it was a doe, and I did too. Until we did a close inspection.

I never seen nor heard of one until this hunt.
If you handle one, you'll see it's antlers are nothing more than 2 nubs.

I should've took a pic.



I have never heard of that either, pretty interesting


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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7404478 01/14/19 09:27 PM
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Originally Posted by AdanV
Originally Posted by swampthang
Nice write-up but I gotta ask,what's a "mutton buck",a sheep?


It's a buck that never grows it's antlers, or at least don't grow beyond 1" out of their head.
The hunter that shot it thought it was a doe, and I did too. Until we did a close inspection.

I never seen nor heard of one until this hunt.
If you handle one, you'll see it's antlers are nothing more than 2 nubs.

I should've took a pic.




I think most guys call those button bucks,or nubbin bucks. Basically a 6 month old male fawn. Just never heard anyone call it a mutton buck before.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7404529 01/14/19 10:05 PM
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Mutton or Button.
Maybe I've misheard them?

Either way, that mutton or button buck was at least 2 years old.
Definitely not fawn size.


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Arsenal:
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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7405876 01/16/19 02:28 AM
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Originally Posted by AdanV
Mutton or Button.
Maybe I've misheard them?

Either way, that mutton or button buck was at least 2 years old.
Definitely not fawn size.



You seem to be new at this, FYI button button bucks are always fawns, a 1.5 year old buck will always have antlers unless they were castrated.

Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: bossbowman] #7406616 01/16/19 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Legend LE-195
Originally Posted by AdanV
Mutton or Button.
Maybe I've misheard them?

Either way, that mutton or button buck was at least 2 years old.
Definitely not fawn size.



You seem to be new at this, FYI button button bucks are always fawns, a 1.5 year old buck will always have antlers unless they were castrated.



I'm just telling yall what they told me.
Either way, I had a great time.


God Bless Texas
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Arsenal:
Savage Axis II - 30-06
Stoeger P350 - 12 Gauge
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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7406650 01/16/19 11:49 PM
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Cool write up! Glad you got to enjoy the public lands our state offers! Bummer on not getting to squeeze the trigger, but at least you were able to take some meat home up

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Re: Questions on upcoming Draw Hunt (Bastrop SP) [Re: AdanV] #7415000 01/25/19 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by AdanV
[quote=Legend LE-195][quote=Adanv]
I'm just telling yall what they told me.
Either way, I had a great time.


They told you a nubbin buck that was shot on this hunt was 2.5 years old, hmmm confused

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