Anyone hunted or know anything about the unit?

Unfortunately I don't but congrats. I put in on that one too.

Im interested in the hunt so I paid my permit fee today..

I drew the Page unit. Don't know anything about it, but looking forward to trying out a new spot.

I drew briarwood and boars den

I drew Brierwood and Mcguire ... never been to the area, would love to know if anyone has!

Im not sure if this is new areas or previous hunted but there is no success rate info prior.

I don't believe any of the refuge lands track success rate.

I "think" this is the first year that TPWD is doing the trinity river draws being that I don't remember them last year and there is a message on the government website stating:

"Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge has transitioned our General (which includes rifle, archery, and muzzleload) and Upland Game lottery hunts to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department "Drawn Hunts" system TPWD Drawn Hunts. The TPWD Drawn Hunt for the refuge is for deer/hog and squirrel/rabbit only.

The refuge's Waterfowl Hunt lottery draw will continue being conducted by the Refuge for the 2019/20 season. "

I also agree with Thisisbeer, I don't believe they publish success rates for any national wildlife refuge. They certainly could if they wanted, since they have mandatory harvest surveys.

So this should be a decent hunt giving the 5 days prior to hunt you can scout and get plan for travel to and from stand without much pressure

Has no one here really hunted trinity river? Hell, maybe they moved the draws over to TPWD and made it a 4 whitetail limit because the population wasn't being controlled under the old system. Wouldn't that be nice for those of us who won a draw?

I sure hope so. I've heard there were some big bucks on the trinity river. But, I have never hunted it. I'm going to check it out as soon as I can. I only life about 45 minutes away.

My problem is I won briarwood and boars den. Not sure which one I should take.

The fact that you heard it has big bucks is new and good news to me! I haven't heard anything about the place. I'm not too much further away - Tomball here. Why not do both? Did you get the same hunt dates? I got Brierwood and Mcguire but different hunt dates - Brierwood early November and Mcguire mid November - so I plan on doing them both.

Anyone else notice how the Trinity River draws aren't doing a 2nd draw (at least for me, the ones I didn't win just show "Not Selected" vs. "Pending 2nd Draw") ? I'm guessing the very small number of permits for the area is going to result in even fewer actual hunters without a 2nd draw.... could be more good news for those of us who won the draw and plan on hunting the area. So, with that in mind...Thisisbeer, you should just choose one and go with boars ben not bierwood hehehe

I'm not much closer than you, I'm in The Woodlands. After putting it into Google maps I am actually right at an hour away.

I won the same dates for both, but it looks like they are across the street from each other. I don't know how I would live with myself if I buy one and see all the deer across the road!

I haven't heard anything in particular about the deer on the refuge. I have just heard of some big deer coming out of that area in the hardwood bottoms along the Trinity River, not necessarily off of the refuge. It hasn't been hunted on a couple of years, so that should be a plus. Hunts were canceled last year due to flooding.

Buying only one and seeing them across the road on the one you didn't buy would be the worst thing ever LOL

What dates did you get? I got:

11/02/2019 - 11/10/2019 for Mcguire; and
11/16/2019 - 11/24/2019 for Brierwood

I think I would prefer to have Brierwood on the earlier date honestly

11/2-11/10 for both.

I didn't even realize the dates were opening weekend. I just lost my deer hunting spot last week, so that works out great.

Nice, opening weekend on one of the big areas. Well hell man, since you got Brierwood before me, let me know how it goes and what you find out about the area. I'll be coming in a week after you get to open the place up Try not to kill all the deer before I get there

I think the one good thing about opening weekend for McGuire is the low hunter count... was only 10 spots open for Mcguire and I'm guessing they divide that number between the two dates, so should only be a max of 5 hunters, including me, there opening weekend.

Shoot me a PM after the 10th to remind me in case I forget. I'll give you whatever info I can. Hopefully I can get out there this weekend and take a look. I'm curious and it's close enough it will bother me if I wait to check it out.

get Brierwood. since my wife and I drew the same dates at Mcquire JK

Lol, oh I'm taking them both . Looks like we know who 3 of the 5 people at mcguire will be. You guys hunting together or breaking up to cover different areas?

It says you have 5 days prior to opening season to scout i believe but if you do go I got 11-16 thru 11-24 on boars den so If someone has that date period I will be a helping hand if needed. Let us know what it looks like if someone goes

We usually do both. somedays together some days apart, she is primarily a bow hunter. I plan on using a lever action .357. that's the plan for now.

Its 4 of us. my wife and I have separate permits so its 2 of them 5