Anyone here take their kiddos on the first youth hunt at powderhorn over the weekend? Me and my oldest got drawn for the January hunt and wondering how the kids did out there. Saw good success pics out there from the GDE hunt! Got us even more excited.

Also--- anyone know how or where you can find the post hunt results for the draw hunts?? Thanks

Never been but Congrates & Best wish's on up coming hunt...
Keep your head held high & your powder dry...

i have a friend who is going this weekend to hunt it with his grandson.. ill see what he returns with.

Both of my boys participated in the Powderhorn Hunt last weekend. It was a fantastic experience! We started Saturday at 11am. Staff took us to assigned blinds and from then on, we were allowed to come and go at will until the end of the hunt Sunday evening. The spots had already been baited but we added some corn since we had it with us. Our spots (12 &21) were at the far south end of the property where you could actually see the town of Port O'Connor. I hunted with my youngest son in #21 and my wife hunted with our oldest in #12. The rules were changed a little and we were told that we could hunt only from assigned blinds. The blinds were elevated about 4 feet above the ground and had plastic chairs inside. While driving to the blind on the first day, we drove by a pond that had 3 big Sambar bulls standing in it. I called the person running the hunt to ask permission to take a shot but was denied (I completely understood).

The first evening hunt, both boys saw whitetail doe, a pig and some young bucks, but we didn't shoot. The next morning while driving to the blinds before daylight, a big Sambar bull was standing on the road. We drove within 20 yards before he took off. While climbing into the stand just at legal shooting time, a big doe (possibly a Sambar) stepped out at 75yds and starred right at us. She spooked before my boy could get his gun loaded. About 20 minutes later, an old 6pt whitetail stepped out from behind the blind catching us totally by surprise. He walked back into some brush then appeared again at 140yds where my boy dropped him. He came to regret that a little because we saw several much bigger whitetail bucks throughout the morning. My oldest boy passed on a few small bucks then shot a doe and the 8pt pictured (these deer were all on the ground within an hour of daylight). We picked up these deer, field dressed, then took them to Country Slaughter House in Victoria. After a quick early lunch, we got back in the stands. Throughout the rest of the day, we saw deer after deer (all whitetails) with some nice bucks mixed in. We were holding out for a Sambar or Axis but none ever showed at the blinds.

It looked like most of the other kids got a Sambar since there were several being cleaned each time we drove by the cleaning station. The folks running the hunt were very nice and helpful. All in all, a great experience. Good luck with yall's hunts and let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you and hope they have a great hunt and make some awesome memories!

Thats a great write up and sounds like your family had a really great trip and experience! Your boys got a couple nice deer. Too bad they couldn't get on a sambar but thats the way it goes sometimes. We are again even more excited for our hunt in Jan now!! What would you say the average shot distance is out there? He is proficient out to 100yds but never had the opportunity to shoot any further distances. He will shooting my 6.5 swede

I think being proficient out to 100yds is plenty good because we saw most of our deer at under that distance. My boys have only practiced at 100yds too so the 140yd shot was actually stretching it. We had visibility out to over 300yds in some directions so long range shooting could open up more opportunity. One thing you might consider is bringing some cardboard and tape.. the opening of the blind is about 18" tall and is open on all sides. I felt really exposed and would like to have blocked off the rear opening and parts of the sides to help with concealment.

Thanks for the tip, ill throw some in my pack when we head out for the first sit. He shoots very well at 100 and sure he could shoot further, especially with the gun he will using, but hope we can get the critters in closer.. How wet/marshy was it out there? Heard it can be pretty swampy in areas

I emailed with Dan Walker asking about how everything went. My son will be there hunting Jan 4 as well. He said these first hunts hit the rut just right and there was a lot of success, that but there are still a lot of critters out there.

We will be happy with any success as Andrew has not yet killed his first buck (working on that now). But he REALLY wants an opportunity at a Sambar...he's 11 and has no idea how special these opportunities are. Glad I can expose him to some hunting trips since I did not travel out of state to hunt until I was 35.

The area we were at was bone-dry except for a few ponds. I think the other end of the property is a little marshy. Those Sambar deer that we did see were standing in the middle of a large pond that looked to be about 2 or 3 feet deep. We had waders packed just in case we needed to get one out of the water. The roads going to the blinds were well kept, smooth gravel or packed sand so driving was easy. By the way, if you like seafood, there is a place just down the road in Port O'Connor called "Cathy's." Its pricey (like $22 a plate) but the fried shrimp was excellent. And there is no fast-food in Port O'Connor, the closest thing we found was a Speedy Mart gas station that has fried chicken, tacos, pizza, etc.