Hey Yak
Definitely let me know what was seen on your trip.

It should be on like Donkey Kong for that hunt! I have heard they always schedule the Youth Either Sex hunt around the rut!

Absolutely!

This will be my daughters first deer hunt. I mostly just hope she gets a shot off at something, even if it's just a pig. I've taken her out a couple times practice shooting and she is not overly confident. I doubt I will let her take any shots beyond about 50-75 yards.

The hunt went great last weekend! We saw close to 30 deer and a couple of those were solid bucks. But this was a doe and spike hunt.

She ended up getting a really nice sized Javelina. She missed on a doe and I really can't fault her. That thing was way out there.

I do agree with what others have said. They are wise to the youth blinds. They would come down the Senderos and at about 200-250 yards they would veer off. The one she missed was the closest one ever got and it was at least 180+ yards out.

She had a blast and can't wait for next year to see if she can draw one then too!!!

Hey, thanks for the update Yak.
I am sure that its very dry out there and the deer/animals are really coming to the corn. Which area did you hunt?

We got put in West Guajolote(Spelling?).

I thought it was a really good area.

I saw on this past Youth hunt that a Warthog was harvested!!!

Just a little as current as possible info on the Chap.

Did the GDM hunt Monday-Wednesday. Was extremely dry, Forecast shows rain but during this hunt senderos were soft & dusty as can be due to all the driving done on the roads on with no rain. Tuesday truck temp showed 93, hot.

Deer came to corn readily, they encouraged corn so deer would stop and accurate look over of deer could be done.

Most hunters on both sides saw at least one good GDE level buck, some saw multiple. They said the drought hurt antlers, the 10 pt I watched would have been taken, it was a brute.

Lots of bucks running around in the right score range. Colder weather,some rain, & pre-rut, should be a good hunts coming up archery & rifle.

One thing, the want hunters to take does as well, need a fair amount taken to reach management goals. Buddy killed one last day, 82 lb field dressed. nice and fat.

Good luck to those that were December drawn.

I also hunted the GDM Mon-Wed 11/23-25. I was hunting compartment 6 & 7 (headquarters) which is the first area east of the north/south road that splits the WMA in the middle. There was one blind in each compartment that had a 100 yard or so area cut into the brush which I put cell camera out in. I had lots of pics of does and SEVERAL 8-10 pt bucks. I did not get any pictures of any giants. You can see the cuts in the brush on google earth. I took a doe the first evening and next morning in the southern compartment. I seen MANY does both on camera and while hunting. I seen at least two bucks that would have met GDE requirements in the southern compartment. I hunted compartment 7 (northern area) on Tuesday evening. I seen does and right after last shooting light a buck that was likely a 10 pt but I could not count the points. He has a BIG spread and body. I hunted compartment 7 Wednesday morning and had a 10 pt walk up to about 50 yrds from the blind that would have been GDE legal. Lots of does and 3 small spikes also showed up. I let the spikes walk. But I was covered up with Javelina that were eating the corn I put out so I made one of the pay. There were at least a dozen or more running around. Shot one and two minutes later the herd came back. The rut was not on in the compartments I hunted. It was HOT and very dry as noted. Compartment 6 had a water hole in the southeast corner that looked well used but there was no real way to hunt it as the brush came right up to the edge. Some hunters brought tripod stands with them that looked like a good idea. Hunted out of the box blinds the WMA had in place. A mentioned the deer do know were they are located. If you hunt out of one note the windows are tall and you will likely need to be able to confidently make a 150-200 yrd shot. Put lots of corn out on the sendaro and down the cuts/openings.

Thanks for all the reads guys,
I will be there for the 2nd archery hunt next week. I think that they will be assigning our compartments tomorrow. Good luck to the guys archery hunting this week! The weather is right for sure. They do need some rain. I'm starting to gather my gear now.

I will also be there for the big buck rifle hunt in mid December. And yes, they did select our compartments before hand (no choosing your compartment this year.) They will let us know which compartment we will be in one week before our hunt. I hope that its a good area.

Nice

Where are the updates? I’ve seen several 150s killed this year on the Chaps FB page. We’re headed down in 10 days.. wish they’d at least tell us what pasture we’ve been assigned to.. looks like we’ll have to get a game plan together when we arrive.

Find the best looking spot (lots of deer sign) and put out the corn. That's what they did during the rifle/buck hunt.

Awesome place to get drawn for. Been a few times.

Good Luck!

Thanks, all set up at camp and there’s only one other hunter here so far. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Good luck! Looks like decent weather, and I'm sure all the kids (and parents) are gonna have a blast.

Good luck!

Got assigned to Baldy. Top left corner that’s all high fenced in.. guessing it’s 650-700 acres.. any one hunt there before?

Yep, had it about 4-5 years ago for my grandkids hunt, with my son as the other adult. Great compartment, and lots of deer. The fact its fenced means nothing, and we watched them crawl right under the gate numerous times!! From the upper end, you can see out over the elevation south, down over Jack Brittingham's Rancho Encantado. There are some monsters there along the fence line when you drive in, and may even see some of his sable. The upper youth box blind was overlooking the water trough, and about 200-400 yards of two senderos. The lower part of the loop road is really brushy, and hold lots of big deer, but limited shot opportunities and visibility.

Thanks Blank.
We’re sitting in the upper loop tonight. Put a camera on the south loop by a water trough.. put a little corn on the sendero by the tower blind at the entrance.
On a good note, we were told by two different employees that they hadn’t hunted this compartment yet! So who knows what we’ll see. Windy and hot, but we’re here

Headed home today empty handed. May do a better write up later but to sum it up, we’re headed home empty handed. There were maybe 7-8 bucks killed averaging mid 120s.. one mid 140, and the Big game awards recipient got a mid 140 9pt, and a wounded “big 10” they’re still searching for.

Sorry to hear that, was hoping to open this up and see a big stud of a deer for you guys. That's part of hunting, but at least you had family time!!

I am also really surprised. I hunted the management hunt the week of Thanksgiving and seen several bucks that would have been shooters for this hunt. I drew headquarters and took two does and a javelina. I had a 10 pointer walk up to about 50 yards of the blind. But as they say it is called hunting and not shooting. Not sure if it rained down there like it did up here in Dallas area but if it did that could not have helped.

Yeah, the weather was really tough. Monday evening through Wednesday was mid 80s 25-35mph wind. Made camping interesting. That front blew in Wednesday evening and rained all night. Stopped about 10am Thursday morning. We put the hours in and saw some legal deer, just was a little selective.
On baldy this year, there were 13 bucks (all age classes) and with a 1:1 ratio, that’s about 30 deer on about 650 acres. 1 deer per 20-25 acres. With the help of cell cams, we figured most deer were crossing the front sendero at some point, but it’s about 1400 yards long. We used the pop up to close the gap and finally got a shot at 605 pm Thursday night.
There’s was one main frame 10, real wide, but no brows that was the deer we were after. There was one other 9 pt and an old 8 that was legal, but the other bucks, a couple 8s and one 10 were too close for me in meeting the 14” rule. One guy we met shot a 10 on the last morning that was real heavy but only went 13 5/8ths. He wasn’t able to keep the deer.
We saw our big buck Tuesday morning from the tower blind at 450 yards. Saw him again Wednesday night at 6 pm but the wind against the pop up made him bolt before we could get set up on him. So Thursday night he steps out at 180 yards. Shot was made. The deers arm tucked back like he was hit in the shoulder, and almost did the death plow into the brush. So we quickly went down looking for blood.. after about 100 yards, I found a spec of blood and called the main office to let them know we were tracking and would be late. Pitch black, we were 400 yards in the brush with no deer found, so we backed out and head to the station. I ask if we could come look in the morning but was declined that opportunity. Needless to say, we were sick to our stomachs.
If I’m being honest, I was not real impressed with the staff. Everyone of them didn’t seem very knowledgeable or they didn’t want to provide much help.. I had different expectations based on other posts. This was a numbers game to the staff and were really pushing to get in and get out.
In the end, we really had a good time. Lots of laughs, made a few friends, and really enjoyed ourselves. We’ll absolutely continue to apply but with lower expectations

A couple pics.





A couple legal bucks on cam that we passed on.