In a month I’ll be hunting this place. I was curious what other people’s experiences were here? I actually grew up hunting on a lease across the river from it, so I’m fairly familiar with it already. Of course I’d be interested in getting on some Auodad.

Send me a PM and I'll send you pictures

The deer are all over the place once it gets dark. Be careful you don't hit one driving from the compartment to your camp each night. The rangers called it "Deer Derby" and it was true. There are also caves that open straight up from the ground and can be fallen into so watch where you step. I hunted this in 2015 and the way it worked is there were about thirty hunters divided into groups of three or four and then given an area. We worked it among ourselves then to decide where we would set up and or stalk. The best advice is to find an elevated spot that has intersecting trails below and sit for the longest that you can. I myself moved around a lot and checked out Gorman Falls. The place is huge and so are the compartments that are split up.

I'll be there with my group as well! Goodluck jmh004. We will be camping and l'll be in an 05 White Chevy Silverado 2500. Holler if you need anything

How did you do out there?

So here’s my personal experience on the hunt. Came home with a spike and the back straps of some hogs, so can’t complain there. I grew up hunting right across the river from that place. That being said, it was a tougher hunt than I thought going in. Mainly because how thick that place is. Finding a little clearing you can watch was difficult.

First afternoon was interesting. The sweet horse feed they told us to bring was a pure magnet for hogs. Go figure. I put the feed out, and within 5 minutes of sitting in the blind, a hog came straight in. I let him walk. Didn’t see anything until right before dark. Group of hogs came in.

Next morning I sat in the same spot. I saw a good 11 point buck, but he was not on the menu. I decided I wanted to hunt another place.

I walk around the area I was allowed to, and came to a rough looking area. Of course this is where I see the axis and Aoudad. I sat and watched them for awhile. The aoudad were good looking rams. There was a shot opportunity there, but I didn’t think I could get the animal back to my truck. At orientation, we were told to bring back the animal. Knowing this, and hunting by myself, I let them walk. That afternoon I told the park ranger what I saw. He said I could have just cut the head off of it! I chuckled and said too late now.

That afternoon I found a spot to settle into. A spike showed and I took him early. Later a group of hogs came in and I took 2.

I heard it was pretty tough hunting. When I turned my spike in, that was only the 4th deer out of 16 hunters more than half way through the hunt. I was in a good area. If I had been more aggressive about filling my tags whitetail wise, I think I could have. After I shot my spike, 4-5 doe came into my set up, but we’re out of the wrong window, and spooked before coming into the shooting lane.

Overall, I’d call it a good hunt. Seeing whitetail, axis, and aoudad on the same hunt is all you can ask for. If I was not by my self, there could have been a real shot at a good Aoudad.

Sounds like a great hunt, congrats

We went for youth hunt last yr. Our compartment was so thick with cedar we couldn’t find a spot with more than a 25 yd by 10 yd opening. Didn’t see much but my son did kill a hog.

That's a nice hunt. I didn't even know about this place.
My great-great grandfather was ambushed and murdered somewhere along in here on a trip from Burnet to San Saba in August of 1855. He and a feller named Logan Vandeveer were partners in the first commercial store in Burnet, built the year before.
I'll put this park on my list of places to see in Texas!

There’s a few great hikes , one with a beauty of a waterfall

Pretty sure I’ve heard that story about that ambush growing up. Pretty famous around that area.

Jmh, the family lore is that it was made to look like Comanches did it. We'll never know. But I am more certain about the part of the story that the brothers of Masonic Lodge #175 in Burnet -- which to this day owns the store on the corner of Main and League -- took care of my GG grandmother, who was with child. He was born Champion Travis Traylor Jr. on Christmas Eve of 1855. God bless that lodge!
Sure would be something to hike, or better, hunt that park land someday and have some of your luck.
By the way, the rest of the story is that GGGF Traylor's partner Logan Vandeveer, badly wounded at San Jacinto, had lost the beef contract at Fort Croghan and with brothers and friends decided to drive their cattle to Louisiana to sell. He and others in his party died in early September of yellow fever in Plaquemines Parish. Both partners in that Burnet store were dead within weeks of each other.

So was it actual Comanche, or something else? The story I heard was always Comanche.

Jmh, I don't think the question was ever settled as to whether it was Comanches or just low-down bushwhackers. If I am ever in Burnet when the library is open, I hope to see if there is any mention of the incident in print. Where did you hear the story?

It was just word of mouth that I heard it. Legend more than anything else.