Private Lands Draw Completed

As usual, Pending 2nd Draw!!

Kids struck out on the youth either sex hunts

Both youth and private lands pending second draw, for me.

i have the same on youth either sex hunts....pending second draw. I guess that means that there is going to be a second draw? or that they're not sure yet if there will be?

Second draw is dependent on people accepting or passing on drawn hunts. If someone does not purchase the permit in 10 days it goes back to second draw. I feel as though the youth hunts generally don't go back since it does not cost money to get the permit, so people can accept them without any repercussion if they don't go.

My son drew the Guadalupe River SP either sex hunt. Curious if anyone has been on that one and can tell me anything about the potential there. Good Bucks? Likelihood of finding an Axis or other exotic? I'll be calling the park as well but did not know if anyone has hunted out there.

Thanks for the information. i sorta wondered about that too since there's no cost on the youth hunts. The drawing i put my sons in for is during the week, so possibly there will be some dropout. i'll probably check with the WMA approaching the hunt dates about standbys and see what they say.

Are only certain applications drawn for 2nd draw (everyone's not automatically entered for 2nd draw)? some of today's draws I got a "not selected" already and other's pending 2nd draw?

It's been a long time, 15-20 years or so since I hunted Guad River, but back in the day I drew it several times over a 7-8 year span, and put in for again this year. In answer to your ??'s Yes it is someplace that you can see & score on WT's & hogs of both sex's and mebbe see & score on a variety of exotics...at least you could before the Bauer Unit on the north side of the river came on line. I never hunted the west property line but it would be high on my list of Go To Place's especially up north close to the river. I mostly was assigned the east side, from the North East corner of the property in sight & smelling distance from the Water & sewer Works , down the east fence line to within sight of the Park's entry check in station. Do your self a favor and camp on the property and go down there a couple days early if possible to explore. Back in my day, the public had total access up until the day before the shooting started. Another place I liked was down south around the horse tie out area with it's watering station, and is the best place to clean your critter with it's drinking water access. Best place to hunt IMO was on the East property line where there were some steep uphill areas & short tower stands just south of the Childrens Learning Area where there was a planted teaching project that the critters just loved to eat on, or around the concrete table's picnic area buried in the hyper thick brush couple 100 yards east of the main N/S road & heavily brushed ground blinds. I got "busted" there at under 50 feet couple times and would have rather had a 10' tower to get above the brush, with critters running hiking trail & shot's at under 50 yards. If you can go early you can find all these thing's. Oh ... go Online and pull up an aerial overhead and print it off to get a better feel of the Park. It won't show elevations but it will show access roads and trails, Best of Luck....and BE EARLY FOR THE HUNTERS MEETING...
Ron

Thanks! The youth hunt is assigned blinds, so not sure how much good prescouting is, but ill take what you note into consideration. Chatted with the ranger, he said they lost 40% of the Axis this winter, but had a good group of fawns and the heard is already coming back up.

One last thing comes to mind from the "old days"...and why you want to scout before the Hunt starts. Back then when a Hunter had scored enough for his satisfaction etc , his assigned blind usually was offered to another hunter if they had advised the Hunt Master that they were open to moving to another blind. One of the guys my partner had struck up a conversation with had scored more than a couple does up in an area on the northwest corner of the park and was offered the blind by the Hunt Manager when the 1st guy pulled out with all of his cooler's full on the 1st day.

On the 1st years Hunt I had been assigned to a tripod within sight & due east of the drive thru Checkin Station & about 150 yards away from the Park Manager's living quarters. On the evening of Day 1 I advised the Hunt Master that as much "fun" as I had had listening to the PM's children playing most of the day in his front yard, I really had had more fun with watching the PM's BIG beautiful black & white tom cat try to climb up my ladder all day, had thought the tomcat might make a wonderful wall mount, as the cat had spooked a couple of the WT grazer's from my bait. I got moved PDQ for the next days hunt and scored a WT doe the next morning then spooked a small sounder of hogs trying to move the rifle around the small box blind to get them in the scope. The next year I had gotten picked again ....Hmmm??? ....and the PM & family had moved into new quarters north of the water plant....funny how that happened ...and I scored a WT doe & a yearling Axis buck before noon from a blind south of the water plant on the 1st day, which was the best game meat I ever ate. Make Friends In High Places as you never know when you'll need them or know what they can do for you. I sent the PM a Christmas Card thanking him for a great trip. He was a really nice guy. Best of luck and have fun.
Ron

Drew on The Nature Conservatory in Bandera for the antlerless hunt, anybody ever hunt this one before? It looks like assigned blinds and had 100 percent success last year. As for Guadalupe, I hunted it a few years back on the last hunt of the year. It was pretty rough, they didn't require you to remove the hogs you killed and the stand I was assigned had quite a few dead hogs piled up around it. The stands closer to the river were racking in the axis and whitetail, hope this helps someone.