Drew the December Neches River NWR - Dead Water Unit buck only hunt.
Looking back I’m not entirely sure why I applied for this hunt. But what they hey, first draw in Texas.
Anybody hunted this one. Looks like thick River bottom forest. Not a tree stand guy, so going to do a little more looking into it before I pay for my tag. Have a busy season already. May not make it over there.
I spent a day there recently as my hog hunting place we call "The Pig Farm" is not too far from there.
https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/8342531 I have two leases I can deer hunt on, so I did not put in for the deer hunt. I was disappointed I did not draw one of the squirrel hunts though. Lots of forest. Not overly overgrown. Trails and closed roads throughout that are easy to navigate. In fact I got the feeling that is going to be the main purpose or use by the public for this NWR. The only way to get to the river within the refuge is at least a one or two mile hike, but it's an easy hike. I think the dead water is the north area were I was. It is a relatively new NWR therefore there is still a lot of land designated for it that has not been acquired yet and most of it is not open to vehicle access. I think this is the first drawn hunt there so there may or may not be some legal bucks on the place, but I am leaning to the may be more than may not. I did see a few does during my flooded water paddle deeper into the dead water unit that day. It's a long way coming from Midland and East Texas hunting is always tough, but if your wanting the East Texas hunting experience, this would be a good one. Most East Texas hunting is tough all around compared to west and central texas and done more for the experience IMHO, but I do enjoy it myself now and then to change things up. I see this one is not taking standby spots so like many east texas draws I suspect there will be a few that don't show, so you would likely have a very low pressure hunt. If you do go, be sure to bring more Tequila.