Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Drew a tag for South Texas Chaparrel WMA after 18 yrs!!

Myself and two friends just found out we drew either sex WT tags for the coveted Chaparrel WMA in the golden triangle of South Texas!!

Been applying for this hunt for 18 yrs!!!! I'm 37 now, hard to believe we started applying for this hunt before we were old enough to buy beer!

South Texas has had massive rains this year too, so horn growth should be out of this world!

Bill

A close friend has been hunting that area for years and shot a beautiful lbuck last year. IF you need and info let me know and I can put ya'll in touch.
I just drove through Tilden last week and the place looks the best I can recall.
Good Luck!

Lucky dog!! Well maybe not if it took you 18 years. I drew in 2008 after 8 years of trying but didn't get a big one. You get to choose your section based on your number of preference points so be sure you know where you want to go with that many points. Also they didn't allow baiting with corn last year but protein pellets were okay. The deer don't really like protein pellets because they must be good for them(kind of like people in that respect). Believe it or not there was someone there with 24 points on our hunt. Here's some pictures to get you excited.


Here's David S. measuring a high dollar buck from a neighboring ranch.

DP4,

Is the choice by your number of PP's? I thought it was by the order of the draw, if your group was first to get drawn in the draw you got 1st pick, second got 2nd pick and so on.

I could be wrong, that is what another person who got drawn there a year or two ago told me.

Either way I'm happy!

Bill

On the GDE hunt they did it by preference points but on the GDM hunt I think they did it by the draw order. I wouldn't be surprised if they did it either way and don't be surprised if they allow you to bait or not(be prepared for either outcome so you don't have to drive back to town). Have a good trip. Chaparral is one of my favorite places to go but it's getting harder to go every year. They did away with the GDM hunt and cut the number of GDE licenses by 1/3 and gave the permits to the youth hunters. I may have to take up bowhunting just so I can go.

Good job Bill... I say that because it takes an amazing amount of presistance to draw those hunts... I work with a guy that's been putting in for a pronghorn hunt for twenty years with no joy... You'll do well...

NOOOOOO! No sense getting ridiculous.

I enjoy hunting the government lands when I get the chance.. expecially where the numbers are limited and you can spot and stalk hunt. reminds me of hunting the north woods near the canadian border with my dad when growing up in Minnesota. Good Luck.

Good luck on your hunt tx270. All of South Texas and Mexico is chest deep in grass. Should be some great horns but maybe hard hunting by the ususal methods. You're only 34 so it will be easy for you. Not so much for an old guy like me. This is the greenest I've ever seen South Texas in my adult life.

A big S. Texas Yeeeeeeeeeeha to ya tx270 and best of luck. Just down that way thru Tilden/Freer and close to Hebbronville. When we stopped at the Valero in Freer around 2 on Friday an 18 wheeler came thru the intersection and water was half way up his tires and it was raining like a cat peein on a flat rock. We got another 4-5" before we left under duress Sunday AM. I was cleaning a couple of white wings under the water coming off the roof line! We have had over 80" and headin towards 100" before year is out! Hell it will not be dry in time for your hunt if we get no dew tweenst now and then. Antlers and web feet should be outstanding if ya can coax em out of the brush! Good luck.

Way to go tx270. Should be an awesome time. What dates did you pull? Keep the snake boots handy!

Cool dude! You're gonna be busy this fall...grin...

tx270,
I got drawn for a doe hunt in the early 70's (it rained all weekend) and haven't been drawn since. I highly recommend you take a tripod stand to get above the brush a little. I have one I bought in New Braunfels years ago. The place where I bought is still in business and they're on the right side of IH35 if you're going south. You can't miss it. The swivel seat height is 7 or 8 ft. which is perfect for South Texas and they're real easy to carry by yourself. Just find a mesquite tree and put the stand back in it a little. The seat isn't very confortable so we always replace it with a boat seat. This year the guy that has been sending in our application forgot to send it in. I called him when I saw that you has been drawn. The guys that work at Chaparrel know where the big bucks hang out. Sometimes they'll give you a hint if you ask. There's some huge bucks there. Good Luck.

Victor

Should be a great hunt. I'm down in the area working right now, and have seen some monster bucks already this year, and they are still growing. Congrats, and good luck!!

Very cool, congrats, and good luck.

Victor +1 on those light little tripods for the great brush country of S. Texas. I have four of them and move them around as necessary. Works especially good during the rut when you spot some action in a particular area.

Be prepared to find game trails and sit them and move as much as needed... I know of more than a few folks that never shot squat there and more than few that shot what I wouldn't think of shooting...

All I"m saying is don't expect em to be around every corner begging to be shot... and public land takes a lot of pressure even if its only weekend type hunts....

At the least I'd have a stash of GOOD doe pee handy... wtf... buy 100 bucks of the stuff if needed... it took you this long to have a shot at it...

I have access to (2) ranches that border the WMA, one on the backside by the river and another along the border at the corner of the road just past it on the road to Catarina. Right now you can't even pay deer to eat corn or protein pellets in that part of the world everything is so green from the tropical storm that blew threw. Which I just point out the corn/pellets meaning it's pretty damn thick down there right now and food is everywhere.

You might have to watch some trails in some pretty thick stuff.

I would take a tripod, but I wouldn't put it right in the middle of the road like a lot of people are fond of doing. The deer down there aren't stupid. Stick it in the thick brush off to the side of the road/sendaro or whatever other clearing you have in the compartment you are assigned so that you can see over into it. If you don't have a tripod a good ground blind is worth investing in, barring that take some heavy duty string/bailing twine and a piece of burlap and a stool, this can be really effective if you sit in the brush and wallow out an area and look down a clearing - plus it's super cheap and ultra portable even in the middle of the day.

I have worked some WMA hunts in the past and I can't tell you the number of people that literally will put up a tripod/ground blind or sit on their 4 wheeler/atv in the middle of the area they are supposed to be watching for deer.

Just to get you pumped, on the ranch right next door a number of years ago they shot a 173" typical 10 point.....that was 3.5 years of age. Talk about a letdown lol.

I've got some pictures from a friend of mine's lease right across the reservoir in Mexico that I will try to post. Last season it was dusty desert. Now it's chest high grass.

Yup, can't even tell there was a fire that burned up most of the WMA two years ago.