Won Aransas National Refuge Deer Tag!!!

[Metalman2004]

I've been a long time lurker here but haven't really had a real issue to post about until now. I've hunted whitetail in Sam Houston Forest for 4 years and have been successful 3 of the 4. I've been putting in for all of the draw hunts and I hit one this year! I got third (and final) season for whitetail in Aransas National Refuge in Texas. It is good for two deer either sex and unlimited hogs. Add in a potential buck and the antlerless tag I drew for Sam Houston and thats a good bit of potential meat in the freezer for the year.

We all know the draw is the easy part though and now its time to get to work on the hunt itself. The only problem is I can't find ANY info on this hunt except for the hunt brochure itself. I can't find maps from previous years. I can't find anecdotal stories from anyone hunting there. Nothing...

Hunters are required to accept their tag by Oct. 4 (which I've done), so I am sure more information will follow after that date. I guess my first question is has anyone here by chance drawn this tag before? If so let me know what you thought about it. Also, are there any sources of good information on this that I might have missed? At this point any information is appreciated!

 

[.270]

Congratulations on drawing the tag! I forgot to put in this year. I would check out the texasbowhunter forum, they seem to have some information about hunting the refuge. I know they cancelled the first archery hunt in their due to the damage from Hurricane Harvey, its real close to where it made landfall. I would check out the damage to the refuge and see how it could affect your hunt.

 

[wytex]

Yes , check out the Texasbowhunter forum. Someone will have some info for you.
Good luck!!

 

[Elkhunter24]

Congrats and Good luck!

 

[MT_elk]

Congrats! Looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

[Metalman2004]

Thanks I’ll check out texasbowhunter. I did see that the archery hunt got canceled so I’m pretty curious to see what the storm did to the animal population and the park in general.

I definitely look forward to telling the rest of the story!

 

[Metalman2004]

Well the hunt is exactly 2 months off so I have time, but its starting to worry me that I can't find any information on the hunt area or maps. I didn't get a reply to my email to the address on the hunt brochure. When I called the refuge a message plays saying Harvey knocked out their phones and to contact them via Facebook (I guess I need to get Facebook...). I did join Texasbowhunter on Thursday but my account still hasn't been approved so I can't ask questions there either. I'm sure they are working hard to put the pieces back together after the storm and I just need to be patient. I really want to get to analyzing those maps though!