Anyone familiar with the youth hunt at the Hill Country SNA near Bandera? Any tricks or lessons learned to pass along? We were drawn for the "Gun Deer - Either Sex" permit. Really pumped... first time to be drawn for any of the TPWD hunts.

Brochure to the HCSNA:
Hill Country SNA Brochure

Hunt dates are Nov 21-23.

Wondering if I can also bring my 7 year old with us in the blind? Are the blinds big enough? OR can it only be the 2 of us?

I didn't realize this, but the permit says we can also kill exotics. Are there any exotics there? Which are most likely to be seen?

Are there feeders there? Can we bring corn to just throw out? What about prior to the hunt date/time? I realize there is probably not a feeder, but hoping to start dropping some corn in some shooting lanes at the very least.

TIA!

Look at the info on the drawn hunts for your hunt. you will be assigned a blind. baiting is allowed. it says exotic mammals are in limited numbers.

you will be assigned a location to hunt when you get there - so there isn't any point in trying to bait. it's 5,000 acres, 32 drawn hunters and 2 hunt dates - so you are looking at about 15 or so people hunting 5,000 acres. i'd probably bring a popup just in case as well.

you can call and ask if they allow scouting before hand. if they don't - i suggest looking at the map online - and then going to google earth and taking a really hard look at the areas that you think you would want to hunt.

have fun. great times with your kid.

there are some threads on texasbowhunter.com about past hunts there that should contain good info.

phorizt said:

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there are some threads on texasbowhunter.com about past hunts there that should contain good info.

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Was about to post this about bowhunter.

OP, If your 7 year old wasn't included on your original registration, you may consider contacting the WMA manager to ask if he or she can tag along.

phorizt said:

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there are some threads on texasbowhunter.com about past hunts there that should contain good info.

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Thanks for the idea.

So I found some old threads about it. Sounds like it used to be a compartment/no blind hunt and was very difficult, so the reviews were pretty bad. Recently they have changed to blind hunting and have been more positive, especially if you have one of the earlier hunts, which I think we do. There was also some people complaining a few years back about the weekend before their hunts there was some huge weekend long/24 hour trail run through the park, but that was in January/February.

I did see that only the 2 permit holders can be in the hunting area, but it sounds more vague for the youth hunts. I'll probably call and ask to see.

It sounds like they set up pop up blinds?

Thanks for the info so far!