Looking for info on where to eat, and what's happening since I'm hunting a GDM Lottery Hunt 12/15 thru the 17th at Lake Mineral Wells SP.
Sure would like any info possible from previous hunters on the more successful blinds to ask for, the possibility of hogs available, and any other insight on the SP or things to look for.
From previous SP Lottery Hunts experiences, I don't expect any long'ish +200 yard shots, so I'll prolly take the Tikka Swede Hunter Grade with the Tikka 270 SS/syn as a wet weather backup, and if'n I hear about possibility of better sized hogs just for funsies I'll haul out the big mouth CZ Mauser 9.3x62 to do the honors with.
The Hunter's Guide makes no mention of corn or other baiting allowed, does anybody know anything concerning baiting or who will be the TP&W biologist running the Hunt?
Ron

How do you enter a lottery like this one? I have always wanted to do that. You gotta stop by Woodys Hamburgers in Mineral Wells. I stop every time I go thru. Deffinately a dive, and an experience.

The lottery is called a "drawn hunt" you have to apply in the summer, info is on the TPWD website.

Wiley I wish I could help, I have applied out there for a couple years now but haven't lucked out and got drawn yet.

I don't know anything about it, but will be there with my dad and brother. Best thing to do is call the area the day before and they can tell ya everything you want to know. Most of these hunts will allow corn.
See ya there!!

Certified Corn is allowed.
Take your pop up and chair along.
There blinds and 5gal bucket are not very good.
They will assign you blinds at the ori meeting. I would tell them you have 100 lbs of corn to put out and you want to stay in the same blind both days. This should help bring and keep some deer in your area.

We eat, cooked, and stay in the screened shelter on the state park property. You might want to take some tarps to block wind out of shelters if you stay in park. You can go out the locked back gate to get to hunt headquarters (park maintenance headquarters) which is on the the old Mineral Wells Helo base. I have been on these hunts 2 times in many yaers. Never saw any hogs harvested. Deer Numbers were great and body size was fair to good. Depending on blind, shots can be 25yard to some open country shoots. We (party of 4) came back with 4 deer on both hunts GDE so they are there. Good luck Ron. James

Welcome Britton, Look at this thread. You can call TPWD and get on mailing list to recieve book next year.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...S_AN#Post348583

I don't know anything about the lottery hunt but I can tell you that the area has a heavy deer population. Fort Wolters Base that is situated West of the park is within the city limits and is not hunted. I have seen some really nice bucks in the area. There are 2 new motels just West of the State Park on Hwy. 180. Jimmy's Cafe on SE 25th Ave. has great breakfast. Dairy Mart at SE 6th Ave. and 180 has the best hamburgers and the taco salad is really good too.

Good Luck!

Not sure whether our blind and hunting area were on the MWSP or Fort Wolter base. I could see the prison light, and hear the people talking on the prison grounds so we were pretty close to Fort Wolters HQ. Some of the blinds were up and down and old paved road to the east of Gun range.

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry for the slow comeback but I've been out of pocket for a couple days.
Talked to sumbody at the SP's ph # shortly after I made the OP. He confirmed: plenty of deer, they did their own feeding, be sure to bring comfortable seating, gave the impression the "blinds" were brushed wire mesh ground blinds instead of the wooden box blinds on 2' legs I've seen elsewhere at several WMA/SP's, 10 blinds total that are assigned by a straw lottery, some blinds are on a hillside and some on a flat with typical cedar & oak mottes & most if not all shots available are well under 100 yards ( looks like I'm a gonna leave the 300Wmg cross canyon special at home LOL!), hogs are not being seen anywhere, SP surrounded on 3 sides by Ft Wolters that is being used by the Nat'l guard for live fire training operations and the critters are not spooked easily by local human activity & hunt area at back of property well away from main park area. The staff guy stressed DO NOT shoot nuthin but deer ...including the plentiful 'yotes, bobcats and for sure not the mountain lion who has a litter of cubs to feed, hunters are to be driven to the blinds by staff which means prolly not gonna be easy to access your vehicle midday. All field dressing to be done at blind location so the 'yotes can do KP duty, but there is a skinning pole at the Check Station - strongly advised against leaving dressed deer overnite on the Skinning Pole unless you wanted to feed the spit kitties with your fresh meat.
I talked to an old friend this afternoon, some of you guys may remember Crazy Horse. Randal sez he killed a pair of does last week that had come in to a feeder he had just finished fixin' an hour earlier, summ'ers in Parker County I think it was, 'tween his place in Azle & mebbe just north of Weatherford...anyway the mature does weighed 98 & 104 lbs live weight before he hit them with the knife.
I am staying in MW at the Budget Host Inn on Hwy 180 Tuesday & Wednesday nites & will be driving a tan 2000 Chevy LT ext cab 4x2 with a couple large white marine grade coolers in the bed and a fresh dent in the tailgate from a %$#@! tree that was hidden in my blind spot last week... so look for a short fat grumpy looking OLD fart by himself. See Ya'll Next Week
Ron

NO coyotes or varmits allowed?

The Mesquite Pit in Mineral Wells is good!

The Mesquite Pit is good, but if its BBQ you are looking for...Try the Hash Knife at 254 and 281, North of Mineral Wells in Pedenville. The best pork ribs I have ever tasted.

Woody's is really good and its right down the road from where you are hunting.
Bring some rattling horns.
Good luck!!!

Nope, not according to the young man I spoke to on the phone.

OBTW I plan to be a tad early for Hunter Check In. I also like to bring a pad & pen for any notes or phone #'s that seem to be important. There should be a handout set of Do's & Don'ts gone over at Hunter Orientation, and thats the place to bring up any questions or concerns.

I've been able to draw a Lottery Hunt several times in the past 10 years I've been Drawn, and while the basic Rules are always the same, there seems to be a different presentation at every different location tailored to each location.

Sometimes the Biologists will have some last minute input on what they want done, or animals to watch for, to yes/no target specifically.

EX:Guadalupe River SP is overun with hogs bigtime bad and they are always desperate to hammer any and ALL porkers ...and they always want every last non native four footed critter put down regardless of age/gender or bloodline ... including the local Red Stag exotic escapee's before they got another breeding population established in the Park .... but there was no mention of any exotics by the guy I talked to at MW's SP and he downplayed any chances on getting a hog....sez he thinks they ain't there 'cause he's not seeing any damage anywhere.

Last time I hunted a Lottery Hunt, in '05 I got drawn 3 times that year before I got too involved with all my medical crap to hunt, and at Keechi Creek WMA, SEast of Buffalo & James Daughtrey WMA at Choke Canyon Lake I saw dozens of football field sized rooted out patches and the "word" in both places was take any humane shot offered and put 'em ALL down if possible. Good Huntin' everbody.
Ron

We just got back from camping there yesterday. You could get away with a knife while hunting there. The deer were everywhere and they just walked up to us.

They did set up a ground blind up along the primative camping trail and it could easily shoot 200+ yards. Most of the other shots would be 100 max.

Got back last nite from the GDM Hunt, tired but still "wired" and had to post a followup about the experience after catching up on the shuteye, as this was my first time in the Park. And like Arnold sez..." I'll be back " for sure ... some way some how.

IMO, MWSP is a 1st class operation and the Hunt was run like a slick and smooth Swiss watch. TP&W could & should take note of the outstanding job Jeff Williams & Robert Spencer and every last staff member encountered have done in a very unique location with very challenging potential problems, about as far as can be imagined from the usual TP&W SP issues I've discussed with other park managers.

The Park is surrounded on 3 sides by FT Wolters, where live fire National Guard training regularly takes place, and is also partially inside the city limits of Mineral Wells. The Hunt Headquarters is across the street from a prison and accessed thru the prison road system...and can give you a funny feeling about driving in with a back seat full of guns...past the guards looking at you... with guns at the ready.

9 hunters showed up out of the 10 Permits allocated, and 9 hunters scored, about half with 2 deer each...which is far and away better success averages than anywhere else I have seen in the system. This speaks to the planning, effort and execution of Staff to take best advantage of the limited resources available. This is NOT a Hunt for someone who wants a hard core tough experience, but as the majority of our group at plus 55-60 years old and included a married couple in their 80's from Amarillo proved, this Hunt is ideal for a father-son/daughter introduction to hunting. OBTW the really Old Folks from Amarillo scored 3 deer & all with 100+ yard shots!

As noted this was a GDM Hunt, under Parker County Antler Restrictions & TP&W Management Rules that was limited to a 4 point max on the allowable Buck. I hunted a recently acquired pasture initially and had access to shots up to about 250+ yards. I moved halfway thru the Hunt to another blind whose assigned Hunter had already limited by Noon of the 2nd Day, when the traffic was slower than anticipated at my original blind assignment. Blind assignment is by a drawing at Hunter Orientation.

The "hot" blind allowed me to limit also, with a mature 2 1/2 year old Spike that had 8 1/2" & 9 1/4" smooth unbranched antlers & a nice 3 1/2 year old doe. At the "hot" blind I had a small herd of 9 deer on the 3rd Hunt session, including 6 bucks that were outside of the AR restrictions - too many points, in front of me that I took the Spike out of, and Doe came on the last morning by herself mid morning....after I had watched a nice 7 pt, too narrow for AR, buck for almost an hour. But the original blind gave me a long look at a beautiful 17-18" wide 8 pt that was really hard to watch walk off. Lots of untouchable turkey all around too.
Missed Sqiggly, but talked to his brother...and it may have been Sqiggly's blind I hunted out of Wed afternoon & Thursday morning as he also limited and left early.

Mineral Wells State Park...what a neat place, well run by very professional friendly folks who aim to please. For a beginner, a novice hunter, an old beat up hunter with stiff limbs & left over medical issues like me, or just a laid back easy hunt it doan't get any better than this...and was the very best TP&W Hunt experience of the 7 I've been on so far.
Ron

I was the one who came in late. Yall were about half way thru the orientation when I slipped in. I hunted stand #6, my brother hunted #7 and my dad hunted #4. My brother tagged out. Dad shot a nubbin buck and missed a doe. I shot a big doe on Wed morning. On the first evening, I thought I had a shooter 4 pt in front of me but only to find he had a brow tine that was about one inch long. So, not to take any chances, I let him walk. He was with a 8 pt. Next morning, all I saw was 8 long beards. As I was gettin ready for the 10 am pickup, 3 slick heads walk out at 10:05. At 10:15, I drop the bigger of the 3 in her tracks. At 10:18, the truck arrives. I went back out that evening and fell asleep. I woke up with a deer out in front, but couldn't tell if it was a yearling buck or doe. Since it was still early and it was this years fawn, I let it walk. The 5 pt and 8 pt came in later and that was it. I had to leave after that to be back at work on Thur. I believe everybody killed at least 1 deer on that hunt.

Had to reply to my inquiry earlier about food available in Mineral Wells.
Yup ate at Jimmy's...but for lunch and had a killer CFS... wish'd I'd eaten there every day for lunch!
Did a sit down Breakfast everyday at the 24 hour Whataburger..at 4:30AM, and got great service. Did Garcia's for dinner one nite - across the parking lot from Jimmy's - and discovered everything was fresh made on site.

And everything is 10 minutes or less from the Hunt Headquarters!
Ron

Sounds like you had a great time!

I started out in blind 3, which is kinda off by it self with lots of wide open space in front of it - passed on a big doe at 150-175 yards on the first afternoon trying to profile a buck that wandered around forever & just could not make him as a legal shooter or not since he either was a ragged 4 pt or had 7 legal pt's with all the knobs and bumps, the old fellow down from me about 500 yards in #2 missed twice or three times with what he thought was a scope problem at 60-70 yards, then moved to #5? the last morning and scored on a doe up real close when he finally changed rifles.
I finished out in #8 with the Spike taken at about 125-130 yards back in the tall weeds in front of the tree line off the disc'ed area when the herd kept blocking a clean shot milling around feeding, and got the doe at about 95-100 yards as she was leaving at 10am Thursday morning - just got her field dressed when the truck came for meat 10:30! The old couple from Amarillo were in #9 the last morning and had deer all over them...and only a small spike was a legal shooter. All the blinds along that horse trail seem to be catching the tons of traffic...but I don't think there is really a bad blind on the place.
Ron

There are tons of deer around the SP there as you saw first hand. Congrats on your filled tags.

Glad you had a good time Ron. Sure makes it nice being close to the metromess.

Great hunt guys. We camped and climbed there several times in the 80's/early 90's with the scouts and never saw any deer or wildlife but people were all over the place.