I am headed out there this Saturday to do a bit of scouting for my first deer hunting trip. Anyone have any suggestions as far as which compartments to check out? I'm not looking for anyone to give up their hard-earned spots, but any tips would be greatly appreciated. I have heard good things about the compartments west of Coffee Mill lake, but I am also looking at compartment 22.

How was the scouting trip? Anyone have any insight on how this place is opening gun weekend?

Also, anyone have any better locations than others on the area (13k acre one) that they don't mind sharing...

I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked, but it is definitely some nice terrain. I guess west of the lake would be easiest to get into, but compartment 22 might give you some solitude. I didn't venture too far back into 22, but I want to look for better access points. I might head out there again before November.

I am a first time deer hunter, so I can't give you much in terms of sign that I saw, because I don't know a good spot from a bad one just yet. I can tell you that from everything I have heard and read, it will be mobbed on opening weekend. I will probably skip that weekend.

Went out yesterday and scouted Ladonia on South side of 34.
Not much activity in regards to bowhunters.
Noticed 2-3 fresh rubs, and some old scrapes.
Kicked up a bachelor heard of five bucks around 11:30 a.m.

Moved across 34 to the North side and looked at Units 42 & 44.
There was one person hunting ( white Honda Civic) and that was it.

First time in the area and it seemed fairly open with a couple decent pockets of oak bottoms. Although the majority of the area appeared to be extremely open (which if the posts are correct about gun season, could be hell on wheels).

Anybody planning on hunting this area for gun season ?...

I plan on hitting Bois d Arc, not Ladonia. I think there is more cover there, but I didn't check out Ladonia so I'm not positive.

I'm glad you saw a civic - it makes me feel better to know that I will not be the only one hunting without a truck!

Been hunting both the south and the north 6 yrs. there are good bucks at both but the south has produced the biggest, you may see less deer but the deer you do see are shooters, the north unit opening day be prepared to stay in the woods all day the place gets pretty packed but if you scout you can do pretty good, you will see deer that's for sure never hunted and not seen at least 2 a day in the north unit, the south on the other hand is pretty tough hunting even to bag a Doe. I'm not going to name units because I've put a lot of time and effort to find my honey holes, but between the lakes is a good start. You want an idea of the deer and areas talk to the rangers that work there great guys, and see when they do a spotlight survey and tag along you might be surprised with what you see.

Thanks duckslayer - that is pretty helpful and I had heard from others that between the lakes is a good start.

Tagging along on a survey would be awesome I didn't even think of that.

10-4 on the spotlight survey.
Great Idea Duckslayer.
Never thought to ask.
If you have some contacts and don't mind sharing, feel free to PM me or I'll try and look them up.

PS. Newtexan..I'm driving a 2012 Lincoln MKS so no worries on the "truck" thing, although the rain will definitely put a damper on some of the roads.

I'll likely run up again this weekend to do some add'l scouting. It's either Ladonia or Davy Crockett.
Been hunting DCNF for well over 20 yrs.
Decided to try Ladonia / Bois D' Arc for a change.

Thanks for all the additional info guys... Hope it'll be a great season up there.

Do you need a special permit to shoot doe? also wondering if you can hunt both the North (16k acres) and South (2700 acres)? I am new to public hunting and trying to figure it all out, not sure if i will go up there or not, just trying to get the facts before i go.

and also, where are you guys getting the "compartment" numbers? i must be missing a map or something!

any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks

No permit but you can only shoot a Doe opening weekend and thanksgiving weekend, you can hunt both areas with a type 2, you can hunt the Decatur grasslands with no permit but it's bow only. The compartment numbers are located at the area headquarters or are located on the gates where you enter, hope no one gets upset naming unit numbers but 22,9,11,7,13 are good areas. Wish everyone good luck this year that hunt there I'll be there stop by the coffee mill lake camping area that's where I'll be cost $4 a night but have water, pads, bathrooms and picnic tables. But if you plan on camping in a paid site you better get there couple days before

so other than opening and thanksgiving weekend, you can shoot the normal bag limit for that county? im guessing a 7mag or 270 falls in category of type 2 weapon? i wish i was more into bow hunting, heard lbj is a sweet place to go. maybe next year


sorry for all the questions, just dont want to get in trouble by tpw for doing something wrong and they are hard to get in touch with, so im just going by what i read on their web.

Correct you can shoot does opening weekend and thanksgiving to take place of doe tags anytime other than these dates regular county guidelines apply, you may use any caliber of choice as long as its within the guidelines within the states restrictions, the area is nice you got a good chance shooting a deer.

If you bow hunt then you need to check out Lake Fannin, its archery only but a lot of deer

Deerslayer I just saw your question. If you haven't found the map yet, here is the link:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/wma/images/boisdarc.pdf

duckslayer, is there any info on the web about the paid camp sites? How are the other camp sites on the property? Purely primitive I'd assume.

I can tell you the camp sites with Electricity and such fill up pretty quickly. Plan on getting there Thursday or early on Friday if you want one of them as the best spots go quickly. Also some of the primitive areas can also fill up fast on Friday afternoon.

So anyone do any good out there? Hunted both 9 and 24 Saturday early and late and saw nothing... camped out which was nice, but decided to hold off on a hunt this am...

hunted from 5:30am til 5:30pm opening day in unit 22, saw 1 doe and 35 or so hogs. very very slow day. only saw 1 deer hanging when i got back to camp that night. took off early today, didn't bother making the hike in the wet to the blind.

How long has Decatur grasslands been bow only?
We hunted there 3 yes ago and we could use a shotgun then

I think you can still use shotguns on LBJ... its buck only without a antler-less permit...

Well I couldn't make it up there opening day but from what I heard it was very slow think the heat could have been the problem, man you should have busted them hogs, my buddy said 5 deer were checked opening weekend that he knew of vs. 10-15 last year so yes very slow, anyone heading up there soon let me know I'm going to try for early next week. And Michael was referring to rifle hunting sorry I do believe your correct shotguns can be used.

I will be going tue. or wed camping in the primative area if you see a blue ford duslly crew cab stop in and visit I usually have coffee ready

Yeah... the warm weather and the nearly full moon... neither of those could of helped matters... the deer were likely 100% nocturnal this weekend...