I draw an archery permit for Aransas NWR for October 9 through 17. Did anyone else here draw? I've never hunted there and am looking forward to it.

I would like to take a trip down to scout some and I'm curious as to how the amount of rain we've received this year has the area looking.

I'm fully expecting snakes, gators, mosquitoes, thick brush, tall grass, etc.

Hope y'all have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend.

Hunted it last year, I recommend taking a tripod to get off the ground. The mosquitoes are no joke, I have been to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, duck hunting in rice fields, and none of these places compare to the mosquitoes on this place. For some reason the mosquitoes do not get you as bad if you are off the ground. I have an 8 ft aluminum tripod I built, and this was plenty high enough. I only saw hogs, and we didn't hunt very hard because the rest of the people I was with were sitting on the ground and the mosquitoes ate them alive. My dad and brother both saw the same 8 point buck, but passed on it because we saw the monster that was hit on the road outside the park on 35. There are good deer there. Listen to the park people, and look for the older guys who have been there a while and talk to them, they know where to hunt.

I hunted the last December hunt a few years ago. It was in the 40's in the morning, and the mosquitos were still bad in the afternoons. I can't imagine how rough it would be in October. Best of luck though! There's definitely deer in there, and it looks like you get first crack at them!

"The mosquitoes are no joke, . . . ), in fact they are very serious & determined.

Thanks everyone for the feedback and additional information.

I drew this hunt from Oct 9-17th as well, any tips on how to stay clear of the mosquitoes? Is there some kind of repellant yall would recommend?

Congrats! I'd say the taller your tripod the better so you can have a better view and hopefully more breeze. Cover as much of your body as you can stand. I know october is warmer, but I'd try and wear light gloves, a light buff/face mask, and a long-sleeve lightweight hooded shirt. I've had pretty good luck with thermocell, but it's not going to keep them all away that's for sure.

I just saw a Facebook post from the Refuge that there are 45 stand by permits available for this hunt. Unless they get a lot of folks driving in, you should have a lot of elbow room out there. Good luck

I hunted there last year (gun hunt). Tripods are helpful in the front areas, but if you don't have one there are some good areas further in (including a few powerlines that looked promising). Definitely get there early on the first scouting day, cause they let you mark off areas (non-binding, but a courtesy thing). The stated rule eas that you could mark off two areas, but late on the first scouting day, almost all the trails were marked up. And on the hunting days, there was no one in any of these areas. This makes me suspect that people just taped up everywhere they saw.

Definitely bring some powerful mosquito repellent. And bring alot of drinking water. If you see a pond, there will be aligators nearby, so keep your head up for those.

Good luck sir

Treat everything you wear with Permethrin, cover your exposed skin with Picaridin before you head out each day, and use a Thermocell. I did last year and not a single mosquito that dared come near me lived long enough to bite. Permethrin is amazing -- watch mosquitos land on your sleeve and die. It was an awesome hunt -- I took a nice buck and the backstraps off an 80+ pound sow, gave the rest of that pig to the nearest hunter who wanted the hind quarters. The closer you are to water, the more bugs, snakes, and gators there will be. Stay away from water -- seriously -- nearly all the decent isolated water holes have gators in them.
And yes, get there early if you have scouted satellite imagery and want to hunt a particular spot, as marking off is allowed. And anyone with half a brain respects the tape because if you walked past mine you walked into my shooting lane.