My son just drew the youth doe/spike hunt for October 28-29 for Gus engeling. It’s a three hour drive for us. Tpwd says there’s a low deer density and low success rate. Should I accept or decline the hunt.

Following this thread for input from others. I drew the GDE tag and am thinking about passing on it, as well, due to low success rate and swapping dates with Youth this season.

Go to Google Images, Type in "gus engeling deer hunt success". If I used my GDE points to draw that hunt, I would sure as heck go for the chance to take deer like some of those.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/btth/images/wtb-2022-kasey-mock-family.jpg

This is where my son killed his first 2 deer. I would go. Can’t kill one sitting at home. We saw a lot of deer but then again, that was about 18 years ago. Find the food, you’ll find the deer.

I would accept. There is a chance for a heck of a trophy there, but hunting is hard as the deer are super smart. My son was drawn years ago and although he was not successful, we had a great time. Take a set of rattling horns and set up in the thicker areas and rattle. We had several bucks come to the horns in the late morning. One was a shooter, but he came in on my side and my son couldn't get a shot. The WMA employee told us where to set up in the thicker brush when he took escorted us to the compartment. There were a lot of rubs in the area where he directed us to. Baiting didn't help much as there were a lot of acorns on the ground when we hunted.

Please don't accept it because I'm pending second draw for that hunt.

Wow….put in for Gus, draw and and pass on it?

For a spike/doe hunt I could maybe see that…but then why even apply?
But to pass that place on a GDE ? Man…

I would not pass up the youth GDE at the Gus. It’s not an easy hunt but you never know what is going to show up. This is one my nephew killed two years ago on the youth hunt.

For me it's not all about the hunting or harvesting an animal. It's about the experience and if you are taking your kid then I can't think of a better way to spend time with them than outdoors.

Which units did you guys hunt? Do you know which units are the best or better than other units? I'm going in a few weeks and I heard that we get to pick our units. PM me if you want. And does anyone have a map of this place?

Check out Gus over on TBH. Lots of info on this place there.

I would go…

Its got a lot of spikes and does. Some really nice bucks but off limits for this hunt. They have some quadpods stands in just about every section. Makes it nice for such a short hunt.

exactly!!!