Hunters who plan to participate in the 18th Annual Bow Hunt for white-tail deer and feral hogs at Coleto Creek Park and Reservoir must submit entries by noon Aug. 14, 2015.
The bow hunts are restricted to the use of archery equipment and will be held on 14 consecutive weekends beginning Oct. 3, 2015 and ending the first weekend of January 2016.
The first weekend of archery season, legal hunting is only allowed on Saturday and Sunday. For the remaining weekends, hunters selected by random drawing will be allowed to pre-scout and begin hunting assigned areas of their designated hunting weekend, each Friday through Sunday.
“Each year the drawn hunters see a lot of deer,” said GBRA Reservoir Ranger and Hunt Coordinator, Curtis Seiler. “These hunts, which began in 1999, are utilized to help reduce the size of the deer herd that has continued to grow beyond the carrying capacity of the reservoir land, and to reduce the growing number of feral hogs that continue to damage reservoir property.”
GBRA utilizes 1,500 acres in the bow-hunting program. This acreage is divided into five unique hunting compartments, which are managed by GBRA around the reservoir, but are not a part of the Coleto Creek Park. Hunters will be allowed to harvest two antlerless deer and an unlimited number of feral hogs. Hunters may apply for the hunts individually or as groups of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 per party. Each individual or group will be assigned a specific hunt area based on the size of their group and the order of draw. The fee to hunt is $150 per hunter, per weekend.
To enter the random drawing for the hunts, send a 3.5” X 5.5” postcard that includes a name, address, daytime phone number, email address, and names of those in the hunting party (maximum of ten), preferred hunt date(s), and hunt compartment (for those that have hunted at Coleto before). Each hunter may submit a postcard in his/her own name. Send entry to GBRA-Bow Hunt, Coleto Creek Park, P.O. Box 68, Fannin, TX 77960, or entries may be dropped off at the Coleto Creek Park Office 365 Coleto Park Rd, Victoria, located between Victoria and Goliad, off Highway 59.
Each individual is limited to one postcard entry. No email entries will be accepted. Only those applicants drawn will be notified of the results of the annual draw.
For more information, contact Seiler at the Coleto Creek Office at 361-575-6366, or email to
coleto@gbra.org.