Coleto Creek Park’s Annual Bowhunt Approaching

“These yearly hunts, begun in 1998, are utilized to help reduce the size of the deer herd that has continued to grow beyond the carrying capacity of the reservoir’s lands, and to reduce the numbers of feral hogs…”

SEGUIN– Rangers at the Coleto Creek Park and Reservoir are making plans for another successful bowhunting season.

The 19th Annual Bowhunt for white-tail deer and feral hogs will take place from Sept. 30, 2017 to the first weekend of January.

The deadline for submitting entries for this year’s GBRA – Coleto Creek Reservoir bowhunt is noon on Aug. 17, 2017.

The bowhunts are restricted to the use of archery equipment and will be held on 15 consecutive weekends beginning on the weekend of Sept. 30, 2017 and ending on the weekend of Jan. 5, 2018. On 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 on Friday of their hunting weekend, and continue through Sunday.

“These yearly hunts, begun in 1998, are utilized to help reduce the size of the deer herd that has continued to grow beyond the carrying capacity of the reservoir’s lands, and to reduce the numbers of feral hogs that continue to increase in numbers and damage reservoir property.

Each year the drawn hunters see a lot of deer,” said GBRA Reservoir Ranger, Curtis Seiler.

GBRA uses 1,500 acres in the bowhunting program and this acreage is divided into five unique hunting compartments that are managed by GBRA around the reservoir, but are not 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 two, four, six, eight, 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 per weekend will be $165 per hunter.

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 10); and preferred hunt date(s) and hunt compartment (for those that have hunted at Coleto before).

Please note that for this year’s drawing each hunting group may submit only one postcard for entry for their group. However, indicate on the postcard if the group would be interested in hunting more than one weekend. Last year’s entries were not enough to fill all open weekends therefore some hunt groups were able to hunt two separate weekends. 

Mail postcard entry to GBRA Bowhunt, Coleto Creek Park, P.O. Box 68, Fannin, TX 77960; or drop off your entry at the Coleto Creek Park office at 365 Coleto Park Rd, Victoria, TX. 

Email entries will not be accepted. Only those applicants drawn will be notified of the results of the annual draw.  For more information, contact Curtis Seiler, Reservoir Ranger, at the Coleto Creek Office at 361-575-6366, or email to coleto@gbra.org.

Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority’s Coleto Creek Park and Reservoir is located between Victoria and Goliad, TX off of Highway 59.

The GBRA was established by the Texas Legislature in 1933 as a water conservation and reclamation district. GBRA provides stewardship for the water resources in its 10-county statutory district, which begins near the headwaters of the Guadalupe and Blanco rivers, goes on to San Antonio Bay, and includes Kendall, Comal, Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Gonzales, DeWitt, Victoria, Calhoun, and Refugio counties.