I just got back into small game hunting after about a 10yr sabbatical, and a coworker talked me into heading out to the grasslands for a go. Heres some of the things I figured out for anyone else thinking about headed to either place..

First of all, I suggest you begin your planning by getting the NPS map. One side has LBJ and  the other has Caddo. They are much more detailed than the Caddo map in the APH booklet. I got my at a map store in N Dallas, but they can be ordered online. When I first spread out the map looking for potential LBJ sites to try, there were just so many sections I had no idea where to go.

The best way to do initial scouting is Google Earth. Google has sections that are low res pics and some that are high res. Fotunately, most of LBJ is in high res. Caddo is low res, but since it is almost entirely a dense oak forest (called a grassland) its not as important. I suggest you scout out sections that look like they might have cover for what you are looking for via computer...it will help you narrow down where to start if youre going cold turkey like I did. I printed out pics on a printer, took a pen to help draw out boundaries, and they became invaluable refrences when I first went out.

I went out looking for squirrels and rabbits on my few trips to LBJ. I never saw any rabbits, but I did see squirrels, a few turkeys and lots of deer tracks. I have a friend that goes duck hunting jump shooting off of ponds and he always seems to do well. I've heard more sucessful stories of deer harvest from LBJ than Caddo, but Ive not done the deer thing at either place. Ive not been to LBJ much beyond scouting because it is shotgun only and I like to shoot 22s.

I have been to Caddo about a dozen times over the past year, pretty much exclusively for tree rats. Caddo is dense woods pretty much everywhere. Ive not seen much sign of deer there, though last year I think I did jump one...heard running but didnt see what it was. Last year I did see a couple of hog wallows in the mud next to the lake....it was really low last year. The woods are thick over most of the areas. Trying to get through quietly, though, is almost impossible. The woods are inches thick with dry leaves everywhere. I do most of my squirrel hunting north of 409 and west of the entrance to Coffee Mill lake. If youre attentive, you can see an opening in the trees going north from the fence....that is a trail that will take you back to a creek maybe 1/2 mile up. The trees in that creek bottom are huge and tree rats are always back there. There are also others scattered throughout the whole area, so the creekbottoms arent your only option, but they seem to be more concentrated there.

If you are into pine forests, there are thick pines around the 409/ FM100 intersection on the northeast side of Caddo.

I dont hunt ducks but most of the time it sounds like Vietnam right around sunrise. Game warden that checked me last week said ducks roost on Coffee Mill lake at night and head out to surrounding fields in the day.

I have walked other places during the past year, including the woods next to the unimproved campsite on the south side of the lake (CR 2700?). Like everywhere in Caddo, where there are trees there are a few squirrels but theyre not as concentrated as they seem to be north of 409. I also put in some time off of CR 2700? near an old bridge that crosses a creek south of that campsite...again a few but nothing spectacular. On the westernmost edge of the grasslands there is another gravel road that crosses a creek. I went there a couple of weeks ago for the first time, got a couple, but nothing to change my opinion of 409.

Ive done lots of squirrel hunting around DFW, central and southern Texas over the years. All of those squirrels prior to going to Caddo were fox squirrels. With the exception of deep East Texas, grey (or cat) squirrels arent that common over most of Texas, and they are a different critter. They are smaller and warier than foxes, get up earlier and siesta earlier. They dont seem to pay much attention to calls. They will give you a hunt for your money if you go afte them with a scoped 22 because they are almost constantly moving and are so much smaller. Two is about my max on 3 or 4 hour morning hunts. If I was using a shotgun I would probably double that, but Im not sure because shotguns are so much louder and Im not sure that some that I might have gotten I would have seen if I were using one.

After the leaves fall,  hunting gets much harder. First, by the time the leaves fall they have already been exposed to hunters and theyre wairer. Second, again, are the dry leaves everywhere. Third, after winter trips up there I swear that squirrels can see color. The hunter orange requirement becomes a handicap. Last year I was up and sitting at the base of a tree before dawn, a squirrel came across a limb maybe 50 yards away, froze when it could see me, and began squacking danger. I wasnt moving, was in full camo, had my outline broken by the tree I was sitting against, and the color is the only thing I could figure that set it off.

On the other hand, if you sit still for 30-45 minutes the leaves also become an ally, only because you can hear the squirrels on the ground way before you can see them. If they are working your way, thats great, but if they are moving away from you it is pretty much impossible to sneak up on them.

If liked squirrel hunting with a shotgun, I think I would be spending my time at LBJ. Much more accessable, easer to still hunt, and the tree rats are probably more accustomed to shotgun noise. Caddos ability to hunt rimfire will give you a more challenging hunt, though the price of admission is the AHP. I know they take deer at Caddo, and maybe the new antler restrictions will turn it into a good place in a few years, but based on my scouting I saw tons more deer sign at LBJ.