Dove Hunt in Hondo

I traveled to Hondo, Texas, this past Friday to hunt doves. David Swierc invited me to join him and others for an opening weekend hunt. We all had a great time.

Covey

Quail lay and hatch probably fifteen to twenty eggs at a time in good years. If the conditions are perfect, ample rains, good cover, plenty of natural feed, lots of insects to feed the young, they will flurish. It has been said that everything eats quail. In a normal year it is estimated that eighty percent never make it to the next year.

Guess what else is inside of the High Fence.

Javelinas!

All Poths, a blast from the past...

Beverly, Tommy Doug, "the kid" L.F. Jr., Patricia, and Barry.

Where did you come from?

Hello!

Twins

One of my automatic cameras caught this doe in the background with her twin fawns. notice the racoon feeding in the trough along with another doe.

Fawn hiding in the grass

When fawn are less than about two weeks old their mothers leave them hidden and come back periodically when the coast is clear so they can nurse. Often times people confuse this thinking the fawn has been abandoned. People take them in and try to bottle feed and raise them. I took photos of this fawn this morning after hearing about Sam the ranch owner seeing it and then loosing sight of it while I was talking to him on my cellphone. I eased out in the grass where he last had seen it and found it. I can tell you I barely spotted it as you can see it was well hidden. You might note it has and ear pointed my way even though I was doing my best version of a quiet stalk.

I've finally located some "breeder bucks".......

I've finally located some "breeder bucks" to sire my little doe herd. With a little help from friends and family I should be able to acquire them for a few hundred K. That is a funny one, right? I have no idea about the story of these bucks. It does give you an idea of where the scientific breeding of whitetailed deer is going.

Stock pond drying up...

Lack of rains sufficient enough to provide runoff in this part of the state are causing ponds to dry up. Largemouth Bass are dying because of the lack of oxygen in the water. The old cedar post are remnants of a fence we had years ago to keep livestock from venturing out and getting "bogged up" in the mud and dying. When time like this came we had windmills which provided water to thirsty livestock. I hope we get good rains soon so we won't see this happen to the larger and deeper ponds. Hopefully the rains will come this fall or next spring. We then will catch fish and transport them the these ponds that went dry.

Charging Quail !

Riding along I spotted this quail hen out surveying the scene for the group with her. She was checking out to see if it was safe to venture out to the field to the left to feed.
All of a sudden she charged toward me.
Here she hits top speed coming straight on.

The dark object to the left is part of the vehicle I was in. She closes to about six feet. Now the question is.................... What is causing this behavior. If you don't know the answer. You need to ask any of my children, Lex, Kristi, Lindsay, or Greg. Or, you might even ask my "bride" Sandra. If you would like to guess just put your guesses in the coments section. I'll be glad to hear from you.

Look what is across the county road....

Look what happens when you "let them grow up". These deer appear to be four years old. If not enclosed in a high fence they probably wouldn't have made it to this age. It also has to do with good nutrition, predator control, and the right genetic potential. Sam Syring's patience is really starting to pay off.

Alright, straighten those lines up!

I caught these turkeys out practicing marching on the county road. You can tell the "Head Hen" is somewhat aggrivated by the young inexperienced ones not being able to stay in line. I bet you also know someone like the one marching on the far left. In South Texas we have a name for them, "Cabesudo", which translates to hardheaded.

Leaving the trough just as the sun is about to rise

These does are just leaving feeding station number two as the sun is about to rise in the morning.

Indigo Snake

These snakes actually kill rattle snakes I'm told although I've never seen it. When I tried to get a close up picture it got out of my sight quickly.

Cowboy Coffey

Camp coffey, this is the first thing prepared early in the morning to kick off Pleasanton, Texas' Cowboy Homecomeing celebration. Every year a Cowboy of the year is selected from nominations in Atascosa County. The nominations are judged on their skills as a cowboy. In addition to what you would guess the working cowboy has to be skilled at tracking cattle, ropeing, riding horseback, doctoring herds, branding, being able to match cows with their calves in a herd, and many other less glamorus things.

Birthplace of the Cowboy

Every year at this time of August Pleasanton Texas celebrates its claim as the "Birthplace of the Cowboy". It is billed as the "hottest" celebration in Texas, and it usually is. This distinction comes from the fact that this area of Texas was the origination point for many of the historic great "Cattle Drives" and "Cattle Trails" which were known for gathering herds of cattle and pushing them all the way to Kansas.
Pictured are the head cooks for the free cowboy breakfast that begins the celebration. Pictured standing from left are Jeffery Korus, Ross Nieschwitz, and Toby Hill, squatting lower right.
Cooking over mesquite coals are scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, refried beans, and flour tortillas. There is camp coffey which was boiled over the coals. It is said that they put a horseshoe in the pot and when the horseshoe floats they know it is ready.
People shown beginning to go through the serving line.

Klint Graf's new breeding buck.

This deer is two years old and will go in a confined area with about twenty-five does. I wonder what the offsprings will be worth. Very nice buck, it should score about 200 B&C.

The "boys" come at night...

These bucks showed up at night...

They are back.........

By the looks of these two they have been eating plenty deer pellets.
I just wonder if these are the same racoons or different ones.
Check the deer eyes. The flash reflection makes them look funny.

Sneaking up on deer again...

"Trail Camera"

The trail camera is mounted on the pole to the right. I have a solar collector to charge the battery inside. This is the method I'm using to get pictures of what ever is feeding in the troughs.

Look who's coming to dinner.

Masked bandits of the night.

Letter Jackets

Patricia and me sporting letter jackets. Patricia has on Victor's which was a big deal for dating couples then. The girl wore the guy's jacket so all of the other guys would know they were going "steady". Me, I'm wearing a jacket with "F" for Floresville which I got as playing on the winning Little League team that year. I was eleven then. The next year Poth had their first team when I was twelve. Poth won the area Little League Chanpionship that year when I was twelve. I got a jacket with a "P" for winning that year too. The teams we played were from neighboring towns, Stockdale, La Vernia, Floresville, and Nixon. I remember girls in Junior High thinking it was "hot stuff" to talk us in to letting them put it on. I guess they wanted to be like the older girls. I can remember all of us guys at that age being more interested in hunting, fishing, and all other things besides girls.

Feeder Camera

I installed an automatic camera on my trough feeder so that I can more easily keep tabs on the deer feeding there. It is neat because there is a date and time also recorded too. I change out cards so that I don't have to mount and remount the camera each time. It should be interesting.

Birthday Trip to Las Vegas

We took a quick trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Sandra's birthday. Remember, the secret is to keep a smile on your spouse's face for the rest of her life.

What happens to the "Big Ones"?

As I passed by one of the stock ponds this morning I noteced this bass floating on the surface. I'm not sure what happened to it. I could speculate on lots of reasons. It looked to me like it was about six or seven pounds.

Governor Perry's Super Highway form Oklahoma to Mexico

At the bottom of this map you can see where State HWY 541 intersects IH 37. If you move upward a short distance you can just detect County Road 427 as it leaves the Interstate. This is on the light blue or second choice plan. Lets all hope they go with the dark blue plan.
This is a map of the proposed highway and the alternate routes. Most of the blue shaded areas are ten miles wide. The actual route will be approximately one quarter mile wide...... that is 160 acres per mile of road. Think about that and it's effect on everyone in the path. Oh, and the state will own all of the gas stations, restaurants, and any other commercial interests along the way. I think the word is ..... upsetting!