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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. Man, I had to sneak booze at 24 that Christmas! My wife's aunt has a great house on a cool farm, so they always hosted Christmas. But she strictly forebode drinking because her husband was a recovering alcoholic. At least my wife warned me before we got married. She said "just keep a bottle in your truck and bring a styrofoam cup so they can't see it." Of course, I was the only one drinking so it was way less fun. Found out about a decade later that the same husband had a nice little grove of the devil's lettuce in the back 40. He was (and still is) California sober.
  2. I grew up in Corpus Christi. I'd never been to the mountains and had never seen snow. First time I saw snow was a trip to Colorado when in 2007 when I was 27. I got married in June of 2003. Spent Christmas that year in Corpus with my family. Spent Christmas 2024 in East Texas with my wife's family. This was pre iPhone, so I was getting call after call from my parents, sister, aunts, uncles and drunk cousins saying how amazing it was to have a White Christmas. In Corpus Christi. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the living room with no snow, no TV, no music, and no entertainment with my wife's teetotaling family. 20 years later, and I'm still pissed about it.
  3. At first I thought it was just his hock right above the grass line and the leg beneath it. Then, I thought it was two frames merged together or something. But, I zoomed in, and now I truly think that leg is gone just below the joint. Holy crap. Had a doe like that around the corner from my house a few years ago. Looked totally healthy otherwise, but right leg gone below the joint.
  4. We had a LONG conversation on the drive home about exactly that. Enjoying the moment. Appreciating what you're surrounded by. And, the fact that they call it hunting not killing and fishing not catching for a reason. Slow weekends like we had makes it much sweeter when you do have success. I've been getting my ass kicked at work for the last 18 months. But, that all fades far into the background when you're hip deep in the Lower Laguna Madre carefully steering a redfish into your dip net. I swear I got him on the stringer and just kind of stood there for a few minutes taking it all in. And, I'd trade a limit of trout or reds caught soaking bait from the boat for just one nice fish like that red on artificials while wading.
  5. Well, my cold streak continues. Did a cast-n-blast with my son and his buddies this weekend in Port Mansfield. Two ducks and three fish between six of us. First duck hunt for my son and he didn't even get to pull the trigger. Bill the bird dog was disappointed and was givin the boys the what for on the ride back. Fished our asses off Saturday afternoon with minimal success as well. If anyone is on a hot streak and wants to be completely disappointed, give me a shout... because I'm your guy. My son is usually so even-keeled, but he started to show some signs of frustration on the drive home yesterday. He's had zero luck this year. Struck out turkey hunting. Two fishing trips to the coast put up goose eggs. Went all deer season and didn't see a shooter buck. Went last weekend on a doe mission and didn't see a single doe. Seems like every hunting / fishing trip we've had has been a dud. And these aren't speculative areas. Proven spots with history of great results. Our timing just sucks. Only silver lining was that I did hook a really nice 24" red wade fishing Saturday afternoon. Fun little tussle and good eating last night. And, the weather was awesome.
  6. My buddy has a ranch about half way between Goliad and Refugio just east of 183. He said it's been a good but not great year.
  7. Yep. I think I need to change my strategy next year and get the doe out of the way early. It seems like every hunt I had from November 1 through Christmas was in shorts and a t-shirt, though. I loathe cleaning and skinning deer when I'm sweating my ass off.
  8. Took the kids out this weekend to try to put some meat in the freezer. We had our sights set on knocking down two WT doe. We typically see at least a half dozen doe at every blind at every hunt. Four hunts between Friday PM and Sunday AM. Not a single realistic shot for either my son or my daughter. I sat with my daughter on every hunt. Had a few yearlings come to the feeder a few times. That's it. Saw a whopping total of three mature WT doe. All three were passing through, never stopped and had zero interest in the corn. Had one group of axis doe do the same. My son saw a young WT buck and about a half dozen axis doe that he passed on. He didn't see a single WT doe all weekend. We did a spot and stalk Sunday after the morning hunt and jumped two groups of doe. The first group was 400+ yds and never stopped. The second group was in the thickest brush on the ranch and we couldn't get a reasonable look. Incredibly frustrating. Not sure if it was the weather, too many acorns or what. Very strange.
  9. You got this! It's all about consistency. I'm guessing you have a formula to get to that number that has you ramping up as the year progresses. Word of advice... build in a buffer. Give yourself some wriggle room. There's going to be days where you get sick, are traveling, etc and you can't hit your target. Don't fall so far behind that you get defeated and lose traction. The year I turned 40, I set the goal to do 30,000 push-ups, 10,000 pull ups, 10,000 burpees and run 1,000 miles. I was in pretty good shape going into it, but I made sure that January and February were above my daily averages to give me some fluff. And, I always looked at my schedule a week or two ahead of time to find days / weeks that I knew I'd fall off pace. I'd hit it hard ahead of those times so I didn't lose traction. I was in the best shape of my life that December 31 thanks to the consistency. You can absolutely do the same.
  10. I'd love to see these guys playing skins, wolf, Ryder Cup style, scramble, whatever..... IF they were playing for their own money. I get that playing for $10M in Crypto is big, but let's see these guys out there wagering for their own money. We know they do it when the cameras are off, but I think it would be incredibly entertaining to watch them establish the bets before the first tee, grinding it out for $100K/hole, hammering, side wagers, etc. Cameras on and mics hot 100% of the time. Go ahead and throw in some inappropriate comments for good measure. I'm sure they'd never go for it, and wouldn't want to tarnish their reputations in front of the camera, but damn that would make for some good TV.
  11. So, this sounds unpossible, but I've never dug into this thread. Love it! Meet Murphy. Murphy's 8 years old now. I'm obviously biased, but he's special. Best dog I've ever had by a long shot. Certifiably badass bird dog. But also the most chill lab around. He's an absolute sweetheart and loves his family (except the cat who steals his bed). He's also my jobsite / shop buddy. Even when he walks through a fresh concrete pour. We leave him out during nice days, and he never wanders far. Always keeps an eye on the chickens and has fended off more than his share of foxes and coyotes. And, the minute I get my shotgun out, he's in full-on business mode. He's an absolute retrieving machine in the field. He's starting to get a little long in the tooth and all the time in the field is starting to take it's toll on the old hips. So, we're thinking about getting him a running buddy next summer in the form of a yellow lab puppy to have a little youth around the house. Maybe ol Murph can teach him or her a thing or two.
  12. That's a REALLY cool buck. What part of the state are you in? His ears are back just a tad, but I'm still guessing that's a 24" inside spread. You gonna try to let the air out of him?
  13. Remembered this thread over Thanksgiving. Here's what we installed on our Polaris. Basically just a tension bar between the vertical ROPS supports with the gun holder mounted to that. I love it. Very secure and super easy access and pretty cheap. I've killed two pigs that I can think of off the top of my head solely because I had a rifle so easily accessible. IMG_3022.HEIC
  14. 12 years ago, my son was taken by air ambulance (Life Flight) to Dell Children's Hospital. I got the bill a few months later. IIRC, it was about $8,500. UHC denied my claim. I got with my then employer, and we ran it up the flagpole. I distinctly remember a call with their adjustor who informed me that I had "chosen an out of network provider" and that I "should have leveraged their website or called their 800 number to find an in-network resource". Silly me! My wife should have stopped keeping him alive during a 60 minute seizure episode to sit on hold for who knows how long to figure out the best way to proceed or at least told the attending EMTs that we needed to shop that around. Though I'd never condone violence, that almost drove me to seek retribution. Luckily, my employer stepped up and covered it, so crisis averted.
  15. Passed on this fella this morning. Pic is from a few weeks ago, but this was the first time I laid eyes on him in person. Had my son in a blind on the other side of the ranch chasing a cull whitetail that he saw last night running a doe and couldn't get him to stop broadside long enough to get a shot. Texted him and he high tailed it over to where I was hunting. He stalked his way in and got there about 90 seconds after this guy walked back into the brush. Unfortunately, he had to head back home to get to work, so I'm here solo tonight and tomorrow. Gonna be hard to let him walk again if he shows up tonight, but I'd sure rather my son or my dad take him. I have zero experience aging axis on the hoof, but he looks pretty old.
  16. Agree with @Brisketexan. 100% a house cat. Looks just like our big fat house cat named Willie. My BIL sent me this pic from his lease in Lampasas County. He was thoroughly convinced it was a juvenile mountain lion. He said it was "obviously way too big to be a house cat". They next weekend he saw it in person. At least he ate crow and fessed up that he was wrong. With no perspective on size, it's easy to think they're something else. But, it seems like if there's ever a doubt, it's most likely just a regular old house cat.
  17. Played Bluejack yesterday. Weather was perfect. Course was immaculate as usual. Hit 13 of 14 fairways (not saying much since the course is so wide open) and 8 of 18 GIR. And carded an 89. 38 putts. 38. Some of the pin locations were ridiculous. I had a 15' birdie putt on 9 that resulted in a triple bogey after a 5 putt. Had a quad on the par 5 5th hole despite being pin high in two. Chipped three times to the pin only to have the ball roll 40 yards back to me. Love the course, love the experience, but the greens make or break the score. And, it's like eating an A5 Wagyu ribeye. Fantastic, but so gluttonous that you can only do it every few months, IMO.
  18. Ha! As luck would have it, work got in the way, so I had to cancel. Had a round at Great Hills shortly thereafter and needed a driver, so I found a used Callaway Mavrik that was the exact same as the one I broke at Golf Galaxy, but with a slightly better shaft for $150. Been hitting it great, so I'm holding off until the spring.
  19. That thing looks awesome. Are you wanting vertical gun rack or horizontal across the hood? I went back-and-forth on my Polaris. Ended up going with a single horizontal rack on the hood right in front of the steering wheel. Added a double ceiling rack as well. My thought was to have one at the ready then two up top for overflow. We cram six into the Polaris occasionally, so I didn't want the vertical rack on the floorboard.
  20. Dude. That's a fantastic Hill Country buck. What part of Blanco county?
  21. Took my son out for youth opener this weekend. The last year that he's eligible. He didn't see much of anything moving. Just a few young bucks running together. So, we knocked out some chores, ran into town, ate fajitas and enjoyed the time together. Meanwhile from back home Saturday night, my wife sends me this pic. She said this guy was sitting in our front pasture as she pulled in from picking my daughter up from a halloween party. Crappy picture zoomed in and through the windshield, but he's a tank. We might need to scrap the 2 hour drive to the ranch and hunt from the front porch this weekend.
  22. Screw those scumbags. They owe a lot of people a lot of money (including me).
  23. Drinking fountain (south Texas). And C-1 was referred to as a "casita".
  24. If the wall is being built from scratch, then it should definitely work. Is this a new partition wall or are you modifying an existing load-bearing wall? If load bearing, just make sure your header is adequately sized and doesn't affect the height of the rough opening.
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