Spaulding Smails

Yep. We did just over two hours on the belly side. Then, flipped them and did a little less than an hour on the back side.

Yeah. Pretty much. Same as a deer. Only difference being it was broken down after it was cooked. I worked on the shoulders and hams and kind of broke those down further into bite sized chunks. My buddy carved up the ribs. I didn't get a pic of the tray with the shoulder meat, but it looked a little like pulled pork.

I mentioned this in the "I'm cooking for a lot of people" thread, but figured it may justify it's own home. We hosted a pachanga at our house this weekend for my 40th. Ended up with about 90 people. Probably 60-30 between adults and kids. I did four briskets. We grilled a dozen chickens. We also roasted two cabritos. They were the star of the show. I'm a gringo, but I had help from an Argentine buddy. It turned out damn good. Will do it again for sure. Here's what we did: First, I got a goat. Two actually. Picked them up Friday from Johnny G's off Manchaca. These guys were a little over 17 lb each. They were still kinda frozen but fit nicely in a 120 qt cooler. Stacked ice on em for the day. Saturday morning, I hung em up in the garage and let them thaw a bit. We built a little half wall with some stone I had laying around and rounded up some red oak from my back hillside. Got the fire going mid morning. The weather was glorious. The beer was cold. I built two parrillas. I thought my design was great. It actually sucked. I made the legs collapsable with bolts and pins for easier storage. The pins sheared when we tried to level the parrillas with a sledgehammer. Hence the vice clamps. Oops. Also, I already know that I suck at welding, so let the fabrication criticism commence. But, hobby welding's like golf and sex. Even if you're no good at it, it's still pretty damn fun. We started with a bunch of spatchcocked chickens to figure out the heat. My aggy Argentine parrillero buddy. He's awesome. For aggy. One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He's also a damn fine cook. His in-laws own a catering business and he's good and efficient and knows what he's doing. Time to prep the cabrito. Salt. Pepper. Some olive oil. On to the parrillas. I learned a lot here. Coals under the hams. Coals under the shoulders. Not much under the ribs. Murphy the dog approves. We were thinking about two hours. Ended up being closer to three. That meant we pulled them off after dark, so I didn't get any good money shots prior to cutting them up. Also, I got pretty drunk and forgot to take more pictures of the finished product. I think my wife took a bunch, but I'm too lazy to go ask. Lots of folks kind of gathered around while we were butchering them and ate pieces as they came off. The mini-tomahawks with rib meat and backstrap / tenderloin was awesome. Kidneys were pretty good too. But, the shoulders and hams were legit. Put some homemade chimichurri sauce on them over a fresh corn tortilla, a bit of diced onion and some cilantro. Cabrito heaven. Brisket did not suck either. We had way too many leftovers and sent everyone home with meat for days. I got the meat sweats. Ate leftovers all day Sunday too. The end.

This right here. If you're in a hurry, get a green chile burrito from any Blake's for breakfast.

Our chickens free range during the day unless we're out of town. I usually let them out before I leave for work at 5:30. They are fairly easy to put up in the evening. One of the kids usually just has to go out there and shut the door. They tend to put themselves in the coop when dusk falls. We occasionally have to entice them into the coop with dried meal worms. We had been over two years without any predator related casualties until October. We lost three in one week to what I think ended up being a fox. We're out on a few acres in Dripping Springs.

I hear ya. We finally pulled the trigger in 2018 on some land. Just a few hundred acres, and not my ideal setup, but it's a blast. Split it with my pops. However, I still take advantage of friends with property for activities (like the above noted duck hunt) that we can't do on our place. But, ours is great for shooting a few deer, hunting pen-raised quail, and generally screwing around outdoors. To your point, my kids are at the ideal age to actually enjoy that stuff. And, hopefully, I can go against my own advice and add a boat to the mix in the next few years.

Ranches are like boats. The only thing better than owning one is having a good friend that owns one.

I can remember circa 2005 when Texas was a solid #2 in that list doing the run rates and extrapolating that we'd pass Michigan around 2020. That didn't work out so well.

Your place? Or corporate setup?

Subscribed. We're considering a house along the coast in the next few years. I agree with @Brew that this decision really depends on what you want out of the property. If you want to show up once a month, drive a four-wheeler and shoot .22s, and build a campfire, but otherwise have a "lock and leave" setup, this may not be the right decision. If you enjoy working on projects (especially if you're buying something that needs work), and you like to tinker with tractors, build shit, etc, then hell yes! Go for it. From our perspective, we're going to look for a stand-alone house, potentially even doing new construction. I have a special needs kiddo, so we have some specific requirements for him that can be tough to achieve in a condo setting. Referencing the Smithville / Winchester area specifically, my uncle, his brother and his dad bought 85 acres about 10 years ago in that same area. All three of them live in the Richmond / Rosenberg area, so it's not a bad commute. Already had a nice house, pond and barn. The three of them get along great, and they (cumulatively) still use it constantly. Heck, they've bought two tracts of adjoining property since then and now have about 150 acres. Here's the caveat. My uncle has three kids, two in HS and one in college. He's up there MAYBE twice a year at this point. If this was his and only his, it would've been sold within two years of purchase. But, his dad and his brother are up there damn near every weekend. They're now running cattle, and constantly working on projects up there. His dad is retired, and his brother works a flexible schedule with both of his daughters are out of the house, so there's plenty of time to handle all the chores around there. One con... About two years in when my uncle's brother and dad were still working quite a bit and none of them had as much free time to get up there, they hired a local kid (late teens) to help around the place. Good kid, worked hard when they were up there. He'd help with the cows, fixing fences, etc. They trusted him, and started having him take care of things while they were gone as well. He ended up falling in with a REALLY rough crowd and got talked into hosting a multi-day party / bender at my uncle's place. End result was being robbed of all electronics, guns, tractors, equipment, tools, etc. Longer story to go along with it, but they literally caught them dousing the exterior of the house in gasoline and were less than 10 min from him putting a match to it and burning it to the ground. So, if you do outsource help, consider that can be a rough area and good help is always hard to come by.

We've typically leveraged our points on beach-type trips. Not sure how it's recovered from the hurricane in 2018, but we stayed at the Autograph Collection on Scrub Island in BVI and it was awesome. That was six years ago. Did Playa Largo (also Autograph Collection) two years ago in Key West and it was nice. We're considering French Leave Resort in The Bahamas this year. Most of our Marriott point trips (with the exception of BVI) have been leveraged in conjunction with Southwest points, so we tend to stick near those locations, and I don't have much to offer outside of those areas. I accrue a significant amount of points, but not a "shit ton", so I've always tried to find point values and avoided splurging on Ritz / St Regis properties.

That's awesome. Shingles should be super easy. Possibly put down some felt paper first with a slap stapler if you have one. Cedar shingles should be pretty easy to install and will be a nice touch. Send more pics as you continue working on it!

@Okie State that's very cool! Construction looking very nice as well. You're doing a good job. What are you doing to cover the plywood? Roofing material or just siding material? We built something very similar for my business partner's kids last Christmas. We put it up on legs about 4', added a railing and put wall on the back side. We just did siding material on the exteriors of the A-frame. They loved it.

Two great days on the water this weekend. First day was a TON of birds but all super early. Finished with a four-man limit in about an hour. Day two was a bit slower at a different pond. Birds shut off after about 45 minutes, but still a good hunt. Ended up with 18 birds between the four of us.

I know. I tend to err on the side of over-abundance.

Change it to Carta Blanca, bring some homemade corn tortillas, and you have yourself a deal.

Bump. @ChampKind, I'm cooking next weekend for 'bout 75 people. Probably 50 adults and 25 kids. We're doing cabrito. I have two 13-15 lb on order. Picking them up Friday. My Argentinian buddy and I are cooking over open coals with iron crosses. I'm planning on supplementing with brisket, chicken and sausage under the premise that probably half of the crowd will steer away from cabrito. I'm thinking 4 briskets, a dozen whole chickens quartered and another 20 lb of venison sausage. We'll have a BIG pot of pinto beans and plenty of other sides too. Seem about right?

213 orders in 2019. Issues on two of them. Both ordered by my wife. Both bullshit Chinese crap. Otherwise flawless service. We probably over-use it.

That's a great deer. Where are you hunting? I'm guessing San Saba county.

That app is pretty good for sure. I'm in the same boat. I don't necessarily plan around moon phases, but I pay attention to them when I'm headed out or when I'm on the fence about a trip. For example, we have a full moon this Saturday. I was thinking of running to the ranch for a quick trip Saturday, back home early Sunday. When I was reminded of the moon phase, I decided to scrap it. Doesn't help that my dad sat in a blind last night and didn't see much movement. Rut still hasn't kicked off in Kimble Co from what we've seen.

So true. I've been to more than my share of Lutheran funerals in Seguin, TX that prominently featured this delicacy.

Not so sure about that. I've been around hunting dogs for most of my life, and some of the best bird dogs I've seen found the occasional skunk. One of the best pointers I ever hunted with in South Texas got sprayed twice in the same day. And, before you reply... yes, I'm defending my dog. And no, I don't think he's a dumbass. This is my fifth lab to own and first one to ever be hit by a skunk, but still the smartest dog I've ever personally owned. I'm not saying he's a world-class field trial champion, but he's not a shovel-head either.

I can't disagree. He's a heck of a bird dog, and he's been snake trained, but he's just too damn nosy. I was wondering this weekend if anyone offers "skunk proofing". I'd love to de-funk a skunk, put him in a cage, turn my dog loose with his shock collar and "educate" him on not getting close to a skunk.

Could not agree with this more. My oldest is incredibly bright. Consummate over-achiever and off the charts from a GT perspective. My middle son is severely developmentally and physically delayed. He'll always been in our care, and can't assimilate much in mainstream classrooms. My youngest (daughter) is sharp but not "gifted and talented" and will probably be the most successful one in the family, but that's a different topic. We moved a few years ago for a number of reasons, but finding a school district that could meet the needs of all three kids, despite their completely different trajectories, was the biggest driver. As a parent, I think you have to know when to push the schools and when to back off. For my oldest son, we've told him to fend for himself (see post above). For my middle son, we've had to claw and fight to get him the resources he needs, and although our current school district is light years ahead of our previous school district, we've still had to fight to communicate his specific needs, battling typical barriers, and coordinating with doctors and therapists to ensure he has a consistent approach that gives him the best opportunity to succeed however that is eventually defined. Our previous school district kind of scratched their head and said, "we're just not sure what to do with him". The current school district sets goals (however seemingly minor they may be) and ensures a consistent approach towards his care and education. But, even with a defined strategy, you encounter individuals who aren't on the same page, and when you're dealing with a special needs kiddo, you've got to fight for them every step along the way. I think that advocating for your children is the right one in this instance. We advocate for our two "typical" kids by giving them the resources they need to fight their own battles. We advocate for our special needs son by strapping on armor and going to the front lines to fight for him.

@Al_4_ISU public school. 6th grade athletic prep class. I was somewhat shocked (and pleased) to hear about it as well.