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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. Skunks. I used to not mind them. Actually thought they were kind of cool. My dog has been sprayed three times in the last year. Once one evening when he was out taking a leak, once quail hunting, once dove hunting. This past weekend, he cornered one on the patio five minutes after we pulled up to the ranch. He avoided getting sprayed. The griddle took the full brunt of this little guy's stink sack. I scrubbed the concrete for 30 minutes with peroxide and dish soap. The entire house and garage stunk Friday night. We could still faintly smell it Monday when we left. I hate em now. I'll shoot every one I see.
  2. The "bun" looks like Play-Doh.
  3. This is the correct answer. I drink beer in my garage alone when it's a weekday and I'm "working on something" in the garage. Rum or Bourbon on the back patio when I just want to relax. I added a TV and big oscillating fan to the garage this summer. Both game changers. Working on a mobile welding table right now. Hope to have that done by the end of October. A little here. A little there. Once that's done, rolling into a mobile outfeed table / router table. Hoping to have that done by Christmas. When those two tables are ready, I'll really be ready to start building shit and drinking beer. In my garage. Alone.
  4. I had a similar encounter with a much better outcome about 20 years ago. I was delivering a towable 185 CFM air compressor to a wastewater treatment plant under construction. I was instructed to take it down to the excavated area where the tanks were under construction. I came down a pretty steep incline that they had cut to gain access to that lower level. Pretty steep embankments on both sides. I got about half way down the slope and saw a 220 series excavator BACKING his way up the access road. The same access road where I was now parked with a trailer behind my truck. I waited for a second thinking surely this idiot wasn't coming all the way up. Wrong. He had it at full throttle to try to keep his momentum up. Somehow, I was able to get enough traction in my 2WD truck and avoid jackknifing and get up the hill and turn off to the side. That would've been ugly if the truck didn't have enough balls or if I managed to jackknife the trailer.
  5. You nailed it. He's all about the experience. I love that. We went with a guide in Rockport a few weeks before that and boxed three limits of reds in an hour. It was fun and all (plus I had my son with me), but ultimately, soaking bait and filling a box is light years behind wading with artificials from an overall experience standpoint. I have yet to dip into the world of fly fishing (partly because I don't need yet another expensive hobby), but I can imagine that's pushes the boundary out even further. The new boat is awesome. We had a long conversation about the switch to a Suzuki. I don't have much to compare it to, but it seemed like it had all the power you could need. He said the hole shot isn't up to par with a Yamaha, but the fuel economy was almost twice as good. The wind was whipping out of the south on our run back to Port Isabel, and we stayed dry as a bone. That boat took some pretty big chop without missing a beat. Great ride for sure.
  6. Took my wife wade fishing for her first time every with a guide in South Padre this past weekend. She enjoys fishing, but we haven't had much time in recent years for that due to kids, jobs, career changes, etc. Finally getting to a point where we can get out some. This trip was going to go one of two ways: A) Shitty guide or shitty weather or no fish which would lead to a major setback in the progression of events to buy a house at the coast and a boat. OR B) Good guide, good weather and decent fishing which would lead to a major step forward in the progression of events to buy a house at the coast and a boat. Luckily, we got option B. Great guide (Ernest Cisneros). Very attentive and patient with her. Took her under his wing. Just a really enjoyable experience with him. Wind was blowing, but weather was good. Didn't hammer the fish, but the bite was consistent. We got back and she was stoked. Called her mom, texted our son pictures of her fish. She was on Cloud 9. She left her phone out while she was in the shower, and I saw "Bay Boat" and "Rockport House For Sale" in her search history. That's a good sign. I missed a decent trout right at dawn on a topwater. Lots of reds just below the slot for me. I didn't care, though. I was just enjoying the solitude and watching my wife enjoy her day. We ended up with five keeper trout and two keeper reds. Great trip and should be the start of something pretty cool.
  7. For reference, I lost my lease of 10 years in 2011. We had 1600 acres in Live Oak County. In 2001, we were paying $5,000/yr total (five guns @ $1,000/ea). In 2011, that had ballooned to $15,000/yr. That included a small cabin with water and power. Low fenced and we furnished all blinds, feeders, corn, etc. We could bring guests, but were allotted one buck, one cull, and two does. No quail, but turkey were good and you could shoot as many hogs as you wanted. Deer population improved as we managed it. We'd take no more than two "trophy" bucks annually. Those were 150+ and had to be 4-1/2 or older. Had a few in the 160+ range over the years. We were somewhat a victim of our own management success, but also a byproduct of demand. They ended up making more money doing day / week leases, so they kicked us to the curb. I'd be shocked if you could get anything decent of that size for less than $10/acre. And, I'd guess that place would go for $20/acre now.
  8. That was our stance as well. Nice to go out there with my kids and my dog and not worry about a pasture jam-packed with folks with zero regard for gun safety. The clients we took Sunday were all folks we'd hunted with before. It's so much more enjoyable when you're not worried about getting peppered.
  9. And that's a fair argument. My business partner and I wanted a place all to ourselves that was within an hour of home / work where we could take employees, guests, etc as we please without having to worry about schedule, logistics, etc. The plus side is we can get a wild hair and head down there whenever we want with up to 20 people in tow. The down side is we probably aren't going to shoot shit this year. It was relatively cheap, so not a huge deal.
  10. I was wondering the same thing. I hunted on a few spots in that area (Yarrington Rd, Zorn, New Braunfels airport) for several years and we ALWAYS slayed them the first few weeks. I haven't hunted in that area for the last 4-5 years. It's bizarre. I wonder if someone can shed some light on why there's been such a dramatic change. Sounds like I won't be renewing the lease. Oh well...
  11. No birds to speak of in Guadalupe County near Geronimo. First time hunting this pasture (big milo field). Killed one bird between morning and afternoon hunts Sunday. Our group of eight killed six birds total. Worst opening day hunt I've ever had by a wide margin.
  12. Wimberley is pretty awesome. Good people. Schools are decent given the size. Our kids started school there until we moved to Drip. I have one kid that's super bright and one that's special needs. We needed more resources from a school perspective and we needed to be closer to doctors / therapy in Bee Cave. But, Wimberley was great while we were there. We lived between Wimberley and Driftwood, so we were a bit out of town. Very tight community that got tighter after the flood. It's an even better place to live if you can be near the river or have access to it. Only drawbacks that we saw were the demographics tended to be older on a per capita basis. So, while there was a decent amount of younger families, it seemed to skew towards retired couples, etc. That's been 4 years ago, however.
  13. When I was on the 40 acres, I had a good buddy who would drop his pants to his ankles and pull his shirt up under his chin every time he took a leak at the urinal at DKR. Like a 6'4" toddler. One of the funniest damn things. Never got old.
  14. This past weekend, I was thinking about my first ever experience wade fishing. I grew up in Corpus Christi, but my family didn't fish much. Just the occasional trip on a friend's boat to soak bait. We were a sports and beach family. After college, I got way into hunting, but still didn't fish much. I had a customer of mine that I had gotten to be pretty good friends with. He had a house in Magnolia Beach and invited me down there with a few other acquaintances for some wade fishing. All artificials. I had zero experience with either, but figured I'd give it a shot. We met Friday after work and headed for the coast. We get to his place around 8:00. It's March, so it's still chilly and the sun had already set. I'm assuming that, like most of my other fishing trips to that point, we'd hang out and drink beer that night and get up when we got up the next morning to fish. Wrong. We climbed in the boat and headed out for some night wade fishing. Having never wade fished before (let alone at night), I apprehensively got in the water and didn't stray more than 50 yds from the boat. I didn't catch shit. They caught a few trout. We fished til around midnight. The next morning, we got up early and hauled ass in some dense ass fog to Keller Bay. In the water as the sun's coming up. By lunch, I had a stringer full of a limit of trout, a few redfish and a few black drum. I even had a dolphin get within a few feet of me. My buddy was yelling "lift up your damn stringer!!!". It was terrifying and exhilarating and so damn much fun. I was hooked. We fished our asses off that weekend. Literally sun up to sun down both days. Got home well after 10 PM Sunday. Those guys were all waaaaay more into fishing than I have ever been. It was a great exposure to folks who truly love fishing. I don't get down to the coast as much as I'd like. And, when I do now, it's usually with my kids, so wade fishing excursions are few and far between. And, I've never come close to replicating that day in terms of success. I didn't realize at the time how special that was for a fishing hack like myself.
  15. Croaker. Caught a few trout on shrimp, but the reds were hammering the croaker.
  16. We got on the reds yesterday morning in Aransas Bay. Three man limit within an hour. All over 23". The boy couldn't stop smiling the whole way home yesterday afternoon. He's caught reds before, but this one was by far the biggest he's ever caught, and he's never been on them that thick.
  17. Great advice. Thanks for the feedback. You can see from the entry wound in the picture just how much he's was quartering away. I think that shot would have been god for a true broadside, but should have been 3-4" further back given how much he was quartering away. I'm learning how different Axis are from whitetail. Definitely need to consider a different round, different shot location, etc. I may go back to the Noslers I was shooting before the ballistic tips. With whitetail and pigs, I've had a ton of luck with the ballistic tips. Haven't had a deer or hog do anything other than drop in their tracks in 5+ years. I'll head / neck shoot a doe or pig all day long. I was thinking of a mount for this guy which is why I went for the shoulder shot. Appreciate the insight here.
  18. Had a bittersweet day yesterday / this morning. I went out to the ranch solo to top off feeders and make sure the pump floats were working in the cisterns. Neither my dad nor I will be out there for a month or so, and I wanted to make sure things were tight. Got everything done yesterday afternoon and set a two string bale of fresh alfalfa in our alfalfa feeder in front of the house. Took another out to a blind and spread it around. Climbed in the blind to see what I could see about 7:00. Lots of whitetail. All doe and one yearling buck. With about 5 min of shooting light left, two nice whitetail bucks came out. My shitty Nikon binoculars are screwed up again, so I was glassing them through my scope on my rifle. I saw another big bodied deer come out to the alfalfa. Scanned over and I'll be damned... one of the nice axis bucks that we've been seeing on the cameras. Not the big boy, but a decent one. Problem is, he's facing directly away from me. All I see is ass and antlers. Time is literally ticking away and I can barely see him with the naked eye, but the scope draws in enough light to still feel confident with a shot. He finally quarters just enough and I squeeze the trigger. I see him drop a bit, then run south. Shit. I hop out of the blind to where I saw him drop. No blood. Nothing. Not a drop. I look around the immediate area for blood, and nothing. I felt confident with the shot, but it's now pitch dark. I decide to let him lay. I go back to the cabin. Grab my dog and my spotlight. We searched east, south and west for 2 hours. Nothing. Now, I'm wondering if I missed. If my scope got bumped in the Polaris. At 10:30, I gave up. Dejected and back to the cabin. I woke up around 5:00, got some stuff cleaned up around the cabin, loaded up the truck, and went back to where I shot around 6:30. Light was decent by 7:00, and I walked the entire back quarter of the ranch. Finally called it quits around 9:00 under the assumption that I plain missed. I was walking back to the Polaris with the intent of checking my rifle. There he was. 20 yds off the road. Not 60 yds from where I shot him. NORTH. He was literally 100 yds from the blind. He must have run a big circle and came back around. I feel dejected. Just an absolute gut punch. Bittersweet to find him, but so mad at myself for not finding him last night. Wasted some beautiful meat. The only blood I found was from his mouth. Entry wound from the 130 grain ballistic tip 270. No exit wound. Never found any blood trail, even working backwards. I made the cardinal mistake of not adjusting my shot when he was quartered away. I should have aimed further back. The entry wound was dead center of the shoulder where I was aiming. I missed the vitals and he had enough adrenaline to run despite the broken scapula. Shoulder was toast. I would have done so many things differently if I could do it again. It's a strange, strange feeling. Just an absolute gut punch. Good news is, there's plenty more out there. And I'll get a decent mount out of it. Not a huge trophy axis, but good enough for our first one taken on the ranch. Dropped him off today to get the hide tanned and a Euro mount.
  19. Pomegranate tree
  20. This is 100% accurate. Compare, in the event that they were to continue functionally without power: -5000 SF modern design with high ceilings and a flat roof, floor-to-ceiling windows that maximize views regardless of direction built with air-tight construction reliant on mechanical systems for humidity and temperature control -1200 SF slab on grade with solid stone walls, minimal windows, built and oriented to maximize prevailing winds with a dog run down the middle, long overhanging eaves and a big covered porch
  21. Nothing fancy, but a welcome addition on both fronts. Knocked the paint off the bucket moving some caliche around to some low spots and mowed a few roads this week. Also popped the cherry of the Polaris with a nice little sow that we shot this morning. Did a poacher's cut for the backstraps.
  22. Oh nice. You're much closer than us. I sometimes cut across 479 to Segovia. That's a beautiful stretch. We're northwest of Junction near Roosevelt. Off 1674 headed towards Ft McKavett. We put our camp at the high point on the ranch as well. Nice to get that breeze, but doesn't do much good when it's 105.
  23. Finally remembered to snag a picture of the shadow box of the shell we found at the ranch. Pretty cool stuff. From the late 1860s.
  24. I'm stoked as well! Secured a dove lease between Seguin and Geronimo. Currently planted in milo and the farmer is harvesting in two weeks, so timing should be really good. We're headed up to our ranch tomorrow to check game cameras, etc. My mom got some pictures with her telephoto lens of a decent axis at the alfalfa feeder last weekend. We'll see if he's still hanging around while we're up there.
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