Spaulding Smails

This right here. Finally made the upgrade in December and haven't missed a minute of it. Family of five + dog riding comfortably... check. 85 mph and quiet with all the bells and whistles for 4+ hours to West Texas... check. Load 15 sheets of plywood with the tailgate up... check. Haul a trailer loaded down with a Bobcat, two attachments and a pallet of ready mix... check. Pull dumb ass neighbor out of the mud thanks to 4WD... check. Each of these scenarios transpired in the last month and each I couldn't do with my 2004 F150.

Anyone have any experience fishing on the South Llano? My son and I are hitting up the South Llano on our way back from Big Bend over spring break. Dropping our kayaks at the ranch on the way out there, then picking them up on the way back. We have a six mile float lined up through South Llano Canoe & Kayak. Any info on the float? I'm assuming rapids are tame. Fishing advice? I'm planning on fishing like I do on Onion Creek or the Devils River with wacky rigged Senkos and frog topwaters.

Agreed. It was just a bad instAllahtion.

We're six months in and already adding on to our cabin / shop in Kimble Co. Added this slab and covered area last week. I scored an 8'x8' walk-in cooler, so that'll be on the far end. Ran a drain line stub under concrete. So, we'll poke power out and add 220V for the cooler, lights and a few outlets for the cleaning area. Also extend the PEX for the sink. We should still have enough room for the tractor when we pull the trigger there.

At kicker: Guajalote Anaranjado

My 11 YO son is playing select ball for the first time this year. We resisted it for as long as possible, but there was just too much attrition from rec league. We stopped by the 12U rec field last week when dropping off my daughter for practice. It was pretty sad. Any kid with a semblance of talent has migrated to select, so rec league is full of kids as described above who have never played before or struggle with the basics. It's a damn shame, and I hated to get away from that communal atmosphere, but it was time for a change. That being said, we had a tournament two weeks ago, and it exposed my biggest fears about the stereotypical aspects of select ball. His team lost both games in pool play and the knock-out game Sunday. Two of the three games were close and they lost both in the last inning. Just not enough pitching to close games out. Here's the gamut of stereotypes we encountered: Game 1: 300-lb diabetic east-coast guido coach sitting at the end of the dugout barking orders at his assistants and belittling kids. He called a pick-off play at second that caught one of our guys napping, and you would've thought he just cured cancer. Game 2: Played a 12U AAA team (son's team is a AA 11U). They were slaughtered. 12-0 after the first. Prick 12U coach kept swiping bags and moving runners up on passed balls even when it was 15-0. Mercy rule after 3 innings, but infuriating to see a coach pile it on with total lack of respect for the game. Game 3: Encountered the forehead-vein bulging coach dressed with baseball pants and stirrups like he's going to suit up. His kids had wristbands on for signals. In baseball. Wristbands. Took 20-30 seconds between pitches to get the signal from the coach then glance down at the wristband before getting in the box. No better when they were in the field. Relaying signals to the catcher so he can signal the pitcher. No discernible difference in pitches, so no clue if he was trying to call pitches or locations or what. It was such a waste of time. Then, he yanks a kid out of the game mid-inning for missing a grounder. The dude was so over the top. I'm all for ramping up the coaching as kids get older, and I get it if that's your job, but the level of ass-hattedness confirmed all of my worst fears about select ball.

Similar to that Niagara wind blown ice, a buddy of mine lives outside of Toledo and was trying to explain an "ice jam" to me. At first, I thought it was a winter concert or something you put on toast. I had never heard of it. I was trying to understand the physics behind it. Pretty wicked stuff. Evidently, this one was the worst in 50+ years for Northwest Ohio.

I believe dude died from that fall. I remember watching that in a ladder safety class years ago.

Fished with Capt Will Granberry. We had a goose hunt lined up with him in January. No geese leading up to the hunt, so we cancelled and moved it to this. He called late Wednesday saying that he wade fished that day with a buddy and caught nada. Zilch. We decided to proceed with the wade fishing plan. Same results. Shitty misting, cold, windy weather. One keeper trout between the three of us and two dinks that we threw back. Tried Pringle, Long lake and a few other spots that I didn't recognize. Even tried drifting on the way back with no results. All soft plastics and topwaters. Only think they hit was a pink Corky and a KWiggler Texas Roach. Regardless, it was still nice to be out on the water. Funniest part of the trip was at Froggie's when we got back. We watched another guide unload nine reds that his group caught while they took their gear back to the truck. Guide went inside while the fish were on the dock and a group of pelicans took some liberty and devoured three whole keeper reds before we could run over there and scare them off. Those dudes were PISSED at the guide for losing 1/3 of their fish.

Any reports on POC as of late? I'm fishing there Thursday morning with a guide. I haven't fished in that area in over a decade. Most of my fishing has been East Matty, Rockport and ULM over the last several years.

We lived across the street from Travis and Tamara a few years ago when they went through the process of buying the old convenience store from the previous owners (other friends of ours as well). I don't think they ever thought it would blow up like it has. I can't tell you how happy I am for them. Like I said above, just truly good people that really work their asses off. I know they were talking about trying to buy the property you mentioned, so I really hope they were able to pull it off. That place could become even more of a mecca for daytrippers, motorcyclists and the like with more room to spread out and better parking.

Hays City Store is one of our favorites for sure. Just not really "fine dining". Travis and Tamara took a gamble on that place. They have worked their asses off and they are killing it. Could not be happier for them. If you haven't made the drive out there, I'd highly recommend doing so on a nice spring evening. Awesome burgers. Great CFS. Good daily specials. And ice cold beer.

That's good to hear. They seem to be hitting their stride. Glad you enjoyed it.

Well, damn. I read a while back that about 20% survive. Guess that was optimistic at best. Between that and the brooding habitat comment from @NotActuallyALonghorn, sounds like our odds are slim to none. We're going to continue working on habitat for quail and deer regardless. Keeps our wildlife exemption intact and I enjoy doing it. We installed a few cisterns. Working on a food plot in the next two years and long range plans for a small stock tank.

Thanks. That's going to be a big hole. Although I'm still in construction, I haven't been around those big projects in 5+ years. Still fascinated by them, though. And, after spending over a decade in the heavy equipment industry, I'm pretty well-versed with the majority of equipment out there, but I drove by the site today and I have no idea what the big crawler with the Princess Leia coils above the cab is. Any ideas?

Had a great weekend busting quail. Pen raised, but they were damn good flyers. Got to the ranch Friday evening. Temp was in the upper 20s. Unloaded the truck and moved the cages into the shop so the birds didn't freeze. Got settled in and went out to take a leak and get a beer. My special needs son decided that he needed to check out the birds and he somehow opened one of the cages. I heard screaming and wings flapping. I half pissed my pants and ran back in with my fly down to find about a dozen quail flying around the shop and my son going ape shit. At least the shop is enclosed. About 20 minutes later, my dad, my other son and I got them all corralled and back into the cage. All we could do was laugh. Would have made a great submittal to America's Funniest Home Videos. Saturday morning, I got up early and took the birds out to a few old pastures with decent cover but enough open area to shoot. I set out birds in coveys of 4-6. Came back to the house, then we ate breakfast and went out for the hunt. The temps stayed in the low 30s all day. I had my wife (no pics) and oldest son with me. First time hunting upland birds for my wife. They did all the shooting and I worked the dog. Murphy busted the first covey and came away with nothing. We chased one bird off towards an oak mott and Murphy started circling. His tail was wagging and he went right into the brush then came flying out and immediately started rubbing his face and neck on the ground. Direct hit from a skunk. Right between the eyes. It was awful. The only saving grace was that he was so damn close that the spray was concentrated to one spot. We were relatively close to the house, so we went back up and cleaned him as best we could with peroxide, baking soda and dish soap. After about 30 minutes of scrubbing, we got most of the stank out and went back for more birds. We hit up three more coveys, and they came away with just a few birds but had fun. I went back out in the afternoon with my old man and my son after lunch and we shot well. My dad has bad hips, so he went back to the cabin after a few coveys while me and the boy worked the last few birds. The old man can still shoot. He had a few really nice long shots with his old 870. My 11 year old son shot well towards the end. He finally got the hang of the swing. Most of all, I was proud of his gun safety and discipline. Never made a bad shot and held off on a few shots that he could've taken but erred on the side of caution. We had an absolute blast. Murphy was a beast. Flushing like a champ and didn't miss a single retrieve. He was whooped that evening and slept all day yesterday. We had some rain set in just as we finished cleaning birds. Grilled some chicken and venison sausage on the pit and played a few rounds of 42 while drinking some brown liquor. Pen raised birds or not, it was just a fine day. We ended up with 33 of 60 birds. Hoping some of the other 27 survive. Anyone have any input on that? I've heard no more than 20% will survive. We have decent cover out there and we try to keep predators at bay, so I'm optimistic. We'll do it again a few times next year with pen raised birds, but I'd love to see some coveys hang on and become year round fixtures. No action pics or videos, but a perfect February day.

You are absolutely correct. I haz confuze. Any idea how deep they're going?

This is the correct answer. I believe that's an Oscar Renda Contracting (now Southland Holdings) logo on the bore hole drilling machine. I'll be curious to see how deep they are going. I saw Howell Crane starting assembly today on a big lattice crawler crane as well. That may be used for piles given the proximity to the river.

Ahhhh yes. Finding the oasis on the 40 was wonderful. I found one in the recesses of MBB that was perfect. The building had just opened, and nobody ever went in there. Always clean. Always empty. Fast forward to my career in sales, and I developed a move called the "Hampton Inn Pit Stop". There's always a one-holer just past the lobby in a Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, etc. And no guest in their right mind uses a lobby restroom when their room is a few feet or a few floors away, so it's almost always spotless. Walk in like you're headed to your room, take a right just past the elevators to the shitter, do your business, exit out the side door, and get back on the road. My office shitter sucks now. Men's room with one toilet and one urinal. And, we're almost all guys with three ladies, so it's not like we can use the women's room. And I'm too cheap to pay a cleaning lady, so we rotate who cleans it. Which usually means that it's nasty until someone caves. Good news is, I'm out of the office >50% of the time. When I do go straight to the office, it's early and I'm the first one there, so that's acceptable. I usually just clean it and have an immaculate throne to decimate. And Imma let you guys in on a little secret. If you're ever downtown and need a place to shit, go to The W. Individual restrooms just off the bar / lounge area. Always spotless. Nice music playing. Each one has a different Austin icon photo. Walk in. Do your business. Walk out. And have the door held for you. That'll be $9.95 please.

2018-2019 license. Quail season runs through Feb 24. I get what you're saying. Does the 2019 thread start when dove season kicks off?

I'm a very seasonal drinker. Fall / Winter / Early Spring = Bourbon. I rotate a few different brands. Usually on the rocks. Beam and Dr. Pepper in a styrofoam cup if I'm at the ranch. Shiner Bock or Negro Modelo if I'm day drinking. Duckhorn Cab with beef. Late Spring / Summer = Tequila and Topo Chico with lime (aka Ranch Water). Cruzan Silver Rum with Sprite in a Tervis Tumbler if I'm at the beach. Pacifico or Dos Equis if I'm day drinking. Steer away from wine during the summer months. Throw in a wide variety of meal or event specific cocktails (Bloody Mary, Moscow Mule, Margarita) that have no seasonal boundaries.

I like your style. Just might take you up on that.

When does the 2018 thread officially get put out to pasture? I have one more quail hunt scheduled for next weekend, then hanging it up until spring turkey season.

I have not done the Chandeleur trip, but we did a Louisiana Marsh trip aboard the Southern Belle about ten years ago. I think we went in October. Here was my itinerary: Leave Austin on a Thursday at 6 AM. Rendezvous with my buddies in Houston around 9 AM. Stop in Lafayette for lunch. Make it to Biloxi for supper and gambling. Win a few bucks. Board the Southern Belle at midnight. Sleep for a few hours as we head south. Wake up Friday around 6 AM at their private dock in the middle of the Louisiana marsh with four idling skiffs fueled up and purring. Drink coffee and eat breakfast. Catch reds and specks. Eat bad ass cajun food for lunch. Drink beer. Fish more. Eat bad ass cajun food for dinner. Drink bourbon. Pass out. Repeat Saturday but add college football on the satellite TV that afternoon and evening. And add poker Saturday night. Fish more Sunday morning. Ride back to Biloxi Sunday afternoon watching NFL football while one of the hands cleans all your fish. Drive back to Houston then to Austin. That drive back suuuuuuucked, but otherwise, it was an amazing trip. Damn, I need to do that trip again.

@Cajun that's a sweet ride. The interior is immaculate. Hit up Texas Hitch in Austin. One location south, one north. They can handle the lift and will treat you right. Owner is a buddy of mine from UT. I believe he posts here as well.