Spaulding Smails

That's friggin glorious. In my household, that is referred to as "super happy fun day". The closest I've come to that is during the winter dove season about 15 years ago. We managed to kill a limit of dove on a Sunday morning at my buddy's ranch in George West over a big tilled under milo field. We ate breakfast and headed over to the other side of the ranch and busted a limit of quail by mid afternoon. We cleaned birds and everyone drove back home. My deer lease was about 30 miles south of there, and I was chasing an old 8-pt buck that I'd seen driving around the weekend before, so I stayed late and drove down thereto sit in the windmill blind on the far western edge of our lease. That old buck walked out just before dusk and I whacked him. Field dressed him in the dark and drove back home. Long day, but so much fun.

That is bad ass. Would love to see the solar kiln and sled router set up when you have some time.

I try to have some top shelf stuff for sipping and some well stuff for mixing. Most have posted good suggestions above. I'll add a few. But, you may want to grab some of the standard fare for cocktails. Nothing worse than having a guest pour a $100/bottle bourbon for a double whiskey and coke when Jim Beam would have totally sufficed. Tequila: Tequila Ocho Anejo (hard to find, but incredibly smooth) Herradura Reposado Rum: Santa Teresa Gran Reserva

Bout tree fiddy.

Side topic... How long until TPWD implements tags for oversized trout? Florida has slots for not only Redfish, but also Black Drum and Specks among others. 15"-20" slot for trout and 14"-24" for black drum. All others are catch and release. I had a tough decision last year when my son hauled in a 26" Speck. We ended up keeping her, but I regretted it as soon as she was in the box. Should have thrown her back. Do you think TPWD will try to slot Specks and Black Drum anytime soon?

I'm admittedly torn. First off, I would shit my britches if I was face to face with that fish while spearfishing. Second, I'm not sure I could do it. I love hunting and fishing, and I think that if it's not against the law, then more power to them. But, like you, I don't think I could or would personally take something like that purely for sport.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/texan-bags-alligator-gar-that-could-be-new-world-record/ Cross-post with Kayak thread. Back-to-back monster gars for the fellas at Amistad Expeditions out of Del Rio. Good bunch of guys. I'm sure they were stoked.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/texan-bags-alligator-gar-that-could-be-new-world-record/ If you know Darren or DW, check out this article.

You're exactly right. They are a great bunch. Very professional. And those vehicles take an absolute ass whipping. I can't imagine the tires, suspensions, etc they go through. And, you have to remember they are doing it twice. Once to drop you off and another to get the hell out of there.

Same as above. My son and I are going to meet my dad at the ranch in Kimble Co Saturday after the Horns game to try to catch an evening hunt. Our cisterns are under construction, and we don't have anything really to draw them in, but we've seen some decent flights in the past few weeks around evening time. Hoping to see a few birds. But, it will be fun regardless. Bringing the new skeet thrower, some .22 targets for the boy and a big box of .45 shells for me and the old man. We'll stay busy even if the birds don't fly. Can't wait. Just wish the cabin was done so we had some A/C so we could stay overnight. Too damn hot to camp out there right now.

See if you can find three more to join you. They can take six, and I think the increase in shuttle cost is nominal with more people. You'll pay for extra permits and kayak rentals, but the increased shuttle cost won't be much. I think we were $120/man the last time we went. That was permit, shuttle and tip for six guys. We all had our own kayaks, though.

What was the all-in cost? The permits are cheap, but the outfitter to drop you off and pick you up can add up, especially if you have a smaller group. Plus, kayak rental can add up. I did the math on it, though, and those outfitters still aren't necessarily cutting a fat hog. Those guys are in the truck for 4+ hours just to drop you off or pick you up. If you're re-scheduling, May is a great time (especially if there's some spring rain). May and October are peak times.

It's pretty amazing how you can identify specific antler traits and almost develop a lineage within a herd. I hunted on the same low-fence 1400 acres lease for 7 years in South Texas between 99-06. The majority of the deer had G3s longer than G2s. That was an almost universal trait throughout the herd. But, we noticed two basic sub-lineages throughout the herd. We had a ton of deer with forked right G3s. Another group had split left brow tines. It was pretty predictable, and you could almost discern the genealogical history of each buck based on the antler development.

I agree with all of the above. 10-12' rope tied to the front. Get a soft, nylon rope about 1/2" in diameter. I actually throw one on the back as well and tuck it under my gear. As @PatrickMcHorn mentioned, you may want to ease the boat ahead and hang onto it from behind. Don't bring a cooler. Water is going to be super low. Box wine (with the box removed aka "space bag") or whiskey in a flask is the correct answer. When you set up camp, drop wine into the river and let it cool.

Any reason we're overlooking the license plate. "Thicc AF"? Awesome.

Other key components are as follows: -Pictures of featured food items on the menu -Receipt given to you by the waitress, but you pay at the register -Chicle at the register -Horchata fountain behind the register My recommendations. Most are south-ish. Taqueria #3 La Escondida (Ben White just east of Manchaca. I drop my truck off at Discount Tire to get tires rotated and balanced and enjoy a nice huevos rancheros breakfast with nopalitos). Taqueria Arandas (multiple locations around town) Casa Linda Taqueria (way South First) Taqueria Peloncitos (Stassney near Kizer GC) El Chanclas Taqueria (183 S @ 812)

Same. My mom fell for it about five years ago. Once she found out that it was a scam, she was so freaked out and paranoid that they were going to be able to get back in she ditched the computer and bought a new one. To make matters worse, my grandmother (85 y.o.) relies on my mom as tech support. My mom went to her house earlier this year to set up her printer. She was there for six hours and still didn't get it to function properly.

I agree and applaud your method, and it certainly works. Another alternative is to consume said chili cheese Fritos with a nice accompaniment of ice cold Big Red. The Big Red tends to balance out the saltiness and provides a refreshing palate cleanse between each fist full of chili cheese Fritos.

UR Cooks I can remember traveling from our hometown of Corpus Christi to Houston to visit some family friends. They took us to UR Cooks. At about 8 years old, I thought that was the coolest fucking restaurant idea I'd ever seen.

I know the feeling. My little honey hole on Onion Creek is low, low, low. What's usually a dammed up section of the creek that's 15' deep and about 1000 yds long is now a small pond that's maybe 4' deep at most and 200 yds long. Lots and lots of bass, catfish, bluegills and a few crappie are consolidated to that tiny little area. I really want to check it out, but I'm scared to see what I'll find which is why I've stayed away. We need rain in a bad way, and even with some rain, it may be years before that little fishery recovers.

My guess on the life jackets is they know they're fucked and getting a full body cavity search by the coast guard, police or whoever has jurisdiction there. "Boys, I know the law says we just gotta have life jackets for enough souls onboard, but put those fuckers on. I'm in enough shit as is. Jim, you hold the whistle. Bill, you grab the horn. Frank, here's the flares. Hank, you dump all the beer and whiskey overboard. I'll hide the coke in the head. Craig, you know what to do. The usual. Dump the five dead hookers overboard."

This brings back a horrible memory from last fall. We were doing our annual 3-day Devil's trip. I had kayak fished the previous weekend back home and still had my favorite frog top water tied to my 6' kayak rod. When we were putting in at the SNA, I noticed a little snag on my braid just above the leader. I was hungover and lazy and figured I wouldn't see anything but little smallies on that section above Dolan, so I didn't bother to cut back my braid or re-rig my leader / lure. There's a little pond just south of the SNA that I always thought would hold decent fish. I threw that frog topwater back into the corner amongst some lily pads and WHACK, it got slammed. I had a decent 3-4 lb largemouth on. She jumped out of the water and shook, then turned and ran left and SNAP. My braid broke. Lost what would've easily been my biggest largemouth on the Devils PLUS my favorite topwater lure. Since then, I check my braid before every trip.

Palomar and FG are my go-to knots. I've always heard the saying though, "better to tie a decent knot great than to tie a great knot decently." Practice in the garage until it becomes second nature so you can do it on a rocking boat or in bad light.

I endured their ineptitude for 9+ years at my previous house. Every summer, you could bank on going at least one day without water. We were down three days once with similar bullshit excuses. "Backup pump hasn't been maintenanced properly, so it went out" and "The part that went out never goes out, so we don't keep it in stock" were actual statements that I heard. When pressed about a discount for service interruption, they pretty much laughed because they knew they had us by the balls. That company is a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

Thanks for the info! I like the way you have it set up. I appreciate your strategy about the timing and the food plot, and it makes sense that open protein feeding is not only expensive but also creates nocturnal behaviors. What type of protein are you feeding? Are you buying bags or in bulk? Feeding year-round protein or only during spring / summer? Our property is similar in size to yours and we're low fenced as well with larger properties surrounding us. The smallest adjacent property is 600 acres, and we don't think they get much hunting pressure. So, we're excited to see what we can develop in the coming years. Right now, we're seeing some decent whitetail and axis on the game cameras. We just bought the property earlier this year. This spring and summer, we cleared a ton of cedar ourselves and brought in a hydro-mulcher for a full day as well. We weren't overly thick as the property was grazing land primarily over the last several decades. There's a nice wet weather creek at the back of the property that seems to be the main traffic area for movement. The property is almost perfectly square, so it feels much larger than it is. We set up three spinning feeders and we're feeding 50/50 corn/protein twice per day at 2 second intervals. We don't have any tanks on the property, but we're putting in two cisterns in the coming weeks. Setting up float valves and hoping to keep the hogs from tearing those up. The goal is to draw more wildlife in from adjacent properties and keep them there. Right now, I think we're getting mostly deer passing through. We do have an old pasture (approx 2 acres) that was fenced and we're assuming was a small food plot at one time. The fence was in such disrepair that we took it down completely. I haven't pulled the trigger on a tractor yet, but hoping to do a food plot out there in the next few years. We've already spent way more than we wanted on fence, a new road and getting the cabin set up, so any additional improvements are probably going to take a few years for funds to recover, but I'm excited to start playing with the protein to see what we can develop.