Squirrel Camp 2004 – Something to be experienced first-hand

This past weekend brought about SC 2004, the annual migration of educated rednecks back to the hills of NW Arkansas to assist in eradicating the world of pesky squirrels and excess beer. Two Texans accompanied me to the hills: Santos, our fun loving Chicken regular and his friend Dominic. This introduction of ole’ Corps boys led to a continuation of the strong Texan presence that the Razorbacks welcomed.

This year was a great success in achieving both tasks, with more squirrels exterminated than in the last two years combined and coercing St. Louis and Milwaukee to put their breweries into overdrive. I came in my typical second place this year with 5 tree rats while Moore (of all people – sitting outside his cabin) won the squirrelly grail with a whooping 8! A grand feast of squirrel and dumplings, venison, wild hog and miscellaneous other goodies were had by all. Enough squirrels were left over that I brought back several meals worth. I’ve already cooked up a great stir-fry with veggies and wild rice for Santos and my roommate Matt (a virgin squirrel eater) that both enjoyed.

Part of my success was due to my use of a new round for me – a 3 ½ inch #6 round that packs a punch. Buyer beware: this shot kicks like a mule being mounted by an elephant. I got a good shot to the face, as well as Curt who got a good thump in the nose. This round is like shooting buck shot at dove; much more powerful than duck rounds. Although deceptively strong, everything that was shot at hit the ground.

Other news that might interest you was our arms and munitions testing around the campfire. We developed a blow log that consisted of an 8 foot tall hollowed out log standing upright in the blazing fire. The concept is simple – drop in a propane tank and stand back. Way back! We went through about a half dozen propane tanks with great success. An AR-15 was brought out with tracer rounds as well, which was incredible in the night sky. It’s amazing that everyone survived with limbs in tack, considering there were more explosions than a trip through Baghdad. And to think that half of us either have a Ph.D. or are well on our way.

Anyway, all are invited to next year’s festivities. Mark September 2005 on you calendar!

Rigging Large Baits

Here is the bait that I used to catch the shark below. I finally decided to try the stinger hook because I have been having bad luck with my large baits with only 1 circle hook. The stinger hook was added using a piece of single strand wire tied to the eye of the first hook. I used a zip tie to hold the 2nd hook in place. It only took a couple of minutes to add the second hook.

This bait was hit once without a hook-up. The second time this bait got hit the stinger foul-hooked the shark in its pectoral fin.

Sargent - Trout Brown

I went to Sargent on Sunday for some late afternoon fishing. I fished from 1:00 until 7:00. When I got to the beach the water was brown and pretty choppy due to the steady East-North/East wind. All I could catch in my net was good size finger mullet. I was hoping for something bigger that I could use for cut bait. I was using 80lb mono and Kahle hooks hoping to catch some slot reds or maybe even a bull red. After 10 minutes my rod tip dances and goes slack. I reel my line in as fast as I can. I didn’t feel any weight but I could tell that I was skipping something across the top of the water. When I got closer I found out it was a 16” trout. Sweet! I didn’t expect that. 15 minutes later I caught another trout and then another. I was also catching some nice sand trout mixed in.

When I ran out of finger mullet, I packed my rods up and drove back to the bait hole and caught some more. I also got two big mullets for cut bait. When I got back to my spot I noticed the tide was starting to fall pretty quickly and it was now getting to be late afternoon. Lately, I have been hooking some nice fish under these conditions. I put another finger mullet out and rig up my other rod with cut bait. I was chilling out drinking some beer and listening to the football scores on the radio when I hear my clicker screaming. I looked at my rod with cut bait but it wasn’t that one – it was the finger mullet that got hit. I tightened the drag and felt a good fish. It was give and take for a couple of minutes and then my line got cut. I re-rigged with single strand wire and put that rod back out. I also brought my other line in and changed the cut bait. I didn’t have long to wait before that bait got nailed. It was dropped almost immediately so I brought it in and then casted it back into the second gut. 15 minutes later I get a nice run and this time the fish is hooked.

I think this is a blacktip but I could be wrong.

Blastin' and Castin' Logo

I was goofin' around with a logo, and here's what I came up with so far.

Does www.bactexas.com sound like an okay domain name??

The site format and layout will be the same, just gonna give it a cool logo and a domain name that I can get links to for now. blogspot domains normally aren't very credible since they are freebies.

Lemme know what you think.

Nameless Pork Cutlets Recipe

Since I had some success pig hunting on Monday I decided to experiment a little bit in the kitchen for supper last night. Most of the technique I utilized here is from the recipe for German Potato Salad I am certain it would work great with vension as well. The pork is envigorated with the sweet and sourness of a brown sugar/vinegar mixture. Both Jeff and Lindsey said that I was allowed to use this again in the future so I thought I might share it with ya'll.

Cure the meat if you are using wild game. This will make it much more tender.

Cut the loin/tenderloin into pieces 3-4 inches long and then smash 'em down to 1/2 inch with a meat tenderizer.

season both sides with salt/pepper/whatever you like. I coated the pork with some cinammon because I thought it would go well with brown sugar.

Take about half a pound of bacon and dice it then fry it under medium/high heat with some diced or strings of onions. Once bacon is done and onions are carmelized add the pork cutlets.

Make sure the pan is nice and hot then add pork. It should only take a minute or so for the hot pan to brown either side of the pork.

Remove Pork to a shallow bowl/platter. Remove bacon and onions and place on top of the pork cutlets.

dump the grease out of the frying pan but don't wipe clean.

De-glaze pan by adding vinegar to the pan. You may have to lightly scrape pan to remove all bits of bacon and other miscellaneous deliciousness.

Crumble brown sugar into the warm vinegar until a dark brown color is achieved and all sugar is dissolved.

mix cornstarch and cold water together in a small glass and then add to the vinegar and heat through briefly. This will thicken the vinegar/brown sugar so it'll stick to the pork.

Pour the thickened vinegar/brown sugar over the pork on the platter and serve.

Major Renovations

The Texas Outdoors resident web genius has suggested that we could make this site really blow up if we moved it off of blogspot and got our own little corner of the internet.

From Todd:

Look for a good domain name here:http://www.nameboy.com/somethin' like txwildlife.comor bctexas.com (blast and cast texas;)Make it something cool that you could have a good logo if need be.Find one and I will buy it and host it.

I think it would be great to have a larger audience and to better share what we have created here. However, the true purpose of this site is to allow us to communicate and right now I think everyone pretty much has this one figured out.

The question of pose is this: Would ya'll like to change the URL and the system to allow us to ultimately make this a better experience for everyone.

What features would be helpful in the new site?

What is a good domain name?

While Stephanie is away Chris is running around with this redheaded stranger 

How to prepare for a Fishing Trip.

Lessons Learned:

Put your bags and gear in the truck the night before, that way you don't forget something important.

Often when you are going offshore you need to meet someone and pick them up. It is a good idea to make sure that both of you are aware of where your predetermined meeting place is and how to get there.

Never assume that just because someone is always late that they will be this time unless you want to hear about it all weekend.

It is always most polite to arrive having eaten already unless previously agreed upon to get food together. If you must eat by all means get fast food so that you don't leave someone waiting for no good reason.

Make absolutely certain that everyone has there fishing licences. The last thing you want to do is be standing at the counter of Wal-mart waiting for Fred to get off his break. Once you annoy the help at a place like Wal-mart they are much more likely to find some reason they can't sell you a license and make you go to Academy. Nothing is worse than already being late and having to make one more trip to Academy.

Pig Hunting the Brazos River Bottom

Monday Morning,

What better way to wake up than take a walk through a couple of pastures with high power rifles. Chris Zeisloft and I got out to the river bottom pastures shortly after six. As the sun came up we anxiously watched a herd of black animals while enjoying a cup of java until shortly after seven when the freshly risen sun revealed them to be cows. We walked further and inspected the area around the huge hog trap Chris has constructed. Seeing little fresh sign we opted to walk around the edge of the extremely brushy pasture and take a look. We came to a wooded piece and while I walked in Chris swung around the outer edge, a tactic we often employ to chase game between us.

Chris got my attention and with hand signals informed me that there were at least 4 pigs on the other side of the wooded clearing. There was an old rusted and overgrown fence in between us and the pigs. we crept up through the hip high goatweed to the edge of the the fence. Chris called for the one on the far left and I sighted in a RED pig second from the left that I had a clear line on. As the pigs shuffled around I followed him long enough for chris to get set and announce his readiness. The Red had walked further to the left and unfortunately when the guns started going off both Chris and I shot him as Chris pulled the trigger instantly in response to my muzzle blast. He said that he saw steam escape out the far side of the red pig.

The shooting started the pigs and the ran toward us into the overgrown fence where their escape was blocked by rusty barbed wire and viney weeds. I pointed the gun at the pig nearest me no more than 10 feet away, chris yelled that one was hit already so I pulled up and shot at the rest as they ran away. Chris did the same. One of us scored another hit as the pigs ran away. We both gave vain follow up shots at a grey pig in the bunch as the final 3-4 pigs ran into the brush.

We found the red pig dead from two rifle shots just across the fence and retrieved the truck. A search of the pasture revealed a blood trail which we followed approx. 40 yards to find a black pig with a double lung shot.
Congratulations and broad smiles were abundant as we both raced off to pack the body cavities with ice and head to our 9:00 classes, we will be cleaning this afternoon.


"We do more before 7:00 A.M. than most people do all season"
-the quintescential redneck

Freeport Texas Deep Sea Guided Fishing Trip

This was a damn fun time. I had a freakin' blast. I could probably go on, but you get the picture. Speaking of pictures...here's more on our Guided deep sea fishing trip in Freeport/ Galveston Texas.

If you are ever in Texas, here is a damn good fishing charter guide in Freeport / Galveston Texas

Here's the Fisherman:

-and-
The Fish:



Freeport Texas Deep Sea Guided Fishing Trip

Unbelievable

I was looking at some of the other guide services that are advertised on the web and I found this one that has a photo gallery full of pictures of gafftops, two sandies and a couple decent fish. Surprisingly the people who paid for these trips seem pretty happy in the photo. When I look at guides I am always interested in how the other people that went him did.

EMAIL from Capt. Derwyn of DoDaBlu

Dodablu@aol.com said:

> Hi Steve,
>
> Current forecast:
>
> THURSDAY NIGHT
> NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 4 TO 6 FEET
> SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 4 FEET.
>
> FRIDAY
> NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND 10 KNOTS BECOMING NORTH. SEAS 2 TO 3
> FEET.
>
> SATURDAY
> NORTH WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 FEET.
>
>
> Looks good to me. I recommend that you have your group purchase the Texas
> Fishing Lic and Saltwater tag (check each license for a Red Drum Over 28" - tag.
>
> This will allow us to fish in close for bullred & blacktip shark.
>
> Call Thursday about 6:30 - 7:00 pm for final details.
>
> Capt Derwyn
>



--

So not all Brits have turned into Euro weenies

I know your minds are on fishing, but thought that you might find this link interesting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3656524.stm

Marine forcast from NOAA

GMZ200-151530-
SYNOPSIS FOR BAFFIN BAY TO MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 60 NM- 430 AM CDT WED SEP 15 2004 .ISOLATED SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE COASTAL WATERS THROUGH THIS EVENING. AS HURRICANE IVAN MOVES INTO THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO LATER TODAY...THE MODERATE SOUTHEAST FLOW WILL SHIFT TO THE EAST AND NORTHEAST. MARINERS SHOULD EXPECT SEAS TO BUILD TO 10 TO 12 FEET OVER THE OFFSHORE WATERS AS SWELLS FROM THE HURRICANE CONTINUE. THESE SWELLS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. A WEAK RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER SOUTH TEXAS WILL MAINTAIN A WEAK OFFSHORE FLOW FRIDAY. ONSHORE FLOW WILL DEVELOP BY SUNDAY AS LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS IN THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS.



Does this mean we will be OK for the friday trip or not? At the moment, most of the Western Gulf has 6 to 8 ft waves, that would not be a very smooth boat ride

Forget Marty Stouffer's "Wild America"...

... come up to Wild Gause. Oh, I'm sorry - y'all are tied down to women (obviously, since our hunting buddy photo disappeared) and have to sit at home and pass up on the bounty of wildlife I saw this past weekend. Aside from all the dove (mornings are loaded with them - saw a flock of 3 dozen at one point), there was a plethora of other game animals out and about. I saw a racoon and lots of rabbits, but instead went squirrel hunting amongst a mess of tree rats. Throw in the first hog spotting of the season and you have a better show than Marty ever could come up with, considering all you can shoot with him is photographs. So rather than a poster-sized map of the Gulf, come on up and we can add some hog photos to the site. Did I mention hogs? Wasn't sure, but there was a nice family of all sizes. In closing, I'll wish you good luck with the fishing, but will relish in the fact there is no size limit on HOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spoke with a couple off shore fishermen who assured me that if the hurricane stays east of New Orleans as projected the Friday trip should be fine.

follow link to : www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT09/refresh/AL0904P+GIF/020913P.gif

Eurasian Collared Dove 

A new species to hunt with no season and no bag limit

I was working the other day in Gause as two large doves flew in to perch on the power lines. Since I just happened to have the handy 12 gauge available, I decided that fixing fence could wait in the name of a scientific study. Upon collecting a specimen I realized that this was unlike any dove I had ever seen before. It appeared to be a ringed turtle dove (according to Petersons), but I just got off the phone with Texas Parks & Wildlife to learn that it is more likely an Eurasian Collared Dove. The species are identical except for the unusually large size of the Eurasian. Regardless, the person I spoke with said this would have been a rare find 5 years ago, but these birds are becoming established in Texas. The bonus to the whole story is that there is no season nor bag limit on these beautiful (and as I mentioned large) doves. So keep your eyes open when you are out and about.

fishing but not catching

On sunday I packed michelle up and a couple of fishing rods and went to the usual spot. We left late and made a few stops so we got there fairly late. That is fine with me because I don't really enjoy being outside during the hottest part of the day. I drove along the intercoastal and found mud in all the usual places but this time I made a bad deicision and got stuck. I tried rocking my way out but all that did was pull my air deflector off the the bumper. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a truck wearing mud tires to come pull us out.

Fishing was slow. Finger mullet and cut bait was catching large gafftops and small sharks.

I put out a whole 8-10" live mullet hooked through the tail and got a really nice run but

the hook came out when I tightened the drag. Nearly the same thing happened last week.

I am wondering if I need to rig the big baits a little differently.

Dove Season is Upon Us.

I went hunting this morning.

Yesterday Zeisloft and myself spent a couple hours in the afternoon driving around looking for the public access properties. We couldn't find any signage for the little brazos property but where it appeared to be there was no sign of any birds. We drove into mumford and got some guy that was around 100 yrs old to show us where Wallin Road was. This property seemed to be better than the other although we saw only a few birds at the north end of the property near a gravel road, roosting trees, a power line, and a harvested corn field


I drove out to the public hunting properties on highway 50 shortly before dawn. I saw a truck driving back to the the Little Brazos property so I headed out to Wallin Road.

I got out there while it was still dark. But I could tell there was still dust up in the air on the road, someone had just barely beaten me to the hunting spot. I got out to the property and I was pleased to see there was only 1 other vehicle there and they had set up at the extreme south end. The temperature was a very pleasant 67 degrees and there was a very heavy dew on the ground that would later make walking though the tall grass soak me up to the knees.

As I began to slide shells into my gun I realized that I hadn't even checked for a plug that morning. Sure enough there was none in. The last thing I wanted to do was go hunting on public property on opening day with an illegal un-plugged shotgun. I found a relatively straight stick, used my knife to wittle it even straighter and broke it to about the right size. I took my gun apart, inserted the new plug and checked it, sure enough it was just the right size to allow only two shells in the magazine. I hunted until the sun came up. I sat for a long time without hearing or seeing anything except a racoon and a bunch of scissor tails and other tweety birds. I got up and walked around a bit and the only dove I saw the whole morning totally surprised me so I missed him. I did show some restraint however and only wasted one shotshell.

I eventually gave up and on my way home I stopped into the little brazos property to see if their luck had been any better. There were approx. 10 automobiles parked there and I could see people sitting all over the place. A game warden was there in the parking lot talking to a fella so I stopped in and asked about their luck that morning. Warden attested that he had been there since 5:00 that there had been very few dove in the air but 10 to 15 shots fired and about 4 dead birds.