2012 Hunting Trips Reports

12/29/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt

One officer, two members, and one guest (four participants) had a good time at the 12/29/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt on Granger Lake. We hunted in the San Gabriel Wildlife Management Area just off the San Gabriel River. It was cloudy and there was little wind. There were very few ducks in the air. We had three come by the decoys that attracted a shot. We only saw five other ducks from the boat/blind. Tim Price went back further into the cove and jumped a dozen ducks, including mallards. He bagged a female gadwall but another one got away. He also bagged two dove on the way back with 4 steel shot! We also had boat problems – hopefully it was just gas that had broken down.

12/8/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt

Two officers and one member (three participants) had a great time at the 12/8/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt on Granger Lake. We hunted in the San Gabriel Wildlife Management Area. It was very overcast and there was little wind. We got two ducks over the decoys but most ducks flared away (the decoys looked like statues). Tim Price got out of the boat and moved to the end of the slough. It was filled with bushes and trees up to 20′ tall. We noticed that the ducks liked to fly down the tree line. He started to get shots and soon after Ken Miller and I joined him. By that time Tim had four ducks down, including a double. I, Randy Rowley, shot three birds with two shots from a flock (although one escaped in the trees and bushes). It was similar to dove hunting. We bagged nine ducks in the trees. Tim ended up with a limit, including a mallard, a gadwall and four teal. I bagged five including a gadwall and four teal. Ken downed a duck but couldn’t find it (we couldn’t find four that Tim had dropped and two that I had dropped). What was amazing was that nine out of the eleven bagged ducks were shot with the decoys being 200 yards away!

11/17/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt

Two officers and one member (three participants) had a good time at the 11/17/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt on Lake Stillhouse Hollow. We hunted in the Union Grove Wildlife Management Area. The lake is up nine feet from last year so it was very different (but it is still down 5 1/2 feet). The water had fog on it and there was little wind. We decided to try another spot. Randy Rowley got out of his boat and was putting up the blind when suddenly three hooded merganzers came in. Bill Smith was unloaded and quickly put a shell in. Ken Miller was loaded. The birds flushed and ken shot a hen. We relocated and saw a small flock a few hundred yards away and a lone duck that flew over another group of hunters. It looks like the migration has not begun yet.

11/3/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt

Three officers had a good time at the 11/3/12 Self-guided Duck Hunt on Granger Lake. We hunted in the San Gabriel Wildlife Management Area. The lake is up five feet from last year so it was very different. It was a very foggy morning, but no wind. We had a few ducks come by but none were interested in our decoys. We also saw two large groups of ducks (one flying up the river and the other flying from the river). One group had around 90 ducks.

9/22/12 Fall Dove Hunt (Dilley) by Art Barrera (all but the first sentence)

Two members and four guests, including three first time guests (six total participants) had a good time at the 9/22/12 Fall Dove Hunt near Dilley on Mrs. Ewald’s properties. During the morning hunt, we went to the windmill tank on the Ewald property by the pink house. Juan shot 10 doves, Rupert shot 5, and Rich shot 2. We finished the morning hunt and returned to the main house to BBQ some fajitas at the barn. After eating lunch, we had a short Bible study on the 12th chapter of the Book of Romans. We then went to the Ewald property that’s across the highway behind the church. However, after spending about an hour there with no birds flying, we decided to go back to the windmill…GLAD WE DID!!! The windmill that afternoon became a war zone. Kamikaze doves were attacking in droves! Wave after wave of birds kept coming into the field adjacent to the windmill and to the tank at the windmill. It wasn’t too long before we all got our daily limits. We cleaned a total of 90 birds that day! A great time was had by all. Like Shane, Rupert De Los Santos & Juan Cruz work with me as agents and firearms instructors for the U.S. Border Patrol. It sure was nice hunting with co-workers, family, and a church/FCS friend.

9/22/12 Self-guided Teal Hunt

One officer, one member, and one guest (three total participants) had a good time at the 9/22/12 Self-guided Teal Hunt on Lake Stillhouse Hollow. We hunted the north side of the island. The lake is up 12 feet from last year but is still three feet below normal. The line of cover is around 15 yards inland. We only managed four shots at a teal and didn’t get him (he flew behind us). Another group came in fast and by the time that we got our guns up they were out of range. Still another large group flew over us while we were fishing.

9/14/12 – 9/16/12 Fall Dove Retreat (Trickham)

Four officers, four members, one guest, and four sons (13 total participants) had a great time at the 20th Annual Fall Dove Retreat on 9/14/12 – 9/16/12 on Frank Hamilton’s land near Trickham. We were skunked on Friday afternoon. Ron and will Burgi led the way with three bird between them on Saturday morning. Justin Painter led the way with two birds (his first two dove) on Saturday afternoon. We were skunked on Sunday morning. We had our usual fun clay target shoot on Saturday (this time we played Knock Out) and dinner at Chill’s on Saturday night, where we watched the UT – Old Miss game. Randy Rowley led us in a devotional titled Don’t Look Back. We would like to thank Frank for his continued generosity.

9/8/12 Blast and Cast (Dove Hunt and Bass Fishing Trip)

Two officers, seven members, three guests (including one first time guest) and two youth (14 total participants) had the great time at the 9/8/12 Blast and Cast (Dove Hunt and Bass Fishing Trip) on Joel Kirby’s land near Lometa. It started out as a cool and windy morning but turned warm quickly.

Roy Brigman, Jim Gault, Tim Price, and Randy Rowley limited out with 15 birds each. Greg Moerbe got 11. First time dove hunter David Sanchez got eight birds! First time dove hunter Becky Terry got several birds. Ken Miller got four. There was a good mix of mourning dove and whitewings.

Jim, Tim, Chris Rowley, and Randy caught several bass and took some home.

Joel Kirby fed us a great lunch of burgers, chips, potato salad, cole slaw, and drinks. Thanks Joel!

We also want to thank Joel for making his land available for this event!

7/13/12 – 7/15/12 Self-Guided Hog Hunt

Two officers and two members (four total participants) had a good time at the 7/13/12 – 7/15/12 Self-guided Hog Hunt at Charles Batts’ land on the Y.O. Ranch near Junction. Although we didn’t see any hogs we saw lots of deer, axis, fallow, and a porcupine.

4/15/12 – 4/17/12 Semi-Guided Hog Hunt

Two officers, eight members and five guests (including four first time guests) and one youth son (a record 16 participants for a guided hunt) had a great time at the 4/15/12 – 4/17/12 Semi-Guided Hog Hunt at the Texas Wild Hog Hunting Ranch near Gonzales. A record 10 hogs were killed, including:

Paul Irwin 118 lb. and 74 lb. (the latter with a knife on a dog hunt)

Art Barrera – 98 lb.

Jim Irwin – 82 lb.

Burl Fulenwider – 80 lb.

Rich Beitel – 70

Jim McGee – 69 lb.

Caleb Swann – 55 lb.

Randy Rowley – 54 lb.

Marc Sherrin – 52 lb.

Seven of the hogs were killed on group stalks and two were killed from stands. The meals were good, the A/C was cold, and the beds were decent. They have a new lodge with easy chairs and two big screen TVs. Randy led a Bible Study called Stand Fast.

1/28/12 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Two officers and two members (four total participants) had a great time at the 1/28/12 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt on Granger Lake. Jim McGee and Greg Moerbe each shot a drake pintail. Tim Price shot a drake mallard, drake gadwall, and an unidentified hen (it looked like a hen mallard but had grey feet and didn’t have the wing patch). Randy Rowley shot two drake pintals and a drake gadwall. Instead of taking Randy’s boat, they walked in (about a mile going in but it felt like two miles going out because it was all uphill) and waded out to a small island. The island had plenty of stumps that helped us hide.

1/20/12 – 1/22/12 Self-guided Coastal Duck Hunt

Three officers, one member, two guests, and two sons (eight total participants) had a great time at the 1/20/12 – 1/22/12 Self-guided Coastal Duck Hunt near Corpus Christi/Port Aransas/Aransas Pass. We hunted off of Wilson’s Cut in the marsh near Corpus Christi all three days and also hunted near Conn Brown Harbor near Aransas Pass. On Friday afternoon we limited out with redheads and Ron Denison also got a bufflehead. On Saturday morning all but two hunters limited out on redheads. We were skunked on Saturday night in our attempt to get ducks other than redheads. We limited out on redheads on Sunday morning. A total of 37 ducks were taken. I led us in a devotional on Saturday night on Bearing Each Other’s Burdens. We camped at the IB Magee Campgrounds in Port Aransas. We ate a great meal at Trout Street on Friday night and Robin and Chris Rowley cooked some great brunches and shrimp, beef, and chicken fajitas on Saturday night.

1/13/12 – 1/15/12 Parent/Child Self-guided Deer and Hog Hunt

One officer, five members, three guests, and four sons (13 total participants) had a great time at the 1/13/12 – 1/15/12 Parent/Child Self-guided Deer and Hog Hunt at Frank Hamilton’s land near Trickham. Tim Price killed a medium sized small pig. One doe was missed. Darryl Swann led a devotional. The participants would like to thank Frank for his incredible generosity.

1/14/12 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Two officers and one member (three total participants) had a good time at the 1/14/12 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt on Lake Stillhouse Hollow near Harker Heights on a cold morning. Charles Cutchens bagged a drake bufflehead, Jim McGee bagged a hen canvasback, and Randy Rowley bagged a drake canvasback. After several ducks flared away from Randy’s boat/blind they left his decoys there and drove his boat to an area where the ducks were flying over/landing and just sat there (anchored and tied to a tree) without any decoys out and pretended to be fishermen.  They did better there (killing two) than they we did earlier with 49 decoys out and two mojos (killing one).  They think that the ducks probably didn’t flare away because they thought that they were fishermen.

1/7/12 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

One officer and two members (three total participants) had a good time at the 1/7/12 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt on Granger Lake near Taylor. It was a cool morning that started out foggy but cleared up quickly. Paul Irwin killed five ducks, Tim Price killed three, and Randy Rowley killed one. The mud was very soft and five of the ducks floated away faster than we could get to them. The four that were bagged were gadwalls.