2022 Hunting Trips Reports

12/27/22 – 12/29/22 Semi-guided Deer Hunt and Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Two hunters hunted on Fort Hood.

On Wednesday afternoon neither hunter saw a deer (or anything else).

On Thursday morning they hunted a pond in area 41.  Randy Rowley killed a drake ringneck.  He also wounded another duck (probably a ringneck) but it dove and got away.  Burl Fulenwider and Randy combined to down a duck (probably a ringneck).  It fell near Randy on the land.  He went to get the duck and saw it walking away.  The duck went around a bush that was blocking Randy and when he got to the other side the duck had disappeared!  They looked for it for 30 minutes but couldn’t find it.  It probably wasn’t hurt as bad as they thought and flew away.

On Thursday afternoon Burl saw the hind end of a deer but couldn’t tell if it was a buck or doe (they were hunting does only), so he didn’t shoot.  Randy only saw cows.

On Friday morning they hunted a pond in area 25.  Randy killed a hen Green-winged teal.  A minute later two gadwalls came in.  Burl killed the drake and Randy killed the hen.  No ducks escaped.

12/10/22 Self-guided Duck Hunt

Chris Campbell, Burl Fulenwider, and Randy Rowley hunted on Lake Granger.  No ducks were bagged and no shots were taken.  They saw about 10 flights, but they were too high and far away.  The closest duck was 80 yards away.

12/3/22 – 12/4/22 Self-guided/chartered Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Freshwater Fishing Trip)

Burl Fulenwider, Blake Lieb, Ted Lieb, Randy Rowley, and Wayne Weilnau had a good time at Andy Spencer’s Hilltop Ranch near Gilmer.  They scouted ponds for ducks and fished on Saturday afternoon on Lake Randy.  Ted Lieb led the way with two bass – one of which was approximately 15-inches long.  Randy and Wayne also caught a small bass each and Randy had another one on that got off the hook.  Burl had two on that got off the hook.

On Sunday morning Burl, Randy, and Wayne hunted the Main Lake and Blake and Ted hunted Nanner’s Hole.  Neither group saw a duck.  Burl, Randy, and Wayne then fished Crescent Lake.  Burl caught an approximately 18-inch long, 2 1/2-pound bass, his Personal Best, and two smaller bass.  Randy caught two small bass and Wayne caught a small bass.

The group had probably the best meals on any trip, other than the 74 Ranch.  For lunch on Saturday they ate very tasty food at the 107 Restaurant in Paris.  Their menu was surprising for a small town, including fried okra and bacon tacos and mint chocolate chip cheesecake.  On Saturday night they ate very good Tex-Mex at La Finca in Gilmer.  On Sunday morning, Burl, Randy and Wayne ate a very substantial and tasty breakfast at the Midway Cafe in Gilmer.

12/2/22 – 12/3/22 Guided Duck Hunt

Burl Fulenwider, Blake Lieb, Ted Lieb, Randy Rowley, and Wayne Weilnau had a good time hunting a pond near Bonham with Roy Ethridge on 12/3/22.  The morning started slowly but picked up around 9:00 AM.  They bagged 11 ducks (eight ringnecks, two green-winged teal, and a wigeon).  There were also three cripples that got away.  They had 16 gadwalls land about 80 yards away at 10:00 AM, but they wouldn’t come to the decoys.

On Friday night they ate very good Italian food at Roma Italian Restaurant in Bonham.

They stayed at the America’s Best Value Inn in Bonham.  Don’t stay there unless you like sleeping on a concrete slab covered with a sheet.

11/27/22 Self-guided Duck Hunt

Dusty Hunt, Randy Rowley, and Drew Smelser hunted on Lake Granger.  Randy bagged a hen scaup, the only duck to come anywhere near them.  They saw about 30 flights heading up the river, but they were high and at least 400 yards away.

11/12/22 Self-guided Duck Hunt

Clayton Carrier and Raul Pena had a good time on Lake Stillhouse Hollow, using a kayak (Raul) and canoe (Clayton).  They bagged a mallard, teal, and shoveler (spoonbill).

10/22/22 Semi-guided Dove Hunt (Holland)

Myrick Browning, Mark Green, and Mike Walsh had a challenging time on Leon Carroll’s land near Holland on Saturday morning.  Myrick got two dove – a morning dove and a Eurasian.  Mike reported that it was very windy.

10/16/22 Semi-guided Dove Hunt (Holland)

Kurt DeRuiter, Dean Grand, and Mike Walsh had a good time on Leon Carroll’s land near Holland on Sunday afternoon.  Kurt got four and Mike got two.  Mike reported that it was windy and the dove didn’t come to the pond until the late afternoon.

10/15/22 Semi-guided Dove Hunt (Holland)

Burl Fulenwider, Randy Rowley, and Mike Walsh had a good time on Leon Carroll’s land near Holland on Saturday afternoon.  Burl got nine, Mike got five, and Randy got two and couldn’t find a third (despite finding a pile of feathers where it hit the ground).  It was windy and not as many dove were flying.  Randy only had two dove fly near him by the haybale where Mike killed seven on 10/11/22, and he was looking in the wrong direction.  He finally moved to where Burl was (Burl had around six birds at the time) and then got his first shots.  Groups of dove swarmed the pond after legal shooting time.

10/11/22 Semi-guided Dove Hunt (Holland)

Kurt DeRuiter, Tim Price, and Mike Walsh had a good time on Leon Carroll’s land near Holland on Tuesday afternoon.  Tim got nine, Mike got seven, and Kurt got four.  Mike reported that it was windy and not as many dove were flying.  Kurt decided to move west, away from the pond, to hunt.

10/9/22 Semi-guided Dove Hunt (Holland)

Frank Hamilton, Tim Price, and Mike Walsh had a good time on Leon Carroll’s land near Holland on Sunday afternoon.  Mike limited out and Frank and Tim got several birds each.  Mike reported that dove came to the pond in big groups from 5:45 PM until sundown.

9/4/22 Semi-guided Dove Hunt (Holland)

Alex and Ron Denison hunted on land on Leon Carroll’s land near Holland on Sunday afternoon.  There were plenty of birds to shoot at.  Ron bagged 10 and Alex got 9.  Ron said, “If my shooting skills weren’t so rusty I probably could have bagged my limit.  Around 7:30 the skies opened up and it poured.  Luckily we were at the truck by then.  High winds and lots of downed trees on the roadways on the way back to I35.”

6/24/22 – 6/26/22 Semi-guided Hog Hunt

Three hunters had a good, but hot time with Ricky Ethridge on a 2,000-acre ranch near Carta Valley (west of Rocksprings).  Jim McGee killed a boar early on Saturday morning.  He also killed a nicer boar on Friday night, but didn’t find it until Saturday.  At least two hogs were missed.

2/19/22 Guided Upland Bird Hunt

Nine hunters had a great time again with Mike Schumann at the old Dismukes/Bieberstein Ranch near Dime Box.  The total bag was 62 birds.  Flint DeShazo’s group (five hunters) bagged 36 birds – 17 quail, 12 chukars, and 7 pheasants and Bret Mercer’s group (two hunters, a youth hunting on a hunter’s package, and one chaperone) bagged 26 birds – 16 quail, 6 chukars, and 4 pheasants.

1/29/22 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Four hunters had a good time in a cove on the shore of Lake Belton at Fort Hood in Area 25.  They had two gadwall come in and Randy Rowley killed a drake.  Three other groups of ducks came by but wouldn’t commit.  Two of those landed about 100 yards from the decoys, but wouldn’t come any closer.  The forecast 10 – 15 MPH south wind didn’t materialize and the decoys were like statues.

The cove that they hunted was Plan D for Burl Fulenwider and Randy.  Plan A (Engineer Lake in Area 30) already had two groups of hunters on it.  Plan B (Larned Lake in Area 33) had a hunter on it where they wanted to be.  Plan C (a small pond in Area 25) had a hunter setting up when they arrived.  When they arrived at the Lake Belton cove there were two hunters there setting up.  Burl and Randy were going to set up around 250 yards from them, but Ken and Tim invited them to hunt with them instead, so they did.

1/16/22 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Two hunters mostly enjoyed the scenery at a pond on Fort Hood.  They saw no ducks and heard only four shots at a pond in Area 41.  They talked to a hunter whose group made the shots – they got a couple of gadwall.  They weren’t able to hunt the pond in Area 40 that they planned to hunt as there was a group of hunters there when they arrived.

1/6/22 – 1/9/22 Self-guided/chartered Coastal Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Bay Fishing Trip)

Eight participants had a good time at Port O’Connor.

On Thursday afternoon, Mike Curran caught a limit of redfish (25, 22, and 21″) while wading.  Randy Rowley, Daryl Shipper, and Kevin McConnell duck hunted but had no ducks come within 400 yards of them.

On Friday afternoon, Randy caught his personal best (PB), by 8 3/4″, 35 3/4″ black drum and Mike caught a 22″ and a 17″ speckled trout and a 22″ black drum while wading.  Randy had another big fish on for a couple of seconds.

On Saturday, Blake Lieb caught black drum of 44 (his PB) and 31″, Jim McGee caught a black drum of 37″, Burl Fulenwider caught bull reds of 43 (his PB) and 42″, Blake caught bull reds of 42 (his PB) and 41″, Mike caught three redfish ranging from 20″ – 24″, Kevin caught a 23″ redfish and five speckled trout ranging from 17 – 19″, Wayne Weilnau caught a 19″ speckled trout, and Mike caught a keeper trout.  Mike and Kevin caught their fish while wading.  Randy also killed a redhead.  Randy and Mike both had water come over the tops of their waders, due to misjudgments.  The quote of the weekend came from Mike, who said, “I’m stuck” when he was attempting to find a shallow enough place to get over to where Kevin, Randy, and Daryl were duck hunting.

On Sunday, Kevin caught a 44″ bull redfish (his PB), Wayne caught a 44″ jack crevalle (his PB), , and Daryl Shipper caught a keeper sheepshead.  Mike had probably a big jack crevalle on but it got off the hook after a few seconds.  It was a tad rough at the jetties.

Every day several under-sized game fish, hardheads, and toadfish were caught.  The participants used artificial lures, crabs, and live and dead shrimp.

The participants stayed at an Airbnb and ate out.

Thanks to Wayne and Kevin for bringing their boats and to Wayne for coordinating this event.

1/7/22 Guided Coastal Duck Hunt

Eight hunters had a great time at Seadrift with the Castaway Lodge.  They split into two groups of four.  Kevin McConnell’s group bagged 10 redheads, 5 scaups, a pintail, a bufflehead, and a green wing teal (18 ducks).  Wayne Weilnau’s group bagged seven redheads and a pintail (eight ducks).

Thanks to Wayne for coordinating this event.