2008 Hunting Trips Reports

10/4/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone – Lometa) report by Mark Dillow

We had one officer (me), one guest (Brad Roberts, a new friend of mine), Harold and Edward Terry, Dick Matteson, and Van Short at the 10/4/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone) on Joel Kirby’s land near Lometa.  Greg Souther also joined us (seven total participants).

Lometa received 3” of rain the night before the hunt, much to everyone’s surprise.  We had about 10 – 15 mph of wind all day, keeping the temperature very pleasant.  The ranch was nice and green.

We had some steady shooting in the morning until about 10:30.  We saw several large flocks of whitewings but they were way out of range.  I am not sure how many birds were killed, but I doubt if anyone had more than six or eight birds.  I had a couple, Greg got two, and Dick got one.

I was pleased with my dog Trey, who had only been on one hunt previous to this one – he made his first-ever retrieves on this trip.

Around 10:30 we went fishing at the big tank, and several bass were caught.  I broke one off on my flyrod, had another really large one on that threw the hook, and landed a couple in the one-pound range.

Joel provided hamburgers with all the fixin’s for lunch…and they were great burgers.

Seemed like a really good trip from my perspective.

9/28/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone – Buda)

One member had a good time at the 9/28/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone) held a  Louis and Greg Drott’s managed season leases near Creedmoor.  Charles Cutchens got a few birds hunting the big field off of Von Quintas Road.

9/27/08 – 9/28/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (North Zone – Woodson)

One officer and one member (two participants) attended the 9/27/08 – 9/28/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (North Zone) near Woodson.  The hunting was poor.  Ken Hamilton and Wilson Peters got four birds between them after hunting Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon.

9/19/08 – 9/21/08 Annual Fall Dove Retreat (Central Zone – Trickham)

Two officers, seven members, three first-time guests, and five sons (17 participants) had a great time on 9/19/08 – 9/21/08 on Frank Hamilton’s land near Trickham.

Friday afternoon started slowly (I, Randy Rowley, shot my first dove at 6:30 PM), but ended with more action. I led the way with five birds.  Tim Price got three.  I led us in a Bible Study on Friday night on Joy Comes in the Mudding.

Saturday morning started slowly; however, as the sun started to rise birds began to pour out of the mesquites and oaks in large groups.  The flood of birds lasted about two minutes, which was enough time for several hunters to pick up a lot of birds.  After the spigot was turned off, the birds were limited to groups of four or fewer.  First-time guest Ron Burgi led the way with nine birds.  Edward Terry bagged seven.

After we ate breakfast I led us in a Bible Study on being Overdue!

On Saturday afternoon we broke several boxes of clay targets.  Tim also brought a homemade shotgun patterning board that some of us took advantage of.

On Saturday evening I found a hot spot in the far corner and had my limit by 6:30 PM.  Ron Burgi, Ron Denison, Tim, and Isaac Price also limited out a few minutes after me.  After we cleaned our birds, we went to Humprey Pete’s restaurant in Brownwood, where Frank treated everyone.

On Sunday morning there was an initial flurry of birds shortly before 7:00 AM, but it was nothing like the morning before.  The birds also were generally higher and faster.  Edward Terry led the way with five birds.

The group bagged considerably more birds than were taken the year before.  We saw a herd of hogs, several deer, several ducks, and an albino skunk.

The participants would like to thank Frank for his incredible generosity.

9/20/08 – 9/21/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (North Zone – Woodson)

Two members and two guests (four total participants) attended the 9/20/08 – 9/21/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (North Zone) near Woodson.  The hunting was poor.  The group got 12 birds after hunting Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning from three different fields.  Wilson Peters led the way with eight birds.  Wilson’s guests got two each.  Rusty Prince only fired his gun twice.  The weather and West Texas sunrises and sunsets were beautiful.

9/20/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone – Buda)

One member and two sons (three participants) had a good time at the 9/20/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone – Buda).  Eddy Chance’s boys got a few shots off but the group only saw a few birds.

9/6/08 – 9/8/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone – Buda)

Three officers, three members, two first-time guests, and four sons (12 participants) had a mixed time at the 9/6/08 – 9/8/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt at Louis and Greg Drott’s managed season leases in the Buda, Mustang Ridge, and Creedmoor areas.  Eddy Chance took his fiancé, Kelly Harrison, Hunter, Jordan, and Midnight to the Creedmoor lease on Saturday morning.  Larry Dowden, Charles Cutchens, Ron, Jake, and Alex Denison also hunted but it was dead.  They had a few highflyers.  Eddy thinks that Larry got one and Charles got two.  Kelly got to shoot for the first time at some dove with Larry’s Benelli 20 gauge and had fun.

Jim McGee and I, Randy Rowley, went to the field across from Von Quintas Road.  Nothing was happening so we started walking.  We did a LOT of walking (I’d estimate four miles).  We walked across the field and then across the Von Quintas field and back, and then across the Johnson grass/sunflowers on the edge of the Von Quintas field (close to 183, where I shot three), and finally in the Johnson grass/sunflowers on the other edge of Von Quintas by the big tree (where Jim and I shot two each).  I ended up with seven and Jim got four.  On Monday morning Jim took first-time guest Edward Torres hunting.  Edward was one of the winners from the raffle that we had at our booth at the 10/6/07 – 10/7/07 FCS Promotion at TPWDs EXPO.  They got four dove.  After lunch, they went back to the field and hunted for the rest of the day.  They finished up with Ed taking home eight dove.

9/1/08 – 9/2/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone – Buda)

Two officers, four members, one guest, and two sons (nine participants) enjoyed the 9/1/08 – 9/2/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (Central Zone) near Buda/Creedmoor.  The number of birds was down a little from last year.  Ron Denison got his limit on Monday morning.  The rest of the hunters got about half a limit.  They limited out during the afternoon in the mesquite fields.  It was very hot and there weren’t many birds flying that afternoon.

On Tuesday morning, they hunted the Turnersville field.  It was slow until about 8:30 AM.  While standing near the trucks the birds flew steadily for about 30 minutes.  Larry Dowden got 10 birds and Nick Quijano got nine.  The Mojo Dove decoys worked great.  They set up a few and had the birds circling the field.  One major issue, in every place they hunted they found ticks.  Anyone hunting this year needs to put a heavy layer of tick spray on.

8/31/08 – 9/2/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (North Zone – Woodson)

Two members and three guests (five participants) attended the 8/31/08 – 9/2/08 Annual Fall Dove Hunt (North Zone) near Woodson.  The hunting was very poor.  The hunters bagged about 20 – 30 birds during two days of hunting.  A cool front and rain scattered the doves about a week earlier according to the locals.  Wilson Peters saw numerous birds the day before opening day, but after one day the birds had moved out.  Still, it was nice being out in the country and the weather was very pleasant.

5/2/08 – 5/04/08 Hog Hunt

Two officers, three members, and two sons (seven participants) had a great time at the 5/2/08 – 5/04/08 Hog Hunt at the CzC Ranch near Mercury.

Al Weiss shot about a 70-pound sow on Friday night.  Al saw a bigger one but wanted a tastier one so he shot the smaller one.  No one else saw any hogs on Friday night.

They caught 12 bass from the lake.  Isaac Price caught four, Tim Price and Roy Brigman caught three each, Jim McGee caught two, and Randy Rowley was skunked.

On Saturday evening Roy shot at a gobbler but missed it.  On Saturday about 9:30 PM (after dark), Randy heard an eerie whooshing sound coming from the high grass to the left of his blind.  He then saw movement and soon recognized the blob as a tightly packed herd of eight hogs.  Al told him that when he shined his red light on his hogs the night before neither of them moved.  So, Randy didn’t do what he usually does (point the red light up into the sky and gradually move it down onto the hogs in an attempt to mimic moonlight coming through the clouds) and instead pointed it right above them and then brought it down onto them.  As soon as the red light hit them, they scattered.  A few minutes later Jim missed a hog from the same stand that Al had used on Friday night.

On Sunday morning they did a group stalk in the main wooded area but didn’t see anything.  They then stalked the dense woods behind Randy’s feeder and flushed several hogs.  Jim got two shots off with his shotgun, probably at the same herd that Randy had seen the night before but missed.  The herd then ran in front of Randy.  He missed the first three that he shot at but got the fourth one (around a 40-pound sow; they were all about the same size).  Tim got off around eight shots as well and hit one but not mortally (they lost its blood trail after a few yards).  Jim also got three more shots off at another hog but missed.

Randy led a devotional on being Wounded.

4/11/08 Buda Chapter Varmint Hunt

Ten men had a great time at the first ever FCS Varmint Hunt on 4/11/08.  They fished a little bit at the tank (caught 8 or 10 bass and a few perch), grilled some sausage and tortillas (tortillas donated by Margaritas Tortillas in Manchaca), and Darryl Swann led a devotional on 1st Daniel.  At about 10:00 PM or so, Hunter Phillips took everyone out and started to call.  They didn’t get any shots, but he called in one raccoon and one coyote.  They got back to Hays Hills Baptist Church around 1:00 AM or so.

3/28/08 – 3/30/08 Hog Hunt

One officer, three members, and one guest (five participants) had a great time at the 3/28/08 – 3/30/08 Hog Hunt at the CzC Ranch near Mercury.  Daryl Shipper shot a sow that weighed 151 lbs.  I, Randy Rowley, shot one that weighed about 120 lbs. (the scale broke when we tried to weigh it so I don’t know the exact weight).  The one that Daryl shot was with a group of three in the food plot field.  I shot mine from a herd that came to the big feeder in the field that is beyond the windmill.  There were approximately 15 pigs in the herd.  Most were small but a few were in the 80-pound range.  I shot the biggest one – hoping that it was the momma (she was engorged with milk).  Mike Shipper missed a long shot at a turkey.  I caught three bass at the lake.  One was around 13″ long and two were around 10″ long.  They all hit my lure with abandon and got themselves hooked with both trebles.  I led us in a devotional titled Overboard.  Thanks to Mike for bringing some excellent deer sausage.

2/15/08 – 2/17/08 Hog Hunt

One officer, three members, and one first-time guest (five participants) had a great time at the 2/15/08 – 2/17/08 Hog Hunt at the Y.O. Ranch, although no game was killed.  Jim Gault got a shot off at a herd of piglets after dark, but he had trouble trying to shoot his .50 muzzleloader and hold the spotlight at the same time from one of Charlie’s bow blinds (they don’t have a high enough ledge to lean your gun on).  We were treated to getting to watch many animals including five fallow bucks – four of which were trophies.  Ken Miller and I (Randy Rowley) had a blackbuck antelope stop and graze within 10 feet of us on Saturday morning.  We also saw an axis buck in the 34 – 36 inch range after dark on Friday night.  I led a Bible study on Buffalos and Lions.  Thanks to Mr. Charlie Batts for his hospitality.

1/18/08 – 1/20/08 Non-Guided/Non-Chartered Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Fishing Trip)

Two officers and four members (six participants) had a great time at the 1/18/08 – 1/20/08 Non-Chartered Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Fishing Trip) in Corpus Christi.  When we arrived on Friday, we were greeted with a steady 25+ MPH north wind and a heavily overcast sky.  We set up camp and did a little scouting.  We then ate at Castaway’s in Port Aransas.

The wind kept up through early Saturday afternoon.  This made getting across Wilson’s cut on Saturday morning very challenging.  I, Randy Rowley, couldn’t paddle Mark Dillow’s kayak into that wind and Tim Price’s trolling motor wasn’t strong enough to push his duck boat across either.  Jeff Reece had to tow us across in his bass boat.  We set up at our usual point.  But we had a problem – the wind pushed about half of the decoys to the shore.

Nevertheless, we had a great hunt and killed our limit of redheads (12), a pintail, and a widgeon, and shot another pintail but couldn’t find it.  The 14 ducks we killed were a record for an FCS Blast and Cast.

We returned and cleaned birds and guns and cooked brunch.  Then it was nap time.  After a couple of hours, we fished along Wilson’s Cut.  Harry Biggs caught an undersized redfish.  We then cooked fajitas.

Sunday morning was much better than Saturday as far as the wind was concerned but we had a bluebird day.  Tim was able to make it across Wilson’s Cut easily.  However, I couldn’t sit upright on Mark’s kayak and paddle simultaneously because I was wearing my son’s rubber waders (which would hardly bend), so I hitched a ride with Tim.

We had no problems with the decoys but there were a lot fewer ducks in the air than the day before. We still managed to bag 11 redheads and should have got our limit but we couldn’t find a redhead that dove after hitting the water.  We also missed a lone redhead that responded to my call (a few minutes earlier another lone redhead responded to my call and came straight in – we nailed it).

I also had a little scare.  A flock of about a dozen redheads came in from behind us.  I picked out one that was straight out from me and nailed it, but it almost hit me when it fell.  As it fell, I realized it was heading straight for me.  I could hear the whistling of its wings as the duck fell.  At the last instant, I dodged, and it crashed one foot to my left.  If it had hit me, it would have either hit my chest or head!

We camped at Mustang Island State Park.  I presented my devotional Stuck on Friday and my devotional Decoyed on Saturday.

Thanks to Harry Biggs for bringing his pop-up camper, Jeff Reece for bringing his bass boat, Tim Price for bringing his duck boat (converted sailboat), and Mark Dillow for letting us borrow his kayak.

1/5/08 Guided Duck Hunt

Two officers and four members (six participants) had a great time at the 1/5/08 Guided Duck Hunt with Joey Pohl’s Guide Service on a retaining pond at Sommerville State Park.  Four gadwalls, three widgeons, one spoonbill, and one teal (nine total) were bagged.  We also had three cripples that kept diving and couldn’t be recovered.  We saw hundreds of ducks but most were blind shy, probably because it was so late in the season.  Joey is a good caller and went way beyond the extra mile in retrieving ducks.