2026 Hunting Trips Reports

5/20/26 – 5/23/26 Self-guided Prairie Dog Shoot (Hunt) (Report by Bob Steckler)

After skipping last year, we reinstated the Prairie Dog Shoot and made the drive to the Rita Blanca National Grasslands near Dalhart to seek those varmints out.  A long drive…..600 miles from my house.

Member Dan Rogers, myself, and my son-in-law, Jason Lott participated.  Jason drove from Houston.

Dan and I loaded up my truck and left the morning of Wednesday May 20 and arrived late afternoon at the Yucca Flats RV Park and Cabins, north of Dalhart, and very close to where we would be shooting.

We stayed in a newly built 2 bedroom cabin with pull out sofa, big living area, vaulted ceilings.  It was very NICE!  I could totally live full time in a unit like we stayed in. We all shared the place and split the $450 at $50 per man per night. Full bath, full kitchen, a/c, everything.  They have 2 of these 700 SF cabins, plus 5 pull thru, full hook up RV spots for $30 per night.  It is in the middle of nowhere, right where all the prairie dogs (PDs) live!  We were the only ones there.  Thank you Jason for scoping that place out!!

We brought all our own food, snacks, beverages and drinking water.

Thursday morning we woke up to much cooler weather, drizzle, fog and the smell of smoke from the many fires burning in the area. Not a great start.  Instead of going out in that, we decided to drive 10 miles to Clayton, NM to the US Forestry office and get a paper map of the National Grasslands.  Between that and the app, onX, we would better understand where to go and not go.

Rita Blanca National Grasslands a huge and confusing configuration of numbered units with private land interspersed with the national land, so we wanted to be sure we were not shooting on private land.  The lady at the forestry office was also very helpful in advising which units likely had good populations of the PDs.  She was spot on, too.

We drove back to our cabin and the weather had gotten better, (but still smoke in the air and the wind was blowing constant 25 mph with higher gusts) so we loaded up the shooting gear and went to one of the recommended units about 15 minutes away from the cabin.  Bingo!  We set up our shooting tables and got to work…or fun in this case.  (Shout out to FCS member Burl Fulenwider for letting me borrow his shooting table!)

Dan was shooting .17 HMR and .204 Ruger, I shot my .204 Ruger and .223 single shot with bull barrel and Jason had a .204, .223, .17 HMR, and a new .22 PRC.  We stayed at that spot for several hours, shooting 200+ rounds each.  Ranges were from 100 yards to 600 yards and more.  With the high wind, it was interesting to work out the dope and walk shots in.

Back to the cabin for dinner to watch a big storm roll in with an awesome lightning show, booming thunder, high winds, heavy rain and hail.  Thankfully, not a lot of hail and no damage to trucks.  The rain was welcome because it put out most of the raging fires they had in the area.  BTW, if you haven’t been in that part of the state, it is flat, sits at about 4,000′ elevation, virtually no trees and unlimited views.  It’s so flat you could watch your dog run away for 3 days out there.

Friday morning we drove to several Rita Blanca units, set up, shot for an hour and then moved to another spot.  We just couldn’t find the sweet spot that allowed us to stay all day and shoot.  So, we would move, set up, shoot and then move again.  We still each shot 200+ rounds, but not in one spot.  NOTE-the place we shot 2 years ago, which was across the road from our cabin, had ZERO PDs there.  Likely because that entire area has only had 5/16″ of rain all year and the grasslands needs rain to grow.  No grass=no PDs.  Lack of rain also explains the numerous fires they had in the area.

Back to the cabin for recap, beverages and then grilled steaks for dinner.  We sat outside on the big covered porch and watched the sun go down and stars come out.  It was a great trip with lots of PDs, antelope (I need to check into hunting them in season up there), coyotes and lots of shooting!

Saturday morning we loaded up the trucks and headed home.  Until next time….get outside and enjoy God’s creation and beauty.

3/7/26 Guided Upland Bird (Quail and Pheasant) Hunt

1/24/26 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Three hunters endured the cold (30 degrees), 25 MPH north wind on the main lake, heavy rain, and light snow/sleet on Lake Stillhouse Hollow, up the Lampasas River.  They bagged four gadwalls and missed two ducks.  They also had a group of six teal come by but they didn’t commit to the decoys.  They saw another group of six ducks further away.

They talked to two groups of hunters at the boat ramp and neither group saw a duck.

Jay Rocha and Randy Rowley discovered that their coats weren’t waterproof and both of them got soaked.  Randy also discovered that neither pair of his gloves nor his facemask were waterproof.  Amazon will deliver waterproof ones soon.

1/19/26 Blast and Cast (Self-guided/chartered Inland Duck Hunt and Freshwater Fishing Trip)

Three participants hunted the DeLoach Ranch’s lake near Taylor.  Burl Fulenwider bagged a drake canvasback that came into the decoy spread.  All except Burl’s duck was pass shooting.  They saw 12 ducks during their hunt.  Randy Rowley missed a canvasback at 50+ yards that circled the decoys but wouldn’t commit.  He also threw shot at two ringnecks that were about that far out.  He caught the only bass – a 14 incher on a chatterbait.  He didn’t take a lake bath this time (turn over his kayak).

1/17/26 Guided Inland Duck Hunt

Two hunters hunted with Sandy Bottom Outfitters on Lake Fork.  They were skunked.  There weren’t a lot of ducks in the cove that they hunted.  A few big groups gave them a lot but wouldn’t commit.  Jeff Morris hit probably a goldeneye drake, but it dove.

1/17/26 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt

Two participants hunted the DeLoach Ranch’s lake near Taylor.  They saw around 50 ducks, but none came into their decoy spread.  Randy Rowley shot what looked like a pintail that was passing by with two other ducks.  He knocked it down and finished it off with another shot.  It was calm when he shot it, but then a 20 MPH north wind came up and blew it to the south shore.  When they were done, he got on my kayak.  He was leaning too much to the right, so he shifted to the left, shifted too much, and flipped his kayak.  Fortunately, he was in only around 5′ of water.  He then went to look for his duck but couldn’t find it.

When they got back Cody Tittle discovered that Randy’s gun wasn’t in his jet sled.  They looked for it for an hour.  Then Randy had the idea that maybe it fell out on the island.  Cody went back to the island and there it was leaning against a tree – it wasn’t put in the jet sled.  Randy said that there’s a devotional in there somewhere…

Randy did not fish after the hunt – being cold, soaked, and the 20 MPH winds deterred him.

1/9/26 Guided Coastal Duck Hunt

In the afternoon, four FCS members hunted with Avian Skies Coastal Wing Shooting, hunting off of Grass Island from MOmarsh Invisi-man hunting blinds.  There was little action for the first three hours, but it turned on in the last hour, and they got a four-man limit of redheads (eight ducks).  Avian Skies included a picture of our hunters in their most recent Captain’s Chatter newsletter.

1/4/26 Blast and Cast (Self-guided/chartered Inland Duck Hunt and Freshwater Fishing Trip)

Three participants hunted the DeLoach Ranch’s lake near Taylor.  Randy Rowley bagged a drake Green Winged Teal.  They had two other ducks land near their decoy spread, but the hunters reacted too slowly.  They saw 14 ducks.

After the hunt Randy fished for a couple of hours, but the bass and crappie were on vacation.