On the second weekend in March, eight friends, my middle daughter, Robin, and I, went on an FCS semi-guided hog hunt on the Pierce Ranch near El Campo.  The guide put Robin and me in a stand made for two on the first afternoon.  The stand was about 100 yards from a feeder.  We didn’t see any hogs on that first hunt, but God instead treated us to a display neither of us will forget. Read More→

It was a cold and sunny December afternoon on the Hymeadow Ranch near Lampasas.  Robin, my middle daughter, and I lay on our bellies on the edge of a 9-acre field.  We decided not to hunt the natural blind, as the deer feeder was about 300 yards east of it.  Instead, we set up south of the feeder, which put us 100 yards closer to it.

Within a few minutes, a couple of does came out, but I’d already killed two antlerless deer (a doe and a button buck I mistook for a doe), so I passed on them, hoping I’d get a shot at a decent spike. Read More→

On a crisp and clear Saturday in early May, my son, Ryan, my grandson, Hunter, and I launched at Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis and headed to Commodore’s Point Cove on the northwest side of the boat launch.  We arrived at the northward point, and I shut my boat’s gas motor off and engaged the trolling motor.

Around my 15th cast, I hooked a bass with my Whopper Plopper (a hard topwater propeller bait) and quickly brought him to my boat.  He didn’t put up much of a fight, as he was only around 12 inches long.  Then, after around 15 casts with no hits, I switched to a squarebill crankbait.  I tried slow, medium, fast, and stop-and-go retrieves to no avail.  I also tried a lipless crankbait, a spinnerbait, a deep-diving crankbait, a jointed swimbait, a Roadrunner (a small jig with a blade on it and usually a grub), a creature bait, and a worm.  All generated the same amount on non-interest. Read More→

When my family, friends, and I duck hunt near Corpus Christi, we often hunt on islands off Wilson’s Cut between Corpus Christi and Port Aransas. We’ve had many successful hunts there, easily bagging our limits of the one million or so redheads that winter along the Texas coast.

However, as the daily limit of redheads is two, and well over 95% of the ducks we see and shoot are redheads, it can also lead to some frustration.  Several times as the first flock, or one of the first, would come into our decoys (dekes), my shotgun would go “bang, bang,” and two redheads would go “splash, splash,” and my hunt would be over.
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For central Texas in early December, it was cold.  The thermometer in Ryan’s (my son) truck indicated 31 degrees, which made this FCS duck hunt the first sub-freezing one of the season.  We launched at Friendship Park on Lake Granger and proceeded west to our usual cove in the Sore Finger Wildlife Management Area.

Unbeknownst to us, our frequent hunting partner, Mr. Murphy, joined us again.  Ken Miller started the fun by losing his balance while setting out decoys and falling into the lake up to his neck.  He crammed the buttstock of his unloaded shotgun into the muddy bottom and got up quickly – so quickly that the rest of us didn’t know that he had gone down.  Some water went down the front of his neckline and up his left sleeve. Read More→

Early Labor Day morning, Rex Yokum and I met at the Lake Decker boat ramp east of Austin.  After we launched, we slowly proceeded to the lake’s north arm.  Our crawling speed wasn’t due to the darkness.  No, it was due to a far worse enemy – heavy fog!  Fortunately, my GPS was working fine, and it got us to our starting point across from the dam.

Rex had a strong hit in no time on a plastic worm but missed the bass.  Then it became the fishing equivalent of silence.  There were no blow-ups, and I didn’t even get a bump on my dog walker (a topwater lure that zigzags with the proper wrist action) or hollow body (soft plastic) frog.  Rex’s topwater torpedo lure with a soft, pliable rotating tail on its harness also didn’t generate any interest. Read More→

On a bright and sunny Saturday in early March, eight hunters, including me, and four spectators converged at Mike Schumann’s ranch near Dime Box for an FCS guided upland bird (quail, chukar, and pheasant) hunt.  My group, consisting of my wife, Chris, my son, Ryan, Michael Armstrong, and I, opted to go after pheasants first.  We drove to the field and waited for a few minutes while the guide positioned six pen-raised pheasants.  (We don’t hunt wild quail and pheasants as they’re up to 450+ miles away.)

The cover was a mixture of open country and thick mesquites, oaks, cedars, and scrub brush.  In less than five minutes, we had two birds in the bag.  The guide’s pointer, a Brittany named Buddy, ran through the scrub brush and into a small open field with a few clumps of high grass the size of basketballs.  I thought to myself, “There can’t be a bird there!”  Then, suddenly, he stopped and pointed. Read More→

In late November, four friends and I went on an FCS blast and cast (duck hunt and bay fishing trip) near Corpus Christi.  We arrived at IB Magee County Park on Friday afternoon, set up camp, and headed off to hunt in the marsh between Corpus Christi and Port Aransas off Wilson’s Cut.

The water was the highest we’d seen, and there was no dry ground on the island we usually hunted, which borders Wilson’s Cut.

Soon he had our limits of redheads (ducks), and Burl Fulenwider also bagged a hen widgeon.  We ended up with 11 ducks bagged. Read More→

A hunter who changes positions (moves) while bird hunting is often more successful than those who stay put.  That isn’t just true for quail, pheasant, and chucker hunters, who are almost always on the move – it’s true for dove hunters as well (and sometimes duck hunters).

At an FCS dove hunt on a Saturday in September on the Evans Ranch near San Saba, Ryan, my son, and I started hunting at the edge of a grove of oak trees.  Twenty-five yards in front of me was a grove of Texas gum elastic trees.  When Sid Evans fired the “start hunting” shot, several birds flushed from the trees.  I collected three birds during the initial melee with my Browning Gold Hunter in 12 gauge.

But, I quickly ran into problems – when birds flew over the oak or Texas gum elastic groves, they had already been shot at, often by several hunters, so they were flying at Mach 3.  By the time I got my gun to my shoulder, they were over one grove or the other, and I wouldn’t have time to shoot.  It was an exercise in futility.  So I moved 25 yards to my right and started shooting birds as they flew over the groves. Read More→

One of the greatest dangers in pursuing ducks is walking around in the water at night, wearing only a headlamp or cap light to help you spot hazards.  Besides many stumps, branches, rocks, trash, and other things to trip on, the bottom of a lake, river, or pond is often uneven and sometimes has holes and drop-offs.  This can be quite hazardous when wearing waders, which hunters wear to keep dry and warm.  (The only time they aren’t needed in Texas is during the September early teal season.)

If a hunter steps into a large hole, he can suddenly go underwater, and his waders will quickly fill up.  Waders that are even partially full of water make wading difficult and swimming or treading water almost impossible.

Such an event occurred in mid-November on Owl Creek off of Lake Belton.  My family and I launched at Owl Creek Park and headed up the creek.  I had only been on those waters once before, but that was in daylight.  Now it was pitch black, and things looked very different.  We spotted most of the stumps with my spotlight, but staying in the winding creek channel was another matter.  As the waters narrowed, my prop started vibrating from hitting the bottom.  Then we ran aground. Read More→

Finding Jesus in unexpected places…

The Bible is about Jesus Christ. If we study carefully we can find Him on every page – not just in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament. “Here I am,” our Lord said, “it is written about me in the scroll” (Hebrews 10:7).

One place we find Jesus in the Old Testament is in “type”. A type is an example or illustration that points to a person or an event. Finding Jesus hidden in type is a most exciting and rewarding study. As it says in Proverbs 25:2: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

So let’s study Noah’s Ark as a type of Christ and see what we discover. Read More→

At around 7:15 AM on a Friday in mid-January, seven friends and I hit the road to Port Aransas for a three-day-long FCS self-guided duck hunt.  The fun began right after we stopped for breakfast at the McDonald’s on RR 620 near Hwy 183 in Austin.  I led our caravan in my truck, towing my boat, and Burl Fulenwider followed in his truck, towing my pop-up camper.  After getting breakfast in the drive-through, I pulled over as far as I could to the right at their parking lot entrance/exit and waited for Burl and his riders to get their food.

I had made this particular right turn many times, as McDonald’s was a frequent stop on my way to hunt ducks on local lakes, so I thought nothing of it.  But I had made my previous right turns around 3:00 AM when no one was on 620 – now Austin rush hour traffic confronted me.

I spotted an opening big enough to fit my truck and boat in and went for it.  I made the turn and then gunned it.  However, I didn’t account for my boat trailer being so close to the curb.  As I gunned my engine, my boat trailer’s right tire hit the curb, causing the trailer tire to jump up, and centripetal force caused the trailer to roll to the left.  I saw movement in my rear-view mirror and, much to my surprise, witnessed my boat and trailer rolling over onto their left side. Read More→

Early on a Saturday afternoon in late August, my wife, Chris, my youngest daughter, Deanna, Tim Price, and I launched Tim’s V-hull aluminum boat at the Port Aransas Municipal Boat Harbor public boat ramp.  We proceeded to Aransas Bay and started fishing with live shrimp.  We were mainly catching hardheads, so we decided to try fishing by Mud Island.  Tim turned his boat into the two-foot-tall waves but couldn’t get on plane.  He then reached deeper water and turned towards the island.

Suddenly a wave crashed over the bow (the forward part of the boat), swamping the front of the boat.  Tim put his boat’s gear shifter in neutral, but that didn’t help.  He then put the gear shifter in full forward power and tried to steer into the waves, but that made his boat’s bow dive under the water like a submarine!  His boat rolled to the right in the blink of an eye, and we capsized!

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On a Friday in early May, Five friends and I headed to Charles Batts’s Ranch, which is part of the Y.O. Ranch, near Junction for a weekend FCS self-guided hog hunt.  After we arrived, we set up camp, checked the feeders and stands, baited a stand, cooked dinner, ate, and headed to our chosen stands.

None of us saw any pigs on the first night, but that changed the following morning.  About 5:45 AM, while it was still very dark, a probable 200+ pound boar came out from behind a large cedar tree right next to the bow stand Tim Price and I were sitting in.  The boar moved cautiously and slowly.  It stopped for a few seconds and looked around. It then slowly turned around and looked in the direction from which he had come.  He gave us the impression he was the lead pig for a herd and was about to tell the others the coast was clear.

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On a cold Saturday morning in early December, Jason Cox and I went on an FCS self-guided duck hunt on Lake Belton.  We saw a few flocks of teal that were far away.  After around two hours, Jason went scouting.  Later a lone duck flew by, but by the time I mounted my shotgun, I was presented with a 50+ yard going away shot.  I declined to take the shot, as I likely would’ve wounded it and caused suffering.

On the way back to the boat ramp, Mr. Murphy found us.  After we loaded our gear in my boat, I started to back us out but ran into an underwater bush, so I made a U-turn. Read More→

On a hot Saturday in early June, two friends and I launched my boat on Lake Decker for a morning of bass fishing.  Soon after arriving at the hot water discharge, I caught a 15-inch-long bass on a Rapala Clackin’ Rap lipless crankbait in ‘moss back shiner’ color.  Lipless crankbaits run at variable depths but usually run shallow.

I swung him into my boat with my rod and lipped him (grabbed his lip with my thumb and index finger) with my right hand, which was not my norm, as I usually lip bass with my left hand and use my right hand for lure removal.  I couldn’t unhook him with my left hand, so I reached down and grabbed a pair of pliers and then grasped the hook with the pliers. Read More→

On the evening of August the 13th, I finally became the owner of a genuine bass boat – a 1989 18′ 4″ Champion 184 side-console fiberglass fish and ski boat (old-style) with a 1996 Mercury 150 HP 2-stroke outboard motor, two livewells, two fish finders, and a built-in ice chest.  “Champ” ran on Lake Georgetown at 50 MPH that evening, with the seller, my wife, and I onboard during the test drive. Read More→

My son, Ryan, had a football game on the third Friday night in September, so my father-in-law, the late Ken Brigman, Ryan, and I missed the first day of the FCS south zone dove hunt on the Kanapick day lease near Dilley, about sixty miles south of the San Antonio city limits.

We arrived on Saturday around noon and were surprised to see several dove flying around, especially near the stock tanks (ponds).  We were also amazed at how hot it was – it felt like it was already above 100 degrees.

We set up camp and chilled in the shade until the afternoon hunt.  The ranch owner had a covered storage area with a concrete slab but no walls.  We sat under it to stay out of the blistering sun.

We headed to a large sunflower field around mid-afternoon.  Although there were 25 of us, there was plenty of room to spread out.  The birds started flying and falling in short order.  There were no white-winged dove (aka white-wings), but the sky was black with mourning dove.  Most of us enjoyed seeing the most dove we’d seen on a hunt and got 15-dove limits within a couple of hours. Read More→

FCS was born at the Appletree Ranch, close to Leakey in Southwest Texas and only around 15 miles from Garner State Park.  The area is gorgeous – mountainous with steep ravines, green forests, and the clear Frio River.  (“Frio” is Portuguese for “cold.”)  Many Texans believe the area is the jewel of the state.  Campers often have to wait up to a year to get a Garner State Park campsite reservation when schools aren’t in session. Read More→

Have you ever been called on at a work meeting, training conference, during a class, etc., to lecture on things or demonstrate skills others assumed you knew?  People have stood there stammering many times in such cases because they weren’t prepared or sure of themselves.

On a Saturday in June, I manned an FCS table at a Legacy Outfitters Outdoor Expo at Brushy Creek Lake Park in Austin.  They had demonstrations on setting up campsites, building fires, cooking meals, etc.

All was going well.  Then their leader came over and asked me to give a no more than 30-minute-long lecture and demonstration on bass fishing with lures.  (I’d brought one of my rod and reel combo’s and a small tackle box in case I had an opportunity to fish.)  I said “sure” but then learned I would be on in five minutes!  I hemmed and hawed through my presentation because I didn’t have adequate preparation time. Read More→

On a Saturday morning deer hunt, I sat in my pop-up blind on a small property near Round Rock, listening to a commotion behind me.  I couldn’t see what was causing the uproar, as my blind didn’t have a rear window, but it appeared not to care if other creatures knew it was there.  Its lack of stealth meant it had to be a buck chasing a doe or a hog.

As seconds ticked by it appeared to be getting closer, and the closer it came, the louder it got.  I shouldered my Browning Gold 12 gauge, stuffed with 00 buckshot.  If it took just a few more steps, I’d see it and be able to take it if I wanted to. Read More→

On the last Saturday in August, I worked an FCS booth at a sportsmen’s expo held at a church in Liberty Hill.  As dove season was fast-approaching, I tried to engage those who stopped by asking questions about their dove hunting plans.

A man who stopped by told me about a dove hunt at the Balcones Canyonlands Federal Wildlife Refuge near Liberty Hill, where he worked as the deputy director.  The hunt was held each September the 1st through the 4th.  He said a four-day permit was only $15.00, and the hunting was great on the first day, good on the second, fair on the third, and poor on the fourth.  Burl Fulenwider and I decided we’d give it a try.

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I love to hunt game birds, especially ducks and dove.  I also love to fish, especially for largemouth bass.  But it’s exceedingly rare when I get to do all three on the same morning.  So, when I have an opportunity to go on a ‘blast and cast,’ I jump at it.  In mid-September, I had such a chance at Joel Kirby’s A-OK Ranch near Lometa.

It was cool when we arrived, but my eight friends and I knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long.  We gathered our guns, shell bags, buckets, and Mojo’s (motorized decoys) and headed over to the mesquites and stock tanks (ponds).  I also brought along a dozen teal decoys, as it was the opening day of teal season.  I put them on the largest stock tank, set out my Mojo, and then sat under a big solitary mesquite tree, which was the only cover I could find. Read More→

As most boys grow up, they long for the approval and blessing of their fathers.  The approval of my father mainly came second-hand.  He didn’t praise me to my face often; instead, he would sing my praises to others.

When I killed my first deer, an average-sized doe, at age 16 on a ranch near Lampasas with a borrowed bolt-action .243, there was nothing special about her.  But the way my dad bragged about what I’d done to anyone who would listen, you would’ve thought I’d shot a 12-point buck!  My dad wasn’t a hunter, but he took me hunting from when I first expressed interest at age 15 until around age 17.  Although we were rarely successful and didn’t know much about deer, dove, or duck hunting, I fondly remember those hunts.
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On the first Saturday in December, two friends and I went on an FCS self-guided duck hunt on Lake Granger in a small cove in the San Gabriel Wildlife Management Area.  It was overcast, so we were somewhat optimistic.

Ducks started flying almost precisely at legal shooting time – 30 minutes before sunrise.  A duck came in low over my dekes from right to left, and I nailed it with a load of Winchester Xpert 2 shot from my 12 gauge Browning Gold Hunter.  A flock of teal came in as I went to get my duck.  Tim Price and Ken Miller shot at them, which encouraged me to get back into my boat blind quickly, with my drake gadwall.  A high-flyer flew by, and Tim nailed it.  It hit the water about 35 yards behind us in the flooded 20-foot trees.  (The trees were flooded because the lake was high.)  Tim eventually found it – a hen gadwall. Read More→

On a chilly Saturday in mid-March, five friends, two relatives, and I headed to the CZC Ranch near Mercury for an FCS weekend self-guided hog hunt.  We set up camp, baited the stands we planned to hunt, cooked, ate dinner, and headed to the stands.

Tim Price hunted his stands with his two sons – Isaac and Tyler.  Jesse Price and Jim Gault hunted solo in different stands, and I hunted solo in my stand.  My brother-in-law, Roy Brigman, and his son, Leroy, hunted an elevated stand in a hayfield overlooking a feeder at the edge of the woods.  As the stand was only made for one, Roy sat in it while Leroy sat in a chair underneath it.  But when it got dark, Roy joined Leroy underneath it. Read More→

Texas is a rare state because we’re blessed with, among other things, hunting year-round.  Dove season starts the first day of each September, followed briefly by a two-week-long teal season.  In late September or early October, hunters can begin to chase deer with sticks and strings.  Quail season starts up in late October.  Turkeys, ducks, and geese join the hunting menu in early November.  In addition, hunters can finally hunt deer with guns.  Spring turkey hunting starts in March.  Hunters can hunt rabbits, squirrels (for most of the state), and non-game animals such as hogs and exotics year-round.

But hunting usually is impractical during the summer due to the heat.  Meat spoils quickly in the Texas sun, and it’s just not much fun roasting in a deer stand or stalking through the woods in the hotter months.  So, after spring turkey season, hunters usually wait four months before they can again answer the call of the wild.  This four-month hiatus can only partially be assuaged by fishing trips, shooting clays shoots, hunting and gathering trips, etc.

As each opening day gets closer, we become more and more excited.  We begin to relive successful trips in our minds, daydream about upcoming hunting trips, and track game whenever we see it with imaginary shotguns, rifles, or bows.  We promise ourselves that nothing will keep us from hunting on our opening days. Read More→

Do you have a favorite gun you show to your friends more often than others?  Mine is a Remington Model 700 BDL chambered in .25-06 that my dad gave me on my 16^th birthday.  It has the old-style floor plate with a quick-release button, a bolt-release button, a 24-inch-long barrel, and a Monte Carlo cheek comb high gloss walnut stock.

A Vortex Crossfire II 3-9x50mm matte finish scope with a V-Brite (illuminated) reticle with Butler Creek flip-up scope mounts is presently mounted on Leupold see-through rings (which enables me to shoot with the rifle’s iron sights).  Other after-market additions include a safari sling, a Kane gun chap (which protects the stock), and a nine-shell bullet band surrounding the stock.  I also add a Harris Bipod to the stock sometimes when hunting from my pop-up blinds – it’s designed to use when sitting and detaches easily.

I had a gunsmith adjust the 7-lb.-pull factory trigger to 3 lbs. and free-float the barrel when the rifle was about 20 years old. Read More→

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy, best known for his “You might be a Redneck” skits, created a routine a few years ago where he pretended to scold his off-stage wife for not being appreciative when he brought her the world’s most expensive meat.  He said he incurred the following expenses:

“$500 – lease

$800 – new rifle and scope

$150 – camo clothes

$50 – magazines

$200 – bullets

$6,000 – 4 wheeler

$500 – food for the lease

$8,200 – total”

(I realize the price for the lease is considerably off now.) Read More→

On a warm November morning, I crept to my ground box blind on my deer lease near Georgetown.  I’d spent a couple of hours in my tree stand, but nothing was moving, so I decided to try my ground blind a few hundred yards away.

As I approached the blind, I came upon a small herd of deer in a clearing.  We saw each other at the same time.  A doe snorted and then high-tailed it away, and the rest of the herd quickly followed her.  Most of them ran until they were out of sight.  But a spike only ran about 50 yards and then stopped, turned 90 degrees, and looked back. Read More→

On a frigid and windy Friday in late March, four friends and I journeyed to the CZC Ranch near Mercury for an FCS weekend self-guided hog hunt.

Grady Van Heuverswyn’s glasses were knocked off his face on Friday night as he took off his facemask, so we went to look for them on Saturday morning in my truck.  On the way to Grady’s stand, Jim McGee spotted a hog, and we went after it.  About 20 yards away, the three-foot grass swayed.  I looked beyond it and saw a medium-sized pig, partially concealed by the grass.  I shot her in the head with my Remington Model 7400 in .30-06, using my iron sights (looking through my Weaver See-Thru scope rings).  When I shot, around seven to eight piglets ran in all directions.  Two stopped in front of me, and I shot one.  The piglets were the cause of the swaying grass.

On Sunday morning, we conducted a group stalk.  We wore blaze orange caps as we walked alongside each other in a line about 30 yards apart.

As I walked down a trail in a heavily wooded area, I came across a large pile of hog scat.  Beyond that pile was another, and beyond it were many more.  I counted at least 15 piles, many of which were fresh, and radioed, “I found the hog outhouse.”  My announcement resulted in movement in the heavy brush to the right of the trail.  I softly radioed, “Hogs!” and then headed to my left, hoping to find a way to them. Read More→

Galatians 6:2 (NASB) says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”  Paul painted the picture of a person wilting under a heavy load.  His emphasis wasn’t “Expect others to bear your burdens” because that’s self-focused.  Such a focus will usually result in frustration and disappointment, as most people won’t meet our needs as we think they should.  Instead, Paul directed the Galatians to others-focus, especially those waning under a heavy load.   We should overlook a brother’s or sister’s shortcomings, as readily as we ignore our own, and look for ways to bear their burdens.

Jesus also commanded us to others-focus in John 13:34-35.  He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Read More→

Early on the first Saturday in February, Jim McGee and I headed to the Spanish Oaks upland game bird (quail, chukars, and pheasants) preserve near Thrall.  We were dressed and outfitted poorly for upland game birds.  Both of us were in full camo, and instead of bringing shotguns, we had brought scoped semi-automatic deer rifles.  No, we hadn’t lost our minds – you see, our quarry wasn’t upland game birds – it was hogs.

The preserve had a bit of a hog problem.  The pigs liked to come to the meandering stock tank (pond) to drink water and wallow in the mud.  They also enjoyed rooting in the fields.  As is typical with pigs, the rooting caused havoc to the preserve’s landscape.  The preserve’s owner told us to shoot as many pigs as we saw. Read More→

On the second Friday in April, five friends and I headed to a ranch near Mercury for a weekend FCS self-guided hog hunt.  The hogs on that ranch only moved in the evening and after dark, so we spent Saturday afternoon bass fishing on the ranch’s largest stock tank (pond).

After catching a few largemouth bass with a Rapala Rattlin’ Rapala lipless crankbait (that runs at variable depth, but usually shallow) in Tennessee shad color, I switched to a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap (a round bill crankbait that runs at a medium depth) in dark perch-color.  As I was reeling in my lure, I felt a strong tug on my line.  The bass fought hard for about a minute before I got it to shore.  We didn’t have a ruler or scale but agreed it exceeded 20” in length and four pounds.  After taking a couple of pictures, I returned it to the water. Read More→

On a Friday in late March, eight friends and I headed to the Walters Ranch near Jarrell for an FCS self-guided hog hunt.  Ken Miller and I hunted the tallest stand and, despite putting out a 5-gallon bucket of hog bait and a sack of corn, the only animals we saw during our five hunts were deer and a hen turkey.

On the second night, we hunted until around 10:45 PM.  As nothing was moving, we checked the feeders the other hunters weren’t hunting at.  We left shells in our rifle magazines but not in their chambers and got in my truck.  Nothing was at the first feeder, but the next one had some animals under it.  It took my tired brain a couple of seconds to realize they were pigs and not deer, and they had their backs to us!

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I’ve always admired well-trained bird dogs, especially upland bird dogs.  Their noses, concentration, and desire to succeed are amazing, such as a lab that whines because there are no ducks or dove in the air – it’s more disappointed than its master is!

But I’ve also noticed another trait common to bird dogs – they don’t listen well!  If anyone other than their masters gives them a command, they completely ignore it and look at the one who issued it with the unvoiced question on their faces, “Are you stupid, or what?” Read More→

Around the first of every February, many men start to get a panicked “deer in the headlights” look.  What causes such widespread alarm?  The end of deer and duck seasons?  Christmas bills?  Income taxes?  No, it’s the “What am I going to get her for Valentine’s Day this year dilemma.” Read More→

Nothing was moving on the property near Round Rock, where two friends, two relatives, and I were hunting on the last Saturday morning in November.  As the property was small, we were all hunting with shotguns.  I was hunting from a ladder stand along a fence by the neighbor’s property.  I only had about a 20-yard shot to my left and another 20-yard shot to my right because the trees were thick.  I put corn at both spots.

I was getting sleepier by the second when suddenly, my stupor was broken by Ron Denison telling me a buck was heading my way on my two-way radio.  Ron and his son, Jake, were hunting southeast from me, so I knew the buck would come from my right.  I didn’t have to wait long. Read More→

It was a slow morning.  The gray skies made the daylight late, and everything decided to sleep in.  Even the squirrels didn’t start chasing each other until a good hour after first light.  I was beginning to think the deer had decided to take the day off when I suddenly saw movement to my right by the creek bed.

I wasn’t surprised to see a buck, but I was surprised by his antlers’ size.  The usual bucks seen at this property includes spikes, four-pointers, and small sixes and eights, but this buck dwarfed them.  He had much taller antlers, with considerably more mass than any buck’s antlers I’d seen on the property. Read More→

Bass fishermen have many choices on how we can try to fool bass with artificial lures.  We can choose topwaters that make a lot of commotion, such as poppers, buzz and torpedo baits, and dog walkers, to imitate baitfish such as shad and minnows feeding on the surface.  Or we can choose soft plastic frogs or toads that mimic the real things.

Or we can opt for shallow-running spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and swimbaits that mimic crawfish, perch, and shad.  Or we can decide on crankbaits or jerkbaits that look like minnows and rattle and wobble from side to side at various depths.  Or we can choose jigs or soft plastic lures, such as worms, crawfish, lizards, flukes, creature baits, grubs, and tube baits, for slow finesse presentations along a lake’s, river’s, or pond’s bottom. Read More→

Discouragement. It’s not a frequently used word, probably because the mere mention of it brings to mind thoughts of failure, depression, and hopelessness. It dogs most of us throughout our lives. Even during times of success and prosperity it lurks in the darkness like a thief ready to strike us through our spiritual armor and rob us of our joy. It can lead to isolation from friends and family, physical and mental illnesses, dependence on drugs, and even death. We are taught from early on to “shake it off”, “suck it up”, and “boys don’t cry.” Unfortunately, the bury your head in the sand approach at best only delays the enemy’s attack, and at worst strengthens it. Read More→

What should be the attitude of the Christian sportsman toward efforts intended to maintain, protect, or preserve the outdoor environment?  In many areas a strained relationship or sense of antagonism appears to have developed between traditional hunters and the modern “environmentalist” movement.  This is somewhat in contrast to past years when hunters (i.e., Teddy Roosevelt) were often at the forefront of conservation efforts.  Today many Christians, though wishing to preserve our natural resources and the beauty of the few remaining wilderness areas, still feel ill at ease with some aspects of the modern environmentalist movement, especially the more radical fringes.  I believe that the source of this conflict can be found in the clash between basic Christian teachings and the secular philosophies which are espoused by many modern environmentalists. Read More→

The Bible says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (2 Timothy 3:16).  The Greek word used here is theopneustos, and literally means, “God breathed.”  Simply put, the Bible came straight from the mouth of God.

The following are ten Supernatural considerations that offer proof the Bible, is in fact, the Word of God: Read More→

No one gets out of this world alive, so the question is where do we go when we die?

Most people, when asked this question, will tell you they are Christians and will go to heaven and enjoy eternal life with God, or at worst case, hope they will go to heaven, regardless of their church affiliation, if any.  However, according to the Bible in 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul said “Test yourself to see if you are in the faith, examine yourselves!  Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you —unless indeed you fail the test?”  To fail the test means we do not have Jesus Christ in us and therefore we will not go to heaven. Read More→

According to James Strong, in his Strong’s Concordance, grace comes from the Hebrew word “chen” (pronounced khane), and Charles Ryrie, in his Ryrie Study Bible, goes on to say it comes from a root word meaning “to bend or stoop”.  Donald Barnhouse, Presbyterian Pastor and author of “Exposition of Bible Doctrine” and other books, said “Love that goes upward is worship; love that goes outward is affection; love that stoops is grace.”  Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, said “Grace means pure unrecompensed kindness and favor.” Read More→

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after” – Henry David Thoreau

A duck hunter rises well before dawn in the dead of winter.  He dons layers of clothing to protect him from bitter winds and cold, then sits in freezing temperatures and watches the brilliant hues in the clouds unique to winter sunrise as ducks pitch into his decoys.  Why? Read More→

A slow buzz filled the air as my sandal-clad foot stepped into the grass at the edge of the field.  The buzz increased in speed dramatically with the second step, and the perfectly camouflaged head of a three-foot Western Diamondback rattlesnake lifted from its coils, causing an involuntary shudder to race through my nervous system.

As a lifelong outdoorsman, I have experienced several encounters with snakes.  Usually the incidents ended with each of us traveling in opposite directions; neither of us much worse for wear.  However I have never encountered a Western Diamondback fully coiled and rattling furiously in my travels until this day.  And this day I was in shorts and sandals, poorly prepared for such a meeting. Read More→

September in Texas marks the opening of dove season, and the beginning of the new hunting year.  Traditionally, the week before September is the week that most hunters purchase their new hunting licenses in my home state.

In years past, this was a pretty straight forward process.  Not a lot of thought had to go into your purchase of a license.  However in 2002, the US Fish and Wildlife Service instituted the Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program also known as “HIP.”  This program assists USFWS and state wildlife personnel in gathering information that helps biologists manage North America’s incredible migratory game bird populations. Read More→

Henry David Thoreau was an American philosopher who in the 1840’s, left civilization behind and endeavored to live a simple life, trying to only have what was necessary to live.  His experiment was documented in his work “Walden’s Pond.”  For example Thoreau only had two changes of clothing…one he was wearing; the other was to be washed that day.

On the other end of the spectrum is my friend Randy.  Going hunting with Randy is like going on safari.  Randy epitomizes the Boy Scout creed of “be prepared.”  Usually Randy has at least two of everything you could possibly need on an outdoor adventure.  I think part of Randy’s obsession with preparedness has to do with the lack of preparedness on the part of others who accompany him on these trips.  Sometimes the oversight of a small item like an extra pair of shoelaces or some camp cookware is fairly minor, but other times the forgotten item puts the whole outing in jeopardy. Read More→

Moonlight was the only illumination needed. Shadows danced across the Texas brush country like phantoms from an old silent picture, for tonight there was no sound.

My eyes strained to make out the form of a wild hog in the darkness.  With the flick of a red spotlight, the “hog” became a pile of rocks, or clump of cactus.  My eyes and mind teased each other with visions each wanted to see.

Against the wall of my blind was my rifle, yet unbloodied.  My hand involuntarily reached out to touch the smooth walnut stock.  That old feeling of security and competence warmed me in the cool February night air. Read More→