Deep South Texas Hunt

[Darrells]

Well, TxRiverRat and myself made it home safely Sunday afternoon. It was 935 miles round trip, but was not a bad drive at all.
We arrived at the Ranch about 8:30 Tuesday night and set camp up. The tent we are using are very nice. Take them out of their case and they pop up and are ready to stake down, no other set up needed. They are made by Mac Sports and take less than one minute to be ready for the cot and sleeping bag.
We started hunting Weds afternoon after the mandatory safety meeting ( watch out for Rattlesnakes, illegal aliens, and drug runners).They had recently found a skeleton that had been there for 6-8 months before being discovered.
It is a rugged beauty down in South Texas.

TxRiverRat putting corn out to draw Javelina.

Everything down there either has thorns or teeth.

This is big country. It is nice not to see power lines or any lights at night.

There is alot of wildlife. We saw 100+ deer, quail, doves, wild pigs, Javelina, Mexican Eagles, rabbits, coyotes. We hunted hard but were not able to harvest a Javelina or wild hog. Even though we were not succesful on the hunting it was a great trip just to get away and relax and see some new country.
We had some good drinks in the evening and some great food.

We did have a little run-in with a critter that got hairy for a few minutes.

TxRiverRat with the culpret.

Sunrise on the Mendiola.

Sunset.

These were everywhere.

Coming back we had to pass threw a Border Patro; check station.

 

[oldsparkey]

Looks like you guys had a good time and did not starve while down there. I noticed that the leggings Ron has on appear to be snake proof ones.
Judging from that little critter Ron was holding I can see why you would want a pair of the leggings.

The boxes in the distance in the 1st picture ... Deer Stands ?

Chuck.

 

[tx river rat]

Chuck
Some of those are stands some are fixtures for the oil and gas wells.
Yep those are snake chaps that go to my waist,I want hunt that country when it is over 50 degrees without them. I wear them for snake protection and nearly as important cactus protection,never got a thorn in my legs this trip. I love this country its big and wild .
The drought we have had for the last three years has hurt some of the game population ,but this wet spring will bring them back fast,it is about as green as I have ever seen it in March in that country.
The rattlers were moving Friday before a front came in ,11 were killed that I know off,non under 5 ft. so they were crawling.
Oh Darrel can move pretty good,he squatted down and had a cactus in the back of his legging that stuck him when he squatted ,the boy can move pretty fast :lol:
We did a lot of shooting lot of laughing and just had a ball.Darrel is an excellent hunting and fishing partner.
Ron
The bloom in the pic is a century plant they claim they bloom every hundred years.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Which is more (fill in the blank), Ronnie, or the snake?
A. Rough looking
B. Mean
C. Ugly
D. All the above

How'd that snake taste?

 

[oldsparkey]

Which is more (fill in the blank), Ronnie, or the snake?
A. Rough looking
B. Mean
C. Ugly
D. All the above

How'd that snake taste?

Not sure about the Texas ones but the Florida ones are like the white meat of a chicken breast covered or coated in sugar without the sugar ........ Dam sweet and really good when fried up , even better over a grill.

Cut around the neck ..... peal off the skin and then strip off the meat , each fillet ( on a 5 or longer foot one ) will be about the diameter of a #2 wood pencil and there are plenty of them on a good sized one , flour them and fry in some bacon grease , frog legs or gator nuggets go good with that ....... Or skin and gut the sucker cut into chunks and cook over a grill , don't eat the rib bones , the same as with a gutted and scaled fish. :roll:

Want to see what one is like , cook a chicken breast , strip off some meat and sprinkle some sugar on it....... Really delicious.

 

[wilded]

It always bothers me that they move around after I cut off the head, gut and skin them. I laid a dressed out rattlesnake in the cooler on ice and when I went to get it out it was coiled up like to strike. Kind of creepy but they are good eating. :shock:

 

[tx river rat]

This one crawled off the tail gate after it was skinned.
Ron

 

[Kayak Jack]

Turtle does that too. Neighbor had one cut up in salt water in the refrigerator. Been in there about a week. We put a metal fork into the water and the beat began to twitch. Makes it easy to know why beef is so preferred.

 

[catfish]

darrels & t rat nice pics & report thanks for sharing. sorry you guys didnt get you a pig. thats why they tell me its hunting :wink:

 

[BEARS BUDDY]

Great photos.

 

[jdupre']

Ahh, cactus and mesquite. Kinda miss the stuff. I went down in that area about 12 years chasing after the stink pigs and hogs. Chasing after rabbits at daylight with the bow and arrow is one of the fringe benefits. Can't outlaw rabbits in Texas ( I would NEVER do that :mrgreen: ). No closed season, no bag limit, day or night-- Coona$$ heaven. :lol:

Nice trip report and pics.

Joey

 

[gbinga]

That's a lot of snake. (shiver)

We get eastern diamondbacks in North GA that size from time to time, but thank God they aren't at all common.

Looked like a great trip.

George

 

[dawallace45]

Ron

That country looks a lot like the country I used to hunt , all burrs and thorns

Years ago a mate bought back some of those snake proof chaps from a trip to the USA , he lent me a pair to try when we hunted together , temp was about 42* C in the shade and as there had just been rain the humidity was so thick you could just about calve it , after about 15 minutes my boots were so wet they were making sloshing sounds , went back to camp and changed into a pair of shorts and different boots , that was my first and only experience with snake chaps

David

 

[jdupre']

I always took the "watch where you put your foot down" approach. Never used snake boots or chaps. I like the statement made by one of the ranch hands on one of those ranches we hunted on --"Snake boots?!! Hell, them snakes we got here don't bite you on the leg - they're big enough to reach up and bite you on the butt." Saw a couple that would fit into that category.

Joey

 

[tx river rat]

These chaps go to your hips and keep the cactus out of you also.
They are light weight and loose enough not to get hot,like my old ones did.
I have help treat some rattler bites and the after effects arent pretty.
Ron

 

[dawallace45]

The Taipans we have around here tend to be a big snake and can strike high , many of the deaths from them are because they will bite the torso , bloody hard to put a tourniquet or pressure bandage on your chest , best place to find one is in the long grass at the sides of a river or creek

David

 

[BEARS BUDDY]

Uh, Dave, Sounds like its best to avoid the tall grass next to a creek. :shock:

 

[dawallace45]

Just one of the reasons we don't like the idea of portage

David

 

[Kayak Jack]

I like the looks of your country, Dave. But, I have to admit to being spoiled here in the Midwest. One kind of poisonous snake, a small rattler that is more reclusive than not. Most dangerous animal around here walks on two legs. But, then, we've been the most dangerous predator for about a million hears.

 

[dawallace45]

Jack

Was reading the other day that of all our snakes 30 of them rate as extremely poisonous , of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world 8 come from here , the up side is that most people will go through their lives with out ever seeing a snake in the wild , I only see about a dozen a year here and the same was for up Clermont way , when I lived down near Beachmere where it was much wetter and had blocks around me with very high grass I probably saw about 40 or so a year in the yard and probably run over another 60 or so out on the road of a night , but most people realize that snakes inhabit certain sorts of areas and just don't go near them , if you have to lift up a sheet of roofing iron off the ground you use a long stick to lift it up , you have a good look before before you get wood from the wood pile , I keep poison baits and traps in the shed and workshop so I don't have a mice problem , mice problem equals snake problem ,

I used to fish in and along a lot of creeks and rivers years ago , I knew there was snakes in the long grass and used to make a lot of noise and thump the ground before flattening the grass to make a area to sit , I don't do that any more ,

Years ago a mate of mine who was a licensed snake collector and was collecting snakes for research and milking lost his drivers license and asked me to drive him around for a month or so until he could get his license back , I did and so got to see him work , now bear in mind I hate snakes and won't even touch one but I'd see him work along a river bank and would some times pull 30 or so snakes out of a 80 metre section of bank , he used to ask me to carry the bag or hold it open for him , my answer was always the same and I can't print it here .

Back when I used to camp in a swag about 30 years ago I had a python pass over my belly at around first light , it had been a hot night and I was laying on top of the swag just in my jocks and my reaction was so violent when I opened my eyes and saw the snake that the mate reckoned it must of flown 30 feet the way I bucked .

Another hunting mate woke at first light one cool morning in his swag to feel a heavy weight on his chest , he had one arm out of the swag so very carefully lifted a corner of the swag to see a Mulga snake laying across his chest , he lay there until after 10 in the morning and the snake decided it was warm enough to bugger off , he's never slept in a swag since , of course that swag wouldn't have been worth sleeping in after that any way ,the reason he woke at first light was that he needed to Pee , he reckoned that the time he spent laying there waiting for the snake to bugger off seemed like days rather than hours and of course you can't go days with out having a pee

David