january 23, 2015 - lone star outdoor news - fishing & hunting

January 23, 2015 Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas Volume 11, Issue 11

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FISHING CONTENTSClassifi eds . . . . . . . . . Page26Crossword . . . . . . . . . Page17Freshwater Fishing Report . Page10FortheTable . . . . . . . . 7Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page12Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . Page22Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page23Saltwater Fishing Report . . Page16Sun, Moon and Tide data . . Page24

Winter trout feed less often, but eat bigger baits.Page8

Wintertrout,bigbaits

INS

IDE

HUNTING

Young hunter facing obstacles in life takes a big South Texas buck on a LSON Foundation hunt.

Page20

Aspecialhunt

LSONews.com

Reeling in buyers

Boat show season is here; buyers and sellers agree this season better than last

ByMarkEnglandLone Star outdoor newS

If the Houston Boat, Sport & Travel Show is any indi-cation, 2015 is going to be a good year for boat shows in Texas.

Offi cial attendance for the state’s largest boat show, which ran from Jan. 2-11 at Houston’s NRG Center, hasn’t been released. But Ken Lovell, the show’s pres-ident, said it was up 14 per-cent and could approach 100,000 people.

“Gas prices probably helped,” Lovell said. “It’s a mixed blessing, though, just because Houston depends so

much on the oil business.”Boat dealers are notori-

ously tightlipped about sales, although it’s been widely reported that many rely on boat shows to sell as much as 25 per-cent of their inventory.

T e x a s Marine did confi rm that it beat last year’s sales of almost 200 boats at the Houston show.

“We had a record show,” said Jonathan Whitmire, sales manager at its

Beaumont store. “We sold more than we ever have at any boat show. The NauticStar fi shing boats and the Avalon pontoons were

our two big hits. We had some extra rebates that made their prices really good.”

The pon-toons in par-ticular can get pricey, espe-

cially if decked out with a fi sh fi nder or, say, a wine rack in the lounge arm.

“I found the sales of the

more expensive fi shing boats surprising,” Lovell said. “They were selling bet-ter than they had in years. The upper end has been soft, but now that market is com-ing back stronger.”

As the Houston boat show’s offi cial name dem-onstrates, boat shows these days are about much more than boats.

Crowds can also gawk at PWCs, RVs, Coastal Cruizers (customized golf carts), kay-aks and hot tubs, examine the latest fi shing lures and buy a vacation package or even a burial at sea.

Show promoters know

BUSINESSISBOOMING:LakeTravisHighSchoolfishingteammemberTylerAndersonpitchesalureoffthebowofabassboat,oneofthefleetoffishingboatsshownbyAustinBoats&Motorsatthe2015AustinBoatShow.PhotobyErichSchlegel,forLSON.

Please turn to page 11

Fever tick zone extendedMove affects nilgai, deer hunters in the Valley

ByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS

A new temporary preventative quarantine area to fi ght the spread of fever ticks has been established over 223,000 acres of land in Cameron and Willacy counties, and there are new protocols for nilgai and white-tailed deer hunters in the zone.

According to the Texas Animal Health Commission,

hunters harvesting deer or nilgai in the quarantine zone known as the “blanket area” are required to call (956) 546-6004 and have their animals inspected on site before being allowed to remove the hide from the premises.

Fever ticks, largely eradicated in the 1940s, can carry diseases deadly to cattle, such as bovine babe-siosis, which has the potential to kill 90 percent of a

Whole lotta geeseByJillianMockFor Lone Star outdoor newS

At this point in the sea-son, goose hunters from the Panhandle down to Eagle Lake have seen high num-bers of birds but challeng-ing hunting conditions.

In the northern por-tion of the Panhandle, Ken Mayer of All American Outfi tter said it has been an “above-average year” for geese, mostly lesser and greater Canadas. Irrigated agriculture in the area has left plenty of crop residues this year, holding geese in the area. Water levels are “way down,” however, eliminating smaller bodies of water and “forcing the birds to concentrate them-selves on large bodies of water” instead.

Mayer also noted that the frequent changes in weather are making the birds “neurotic,” resulting in high numbers of birds that are diffi cult to decoy and even harder to jump.

Scott Curtsinger of

Longneck Outfi tters con-fi rmed these trends in the Lubbock area.

He cites normal to high numbers of birds and plenty of food, milo in par-ticular. Cold temperatures last week kept the Canada geese, specklebellies, and snow geese in the fi elds and off the frozen city ponds in Lubbock.

As hunters are well aware, weather drives the goose migration between the northern and southern parts of the state. This week, the north is seeing consis-tently colder temperatures, pushing more birds down into areas like Knox City.

Roger Roewe at Webfoot Connection says he is see-ing “more birds right now than we’ve had all year.” He also attributes high num-bers to “more feed this year” and slightly higher water levels, giving the geese more places to sit.

Roewe also remarked that they are seeing more and

PICKYOURTARGET:Goosehuntersarefindinggoodlate-seasonsuc-cessinmanylocalesthismonth.PhotobyDavidJ.Sams,LSON.



“� ey were selling better than they had in

years. � e upper end has been so� , but now that market is coming

back stronger.”

PhotobyLSON

Runs beginning on border lakes and South Texas rivers.

Page8

WhitebassontheborderTaking a few precautions could pay dividends in emergencies afi eld.

Page4

Packforemergencies

January 23, 2015 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com

LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News January 23, 2015


HUNTINGLate season push for ducks

ByStevenBridgesFor Lone Star outdoor newS

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Waterfowl Program Manager Kevin Kraai has logged thousands of miles of fl ying as part of the annual Texas Mid-Winter Aerial Waterfowl Survey.

The survey counts duck and goose numbers across the Texas Panhandle and the Rolling Plains.

According to Kraai and other inland Texas waterfowl offi cials, if you have open water, you have waterfowl.

“Hunters sometimes don’t realize that inland Texas ducks fl y in not only from the Midwest and the Texas Coast, but from as far as the interior of Mexico, Louisiana and Colorado,” Kraai said. “These ducks are all looking for one thing — open water. ”

An early arctic blast pushed water-fowl down from the Midwest before Christmas, but that same arctic blast froze Panhandle water. According to Kraai, 75 to 80 percent of the bodies of water in the area were locked in ice at some point dur-ing this year’s survey.

“That is the highest percentage of ice we’ve had in the 20 years of the survey, ” said Kraai. “The ducks and geese had no choice but to head farther south look-ing for open water. Because of the ice, our far north and northwest Texas waterfowl numbers were the lowest in years.”

According to Kraai however, the iced up bodies of water in Texas have thawed, bringing back ducks and geese to the


OPENWATEREQUALSDUCKS:AsnorthernlocalesfrozeupduringearlyJanuary,duckshavebeencomingintoTexas,finallygivingwaterfowlhunterssomethingtoshootafteraslowmajorityoftheseasonformany.However,warmerweatherthisweekcouldagaindispersethebirds.PhotobyDavidJ.Sams,LoneStarOutdoorNews.

UniquetrophyYoung hunter takes piebald

buck on Thanksgiving

day

BIGHORNS,PRETTYPELT:CathonRathkeshowsthepiebald(spottedwithtwodifferentcolors)buckheharvestedonThanksgivingdaywithhisdadandcousinintheblind.ItwasCathon’sfirstbuck,althoughhehasanimpressivelistoftrophiestohiscredit.PhotobyLanceRathke,forLoneStarOutdoorNews.


Corpus Christi hunter Lance Rathke enjoys taking his kids to his family’s 140-acre property near Three Rivers to deer hunt.

Although the place is sur-rounded by heavily hunted land, it is a great place to enjoy some time on a place that has been in the family for generations. Rathke and his 10-year-old son, Cathon, had been making trips for several weeks hoping to fi nd one buck, in particular.

“There aren’t a ton of deer,” Rathke said. “I don’t see a whole lot of shooter bucks. Three weeks before Thanksgiving, we saw this piebald deer on trail cameras. We hunted him for three weeks and thought he had been shot by a neighbor.”

Rathke had Cathon, along with Cathon’s cousin, in the blind over Thanksgiving. The group was hoping to get the cousin a spike.

“A spike came out and we were going to let my nephew shoot it,” Rathke said. “We looked up and saw the buck we had been hunting for three weeks. I told my nephew to hold off.”

Cathon made a perfect shot and the unique buck was on the ground.

“It was his fi rst true buck,” Please turn to page 23

Pack a tourniquet

ByJillianMockFor Lone Star outdoor newS

Caleb Causey, owner of Lone Star Medics, wants hunters to learn how to use a tourniquet.

For the third straight year, Causey appeared at the Dallas Safari Club convention to lead a seminar on field and emergency medi-cine for hunters.

“What’s important on a hunt is what is going to kill me in the next three to four minutes,” Causey said as he stood by a table lined with pressure dressings, tourniquets and other medi-cal equipment.

For tackling the types of accidents most likely to befall hunt-ers out in the field, like a fall from a blind or treestand or, God forbid, an accident involving a arrow’s broadhead or a firearm, Causey turns the ABCs you may have learned in CPR class on their head. He implores hunters to address circulation first, then breathing, and finally, clearing the airway last.

“The body is really good at taking care of itself as long as you can keep oxygen going to the brain,” Causey said, emphasizing that the primary emphasis needs to be controlling bleeding and keeping a working pulse until you reach a hospital.

Causey is certainly the man to trust when it comes to emer-gency preparation. The sixth-generation Texan has been a medic for 15 years, including experience as a combat medic in the Army, a medic and operator for private military/security companies, and a volunteer firefighter and EMT for the City of Benbrook. Causey has a gift for making emergency care accessi-ble and interesting for even the queasiest of audience members.

As the class practiced buckling themselves into tourniquets, Causey debunked the myth that using one of these instruments means losing that limb.

“We have learned, at great expense in the combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, that tourniquets work and the tissue will not begin to die for six to eight hours,” he said.

“Even on the most remote hunts, six to eight hours in today’s interconnected world is enough time to find medical atten-tion. They might be uncomfortable, but using a tourniquet and a pressure dressing just might make the difference between life and death.”

Causey listed the must-haves for a hunter’s emergency kit. First, of course, a tourniquet (Causey recommends a CAT or a Soft-T Wide Tourniquet). Second is a pressure dressing. (Rule of thumb — if someone gets a tourniquet, they also need a pressure dressing.) Third, two items for tougher-to-fix wounds are a chest

Medic says carrying a few key supplies could save lives



Interesting band


Houston hunter Will Reich loves to get out and hunt waterfowl.

And every waterfowl hunter relishes shooting a duck with a band.

However, Reich harvested a redhead while hunt-ing with family near Altair that had one of the most unique bands any hunter will ever fi nd.

“We were having a great hunt,” Reich said. “There were teal and geese all over the place. I got out of the blind to collect a teal and eight or nine redheads came screaming over top. I knocked one down and went to

pick him up.”When Reich got to the downed bird, he noticed

something unusual around the duck’s midsection, behind the neck and in front of the wings.

“There was only about an inch of it showing, and I thought it was a blade of grass at fi rst,” he said. “I started prying it away and it looked like a rubber gas-ket ring. I thought it might be some kind of weird band and actually checked it to see if it had any num-bers or contact information, but it had nothing.”

Reich said the redhead must have dived through the rubber ring and gotten it lodged where it could

WHATINTHEHECKISTHAT?HoustonhunterWillReichharvestedthisredheadnearAltairwitharubbergasketwrappedarounditsbody.Theringdidnotaffecttheduckinflight.PhotobyWillReich.


WhoopingcranedeathinvestigatedTexas game wardens in Aransas

County are awaiting necropsy results on a state and federally protected whooping crane found dead near a duck blind located in the Aransas Bay system close to Sand Lake.The bird was partially decomposed

when recovered by Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens who had been contacted by a local hunting guide who had originally discovered the crane.TPWD game wardens and the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are

jointly investigating this incident. If anyone has additional informa-tion regarding this matter, they are encouraged to call Operation Game Thief at 1-800-792-GAME (4263). Callers may remain anonymous.Since beginning their slow recov-

ery from a low of 16 birds in the 1940s, whoopers have wintered on the Texas coast on and near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Recently though, several groups of whooping cranes have expanded their winter-ing areas to include other coastal ar-eas and some inland sites in Central Texas.

— TPWD

AirForceAirgunsbeginsconstructiononTexasfacilityConstruction has begun on a new

headquarters and manufacturing fa-cility located not far from AirForce’s existing factory near Burleson. “Since we built that fi rst airgun here

in Texas almost 20 years ago, we have practiced carefully managed growth,” explained AirForce founder and CEO John McCaslin. Phase 1 of a planned 60,000-square-

foot facility is located on 7 1/2 acres in Burleson, just outside Fort Worth. Also moving to the new plant will be

BKL Technologies.— AirForce Airguns

seal and QuickClot combat gauze. Fourth, Causey recommended a pair of rescue cutters.

Lone Star Medics offers 27 distinct courses and trains, among others, wildlife managers and hunting guides. In March, the organization is hosting it second annual conference. The two-day conference along with other courses scheduled throughout the year emphasize hands-on learning and are open to anyone interested in emergency medicine. Information is available at lonestarmedics.com.

Causey hopes hunters will successfully avoid any serious field accidents. But just in case, strap a tourniquet to your pack the next time you head out. It might just save a life.

Survival gear essentialContinuedfrompage4


First hunt for biologist

ByCraigNyhusLone Star outdoor newS

Jessica Alderson of San Antonio knows a lot about wildlife, wildlife biology and urban and rural wildlife management. As an assistant in a veterinary clinic, she worked directly with animals. As a wildlife biology student at Texas A&M University, she learned about wildlife management and performed necrop-sies on wildlife. And as an urban biol-ogist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, she has answered nearly every question imaginable about wildlife and worked on controlling deer popula-tions in urban environments.

But she had never hunted. Not until a Texas A&M Department of

Wildlife and Fisheries professor, Clark Adams, was asked about former students involved in the profession who had never hunted.

Adams recommended the former

undergraduate and graduate student, and at the age of 36, Jessica was invited to the Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation lease for her first hunt.

Jessica was as green as they come. She took her first few rifle shots with her dad at the range the day before arriving at the South Texas ranch.

At the range on the ranch, after some instruction, her second shot was within an inch of the target. The guides couldn’t see where the third shot hit.

“Do you think it went through the bull’s-eye?” asked guide Cole Farris while looking through the Nikons.

The 100-yard walk showed she was ready, as a hole pierced the only non-reflective portion of the reflective target.

“I’m still not sure I can shoot at an ani-mal,” she said.

“You don’t have to,” she was told. “We’ll just watch them and then we can decide.”

WELCOMETOHUNTING:JessicaAlderson,anurbanbiologistforTPWD,holdsthebucksheharvestedonherfirsthuntwiththeLSONFoundation.PhotobyCraigNyhus,LoneStarOutdoorNews.



FISHINGHead south for early white bass

ByMarkEnglandLone Star outdoor newS

A veteran guide at Amistad Reservoir has two words for you when asked if the white bass run has started. OK, three.

“It’s on, yeah.”The bantamweights of bass fi shing, white bass are known in South

Texas for storming out of area reservoirs to neighboring rivers and creeks to spawn. They need fresh water for their eggs during incubation. During this period, the pint-sized predators nourish a raging appetite.

The white bass migration can begin as late as January, but not this year.

Raul Cordero of Farwest Guide Service said white bass began leaving Amistad in mid-December to journey up the Rio Grande or the Devils River.

“I tell my customers that it may take us a little while to fi nd them,” Cordero said. “But get ready. Once we fi nd them you’re going to be busy for a while. Then it’s a nonstop adrenaline rush.”

He said the biggest white bass he’s seen was probably 2 pounds. During a run, though, weight is beside the point.

“Whatever their weight, it’s a lot of fun,” Cordero said. “I use Little Georges, white grub on a jig head or a slabbing head. I stick with the basic colors: shad, chartreuse, regular white. But, actually, if you get in where the action is hot, it doesn’t matter what you throw — as long as it’s moving.”

White bass also left Lake Corpus Christi early. They’re plentiful on the Nueces River, especially near the U.S. Highway 59 bridge near George West.

John Findeisen, a resource specialist for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said a recent survey found plenty of males in the 13-14 inch range and females up to 15 inches in length.

In Texas, the minimum keeper length for white bass is 10 inches and the daily bag limit is 25 fi sh.

“We launched at George West and only had to go a couple of hundred yards before we started running into them,” Findeisen said. “That’s typi-cal for this time of year.”

The peak of the white bass run on the Nueces is usually around Valentine’s Day, according to Findeisen.

He agrees with Cordero that the action during a run can be “non-stop.”

“A friend and I went out two days in a row a couple of years ago,” Findeisen said. “We caught and released white bass just to see how many we could catch. We caught 340 fi sh in two days. And we didn’t move but maybe 200 yards from where we started. That’s addicting.

“You can go out with just small crankbaits or little curl-tail jigs and have a blast. White bass are such ferocious fi ghters.”

A couple hundred miles southwest of the Nueces River, at Falcon Lake, any discussion of the white bass run thereabouts quickly turns into a history lesson.

“In the old days, we just had so many,” said Tom Bendele, co-owner of Falcon Lake Tackle. “Gosh, you never went anywhere without a Rat-L-Trap tied on. In the early ’80s, there would be an area the size of two to three football fi elds where they would pop up, chasing schools of shad. They were everywhere. You’d catch one after another. You don’t see big balls of them anymore. It’s a shame.”

A drought stretching from the ’90s into the mid-2000s hit Falcon Lake hard. However, it rebounded enough by 2012 for Bassmaster magazine to dub it the best bass lake in North America.

Then came another drought, although some locals blame an abundance of gar for the game fi sh population dropping.

“Mother Nature did something,” Bendele said. “Everything took a hit.”Largemouth bass have recently reappeared fair in numbers. But they’re still waiting at

Falcon Lake for white bass to do likewise, despite TPWD stocking the lake with the species

several times.“Last year, we had a small white bass fi shery develop, primarily around the dam area and

the county boat ramp,” said TPWD biologist Randy Myers, “but the fi sh were barely legal.”Still, Myers is hopeful that the good times aren’t really over for good.“The population is rebounding,” he said. “It’s just taking time. You know, up the river, at

San Ygnacio, people used to catch bucketloads of white bass. It was a big thing in this area. It might take us a few more years to get back to that scale.”

IT’SON:Hardcorewhitebassanglersareheadingsouththismonthforthefirstwhitebassrunsofthestateontheborderlakes.LakeCor-pusChristianglersarealsoreportingtheearlyrunhappeninguptheNuecesRiver.PhotobyDavidJ.Sams,LoneStarOutdoorNews.

The usual January suspectsByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS

Pier anglers up and down the Texas coast have had to battle high north winds, fast-moving water and cold temperatures the past few weeks, but the fishing is on the uptick.

According to Kelly McClure, owner of the Galveston Fishing Pier, anglers have had to battle the elements lately, but the ones who do are catching a few fish.

“It is finally sunny today,”

McClure said on Jan. 16. “We have had high winds, overcast, windy conditions recently, but the wind has died down and we’ve got some people fishing. The water is stained, but anglers are catching a lot of sheepshead and whiting.”

McClure said squid, mullet and live shrimp work the best, but shrimp have been tough to come by this month.

“We do have dead shrimp available,” she said. “The live


PLENTYOFFISH:Whiting,blackdrumandsheepsheadareallbeingcaughtthismonthoncoastalpiers.PhotobyLoneStarOutdoorNews.

THROWBIGGERBAITS:Wintertroutanglersshouldstaypatientandthrowbiggerbaitsatcold-waterfish.PhotobyDavidJ.Sams,LoneStarOutdoorNews.

Bigger baitsWinter seatrout feed less,

but eat bigger mealsByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS

Anglers of spotted seatrout know winter is a great time to catch a really big fi sh more than 30 inches long.

But they could go a long time between bites. Guides and anglers are also aware winter fi sh don’t eat nearly as much or feed as long during the winter, but they will eat a bigger meal and be done.

“Winter trout feed about 10 percent of the time compared to what they do in the summer,” said midcoast Capt. Brian Holden. “That is why people use bigger baits in the winter like Corky’s and big top-waters.”

That is also why anglers fi nd bigger baitfi sh in a trout’s gullet during the winter months.

“We see a lot of large mullet in the gullets of smallish fi sh,” Holden said.

Biologists agree that trout eat less during the winter when their metabolism slows down.

“When the water is cold, the fi sh aren’t moving around as much,” said Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Laguna Madre fi sheries biologist Faye Grubbs. “They will not feed as much, either. I don’t know if it is as low as 10 percent (of what they normally eat), but it is substantially less.”

Holden said be patient when fi shing, as the bite could turn on and only last 30 minutes a few times each day.


ALANHENRY:Water stained; 42–46 degrees; 9.67’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on fi nesse jigs and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair on live minnows. Catfi sh are fair to good.

AMISTAD:Water murky; 58–62 degrees; 29.38’ low. Largemouth bass are good on dark soft plas-tics in 15–25 feet. Striped bass are good on jigging spoons under birds. White bass are good on jig-ging spoons under birds. Catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with live perch in 20–30 feet.

ATHENS:Water clear; 42–46 degrees; 1.08’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on lipless crank-baits, bladed jigs and watermelon Senkos. Crappie are good on min-nows and white jigs.

BASTROP:Water stained; 56–60 degrees. Largemouth bass are good on pumpkinseed and chartreuse/white soft plastics, spinner baits and crankbaits. Crappie are fair on minnows. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on stinkbait, chicken livers and nightcrawlers.

BELTON:Water murky; 54–58 degrees; 12.67’ low. Largemouth bass are good on top-waters in coves. Hybrid striper are fair on live shad early and late. Crappie are fair on minnows.

BOBSANDLIN:Water clear; 41–46 degrees; 1.96’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on suspending jerkbaits and lipless crankbaits. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs. White bass are fair on slabs and minnows.

BONHAM:Water stained, 42–45 degrees; 2.89’ low. Largemouth bass are fair along creek channels and rocks on crankbaits, spinner baits, soft plastics and jerkbaits. Crappie and catfi sh are slow.

BRAUNIG:Water stained. Largemouth bass are fair on green pumpkin soft plastics. Striped bass are fair on live shad and silver jigging spoons.

BROWNWOOD: Water clear; 52–56 degrees; 12.53’ low. Largemouth bass are good on chartreuse spinner baits, craw-

colored jigs, and small crankbaits off points and in coves.

BUCHANAN:Water murky; 53–57 degrees; 33.36’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon red curl-tail grubs on jigheads, black hair jigs, and sus-pending crankbaits along ledges in 10–20 feet.

CADDO:Water stained; 43–47 degrees; 1.30 high. Largemouth bass are fair on lipless crankbaits and bladed jigs. White and yellow bass are slow on minnows and white jigs.

CALAVERAS:Water stained. Largemouth bass are fair on small crankbaits. Striped bass are fair on live shad and silver spoons. Redfi sh are good on live perch and shad in 15–30 feet.

CANYONLAKE:Water murky; 55–59 degrees; 12.37’ low. Largemouth bass are good on pumpkin drop-shot worms, Texas-rigged Red Shad worms, and tubes on jigheads in stickups from 6–15 feet.

CEDARCREEK:Water clear; 43–46 degrees; 5.89’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on lip-less crankbaits, spinner baits and bladed jigs. Carolina-rigged fl ukes working as well. White bass are slow on minnows.

CHOKECANYON:Water stained; 57–61 degrees; 28.30’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on char-treuse crankbaits, heavy jigs and large soft plastic lizards in the grass. Crappie are fair on min-nows and red/white tube jigs.

COLEMAN:Water clear; 56–60 degrees; 19.27’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinner baits and crankbaits. Crappie are good on minnows.

CONROE:Water murky; 55–59 degrees; 0.04’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon red and pumpkinseed spinner baits and lipless crankbaits in 15–35 feet.

FALCON:Water murky; 56–60 degrees; 27.17’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on football jigs, Carolina-rigged Senkos, and slow rolling spinner

baits in 12–20 feet. FAYETTE:Water stained.

Largemouth bass are fair on electric blue Carolina-rigged fi nesse worms in 10–16 feet, and on spinner baits along the outside edges of grass.

FT.PHANTOMHILL:Water clear; 42–45 degrees; 17.73’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on fi nesse Texas rigs and drop-shot rigs. Crappie are fair on live min-nows. Catfi sh are fair on cut bait.

GIBBONSCREEK:Water clear. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon red spinner baits, crankbaits and lipless crankbaits. Crappie are fair on minnows and blue tube jigs. Catfi sh are good on frozen shrimp and stinkbait.

GRANBURY:Water murky; 52–56 degrees; 10.41’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon red and pumpkin-seed soft plastics. Striped bass are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are fair on minnows and blue tube jigs. Catfi sh are fair on stinkbait.

GRANGER: Water stained; 51–55 degrees; 0.75’ high. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are slow. Blue catfi sh are fair on juglines baited with shad and cut bait.

GRAPEVINE:Water clear; 41–44 degrees; 12.33’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on shaky heads and Flick Shakes near the marinas. Crappie are slow on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are fair on trotlines and cut shad.

HOUSTONCOUNTY:Water stained; 51–55 degrees; 0.87’ high. Largemouth bass are fair on crankbaits and clear/metal fl ake Brush Hogs around brush. Crappie are fair on minnows near piers at the dam.

HUBBARDCREEK:Water off-color; 42–46 degrees; 29.81’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Texas rigs and drop-shot rigs. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are fair on night-crawlers and cut bait.

JOEPOOL:Water clear; 43–46 degrees; 1.68’ low. Largemouth

bass are slow on lipless crank-baits, weightless fl ukes and fi sh head spins. Crappie are good on minnows. White bass are fair on slabs and minnows.

LAKEO’THEPINES:Water lightly stained; 44–48; degrees; 0.69’ high. Largemouth bass are good on lipless crankbaits and bladed jigs. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are slow.

LBJ:Water stained; 54–58 degrees; 0.30’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on green pumpkin tubes and black/blue jigs around docks. Striped bass are fair on white striper jigs. White bass are fair on Spoiler Shads.

LEWISVILLE:Water lightly stained; 40–44 degrees; 7.22’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on jerkbaits in Pro Blue as well as football jigs near isolated rocky points on main lake.

LIVINGSTON:Water fairly clear; 55–59 degrees; 0.38’ high. Largemouth bass are good on crankbaits, buzzbaits and spin-ner baits. Striped bass are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are very good on minnows in creeks.

MARTINCREEK:Water clear; 45–58 degrees; Full pool. Largemouth bass are fair on black and blue fl ipping jigs near lay-downs and near bean bushes. Texas-rigged craws around the same cover is effective as well.

MONTICELLO:Water clear; 42–45 degrees; 0.77’ high. Largemouth bass are slow on fl ip-ping jigs in black and blue and bladed jigs. Crappie are slow on minnows and jigs.

NAVARROMILLS:Water stained; 53–57 degrees; 2.06’ low. Largemouth bass are good on lip-less crankbaits. White bass are slow.

O.H.IVIE:Water stained; 42–46 degrees; 43.23’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Texas rigs, jigs and shaky heads.

OAKCREEK:Water stained; 41–45 degrees; 25.52’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on

Texas rigs, drop-shot rigs and jigs. Crappie are fair on jigs and live minnows.

PALESTINE:Water clear; 41–44 degrees; 0.02’ low. Largemouth bass are good on lipless crank-baits, weightless worms and umbrella rigs. Crappie are good on minnows on docks with brush.

POSSUMKINGDOM:Water fairly clear; 42–47 degrees; 14.73’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on drop-shot rigs, Texas rigs and jigs. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs.

PROCTOR:Water murky; 56–60 degrees; 12.73’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chartreuse crank-baits and soft plastic worms.

RAYHUBBARD:Water clear; 40–44 degrees; 9.65’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on crankbaits, smaller umbrella rigs and suspending jerkbaits. Crappie are slow on minnows and jigs. White bass are slow on slabs.

RICHLANDCHAMBERS:Water lightly stained; 41–45 degrees; 10.56’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on green pumpkin fi nesse worms on shaky heads and weightless trick worms. White bass are slow on minnows.

SAMRAYBURN:Water murky; 56–60 degrees; 0.45’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon red and watermelon gold soft plastics, crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits.

SOMERVILLE:Water murky; 57–61 degrees; 0.91’ high. Largemouth bass are good on silver/black spinner baits. Hybrid striper are slow. White bass are good on silver/black spinner baits. Crappie are fair on min-nows and green tube jigs.

STILLHOUSE:Water murky; 56–60 degrees; 14.54’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon spinner baits and lip-less crankbaits. White bass are fair on Li’l Fishies. Crappie are good on minnows.

SWEETWATER:Water murky; 42–46 degrees; 28.28’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on fl ut-ter spoons, Texas rigs and jigs.

Crappie are fair on live minnows. Catfi sh are fair to good on pre-pared bait.

TEXOMA:Water clear; 40–44 degrees; 5.70’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on suspending jerkbaits, umbrella rigs and weightless worms. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs near brush piles. Striped bass are fair on minnows.

TRAVIS:Water murky; 53–57 degrees; 57.55’ low. Largemouth bass are good on chrome jig-ging spoons, blue/black jigs, and smoke grubs in 30–45 feet.

WALTERE.LONG:Water lightly stained. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon soft plastics. Hybrid striper are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are good on minnows and red/white tube jigs.

WHITNEY:Water murky; 54–58 degrees; 10.63’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on green pumpkin and tequila sunrise spinner baits, crankbaits and soft plastics. Striped bass are fair on char-treuse striper jigs. White bass are fair on minnows. Crappie are good on minnows and chartreuse tube jigs.

WRIGHTPATMAN:Water lightly stained; 43–46 degrees; 4.31’ high. Largemouth bass are slow on Texas-rigged craws and green pumpkin fl ipping jigs near shal-low cover. Crappie are good on minnows and white jigs. Catfi sh are fair.

— TPWD

TEXAS FRESHWATER FISHING REPORT

nSaltwaterreports:PleaseturntoPage16

WatertempskeyforbassTOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR — Bass are

locking in deep when the water tempera-tures drop and marching to the shallows when temps rise, according to guide Darrell Lyons.

“Water temps of 46 to 51 degrees will find most bass out deep in the old river or at the mouths of deeper creeks at 28 to 42 feet,” Lyons reported.

Jigging spoons or drop-shot rigs with a 4-inch black/blue cut tail worm is working. “When the water hits 55 or above things change,” Lyons said, “the bass move and

feed in water from 8-15 feet.” Lipless crankbaits in black/silver or black/gold or a suspending rogue in the same

colors were working.To contact Darrell Lyons, call

(936) 201-7534

BigbluesshallowLAKE RAY ROBERTS — A Martin

Luther King Day trip to the North Texas reservoir resulted in lots of big blues for one group of anglers. The problem was, the fishermen wanted eating-sized fish.

“All we were catching was 15- to 25-pounders,” Fishing Professor posted on the Texas Fishing Forum. “We fished skinny water from 2 to 10 feet on the timber line near creek channels and picked up a good mess of big fish. We finally kept five teen-agers and a few 5- to 10-pound fish.”

HalloffamerLAKE FORK — Guide Mark Stevenson was recently

announced as an inductee in the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Hall of Fame, with the ceremony to be held June 6.

Stevenson, famous for catching “Ethel,” the 17.67-pound largemouth that was the state record at the time, said while the largemouth are still slow at the famous reservoir, the crappie and catfi sh are making up for it.

“The crappie fi shing is tremendous and the catfi shing is really good,” Stevenson said. “Use jigging spoons in 25 feet and you’ll catch bass, crappie and catfi sh — just use your electronics and look for the baitfi sh. Drop that spoon and you’ll catch some fi sh.”

Stevenson said the bass bite is still a few weeks away as the days get longer and water temperatures rise.

“The lake is slowly rising and we’re setting up for a good February,” he said.To contact Mark Stevenson, call (903) 765-3120

TEXAS FRESHWATER FISHING REPORT

Luther King Day trip to the North Texas


Boat shows reporting good salesContinuedfrompage1

CHECKOUTTHENEWTOYS:Show-goersareseeingalotofnewproductsatthisyear’sboatshows.PhotobyErichSchlegel,forLoneStarOutdoorNews.

they can’t just swing the doors open — even if there are hundreds of boats to see.

At the Houston boat show, visitors could pet stingrays, minus their barbs. Last year, the Coastal Bend Boat & RV Expo, Feb. 13-15 in Robstown, gave away a whooping crane tour for two as a raffle prize.

The San Antonio Boat & Travel Trailer Show, Jan. 29-Feb. 1, plans to crank up the fun this year with bungee jumping inside the Alamodome. And the DFW Boat Expo, Jan. 30-Feb. 8 at Market Hall, will present a Red Bull cliff diver.

“Just going to a boat show can have almost a car-nival feel,” said Dana Cobb, a spokeswoman for the DFW Boat Expo. “Dealers really make it a point to have exhibits or demonstrations that engage people.”

One product catching people’s attention is the Optimus 360, shown by the Seabrook firm Docking by Control.

“They demonstrated a joystick that you could use to dock a boat,” Lovell said. “It’s an add-on. You can use it to practically make a boat go sideways. It blows my mind.”

The company’s owner said there’s no practically about it.

“You can totally make a boat go sideways,” Danny Hampshire said. “You have total control of where you want to go. You can spin the boat 360 degrees if you want.”

The Optimus 360, made by SeaStar, employs an electro-hydraulic smart cylinder and pump for each outboard motor, allowing them to work indepen-dently. Each outboard’s thrust is worked against the other to move a boat sideways. The price installed is

about $18,000.“You don’t have to worry about the wind. You just

pull up at a dock and do everything with a joystick,” Hampshire said.

Boat shows are vital to selling his products, he said.“Unless people are looking on the Internet,

they’re not going to find us,” Hampshire said. “To us, boat shows are huge. They put us in front of our customers.”

But are boat shows a good place to buy a boat or anything else?

About.com’s Guide to Powerboating quotes a dealer who cautions that rental fees, transportation costs and so forth are passed on to boat show customers.

However, Texas Marine’s Whitmire said that’s not entirely the case.

“People should know that most dealerships get a lot of their expenses reimbursed by manufacturers,” he said. “On top of that, they give us rebates. To me, boat shows are definitely the place to buy a boat.”

Boat show people call it “one-stop shopping.”“If you want to talk to another dealer, you often just

have to walk across a 10-foot aisle,” Lovell said. “It’s hard to beat that.”

Upcoming boat shows:Jan. 23-25Texas Tackle, Hunting and Boat ShowBig Town Event Center, Mesquite

Feb. 6-8All Valley Boat ShowMcAllen Convention Center


TRESPASSERCLAIMSHUNTINGHOGS,BUTGUTTEDBUCKFOUND

A ranch caretaker found a truck on the property and witnessed a man with a gun run off into the brush. Karnes County Game Warden Chad Moore was called and made contact with the suspected poacher. The sub-ject said he knew the ranch owners but admitted he did not have permis-sion to be hunting there. The man said he was hunting hogs and when he saw the truck he got scared and ran. The man did not have a valid Texas hunting license and a citation was issued. The following day, Moore received a call from the landowner’s daughter, who had found a gutted buck on the ranch. The poacher then confessed he shot the deer but left it because he was afraid of being caught. Cases pending.

POACHERPOINTSGUNATWARDEN,FLEES

While scanning the woods with night vision, Harris County Game Warden Cullen Stakes noticed a dim light and moved toward the source. Stakes then noticed a man aiming a rifle at him and announced his presence as he positioned him-self out of the line of fire. The poacher fled on foot into the woods. Game Wardens Ross Sidman, Gregg Johnson and Captain Fred Ruiz responded, along with Harris County Sheriff deputies. While con-ducting a search of the area, the sheriff’s K-9 located the poacher’s rifle and hunting gear hidden in the woods. Investigation pending.

MULEFEEDBYDUMPEDDEERCARCASSNARROWEDTHEFIELDOF

SUSPECTSA deer carcass dumped on the

side of the roadway was reported to Montgomery County Game Warden Brannon Meinkowsky. Meinkowsky

noticed several feed bags for horses alongside the deer and went to a local feed store. He learned this par-ticular feed was for mules, which the store sold to four regular buy-ers. Meinkowsky then found the deer had been illegally killed at night from a roadway and another was legally killed but not tagged. In addition, one of the guns used had been stolen out of Liberty County in December of 2013. Cases are pending.

PROCESSOR’SINVOICEDRAWSFURTHERINQUIRY

A deer processor’s invoice caught the attention of Smith County Game Warden Chris Swift. One man checked in three deer but didn’t notch or fill his tags out. When Swift asked about his deer, the man said that he only shot one and that his friends killed two doe (in closed season) but didn’t tag them because they didn’t have licenses. Multiple citations were issued.

EXCUSES,EXCUSESNacogdoches County Game

Wardens Randy Stovall and Heath Bragg observed an individual clean-ing a deer in his garage. The deer was not tagged and the man claimed he had taken the tag off and placed it in his wallet to prevent him from

losing it. The man said his wife had taken his wallet with her to pur-chase ice. When his wife returned, it was determined that she had shot the deer without a hunting license. The subject’s uncle showed up dur-ing the interview and said he shot a doe earlier and claimed his hunting license was at his house with the deer, but he in fact did not have a hunting license. The deer meat was donated and citations were issued for antler restriction violations and criminal trespassing.

SHOOTINGFOOTWASJUSTTHESTARTOFHISPROBLEMS

A hunter accidentally shot him-self in the foot while loading a deer and Montgomery County Game Warden Brannon Meinkowsky was contacted. It was found that the hunter was hunting without a valid license, tagged the deer with another hunter’s tag, killed a buck that was not legal (12 inches) and was hunting without his Hunter’s Education certification.

SPOTLIGHTINGDEERBRINGSTRIPTOJAIL

Two persons were spotlight-ing and were observed by Medina County Game Warden Jeff Benson. The subjects were in possession

of a freshly killed doe and a small 4-point buck. Cases were filed for hunting deer at night and hunting deer with the aid of artificial light. The subjects were transported to the Medina County Jail.

TWOSHOOTINGBIRDSONCLOSEDPUBLICLAND

Frio County Game Warden John Palacios received a call from a concerned landowner advising he heard several shots from a nearby TPWD public hunting area. Palacios made contact with two individuals who were hunting in a closed area and in were in pos-session of mourning dove, quail and protected nongame birds. Citations were issued.

BUCKINTRUCKBED,DOEINDITCHWEREHARDTODENY

Gillespie County Game Warden Sam Harris received a call from the county sheriff’s office regarding pos-sible road hunters. The caller saw a truck parked in the ditch with a buck in the bed and a doe on the ground. Harris interviewed two suspects who denied involvement, but one eventu-ally showed him where the buck was killed and the drag marks. Harris, along with fellow Game Warden Scott Krueger, reinterviewed the

complainants and possible accom-plices who disclosed the location of an 8-point buck head, doe head and meat. Cases are pending on both suspects.

LOSTBUCKFOUND,ADDSTOPROBLEMSFORPOACHERS

Bell County Game Warden Brandt Bernstein assisted the police depart-ment after reports of shots being fired. Before Bernstein arrived, the local police found a group of men looking for a deer that had been shot and wounded. Bernstein discovered two of the men had harvested a doe and a buck and failed to tag the deer. Both men were cited for fail-ing to tag their deer, the antlers were seized and civil restitution is pend-ing.

DPSTROOPER,WARDENFINDNIGHTHUNTERS

Illegal hunting activity was reported to Madison County Game Warden Chris Lasiter by DPS Trooper Felipe Garcia. Lasiter and Garcia arrived at the scene to find two subjects cleaning a white-tailed doe. One of the suspects admitted to shooting the deer with a rifle using a spotlight. The suspect was arrested for hunting deer at night with a light.

SMILE,YOU’REONCAMERAMontgomery County Game

Wardens Brannon Meinkowsky and Bobby Apple apprehended three suspects trespassing on a deer lease. The wardens were tipped off by a state-issued camera set near the entrance of the property. The camera took and sent pictures of the suspects breaking a lock to gain access. In addition to being arrested for criminal trespassing, the three were cited for criminal mischief.

GAME WARDEN BLOTTERDOEHANGINGFROMTREELEADSTOMULTIPLECHARGES

Longview Animal Control called Gregg County Game Warden Todd Long regarding a decaying doe hanging in a resident’s tree. Long located two untagged does behind the property, along with an untagged 9-point buck. Two of the four individu-als interviewed claimed they harvested the deer in Arkansas; one of the subjects confessed to taking a fourth deer in Texas that was dumped in Arkansas. When questioned about the discrepancies between

their harvest dates versus the dates printed on their Arkansas hunting licenses, two subjects acknowledged hunting without a license. Long contacted Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife officers, and they are pursuing more than $2,500 in charges against the subjects. Two of the men face one-year suspensions while the other would receive a lifetime hunting license suspen-sion in Arkansas.


more specklebellies in the Knox City area every year, now almost match-ing the number of Canada geese in the area.

Farther south and east on Eagle Lake, Tim Kelley of Tim Kelley’s Waterfowl Outfi tters Unlimited & The Eagle Lake Lodge at Windswept is seeing lots of snow geese and specklebellies and only “a handful of Canada geese.”

Like the other outfi tters, Kelley cited plentiful irrigated crops in the area — rice instead of milo — and weather patterns as the main drivers of goose activity. A late freeze up north meant the majority of birds “got [to Eagle Lake] late.” As a result, the geese are staying in large fl ocks instead of break-ing into the smaller bands they nor-mally form this time of year.

“It’s hard to get those big groups to decoy,” Kelley.

All in all, plentiful feed is bring-ing large numbers of geese to both northern and southern areas of Texas while sporadic weather and variable water levels are making the geese more diffi cult to decoy and jump.

area. “We are now seeing waterfowl in nearly every open body

of water,” Kraai said. “The Rolling Plains from Abilene to Lubbock east to Wichita Falls are really holding a lot of waterfowl right now because of the ice melt. Hunting should be great for the last week of the season. ”

Texas Ducks Unlimited Media Director Brian Donovan has also seen an increase in waterfowl action over the last few weeks. Donovan spends more than 60 days afi eld as both a duck hunter near and along the Red River and as Central Flyway Manager for Drake Waterfowl.

“We are simply looking for open water to hunt in North Texas,” Donovan said. “Most everything has been locked up in ice until just recently. But the recent rains and warmer weather have brought ducks back into North Texas. We are even seeing a couple of inches of sheet water in some wheat, millet and peanut fi elds.

“Those fi elds are magic if you can fi nd them.”Mills County Game Warden Vance Flowers spends hun-

dreds of hours on the water in Brown, Mills and Comanche counties. Flowers says the waterfowl hunting in Central Texas has been good so far this season and is getting even better.

“We don’t have any ice on our water in Central Texas and, unlike the last few years, we have had some good rain-fall,” said Flowers. “I see ducks in every stock pond and conservation lake I drive by in Central Texas.”

The duck and Canada Goose seasons run through January 25 in North Texas. Consult the 2014-2015 Texas Waterfowl Digest for exact season dates and bag limits.

Goose hunters fi nding successContinuedfrompage1

LOTSOFWORKFORRETRIEVERS:Goosehuntersareseeinglargenumbersofbirdsinmanypartsofthestatethismonth.PhotobyDavidJ.Sams,LoneStarOutdoorNews.

Open water means plenty of ducksContinuedfrompage4

cattle herd.“If the animal is (harvested) in one of the blanket areas, hunters need to call the number provided and our people will come

and inspect the animals,” said Dr. Andy Schwartz, assistant executive director of Epidemiology and Laboratory Systems at TAHC. “Hunters need to cape the animal out or remove the hide and freeze it for 30 hours in an on-site facility. Many of the outfi tters have freezers and they are aware of the regulations.”

Schwartz said treating the hide requires agents to spray the hide before removal from the area. Several weeks ago, 100 nilgai were killed on the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge to be tested for fever ticks.

Several of the nilgai tested positive.Although feeders can be set up to vaccinate white-tailed deer from fever ticks, nilgai don’t come to feeders.“Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer yet for nilgai,” Schwartz said. “We are talking with local landowner and biol-

ogists to see what can be done — they do come to alfalfa, so that is something we are looking at.”TPWD biologist Sam Patten said local landowners have all been notifi ed, and signs have been hung on gates announc-

ing the new requirements.“Any animal harvested on a property under quarantine must be inspected,” he said. “The good news is, they are very

prompt getting out to inspect animals. They are usually there within 20 or 30 minutes. This might become a permanent quarantine.”

South Texas hunter Curtis Bonner, who owns land in the new quarantine zone, said he isn’t sure what can be done, since nilgai will be almost impossible to vaccinate.

“They are ringing the Laguna Atascoas NWR with deer feeders to kill the ticks, but how do you doctor nilgai?” he asked. “They can’t put feeders on the NWR, and they won’t let hunters shoot the animals. My land is basically an island on the north bank of the barge channel. If I shoot a deer, I’ve got to call the authorities or freeze it, but I don’t have power to the property.”

For more information and an exact map of the new quarantine area, go to tahc.state.tx.us.

Hunters must check animalsContinuedfrompage1

Jessica’s first evening hunt involved watching sev-eral deer, without any attempt to put the gun out of the blind’s window.

The next morning’s hunt was somewhat forgettable. After a few hours with seeing only a few too-young deer, the group decided to exit the blind and see if some bucks could be rattled up during the December South Texas rut.

As her husband, Chris, opened the door and stepped out of the ground blind, a tall but narrow-antlered buck stepped out and stared, sensing the movement. With her husband hiding behind the blind, she prepared for the shot. After several minutes of waiting for the wary deer to turn and step out from behind some brush and grass, she was given the OK.

The shot was a clean miss and the buck trotted off.“I was shaking too badly,” Jessica said. “I probably

shouldn’t have shot. I’m glad I missed it and the buck wasn’t injured.”

The miss caused a reaction that hunters and guides like to see. The hunter was mad at herself — and more deter-mined to make the next opportunity count.

That evening, she did — and that buck didn’t move or walk away.

“I took my time and made sure I was ready,” Jessica said. “It was so exciting — I couldn’t wait to go and see him.”

The text came from the guide, Cole Farris, to the other hunters, including Chris, who was watching some nice bucks in another blind.

“Hurry up and get over here,” it read. “She’s going crazy wanting to see her deer.”

On the fi nal morning, the plan was simply to watch and scout more deer. Few deer were seen, but javelinas under the feeder changed the plan. With only a shotgun available, she and guide Cole Farris performed a sneak and the shot showed that Jessica is now what the foundation’s mission is all about.

She got the opportunity. She is now a hunter.

Urban biologist in the fi eldContinuedfrompage6


BringontheblackfinsMIDCOAST OFFSHORE — The report from the Deep Sea Headquarters out of Port

Aransas has been very good this month, with anglers catching loads of blackfi n tuna, amberjack and other species.

According to posters on the Texas Fishing Forum, the Jan. 17 run offshore produced 151 blackfi n tuna, six amberjack, a few bonita and small sharks.

The best bet for blackfi n tuna was jigging midsized jigs with a lot of fl ash to them. The weather was good enough for everyone to get out and enjoy the hot blackfi n bite.

Along with jigs, cut bait also worked to bring in fi sh, especially sharks. To contact Deep Sea Headquarters, call

(361) 749-5597.

CatchthemcomingbackGOOSE ISLAND — Capt. Rick Hammond of Night

Stalker Guide Service reports the fl ounder gigging action is getting better after the lull when the big fl ounder headed out to the Gulf in late November.

“Conditions were nice, with dead calm winds, low tide and very clear water,” he wrote on 2coolfi shing.com. “We started along a shoreline with deep mud and clay bottom. The fl ounder were there right away, mixed in with a few sheepshead and drum. After two hours we had a 10-fl ounder limit, plus three drum and

three sheepshead. The water was the coldest and clearest that I have ever seen. Many of the fi sh tonight were spotted 40 to 50 feet away from the boat. The fi sh were typical mid-winter size, in the 14- to 15-inch range. The fl ounder numbers and size should get better over the next few weeks, as larger fi sh begin to return from the Gulf. Normally, I see large numbers of bigger fl ounder start showing up during the fi rst week of February, with more showing up daily, all the way through April.”

To contact Capt. Rick Hammond, call (361) 727-0045.

SheepsheadanddrumTEXAS CITY DIKE — Anglers fi shing near

the Texas City Dike are reporting decent catches of black drum and sheepshead.

Multiple anglers are various message boards have said the fi shing has been good this month, although it should get better in the coming weeks.

Dead shrimp and cut bait have been working, with many nice sheepshead being caught, along with some oversized black drum, and the occasional seatrout and redfi sh.

NORTHSABINE:Trout are fair on the shore-lines on Corkies and Catch 2000s. Redfi sh are fair around drains on shrimp.

SOUTHSABINE:Sheepshead and black drum are good at the jetty on live shrimp. Trout are fair around the Reef on live shrimp.

BOLIVAR: Trout are fair to good on the south shoreline on soft plastics and plugs. Black drum and redfi sh are good at Rollover Pass.

TRINITYBAY: Trout are fair in the deep bayous on plastics. Redfi sh are good at the spillway on crabs and mullet.

EASTGALVESTONBAY: Trout are fair to good on the south shoreline on Catch 5s, MirrOlures and Catch 2000s. Whiting and sand trout are good on the edge of the Intracoastal on freshshrimp.

WESTGALVESTONBAY:Trout are fair in the

mud and shell on Corkies in the afternoon. Sheepshead, redfi sh and black drum are good at the jetty on shrimp and crabs.

TEXASCITY:Redfi sh are fair in Moses Lake on mullet. Black drum and sheepshead are fair off the dike on shrimp.

FREEPORT:Sand trout and sheepshead are good on live shrimp on the reefs. Black drum are good in Cold Pass and San Luis pass on cracked blue crabs.

EASTMATAGORDABAY:Trout are fair to good for drifters in the afternoon on live shrimp over humps and scattered shell. Redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on crabs and mullet.

WESTMATAGORDABAY:Redfi sh are fair to good on the south shoreline on shrimp. Trout are fair on shell and grass on soft plastics.

Black drum are fair to good at the jetty on crabs.

PORTO’CONNOR: Trout and redfi sh are fair on plastics over soft mud in San Antonio Bay. Trout and redfi sh are fair for drifters working the back lakes with live shrimp.

ROCKPORT:Redfi sh are good in the Lydia Ann Channel on crabs. Trout are fair over grass while drifting with live shrimp.

PORTARANSAS:Redfi sh and black drum are good in the Shrimpboat Channel on crabs and fi nger mullet. Redfi sh and sheepshead are fair to good at the jetty on shrimp.

CORPUSCHRISTI:Redfi sh are fair to good around Shamrock Cove on spoons. Trout are fair to good on the edge of the spoils on scented plastics and live shrimp.

BAFFINBAY:Trout are fair to good in mud

and grass on twitchbaits. Redfi sh are fair along the spoils on gold spoons and scented plastics.

PORTMANSFIELD:Trout are fair to good on plastics around sand and grass holes. Redfi sh are fair to good while drifting potholes.

SOUTHPADRE:Trout and redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on DOA Shrimp and scented plastics. Redfi sh are good in South Cullen Bay on scented plas-tics.

PORTISABEL: Trout and redfi sh are fair to good in South Bay on live shrimp. Redfi sh are fair at Three Island on soft plastics under rat-tling corks.

— TPWD

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT


2 cups water1 cup uncooked long-grain rice1 pound of catfi sh fi llets1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid2 tsps. dried minced onion1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules1/2 tsp. dried oregano1/4 tsp. garlic powder1/8 tsp. hot pepper sauce

In a small saucepan, bring the 2 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the rice and return to a boil; reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for 20 min-utes or until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed. Using a very

sharp knife, cut the catfi sh into 3/4-inch pieces; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the tomatoes (with juices), dried onions, bouillon granules, dried oregano, garlic pow-der and hot-pepper sauce; bring to a boil and stir in the catfi sh pieces. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until the fi sh fl akes easily when tested with a fork and is opaque all the way through. Pour the fi sh mixture over the rice. Bake until fi sh is cooked through and crumbs are golden, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

— myrecipes.com

CatfishCreole

*email LSON your favorite recipe to

[email protected].

1 pound piece of deer backstrap12 medium to large jalapeno peppers Cream cheese, softenedTony Chachere’s Cajun seasoningThick cut bacon

Slice backstrap into pieces 2-3 inches long by 1-inch wide and 1/4-inch thick.

Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Leave some seeds

if you want some heat. Fill each pep-per half with cream cheese and lay on a piece of meat. Sprinkle liberally with the seasoning. Wrap each pepper with half a slice of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Place on baking sheet and bake for 15–20 minutes at 350 degrees. Place in broiler to crisp the bacon if desired. Let sit one minute and enjoy.

— backwoodsbound.com

Backstrappoppers

FORTHE

TABLE

ACROSS 1. Act of carrying, canoe, gear overland 5. A male pheasant 7. The king is one species of this 8. A wood used in arrow shafts 9. Part of the gun frame below the barrel10. A gauge invaluable to the angler12. A lure14. A food source of deer17. Hunter’s name for the predator18. The white bass ______19. Term for a small trout21. Bowman’s finger protection, shooting22. Arrows and shells23. A wingshooter’s quarry25. A popular commercial fish26. Act of game having young28. BB gun or ____ rifle31. A good trap bait

33. A young quail35. The bighorn36. Clay pigeon ejector station38. A wildlife’s daily routine movements39. The tip of a bullet41. Name for a family of sunfish43. A bowhunter’s quarry in Florida46. Strings of bow47. Large member of the deer family48. A type of camp fireplace

DOWN 1. A valuable part of some game 2. The snare 3. Loners are ____ gobblers 4. Term for the wolf predator 6. A name for a brook trout11. A large fighting sport fish12. A gun part, ___ plate13. A good bear bait

14. A species of goose15. Perch are classified as this16. A fish-steering appendage20. A turkey nighttime haven24. An excellent walleye bait27. A breed of setter29. Type fishing requires use of an auger30. This controls spread of shot pellets31. A type of gun sight32. Grouse species34. Name for a salmon species of Wyoming35. Name of an icefishing lure37. Large appendage on the muley40. A deer type, ____ horn41. Deer marks on tree trunks42. To pull the bowstring44. The point of an arrow45. Best lure color to attract fish

OUTDOOR PUZZLER By Wilbur “Wib” Lundeen SolutiononPage19


Nikon will send your 10x42 ProStaff 7 binoculars. You can check out

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KYLEGINSEL,9,KILLEDTHISNICE8-POINTERTHEWEEKOFTHANKSGIVINGWHILE

HUNTINGWITHHISDAD,KURT,INTRINITYCOUNTY.

NATIONALArizonasuesUSFWSoverMexicanwolfplan

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has served a Notice of Intent with the secretary of the Department of Interior and director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The action was taken in an effort to sup-port development of an updated recovery plan for Mexican wolves that utilizes the best available science as legally required by the Endangered Species Act.

AGFD has requested an updated recov-ery plan from the Service on multiple occasions over the past several years because it believes the current recov-ery plan for Mexican wolves developed in 1982 is outdated and no longer provides an adequate framework to guide the recov-ery effort. That plan also fails to identify the recovery criteria required by the ESA, including downlisting and delisting criteria.

“This Notice of Intent is an effort to ensure that the Fish and Wildlife Service adheres to its legal obligation to develop a thorough science-based plan that will lead to a successful recovery outcome that recognizes Mexico as pivotal to achieving recovery of the Mexican wolf given that 90 percent of its historical range is there,” said Arizona Game and Fish Department Director Larry Voyles.

The Service is currently in litigation with several parties that are pushing for reestablishment of Mexican wolves in areas that are not part of the subspecies’ historical range and requesting a resolu-tion in a faster timeframe.

— AGFD

BobcathuntingpassesinIllinois

Hunting of bobcats will soon be legal after a 42-year ban in the state of Illinois, thanks to the Legislature’s recent passing of a bill to allow a hunting season on this species. Bobcats offi cially came off the state-threat-ened species list in 1999, having been on the list since 1977. It has been illegal, how-ever, to hunt bobcats in Illinois since 1972.

The Legislature passed the bobcat bill — by 91 to 20 in the House and 30 to 19 in the Senate — in early December. HB 4226 allows the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to establish a hunting season on bobcats to run between Nov. 1 and Feb. 15, and to permit a hunter to take one bob-cat per season. The IDNR will allocate how many bobcats trappers may take annually.

— IDNR

Majorgrantawardedtoriceindustry,DU

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced approved grants from the fi rst round of proposals to the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

The USA Rice Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and more than 40 collaborating partners are pleased that the “Rice Stewardship Partnership — Sustaining the Future of Rice” project was selected for support.

This project will help rice producers con-serve natural resources such as water, soil and waterfowl habitat, while having long-term positive impacts on their bottom line.

“The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Texas’ and Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, and California’s Central Valley are critical landscapes for waterfowl and therefore ranked as some of DU’s top priorities for habitat conservation,” said DU President and Arkansas rice pro-ducer George Dunklin.

— DU

NewsheepherdinMontana

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist Julie Cunningham banged on the trailer’s side, and 16 bighorn sheep groggily left its safety, jumping and sometimes stum-bling toward higher ground.

They were the first of three trailer loads of bighorn sheep transplanted from their home 15 miles to the south near Quake Lake as part of FWP’s strategic plan to establish five new bighorn sheep herds by 2022.

By the end of the day, 52 wild sheep were browsing hillsides.

If the sheep stay healthy and don’t leave the area in search of their former home, the new population will be the first of those herds and a victory in a time when FWP has struggled to find new places in the state to put wild sheep.

“We’ve got grass, we’ve got mountains, we’ve got everything that sheep need,” Cunningham said, gesturing toward the Madison Range and the disappearing wild sheep. “This is a good new home.”

— Laura Lundquist, Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Elephantimportationbanupdate

On December 26th, Safari Club International and the National Rifl e Association received good and bad news in their efforts to challenge the ongoing importation bans on sport-hunted ele-phants from Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

The groups received good news about Zimbabwe elephants. The federal court ruled in favor of the ability to proceed with challenges to the Zimbabwe importa-tion bans — both to the ban announced on April 4, 2014 and the decision to continue the ban that the FWS announced on July 23, 2014.

The ruling cleared the way for litigation teams to move forward to present their case on why the USFWS acted illegally in shutting down importation from Zimbabwe without a sufficient basis for doing so.

However, the court’s ruling on the Tanzania claims was not favorable — it dismissed the Tanzania importation ban challenges.

— SCI

AGFCupsnon-residentlicenses

During the Jan. 15 meeting of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, commissioners approved an increase in several non-resident hunting and fish-ing licenses. The Non-Resident Annual Fishing License will be $50, up from $40. The Non-Resident 3-Day Trip Fishing License will increase from $11 to $16 and the Non-Resident 7-Day Trip Fishing License will increase from $17 to $25.

The Non-Resident Annual All Game license will be increased from $300 to $350. The Non-Resident 1-Day All Game License will now cost $55, the 3-day license will be $125 and the 5-day license will be increased to $180. The Non-Resident Annual Small Game License will be increased from $80 to $110 and the Non-Resident 5-Day Small Game License is $70, up from $55. The new non-resident license fee will go into effect March 1.

— AGFC

FishingpioneerCottonCordelldies

“Just an ol’ country boy that loved fi shing and worked hard at it all of his life.”

That’s how Bassmaster Elite Series angler Mark Davis described Cotton Cordell, the Arkansas native and man behind so many fi shing lure innovations who passed away last week.

Davis was raised a couple of blocks away from where Carl Richey “Cotton” Cordell Jr. laid the foundation for his fi shing tackle empire in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Upon hearing of Cordell’s passing, Davis had great things to say about Cordell.

“It’s a sad day for fi shing,” Davis told BassFan.com. “He was real quick to tell a story or reminisce or talk about fi shing. He was just a guy that loved fi shing fi rst.”

Davis remembers one of Cordell’s fi rst spinner bait designs — the Spider, a single-blade wire bait that had thick rubber legs on it.

“He got into manufacturing after that, was real popular and he did a lot with hard baits, but he got his start with jigs and spin-ner baits,” Davis said.

— Bassfan.com


ones are really hard to find.”Along the midcoast, anglers

at Red Dot Pier near Corpus Christi are having better success at night.

“The action has been a lit-tle slow,” said manager Hector Garcia. “The day has been really tough, but they are doing well at night catching sheepshead and black drum. Crabs, shrimp and Fishbites are the most pop-ular bait.”

Garcia said it hasn’t mattered whether the tide is outgoing or incoming, but it has to be mov-ing for any hope of success.

“Out or in, doesn’t matter,” he said. “The water is really stained, but people are catching fish at night.”

Also near Corpus Christi, anglers at the Bob Hall Pier have been shut out by weather recently.

“We’ve had a big front push through and that has made even getting out to fish tough,” said Matt Smith at Bob Hall Pier. “It looks a lot nicer today, though, and we’ve got people out on the pier trying. Before the bad weather, anglers were catching whiting, red drum and small sharks.”

Smith said the majority of the redfish were oversized.

“Dead shrimp has been the most popular bait,” he added. “We still sell frozen shrimp, but some people are bringing their own.”

Lower coast anglers are find-ing success on big black drum.

“The people are catching whiting, sheepshead, black drum and croaker,” said Marco Rodriguez at Pirate’s Landing Pier near Port Isabel. “Most of the black drum are oversized, but a few puppy drum are being caught. The best baits have been shrimp and squid.”

Rodriguez said the water was clearing up and looking better for the week ahead.

Pier anglers battling winds, light bites, stained waterContinuedfrompage8

Angler,conservationgrouptobeinductedintoTexasFresh-waterFishingHallofFame The angler who caught the first entry into Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s big bass

angler recognition program and the organization responsible for Texas having a year-round rainbow trout fishery will be inducted into the Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in June. Fishing guide Mark Stevenson of Alba is best known for his catch of the first entry into

TPWD’s ShareLunker program in 1986. The 17.67-pound largemouth bass from Lake Fork, known as Ethel, was the state record at the time and achieved international fame during her subsequent residence at the Bass Pro Shops store in Springfield, Missouri. Her presence there fueled a growing nationwide interest in bass fishing, resulting in a sig-

nificant economic impact. Two-thirds of Texas’s 1.7 million anglers are primarily bass fishers, and sales of fishing licenses and taxes on fishing-related items generate millions of dollars for conservation. Also to be inducted is Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited, the largest Trout Unlimited chapter

in the nation with more than 5,000 members. GRTU has been the driving force behind the development of a year-round rainbow trout fishery on the Guadalupe River, listed as one of America’s top 100 trout streams in 2013. TPWD studies show this fishery has an annual eco-nomic impact of $1.9 million on the local economy, but GRTU’s contributions go much further. The organization maintains a leadership role in conservation and development of public access to the fishery.

— TPWD

PuzzlesolutionfromPage17


A wish grantedYoung hunter gets his South Texas buck

PhotosbyDavidJ.SamsStorybyCraigNyhusLone Star outdoor newS

The shot was perfect and the South Texas white-tailed buck was down — but it took awhile for the guide and father to gather their composure and leave the blind to see and touch the deer.

Young Matt Watts’ wish had been granted dur-ing his hunt with the Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation.

“It was emotional,” guide Jim Wheeler said. “We were thinking about all this young man had been through.”

Matt, though, after a long trip from his Brackettville, Pennsylvania home on New Year’s Day, wanted to go and see his deer.

His father, Jim Watts, described Matt’s journey with cancer.

“At age 7, a brain tumor (medullablastoma) was discovered and surgery was performed,” he said. “It returned later, though. He loves to hunt. We’ve hunted near home and he has shot a 6-pointer and a doe. He watches all the TV shows, and his favorites are Wade Middleton’s shows, Americana Outdoors and

Yamaha’s Whitetail Diaries. What he really wanted is to shoot a Texas buck.”

Make-A-Wish would not consider that wish, as dreams that involve hunting are wishes left ungranted by the popular charity.

“They did send us to Disney World,” his father said.At the South Texas ranch, Jim explained that the

cancer and drugs used to treat the disease affected Matt’s growth, leaving the guides wondering about chair height in the blind. At 12 years old and in the 7th grade, Matt stands 4 feet, 3 inches tall.

Once Matt stepped out of the truck, it was obvious he could shoot in the blind while standing.

“You’re the perfect height for a deer blind,” he was told.

Matt described his afternoon hunt.“We saw the buck twice,” he said. “As soon as we

got there, we saw a doe. Then the buck walked fast by the feeder and got behind the brush. When the feeder went off, he came out.”

The window to the blind was opened, and Matt got the rifle out.

“I looked at it and started shaking,” he said. “Two does were watching us. Jim (Wheeler) said, ‘Be


ADESERVINGHUNTER:YounghunterMattWatts,12,isallsmilesafterharvestingagreatbuckwiththeLoneStarOutdoorNewsFoundationinSouthTexas.Eventhoughhehasabraintumor,Mattdoesn’tletthatdampenhispassionfordeerhunting.Heisafanaticalhunter.


Cut to the chaseKnives of Alaska up for any job


The new Knives of Alaska auto-matic Tactical series get the job done. Period.

These knives come out of the box sharp and stay that way through any job a hunter or outdoorsman needs.

This is the fi rst-ever Automatic series by Knives of Alaska. Each model is designed using their extra heavy-duty Torsion Bar spring system. A simple press of the but-ton and the blade opens lightning fast and locks in place.

According to their easy-to-navigate web-site, the Tactical series are designed with extra-heavy spring system in such a man-ner that no adjusting will ever be needed. The spring is exceedingly strong and robust. Their unique pattern with a series of cutouts are milled into the handle, facil-itating a positive grip and further light-ens the knife. Each handle edge is radius-finished, providing comfort for prolonged cutting. Clip models are reversible, allow-

ing the clip to be repositioned for left- or right-handed use.

All of Knives of Alaska come with a limited lifetime warranty.

As for use in the fi eld, the crew from LSON tested several models

and found most to be top-of-the-line.However, professional hunter Jim

Wheeler did have a few concerns.“The knife was hard to keep clean, espe-

cially when skinning a pig,” he said. “With the handle the way it is, fat and hair gets down in there and it is hard to clean out. I skinned three full whitetails with the knife, slicing through sternum bones and all. The blade is holding up pretty good — it was hard to resharpen at fi rst, but the edge has gotten better.”

LSON Founder David J. Sams also uses a knife from Knives of Alaska, and had good things to say about them.

“I really like the new technologies that Knives of Alaska is using in their new prod-ucts,” he said. “The look and feel are right in line with the times.”

CSSCreceivesgrantThe Center for Sportfi sh Science and Conserva-

tion at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has received $10,000 from the 2015 Rotary Club of Corpus Christi Harvey Weil Sportsman Conservation-ist Award to continue research into the multi-billion

dollar sport-fi sh industry throughout Texas. The project will examine estuarine sport-fi sh,

such as the spotted seatrout, movement patterns and habitat use through the newly restored and re-opened Cedar Bayou tidal inlet near Rockport, us-ing state-of-the-art acoustic tracking techniques.

— CSSC


HEROES

Lake Fork guide MikeMcFarlandholds a big largemouth he caught recently weighing 9.7 pounds.

SHAREANADVENTUREnWanttosharehuntingandfish-ingphotoswithother Lone Star Outdoor Newsreaders?Emailthemwithcontactandcaptioninformationtoeditor@lonestaroutdoornews.com.High-resolutionoriginaljpegsonly.MailprintstoHeroes,Lone Star Outdoor News,P.O.Box551695,Dallas,TX75355.

LONE STAR MARKET

North Texas hunter ChadRicks took this big bull elk at nine yards after a weeklong hunt in Oregon.

Oct. 27 turned out to be a great day in the woods forJodieThompsonIV, when he harvested his first buck.

NicolePara, 13, from San Antonio, went on her first hunt with her grandpa, Joe T., and took this 10-pointer at the U7 Ranch in Cuero.

JohnAnselmo shot this Walker County buck on Nov. 8, just after sunset, while the buck was chasing three does in a field.


DATEBOOKJANUARY 23-25

TexasTackle,HuntingandBoatShowBig Town Event Center, Mesquitemontgomeryproductions.com

JANUARY 23-28HoustonSafariClubHunting Expo and ConventionThe Woodlands(713) 623-8844houstonsafariclub.org

JANUARY 28DucksUnlimitedNight with the San Antonio

SpursAT&T Center, San Antonio(830) 221-8046ducks.org/texas

JANUARY 31TexasTeamTrailSam Rayburn Tournament(210) 788-4143texasteamtrail.com

FEBRUARY 4-7SafariClubInternationalSCI ConventionLas Vegas, Nevadashowsci.org

FEBRUARY 6-8AllValleyBoatShowMcAllen Convention Center(866) 639-8940allvalleyboatshow.com

FEBRUARY 7BassChampsCentral Region fi shing tournamentLake LBJbasschamps.com

DeltaWaterfowlTexas Hunting Retriever Chapter BanquetAustin Ranch, Grapevine(214) 929-1996deltawaterfowl.org

FEBRUARY 12DallasWoodsandWatersClubFebruary DinnerSheraton North Dallas(214) 218-6670dwwcc.org

FEBRUARY 13TexasDeerAssociationSuperior Genetics Deer AuctionPedrotti’s North Wind Ranch, Helotes(210) 767-8401texasdeerassociation.com

FEBRUARY 14BassChampsEast Region fi shing tournamentToledo Bend Reservoirbasschamps.com

FEBRUARY 19DallasSafariClubMonthly MeetingStonebriar Country Club(972) 980-9800biggame.org

FEBRUARY 21TexasTeamTrailFishing tournamentToledo Bend ReservoirTexasteamtrail.com

FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 1PrimeTotalArcheryChallengeNatural Bridges Caverns(801) 380-6442totalarcherychallenge.com

FEBRUARY 28SafariClubInternationalNorth Texas Chapter fundraiserGrapevine, Embassy Suites Outdoor World(214) 226-1944scinorthtexas.com

CraigBondsnamedTPWDInlandFisheriesdirector The Texas Parks and Wildlife De-

partment has named Craig Bonds as the new division director for Inland Fisheries. “Craig Bonds’ vision, experience,

science background, and strong his-tory of leadership made him a com-pelling choice as the next director of our Inland Fisheries team. As well as anyone, Craig understands the myr-iad issues confronting our fi sheries and aquatic habitats in the state. He is eminently well respected and well positioned to lead our Inland Fisher-ies team as they continue to steward our nationally renowned fi sheries,” said Carter Smith, the TPWD execu-tive director. Bonds’ career with TPWD spans

16 years within the Inland Fisheries research and management branch, including being the assistant district team leader, a district supervisor and a regional director; a position he has held since 2007. He has worked in all three of TPWD’s Inland Fisheries management regions.

— TPWD

First buck is a piebald beautyContinuedfrompage4

Rathke said. “The really cool thing was, 15 minutes later, the spike came back out and my nephew killed him, as well.”

Cathon began hunting last year, but already has an impressive list of accomplishments, including taking a trophy black Hawaiian ram and javelina.

“It was wonderful to shoot a buck like this on Thanksgiving,” Cathon said. “I hope one day I can shoot one bigger.”

“He’s been hunting with me for years,” Rathke said. “He’s been a ter-ror. He thinks everything he shoots comes with a shoulder mount. We are taking this buck to All Creatures Great and Small Taxidermy to do a shoulder mount. It was a beautiful buck.”

Along with a great hunt, Cathon got to share it with his grandfather, who was also on the property.

“Dad was there and he was excited,” Rathke said. “This property has been in the family since the early 1900s, so it was neat that Cathon got to take a nice buck.”


SolunarSuntimes

Moontimes

MoonPhases

FirstJan. 27

TEXAS SUN, MOON AND TIDESLast

Feb. 11 New

Feb. 18 Full

Feb. 3

Houston2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONJan.-Feb. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets

SanAntonio2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONJan.-Feb. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets

Amarillo2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONJan.-Feb. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets

Dallas2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONJan.-Feb. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets

Legend: Major=2 hours. Minor=1 hour. Times centered on the major-minor window. For other locations, subtract 1 minute per 12 miles east of a location, and add 1 minute per 12 miles west of a location.

TexasCoastTides

SabinePass,northDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 4:34 AM 1.1H 11:24 AM -0.5L 6:22 PM 1.1H Jan 24 12:08 AM 0.2L 5:52 AM 1.0H 12:15 PM -0.2L 7:02 PM 1.1 HJan 25 1:13 AM 0.0L 7:27 AM 0.9H 1:11 PM 0.1L 7:45 PM 1.1 HJan 26 2:20 AM -0.1L 9:16 AM 0.9H 2:16 PM 0.4L 8:31 PM 1.0 HJan 27 3:27 AM -0.3L 11:04 AM 0.9H 3:39 PM 0.6L 9:21 PM 1.0HJan 28 4:30 AM -0.5L 12:34 PM 1.0H 5:20 PM 0.8L 10:15 PM 1.0HJan 29 5:27 AM -0.6L 1:42 PM 1.1H 6:48 PM 0.8L 11:09 PM 1.0HJan 30 6:19 AM -0.6L 2:33 PM 1.2H 7:46 PM 0.8L 11:58 PM 1.0HJan 31 7:05 AM -0.6L 3:13 PM 1.2H 8:22 PM 0.8LFeb 01 12:42 AM 1.0H 7:46 AM -0.6L 3:46 PM 1.1H 8:46 PM 0.8LFeb 02 1:22 AM 1.0H 8:24 AM -0.6L 4:13 PM 1.1H 9:06 PM 0.7LFeb 03 1:58 AM 1.0H 8:59 AM -0.5L 4:36 PM 1.1H 9:29 PM 0.7LFeb 04 2:33 AM 1.0H 9:34 AM -0.4L 4:58 PM 1.1H 9:59 PM 0.6LFeb 05 3:09 AM 1.0H 10:07 AM -0.3L 5:21 PM 1.0H 10:35 PM 0.5LFeb 06 3:50 AM 0.9H 10:41 AM -0.2L 5:44 PM 1.0H 11:17 PM 0.4L

GalvestonBayentrance,northjettyDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 4:41 AM 1.0H 11:38 AM -0.4L 6:51 PM 1.2H Jan 24 12:42 AM 0.1L 6:32 AM 0.9H 12:31 PM -0.1L 7:27 PM 1.2HJan 25 1:33 AM -0.1L 8:11 AM 0.9H 1:22 PM 0.2L 7:56 PM 1.1HJan 26 2:23 AM -0.2L 9:27 AM 0.9H 2:10 PM 0.5L 8:17 PM 1.1HJan 27 3:23 AM -0.4L 10:56 AM 0.9H 3:09 PM 0.7L 8:36 PM 1.1HJan 28 4:45 AM -0.5L 12:18 PM 1.0H 5:38 PM 0.8L 9:02 PM 1.0HJan 29 5:44 AM -0.6L 2:16 PM 1.1H 6:35 PM 0.9L 9:41 PM 1.0HJan 30 6:28 AM -0.6L 3:12 PM 1.2H 7:31 PM 0.9L 10:59 PM 0.9HJan 31 7:09 AM -0.6L 3:34 PM 1.2H 9:12 PM 0.8L Feb 01 12:01 AM 0.9H 7:55 AM -0.6L 3:52 PM 1.2H 9:51 PM 0.8LFeb 02 12:52 AM 0.9H 8:44 AM -0.5L 4:15 PM 1.2H 10:13 PM 0.7LFeb 03 2:23 AM 0.9H 9:26 AM -0.5L 4:42 PM 1.2H 10:27 PM 0.7LFeb 04 3:11 AM 0.9H 10:01 AM -0.4L 5:12 PM 1.2H 10:47 PM 0.6LFeb 05 3:41 AM 0.9H 10:33 AM -0.3L 5:44 PM 1.1H 11:14 PM 0.5LFeb 06 4:09 AM 0.9H 11:05 AM -0.1L 6:19 PM 1.0H 11:49 PM 0.4 12L

SanLuisPassDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time Height Jan 23 12:48 AM 0.4L 5:01 AM 0.6H 12:19 PM -0.2L 7:05 PM 0.7HJan 24 1:41 AM 0.2L 6:25 AM 0.6H 1:19 PM 0.0L 7:40 PM 0.7HJan 25 2:36 AM 0.1L 8:19 AM 0.5H 2:33 PM 0.2L 8:13 PM 0.6HJan 26 3:32 AM -0.1L 10:36 AM 0.5H 4:01 PM 0.4L 8:44 PM 0.6HJan 27 4:35 AM -0.2L 12:55 PM 0.7H 5:53 PM 0.5L 9:08 PM 0.6HJan 28 5:38 AM -0.3L 2:28 PM 0.8H Jan 29 6:31 AM -0.4L 4:03 PM 0.8H Jan 30 7:18 AM -0.5L 4:40 PM 0.9H Jan 31 8:02 AM -0.5L 5:04 PM 0.9H Feb 01 8:47 AM -0.4L 5:22 PM 0.8H Feb 02 9:32 AM -0.4L 5:40 PM 0.8H 11:03 PM 0.6L Feb 03 1:54 AM 0.6H 10:12 AM -0.3L 5:53 PM 0.7H 11:24 PM 0.5LFeb 04 2:59 AM 0.6H 10:44 AM -0.2L 5:54 PM 0.7H 11:49 PM 0.4LFeb 05 3:55 AM 0.6H 11:07 AM -0.1L 6:00 PM 0.7HFeb 06 12:18 AM 0.4L 4:44 AM 0.6H 11:25 AM 0.0L 6:19 PM 0.6H

FreeportHarborDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 12:04 AM 0.7L 4:03 AM 1.0H 11:12 AM -0.3L 6:18 PM 1.2HJan 24 12:38 AM 0.5L 5:26 AM 1.0H 12:12 PM 0.0L 6:50 PM 1.1HJan 25 1:22 AM 0.3L 7:10 AM 0.9H 1:23 PM 0.3L 7:22 PM 1.0HJan 26 2:15 AM 0.1L 9:14 AM 1.0H 2:58 PM 0.6L 7:54 PM 1.0HJan 27 3:15 AM -0.1L 11:11 AM 1.1H 4:46 PM 0.8L 8:26 PM 0.9HJan 28 4:18 AM -0.3L 12:36 PM 1.3H 6:32 PM 0.9L 8:57 PM 0.9HJan 29 5:20 AM -0.4L 1:45 PM 1.4HJan 30 6:17 AM -0.5L 2:41 PM 1.4HJan 31 7:07 AM -0.5L 3:27 PM 1.4HFeb 01 7:51 AM -0.4L 4:05 PM 1.4H 10:16 PM 0.8LFeb 02 12:33 AM 0.9H 8:28 AM -0.4L 4:36 PM 1.3H 10:40 PM 0.8 LFeb 03 1:28 AM 0.9H 8:58 AM -0.3L 4:59 PM 1.3H 11:06 PM 0.8LFeb 04 2:17 AM 0.9H 9:22 AM -0.2L 5:14 PM 1.2H 11:32 PM 0.7LFeb 05 3:03 AM 0.9H 9:49 AM -0.1L 5:25 PM 1.1H 11:57 PM 0.6LFeb 06 3:49 AM 0.9H 10:20 AM 0.0L 5:38 PM 1.1H

RolloverPassDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 4:09 AM 0.4L 7:33 AM 0.6H 3:25 PM -0.3L 10:32 PM 0.5HJan 24 4:56 AM 0.3L 8:58 AM 0.5H 4:11 PM -0.1L 10:41 PM 0.5HJan 25 5:46 AM 0.1L 10:41 AM 0.4H 5:08 PM 0.1L 10:55 PM 0.5HJan 26 6:40 AM -0.1L 12:59 PM 0.4H 6:43 PM 0.3L 11:11 PM 0.5HJan 27 7:35 AM -0.3L 4:33 PM 0.5H 8:17 PM 0.5L 11:30 PM 0.6HJan 28 8:31 AM -0.4L 6:20 PM 0.7H 9:39 PM 0.6L 11:55 PM 0.6HJan 29 9:27 AM -0.6L 7:16 PM 0.8H Jan 30 10:20 AM -0.6L 8:07 PM 0.8HJan 31 11:11 AM -0.7L 8:55 PM 0.8HFeb 01 11:58 AM -0.7L 9:38 PM 0.8HFeb 02 12:39 PM -0.6L 10:10 PM 0.7HFeb 03 1:55 AM 0.6L 3:56 AM 0.6H 1:14 PM -0.5L 10:20 PM 0.7HFeb 04 2:35 AM 0.6L 4:47 AM 0.6H 1:39 PM -0.4L 10:10 PM 0.6HFeb 05 3:14 AM 0.5L 5:38 AM 0.5H 1:51 PM -0.3L 9:38 PM 0.6HFeb 06 3:52 AM 0.4L 6:33 AM 0.5H 1:59 PM -0.2L 9:30 PM 0.6H

PortO’ConnorDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 4:09 AM 0.1H 1:34 PM -0.5L 10:44 PM -0.1HJan 24 1:45 AM -0.1L 5:52 AM 0.0H 2:12 PM -0.4L 9:08 PM -0.1HJan 25 3:08 AM -0.2L 8:31 AM -0.1H 2:41 PM -0.3L 8:49 PM -0.1HJan 26 4:22 AM -0.4L 8:20 PM 0.0H Jan 27 5:34 AM -0.5L 8:11 PM 0.1HJan 28 6:44 AM -0.6L 8:28 PM 0.1HJan 29 7:51 AM -0.6L 8:56 PM 0.2HJan 30 8:52 AM -0.7L 9:33 PM 0.2HJan 31 9:47 AM -0.7L 10:16 PM 0.1HFeb 01 10:31 AM -0.7L 11:03 PM 0.1HFeb 02 11:07 AM -0.6L 11:56 PM 0.1HFeb 03 11:36 AM -0.6L Feb 04 12:58 AM 0.1H 12:02 PM -0.6LFeb 05 2:09 AM 0.0H 12:28 PM -0.5LFeb 06 3:24 AM 0.0H 12:56 PM -0.5L 10:24 PM -0.1H

RockportDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 4:56 AM -0.2H 2:31 PM -0.4LJan 24 6:21 AM -0.2H 2:41 PM -0.3L 10:04 PM -0.2HJan 25 4:16 AM -0.3L 8:41 AM -0.3H 2:22 PM -0.3L 9:36 PM -0.2HJan 26 5:43 AM -0.3L 9:39 PM -0.2HJan 27 6:47 AM -0.4L 10:01 PM -0.1HJan 28 7:43 AM -0.4L 10:36 PM -0.1HJan 29 8:36 AM -0.4L 11:20 PM -0.1HJan 30 9:28 AM -0.4L Jan 31 12:08 AM -0.1H 10:19 AM -0.4LFeb 01 12:58 AM -0.1H 11:07 AM -0.4LFeb 02 1:49 AM -0.1H 11:52 AM -0.4LFeb 03 2:38 AM -0.1H 12:32 PM -0.4LFeb 04 3:28 AM -0.1H 1:07 PM -0.4LFeb 05 4:18 AM -0.2H 1:36 PM -0.4LFeb 06 5:14 AM -0.2H 2:00 PM -0.4L

PortAransasDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 3:35 AM 0.6H 10:46 AM -0.3L 5:47 PM 0.5H 11:47 PM 0.2LJan 24 4:56 AM 0.5H 11:31 AM -0.1L 6:12 PM 0.5H Jan 25 1:07 AM 0.0L 6:29 AM 0.4H 12:15 PM 0.1L 6:38 PM 0.5HJan 26 2:20 AM -0.1L 9:03 AM 0.4H 12:48 PM 0.3L 7:04 PM 0.5HJan 27 3:27 AM -0.3L 7:29 PM 0.6H Jan 28 4:28 AM -0.4L 2:53 PM 0.6H 5:46 PM 0.6L 7:54 PM 0.6HJan 29 5:25 AM -0.4L 3:38 PM 0.7H Jan 30 6:17 AM -0.5L 4:25 PM 0.7HJan 31 7:04 AM -0.5L 5:11 PM 0.7H 8:20 PM 0.6L 10:26 PM 0.6HFeb 01 7:45 AM -0.4L 5:54 PM 0.6H 8:39 PM 0.6L 11:27 PM 0.6HFeb 02 8:20 AM -0.4L 5:13 PM 0.6H 8:57 PM 0.5LFeb 03 12:24 AM 0.6H 8:51 AM -0.3L 5:03 PM 0.5H 9:12 PM 0.5LFeb 04 1:17 AM 0.6H 9:16 AM -0.3L 4:50 PM 0.5H 9:15 PM 0.4LFeb 05 2:09 AM 0.6H 9:37 AM -0.2L 4:41 PM 0.5H 9:49 PM 0.3LFeb 06 3:04 AM 0.5H 10:01 AM -0.1L 4:58 PM 0.5H 10:34 PM 0.3L

SouthPadreIslandDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 3:30 AM 1.1H 11:14 AM 0.1L 6:31 PM 1.1HJan 24 12:20 AM 0.8L 5:15 AM 1.0H 12:05 PM 0.4L 6:43 PM 1.1HJan 25 1:14 AM 0.5L 7:09 AM 1.0H 1:01 PM 0.7L 6:53 PM 1.1 HJan 26 2:11 AM 0.3L 9:27 AM 1.0H 2:10 PM 0.9L 6:54 PM 1.1 HJan 27 3:09 AM 0.2L 12:39 PM 1.2H 3:53 PM 1.1L 6:37 PM 1.2HJan 28 4:08 AM 0.0L 2:25 PM 1.3HJan 29 5:05 AM -0.1L 3:24 PM 1.4HJan 30 6:00 AM -0.1L 4:13 PM 1.4HJan 31 6:50 AM -0.1L 4:56 PM 1.4HFeb 01 7:36 AM -0.1L 5:31 PM 1.4HFeb 02 8:18 AM -0.1L 5:52 PM 1.3HFeb 03 8:55 AM 0.0L 5:53 PM 1.2H 10:14 PM 1.2LFeb 04 12:24 AM 1.2H 9:28 AM 0.1L 5:44 PM 1.2H 10:37 PM 1.1 LFeb 05 1:40 AM 1.1H 9:59 AM 0.2L 5:41 PM 1.2H 11:06 PM 1.0 LFeb 06 2:51 AM 1.1H 10:29 AM 0.3L 5:48 PM 1.1H 11:37 PM 0.9 L

EastMatagordaDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightJan 23 02:20 AM 0.3L 4:25 AM 0.4H 1:40 PM 0.1L 11:27 PM 0.3HJan 24 02:38 AM 0.3L 7:43 AM 0.3H 2:04 PM 0.2L 8:22 PM 0.3HJan 25 2:47 AM 0.2L 12:19 PM 0.3H 2:29 PM 0.2L 7:59 PM 0.4HJan 26 4:51 AM 0.1L 12:57 PM 0.3H 2:59 PM 0.3L 7:52 PM 0.4HJan 27 5:41 AM 0.1L 10:01 PM 0.4H Jan 28 6:16 AM 0.0L 3:27 PM 0.4H 6:11 PM 0.4L 11:39 PM 0.4HJan 29 6:48 AM 0.0L 4:07 PM 0.4H 6:08 PM 0.4L 11:57 PM 0.4HJan 30 7:46 AM 0.0L 11:36 PM 0.4HJan 31 9:05 AM 0.0L 7:01 PM 0.4H 9:37 PM 0.4LFeb 01 12:02 AM 0.4H 9:43 AM 0.0L 6:37 PM 0.4H 9:59 PM 0.4LFeb 02 12:32 AM 0.4H 10:06 AM 0.0L 7:29 PM 0.4H 9:53 PM 0.3LFeb 03 1:04 AM 0.4H 10:18 AM 0.0L 8:05 PM 0.4H 10:04 PM 0.3LFeb 04 1:54 AM 0.4H 10:36 AM 0.1LFeb 05 3:17 AM 0.4H 11:04 AM 0.1LFeb 06 4:02 AM 0.4H 1:58 PM 0.1L 11:13 PM 0.3H

23Fri 8:44 2:30 9:11 2:57 8:15 6:49 10:24a 10:41p24Sat 9:44 3:31 10:11 3:58 8:14 6:50 11:07a 11:45p25Sun 10:43 4:30 11:09 4:56 8:14 6:51 11:49a NoMoon26Mon 11:39 5:26 ----- 5:52 8:13 6:52 12:32p 12:48a27Tue 12:08 6:19 12:32 6:45 8:13 6:53 1:15p 1:50a28Wed 12:56 7:09 1:22 7:35 8:13 6:54 2:01p 2:49a29Thu 1:44 7:56 2:09 8:22 8:12 6:54 2:48p 3:46a30Fri 2:30 8:42 2:55 9:08 8:12 6:55 3:36p 4:40a31Sat 3:14 9:27 3:39 9:52 8:11 6:56 4:27p 5:31a01Sun 3:59 10:11 4:23 10:35 8:10 6:57 5:19p 6:18a02Mon 4:43 10:55 5:07 11:19 8:10 6:58 6:11p 7:01a03Tue 5:28 11:40 5:51 ----- 8:09 6:59 7:04p 7:41a04Wed 6:14 12:02 6:36 12:25 8:09 7:00 7:56p 8:18a05Thu 6:59 12:49 7:21 1:10 8:08 7:01 8:48p 8:54a06Fri 7:46 1:35 8:07 1:57 8:07 7:01 9:39p 9:28a07Sat 8:33 2:23 8:54 2:44 8:07 7:02 10:30p 10:01a08Sun 9:21 3:10 9:42 3:31 8:06 7:03 11:22p 10:35a09Mon 10:09 3:58 10:31 4:20 8:05 7:04 NoMoon 11:10a10Tue 10:57 4:46 11:20 5:09 8:04 7:05 12:15a 11:46a11Wed 11:47 5:35 ----- 5:59 8:04 7:06 1:09a 12:26p

23Fri 8:49 2:36 9:17 3:03 8:26 6:49 10:31a 10:46p24Sat 9:50 3:37 10:17 4:04 8:26 6:50 11:12a 11:52p25Sun 10:49 4:36 11:15 5:02 8:25 6:51 11:53a NoMoon26Mon 11:45 5:32 ----- 5:58 8:25 6:52 12:35p 12:57a27Tue 12:14 6:25 12:38 6:51 8:24 6:53 1:17p 1:59a28Wed 1:02 7:15 1:28 7:40 8:24 6:54 2:02p 3:00a 29Thu 1:49 8:02 2:15 8:28 8:23 6:55 2:48p 3:58a30Fri 2:35 8:48 3:01 9:13 8:23 6:56 3:37p 4:52a31Sat 3:20 9:33 3:45 9:57 8:22 6:57 4:27p 5:43a01Sun 4:05 10:17 4:29 10:41 8:21 6:58 5:20p 6:29a02Mon 4:49 11:01 5:13 11:24 8:21 6:59 6:13p 12:17a03Tue 5:34 11:45 5:57 ----- 8:20 7:00 7:06p 7:51a04Wed 6:19 12:08 6:41 12:30 8:19 7:01 8:00p 8:27a05Thu 7:05 12:55 7:27 1:16 8:19 7:02 8:52p 9:02a06Fri 7:52 1:41 8:13 2:02 8:18 7:03 9:45p 9:34a07Sat 8:39 2:28 9:00 2:50 8:17 7:04 10:37p 10:07a08Sun 9:27 3:16 9:48 3:37 8:16 7:04 11:30p 10:39a09Mon 10:15 4:04 10:37 4:26 8:15 7:05 NoMoon11:13a10Tue 11:03 4:52 11:26 5:15 8:15 7:06 12:24a 11:49a11Wed 11:52 5:40 ----- 6:04 8:14 7:07 1:19a 12:28p

23Fri 8:56 2:42 9:23 3:10 8:26 7:02 10:37a 10:54p24Sat 9:57 3:43 10:24 4:10 8:26 7:03 11:20a NoMoon25Sun 10:56 4:42 11:22 5:09 8:26 7:04 12:02p NoMoon26Mon 11:51 5:38 ----- 6:05 8:25 7:05 12:45p 1:01a27Tue 12:20 6:31 12:44 6:57 8:25 7:06 1:29p 2:02a28Wed 1:08 7:21 1:34 7:47 8:24 7:07 2:14p 3:02a29Thu 1:56 8:09 2:22 8:35 8:24 7:08 3:01p 3:59a30Fri 2:42 8:55 3:07 9:20 8:23 7:08 3:50p 4:53a31Sat 3:27 9:39 3:52 10:04 8:23 7:09 4:41p 5:43a01Sun 4:11 10:24 4:36 10:48 8:22 7:10 5:32p 6:30a02Mon 4:56 11:08 5:19 11:31 8:22 7:11 6:25p 7:13a03Tue 5:41 11:52 6:03 ----- 8:21 7:12 7:17p 7:53a04Wed 6:26 12:15 6:48 12:37 8:21 7:13 8:09p 8:31a05Thu 7:12 1:01 7:34 1:23 8:20 7:14 9:01p 9:06a06Fri 7:59 1:48 8:20 2:09 8:19 7:14 9:52p 9:40a07Sat 8:46 2:35 9:07 2:56 8:19 7:15 10:43p 10:14a08Sun 9:33 3:23 9:55 3:44 8:18 7:16 11:35p 10:48a09Mon 10:21 4:10 10:43 4:32 8:17 7:17 NoMoon 11:23a10Tue 11:10 4:58 11:33 5:21 8:16 7:18 12:27a 12:00p11Wed 11:59 5:47 ----- 6:11 8:16 7:19 1:21a 12:40p

23Fri 9:09 2:56 9:37 3:23 8:52 7:04 10:53a 11:07p24Sat 10:10 3:57 10:37 4:24 8:51 7:05 11:33aNoMoon25Sun 11:09 4:56 11:35 5:22 8:51 7:06 12:12p 12:14a26Mon ----- 5:52 12:05 6:18 8:50 7:07 12:53p 1:20a27Tue 12:34 6:45 12:58 7:11 8:49 7:08 1:34p 2:24a28Wed 1:22 7:35 1:48 8:01 8:49 7:09 2:18p 3:25a29Thu 2:09 8:22 2:35 8:48 8:48 7:10 3:04p 4:23a30Fri 2:55 9:08 3:21 9:33 8:47 7:11 3:52p 5:18a31Sat 3:40 9:53 4:05 10:18 8:47 7:12 4:43p 6:08a01Sun 4:25 10:37 4:49 11:01 8:46 7:13 5:36p 6:55a02Mon 5:09 11:21 5:33 11:44 8:45 7:14 6:30p 7:37a03Tue 5:54 ----- 6:17 12:05 8:44 7:15 7:24p 8:15a04Wed 6:39 12:28 7:01 12:50 8:44 7:16 8:18p 8:50a05Thu 7:25 1:15 7:47 1:36 8:43 7:17 9:12p 9:24a06Fri 8:12 2:01 8:33 2:23 8:42 7:18 10:05p 9:56a07Sat 8:59 2:48 9:20 3:10 8:41 7:19 10:59p 10:27a08Sun 9:47 3:36 10:08 3:57 8:40 7:21 11:52p 10:59a09Mon 10:35 4:24 10:57 4:46 8:39 7:22 NoMoon11:32a10Tue 11:23 5:12 11:46 5:35 8:38 7:23 12:47a 12:07p11Wed ----- 6:00 12:12 6:24 8:37 7:24 1:43a 12:45p


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Lone Star Outdoor News, ISSN 2162-8300,apublicationofLoneStarOutdoorNews, LLC, publishes twice a month. Amailed subscription is $30 for 24 issues.Newsstandcopiesare$2, incertainmar-ketscopiesarefree,oneperperson.Copy-right2015withallrightsreserved.Repro-ductionand/oruseofanyphotographicorwrittenmaterialwithoutwrittenpermissionbythepublisherisprohibited.Subscribersmay sendaddress changes to: LoneStarOutdoor News, P.O. Box 551695, Dallas,[email protected].

patient, be patient, he’ll step out and turn.’”After about 10 minutes, the 10-pointer did.“Then I shot him,” the matter-of-fact youngster said. “I did

what I was told, put it on the shoulder and let the gun surprise me. He dropped in his tracks.”

After some fi st pumps in the blind, the two adults were dead silent and wiping their cheeks.

Then it was time to see his deer.“This is the best New Year’s ever,” Matt told his father.“For me, too,” his father replied.Matt spent the evening watching the dressing of his deer. The

next morning, he posed for more photographs. Then it was time to take the guts from his buck to the gut pile.

“Have you ever driven an ATV?” he was asked.“No,” Matt said, although he had driven one much smaller.Another wish was granted, as Matt drove the vehicle around

the ranch on the rainy afternoon.The evening hunt sent Matt and his dad to the “tequila blind”

near some century (agave americanas) trees, where javelina had been spotted. Several deer showed up this particular evening, though.

“Do you see that doe?” Matt was asked as the rifl e was posi-tioned out the window.

“Yes,” Matt said.Matt was given the OK when the doe turned.Another true shot, and Matt was the fi rst to take a deer from

the new blind.“That was cool,” Matt said. “This is awesome.”While his guide went to retrieve the truck, Matt and his

father waited by the deer, and Matt told his father how much he liked the trip.

“Texas is a great place,” he said.The next day, Matt got another wish. Having taken two deer, he

got to sleep in. When it was almost time for the father-son duo to head back to the airport for their trip home, he got a choice.

“We still have 30 minutes,” he was told. “We could go shoot the .22 or you could drive the Polaris some more.”

The young man smiled. “Let’s go for another ride,” Matt said.“We started a tradition that the fi rst person to shoot a deer

from the tequila blind takes a shot of tequila,” David Sams told Matt. “You’ll have to come back when you’re 21 and we’ll have that shot.”

After the gate was opened and the rental car headed back to San Antonio, several grown men stood in total silence, none daring to try to speak.

More than just one young man’s wish had been granted.

The Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information, go to LSONews.com/LSON-Foundation.

Young hunter connects during dream huntContinuedfrompage20

DREAMCOMETRUE:MattWattsandhisdad,Jim,admirethebuckMattharvestedinSouthTexas.PhotobyDavidJ.Sams,LSON.

not free itself. And it had been there a while.

“The duck had a normal fl ight,” he said. “It didn’t look like it was impeding him in any way. The skin was starting to attach to it and the feathers were growing around it.”

Like any good waterfowl hunter, Reich kept the unique band as a keepsake.

“He rounded out the limit and I kept the ring,” he said. “This has got to be one of the rarest ducks out there — I don’t think anyone else has killed one with a band like this one had.”

Band was not impedimentContinuedfrompage5


CLASSIFIEDS

TROPHY BASS AND BIRD HUNTING

Fish famous Lake Guerrero.Hunt Dove, Quail, Ducks.Please contact Lago Vista

Lodge today!dickyn@

lagovistalodge.com(713) 376-3938 or

(281) 495-9296

ARROWHEADS AND ARTIFACTSI buy and sell authentic

Texas artifacts. Please call Nick.

(210) 557-9478

DIMMIT COUNTY RANCH LEASE

Low fence ranch opportu-nity for active small group or family (2-3 guns) to par-ticipate in year round lease (3/1/15-2/28/16). Lodging, blinds, feeders, full facili-ties in place. Deer, turkey,

hogs, predators.$2,600 annual/hunter

Call Tim at (512) 633-6383 for

more info

SOUTH PADRE FISHING

Reds, Trout, Flounder, Snook. Everything sup-

plied but food and licenses. Multiple trip discounts. Call Capt. Thomas for details or

[email protected]. CustomSportsAnglers.com

(956) 551-1965

TROPHY WHITETAIL BUCK HUNTS

Intensive Management Program. Lodging included.

(940) 362-4219

TDHA - JOIN TODAY TEXAS DOVE HUNTERS ASSOC.

TexasDoveHunters.com(210) 764-1189

DECOYS WANTED WOODEN

Duck and Goose. Top prices paid. Ask for David.(214) 361-2276

POETRY SHOOTING CLUB

700-yard range, range target camera, quail hunt-ing preserve, dog training,

shooting classes, day leasesDove, duck & deer

Poetryshootingclub.com(214) 728-2755

FISHING

HUNTING

VEHICLES

MISC.

AKC REGISTERED LABRADOR PUPS

Blacks & ChocolatesSuperior Bloodline

Ready for new homes in mid JanuaryCall Steve

(817) 832-8078

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS &

MAPPINGRANCH & HUNTING,

AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL,

2014 IMAGERY AVAILABLEBalboaMapCompany.com(806) 777-8840

VLE HUNT CLUB5,300-acre Val Verde County lease for 4 hunters. $3,000 per hunter for deer, turkey, quail and small game. Lots of deer stands and feed-ers provided or bring your

own. Must be management minded. Family and guests are allowed. Nice campsite with power and water. Call

(832) 435-6226.1.23.15TPWD

RANCHO SIERRA VIEJA

Aoudad Hunters — World class — not hunted in 20 years in Sierra Vieja moun-tains. (432) 386-7702.

Ask to speak with Antanicio. Mule deer in Sierra Vieja Mountains below Marfa in Presidio County. (512)

327-5753. Ask to speak with Bob.

1.23.15TPWD

CLARKSVILLE RED River County

Untouched wooded 85 acres surrounded by pasture land and split in half by a creek. Visit HuntClarksvilleTx.com

for more information.One week/7-day leases from Wed to Tue — giving you a full weekend to hunt. $100 gets you a one-week hunt.

1.23.15TPWD

PECAN SPRINGSBandera County property includes a pecan orchard. We offer weekend dove

hunting packages, whitetail, blackbuck and axis packages.

We have newly remodeled, fully furnished cabins. Please

contact Stacie at

(830) 780-4609.1.23.15TPWD

HAECKER SAFARI RANCH

Family-friendly environment on this 1,000-acre Real

County property with meals and lodging on-site. Come

hunt hogs and predators for just $250 per day and add

any other animal for a reason-able harvest fee. All Inclusive Packages for whitetails and exotics start at only $2000 for 3 days of hunting and 2 nights lodging. Call us today

(830) 660-4933.1.23.15TPWD

HUNT/FISH/RELAX Texas Hill Country. Ideal Cor-porate Retreat for entertaining key customers, prospects and

employees. 15,000 acres, year-round use of headwaters lodge and game room, fully furnished, accommodates

20+ guests. Hunt deer, turkey, dove, javelina, wild hogs and

some exotics. Great bass fishing in spring-fed lakes bounded by pecan groves.

Near Junction, TXCall Maynard Ranch (512) 477-7774

1.23.15 JCOC

MASON COUNTY High Fenced Package

Hunts: 3 days fully guided with accommodations and meals included. Trophy,

management, and doe hunts available. Father and Son

packages encouraged. Spring turkey semi-guided with lodg-ing Call Ranch Branch Ranch

(830) 981-42251.23.15 JCOC

DAY LEASE DEER AND TURKEY

Located in Kimble County. Lodging available with water and electricity. Blinds and

feeders. Can accommo-date five hunters. Call Ivy Ranch days (361) 648-

2922, nights (830) 583-2407

1.23.15 JCOC

WHITETAIL JUNCTION RANCH 3-day fully guided whitetail

hunts on a 2,900-acre ranch located between Junction &

Menard.Limited availability on 200+ class bucks. All lodging and meals provided. Can accom-

modate up to eight hunters ei-ther individually or a corporate group. Also has spring turkey

hunts available and year round axis, blackbuck and red

stag hunts. Call for further information or for a complete list of Exotic Game Available.CALL (210) 247-8317

1.23.15 JCOC

SPRING TURKEY HUNTS

$400 Per Hunter — Includes 2 Nights Lodging Wild Hog

Hunts $200 Per Hunter — Includes

2 Nights LodgingNear Junction

CALL (325) 475-2901 1.23.15 JCOC

TROUT FISHINGCamp Huaco SpringsGuadalupe River rain-bow and brown trout. This site is stocked by

TPWD with rainbow trout though February. Latitude:

29.759801 Longitude: -98.140090

(830) 625-54111.23.15TPWD

LEASED FISHING ACCESS

Brazos River downstream from Lake Whitney

Located on the east bank of the Brazos River in northern McLennan County near the

town of Gholson, approximate-ly 6 miles downstream of the

FM 2114 bridge crossing. Lease period: January 1,

2013 through October 31, 2016

Phone: (254) 290-0029 Latitude: 31.738457

Longitude: -97.270316This 120-acre property offers 2,051 feet of river frontage

for bank fishing and serves as a day-use and camping area for canoe and kayak anglers that launch upstream. There is no road access to this area;

paddlers can reach it only from the river. Free public

parking is available by reserva-tion at Dick’s Canoes, 6 miles upstream on the west bank at the FM 2114 bridge crossing. Call (254) 622-8364 for

more information. 1.23.15TPWD

UMBRELLA RANCHING

4200 acres in northwest Kimble County. Remote. Electricity & Water avail-

able. Hunting Rested Last Year. Protein Feeders & Pens

already set up. Drop Tine Genetics. Other leases also

available. For info CALL (325) 456-0130

1.23.15 JCOC

WHITE BASS FISHING

Neches River, upstream from Lake Palestine Chandler River

ParkSpring run (Feb-April) 2,650 feet of river frontage to the north and 3,000 feet to the south for bank fishing. Lati-

tude: 32.315014 Longitude: -95.452488 no cost fishing.

(903) 849-68531.23.15TPWD

COLORADO RIVER FISHING

Located in east Austin on the north bank of the Colorado

River, Latitude: 30.256179 Longitude: -97.634178

1-acre leased-access fishing, boating, and camping area. It offers 225 feet of bank access and serves as a boat launch, and overnight campground. Advance reservations must

be secured through the Texas River School. Call for rates

(512) 289-0750. 1.23.15TPWD

LOOKING FOR A FORD F-150 OR

F-250 SUPER DUTY?I’m a lifelong hunter and can help you hunt for your next

truck.Call Bobby at Rockwall Ford,

(214) 632 7963. I have a great selection of preowned trucks, as well.

2007 Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab 4x4 5.4L — $21,990

2012 Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab 4x4 — $31,500

2013 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 4-door — $34,980

RANCH PROPERTIES

Looking for a ranch or want to sell one?

Contact Chris Susilovich, Agent,

Hortenstine Ranch Company

[email protected](903) 503-5961

DALLAS SAFARI CLUB MEMBERS

Are you 21 to 40 years old?Join the new Conservation

Society(a young professional

group) We are a fun group and

want you to learn about us.Contact Crystal at (972)

989-9800 or [email protected]

dscconservationsociety.org

NAMIBIA HUNTINGChapungu-Kambako

Hunting Safaris PH Herman Coetzee will

guide you to your next plains game or dangerous

game trophy.

[email protected]

chapungu-kambako.com

FINE GUNS Patrick Willoughby-Mccabe has opened his new store in

Albany, TexasStop by and see what it has

to offer140-144 S. Main Street

Albany.Call for an appointment

(469) 759-6146

BOAT FOR SALE!2012 Panga Marine 22’ Marquesa - Yamaha 11536volt iPilot Minn Kota

Coastline trailer Humminbird 998

(979) 415-4379

BOATS

14’X18’ MOBILE HOME

Choke Canyon Lake.8 acres, 2 bedroom,

1 bathCalliham, TX

$65,000Call Don

(361) 318-4774

january 23, 2015 - lone star outdoor news - fishing & hunting

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