Finally got it done......

Tate helped me get this buck on November 8th. What a great time getting to share this with my son. I was very proud of how Tate was able to sit still and watch for deer to come out of the woods.

Deer Hunting with Tate

Here's a pic of Tate trying to stay warm. Tate did a great job of sitting still and watching for animals.

Redfish!!!

Capt. Ranier has been trying to get my dad to go fishing with him again for a long time. Dad was going every month before cancer 4 years ago. Well, we finally made it down and had a great time. We only fished about 4 hours and I caught a limit of reds plus an oversized red that I had to put my tag on. My mother and dad caught at least 2 nice reds each. Tate helped me reel all of mine to the boat. Tate had a great time as this was his first time in a fishing boat. It is so cool to be fishing and look down and the water is only about 2 feet deep!!!

Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo

I really enjoy the TPWD expo in Austin. I makes me glad to see TPWD being proactive about getting kids into the outdoors. This yearly event is free to attend and gives kids a chance to see and touch all kinds of animals. I went with Tate and Grant and Brad and Ella. The kids got to fish as you can see in the picture. Ella caught a trout! They also saw salt water fish, hawks, owls, and many others.

View from a Tree

Here's what the view looks like from 20 feet up in an elm tree. Hunted from this tree last weekend but did not shoot anything. I saw a large group of wild hogs and two small 8 point bucks. I did get a shot at one of the pigs at about 30 yards but shot under him.

Great Dove Shooting

Dan, Jim, Zach, Derek, Brad, Scott and Dan found their doves!

South Texas Doves

Last weekend, I met several friends in South Texas. We started this trip with a group of 10 guys and every year the group changes some but the fun never does. We enjoyed nice weather and lots of doves!

Summer time on the river

I was glad to get a chance to take Tate to the hunting lease on Friday night. I don't really like to tent camp (too hot, can't take my 3 showers, dirt in the tent, etc), but, I want Tate to get to do it as we've always stayed in our "cabin" before. -Not that that's exactly upscale but at least you have a bed and a window unit a/c, right?

So, we arrived at the lease around 6 pm after eating a subway sandwich in the car and telling every story I could think of to Tate who loves to hear a story. I sighted in my new Zeis scope on "Tate's" rifle (which he still thinks is too loud to shoot) and was happy w/ the result. Saw a fair amount of doves in the BIG field. Saw a very large buck who was still in velvet near my hunting area. Caught about 15 perch w/ Tate to use as bait in the river. Put the john boat in the river (forgot the plug and had to use a stick) and paddled to the trot lines. Bait the hooks and went to set up the tent by the river. Did this (easier than I thought) and then fished w/ Tate in the river. Put out 3 rods but did not get a bite. Had lunchables for dinner and put Tate to bed at 10pm. I think the river needs some rain to get the fishing back to being good again. I could not sleep with all the river noise (frogs, racoons, coyotes, cows, etc, etc). Slept a couple of hours and got up at sunrise.

Had a great drive of the lease at sunrise (68 degrees) and saw many deer, about 12 turkeys, a group of hogs w/ babies, 2 blue herons, and a fair amount of doves. Checked trot lines and only had 1 gar fish. Fished from boat for about 1/2 hour w/ no luck. Tate's patience w/ fishing is great!

Had a terrible time getting the boat up the bank by myself (won't do that again). Packed up tent and went to fish beaver lake. Was glad to see Tate shooting his BB gun very well (left handed). He was almost hitting the carp and gar fish. We did well on the catfish here. I think the baby fish I put in here grew up!

Found a huge 8 pt buck and a large cow dead in Pocdock creek (stuck in the mud). Left around noon (93 degrees).