Gulf Coast Mariner Magazine

Dove hunting for many of us will always be a yearly passion

J. Price Blalock with his dog Colt.

By J. Price Blalock

This passion is best satisfied on opening day and celebrated like a right of passage.  It’s hard to explain if you are not one of us crazy people who mark the date on the calendar every year, point your finger at every dove you see and go “BAM” and incessantly day dream of a miracle retrieve your dog simply cannot make.

As opening day slowly approaches, talk turns to shotgun gauge, barrel length, ammo, weather, how best to cook them, good times and dogs.  The sheer anticipation of the hunt keeps the mind occupied for hours and is always an excuse to gather with friends at the local watering hole.  You re-live hunts of the past, the perfect double, limits for all and tasty dove poppers.  But the truth about dove hunting, like history, is more sobering.

North Zone opening day near China, Texas brought an abundance of birds.  The owner of the lease, S. Tanner Garth, shot an easy limit of fifteen in less than an hour.  Six other friends were gone with their limit before I bagged my first three.  Two hours into the shoot Alan Calaway, who was shooting his infamous Remington 12 gauge auto, nicknamed “Mr. Murder,” wandered over and asked if I could use some help.  Even though he had suffered from the heat and had to sit in the shade with a cold rag on his head while he drank a couple of cold beers, he too had his limit.  Not to admit defeat, I quickly reminded him of the Texas Parks and Wildlife hunting regulations stating you had to shoot your own birds, and besides, I didn’t need any help.  Shortly thereafter my son, Will Blalock, shooting a newly acquired Browning 12 gauge over and under, approached and asked how I was shooting.  He, too, had his limit.  I told him I had a couple of those tasty little birds and proceeded to blame my bird count on my gun and ability to find the dove once shot.  Trying to be helpful my son left me with our bird dog and asked if I wanted to swap my Benelli 12 gauge auto for his over and under.  I said no.  There went the excuses.

About this time I noticed the 300 acre plowed under rice fields we were hunting was slowly thinning out of hunters.  I now had four birds and was almost out of shells.  I should have carried more than 3 boxes.  Thank goodness for fellow hunter, Mark Middlebrooks, a friend of 40 years.  I walked over, took a seat and as my luck would have it he had an extra box.  I had been shooting 2¾ 1 ounce #8.  An advertised deal at $4.99 a box, the “Academy special.”  He had 2¾ 1.5 ounce #7½.  At $7.50 a box it was still advertised as a deal, but I don’t see how.  Time to re-think the reloading game, especially the way I shoot.

The next six birds brought my count to six and Mark’s limit.  My bird dog made short order of the retrieves and gave me a newfound belief in my dog handling skills.  My son did a fine job training that dog.  There is little in life more satisfying than watching my dog make a good retrieve.  It does something for the soul, even if the dog is a part time bird dog and full time house pet.

Alan Calaway with “Mr. Murder,” J. Price Blalock, Will Blalock, Colt and Mark Middlebrooks.

At sunset we packed it in.  Out of 12 hunters we had 10 limits, Danny Middlebrooks’s 12 birds, three short of a limit and my eight birds, 170 birds for the afternoon.  I would have had nine but I called my dog off a dove when my son shot a snake near that downed bird.  It was just a water snake but a snake none-the-less.  We put it in an empty shell box and handed it to Tanner Jr.  Quite the surprise but he manned up and threw the headless snake back at us.

The next day we sat on the porch and cooked our prize.  The proverbial dove poppers.  Everyone has a slightly different way of cooking them.  I like to cut the breast off the bone and then marinate it in teriyaki, pepper, garlic, oil and vinegar. Then wrap the breast, a slice of jalapeno and monterey jack cheese in a small piece of bacon.  Insert toothpick, grill and enjoy.  A cold beer is recommended.  A good time is always had by all.  Dove hunting for many of us will always be a yearly passion.

Texas Duck Hunting Conditions

By Steve Parker

Texas duck hunters are excited about the prospects of the upcoming 2013-2014 Texas waterfowl season, but on a local level it remains to be seen how poor habitat conditions along the Upper and Middle Texas Coast due to prolonged drought and the severe decline in rice acreage will affect bird numbers and hunters’ success.

On the national level, duck numbers look strong… not quite as good as last year, but plenty good enough to justify the effort. According to the USFWS, the total breeding duck estimate in the traditional survey area was 45.6 million birds, a slight decrease from last year’s total but tied with the 2011 estimate, which was the second-largest population on record. Most duck species populations remain above their long term averages.

But as Texas hunters are becoming all too familiar with, good numbers of ducks up North don’t necessarily equate to good hunting down South as a variety of factors…notably temperature and precipitation, are more determinative to hunting success. With the general trend to warmer winters, Texas hunters often find themselves praying for cold weather to force the birds down to their ancesteral haunts… and usually wondering if anybody up there is listening.

The warmer weather coupled with the massive increase in corn acreages planted in the Midwest as allowed the birds to winter far to the North of their historical wintering area. To complicate matters, due to the high carbohydrate content in corn, the birds are able to ride out bouts of cold weather, which in recent history seem to be of shorter duration followed by warm ups. Whereas, the birds used to leave in advance of cold front, now they…especially mallards and large species of Canada geese, gorge on corn, hunker down and wait for the warmer weather to return. Eventually, they must leave but they wait as long as possible and travel less distance when they do actually move. And other waterfowl species are adapting as well.

Truth be told, most of today’s readers have never seen a reliable flight of mallards and Canadas on the Texas Coast. But if you ever talked much to your Grandpa…or maybe your Great Grandpa, you know they used to be the main targets around here. By the early 1960’s most of them had started wintering North of us due to changed agricultural practices up North, the final decimation of the last great Texas freshwater marshes due to development, subsidence and increased salinity, construction of large reservoirs, etc. As most of us have known it, this is the Land of Snow Geese and Pintails.

But that is changing too. Due to the decline of rice acreage and our marshes…largely due to some form of development, the snow geese have taken a shine to the Mississippi Delta…fly over it sometime and you’ll wonder why anything would ever leave there to fly over 500 miles of pine trees to come to what’s left of the Texas coast. And the pintails have moved on down the coast to the still expansive seagrass beds, but not without consequence…biologists suspect that one of the leading factors linked to the decline of the pintail population is that without rice the pintail hens leave Texas to return North to breed in poor condition, which both increases mortality and decreases nesting success.

As they say, the only thing constant is change. Usually it’s a gradual shift that cannot be appreciated without time and hindsight. But with regard to waterfowl hunting around Houston, for the most part we are probably going to experience a jolt this year due to the massive and unprecedented decline in rice acreage south and southwest of Houston.

Peyton Parker and Sam Parker with their best hunting buddy, Jeff Malonson of Houston, Texas and a limit of ducks taken last season at 2 Bayous Lodge in Brazoria County, Texas near Angleton.

Due to prolonged drought, for the second year in a row the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) decided not to sell water to rice farmers. This is a big hit. The bulk of what is left of rice in Texas is in the Colorado River drainage…Eagle Lake, Wharton, Bay City, etc. Sure there are some farmers who grew rice on wells and the guys in Garwood on the Lehrer canal system (which has the senior agricultural water rights on the LCRA) grew some rice but nothing like normal. The Pierce Ranch grew 700 acres of rice compared to its normal 4,500 acres…and what they grew is seed rice which is inferior to waterfowl for variety of reasons.

For most of the summer it looked like the farmers on the Lehrer canal system and Brazos River were going to be okay…decent acreages and good crops. Then came the next shot, both the Lehrer and Brazos shut off second crop water…which is a second “ratoon” rice crop grown from the stubble of the first rice crop that is typically harvested in July. Ask any rice farmer and they’ll tell you that the first crop pays the costs…currently about $1,000 per acre, and the second crop is profit. And the folks at John Deere don’t care….they still want payment on the $250,000 tractors, combines, etc. So the farmers are in a bad spot. And so are the birds.

The big problem as far as hunters are concerned is that second crop of rice is cut in late October, which leaves ample waste grain for the birds. Waste rice from the first rice harvest is long gone by the time the birds arrive in the fall. The presence of grain provides a large enough food source when coupled with what’s left of natural habitat (which ain’t much) and man-made habitat such as moist soil units. Sure if it rains a lot, this whole country will flood and the birds will respond, but lots of water usually means scattered birds and tough hunting. And, while some of our area is still under drought conditions, in general we’ve gotten some decent rains that have at least started to restore soil moisture thereby enabling moist soil and aquatic plants to emerge, but the landscape is still suffering from the drought.

The point of this cheery account is that if you want to kill ducks you’d better start finding some decent habitat…pronto. It may be hard to find but it can be done. I manage 2 Bayous Lodge adjacent to the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge near Angleton, Texas. We have been spending our summers swatting mosquitoes and making habitat for longer than I care to remember. If you have a place, like the work (which probably means you are a masochist) and put in the time you can have excellent hunting in the shadow of Houston.  I fear that the days of just showing up on a pond on opener, throwing out a bag of dekes and killing a limit are coming to a close to being over. The guys that consistently kill ducks today either work for it or pay handsomely for it. Food for future thought.

If you haven’t leased land yet, you need to get moving. If I had to pick an area for a long term lease, I’d seriously look east of Houston in Chambers, Jefferson and Liberty Counties. The reason being that this area is serviced by the Lower Neches River Canal System, which has much more rainfall and far fewer people utilizing it. Rice has made a major comeback over there. Up until recently rice had declined over there more than any other region in the State, but it looks better over there than it has in 20 years. I suspect that with the current trends that area will continue to develop and, if the rains don’t return, it will become the largest…and maybe only, rice producing area in Texas. Plus they have the biggest chunk of what’s left of Texas freshwater/intermediate marsh and enough rain to keep it somewhat viable….it’s not what it once was, but the guys willing to brave the ‘skeeters, mud and cow crap traversing  the marshes from Smith Point East to Louisiana still seem to do okay.

For the guys that hunt the coastal marsh and bays southwest of town, the problem y’all have is that the drought increased the salinity in the bays, bayous and associated marshes which seriously reduced food production. The Justin Hurst WMA near Freeport reported slow teal hunting and while their ponds were wet, food is scarce and the birds weren’t there. Matagorda County didn’t seem to fare much better…guys that hunt near Mad Island had slower hunting than experienced in many years. In general, I’d do a lot of scouting and try to find areas of better habitat. Areas regularly influenced by tide without freshwater to offset the salinities are probably devoid of food, but if you can find areas closer to freshwater inflows you should find better conditions. If you can make it to the seagrass beds from Port O’Conner South, things should be pretty much business as usual…. the bulk of “our” ducks now spend the winter there.

No matter where you hunt, if you are serious about being successful in an area with 6,000,000 people and a declining habitat base, you need to at least be able to identify important plant species utilized by waterfowl, understand where such species are likely to occur and if at all possible enhance their presence. My advice is to pick up a copy of Charles D. Stuzenbaker’s “Aquatic and Wetland Plants of the Western Gulf Coast” to aid the search… it’s hard to know a plant’s value to waterfowl if you don’t know what it is.

Of particular importance is the ability to identify widgeongrass, which is a submerged aquatic plant heavily used by local waterfowl. It is a high value plant, but of more relevance this year is that it can tolerate relatively high salinities and grows very quickly once salinities are reduced…which the recent rains have done. I have a pond that has a high salt content and was dry all summer to the extent to nothing grew there, but since receiving some decent rains in mid-August it has grown a very good crop of widgeongrass. The recent rains will continue that trend until the cooler days of Fall take hold and slow down growth. Mother Nature does a good job of playing catch up when the conditions allow….something is always waiting to take advantage of the improved conditions.

All the duck hunters I know are praying that the rains will come, the drought will go and normalcy will return to the prairies of the Upper and Middle Texas Coast. But it would be short-sided to say that this drought will not have long lasting effects on the landscape, especially with regard to the Texas rice industry, to which our local waterfowl populations are closely tied. As a consequence, the presence of large numbers of waterfowl…the natural by-product of lots of rice, will probably become more of a rarity. Good habitat and numbers of waterfowl can exist even under these circumstances but it takes work….and a few people doing the brunt of it will not replace what has been lost. If you are serious about hunting waterfowl, this year may be an omen of things to come…and hopefully a catalyst to ensure that the birds find a better place when they return next Fall.

More muscle and upscale King Ranch
trim highlight the 2015 Ford Super Duty

By Don Armstrong

2014 promises to be a big year for the Ford Motor Company with the introduction of an all-new F-150, among others.  Until then, the blue oval has to work with what it’s got, and that’s not a bad thing. They sell more trucks than any other manufacturer.

Last month, at the opening of the Texas State Fair, America’s truck leader introduced a revamped 2015 F-Series Super Duty lineup featuring a second generation 6.7-liter Power Stroke® V8 turbo diesel engine with increased towing capabilities and a refreshed,  Texas-inspired, King Ranch model.

One of the most significant improvements to the engine is a larger GT37 turbocharger that replaces the previous GT32 model, enabling more airflow to the engine and, in turn, producing more power and torque than today’s model.

Ford also engineered its six-speed transmission that uses a new torque converter to manage the increased horsepower and torque.

Other changes for 2015 include a strengthened frame, suspension, new commercial grade 19.5-inch wheels and tires, and core work components shared with F-Series Super Duty chassis cab models. 

The reinvigorated interior for the 2015 Ford F-Series Super Duty King Ranch edition is inspired by the place where American ranching was born. “King Ranch is an American original with a proud heritage of hard work that defines the American ranching lifestyle,” said Doug Scott, Ford Truck group marketing manager.

“What really stood out at the actual ranch is how prominent the “Running W” is, and how it defines and unifies the ranch,” said Barb Whalen, Ford color and material design manager. “Similarly, we wanted that brand to define the new Super Duty King Ranch.”

The Running W – the brand used on cattle raised at the ranch – provides a focal point for the interior. It is stitched to make the seat backs and center console appear to have been branded. A lighter, richer shade of Mesa leather trims the seats, center console lid, armrests and steering wheel. Exterior updates include the new, darker Caribou paint for the wheel lip moldings, bumpers and lower body. The bed rail caps, bumper caps and running boards are executed in black.

Specific numbers for power, torque, horsepower and most importantly, the MSRP, weren’t released, but we’re sure they are all just as stout as the 2013’s tow rating of 24,700 pounds.

The current F-450 model starts $50,445.

by Laura Snow

Beach bag, duffle bag, tote bag, ditty bag, shopping bag, tool bag, rigging bag or bag of ideas—whatever your bag, you’ll find some good ideas here.

Columbia’s Omni Freeze Zero

This is the go-to technology in clothes this year! When you sweat, or dampen with water, little blue circles on the inside of the fabric swell, lowering the temperature of the fabric and increasing air flow to cool you. As long as you sweat, you’re cool. The soft, lightweight, breathable fabrics block 98-99% of all damaging sun rays. It’s antimicrobial, too, so your sweat won’t stink.

They’ve made this stuff into t-shirts, fishing shirts, hats, caps, visors, neck gaiters, bandanas, sleeves, even shoes.

What we’ve heard:

“This stuff is awesome!”

“I’m gonna retire all of my cotton clothes.”

“Hey, I’m making ice cubes in here!”

In men’s and women’s styles, they’re available at West Marine.

TIP: When packing, save time and reduce wrinkles by stacking. Stack shirts — long sleeves first, then short sleeves, then sleeveless. Fold this whole stack as if you’re folding one item. It’s much faster, and there are no hard creases. Takes up less space, too. For pants and shorts, do the same thing — pants first, then shorts. Again, fold as one. I fold customers’ purchases this way, and every one has said they’re going to pack this way.

What bag does multiple duty . . .

For laundry bag, provisions (groceries) bag, wet gear (like snorkeling gear) bag, beach toys bag? A mesh bag. Made from quick-drying, mold and mildew resistant mesh, a mesh bag will quickly become one of the most versatile items on your boat. And things like beach toys or snorkeling gear can be rinsed of sand with a good dunk or two in the water.

TIP: No matter what kind of bag you’re packing, on the water or off, there’s one thing you might not have thought of, but can be a lifesaver. (Well, maybe not life, but sure to be a great thing to have.) Especially this time of year, who on your boat isn’t wearing either prescription eye glasses, sun glasses, or both. Losing that little screw that hinges your glasses can ruin your outing. Go to your local drug store and get an eyeglass repair kit. It will contain a little bitty screwdriver and some little bitty screws to make a fast repair. Lousy (not to mention unsafe for your eyes) time averted!

Sunglasses

Your eyes, of course, are important. Most sunglasses these days are polarized and provide UVA/UBV protection. These qualities are a must! What’s the difference between the top-of-the-line brands and the less expensive? The high end glasses have the finest optic clarity, as well as quality frames, that have manufacturers’ warranties for defects. And if you break them, these brands will repair them for a reasonable fee. But, at least at West Marine, nearly all of the sunglasses, expensive or more affordable, provide these protections.

Protect the Kisser

There are so many lip balms on the market, and I (as well as you, I’m sure) have “tried ‘em all.” Introducing Eco-Lips. I know, it’s just a lip balm, but this one’s the best. In addition to an SPF 30, the ingredients of this one are all organic. It’s cost is no more than most of them out there. And I find it lasts longer than any others I’ve tried.

Liquid Gaff

Okay, this may not be for the avid fishermen amongst us who are well equipped, but maybe they’ll at least find it interesting. And if you find yourself in a situation like mine, delivering a sailboat to St. Thomas and craving some fresh fish for supper, read on. (By the way, the prudent skipper here didn’t allow any alcohol consumption for the entire trip. However, some of the stuff was on board to celebrate a successful arrival.)

All we had was some fishing line (I can’t tell you what strength) and some hooks. We made a lure out of crumpled aluminum foil, tied the line to a stanchion, and tossed it out. And we caught one! Wearing gloves, we pulled that fish — a mahi mahi — in, hand over hand. Now what?! The boys reached for a winch handle to beat it to death, but then I pulled out the Liquid Gaff. While the mahi thrashed in the cockpit, we simply poured a couple of ounces of alcohol (any kind) in its gill; two small flops, and the job was done. We enjoyed a great supper!

If you’re still with me, please note: This method is the most humane way to do in a fish. It’s immediate. It’s very clean — no blood until you’re ready for it. No chance of harming you or your boat trying to club a fish to death. After the fish is done, you’ll enjoy your own Liquid Gaff. It’s a beautiful thing!

Laura Snow’s primary job is lead backup of Soft Goods (clothing, shoes and accessories) at West Marine’s Flagship Store in Kemah. Her second job is pattern-maker for woodwork and helper for her husband (Tom Snow)’s business, Snow Yacht Service. They are also parents to six rescued four-legged and furry children.