Scouting

Sun up yesterday, a light mist was falling, as I climbed up into a tree stand on my ranch. No deer were moving and I really didn’t expect to see anything, but below me, all of a sudden, a yearling walked out on to the trail, crooked its ears down the trail and quickly scampered off back into the thick stuff, too fast for me to get a picture. The wind was in my face blowing off of the young deer, so he must have heard something!
That ‘something’ was a 1-1/2 year old, 4 pointer that walked under my tree and started nibbling on the acorns.

Because of the branches it was difficult o get a good picture of him, but I ‘shot’ one through the limbs.
Then he walked through an open space and I got this picture. He looks very healthy and maybe he’ll grow into 10 pointer in two or three years.

A Tasty Recipe

In Texas, quail season starts shortly and my good friend, Bob Baugh, sent me a recipe for quail and wanted me to post it on Outdoor Odyssey. Vouching for the recipe and having enjoyed it many times, the quail are delicious and it’s also very good on doves too!
Quail Jon
“Every good blog needs recipes to add spice for the readers so here is the first recipe for you
Jon and I started bird hunting together back in the early 80’s on a deer lease we had just east of Brady, Texas. While the deer hunting entertained the rest of the hunters on the lease, Jon and I would sleep in and have a good breakfast while the rest of the hunters sat in a blind and enjoyed the cold weather. After the sun was up and the chill was off, we would embark on our style of hunting. It was always enjoyable to watch the dogs work and find a covey of birds. Jon and I had many a successful hunt and after cleaning the birds, Jon had a favorite way of preparing quail or Bobwhites as we called them.

12 cleaned quail
2 cans Rotel (Mild or Hot your choice)
Salt, Pepper to taste
1 onion coarsely chopped
1/2 bell pepper coarsely chopped
3 tsp garlic
1 beer (Miller Lite)
Salt and pepper each bird and place in large baking pan. Spread onions, garlic and bell pepper evenly over birds and pour Rotel over birds.
Seal pan with foil and place in 350 degree oven for 60 minutes. Quail should be tender when done.
Serve with sauce from pan
I almost forgot the beer! That’s for me to drink while I watched Jon cook

Enjoy !!!!”
Personally, I call this recipe Steamed Quail.

What, No Pot Of Gold

Friday afternoon Layla and I headed to Temple to watch Copperas Cove open their district play against the Temple Wildcats and Sara cheer her team on to victory. As we were nearing the Goldthwaite city limits, we encountered a very heavy thunderstorm. Of course, the weatherman didn’t predict any rain for our area. There was rain, a total of 1.6’ and .9 of that fell in 15 minutes! We even drove through ‘OO’ buckshot, size hail!
We noticed two rainbows forming, one right behind our local, livestock sale barn and I stopped to take this picture. The rainbow had formed, but there was no leprechaun or ‘pot                                                  of gold’. Well, better luck next time!

We arrived in Temple and watched, as Sara and her friend, Alicia, cheered and the, number 12 State ranked, Dawgs demolished Temple, 56-14. Next week, I’m off to Houston to play in a one day Senior Softball tournament, while Cove, for their first real test, plays a solid team from Bryan and Goldthwaite opens their district play against Evant.

Preparing The Food Plots

Since there’s no rain in our immediate forecast, I tell myself that there’s no reason to hurry planting the food plots. But, our weatherman is wrong as much as he’s right, so I’ll stick to my original plan – finish planting by today.

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This past Monday I shredded my 2 biggest plots and plowed in the milo, that didn’t head because lack of rain, and on Tuesday finished plowing all 4 of them.Wednesday morning, Mickey Donahoo and I, drove over to Georgetown and played softball and my afternoon was spent on my PC. Fertilizing was finished on Thursday and the plots will be planted toda.

Next project is to start clearing the roads and shooting lanes around the blinds. Brad is coming over to help me with this on Saturday. I bet we’ll take some time out to sight in our rifles!

Sampling The Beauty

Fall is a beautiful time in our part of west central, Texas, our hill country. The leaves don’t turn on with oranges and reds that make an entire mountain, side explode with color. And, we’re still a month or more away from our first frost, but our mornings in the high 50’s or low 60’s are refreshing, but in the middle of the day in the low 90’s, sweat comes easy and shade is still welcome! Sometimes, while I’m out on my ranch working, I’m reminded of the beauty that is all around us, if we’ll just take the time to appreciate it.

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Our prickly pear cactuse , Opuntia engelmanni, the State Cactus of Texas, is blooming now and, you ask, “How could a prickly pear cactus be beautiful?” Easy, just look at the blooms!

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These blooms, or tunas, also can be made into great jelly!

Blooming near the prickly pears are some gayfeathers or blazing stars, Liatris spp.These wildflowers are scattered around west and central Texas and give a real contrast to the brown, native prairie, grass.

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Our Porta Potty Blind is pictured in the background of some more gayfeathers growing

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among some white daisies, Asteraceae.

Back to work! Deer season won’t wait.