Since the theme of my wildlife consulting business is to work with, not for, people, I have a rather large number of friends associated with my business.  One of my good friends is Dwight Belicek, ranch manager for the McCall 501 Ranch located south of Uvalde.  Dwight’s objective is to develop high quality bucks on the expansive landholding he manages, so I spend quite a bit of time on the ranch discussing applicable management strategies with him.

    The most unique characteristic exuded by Dwight, and more importantly his employer Mr. McCall, is their genuine interest in caring for all wild inhabitants.  Thus, when driving on the sandy ranch roads, we are always aware that they are frequented by a variety of wildlife, including the unique horny toad, and it’s not uncommon for us to lock it down in order to afford the little reptile the right of way.

The horned toad is one of the most unique reptiles in the Lone Star State and is frequently seen on sandy ranch roads.

    One morning in May, Dwight and I were examining food plots when he said I’ve got to show you an owl’s nest.  Manned with only a camera, we ventured through the thorny brush towards a huge nest composed of large twigs and sticks 15 feet up a mesquite tree.  A huge female great horned owl perched on the edge of the nest flew off upon our arrival.  I climbed the spindly-limbed tree to take pictures of the nest’s occupants.  As I reached eye level to the nest, a single, partially feathered owl greeted me with a hiss.  Not sure if the female would return, I rapidly collected several images of the bird before descending the tree.

This young great horned owl was less than enthused about my desire to take its picture.

    As a wildlife biologist specializing in trophy deer management, I still adhere to the holistic management approach which involves all living creatures. The opportunity to film the various inhabitants is always a thrill.

    Much of my time in late May and early June was spent visiting ranches I work with distant to my home in Uvalde.  From the grassy hillsides near Crawford, Texas ("home of George W. Bush”) to the steep, rocky environment north of Brackettville, I put a few miles on my truck.  June was dry, but it failed to prevent flowering plants from developing on top the rocky outcrops overlooking the west prong of the Nueces River from which they draw moisture.

Story continues below
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    By the end of June, Jan and I, along with our daughter Nan and her husband Paul, traveled south to Padre Island to do some trout fishing with Josh Greenwalt, owner with his dad of Xtreme Outdoors.  A fishing and hunting guide service, Xtreme Outdoors is recognized as the pros when it comes to fishing the Texas coast.  To make things even better, Josh graduated from my wildlife management program at Southwest Texas Junior College.

    Arriving two days early, Paul and I did some wade fishing on the Padre Island seashore with another friend, island resident Brett Boyd.  We caught a mess of speckled trout but most were small.  By Sunday we were ready to catch bigger fish, and when Josh called to inform us that we would meet up at 5:15 a.m. Monday, we were pumped.

A trophy spec, like a trophy deer, represents one of natures ultimate challenges.

    By 7:15 a.m., we were bailing out of Josh’s boat into the dark, pea-green-colored water along with an abundance of jelly fish, 20 miles south of our launching point at BirdIslandBasin inside Padre Island National Seashore.  Facing the famed King Ranch shoreline, we began casting croaker to what Josh referred to as an inundated spoil bank that attracted a substantial number of large trout.  Not necessarily a bait fisherman, casting the 4 to 7” croaker was a challenge without serious backlashes, but working the croaker was even more difficult with my lightweight eight-foot fly rod.  The croaker is a nest predator of trout, and specs voraciously protect their nest from these intruders.  The technique requires fishermen to intermittently pop their rods throughout the retrieval.  As the rod is jerked, the croaker rises from the bottom, and then rapidly swims back to the bottom, emitting a croaking sound that alerts trout.  By 2 p.m. the three of us had a limit of 10 hearty trout on our floating stringers, some going 26 inches in length, unquestionably trophy-sized trout.  And we didn’t count the number of nice sized fish we released.

Fishing an inundated spoil bank proved to be productive, resulting in a heavy stringer of fish on both days of our trip with Xtreme Outdoors’ Josh Greenwalt.

    Paul had a unique problem that first morning as a gull literally dove into the water, retrieved his bait and become entangled, forcing him to carefully retrieve and untangle the large disturbed bird.  From stingrays to jelly fish, you never know what you will encounter when fishing the Gulf of Mexico.

One of the most unique features of the Texas Gulf Coast is the bird life like these two brown pelicans.

    Tuesday was even better than the day before, and by 2 p.m. we were heading back home, weighed down with some of the finest eating filets imaginable.