Texas Sporting Journal - The Magazine

Surprised by the three mountain reedbucks that burst from among the boulders and brush as we approached the koppie, I almost missed it. But for some reason I glanced down, and there by the toe of my right boot was a dull metal object partially buried in the South African soil.

By Larry D Hodge

We have tied up our drift boat in a fierce current overlooking a deep hole on the Clearwater River, a short float downstream from the Lewis and Clark Canoe Camp in Orofino, Idaho.

By Phil H. Shook

Normally, I am not a big fan of change. Were it not broken, I’d still be using my first old cell phone that was just a phone…I don’t need one that plays video games and surfs the web. I knew that subprime lending would lead to the demise of our financial system and I still maintain that the internet is a Communist plot to overthrow America. However, this fall, Texans will notice some changes in their hunting regulations that offer a new horizon of opportunities for recruiting bowhunters into the field.

By Jeff Copeland

When we start to pack for a trip, whether to the deer lease or Denmark, my wife always insists that I “pack like Galen, not like Lenny.”

By John Jefferson

Terry Neal idles a parallel path about 300 yards from a nondescript desert shoreline south of the harbor. Between the Spanish dagger near the water’s edge and our position is a distinct color change loosely paralleling the shore. The chalky brown bay greets a green Laguna Madre tide about 100 yards from the boat.

By David Sikes

It is shirt-sleeve weather with a stiff south wind, not exactly the best quail hunting situation. Regardless of hunting conditions, there’s something special about following rangy bird dogs across a historic West Texas ranch, and there is no doubt that Bob Kilmer has selected a good pasture for the first brace. Not an avid quail hunter, Kilmer is longtime manager of the Matador Ranch. A hands-on manager in all weather conditions, he has intimate knowledge of the 130,000-acre property.

By Ray Sasser

They say everything is genetic; it’s all in the DNA. If that is so, the strand of DNA encoded for mechanical engineering has been absent from every member of the Parker family all the way back to Adam and Eve. If my caveman ancestors, squatting around the campfire, had been put in charge of product development, the world would still be waiting for the wheel. When the instructions on my Christmas present say easy to assemble I scream for my wife.

By Jameson Parker

Wherever quail hunters gather, the conversation is invariably the same—what happened to the birds? Quail are circling the drain as a viable game bird species and everybody wants an explanation for what’s happening to these marvelous little bobwhites and, better yet, what can we do to reverse the trend.

By Ray Sasser

Picking out targets in low light conditions against muted background colors like winter foliage can be frustrating. Movement may give away their position, but by then it’s usually too late. Using a new optical system technology that delivers greater light transmission, image contrast and better pinpoint resolution, Steiner has developed a new C5 Series of its popular Predator binoculars.

By TSJ Staff

Barefoot Bob knocked a bear out of a tree with a stick, killed a hog with a 1-inch gimme pocket knife, beheaded a rattlesnake with his thumb, KO’d a badger with one head-thump, shot a 284-pound alligator gar with a homemade bow. He used the same bow to kill two bobcats and once stacked a 175-pound mountain lion on his thick shoulders and walked miles up a creek. When he goes fishing Bob grabs a wasp nest barehanded and uses the larvae as bait.

By Tom Stephenson

The Franchi Renaissance 28 gauge was barely out of the box before Pat Hoyt was turning clay targets into dust, but the winner of TSJ’s Upland Bird Hunt Sweepstakes found live targets at Joshua Creak Ranch a bit more challenging.

By Pat Carl