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David Sikes David Sikes, Caller-Times outdoors writer specializes in hunting and fishing. David's columns are published Thursdays and Sundays. David also compiles a fishing report on Saturdays. He can be reached at sikesd@caller.com. Sunday, October 7, 2001 Tracking the right outfitFrom tradition-based family settings with food and festivities to nothing more than a spot in a field, finding a suitable dove lease can be hit-or miss.
And this certainly was not among my primary demands when I set out in search of a rural patch to spend with friends in pursuit of doves this season. Maybe it should have been. The pre-meal thanks to God, voiced eloquently by Lynn Trahan, a former Corpus Christi resident who lives in Houston, was one of many special touches that I'll remember about this season's weekend dove opener at Rychetsky Farms. It wasn't, however, the only thing that set apart my experience with this 22-year tradition, staged between Calallen and Orange Grove.
This raises a question. What are we looking for in a dove outfit? My 30-plus years of hunting may not be evidenced by my field prowess. But the string of seasons has given me insight into the good, bad and mediocre of dove leases. To a point, disappointment will lead to enlightenment. When I first began hunting with my father in the crop fields of southern Louisiana, searching for a dove patch was a matter of Dad calling farmers he knew or maybe the friend of a landowner. Permission was often granted over the phone with the drop of a name or mention of a remote family connection, and always without talk of money.
I recall a man named Collins, who owned a dairy farm near New Iberia where we hunted often. I'm not sure how Dad knew Mr. Collins. But for years the Sikes clan spent many autumn days hunting doves, quail and rabbit in this gentleman's pastures where livestock were not grazing. It was understood that if a milk-cow was injured or killed by an errant shotgun blast, the bill would come to Dad. At other times, we'd drive around country dirt roads, searching for game the day before we intended to hunt. When we spotted birds, Dad would pull over to determine their flight pattern. Usually a lone house was nearby.
My brother and I would sit quietly in the family Chevy while Dad approached the farmhouse door. It was a good sign if the conversation progressed into the front yard, with both men pointing to distant landmarks. A handshake later and the three of us were off to hunt. Later, as a teenager in Houston, my buddies and I would look for doves to satisfy our wingshooting needs in barely rural crop fields not bordered by fences. We bagged hundreds of doves out of one particular cotton field on Bellaire Boulevard, where homes, shopping centers and apartments sit today.
Those times are gone for the most part, replaced by farmers and ranchers, often just as good-willed as Mr. Collins, who depend on extra income from leasing their fields to bird hunters. Then there are entrepreneurs who act as brokers by leasing tracts from many landowners, then selling spots on these properties to hunters from urban centers. I've sampled both. Usually, these outfits provide day leases, probably because of the unexplained tradition of hunting doves only during the opener. Must be a Texas thing. When I was a boy it was different. We took advantage of the entire season. And then there are outfits such as Rychetsky Farms and Santa Rita Ranches, which offer something extra to their hunters. Ron and Barbara Rychetsky are carrying on a tradition begun in the late 1970s by Ron's father, Harry Rychetsky. It's a great party. For $150, the Rychetsky's offer a three-day opening weekend hunt package for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Included in the price are breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday, plus a midday skeet-shoot that awards prizes and trophies to the best of the worst clay shooters. As a bonus, my party had great hunts Friday and a good hunt Saturday before the rain came. The Rychetskys will arrange slightly less-festive packages for parties throughout the season. Ruben Garza at Santa Rita Ranches near Freer offers the use of several ranch houses and skeet throwers for midday siestas during his hunts. The hunts alone run $40 per gun, but for an additional $20, the lodge is yours. Hunters on Garza's properties limited out on whitewings during opening weekend, he told me. In recent years I've hunted with an outfit that offers enough dove patches so that if one isn't producing during the morning you can hunt a different one in the evening. I recommend outfits with this kind of versatility and commitment to your satisfaction. You should ask what they offer. The classifieds are full of ads for day-hunts, generally charging from $25 to $50 a day per gun. Few offer much more than a spot in a field. And often this is enough if birds are flying. If you're just looking for a legal way to throw lead into the air with your child or friends, then close your eyes and point to any one of these ads and call the number. Or purchase a $40 annual public hunting pass from the state and choose from dozens of dove patches. Take along a few empty cans. Several times I've called a number at random and then supplemented my desire to shoot with target practice in the absence of real birds. Kids especially love this. But if you're easily disappointed by a lack of birds, then scouting is the only way to up the odds for a successful hunt. And even this is no guarantee, especially in South Texas, where bird-scattering rains have become part of opening weekend tradition. A short evening drive should provide some insight into the availability of birds at a given spot. Phone calls are not as effective. I've tried calling a half-dozen of these outfits in years past and gotten responses to my questions that seem to span the range of truth from refreshingly honest and vague to downright fabrications. To be honest, calling weeks before the day you intend to hunt reveals little about your prospects. But to secure a spot, often we're required to make reservations weeks in advance. Face it. It's a crapshoot. That's why for the past five years I've gone with the same outfit out of Three Rivers. My first hunt with them was phenomenal, one my buddies still refer to as the standard of quality wingshooting. In their eyes I was king for a year because we each were limited out opening day by 9:30 a.m. With 15 birds in our bags, the rest of our day was spent at the Karnes City Lonesome Dove Fest. In subsequent years, opportunities to bag a daily limit before lunch were not as easy. As a consolation, this stretched our hunts into the evenings and often we still managed to eke out a limit. But the troops got restless and demanded a change. I warned them against this, using the bird-in-hand adage. But they wouldn't listen. So I called Rychetsky Farms, which turned out to be a good decision. My partners agreed that the Rychetsky hospitality could have offset a mediocre hunt. Looks as though the job of choosing a dove outfit for the Sharpstown reunion dove hunt is mine for the foreseeable future. Talk about fishing in the Coastal Bend
Outdoors writer David Sikes' column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 886-3616 or by e-mail at sikesd@caller.com 
© 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved. |
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