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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. Where are you located and where are you hunting? There's several online options. I've had decent luck with Abel's Ammo. I know of a few gun stores that have had better inventory in the last few months depending on your location.
  2. Nicely done. Seems like you thought it out ahead of time. I can remember building a big, heavy wooden blind out of treated lumber and plywood that I intended on mounting on some old scaffolding I had. Engineering marvel to get that thing upright. I share the ranch with my old man who is super OCD about stuff like a blind tipping over. I was cracking up when he pulled out the 8' level and a bag of gravel to make sure the legs were all even. Then, each leg gets anchored with a steel form stake and a bunch of tie wire, and we put a mobile home anchor in the middle with guy wires and a 1/4" cable with a turnbuckle for good measure. Driving those stakes sucks regardless, but it really sucks in the Hill Country.
  3. Those Atascosas are what we have. We bought three 5' x 5' and had them delivered / set up. One ground blind and two 4' like yours. We did just move one this summer. I'm assuming you laid it on its side? How did you stand it upright? Did you have some help? Seems like a winch or come-a-long would be the way to go. We were able to move ours upright on my 16' trailer. Just tilted it back, backed the trailer under one side, then shimmied it on the trailer. We only had to go about 200 yds, so it wasn't a huge chore.
  4. Removing rolls is akin to removing chips and only wanting the salsa. Plus, by removing them, you remove the possibility of a late night turkey sammich on said roll. I like baked beans, but I don't think I've ever had them with Thanksgiving. So, that's my sacrificial offering from that list.
  5. Agree with @deadshank. There's a reason waterproof deck's are so expensive. Once you put "plywood + deck", I'm assuming you're above a finished space. If the plywood is wet, there's no telling what's beneath. I haven't used HydroStop, but I've heard good things. Carlisle and Westcoat make good products as well, but can be difficult to work with if you haven't used them before.
  6. October 9, 1999 is what I commonly refer to as "Super Happy Fun Day". I had seats at about the 40 in the Cotton Bowl to watch the Horns beat the Sooners 38-28. As soon as The Eyes of Texas played, we hopped in the truck and high-tailed it to watch the first pitch of G3 of the ALDS Yankees vs Rangers. Clemens on the mound. Yankees won 3-0. After the Yankees clinched, we finished the trifecta with REK at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth. Hands down the greatest DFW experience of my life.
  7. OK. That's pretty slick. F'n brilliant too. Will definitely have to check it out.
  8. Purely anectdotal, but about 10 years ago, I built a garden and installed some cheap landscape netting around the perimeter to keep the deer out. I inadvertently trapped a half dozen rat snakes. They'd get tangled up in the netting and die. I ended up doing the same thing (on purpose this time) around our chicken run at our last house. I ran netting around the perimeter of the fence. Caught all sorts of snakes in the same fashion, but never had issues with snakes in the coop. You'll catch the good with the bad, but it seems to be a fool-proof way to keep snakes out.
  9. Tree fiddy. Kidding aside, @dieucla98 did a great job. If one of my guys built that, I'd guess it would go for $3,500 - $4,000.
  10. My favorite homemade vinegar sauce by a wide margin. I'll also dry out my pequins. They'll usually last 3-4 months like that. I've always struggled making pickled jalapenos. I go through about a jar every two weeks of La Costeña nacho slices. But, every time I try to pickle my own, they end up mushy. I need to figure out a good recipe for making my own. Anyone have suggestions?
  11. Same exact setup for mine. Form stakes and a sledge with plenty of baling wire. We use the 600-lb Atascosa EZ feeders. No ladder to load, plus a lower center of gravity. Never had any issues. Plus, they're on a skid, so we actually slide them around a bit after the season to let the ground recover around the feeder. We go a step further with the blinds. Form stakes at the legs, then a mobile home anchor in the center with guy wires up to each corner. Tighten them with a turnbuckle.
  12. Talk me out of going UUUUUGE on West Virginia -7 at home against Tech. That line seems like it should be at least 14.
  13. That's a primo spot. I hunted on a buddy's spot one weekend near Whitsett and had some banner hunts. Like @deadshank said, lots of wildlife. Just give it time and patience!
  14. I was thinking hookers and blow, but this also works.
  15. My best friend in elementary school was an only child and his parents had four season tickets in the south end zone. Second row. Great seats. I got the nod to join probably 50% of the time from 1988 - 1994 or thereabouts. Lots of fun and watched some great teams. That same friend's dad had grown up with Bo Orlando's family in Pennsylvania. Bo and his family would come over to their house for parties, cookouts, etc. GREAT dude and was always friendly, throwing the ball in the yard with us and whatnot. In 94, my dad's company had a pretty sweet deal with the Oilers that included, among other things, tickets to an away game. He had a big client lined up to take on that trip that cancelled the Friday afternoon before the game. Not able to find a replacement client on short notice, he took me. Freaking awesome trip. Flew on the team charter plane. Rode on the team bus. Stayed at the team hotel. We saw Bo at the hotel. He recognized me and my dad, so we ended up going to dinner with all the defensive backs the night before the game. Good dudes, but you could tell they were checked out. This was mid way through the season, and I think they had only won one game to that point. After dinner, most of them went out on the town. The Oilers lost to a bad Raiders team at the Coliseum the next day. That 94 team was dog shit. And, they didn't care. Totally mailed it in all season. It was the beginning of the end of my favorite team. I still can't root for the Texans.
  16. I never thought about freezing pesto, but that's a great idea for taking advantage of the basil.
  17. Sucker! Without looking at the forecast, I set up a tee time to take a client out for golf Thursday @ 8:30 AM. May even need to wear a pullover!
  18. Add a link of venison sausage and this is the exact meal we ate damn near every Sunday night when I was a kid. Looks great!
  19. Chickens are looking great! Free range is awesome. The only downside for us was messing up the mulch around the flower beds. But, we loved hanging in the pool and watching the hens peck around in the evening. Also kept the bugs at bay for the most part. The only time we lost chickens were when we didn't close the coop early enough. Lost most of ours to a fox. Make sure you count em when you put em up. We had one of ours go broody over a nest down the back hillside of our property. We didn't realize it and weren't counting chickens, and found a big pile of feathers and a dozen eggs the next morning. She wasn't leaving that nest to roost and got whacked.
  20. Great pics @Lazarus Bocanegra! Love that area. Congrats on the purchase. Roughly where are you in Live Oak County? I've hunted on-and-off in that county for 25+ years. Had a lease near Lagarto for over a decade and now have a good friend with a place on the Nueces between Three Rivers and George West and my uncle has a ranch right at the Duval County line off Hwy 59.
  21. Totally agree. There's a few massive ones that are either going to get whacked or have already been designed around. Those trees at Blanton seemed pretty darn big, but by comparison, I'm sure they don't compare.
  22. I saw the same thing with the trees. Given the heightened scrutiny of this project from an environmental standpoint, it would be a pretty boneheaded move to whack heritage trees right off the bat. To your point, I guarantee they have a tree survey from that area. And, I'm curious on the bigger trees near William Cannon as well. They moved some major trees on campus for the Blanton and the North DKR expansion, so it can be done. Regardless, they'll have a hefty tree replacement program for sure. Regarding the batch plant, it's definitely going to happen. It's logistically and economically the right move. It's going to suck for the neighbors in the immediate vicinity, but for the community as a whole, having a temporary batch plant on site (or within spitting distance) is a way better option than trucking. There's a ready mix plant near Circle Drive, but the next closest ones are at Ben White / I-35. And, for a project of this size, the concrete needs are vast, and pour times could literally be at damn near any time of day, so an on-site dedicated batch plant is a must.
  23. Same. I knew the hearing was earlier this month, but I've found nothing. I'm going to reach out to my TxDOT buddy later this week to catch a beer after work, so I'm hoping to get the scoop then.
  24. Thirded. You're going to love it. I went in 2012. Only the Thursday round, but it was a blast. 16 is a must. 17 is an awesome hole as well. See if you can get suite access. It'll turn the experience up to 11.
  25. I'm in the same boat. But, the majority of my recent hunts in Central Texas have been Mourning Dove. I do carry a few boxes of #6 in my shell box if we're getting into high-flying WWs. I've gotten to be a bit of a gear snob, so I have a loaded Yeti bucket with a lid for dove hunting, plus a go-bag for quail and a larger go-bag for ducks / geese. Pure #6 for quail and #3 / #4 steel shot for ducks plus steel BBs in the same bag for geese. I like not having to mix-and-match every time.
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