Car Camping and Hunting in South Texas Part II

In part II we’ll pick back up on my car camping trip down to South West Texas to hunt with the LCS SK19

As I mentioned in last weeks post, I was on my own the first 4 days, but would be joined by Chacho and Valente (his father) for the last 3. I enjoy stalking the ranch with Chacho and listening to Valente’s tales of this place many years ago when they still worked the ranch on horseback, but to be honest he is one of the best Mexican cooks I’ve ever meet, and he keeps us eating well whenever he joins us! Handmade tortillas, pico de gallo made from a selection of peppers he roasts and crushes, and meats roasted to perfection! I’m getting hungry thinking about it.

The rifle I brought to start my hunt out with was a new one for me, the American manufactured LCS SK-19, which is a bottle forward bullpup design, which is very much in vogue these days. But this hammer-less SA/FA gun is unique in many ways, it uses a magazine that is loaded in place, holding 19 pellets or slugs in the .25 caliber version I used. The rifle is regulated and has a second pressure gauge dedicated to the adjustable regulator, with a knob located beneath the receiver to allow additional power adjustment. The way my rifles was set up, it was producing 55 fpe over 50 shots with virtually no shot-to-shot variability.

The most unique feature of the SK-19 however, is that it is a semi/full auto airgun. In the full-auto it will empty the 19 round magazine in less than 3 seconds, with the accuracy to keep all shots in about a 2.5 inch group. This was a lot of fun to plink with, but my primary interest was in the semi-auto mode. I found that at 50 yards I could keep all the shots inside an inch when pacing myself, but even when pulling the trigger rapidly it was possible to keep a 19-pellet group inside of 2”. I thought this would prove useful for follow up shots, and when engaging multiple targets. And this indeed proved to be the case, several times I found multiple rabbits in an area, and did a good job of anchoring them with rapid follow up shots!

I found this bullpup to be very ergonomic and it fit me well. My offhand shooting was improved by the design of the gun, and it was a pleasure to shoot off sticks as well. The trigger was smoother than I’d expected and breaks crisply. I took forty jackrabbits with the SK-19, as well as getting in some predator shooting with it, and think it is one of the more impressive rifles I’ve used recently. I took both head shots and body shots, finding them equally effective. Body shot jacks would often run several yards then drop and expire quickly. Headshot rabbits often flopped around violently before giving up the ghost, and I’m not sure either one was more humane than the other. A couple days into the trip I saw a hawk chase down and eat a still living jackrabbit and it gave me pause for reflection, I believe that head or body shots are both a better exit than most of these animals get in the wild.

As is often the case, the hunting was good, but I saw much of interest besides my quarry, including a coatimundi (rare in Texas), and albino mule deer, I was chased by a 5 foot long gopher snake with an attitude, and had a big brown and black tarantula crawl over my leg as I sat on the ground looking through my binos….. maybe you heard me screaming all the way over in the UK! Snakes do not bother me, scorpions ain’t no big thing……. But I hate spiders!

Chacho and I spent the weekend predator hunting and glassing the ranch looking for a herd of feral Spanish goats, without luck. The herd is free range and aren’t restricted to Trents slice of the brush, so they might have been hiding or they might have been gone. We did make an impact on the predator population, but that’s another story for another time. I retraced my steps from Texas to Minnesota arriving home yesterday morning. My vacation over, I returned to work this morning, and was instantly pulled back into the daily grind. However, my company changed policy and are no longer allowing us to carry over vacation time, so I now find myself sitting on 8 weeks to use before the end of the year. Probably won’t be long before I head back to Texas, although I hear South Dakota and Utah calling me as well!

I spoke with Robert over at Airguns of Arizona the other day, and he reminded me that EBR would be rolling around pretty soon. I’m planning on being there, its one of my favorite non-hunting activities in the airgunning world, and well worth the trip if you haven’t be. And if you do attend, please feel free to look me up and have a chat, always happy to discuss our sport with other enthusiast!