Car Camping and Hunting in South Texas Part I

A multi-day hunt to try out the AirArms LCS SK19

I’ve been away for a while and just getting started back up and looking forward to getting ready for a new hunting season! I have a lot of new gear to work with and places to go, so we’ll get back on track with the blog.

With all the pandemic related lockdowns in the USA, and every state is different, it’s been tough trying to organize a hunt. Across the country, most game seasons will not open until September or August, which means its varmint or predators on the ticket. That’s fine with me, as this is some of my favorite hunting: jackrabbits in the southwest, prairie dogs in the northern plains, groundhogs in the midwestern farmlands…….. and predators everywhere! And outside of the occasional and sometimes violent thunderstorms, the weather agrees with my Southern California bred constitution.

I spoke with my friends down in Texas trying to line up a hunt, and though my frequent hunting partner Chacho would only be free towards the end of the week, our friend Trent told me to come on down to the his Ranch and I could have the run of the property. The Huckaby family Ranch is about 50 miles north of the Mexican border and is comprised of 50 sections of land (32,000 acres or 13000 hectares), and is big any way you measure it! The ranch is surrounded by like-sized ranches that spread out over hundreds of miles; it takes a 40-mile drive to get to the nearest town if you need anything.

The trip from my home to the ranch is a 1300-mile 20-hour drive. I used to fly down, but by the time I flew into Dallas and drove 7-8 hours to the ranch, the time savings was not very great, while the limitation on the amount of gear I could bring along was a major limitation. Of course, in consideration of the long distance driven at freeway speeds followed by miles on washboard dirt roads, you must consider the toll on your vehicle. My solution on this trip was Hertz, and yeah, I included their daily insurance package! So, after renting a SUV, loading up gear that included 6 rifles, three CF tanks, an AC/DC compressor, hunting accessories, tools, cameras, food and drinks, I was on the road!

My drive took me through several states: Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, before reaching Texas. I drove 15 hours the first day and pulled into a rest stop South of Wichita Falls to sleep for a few hours. I had screens to put up in the SUV’s windows, an inflatable mattress in the back, and squeezed between the gear to sleep in complete comfort. I don’t like staying in motels while in transit, because I’m too lazy to shuttle all my gear between the vehicle and the room, and estimate that I often have over $10K in possession packed in the cargo area that I don’t want to be separated from.

I awoke at about 5:30 AM and drove to the next town for a, if you’ll credit this, Starbucks coffee in the approximate middle of nowhere! It was about 5 hours of continuous driving later, that landed me in front of the stone gateway to Trent’s property. About a mile past this there is an automatic gate with an entry code, and as I entered the code the iron gate slowly rolled back to grant entrance. I really love this place, the Huckaby Ranch was established sometime in the 1800’s by Trent’s ancestors and the family has been the steward of the land since. They run some cattle and sheep, but mostly it is left in a natural state, and the revenue generated from hunters coming in for the trophy whitetail and mule deer allow it to be kept mostly unspoiled. Though I’ve hunted deer and javalina here, this trip I was focusing on the explosive populations of jackrabbits and predators.

I’ll pick up on the trip next week, and tell you about some really good hunting I encountered. I’ll also share my experience shooting the LCS SK19 in the field. This was my first chance to hunt with it, and I’ll share my experience with you then!