December 27, 2024
Texas’ Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper Since 2004
Volume 21, Issue 9
Does Before Bros By Meghan Olivia Jackson For Lone Star Outdoor News
A group of young women gather each year for the full deer-hunting experience. Photo from Kelsey Rae Slusser.
For the second year, women gathered at the HB Ranch, near Jacksboro, for their weekend hunting trip with one thing on their mind — Does Before Bros. From orchestrating shooting schools to directing hunts at the HB Ranch, Kelsey Rae
Slusser is a woman of many talents and successes. She created the annual event because she believes it is important to encourage women to gain the full experience of the outdoors. “There are so many women stepping forward in this industry to promote conservation, and I wanted to be one of them,” Slusser said. “My
goal with this is to bring women with similar interests and different backgrounds in this industry together so we can each learn from one another.” HB hunting products manufactures AR 500 half-inch steel targets and Slusser said these women obliterated the middle orange circle on the very first night.
“All five of the girls aimed perfectly on their shots and by the end of the weekend, every single one of them tagged out,” Slusser said. “There was not one deer that we had to track.” One of the hunters, Nicole Skorich, described this weekend as everything she needed as she spent time with nature, self-reflected and successfully Please turn to page 21
Texans travel north for greenheads For Lone Star Outdoor News Like most Texas duck hunters, finding concentrations of mallards doesn’t happen often, it seems. Some find the solution by traveling north. Texas hunters Chris Berry, Tyler Varnado and Don Gay have been traveling to Kansas during mid-December to pursue ducks and geese for the last several years with a group of buddies. Their main focus is mallards. Two other hunters in the group, Ryan Bowland and Sammy Gonzalez, said they spent several days hunting along Texas’ coastal rice prairies prior to their trip to Kansas. “We usually have some pretty good shoots for ducks in the Garwood area, but this season has been tough,” Bowland said. “It seems like this year in particular, most of our buddies have had a difficult time
staying on ducks, so we were pretty excited to head north in the hope we would find more birds and more decoying action.” The group made their first stop in Milan, Kansas, where they hunted some ponds and a cut milo field for three days. They harvested near limits of greenheads, along with good numbers of lesser Canada geese. Next, they traveled north to Cawker City, where they hunted over cornfields and ponds for five days. Some of their best hunts took place on dry land while hunting out of layout blinds using a spread of full body duck decoys. In the Cawker City area, the group took near limits of mallards, along with quite a few wigeon. Greater Canada geese and snow geese were in the mix. “There’s nothing like hunting in a dry field and shooting decoying ducks,” Berry said. Please turn to page 6
A group of Texas waterfowlers head north to Kansas each year in pursuit of mallards. Photo by Nate Skinner, for Lone Star Outdoor News.
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT 3814
Finding river, pond rainbows By Cory Byrnes
Rainbow trout stockings have resumed in rivers and local ponds across the state. While most of the fish range from 8 to 10 inches in length, Sunny Lee, a Texas transplant from Chicago, learned firsthand that there are some big ones mixed in as well.
Lee was fishing on a weekday morning to beat the crowd at Bethany Lakes Park, near Allen, using Powerbait. “Most people were trying to cast out far into the middle, but I jokingly cast 10 feet in front of me,” he said. “That’s when the big one picked it up.” Lee’s trout measured 18 inches.
“Coming from Chicago where we have great salmon and trout fishing, I’m glad I can still enjoy trout fishing,” he said. You just need to scale the gear to an ultralight setup.” Lee said the residential and park pond anglers have the most success on Powerbait eggs, small white rooster tails and spoons. Please turn to page 19
CONTENTS
Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Freshwater Fishing Report . . Page 10 Outdoor Blotter . . . . . . . . Page 12 Grip & Grin . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . . Page 16 Saltwater Fishing Report . . . Page 20 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 22 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . Page 22
INSIDE
By Nate Skinner
Sunny Lee landed this 18-inch rainbow trout from Bethany Lakes Park. Photo from Sunny Lee.
HUNTING
FISHING
Record javelina? (P. 4)
Lakes producing (P. 8)
Peccary to join “the book.”
Smaller bass aggressive.
Lost, then found (P. 5)
Bass on Blanco (P. 8)
Hunter wounds buck, later harvests.
Friends wade the chilly water.