Dangerous. That’s the word fire officials and rangeland management specialists use to describe the combination of heavy grass growth and dry conditions that exist now over much of Texas. Big rains in 2007 produced a lot of grass and other vegetation, which now amounts to dry tinder in much of the state.

  "In the past year, most of Texas has been blessed with abundant rainfall. However, with abundant rainfall have come large amounts of grass growth," said Bob McCan of Victoria, president of the Texas Coalition of the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative.

  "And because of the high fuel loads and the weather fluctuations, the serious situation is expected to remain through March, in spite of occasional moisture" said Dr. Wayne Hanselka, Texas Cooperative Extension range specialist in Corpus Christi. "An inch of rain will not last long with high winds and low humidity."

  According to Kent Ferguson, state range management specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Services in Temple, "Managing grass fuels is very important right now. Some things to be done include mowing road ditches, being careful with outdoor burning, being watchful of catalytic converters, plowing or blading fireguards, and using prescribed burning."

  It may seem ironic or contradictory to people unfamiliar with prescribed fire as a land management tool, but properly planned and implemented prescribed burns can actually decrease wildfire danger by reducing fuel loads such as dry grass. However, it is important that prescribed burns be properly planned and carried out by those with knowledge and experience in the use of fire as a management tool, Hanselka said.

  "A group of interested persons met recently to begin addressing the issue of fire safety and the proper use of prescribed burning," McCan said. "This alliance included private individuals, Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Texas Ag Experiment Station, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Nature Conservancy and the Welder Wildlife Foundation. Our purpose is to make people aware of the good information that is available."

  There are many techniques to provide fire protection as well as conduct a safe prescribed burn.

  Dr. Butch Taylor, at a recent tour for the Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burn Association, offered this technique: "Ranchers and others wanting fire protection can install two parallel dozer lines, then burn between them under carefully chosen conditions. This creates a black-line. The distance between the lines can be about 100 feet for grass fuel, but should be at least 500 feet for volatile fuels or more sensitive areas. This not only provides a margin of safety from wildfire but allows a rancher to conduct a prescribed burn at the time and condition of their own choosing."

  Applicable laws and other prescribed burn information can be found on the Texas Interagency Coordination Center web site at: www.tamu.edu/ticc/prevention.htm.

  Additional information about protecting against wildfires can be found through the Texas Forest Service web site at: http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/main.

  Article courtesy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Visit them on-line at: www.tpwd.state.tx.us.

  For those readers that have read past articles in this series you’ll be familiar with the tales of woe I’m about to relate to you. If you’re new to this series then I warn you to continue reading at your own risk. For you see these aren’t the usual hunting success stories you’re so familiar with reading in the big national magazines. No, these are tales of me, the “Charlie Brown” of deer hunting that’s always in the wrong place at the right time or just plain misses an easy shot at a deer that’s about to keel over from old age. That’s why I call these stories, My Series Of Unfortunate Hunts.

  As in years past I was full of anticipation when bow season rolled around. I had practiced with my bow, my knives were sharp and my hunting clothes de-scented. I was as ready has I would ever be so off to the ranch I went on opening weekend.

  My optimism slowly diminished over the three days I hunted. No deer were seen during hunting hours. No bucks, no does, no fawns, nothing at all. I hunted from a tree stand overlooking a clover field to a ground blind along a travel route. There were tracks, rubs and a few small scraps the bucks had started to make but nothing showed their fuzzy brown heads.

  Since I didn’t need to waste my time skinning and quartering deer, I was left with plenty of time to plant a couple of food plots. It was kind of late to get them in but I was hoping that with a little rain and a lot of luck they would be ready for gun season six weeks away.

  One story I’d like to relate happened the last morning I hunted.

  I decided to take the long way back to the truck and walked by one of the food plots just to see if any deer had been curious the previous night and came to see why the field was worked up. Sure enough, there were tracks in the freshly worked up dirt. As I stood there surveying the plot I heard a banging noise and glanced toward this old barn at the edge of the field just in time to see the biggest coyote I had ever saw come bursting out and running up the hill. He must have been snooping around the old barn trying to scrounge up a mouse or two. Though it wasn’t a deer, I thought it was kind of cool seeing a coyote at that time of day.

  I headed home later that day putting the last few days out of my mind and pumping myself up for some muzzleloader hunting in Oklahoma a few weeks later.

  The trip to my friend David’s ranch in Oklahoma was uneventful and I arrived as usual a couple of days before opening day to get comfortable, set some stands and check my gun. The usual crowd was there, Robert, Dano, Brentt, David and a couple of new guys, Mike and Dave.

  The first thing I told the boys I was going to do was go shoot a dog, coyote, cow or something in the leg so I could get the bad luck monkey off my back. See they had nicknamed me “The Crippler” the year before for my great exploits in the art of deer hunting. I was determined not add fuel to the fire. Those guys can be downright relentless when they latch on to something. Anyway…..

  Opening morning I hunted one of my favorite spots, Cripple Creek. I had renamed the spot from Cedar Creek two years earlier after…well that’s not important right now. I saw no deer but was really excited about the evening hunt as that’s when I had always seen most of the deer when hunting that spot.

  That evening a nice little four point came in to entertain me for a while as he grazed around the food plot. Things were looking up. Sometime later I heard some splashing noise and looked down in the creek to see a doe walking straight up the middle of the creek to the plot. She wasn’t ten yards from me so I got a good look at her. She wasn’t a fawn nor was she a mature doe. I guessed her age at a year and half old.

  She walked up the bank and started nosing around the food plot. I put my crosshairs on her and considered my options. Fill my doe tag with this young deer with an hour and half left to hunt on the opening evening or wait for a bigger doe to show that day or another evening that week. I had a dilemma.

  I decided to pass on her and watched as she filled her belly and then mosey off up the trail. It was a big mistake! As it turned out that was the only shot I had for the rest of the week. I should have known. Think long, thing wrong.

  There were a couple of deer taken that season. Dan took a big doe opening morning and Mike and Dave both took a doe in the next few days. Robert reported seeing deer every time he went out though he never fired a shot. He said they were all too small. It was his lie so we let him tell it anyway he wanted.

  Where were the bucks? There was a lot of good sign around. We figured the full moon was to blame making the bucks move at night. The full moon also motivated most of the does to move at night too. By the end of the week I anticipated the moon to wane some and hoped the deer activity would pick up before I had to leave.

  Sure enough on the last morning we hunted David missed a great ten pointer at sixty yards. David had concluded it was a clean miss since there wasn’t a blood trail only a small tuft of belly hair where the buck had been standing when the shot occurred. He searched several hours before we joined in the search. No new evidence was uncovered but we had to look anyway.

  I’ll finish this chapter with this little story from that trip. A story about Dano and Robert.

  Robert always stayed out longer than anyone else in the mornings and stayed on stand well after dark in the evenings. Dano, always being back at camp before him, would turn on his radio to a certain channel at a certain time he and Robert had agreed upon in the event either one needed some help in any way. I decided to do the same with mine though they didn’t know it.

  I would go into my camper under the pretense of changing clothes, getting a snack or something else. I would then turn on my radio and push the page button and listen for Dano’s radio to ring outside. Many times I’d thought he would hear me laughing as I listened to him and Robert argue over who was calling who.

  "Robert, are you there? Do you need help?" Dano would say.

  "No I don’t need help. You called me." Robert would respond.

  "Well it did that ringing thing again. I don’t know what’s going on." Dano would explain. "Maybe it’s them other guys. (Mike and Dave) They’ve been jabbering on the radio all day."

  I did this to them every chance I could. Once I thought I was busted as I forgot to turn my volume down and thought Dano would hear his own voice coming from inside my camper. He didn’t and they never caught on. Guess the cats out of the bag now. I’ll have to think up something new for this year.

  As usual I had a great time and a lot of fun. I look forward to going back this fall. Sooner or later the odds have to switch in my favor, right? Yeah, whatever helps me sleep at night. I did mention to David a few days into the hunt that I was kind of upset. He asked me why and I told him "It’s Monday already and I haven’t crippled anything yet. I got a reputation to uphold."

  In the next chapter I’ll continue with the rest of my hunting season. It doesn’t get any better. Until next time – Jim Bob

  From time to time we clean out the inbox and pass along messages/letters from our readers and visitors to our site. Well the time has come again to share our mail. We’ll start with the nasty one and follow it with the nice ones. Enjoy.

  How about you sick mother F-----s stop eating squirrels, there are plenty of other animals we can eat but not squirrels. You disgust me you are not human beings your Cannibals. You make me sick you disgusting sweaty F-----s. Love Abby Wilson

  Abby goes on to give us her address. Why? Did she think we were going to mail her something? Everyone’s entitled their opinions but there’s no need in calling us cannibals.

  Okay on to the nice ones.

  Thank you for this site for recipes. This pheasant with apples actually sounds good. I am getting a little tired of grilled game. - Linda Weiss

  Just a note to say thank you for the pheasant recipes. We tried the Roast Pheasant recipe and it was FABULOUS! We added 1/2 cup of white wine and used more lemon but it was so good with the pheasant and didn't cover up the flavor of the bird. - Stephanie McGarity

  I just found your web site by looking for recipe for deer and man your site is great. This is me and my boys first year at cooking deer jerky. I make a lot. But burgers, roast etc is all new if any one can help more please e-mail me thank you. - James p. Montgomery

  The fall apart deer roast was soooo freakin good. My girlfriend and I loved it. I made it for dinner tonight. I scored some major points with her. Thanks for making me look good! - Larry Means

  Just found this site. Shot a few pheasant today. Will be trying the Pheasant Pot Pie recipe. Sounds delicious. – From Jim

  Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts with us. We love to get notes from our readers and visitors whether they’re good or bad. Isn’t it great to live in a country where free speech is a basic human right? We think so.