Field Diaries

Nov 15

AM Ranch mechanic’s wife is crying. She has been mildly terrorized by the husband of the #1 cook, who enters her room drunk and makes a sloppy pass. The mechanic is adamant: “He goes or I go.” My dilemma: if the husband goes, will the cook follow? The mechanic mentions his friends in the rurales. No! I speak to the cook. She is angry at the husband, wants him punished. The cook will stay without him. I give the husband no lecture, 20,000 pesos, and the boot. Maybe, if the mechanic cools off, I will let him back in two weeks.

Noon The daughter and son-in-law of the owner pass through on their honeymoon. They want to ride horses. I saddle two. Undernourished and wormy. I scold the caballerango. He is a good horseman, but the stock and tack are in poor shape. The honeymooners are fresh, handsome, eyes shine.

PM Decide on a goose hunt. Three clients arrive, old regulars from Mississippi. I am apprehensive about dark geese not decoying. Beto PV scouts a good field and we are in the holes by 4:30. Very windy. Dark geese come in without hesitation and very low. Wind is strong, gusting to 30 mph. My eyes take a beating from the flying topsoil. We kill 27 geese. Very surprised to kill 14 lesser Canadians this early. Only 2 snows, the rest specks. Clients using 870s with 30-inch full-choke barrels, 3-inch magnum #2 shot. One flight of specks flared about 35 yards out, with the wind. By the time we were up they were 50 to 60 yards and moving. We downed 4 clean, dead. These boys can shoot. Wind strong all PM from the SE. Radio says norther tomorrow, can’t find out how cold.

Nov 16

AM Scout north with Jose. Big concentration near San Juan. Corn everywhere, ground wet, 2 inches of rain they said. Checked Moquetito. New gringos have set up a mobile home, want to kill geese. They have an air-boat! I say nothing, but will ask our friends to harass them. Air-boats no good. My first impression of these gringos is ugly American: loud, pushy. Jose agrees. We will hurt these people if we can. Crossed trail with Beto PV. He found big geese at El Soledad. We will hit it this PM. Wind shifted NW very strong, stronger than yesterday. Radio said much bad weather in Texas, but not too cold. Spoke to the cook about her husband. She is sad, asks me to double-check the story of the mechanic’s wife. I promise to find the truth.

PM Hunt geese at Soledad. Wind lays to 10 mph, out of the NW but not cold. Geese fly late and very sparse. Kill 24, only because 3 clients are very good shots. Total: 3 L.Can, 11 specks, 10 snows. Snows almost all adult birds, only 2 of 10 adolescent. Another poor hatch for snows. Why? Many more L.Can than usual for November. Temp is mild. Three clients head for San Fernando after dinner. I stay home. Am on full alert against the mechanic’s wife. Do not trust her version of the incident.

Nov 17

AM Scout north to El Norteño with Jose. Cross a competitor’s scouts, say hello. Much feed. Corn and sorghum in all stages, will hold geese in this area all winter. Find a nice parcel of milo with many specks, will hit it this PM. Call the office from P.V. The video cameraman arrives tonite. Explain the personnel problem to the office. My advice is to wait two weeks then re-hire the cook’s husband. Am worried about the cook leaving. I fear manipulation by the mechanic’s wife (who would be #1 cook).

PM Hunt El Norteño. Wind slack, sky clear. Not a good hunt, not a bad hunt. All shots very high. 16 clean kills, 1 cripple not found. 10 specks, 5 snows, 1 L.Can. Money arrived from the office, 7 million pesos. Cameraman did not arrive. Scouts come in with pessimistic reports on geese. Decide to take a chance on Ej. P. Villa. Expect the cameraman any time.

Nov 18 — Hunt Cancelled

AM Terrible news. Our driver has a wreck bringing the video cameraman. Driver dead at the scene. The wreck happens about Santa Teresa at 12:30, nighttime. The cameraman is scratched but unhurt, has the presence of mind to gather all the equipment, and hitches a ride to the San Fernando hospital. I hear the news this AM and go to the hospital to check on the cameraman. He has a slight bump on the forehead and a bruise across the chest where the shoulder harness cut in at impact. I resolve to always wear a seatbelt. I check the body of our driver and our vehicle. Both body and vehicle have been stripped. They took the rings off his fingers, the chain off his neck, and the shoes off his feet. I ask the commandant, “Where are his belongings?” The man shrugs his shoulders. Likewise the vehicle. The blood hasn’t even dried when I check it: missing radio, battery, steering wheel, tires. It has been 8 hours since the wreck. The commandant, a flunky, smiles and says to me, “Mexicans are very bad.” I smile back and say, “No, they’re not bad, some people are just very low and you’ll find them everywhere.” I check the survivor out of the hospital and drive him back to the U.S. Spend the night with family and return to the ranch PM Nov 19.

Nov 20

AM Two hunters from N. Lou. are here. Veterans. Kill 25 specks and L.Can. I do not make the hunt, am in S.F. taking pics of P.U. See the same commandant. We do not speak. I assume an air of superiority and do not acknowledge his existence. Buy 5 new shovels.

PM Three new hunters arrive from Dallas, richer and more worldly than usual goose hunters (who tend to be vulgar). Hunt quail in high grass, in hand 81, lost 20-plus. By dinner 4 VIPs from Coahuila arrive. I will hunt them separate. Tomorrow throw 2 hunts AM. Scouts are optimistic. I lose the cook. The mechanic’s wife wins. I tell the owners, “mistake.”

Nov 21

AM I hunt with the 4 VIPs from Coahuila. The leader is Cuban, Sergio Ayala, friend of the Veras in B’ville. Ayala is close to Jesus Ostos, present chief of SEDUE in Coah. Ayala says Ostos may be the next governor. As hunters they are not real sharp. Manage to kill 7, “I don’t know how.” All snows. At noon the 2 old vets from Lou. leave. I will be back in Dec. Their kill is 21: 18 snows, 3 specks.

PM Do not go on the quail hunts. Let Alonzo guide 3 gringos and Raul gets 4 Mex. Went to S.F. to take pics of the truck. Am shocked again, do not see how the cameraman survived. Truck moved to the junkyard so I don’t see the commandant. Just as well. I did make an adversary. Mexicans hate to lose face. One gringo is a gourmet cook, fixes excellent goose: fried medallions of breast in clarified butter, light dust of flour on the meat, sauce is heavy cream and brandy.

Dec 6

PM Arrive with the cameraman, the same one who survived the wreck. We arrive too late to make a hunt. 4 men in camp, out on a quail hunt with the Olvera brothers. Find the hot water boiler to the room is bust. Move everything to new quarters.

Dec 7

AM Leave 5:30 for Vergeles, on the coast. Will videotape this hunt. Cool and humid. The camera will not function the first hour of the hunt. He blames the weather! I am frustrated by this but do not show it. Camera misses great action, finally starts up the last half of the hunt. 6 L.Cans, 10 specks, 14 snows. Birds came in small groups and stayed high enough to make a dramatic fall when shot. Holes and spread very well done. Our crew put on a big effort but the mechanical failure cut it in half. We resolve to correct this next AM.

PM I make a rare (for me) quail hunt with 2 clients and the camera. We shoot 95. The quail have been truly phenomenal all over N.E. Mexico and S. Texas this year, a true boom cycle. Down here trapping is big business, the ejidos get $1,000 pesos per quail. We have seen traps with 15 to 20 quail in them many times. The impulse is to destroy the trap and free the quail, and many of my clients want to, but our guides are instructed to avoid antagonizing the local people. After all, we are in Rome, etc. Anyway, next time you enjoy a quail dinner in Mexico, know that it is wild quail, not pen-raised. Scouts report geese at Santa Teresa.

Dec 8

AM Intense fog and slight chill, so foggy that visibility is zero. Geese don’t arrive till nearly 8:00 and the fog is still so thick they have a hard time locating the spread. We have wrapped the camera and recorder in a blanket. It works! Camera functions perfectly but visibility is zero. Hunters are confused, geese are confused, the shooting is steady but very many misses. It should have been a 40-bird shoot but was barely 19. 11 snows, 4 cans, 5 specks. The sound of thousands of unseen geese maybe 70 yards above you in a thick fog is remarkable.

PM Hunters leave at noon. I take the cameraman back to the Valley, return Dec 9 at noon with 2 old customers. They hunt quail and I scout the Vergeles area with the Olvera bro. Many geese found. Looks to me like thousands of new snows have just arrived. Saw approximately 10,000 geese in one field.

Dec 10

AM Two men in the Vergeles area and they bring down 27: 15 specks, 6 cans, 6 snows. Absolutely no wind, 90° by 8:30. A huge number of gnats make breathing and seeing difficult, a true plague. The heat was so bad that my two clients had to strip down right after sun-up. It is days like this that remind me how close we are to the tropic line.

PM Great quail hunt, killed 65 between 2 men in 1½ hours. Scouts come back from Vergeles with reports of even more geese than the last 2 days. We will save that spot for the Sunday AM hunt of 7 from Minn.

Dec 11

AM Hunt my 2 men at a spot Raul found. 31 in hand: 20 snows, 9 specks, 2 cans. These two are amazing at killing high birds dead.

PM 7 new clients arrive. Quail hunt and one truck brings in 92, the other brings in 77. Scouts report good hunts in 3 locations.

Dec 12

AM Group of 7 hit the jackpot, kill 62 geese: 31 snows, 20 specks, 11 cans. Group of 7 kill 15: 10 snows, 4 cans, 1 speck. Weather was very foggy and a slight breeze, slowly increasing. Resolve to hunt the 7 again this PM for geese. 2 others leave camp. Those 2 have had the best hunts, in numbers killed, all year, period.

PM Sat back and watched the 7 scare geese away. We put out 800 to 900 decoys in a field freshly scouted and with many geese. They killed about 23 but only dropped 14 of them within ½ mile of the spread. Steel shot! Much improvement needed on steel shot before anyone can use it and call it an ethical hunt. Kill was 7 snows, 3 specks, 3 cans. Much blame this PM on the hunters, but we need more movement in our spread. Helium balloons shaped like geese? Yes.

Dec 13

AM Group of 7 bills 51: 8 cans, 10 snows, 33 specks. This was the Los Pastores hunt. We had been watching the geese pour into it for a week. These guys were bad shots, in spite of the two 10-gauge guns! First of those I’ve seen this year. Really nice guys but really curious, must see what’s coming. Any good 7 goose hunters would have billed 80 geese this morning. But these guys are happy. Close camp this PM.

Jan 6–7

Ice storm hits N. Texas and throws D.F.W. into panic. Affects us. Part of the expected group of 10 make it to Harlingen. 1 gun missing and two sets of clothes, personal equipment, and ammo missing. We hunt quail this PM.

Jan 8

AM First goose hunt of the New Year. Two hunts: 3 geese (snows) plus 1 Mexican mallard intergrade female in Barry’s hunt (they quit at 10:30), while Raul’s hunt took down 16: 8 snows, 5 specks, and 3 lesser Canadas. The geese acted very chiviadas. They would flare hard about 150 yards out. Flight after flight did this. Raul’s hunt shot most of their 16 after 10:30. Barry’s group did shoot 95 quail this PM.

PM Late this PM (3:00) the last three arrive. We are now 10. Tomorrow we hunt 5 and 5. We go south for geese tomorrow, first time this season. That’s unusual.

Jan 9

AM 37° and light rain, steadily increasing wind, finally peaks about 20 mph mid-morning. #1 hunt shot 57: 23 snows, 18 specks, 16 Canadas. #2 hunt only 4 kms away shot 6, all snows. We moved 5 men out of hunt #1 and moved 5 men into their holes about 11:30 AM. They downed 11: 6 snows, 4 specks, 1 Canada, in about one hour. After 1:30 PM birds stopped decoying. They stayed in the holes until 2:30 then gave up. All guns filthy, covered in mud, jammed autos.

Jan 12

AM New group of 14 from N.E. U.S., most very rookie. We try new techniques: kites and flags and holes well in front of the main body of decoys. First bill is not real high but in my hunt and in the others very little chiviada. Total of 3 hunts: 17 mine, 12 Barry’s, 3 Homer’s, equals 20 snows, 11 specks, and 1 L. Canada.

PM Quail hunts continue to hold up well. 3 trucks of 4 per truck averaged 95 quail per truck this PM. Some fancy double guns, Arrietas. Very large company CEO types, all from Conn., all Republican. They think Dole will take Bush and the Demos will run Al Gore or Mario. They don’t think the country is ready for a president with the first name of Mario.

Jan 13

AM Two goose hunts and one long-distance quail. Very strong wind, not too cold. My hunt of three takes 17, should have had 40. Homer takes 9. Total: 21 snows, 5 specks. Quail hunters come back lighter than we thought, report heavy trapping. All out of the ranch by evening. 6 of them rolled into the mourning doves: 179 in 1½ hours.

Jan 15

AM Have begun to experiment with movement in the decoy spread: more kites (painted black) plus wind-socks, decoys, and black flags. This AM hunt was 15: 10 snows and 5 specks.

Jan 16

AM Two hunts, very muddy, but we killed 23 and 30 respectively. Most important: we are not seeing geese flare away as often. By species: 31 snows and 22 specks. No Canadians around.

Jan 17

Again two hunts, very muddy conditions. It was obvious to the veteran geese that a lot of human activity was associated with the decoy spreads, but the increased natural-like movement of kites and flags and wind socks helped lure the less wary. Two-hunt total was 46: 19 at one and 27 at the other. By specie 29 snows and 17 specks. Seeing immature snows more frequently, which leads us to think we have some new geese. Weather very cold midwest of U.S.A.

Hunt 18

One hunt of 6 men, in five inches of water amid mounds of corn. 29 birds down. Better shots would have taken 10 more. By specie 20 snows and 10 specks. Immature of both prevalent.

Hunt 19

Hunting the same group minus one, in good ground cover, no trailers. 29 down, should have been 65 or 70. 26 snows, 13 specks. Finally the raja is convinced the movement of new techniques works. PM Two men shot 17: 10 snows, 7 specks.

Hunt 20

Same group of 5, again in good ground cover, no trailers, strong wind. 41 down. Ran out of shells! Mex Rem. #2s are very bad shells. Better shots with better ammo would have billed 80-plus geese today. By specie 24 snows, 17 specks. Second-best single hunt of the year, best number of geese. Definitely new geese.

Hunt 23

Group of 4, successful hunt. Flew kites, waved flags, overcast sky with a moderate wind that kept my kites aloft the entire morning. Most unusual. In hand 37 geese: 13 specks, 2 Ross, 22 snows. (So far this year we killed 5 Ross geese. Also, since Jan 1, no lesser Canadian.) For the first time this year I saw two 10-gauge shotguns, 3½-inch shell.

One of the group has jumped on my idea of inflatable balloons shaped like geese, filled with helium, in the landing position, dark mono-line holding them. I’m pissed! He’s already got a patent pending. You will remember, dear, that I referred to helium-filled balloons back on Dec 12. It was after that date that he moved. Well, he knew a good idea when he heard one!

Hunt 24

Blue-bird morning, no wind. Group of 4 coaxed 16 close enough to bill: 10 snows, 6 specks. Guides did not bring flags and the wind was too still to fly kites. I did not make the hunt.

Hunt 25

3 hunters (including me), 27 billed: 19 snows and 8 specks. Good winds, flew kites and waved flags. The flags help!

Hunt 29

Afternoon hunt in strong wind! Six hunters bring down 17 specks and 4 snows. One of these had an afternoon where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing! Lots of geese right on the Conchos River. Should have had 50.

Hunt 30

Group of 3 brought down 12: 10 snows and 2 specks. (I am counting blue geese as snows.) Hunt was ½ mile off the river and ended by 9:00. PM 3 men shot 110 quail, this late in the year!

Hunt 31

4 men shoot 43! 40 specks, 3 snows, at Soldadito. I know we have shot these same geese 10 times before. Light wind, food was young shoots of sorgo and young weeds, strictly green feed.

Feb 1

AM Six new men, 4 are Miami Cubans and one is Salvadoran. We spent the day arguing politics. Our bill this AM was 39: 37 specks and 2 snows, in the same field as the last hunt and no wind, blue sky.

Feb 2

23: 19 snows, 4 specks. Wind picked up strong so we hunted PM and got 23 more: 21 snows and 2 specks.

Feb 6

AM Group of 3, last hunt of the year. This AM a very strong wind and cold, 40°, but the bulk of the geese headed in different directions. Shot 13: 10 specks and 3 snows. Most unusual. Pintails worked us great, 4 different flights came right down to us. Shot 11 ducks.

Feb 7

AM Found the field we saw all the geese bypass us for yesterday. Our clients include two French. Very tough conditions, cold, wet, and windy. We bill 68 geese: 52 snows, 16 specks. Last hunt of the year!