Hunting season seems to start in the Rio Grande Valley when brothers Justin and Chris Curl put on their annual Texas Hunters and Sportsman Expo.  While whitewing dove season officially opens in September, the three-day, mid-July expo ramps up the anticipation for hunters the way that Christmas decorations get kids excited for Santa Claus’ arrival. Hunters begin to prep their gear and consider upgrading to the newest products on the market.  Having the right guns and ammunition is only the first step of going hunting.

The expo, started in 1990 by the late Jerry Curl, Justin’s and Chris’ father, occupies the entire McAllen Convention Center for three days.  It has drawn as many as 30,000, with children admitted free.   Attracting hunters with the convenience of one-stop shopping, the expo displays the dozens of necessities and accessories that surround a south Texas hunting trip.  Among the  products to consider are  deer blinds, feeders and solar chargers for the feeders;  clothing, snake chaps, and  a red-light flashlight from the Tactical Light Brothers; compound bows and archery supplies; winches, meat cleavers and knives with staghorn handles;  gun safes, gun case, binoculars and trail cameras.

Hunting dogs and gear

Chris LaCrosse said it takes a solid three months to train a hunting dog.  At Line Drive Retrievers in Los Fresnos, he has 20 large screened kennels where he boards labs, pointers and retrievers   so he can work with them every day. The first month concentrates on obedience, the second on mouth habits (holding the animal), and the third on field proofing, which is learning how to handle different scenarios.

“The key to training a hunting dog is repetition,” LaCrosse said. “The dogs learn from us. Then the owner comes in and learns how to work with the dog in a weekend. Most owners, at least.” About 25% of the gun dog academy’s clients bring their dogs back to LaCrosse each year for a month-long refresher course.

Line Drive trainer Trent Townsend demonstrated the tiny steps involved in educating a hunting dog as he worked with several labs. Townsend had Newt sit until released by the sound of his name. The dog raced in the direction Townsend was pointing.  Coursing the tall grass, Newt found the dummy placed there, and upon hearing Townsend’s whistle, returned to him.  Other dogs were equally eager to hunt, sometimes jumping the gun, even in the mid-summer heat.

Out in the field, hunters need protection from nature and for their gear. Hilsport’s signature products are the gun mattress and snake-resistant chap.  The heavy-duty gun mattresses, which are available to hold four to eight guns, provide quick and safe access to the guns while hunters drive around a hunting lease or ranch.  “They are particularly popular here in south Texas because so many hunters drive on large ranches.  It protects the gun while on the hunt, but has an easy access flap so hunters can pull out their guns,” said Terrie Crocket.  She noted that one Harlingen attorney had the good luck and foresight to be wearing Hilsport snake chaps when a rattlesnake struck his leg.

The Harlingen company makes custom gun cases of durable Cordura fabric for all types of guns, as well as gun rests, seatback gun racks, bird and shot bags, and bow cases.

Point Blank Sporting Goods in Pharr has a seven- lane archery range and a 14-lane shooting range.   About two months before the archery deer and crossbow deer seasons begin, bow hunters start practicing on the range, the only indoor archery facility within 150 miles, said co-owner Felipe Cavazos. Two weeks before regular hunting season starts, Point Blank is flooded with hunters.  “All they have to do is sight in their rifles. They shoot a little bit but not with the same amount of preparation of the bow hunters.”   The family friendly entertainment center offers gun safety classes for hunters and others.

Much of Texas’ hunting land is privately owned, accessible only to friends, families or hunting rights lessors.   With supplemental income as an enticement, Texas Parks & Wildlife actively recruits land owners to sign short-term hunting leases, to make more hunting ground available.  TPWD seeks dove quail, hog, and rabbit habitats, preferably on tracts bigger than 100 acres that have foods such as sunflower or grain fields along with rangeland. It pays rent of $2-$10 acre.  Only hunters with public hunting permits are allowed to access the various APH tracts.

Guides

Charlie Buchen of Tailchasers guides duck hunts out of Port Mansfield, using his air boat to reach blinds in shallow water. His clients, primarily out-of-the-Valley hunters, come for the pintail, redhead, teal, widgeon gadwall, and shovelers that congregate on the Lower Laguna Madre in the winter.  “Most of them are pretty experienced. They have done it before and want to see something different.  One thing they won’t find here,” he said, “are the big crowds of hunters seen farther north.”

Buchen supplies decoys and sometimes hunting dogs for his clients, who can expect a satisfying season.   “What will make hunting good this year is that it has been dry all over the state.  Dry ponds force the ducks south to us,” Buchen said. And that’s not the only bright spot for hunters.

“It seems like there are more whitewing flying this year than last year.” He predicted that whitewings will be plentiful all over the Valley, helped by summer rains.

Abundant sunflowers indicate that south Texas whitewing hunting should be very good this year, according to guide Doug Dunkin.  “I have a group of 50 coming in to go whitewing hunting in Cameron County. Everybody wants to shoot on the opener,” the first chance to legally hunt the projected vast bird population. Those hunters will stay in Harlingen lodging, but other hunters he guides prefer on-ranch accommodations.

“We do a lot of trophy whitetail hunting along with turkeys and javelina.  Exotic hunting has gotten really big,” said Dunkin, who in the past has had 85% of his clients from Texas. “Trophy hunters outside of Texas are starting to discover nilgai and want them for their trophy rooms.  Some ranches are now managing nilgai like their trophy deer.”   Like other exotic species, nilgai, an animal from India, can be hunted year-round, although Dunkin Guide Systems does not offer hunts in the summer.

After a day of hunting, Aguilar Meat Market is the next stop for some hunters.  Green-brown camouflage butcher paper is one indication that the Edinburgh market takes its custom deer and wild hog processing business seriously.  In fact, game processing accounts for about 25% of their revenue.  Aguilar has a full menu of services that begins with basic processing fees for bucks, does, hogs, nilgai and exotics.  Carcass size in some cases determines the fees.   Dry sausage and jerky, fresh sausage, smoked sausage and breakfast sausage provide hunters with memories of their day in the brush.

A highly successful hunt often leads hunters to seek a taxidermist who can immortalize their trophy. Experienced taxidermists Javier Jerez and Eddie Ruiz have started one of the region’s newest hunting-related businesses, the South Texas School of Taxidermy.  Ruiz, who also runs Texas Whitetail Taxidermy, explained the numerous steps in the taxidermy process:  fleshing, salting, tanning, and mounting.  “Tanning makes the skin last much longer,” Ruiz said, although some taxidermists use a dry preservation method.

So many people had asked about learning taxidermy that Ruiz and Jerez decided the Valley could support a school.  They are forming classes that will include game warden instruction, animal anatomy and hands-on preparation of fish, deer, exotics, bird, and bobcat mounts.  The two-week course runs 80 hours; the three-week night class is 60 hours; and the six-week course is 240 hours.

“Taxidermy keeps you keep busy all year long,” Ruiz said.  Deer and exotics, primarily as shoulder mounts, make up 65% of his business.

From before hunting season starts until long after it ends, numerous Rio Grande Valley hunting-related businesses cater to a large market of enthusiastic outdoorsmen and women.

For more information, contact:  Line Drive Retrievers,  739-2142  or rgvhuntingdogs.com; Hilsport, 412-1747 or hilsport.com; Tailchasers, Charlie Buchen 605-6409; Dunkin Guide Systems, 873-3850; Point Blank,  992-8799 or pointblanksg.com; Aguilar Meat Market,  383-2231; South Texas School of Taxidermy, 648-8467.

September cover story by Eileen Mattei