Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
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- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
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- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
I left that morning with a rifle my lunch and some water. Walking along, I saw blue quail running from bush to bush as I approached. This land looks like it cannot support life, but appearances can be decieving. Whitetails, mule deer, javalina and all manner of wildlife lives here. Water is scarce, but it can be found.
My plan was to hunt the canyons and see what I could find. Rough country to be sure, but there are signs of people who lived here long ago, lots of people. They apparently lived part of the year in the caves at the head of the canyons. We found a Spanish breastplate (looks like it was made for a child compared to how big humans are today) in one of those caves, it is in the museum in Fort Stockton. There are remnants of bedding woven from local plants there too. Some of the caves have drawings on the walls.
In one particular cave, there is a large rock that is worn glass smooth. If you sit on it, you can see the whole canyon and I imagine that this rock was worn smooth by people doing just that. I'm told that these people were killed off by disease brought to the new world by the Spanish explorers. Who knows? But there seems to have been a lot of them living here.
I shot a couple of wild sheep that morning and spent quite a bit of time cutting them up and carrying the pieces up out of the canyon. I mounted one of the heads and that mount decorates my Austin office....and gives the Prius people fits.
It was getting late, and I started back because I knew my companion (and fellow Deputy) Pat Reyna would have beans and tortillas by the fire. Down in one of the canyons I heard some stones clatter. I eased up to the edge and there was a big group of Javelina down there. I picked out the biggest boar and plugged him from about 150 yards. I shot him again because I thought he needed it and he lay still while the rest scattered. It was getting dark as I made my way down the steep side of the canyon and I gutted him, and began to take him out. He was a grizzed old fellow, with scars to show for his years.
However, I did not make it out of the canyon as I heard teeth popping and the strange noises made by angry javelina as they approached from seemingly all sides. I climbed up on a rock as these angry beasts circles around and popped their teeth at me. I didn't want to shoot another one, and I couldn't if I wanted to.... my rifle was empty and I didn't carry a pistol while hunting in those days. I sat up on that rock as the sun went down and I waited until I was sure I was alone. The moon came up full and the tarrantulas covered the desert floor making their annual pilgrimage south. I slung the pig and my empty rifle over my shoulders and crawled up the canyon wall. Fortunately it was too cold for rattlesnakes.
Pat was happy to see me, but not worried one bit. He figured I would be along sooner or later (at times I wasn't so sure). The beans and the coffee were hot and waiting. I miss those days.
My plan was to hunt the canyons and see what I could find. Rough country to be sure, but there are signs of people who lived here long ago, lots of people. They apparently lived part of the year in the caves at the head of the canyons. We found a Spanish breastplate (looks like it was made for a child compared to how big humans are today) in one of those caves, it is in the museum in Fort Stockton. There are remnants of bedding woven from local plants there too. Some of the caves have drawings on the walls.
In one particular cave, there is a large rock that is worn glass smooth. If you sit on it, you can see the whole canyon and I imagine that this rock was worn smooth by people doing just that. I'm told that these people were killed off by disease brought to the new world by the Spanish explorers. Who knows? But there seems to have been a lot of them living here.
I shot a couple of wild sheep that morning and spent quite a bit of time cutting them up and carrying the pieces up out of the canyon. I mounted one of the heads and that mount decorates my Austin office....and gives the Prius people fits.
It was getting late, and I started back because I knew my companion (and fellow Deputy) Pat Reyna would have beans and tortillas by the fire. Down in one of the canyons I heard some stones clatter. I eased up to the edge and there was a big group of Javelina down there. I picked out the biggest boar and plugged him from about 150 yards. I shot him again because I thought he needed it and he lay still while the rest scattered. It was getting dark as I made my way down the steep side of the canyon and I gutted him, and began to take him out. He was a grizzed old fellow, with scars to show for his years.
However, I did not make it out of the canyon as I heard teeth popping and the strange noises made by angry javelina as they approached from seemingly all sides. I climbed up on a rock as these angry beasts circles around and popped their teeth at me. I didn't want to shoot another one, and I couldn't if I wanted to.... my rifle was empty and I didn't carry a pistol while hunting in those days. I sat up on that rock as the sun went down and I waited until I was sure I was alone. The moon came up full and the tarrantulas covered the desert floor making their annual pilgrimage south. I slung the pig and my empty rifle over my shoulders and crawled up the canyon wall. Fortunately it was too cold for rattlesnakes.
Pat was happy to see me, but not worried one bit. He figured I would be along sooner or later (at times I wasn't so sure). The beans and the coffee were hot and waiting. I miss those days.
- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
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- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Pat’s grave outside of D’Hanis Texas. I couldn’t fault him as a partner. He was tough as boot leather and as loyal as an old dog. I miss his company by the fire.
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Javalina have a reputation for being dangerous. I don't want to be on the ground with them if I don't have a gun and ammo.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
.
Thanks for sharing that experience.
I love hunting in south Texas and Big Bend area. Most of my experiences were a couple miles farther west between Fort Stockton and north of Terlingua.
Haven't been down that way in a few years now.
But I do remember the place fondly.
Thanks for sharing that experience.
I love hunting in south Texas and Big Bend area. Most of my experiences were a couple miles farther west between Fort Stockton and north of Terlingua.
Haven't been down that way in a few years now.
But I do remember the place fondly.
Government office attracts the power-mad, yet it's people who just want to be left alone to live life on their own terms who are considered dangerous.
History teaches that it's a small window in which people can fight back before it is too dangerous to fight back.
History teaches that it's a small window in which people can fight back before it is too dangerous to fight back.
- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
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- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
I didn’t own a phone or camera in those days. But here’s a photo of another javelina I killed years later in Sanderson Canyon while hunting with Bill Bagwell.
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- crs
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Scott,
Your Javelina story reminds me of an experience I had down near the Pecos River.
I drove from camp to the canyon that the hunt manager had recommended for sitting to watch for deer and Javelina and parked at the rim. It seems the tires on my old Scout II were OK in town and on a good highway but not on the sharp rock roadbed of the ranch or the steep decline into the canyon. After hunting my way down to the canyon bottom, I turned down slope and hunted slowly along for a half mile before I saw game. I was about 20-30 yards uphill from the very bottom of the wash at the canyon bottom where three Javelina were feeding near some thorny brush. Two seemed healthy and the third looked sick or injured, so I shot one healthy one and the sick one. At the scene where they fell, their odor nearly knocked my over. One looked to have been shot up and left to die, so I finished it off. The healthy one I decided to take back to camp, clean, and put on ice.
For those who have not carried a dead Javelina over one shoulder nearly a mile in the heat where the last half mile is up a rocky hill, do not do it! Either have motorized transport or leave it! By the time the hunt was over and I began the drive back to the Dallas area, most of the ice had melted and and my piggy was not aging well. Many hours later when I drove down my driveway, the strange car in the driveway reminded me that my wife's parents from Mississippi were coming for their first visit at our home. Not one of my better moments. Wife said you are late and volunteered to look after my clothes and the Javelina while I cleaned up and got ready for supper. It seems that she bagged my clothes and pig and tossed both into the garbage bin. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I smelled like a dead Javelina for a week!
Your Javelina story reminds me of an experience I had down near the Pecos River.
I drove from camp to the canyon that the hunt manager had recommended for sitting to watch for deer and Javelina and parked at the rim. It seems the tires on my old Scout II were OK in town and on a good highway but not on the sharp rock roadbed of the ranch or the steep decline into the canyon. After hunting my way down to the canyon bottom, I turned down slope and hunted slowly along for a half mile before I saw game. I was about 20-30 yards uphill from the very bottom of the wash at the canyon bottom where three Javelina were feeding near some thorny brush. Two seemed healthy and the third looked sick or injured, so I shot one healthy one and the sick one. At the scene where they fell, their odor nearly knocked my over. One looked to have been shot up and left to die, so I finished it off. The healthy one I decided to take back to camp, clean, and put on ice.
For those who have not carried a dead Javelina over one shoulder nearly a mile in the heat where the last half mile is up a rocky hill, do not do it! Either have motorized transport or leave it! By the time the hunt was over and I began the drive back to the Dallas area, most of the ice had melted and and my piggy was not aging well. Many hours later when I drove down my driveway, the strange car in the driveway reminded me that my wife's parents from Mississippi were coming for their first visit at our home. Not one of my better moments. Wife said you are late and volunteered to look after my clothes and the Javelina while I cleaned up and got ready for supper. It seems that she bagged my clothes and pig and tossed both into the garbage bin. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I smelled like a dead Javelina for a week!
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
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- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
- Posts: 4080
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
I generally cut the gland out of their back as soon as I got to them, and the smell did not bother me. People who don't do that often have a similar experience to tht which you describe. You don't want to get that stuff on your hands or you will smell it for a week!
- Griff
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
For a couple of years I was on a lease just north of Sanderson... that is some rugged country. And GOOD hunting if you're willing!
Griff,
SASS/CMSA #93
NRA Patron
GUSA #93
There is a fine line between hobby & obsession!
AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
SASS/CMSA #93
NRA Patron
GUSA #93
There is a fine line between hobby & obsession!
AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
- crs
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Scott - you tripped another memory switch with D'Hanis, TX.
I often hunted an exotic ranch at Hondo and one Saturday night we drove down to the Steakhouse and Honky Tonk at D"hanis. Good food and music and good times!
I often hunted an exotic ranch at Hondo and one Saturday night we drove down to the Steakhouse and Honky Tonk at D"hanis. Good food and music and good times!
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
Android Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Many years ago I stepped out the front door of my friend's house in Cottonwood, and a Javelina helped me get in the rest of my daily exercise. My buddy let his standard poodle out, and it lit into the bugger and got it off me.
The Rotten Fruit Always Hits The Ground First
Proud Life Member Of:
NRA
Second Amendment Foundation
Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms
DAV
Proud Life Member Of:
NRA
Second Amendment Foundation
Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms
DAV
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
THANK YOU SCOTT!
I appreciated the story.
As to the Javelina scent gland, I killed truckloads of the little critters the years we lived in Arizona. If you just pull the hide off the gland comes with it and you have no issues. They would come in our yard at night and eat the dog food, dig up the flower beds, fight over the fallen peaches from the peach trees. I would go out and shoot among them just to run them off so we could sleep. We ate them all the time. My wife made a lot of meat with them. This is one of her recipes:
Recipe For Barbequed Javelina
4 to 6 pounds Javelina, pre-cooked and shredded (my wife cooks them in a pressure cooker)
½ cup oil
16 oz. Ketchup
½ cup molasses
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup honey
¼ cup prepared mustard
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 medium onion, minced very fine
1 jar orange marmalade (4 to 6 oz.)
2 teaspoons liquid smoke flavor
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon barbeque spice
1 to 2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
Mix all ingredients except the meat and set aside one hour. Place meat in a crock pot, pour 2 to 3 coups of barbeque sauce over the meat. Set crock pot on low and cook over night. Then ENJOY!
I appreciated the story.
As to the Javelina scent gland, I killed truckloads of the little critters the years we lived in Arizona. If you just pull the hide off the gland comes with it and you have no issues. They would come in our yard at night and eat the dog food, dig up the flower beds, fight over the fallen peaches from the peach trees. I would go out and shoot among them just to run them off so we could sleep. We ate them all the time. My wife made a lot of meat with them. This is one of her recipes:
Recipe For Barbequed Javelina
4 to 6 pounds Javelina, pre-cooked and shredded (my wife cooks them in a pressure cooker)
½ cup oil
16 oz. Ketchup
½ cup molasses
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup honey
¼ cup prepared mustard
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 medium onion, minced very fine
1 jar orange marmalade (4 to 6 oz.)
2 teaspoons liquid smoke flavor
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon barbeque spice
1 to 2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
Mix all ingredients except the meat and set aside one hour. Place meat in a crock pot, pour 2 to 3 coups of barbeque sauce over the meat. Set crock pot on low and cook over night. Then ENJOY!
- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
- Posts: 4080
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
That sounds really good.
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Being mildly allergic to mustard, I would have to cut the mustard by 90%, but it sounds good. I can have a little, but tongue swelling while eating gets to be irritating.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
-
- Advanced Levergunner
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- Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:05 am
- Location: Sweetwater, TX
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Had to look up Sanderson. Mercy sakes, six churches for a population of 837. Hope those pastors have some side work!
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
If you just pull the hide off the gland comes with it and you have no issues.
which way? with deer we hang them by head or antlers and hide peels right off. hung by back feet the hide fights all the way... never skinned javalina or swine... gaps in my education, I know . . .
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
I skinned them from the head down.Grizz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:39 pmIf you just pull the hide off the gland comes with it and you have no issues.
which way? with deer we hang them by head or antlers and hide peels right off. hung by back feet the hide fights all the way... never skinned javalina or swine... gaps in my education, I know . . .
- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
- Posts: 4080
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Nice story, but some of us who drive 60 mpg cars enjoy shooting and take their kids to the plumbing supply shop in town that has the heads of African game on the walls--just to see the heads.I mounted one of the heads and that mount decorates my Austin office....and gives the Prius people fits.
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Really enjoyed the story.
my adopted daughter lives in San Antoino,a well known female professional jockey.
and me,stuck up here in the monsoons ,hard against the WASHINGTON state,canadian border....
enjoy the heat.
my adopted daughter lives in San Antoino,a well known female professional jockey.
and me,stuck up here in the monsoons ,hard against the WASHINGTON state,canadian border....
enjoy the heat.
Was I really going that fast????? Geez, officer,did not think this old Ford would even do 90 !!!!!!
I'm canadian Eh !!!
I'm canadian Eh !!!
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
When you visit San Antonio, you need to go to the riverwalk. That river running through it is cold. The temperature drops noticeably as you walk down the stairs to the main area.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
- Scott Tschirhart
- Advanced Levergunner
- Posts: 4080
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:56 pm
- Location: San Antonio, Texas
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Austin has become a very queer place. I don't judge a man by the car he drives. Its more about how liberal my birthplace has become.KWK wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:33 pmNice story, but some of us who drive 60 mpg cars enjoy shooting and take their kids to the plumbing supply shop in town that has the heads of African game on the walls--just to see the heads.I mounted one of the heads and that mount decorates my Austin office....and gives the Prius people fits.
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Austin is in the process of deleting their Police Force. I think that sounds about as stupid as anything I have ever heard.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Here is a link to a magazine article about Sanderson.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/san ... as-escape/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/san ... as-escape/
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
-
- Advanced Levergunner
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Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Good old Texas Monthly. Thanks for the link Brian!
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Scott, great story. I have nothing to compare but did know of a fella who once got treed by hogs . He left his firearm at the base of the tree and they had a chew on the stock and sling before they wandered off, I assume they could taste the sweat on it.
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Great story Scott. Never have had experience with javelina here.Interesting story. It's a different part of the world here.
If you're gonna be stupid ya gotta be tough-
Isiah 55:8&9
It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
Isiah 55:8&9
It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
Re: Hard against the Border near Sanderson, Texas
Great story. Going to see Sanderson if I live long enough.