The "Other" Jefe! (The Smart One!)

Dick Nelson, and wife Phyllis, spent this past weekend at Dos Jefes Ranch and filed this 'report' last night. What a neat partner the Nelsons have been! They are so much fun to be with and the two of them can keep a roomful of guests mesmarized with the many stories of their worldwide travels and from years in the top echilons of some of the world's most important corporations!

"We just spent a wonderful weekend at DJ. Perfect weather, ice on the dog's water buckets Sunday (at Falfurrias, TX!). Richard Solomon, our new foreman, has our camp in tip-top shape . Grandaughter Caroline and pal Chris joined us. He wanted a deer, his first. We put them in Guajalote Blind about 10 AM and Phyllis and I had no sooner gotten back to camp when the walkie-talkie announced- "8 point buck DOWN." He had made a perfect shot and got a huge bodied buck. An old battler, mossy horns and a broken brow tine, would guess about 125 B&C. Much too easy. But my pursuit, even at 81 in Jan. remains quail. And God has blessed us with a HUGE crop this year. The problem is Mother Nature also blessed us with a ranch full of thick 3 foot weeds and an unbelievable crop of 16 foot tall sunflowers. Earl Campbell in his prime would have a tough time busting into position for a covey rise. You have to see the weed growth to believe it! We are praying for a 2 inch rain followed by 30 mph winds to lay the weeds and sunflowers down. Maybe by the end of January. You cannot get to the birds and can lose your dogs in the cover in the twinkling of an eye. When we bought the ranch in 1989, there was very little cover. I have hunted So. Texas since 1966 and have never seen cover even remotely approaching what we have this year. Think Congo! The magnificent thing is that the bird numbers are astronomical. So when Caroline left on Sunday, Phyllis consented to hunt me an hour or so. It was a very strange hunt. Bill Young (the other Jefe) had reported many unexplained wild flushes, and that happened. Huge coveys, short flights but into impenetrable sunflowers. The birds then held, sort of, but you just try a smooth swing in a sunflower jungle. Miss and another miss! But just before I wore out (which was quickly) I made a beautiful shot on a high left quartering cock and went back to camp with my bird as proud as Punch. Believe it, for me it was as pleasurable as one of those bygone days limit hunts. Maybe next time?"

Thanks Partner....great report and would love to include more stories of your most memorable hunts here on the 'blog'!