Solo Dave: Quail Hunting "Mano-a-Mano"

Quail Hunting - Season Wrap-Up

Quail hunting in South Texas this season was outstanding! We had perfect conditions. It all evolved around rain. Rain over the last year and a half provided some nice, dense cover or overgrowth for these small birds that live basically on the ground to find shelter from predators. 


That rain also provided a large population of insects which are predominately what quail eat. Rain triggered it all. South Texas was dry for several years until the last year and a half; we have been blessed with more rain than we've seen in a long time. Everything was green all through the winter last year. It was odd during deer season to sit in a deer blind or stalk through the woods and feel like it was a spring day. Everything was green. The Mesquite leaves were still on the trees even with a temperature of 37° at the end of January. Quail season was on fire in 2016.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

NEW SEASON, NEW ADVENTURES!

We’re excited to announce that our 6th television season of Wide Open Outdoor Adventures will begin airing on March 5, 2016! Mark your calendars and set your DVR because we’re bringing you more action and adventure on not one, but TWO networks this year! 


We’re proud to return to Fox Sports Southwest, which aired our very first season in 2007. With 10 MILLION subscribers, we’ll be able to reach friends in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston and more! 

We’ll also return to The CW 35 San Antonio for all you local fans. We’re excited to revisit our friends at both networks to enable The CW 35 local broadcast viewers and FSSW subscribers to access our many adventures!

Our shows will air for 26 consecutive weeks, bright and early on Weekend Mornings at the following times:

Sundays 5:00am-5:30am CST on Fox Sports Southwest

Saturdays 6:30am-7:00am CST on The CW 35 San Antonio

We’re finalizing our episodes and wrapping up segments to complete the season now. We have quail and duck hunts, fishing in Corpus Christi, javelina and deer hunting, a trip to Orlando for some Florida bass, and much more in store for you this season!

You can find our Early Morning Outdoor Segment on these channels:

Fox Sports Southwest
Dish Network – Channel 416
Direct TV – Channel 676
Time Warner Cable – Channel 318
ATT U-Verse – Channel 753

The CW 35
Dish Network – Channel 035
Direct TV – Channel 035
Time Warner Cable – Channel 007
ATT U-Verse – Channel 035

You can also watch previous Seasons 1-5 of Wide Open Outdoor Adventures online at WideOpenSportsman.com!

Many thanks to our new and returning sponsors this season! 

Eagle Ford Advisors Group, LLC – South Texas Wealth Management Group 

Doc’s Seafood and Steaks – Corpus Christi, TX

Double Nickle Taxidermy – New Braunfels, TX

Diamond J Ranch – Tilden, TX

MassMutual South Texas – Financial Services

Mathews Competition Bows 

Captain Doug Stanford of Pirates of the Bay Fishing Charters

The Teal Ranch – Tilden, TX

Fred at The Bow Shop – San Antonio, TX

Sandy Oaks Ranch – Devine, TX

Elyon Media Group LLC – San Antonio, TX

Live Target Lures

Hook Spit Rods

We’ll see you in the Wide Open Outdoors!

Duck Hunting in Seadrift

Report Date: January 4, 2016

Duck hunting in South Texas is on fire! The Wide Open Outdoor Adventures crew loaded up and headed to Seadrift, the cozy little town near Rockport, Texas. 

We had light drizzle, cold weather – – just what the ducks like. The only challenge is that it's hard to film with high-definition TV video cameras in the rain. My new camera-man Fred Kirby and I know that very well. It seems like in every hunt we've done over the last four months, we've had to deal with "Mother Nature." That's part of the challenge of making outdoor programming -- we have to have high definition electronics in salt water and in freshwater environments. We got it done though! 

The ducks were flying over in big numbers, and almost all were redheads. It was awesome. Shane Horton and his dogs, Bullet and Jack, were on fire. 

The airboats were revved up, and we had a camera airboat provided by Greg Johnston of Tilden to help us fly the drone and get the aerial photographs and video. It doesn't get hotter than the smokin' gun blazing action on this future episode of Wide Open Outdoor Adventures.

If you want some help shooting birds with a shotgun, contact my friend Foard Houston of Sandy Oaks Ranch at 210-394-4857. He can help you with the basics and also move you to the advanced level. Knowledge is power in the Wide Open Outdoors! -- Dave

***Special note***

We're identifying our television networks now for the 2016 season. We're looking hard at Fox Sports Southwest and the CW 35 Networks. This will be one of the best TV seasons ever. We already have 9 shows created, more are being made every week. We got a deer hunt scheduled again for McMullen county with the bow in the next few days. Buckle your seatbelt because the 2016 season will be hot and heavy! I'll see you on TV soon!

Rattling in Whitetail Deer

Hunt Date: December 20, 2015 - Sandy Oaks Ranch (Devine, Texas)

Whitetail hunting in South Texas doesn't get much better than this...

I met up with my good friend Foard Houston at the Sandy Oaks Ranch in Divine, Texas. The plan was to rattle in some big bucks. 

When I got there, the Mercury was 32°, and we started out on our morning hunt. It turned out to be a beautiful crisp morning with blue skies and some scattered clouds. 

The first location didn't disappoint us – three bucks came running in aggressively. We were looking for a good deer to shoot with the Mathews Monster Chill blacked-out compound bow.

I had Fred Kirby, my main camera-man, on deck. We moved from one location to the next riding in a quiet electric four-wheeler. We were selective in what we wanted to shoot; Foard had some really nice deer on the range. We’d drive to an area, tuck the four-wheeler into the brush and get out on foot to move through the ranch and find a place to set up and hunt. We quietly settled in. I set up on a small chair, and Foard would get right behind me with the big rattling horns. Fred would set up somewhere in the vicinity so he could capture on HD-video everything that came out in front of us.

It did come together – – we made an awesome TV show! Foard rattled in an awesome whitetail buck, and the Matthews bow didn't disappoint.

We harvested an awesome white tail on the Sandy Oaks Ranch. Foard doesn't offer Whitetail Hunts on the ranch; he only offers that to friends and family - what he does offer however is totally amazing! He's an expert with a shotgun and earlier in the year we made an awesome quail hunt with Pointer Dogs and a Flushing dog. 

Contact Foard & Debbie Houston at 210-394-4857 if you want to improve your abilities with a shotgun…







And if you haven't been on a quail hunt you got to check it out!

This time of year, whitetail deer are in the rut. They'll come in aggressively to the horns, and they were awesome on this trip – thanks to Foard for an awesome hunt!

I’d like to also put in a special thanks to Fred at The Bow Shop in San Antonio, Texas -- 210-342-4269 -- for helping me “Fine-Tune” this awesome Mathews bow to make this hunt come together. 

Just get out there! -- Dave

Tracking Javelina

Tilden Hunt Date -- December 15, 2015

We hunted the Diamond Jay Ranch in Tilden, Texas for Javelina. My good friend, Greg Johnston, helped us track and pattern these animals. 

We took one with a Mathews Monster Chill Bow. Fred Kirby got it all on HD footage for a TV show to air in 2016. It was awesome!

Hunter’s Notes:

In Texas, javelina are classified as a game animal and may be legally harvested with a hunting license during hunting season, in counties that have a season. Javelinas are herbivores (plant eaters) and frugivores (fruit eaters). They eat a wide variety of fruits, tubers, rhizomes, bulbs, acorns, grass, green shoots of annuals, mesquite beans and stems of prickly pears. Succulent prickly pear pads are an excellent water source for them. 

Javelina have long held a reputation for ferocity. They have poor eyesight and will often remain around humans longer than other wildlife when startled. When cornered, they can defend themselves very effectively with sharp canine teeth or "tusks."

Many dogs have been crippled or killed when trying to attack javelina. Yet, aggressive encounters with humans are very, very rare. As any wild animal, they can be very dangerous when the animals are provoked or hunted. They can defend themselves, so respect them in the wild. Treat them as dangerous as a rattlesnake.

Thanks for your time, and I’ll see you in the Wide Open Outdoors!! -- Dave

Florida Bass Fishing

Fishing Date: August 2015

The weather was hot, and so was the fishing in Central Florida with Captain Steve Boyd of Florida Bass Adventures.

Central Florida, specifically Lake Toho in Kissimmee, Florida, is known for big fish. In fact, it's known across the United States as one of the best areas to catch some serious largemouth bass.

The camera crew set their sights on spending some time on the water with Captain Steve Boyd – turned out to be an amazing fishing trip! We got some really solid bass.

Lake Toho is a fairly shallow lake, with a depth of about fourteen feet – lots of structure and lots of big fish to target. Steve knew the water like the back of his hand. He would work one area and then migrate with the trolling motor.

Central Florida is known for rain showers almost every day in the summertime. The main reason is because weather patterns that form over the Gulf of Mexico heading west over the state of Florida converge with weather patterns that are forming over the Atlantic Ocean, heading east over the state of Florida. We got some dark skies every day we fished, but we were able to navigate Steve's bass boat to basically stay clear of the showers. The fishing was rock solid.

We enjoyed the beautiful countryside of Central Florida, and we were made aware that the band NSYNC and quite a few others had started in Orlando, Florida. Orlando is also known for Disney World, Nickelodeon and quite a few different film studios. Seems like everywhere we go we find out some interesting history and meet some great people. This was no exception; Central Florida was awesome.

We got the opportunity to head to Gatorland and tour the facility. We shot some amazing video of some albino alligators, including a monster 14-footer named Charlie. We ran across some friendly 12 foot snakes as well. I even had a chance to hold a 4-foot alligator, but it's a good thing they taped his mouth shut! These little gators could take a finger or a hand off in just a few seconds. They may be small but you've got to respect them.

It was a great trip to Central Florida, and I had my good friends Tim Teal and Matt Gillett help me document the trip in high-definition video. Tim even flew his new drone and videoed from high in the sky. Too cool. The TV show will air in our 2016 season.

Contact Captain Steve Boyd at (352) 603-5467 and he can put you on some big large-mouth bass, too. Southwest Airlines round-trip flight was $388. Talk about an affordable getaway! Just get out there. 

I'll see you in a Wide Open Outdoor Adventure. -- Dave