When I head down south to Deep brush country, my blodd begins to pump harder thru my body in arrival of the best time of year for me, HOLIDAYS!! To me that equals vacation time away from work, school, and baseball.  We make that exciting trip down from our home in San Antonio, an absolute paradise for sporting enthusists in search of a large amount of sporting opportunity.  I have talked to buddies that do alot of hunting and fishing in Central TX and do extremly well.  Why then do I labor so much, drive so far to visit Benavides TX where my dad sets up point at a hunting camp called "La Mota" ranch, a mear tear drop in size what it once was in all it's glory (105,000 acres) of pure "South Texas" heaven.  Lots of chapparal, Mesquite, Oak, good water in the form of creeks that feed into the "Wild Horse Desert, then into the Laguna Madre. 

     This year's trip down south was all smiles because my 10 year old son just killed his 1st deer ever on Sunday and then by Monday early we are headed down south for a two day Wild Boar hunt.  You know the trip aint getting started right unless you stop on the way from some "excellent" traditional mexican food.  We stoped by a local "taco shop" in Mathis TX off hwy # 359 for some good breakfast tacos and drinks.  Then reload with camp supplies at the Wal-Mart in Alice TX.  As we drove thru downtown Alice on the way to intersecting Hwy 281 south to Palito Blanco, we jammed the steroe system to the family GMC yukon full blast to a song on the raido by a local "Tejano" musician with deep roots. 

     The trip was awesome, just driving and passing all these nice ranches with worth the drive down south.  We pulled up to the gates of "La Mota" ranch as some other hunt club memebers were cleaning a small buck taken on Monday Morning.  But we weren't there for the deer hunting, we actually had the green light to shoot "El Muy Grande" venado if he made his apperance, but that never happened.  Our mission was to seek and destroy a nice sow hog for meat or a nice trophy "Wild Boar" that would be my and son's first pig kill.  The ocassion was special, my son's first hog hunt, there at the camp, my dad and close family friend of my Grand Paw, Edward Ortiz, my mom's, dad's brother in law. 

     The plan was to have a great South Texas lunch cooked over mesquite coals out int he pit, hit the blinds around 4pm and hunt until total darkness.  Then head back to camp for a nice "wild game" dinner and cold beverages to end the night.  My son absolutely loved the pool table, dart bard, dominoes, poker table, dice games, you name he did at the Ranch, not to even mention the musical equipment scattered all over the "South Texas" hunting camp.  Guitars, drums, accordians, amplifiers, microphones.  This is such a popular musical site, that they recently added an addition to the exicsting hunting site and upgraded to have an encolsed bar, kichen area, plenty of small bar areas / eating tables like a resturant and huge dance floor that leads up a few stairs to the main music stage flanked by two small rooms full with bink beds.

     Enough about the beautiful upgrades and recent additions to rancho "La Mota" let's talk about the hunting.  The ranches (we hunt two seperate locations) the La Mota and De La Garza divisions of the larger part of the main ranch divide among different family members.  90% of the ranches surronding the area are owned by hispanics.  The afternoon hunt started off extremly warm and not ideal for pig hunting.  I heard pigs in the brush and even spooked a large deer, but only caught a glimpse of what it's potential was due to the thick brush.  The hunt the next Am looked more promising.  I would be hunting the other ranch about 8 miles west of our hunting camp deep in some great "wildllife habitat".  I just knew things would get intresting.  The blind I hunted was in great shape with two good feeders sitting north and south of the blind, there was a half / football field size clearing cleared with mowed strips to attract the animals out from the thick brush.

     We left camp that afternoon headed back to San Antonio to attend the Rampage hockey game.  The time spent out ont he ranch was short lived, but knowing we would return soon in December after the weather gets colder with the green light to take a monster buck or all the hogs we could load in the truck!!! We left Benavides TX not dissapointed with an empty ice chest, but thankful of the opportunity we have in life to participate with such activities.  Next on Thanks giving am is another "buck" hunt at "rancho Sueno Mio" in Mathis TX.  We saw good deer movement last weekend for my son's doe hunt there and with the return of "cold" weather for the holiday weekend, we are excitied about our chances to bag some game or catch some fish.  Oh Yeah if we get a chance in our busy holiday "partying schedule" we might just wet a line for some fall redfishing or hit a school of "black drum" for a tasty fish fry!!!

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