Welcome to the Ranch!

One of the rites of passage in a young man’s life in Texas, and other parts of the country, is killing his first deer.  My son, Clayton, began hunting with his PawPaw with binoculars.  He was in kindergarten at the time.  He would dress up in camoflague and get up extremely early in the morning.  Together PawPaw and Clayton would sit as still as possible and wait for the chance to see one of the most beautiful of all forest animals.

After many years of “patience” practice, Clayton proved himself capable of sitting still.  When he was 10-years old, he was allowed to hunt on Cross Creek Cattle Company.  He killed his first buck.  It was a nice-sized spike.

Every hunting season since then, Clayton has proudly supplied venison for his family.  This year on his first day of hunting, Clayton brought home a big deer.  It is a eight-point buck.  It was a good-sized buck.

We do not have the trophy deer that draw hunters to South Texas.  White-tailed deer thrive in our woods.  Their population is continually increasing each year.  I have seen more bucks this year in the pastures, roadsides, and woods than any other time of my life.  It is nice to see them thriving as they are an important part of our eco-system.

Our family enjoys eating venison in a variety of ways.  We smoke the hams.  We make pan and link sausage.  We fry the backstrap and tenders like chicken-fried steak.  We pound out strips of the shoulder and grill with jalapenos, bacon, and cream cheese.  We almost eat venison year round.

Clayton takes great pride, as he should, in providing wild game for his family.  We count on him every year to help feed our big family.  It is one of the ways that enables us to strive for self-sufficiency.  We try to live off the land as much as possible.  As this hunting season is concerned, Clayton brought home the venison.