MEXICO HUNTING & TRAVEL SERVICE

Do you love to hunt for dove but find your Texas hunts a little light in number? Are you looking for an exciting place to dove hunt, where you can take your wife, son, daughter, or book a trip for your company compadres? If you answer "yes" to any of the above, you should consider a dove hunt across the border!

For over twenty years, my husband, Paul, has been hunting with Mexico Hunting and Travel Service out of Harlingen, Texas. Paul started hunting with his father, Harry, and their company employees when Mexico Hunting was run by LaGrand Dudley. If hunters didn't recognize LeGrand's name, they knew him by his beat-up, stained, and one of a kind cowboy hat. Unfortunately, LeGrand passed on a few years back to hunt in the Great Blue Beyond with the Big Guy. Since then, LeGrand's son, Nick Dudley, has taken over and improved on the operation, making this one of the best places in Old Mexico to hunt. In addition to dove hunts, Nick also offers quail hunting and fishing on nearby Sugar Lake.

Nick is not only an old friend but is now a new member of Dallas Safari Club! (More on this later.)

Paul is confident enough hunting with Nick in Mexico to take me across the border, beginning nine years ago. I've enjoyed it so, I've been going twice a year since! And, like Paul says, once we're on the plane, he doesn't worry about a thing. He can put it on "automatic pilot" because he knows Nick always has everything organized and running smoothly. This past year, while we saw other hunters waiting hours to cross the border with another outfitter, our group sailed right through, as Nick is a stickler for detail.

As a woman who loves to hunt, I'm here to tell you that this is one fabulous place to hunt dove. The accommodations are always clean, with a huge shower (including hot and cold running water) in every room; the staff is friendly and helpful; the food is always yummy- Friday is steak night; Saturday is shrimp cocktail and dove prepared three ways for dinner. It's hard to explain without the actual experience, but this is a spiritual dwelling. Just outside Loma Vista, our weekend residence, you can usually enjoy a beautiful moon over Sugar Lake. And don't worry if you don't speak the lingua; all you really need to know is: "mas cartuchos" (more shells)!

Getting there is easy. We catch the 7:40 a.m. Southwest flight from Love Field in Dallas and arrive in Harlingen at 9:40. Nick and his crew pick us up in Suburban's and vans at the airport. Then we drive, either through Rio Grande City and eating at Caro's, crossing the border into Camargo, or through McAllen into Reynosa and on to Comargo to Camp for fried fish - about an hour's drive either way.

Once in Camp, we get ready for an afternoon hunt on Friday, usually getting into the field around 3:30 and hunting until 7:00. Saturday, we hunt for approximately four hours in the morning, coming back to camp for lunch and a siesta, before getting another four hour hunt in that afternoon. On Sunday, we hunt three to four hours, come in for lunch, clean up, and head back to the States for out flight home. And, although we fly into Harlingen, those hunting with us from other locations can fly into McAllen, where they are picked up by Nick's staff.

This year, Paul and I took our first hunt with Nick the second weekend in September (our "usual" first hunt), along with Elmer Wagner and Bill Bonner, two of Paul's employees. And as often happens, I was the only woman in camp. However, we often hunt year after year with many of the same guys. So, this is a reunion of sorts, and I always feel right at home. Paul jokingly retells our adventures by saying, "No one asks, 'Paul, how was your hunt?' Everyone is walking past me to Katie to find out about HER hunt! This camp always includes a great group of hunters. And everyone is always interested in the next guys hunt.

To give you an idea of the bird population south of the border, it took Paul and me three days to fill out a Texas limit this year hunting in West Texas. However, once in Mexico, Paul harvested 99 birds on a afternoon hunt; I had 70. This is a good representation of the "average" hunt for an experienced shooter. Our group wound up taking home nothing but white wings - 120 birds per person. On our second hunt, two weekends later, Paul and I were joined by good friends, Dixie Yeatts, and Leo Morgan. (Dixie and Paul are working on Leo to be a new DSC member, as well!) As was the hunt two weekends ago, the birds were still there, despite the hurricanes and strange late summer weather. And the four of us had another spectacular hunt. Leo, who hadn't dove hunted in awhile; harvested 60 birds in one afternoon! At times, the sky is gray with 'palomas' (dove), and you have to pick your target. Otherwise, you look like a bandleader waving your baton! But at the end of the hunt, our group took 65 white wing and 45 mourning dove per person. Dixie can attest to the fact no one was bored!

I've been most fortunate to have had the experience of hunting in Mexico for several years, as this has really helped me improve my shooting skills. And Mexico is the place to do so. One afternoon, I found myself in the catbird seat, I had so many dove flying over me; I was having trouble reloading fast enough! It's an experience every hunter dreams about! That afternoon, I almost outshot my husband, which is very difficult to do, as Paul has been hunting since he was 10. I've enjoyed watching him shoot doubles and triples and placing dove in the Bird Boy's lap(!) just to prove to Nick or his brother, Steve, that he could do it. But that particular afternoon, I harvested 68 dove to Paul's 73. (Almost caught him!) What I'm trying to tell you is: the birds are there!

Also there that weekend were our Cajun buddies and their "Cajun Microwave." Every year at the end of September, several attorneys from N'Orlns (New Orleans) come down with a hog. (No, they don't buy it a seat - it's already seasoned and iced down.) Their "microwave" is a wood box lined with metal. They place this spicy pork specimen in the box on a grate. The lid is filled with charcoal and lighted. The pork guy cooks from the inside out. He roasts for four hours while we are out hunting, then flipped by the cooking staff and roasted another three hours. Once we come in from our Saturday afternoon hunt, clean up and head for Cantina, the pork guy is falling off the bone.

Being a vegetarian, let me tell you: I now eat pork once a year - the last weekend of September in a spiritual dove camp in Mexico! (Who would have thought?) This year, my Louisiana buddy yelled out, "Where's my vegetarian??" Then, they proceeded to fill me and my amigos up with the best pork in the known universe. What an ultimate experience.

As Paul Harvey likes to say, "Here's the rest of the story." I'm not saying I'm always the only gal in camp, although nine times out of ten, this is the extent of it. Occasionally, we have a guy from the Metroplex who brings his teenage daughter. And there have been a few years that one friend from Houston brings his wife and young son. A couple of years, we've taken my sister, Terry Stolte, with us. And of course, this year our dear friend, Dixie Yeatts, joined us. After being the odd "man" out for so many hunts, this year Dixie and I cornered Nick about promoting women hunters, and Nick was all for it.

Dixie and I are not only members of the Dallas Safari Club, but we are also charter members of the WSSF (Women's Sports Shooting Foundation.) Dixie, Nick and I envision an all girl dove hunt through Mexico Hunting and Travel Service, which Dixie and I are currently putting together for October, 2000, when the weather should be a litter cooler. And Nick Dudley is the promoter of our dream. He is donating a hunt for our 2000 DSC Convention. From this, Dixie and I see great things happening for women shooters. As members of the DSC and WSSF, close your eyes and envision yourself dove hunting in Mexico with your girlfriends, and bringing home a limit (usually 120) of birds! This could become an annual tradition, as it should!

If you would like to book a trip with Nick Dudley (weekends and week day hunts available) through Mexico hunting and Travel Services, contact him at (956) 421-3405, 3902 Arroyo Vista Ct, Harlingen, TX 78550; e-mail ngd@mexicohunting-travel.com. Hope to see you there!

If you are a women interested in our All Girl Hunt in Mexico, please contact me at: (214) 363-2137 or e-mail me at: striefenergy@wildblue.net - Let's go get 'em, girls!