I came down to the ranch to receive a feed delivery but got a call that it wouldn't show up until tomorrow. With an afternoon to burn I decided to do a little hunting. Deer movement was kind of slow due to the warm weather and almost full moon.

When I turned the corner there were two people walking down one of the ranch roads. It appeared to be two illegal aliens. Not wanting them to break into the lodge and steal something like they frequently do I decided to see if they could be caught.

I put the pedal to the metal and the chase was on. With the high wind they didn't hear me until I was about 200 yards away. They bolted into the thick brush and disappeared.

They were in a sort of bowl shaped area so I went to a high spot and started glassing. They weren't budging. One was wearing an orange cap so he would have been easy to spot.

I cruised through the area several times and went by the lodge to make sure they didn't get by me. Next I headed to the spot where they had disappeared. It was time to do a little spot and stalk. I slipped my .357 in my belt and headed into the brush.

Within 20 yards I spotted them laying in the grass lower than a snake's belly. My spanish is limited but it was good enough to tell them to get in the vehicle. I took them to the main road and told them to head north.

They thanked me for the ride and headed down the road. Here is where I usually call the Border Patrol and have them picked up when they get near the highway. But it's close to Christmas and they were probably headed to visit their family so I never made the call. Damn I'm getting soft in my old age.

Another example of why it's so much fun to hunt in the brush country of South Texas. You never know what's gonna step out.

Nice gesture! Sad state of affiars down there no doubt!

You just never know...

At least on one ranch, the folks have resorted to leaving their hunting cabin, vehicles, etc. unlocked. Since then, the illegals have been taking whatever food they need, spending the night (or just getting in from the weather) and peacefully moving on. But in the past, when they encountered a locked door, they did whatever damage necessary to get in before taking what they believed they needed.

The first time I ever put a group together to hunt javelina was in 1997.

I got the name and phone number of a guy that had 1320 acres a few miles south of Freer, and he would book folks for short term, 3 or 4 day hunts.

Well, it was me, my wife and my ex hunting partner and his Dad and Step-Mom that went on this hunt.

Ron, his Dad and Step-Mom got down there afew hours before Lora and I did and were already out hunting when we got to the place.

We went to the ranch house and hooked up with the guy that we were dealing with, and he took me and Lora on a tour of the 320 acres, and told us how to get to the 1000 acre tract.

He took us back to the main house and showed us around it and explained that if anyone wanted more privacy, that there was a 16 x 20 bunk house available just a few yards outside the main house.

By this time, Ron has showed up at the main house and we discuss things a little while, and I decide to takwe Lora and put her in a tower stand and then me and Ron would go over and check out the 1000 acre place.

I get Lora loaded up with her gun and stuiff and take her to the stand a little after 3 p.m..

I then go back by the main house and get Ron and we go to the other place.

We stay over there till the sun starts going down, then we head back to the house so I can drop him off and go pick Lora up.

As we are driving up to the compound, I notice lights on in the bunk house and figger that Ron's Dad and Step-Mom have decided that they want a little more privacy.

Now the main house was a 5 bedroom / 2 bath affair, with an extremely large kitchen / pantry area.

I had been somewhat amazed that for such a place to be out in the middle of a 320 acre pasture that you had to go thru 2 locked gates to get to, the lawn seemed to be well taken care of.

Now the bells and whistles were not going off yet, but when we pulled into the parking area behind the main house, and Ron's Dad and Step-Mom came boiling out of the house clearly worried, I knew something was up.

As I opened my door they both started talking about how we had been moved in on. They said that 8 or 10 guys had showed up and were in the bunk house.

Things started clicking in my little pea brain, and I told them to let's go in the house that I needed to check something.

Now the pantry area started just inside the back door of the house, so I started opening cabinet doors.

Gallon cans of refried beans and sliced jalapenos, 1 pound boxes of lard, bags of tortilla flour.

Then I put 1 and 3 together and told them to stay calm and I would be back as I had to go get Lora from her stand.

By this time it is dark, but when I pull up and the head lights hit the stand, the door flies open and the Red Head comes down those steps, gun in one hand and chit in the other, and her first words were, "What In The Hell Have You Gotten Us Into You Son Of A Bitch"!

I get her calmed down and the rifle out of her reach and start trying to find out what happened.

She explains that some time after I dropped her off, the wind got up a little and the door to the stand was rattling and she decided to latch it from the inside to stop the noise.

After she had latched it, she went back to reading her book, and at some point she heard the sound of someoner coming up the ladder to the stand.

Well, there is enough of a crack around the door, so that she can see that the guy coming up the ladder ain't me.

She said that at first she was scared, but then decided that since she had a rifle, she had the upper hand.

Anyway, she sat ther and did not make any noise, until the guy stuck his hand over the top of the half of the door that she had latched and started trying to open the latch.

At this point, she clicks the safety off on her 257 Roberts and runs the muzzle out the door about 4 or 5 inches.

She said that the guy never made a sound, he just throwed his bag of stuff and hisself off the ladder, 15 or 16 feet up in the air, hit the ground, rolled, grabbed his gear and tore thru the brush.

When I got her calmed down and we got back to camp I had taken the time to reason things out and realized that the place we were staying was a way station, because it was centrally located between Mexico, Corpus Christi and a little farther north San Antonio.

The illegals were being brought thru and would lay up a few days and would do yard work and such, never bother anything and when the time was right, they would move on.

Until a person has seen it first hand or dealt with it, they can not really appreciate the magnitude of the situation. JMO.

Your guys storys about these illegals are imformative and ... ...

These guys property your hunting on or leasing. Do the property owners have a arrangement with coyotes and making $$ of houseing these Illegals? And "forgot" to tell you you would have "suprise roommates"

How is your local borderpatrol response? Worthless?

We use to watch the illegals walking with nothing but a 1 gallon milk jug full of water across one of our leases in Ozona.

We locked the camp vehicles, but left the camphouse unlocked so that we didn't have to fix any knocked down doors or anything like that.

My guess would be if you had to live like these people, in a very corrupt governmental state you too would be packing up your shit and hitting the highway for a better place that is even the slightest bit more hospitable. I think our ancestors did the same thing when they left England for America. We should be liberating the people in Mexico from their oppressive government...more so than anywhere else. We would get the better benefit for our efforts thats for sure. I have been to Mexico a few times to witness this shit. Hell, even I felt scared of the military boneheads and I was spending good money there. I can't blame these people for it one bit.

quote:

These guys property your hunting on or leasing. Do the property owners have a arrangement with coyotes and making $$ of houseing these Illegals? And "forgot" to tell you you would have "suprise roommates"

How is your local borderpatrol response? Worthless?

I own the property so there is no arrangement for them to be there. The border patrol will pick them up if they have a unit available. Many times they don't. I am a good 50 miles from the border and am not on the "hot" trails. They normally follow Interstate 35 just far enough in the brush where they can hear the traffic so they don't get lost or they will follow powerlines that run north and south.

We don't lock the doors on the lodge because they will just kick the door in. I hunted a place near Eagle Pass where we stayed in an old adobe house with 18" walls. The doors and windows had bars like a jail. When we showed up one day there was a big hole in the side of the house. A "wet" had taken an axe and chopped his way through the adobe wall to gain entry.

On another ranch we found one dead under a tree. He had been there a while and had probably been snakebit. We called the border patrol and they didn't care or want him since he was dead. So we called the sheriff's office and they didn't want him either. Finally they sent someone out to pick him up.

Only in the good ole USA can people from another country cross our border, steal whatever they want and the worst that will happen is they get a free ride back home. If you shoot one of them the Mexican government and a pack of bloodthirsty lawyers will decend on your ass. Most of them are looking for a better life but it pisses me off when they steal something I have worked for.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
My guess would be if you had to live like these people, in a very corrupt governmental state you too would be packing up your shit and hitting the highway for a better place that is even the slightest bit more hospitable. I think our ancestors did the same thing when they left England for America. We should be liberating the people in Mexico from their oppressive government...more so than anywhere else. We would get the better benefit for our efforts thats for sure. I have been to Mexico a few times to witness this shit. Hell, even I felt scared of the military boneheads and I was spending good money there. I can't blame these people for it one bit.

if every one of them got a free bus trip to pa. from eagle pass and the first place they came to was your house wich they broke into and stole your shit 60 times in one year including you having to hold them at gun point ocasionaly and even shoot a few to save your own ass you might not find them to be hard working noble pesants!

I almost forgot MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Woodrow-

Yes, I feel for them as well. Some endure incredible hardships.

But my great grandparents came to this country -- legally, I might add -- and never broke in to anyone's home or stole/damaged anyone's property. They spoke Czech, learned the English language on their own and never demanded that ballots, announcemnts or general mail be printed in both English and Czech. Their kids didn't tax the school district by demanding bilingual teachers and classes, either.

After all, this is America -- and the official language is English. They knew that, RESPECTED that and honored the US flag and this great country. I can assure you they never demanded the flag of their homeland be flown where they worked or lived.

Please post you address. I will make sure to get word out along the border that you are going to welcome anyone with open arms and will provide for them so that they do not have to steal any longer.

Also, what's the nearest bus stop to your home???

Knock on wood, I have not seen any wets yet this year, but I can usually count of having one or two hunts screwed up by them coming through. A border patrol agent that I know told me that alot of the wets that die in the brush, die from dysentery caused by them filling their water jugs from cattle troughs and stock tanks. They then get a bad case of the screaming shits and dehydrate, with only contaminated water to rehydrate themselves with. It has to be a miserable way to go. We've had a couple walk up to camp and ask us to call the BP because their shoes had come apart and their bare feet were bleeding and full of thorns. It's hard not to feel sorry for some of them, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for those that tear up property and steal stuff. Absolutely no tolerance for that behavior.

You guys have to remember you are dealing with desperate people and desprate people do desperate things. Its great to feel for them but dont think for a minute they wouldn't take advantage of you and your famly/friends if the opportunity arises. Also, the ones smuggling are not on the "hot trails".

Perry