Dudleys Diary

can scratch that off my bucket list!

a big female. Look at those spots! Jeff took it to the taxidermist and is going to get an open mouth rug made. Probably saved the lives of several Whitetail Fawns...

his Bradley Smoker this morning. It has been slow smoking most of the day in Mesquite Smoke. When the internal temperature gets to 152 degrees he will take the sausage out and put it into an Ice Water Bath until the internal temperature gets to 100 degrees. Then he will hang them back up in the cold Smoker for an hour or two. Then he will put them in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning he will cut most of the sausages in half and Vacuum Seal them and put them in the Freezer. Will leave one in the fridge for us to begin eating ASAP. Going to take one to our neighbor across the Court. 

a few months ago.  The artist is Brent Hale. He is a very talented artist. He has done work for many big corporations and his client list includes some well known Celebrities. I met Brent when I was in college at SFA in Nacogdoches, TX. We lived up on the fourth floor of Dorm 16. As soon as we could escape Dorm Life, Brent and Dudley and two other Dorm mates, Ben Bartlett and Jeff Robertson all made the big move off campus to an apartment, Campus Colony.  It was there that Dudley met his future wife, she was the girl next door.  She got Dudleys attention when she showed Dudley a picture of her Dad and brother standing next to a truck with two trophy Whitetail bucks on the tailgate! We started dating soon thereafter and the rest is history. They killed those deer on Opening Day of the 1979 Deer Season. Dudleys painting is titled "First Down At Kickapoo" and shows Dudleys late father in law Leonard Richard "Sparky" McLane with the first buck killed in modern times on the family farm in the shadow of Kickapoo Mountain. He shot the big buck with his brand new Marlin 336C lever action 30-30 with Iron Sights at over 100 yards on opening morning of the 1978 season. Dudley added an Oat Patch to the scene and a favorite Deer Stand which at one time was an Outhouse behind a Depot or Section House on the Texas And New Orleans/Southern Pacific Railroad.  Dudley is going to have some Limited Edition Prints made and give them to family members and a few close friends of the family.

to install a starter bar in Dudleys fireplace and to run a gas line to Dudleys new Cooktop. He also fixed a leaking faucet while he was here. Ready to have a real wood fire in the fireplace and to heat up some Hot Chocolate or Wolf Brand Chili on the new Gas Cooktop!

the "Bowie" Buck came out near the feeder and walked over to the point of brush on the right side. Frank made a 25 yard shot with Dudleys 25-06 Winchester Model 70 Custom High Grade Deer Rifle.

the other day and a Colibri Guillotine Cutter in Pine finish and a Xikar Lighter in Gunmetal finish. Dudley never has smoked a cigar and wants to scratch this off his bucket list.

they came off of the 10,000 acre Kinsel Ranch near Mountain Home TX in Kerr County.  Frank has killed a couple of mature Whitetail Bucks in the area on Walter Schreiners WRS Ranch.  The wife of the man that owns the company personally delivered them to the Dudley Domicile.  Looking forward to using these for a lot of fires in the years to come.

with big news! He and Jeff were hunting on the family farm in East TX and Frank shot the Monster Buck he has been getting all of the night time deer cam pics of. The big buck came running out of the woods early this morning about 30 yards away from Franks new Deer Feeder and about 25 yards away from Franks new Popup Blind. Frank made a one shot kill with Dudleys 25-06 Winchester Model 70 hitting the buck in the heart. They found the deer about 50 yards away. Jeff saw the buck for a second when he ran across an opening but he did not have time to get his rifle up. A few minutes later he ran by Franks stand and that was the last thing he did. The Rut is on and this buck was cruising through the area looking for a Hot Doe. Frank has been trying for almost 15 years to get a wall hanger down at the farm. Dudley is proud that Frank never gave up or got discouraged and he finally got the buck of his dreams!

metal Tackle Box today.  This box is real close to the tackle box that Dudleys father had back in the day.  This tackle box must be 60 plus years old and only recently was taken out of the box for the first time. Dudley bought it for less than 250.00 bucks including shipping. Not inexpensive but worth it to Dudley.