November Hat Trick

November 1st offers a unique opportunity for folks on the Texas Gulf Coast; a hat trick. November 1st is the opening day of oyster season which coincides with the last weekend of dove season and a generally good time to catch redfish as the bulls start their run when the water temperature drops.

I started the day telling my boy that we were going to hunt the savage oyster. Needless to say he was not impressed at the thought. All the same I loaded him up and we headed out. Before we began our great oyster hunt we swung into a marsh and threw the cast net for a while. I got a few small mullet in my net and proceeded down to the intercoastal where we used them on a double leader to try to snag some reds. Long story...we didn't catch any reds but I will claim the mullet as my first part of the hat trick.

Then it was on to hunt the savage oyster, with much eye rolling from my son. It had been raining for a few days and the bay I wanted to get to was off the beaten path. There was a path mind you, just not much of one. I ended up throwing the jeep into 4WL and mud was flying. It was in our hair, in our ears and over every inch of the jeep. Now the boy is getting into the oyster hunt. When we finally get to my spot we jump out and start wading. In the excitement of the off-roading I had neglected to talk to the boy about the basics of oyster harvesting. He looks down, sees a nice clump of shells, graps the largest one and pulls. And at that point the score is "Savage Oyster" = 1 "The Boy" = 0. We had blood...the shells are sharper than hell and he sliced his finger pretty good. Bad Daddy. Before we left I pried one off with a screwdriver for part two of the hat trick.

Not long after the blood started flowing we got a call from my neighbor who finally got off work and wanted to go dove hunt. So off we went, put on some band-aids and loaded up with our hunting gear. We went to the local Wildlife Management Area and proceeded to see a ton of doves. Here is what I learned: doves fly fast, I am a bad shot with a 20 gauge and people who actually can shoot enjoy shooting dove more than eating them. So, after three hours of hitting nothing but air we left the WMA with 7-8 doves that other hunters eagerly gave us so they wouldn't have to deal with them.

Hat trick complete.

It wasn't pretty at any leg but I'll take it.