A Parker and a Purdey visit Greystone Castle
Hunt Report – Josef Riekers and I shot birds at Greystone castle this weekend and his thorough report on the outing follows with only minor editing by yours truly:
HUNT REPORT
THE LOCATION
Atop a large Texas mesa sits an English style castle overlooking a vast valley. The valley is concealed from the road but the castle is the predominant landmark as travelers make their way west on I-20 just 90 miles from the Fort Worth, TX area. An unobtrusive gate on the service road to the interstate is the gateway to the fantastic target and wing-shooting, big game hunting and fishing that waits at Greystone Castle Sporting Club in the ghost town of Thurber, near Mingus, Texas.
In the early 1980’s a traveling salesman named Jack Daugherty has a dream of buying the land that was formerly the Thurber coal mines and brick company property and building his own castle there. Eventually, Mr. Daugherty bought 2000 acres and built the four turrets and inner courtyard walls of the castle. Since approximately 1984, new owners acquired the castle and property from Mr. Daugherty and added another 4000 acres to the property.
THE LODGE
The castle has been recently refurbished and now features 6 lodges within the castle walls that are designed in a condo-style arrangement and feature a total of 26 rooms for overnight accommodations. On each trip to different facilities I always think back to the one most memorable feature that distinguishes the facility from others. At Greystone Castle that feature is without a doubt the lodging. My hunting partner was CRS. He and I stayed in a luxurious lodge that featured an upstairs bedroom and a main level bedroom, each with a private bath. The bed, linens and abundance of pillows were top quality and unbelievably comfortable.
The rest of the lodge featured wood floors, marble and granite accents and incredible quality décor, furniture and appliances. High tech digital big screen satellite televisions were in each bedroom and the living room and offered dozens of channels plus a variety of music stations. The exquisite lighting fixtures, doors and windows and accents were impressive and quite a surprise as they are hidden behind the brick and stucco walls of the castle. Anyone seeking the lap of luxury in comfort along with absolute peace and quiet will greatly appreciate the outstanding lodging. Out lodge was also outfitted with a variety of snacks, soft drinks and beer as well as a humidor with a great cigar selection. Our dog was allowed in the lodge with us with the caveat that if we trusted our dog and accepted responsibility for her she was welcome to freely enjoy the lodge too. Other options are to bring a dog crate into the lodge and put your dog up in the crate when you are absent or while you sleep.
The dining area was a good sized room with a long “kings table” that seats 16 or more people and three smaller tables that each seat up to four people. The décor was basic and somewhat simple and the lighting was dim. This is very similar to that which you may experience in a pub or estate in England, Ireland or Germany.
The food was of good quality with conservative portions. CRS and I agreed that the food was average when compared to other establishments of this caliber. Prior to dinner we received hors d'oeuvres that were delivered to our lodge. The mushroom and spinach pastry puffs were flavorful and the breaded, fried quail was fantastic. Dinner started with a salad. Our main course was a steak that was flavorful and medium rare. We were not offered an option of how it was prepared. No dressings or toppings were offered for the meat but it had just enough flavor that it really didn’t need any. The meat was on top of a generous portion of what I called grits and my hunting partner thought were pureed potatoes. There were a dozen or so green beans sprinkled over the plate as well. Dessert was a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream accompanied by two cinnamon fritters. Breakfast consisted of two pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. Although we did not request anything special, we were not offered an option as to how the eggs or bacon was cooked. Our bacon was extremely crispy which is not the way I prefer it and my partner prefers it medium. Lunch was a seasoned, baked chicken leg and thigh with pilaf and asparagus. The lunch dessert was vanilla bean ice cream over a warm apple fritter. My advice is to discuss the menu with the kitchen staff upon arrival and come to an agreement about what you would like throughout your stay. Greystone Castle’s literature does state “our philosophy is that dining … is based around what you would like. We are able to tailor each guest’s wishes to produce a memorable dining experience”.
THE HUNT
Our half day hunt started around 9:15 AM shortly after breakfast was completed. Our guide, Tim is a full time employee of Greystone Castle and lives on the premises. Tim has previously worked as some well known, well established sporting facilities and he has extensive experience with field trial dogs. Tim was receptive to my pup coming along with us for some of the hunt. She is just starting her first full season at just 10 months old and Tim fully understood the nuances of introducing a young dog to a new environment. Tim’s truck was a first class rig with a super cab and well designed and comfortable high seat on the back along with ample dog boxes.
The cover at Greystone Castle is very impressive. In Texas it is extremely hard to produce high, thick and rich cover due to the scarcity of water and the extended periods of high temperature. Greystone Castle has successfully combined introduced flora with native grasses and has implemented good habitat practices such as half cutting mesquite trees to create shade and cover. Of all the bird hunting facilities I have been to in Texas and the southwest, Greystone Castle had the best cover over the largest area.
We hunted with the guide’s pointers and two English cocker spaniels. Some of the dogs are the guide’s personal hunters and some belonged to Greystone Castle. The pointers did a good job, methodically traversing the cover and pointing birds. Compared to other facilities of this caliber, these dogs were squarely in the average category. The little black cockers were a lot of fun. This is the second time I’ve hunted over field cockers and I have come to really appreciate these little dogs. Tim’s cockers showed an abundance of enthusiasm and did a great job of getting into thick cover and flushing birds. They were also non-slip retrievers.
CRS did not care for Tim’s hunting style when it came to flushing birds. When birds were located, Tim would tell us to stop and get ready and he would then go ahead where the birds were marked and use a long stick to beat the brush. This was in combination with the cockers that dug into the thick stuff to get the birds airborne. In a few instances, Tim ended up standing between CRS and the birds which prevented any shooting. Being a seasoned gentleman, CRS is very methodical when it comes to shooting birds. He likes to have a clear shot with time to think through the situation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this style of shooting but Tim’s manners affected him more than me. I am a bit more aggressive and luckily I still take advantage of perfect eyesight and quick reflexes while still remaining perfectly safe. Tim’s personality seemed very accommodating and I am sure he would have adapted a different approach had this been brought to his attention but we thought it was obvious and that he'd get the clue quickly but it didn’t happen. Since Tim is one of the head guides at Greystone Castle these techniques may be used by other guides so it is something to be aware of so you can rectify any concerns immediately should you experience them at the onset of your hunt.
Greystone Castle has the best pen-raised bobwhite quail I have experienced in a very long time! The quail routinely flushed fast and high and flew distances sometimes exceeding 100 yards. The methods of release as well as the cover resulted in nearly all quail encounters being decent sized coveys. CRS made some impressive long shots on quail with his 20 gauge Parker and I managed to get three doubles in a row on quail using my 12b Purdey (I then proceeded to miss the next two chukar in a row). The pheasants were healthy and flew well. Again, the cover contributed to the pheasant’s behavior as they held tight and did not run as much as they typically do at other facilities with lesser cover. We shot a half dozen or so chukar and encountered another half dozen. They flew well and were about average compared to other chukar we’ve experienced in the southwest. The real bonus for us was the Hungarian partridge! Unfortunately there are very few places in the southwest that offer Huns nowadays. The Huns were strong flying, skittish around the dogs and flushed on a whim – exactly what you’d expect from Huns! If you are a Hun lover like I am, Greystone Castle get bonus points just for offering these birds!
POST HUNT
When our hunt was over our birds were exchanged for the same number and variety of previously cleaned, vacuum packed and frozen birds. A very nice soft cooler bag with the Greystone Castle logo was provided for transporting our birds home.
The facility managers, John and Diana Fredericks were extremely personable and accommodating. They took time to give us a tour of the ranch which also features over 40 species of exotic game for hunting as well as stocked fishing ponds. Additional options include driven and wild duck hunts, driven pheasant hunts, pigeon shoots and sporting clays and bed and breakfast get-aways; they even host weddings. Greystone Castle Sporting Club offers quality bird hunting with great amenities less than two hours from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. For more information, click on this link and peruse their web site
http://www.greystonecastle.com/
In following picture are CRS with Repro DHE 20 gauge and Josef Riekers:
10-31-2012, 06:21 AM
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