San Marcos — It’s almost fall. One good cold front will likely remind us of this wonderful truth.

To the outdoorsman this is the magic time of the year.

And if you live in Hays County, a manifold outdoor opportunities abound.

While it’s cool, and before the weather turns cold, don’t miss the chance to take a canoe or kayak float down the San Marcos or Blanco Rivers. It’s inexpensive fun, very little travel, and no expensive fuel to purchase.

You can float through town to Thompson’s Island. Better yet, start at Thompson’s Island and float to the low water crossing on County Road 266. You will get to experience the junction of the two rivers and portage around Cummings Dam. Float, wade, swim, fish. It’s all right here at our front door.

Some of the best fishing on Canyon Lake happens in the fall. Fish that have been deep during the hot summer months move into shallow water. Cast a jig, spinner bait, or crankbait along rocky shorelines and your chances of hooking a nice smallmouth bass are good.

If you don’t want to fish, then just boat ride. Canyon Lake is a beautiful lake.

As the days grow shorter and those first cold fronts begin to whistle through from the Arctic, hormones begin to flow in the whitetail bucks and deer hunters. Well, maybe for us it’s not hormones but it sure is great.

It’s time to hunt. Our county is full of deer but, unfortunately, few public hunting opportunities are available in the state of Texas. Expensive deer leases, or day hunts, are about the only way to go — or a $48 Texas Parks and Wildlife Annual Public Hunting Permit will open thousands of acres to hunt. Unfortunately, much of this acreage is in East Texas.

But you can shoot deer on private land — with a camera. Drive the back roads with your camera cocked. It’s exciting. Shoot bucks, does, Rio Grande turkeys. You don’t need a hunting license and you don’t have to skin your kill. Just plug into your computer and enjoy your bag limit for the day.

Wing shooters have been filling the skies with lead for several days hoping to hit those brown bombshells called doves. Some of the best dove hunting is still ahead. Cold fronts will move northern birds into our area. And hunting them in 70-degree weather will be much nicer than 99-degree stuff during the early days of the season.

Duck season opens in late October. Migrating ducks will soon be covering our local stock tanks and flood control lakes. Liberal bag limits this season will provide for lots of shooting.

If you’re not a bird shooter, you can still be a bird watcher. Our area of Texas sports huge numbers of bird species. Migrating species will soon swell these populations. Local bird watchers get more excited about spotting a rare bird than I do about catching a big bass. It’s all outdoor fun.

And if you like to camp, there are a number of state parks as well as private campgrounds all throughout Central Texas. Bastrop and Palmetto State Parks both are less than an hour’s drive away, while numerous private campgrounds can be found on the San Marcos and Blanco Rivers.

Don’t miss out this fall. We have it all here in Hays County - hunting, fishing, river floats, boating, wildlife filming and bird watching.

For the outdoorsman, this is a wonderful place to live.



Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show God’s Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in the Daily Record.