Outfitting helps conserve SPOKE HOLLOW RANCH

As Josh Crumpton navigates his Polaris Ranger over the rocky roads of the 1,000-acre Spoke Hollow Ranch his love for the land is obvious. He talks about his business — Spoke Hollow Outfitters — then jumps to the pluses and minuses of cedar trees.

Crumpton will spot a plant he’s never noticed before and hops out of the Ranger to take a quick photo.

He’ll proudly tell you about his hunting dogs then switch the conversation to the gourmet lunches he serves hunters who use his property.

Josh officially opened Spoke Hollow Outfitters to the public last December. Hunters and fishermen come from all over to shoot deer, quail and pheasant or to go fly fishing on local rivers.

Prices start at $375 for half a day of fishing to $750 for half a day of hunting. The per-person price drops when more people are added to the party. The prices include pretty much everything you’ll need: experienced guides, hunting dogs, fishing rods, guns, ammo and some packages include a fancy, wild game-centric lunch with fine China and a white tablecloth along with a view that’s hard to beat.

The Spoke Hollow Ranch is steeped in history. There’s an old graveyard that dates back to the Civil War. There’s a bone-rattling road that wagons used to take to get from Wimberley to San Marcos. Herb and Jean Lennie — grandparents of Josh’s wife, Jeanie — bought the ranch in the 1940’s. They were going to farm the land, but it’s just too rocky to grow much of anything.

Family members still control the property. Spoke Hollow Outfitters was started to create income that could be used to conserve the land.

Working ranch again

Josh and Jeanie — who have five children, including a baby girl Jean who was born in late August — live on the property.

Josh grew up in Colorado where he’d ski and climb rocks. He never considered himself a hunter. He operated a restaurant in San Antonio for a while. He was a wine distributor. He took some time off to be with the kids. He started visiting the ranch and fell in love with the plants, the views, the wildlife and the history.

The ranch was little used for many years. There were cattle and hunting leases, but no one in the family lived there. After the Memorial Day flood of 2015, Josh started to clean things up. Other family members said “Okay, Josh loves this place” and it became a family ranch again.

“I reconnected with nature,” he says. “I wanted to go deer hunting. I knew people who knew about hunting but my male ego wouldn’t allow me to ask how to do it.”

So he took a class where he learned how to butcher an animal. “I figured shooting the deer would not be the problem. The problem would be what to do with it afterwards,” he says.

Josh approaches hunting philosophically. “I learned something had to die for me to be able to eat meat,” he says. He uses the word “kill” as opposed to the more delicate “harvesting” that’s in vogue these days.

Spoke Hollow Outfitters was born.

“One of the objectives of the outfitters is to teach adults who have not hunted before how to hunt,” Josh explains. “Our goal is to make hunting and fishing accessible to everyone.

“Even guys who have hunted their entire lives learn something new up here.”

Part of his challenge is keeping nature in balance. There’s a high fence around most of the property — to keep deer out. With most of the natural predators gone, the deer population has exploded, he says.

“It was a struggle in my mind to put that fence up,” says Josh. “That fence is a tool to help me manage the property.”

Clearing cedar trees

He spends a lot time clearing cedar trees. The cedars, too, lack natural controls. Back in the day, bison used to trample young cedars and fire used to keep the larger trees in check. Well, there’s not many bison around now and fires are aggressively suppressed so, without those controls, the cedars can take over.

The birds that people hunt are brought in and released because the bird population was upset by diminishing habitat and encroaching civilization. “These are released birds,” says Josh. “I am very upfront about that.”

Spoke Hollow Outfitters also owns almost 10,000 acres south of Marathon in West Texas where there are wild birds for hunters.

Almost every hunter goes home with something. But, says Josh: “Whether you shoot a bird or not you are going to have a heck of a good time. Hunting and fishing are really about spending time in nature.”

There’s a renovated red railroad caboose on the property where hunters can spend the night.

The first thing a hunter does is practice on some clay targets so the staff can assess their skill level. Josh remembers only one individual who failed the target test. That was because every time he turned around he saw a loaded gun pointed at his head.

The ranch is located on Hidden Valley Road. Soon, Spoke Hollow Outfitters will have an office and store just off the Square. Don’t be surprised if you drive by and notice folks practicing fly fishing out front.

There are also plans for survival classes in foraging, primitive tools and fire making.

To learn more about Spoke Hollow Outfitters go to: www.hookandfield.com or call 512-842-7220.