Outdoors With Mat Taylor
I prefer West Texas landscape, East Texas fruitcake

Former Soil Conservation Service employee and longtime writer Mat Taylor offers his outdoors column for Dispatch Record readers. He can be contacted at (254) 518-2262 or via e-mail at mntaylor@agristar.net.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you know I like West Texas. I have always been drawn to the deserts and plains. Why? I don't know. I just prefer wide-open spaces. That is why almost all my deer hunting has been in the western portion of the state -- and much of it west of the Pecos River.

When I plan a trip or vacation, I always want to go west. The question is where does West Texas begin and, conversely, as you travel east, where does East Texas begin.

For many years, I have heard that Fort Worth is where the west begins, and the city of Post claims it is the gateway to the west. Anywhere west of San Angelo is West Texas to me.

It seems many cities boast they are in West Texas, but not many places east of IH-35 make the same claim about East Texas. Some people say any part of the state east of that highway is East Texas, while others say the dividing line is IH-45.

While attending Texas A&M, I had an agriculture professor who had recently come to College Station from Missouri. After being in Texas for several months, he asked members of my class: "Where does East Texas begin? The residents of every city I have been in the eastern part of the state always say that East Texas begins at the next city east."

To me, I really know I am in East Texas when I drive through the piney woods. Maybe one of the reasons I prefer West Texas is that I get claustropho- bic when driving through the pines, and you can't see 50 feet in either direction from the highway. East Texas also seems hot and humid.

That being said, I recently traveled east on two occasions. My wife and I attended a birthday party of a good friend in the small community of Wheelock, located north of Bryan. We visited in the home of Buddy and Evelyn Francis, whom we have known for more than 30 years. Buddy was the livestock manager for J. David Bamberger's Selah Ranch for over 20 years. He now runs an excellent herd of Brahman cattle on several leased ranches.

A hundred years ago, much of East Texas was made up of woodlands with numerous cropland fields. The main crop was cotton.

This was an ideal habitat for the bobwhite quail. After the boll weevil put the cotton farmer out of business, however, almost all these fields have been established to coastal Bermuda grass.

There are now more cattle in East Texas than farther west. But Bermuda grass is poor quail habitat, and the birds have disappeared over much of the eastern half of the state.

Nelda and I also traveled to Corsicana. Why? Well, unlike many people, I really like fruitcake. So we drove all that way to visit the Collin Street Bakery which, in my opinion, makes the best fruitcakes in the world.

Believe it or not, a number of people were visiting the bakery, and it was difficult to find a parking space or even enter the store. Eventually, I did purchase several fruitcakes and other items before returning home.

Some people will think it is crazy to drive that far to purchase a fruitcake -- and it probably is -- but we enjoyed the trip and seeing the countryside. And although it is more an indoor activity than an outdoor one, I thoroughly enjoy a small piece of fruitcake with a hot cup of coffee, sitting beside a warm fire.

Speaking of West Texas, you may have read my recent column about the famous buffalo hunter J. Wright Mooar and how he killed a rare white buffalo. I mentioned that I had visited in the home of Mooar's granddaughter when I lived in Snyder and had seen the white buffalo hide in her home.

I also mentioned that I knew a man who owned Mooar's Sharps .50-90 rifle he used to kill the white buffalo and thousands of others, however I did not know what had happened to the gun. Well, I got a surprise last Saturday when I received a phone call from Randy Hayes, the great-grandson of J. Wright Mooar.

Hayes operated the ranch originally owned by Mooar. Hayes said a lady in Lampasas who knew his mother sent her a copy of my column, and he also read it.

Both of them enjoyed the column, and he called to thank me for writing the story.

I ask him about Mooar's rifle. Hayes said he acquired the rifle and then donated it to the Frontier Texas Museum in Abilene. He also donated several cartridges, bullet molds and other personal items of Mooar's.

Hayes said his great-grandfather owned two Sharps "Big Fifty" rifles -- a Winchester 44-40 lever-action and a Colt single-action pistol.

I had a nice phone visit with Hayes and plan someday to visit him in Snyder. I was glad to know where Mooar's rifle is located, too, and I will visit the Frontier Texas Museum in Abilene in the near future.