We had a hard time choosing just one winner so we had to choose a runner-up as well! Reply to suzanne@texags.com to claim your prize.

1st place - 95 BuzzBait - winner of Game Guard cooler and cap
I was fortunate to be working on the King Ranch in 1995 as a quail guide/bird dog handler.....I was lucky enough to one day get to take former president George Bush Sr. and his son Neal out for an afternoon quail hunt........... read the rest here: https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/2977104/replies/52557265

Runner Up - ValleyRatAg - winner of Game Guard cap
I grew up in Raymondville. My best friend from kindergarten through today grew up on the King Ranch in Norias. Norias is a small town, really a village, of people who worked the Norias division of the King Ranch. Many of them were born there, schooled there, and died there. Some had never left, ever. My buddy's dad was the head of that division, his dad before him, and his dad before him going back to the Richard King and.... read the rest here: https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/2977104/replies/52569004

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I've always believed there's something 'magical' about Aggieland. I wasn't born an Aggie, but I became one after my Aggie Aunt and Uncle introduced me to Aggie football. (Y'all might know her as TexAgs Legend "texasbug"!) In the nosebleed section at my first game, I witnessed one of the lowest fly-overs in A&M history. The fact that I was eye-level with an Aggie pilot, and the equally deafening sounds of the jet engines and the crowd has stuck with me ever since. Magic.
(That's me in the A&M boots)


With a BS and MS in Marketing after graduating Class of '13, I'm ecstatic to be a part of the recent growth of College Station. The King Ranch Saddle Shop opened its doors here last October 2017 and has received the warmest welcome. We believe it's the perfect fit for Aggieland! We carry everything from luggage, handbags, wallets, briefcases, office accessories, home goods, boots, hunting gear and apparel. We're also proud of our partnerships with brands such as Ford, Game Guard, Lucchese. Not to mention our line of maroon luggage and bags that are made just for our location. We're open every day of the week, and our entire Aggie staff are ready to help you pick out gifts or game day gear.


Captain Richard King started the King Ranch in 1853 and began making durable saddles that could withstand the harsh Texas plains. Fast forward to today and you'll see the Ranch is still one of the largest Family owned working cattle ranches in the United States, and it continues to make high-quality leather goods and more.

Many people have a King Ranch memory - maybe you grew up in that area, hunted there or perhaps you have a King Ranch leather item handed down from a grandfather. Share that with us and you'll be entered to win this King Ranch hat and this Game Guard cooler. We'll choose a winner on Friday, Sept. 14 at noon.


King Ranch stands for a tradition of excellence, innovation, and loyalty. The hands have changed over time, but the integrity of our craftsmanship has remained steadfast for 165 years. We carry a respect for the past in everything we do and share a passion for a brand that has stood the test of time. King Ranch remains a legacy that can truly ne'er be told.

Doesn't that sound familiar Ags?

Blair Banker
Store Manager
King Ranch Saddle Shop
166 Century Ct. #106
College Station, TX 77840
Work: (979) 209-9744
Cell: (832) 693-5593
Email: bbanker@king-ranch.com
Website: http://krsaddleshop.com

I usually spend all my time in Rome.

I've been there Got a nilgai with my bow. A little advice. Don't kill the huge indigo snakes running around there. They will throw you in jail. If you have never been, go. Huge deer and you can walk right up to them

My mom bought me the KR leather bird bag the year before she passed. Been using it every year since.

I will share. Engineering Technology Class of 1980. The rig count was at a peak when I graduated so I decided the oilfield would be a neat place to work. I was transferred to Alice, Tx after 18 months with the company. Housing was tight in Alice so I made the commute from Kingsville. The wildlife viewing was great on many an early morning drive. At any rate; I got myself a nice new company car with my new job. The King Ranh has these things they call bump gates. The idea is that you idle your car up to the gate and give it a little gas, the gate swings open, you drive through and a counterweight closes the gate behind you. A nice time saving invention where you don't have to get out of the car to go through a gate. Unfortunately, I did not have the hang of it the first time I tried. Not enough gas and the gate came back and hit my car on the driver side rear door and made a nice long scrape on my new company car. So I think the King Ranch owes me.

I was fortunate to be working on the King Ranch in 1995 as a quail guide/bird dog handler.....I was lucky enough to one day get to take former president George Bush Sr. and his son Neal out for an afternoon quail hunt.

That meant 5 or 6 secret service agents would be joining us.....no worries....so I thought....

The afternoon was going well and the hunting was outstanding. The dogs were working and enjoyable to watch....soon, we had a point on a covey so we got set up to flush and this huge covey busts out of the brush splitting up into 2 directions. We decided to go after them with my hunting partner Ronnie taking Neal while I ventured off into to field with Mr. President....

I took off with one dog, Mr. George Bush Sr......

And secret services agents following in a 4x4 suburban...

..much like the KGB following Rocky in Rocky IV.....they followed wherever we went staying back about 100 yards.....

Well we got a few more shots at the quail and had gone quite a distance when I noticed Mr. Bush's boot laces had come untied.....

Me to Mr. Bush....."Mr. President, your boot laces are untied"

He then proceeds to hand me his LOADED GUN and KNEELS in front of me to tie his boot......I'm standing there with a loaded gun and former president George Bush is kneeling in front of me!

Me: "Uh.....Mr. President....ummm, Mr. President"

I said with the most shakiest and nervous voice........he looks up and sees me nervously shaking in my boots....the gun in my hand is pointed up toward the sky but visibly shaking

George Bush Sr.: "Son, DON'T DROP THAT BARREL"

"Don't worry!"


(Not gonna do it....wouldn't be prudent....)

He pops up and I hand him the shotgun from my sweaty palms and he ask me if I could feel the red dot on my head.....I said yes I really think I did....he chuckles as we walk back to the truck ....I look at the secret service guys and they give me a wink and a smile and ask me if I'm having fun......they then begin talking about how proficient they are with a shovel....ugh....I need a drink...!

Whew.....at least the next morning would be Dick Cheney.....little did I know....

Never been fortunate enough to have hunted there, but I've eaten meat that was harvested there by friends who have. Does that count?

I had written a long story, but had to delete it. I thought you said, "Chicken Ranch."

My uncle and I have hunted there before and we always had a blast!

I'm liking my odds right about now and all I can claim is visiting the King Ranch to hold prespud meetings on the rig site.

Was very fortunate to have been on a hunting lease on an 8,000 acre pasture fronting the Laguna Madre in the Laureles Division for 3 years back in the late 90's. I saved a bunch of wildlife video I shot and still bring it out every now and then. There were some huge axis deer out there. An awesome experience that I will always treasure.

I've been on the ranch with a friend who is a guide. I went with him for fun as he was filling feeders and training his dogs. Saw lots of animals and birds, and watched as my friend applied medication to one of his dogs that was injured by a wild hog. That dog got a puncture wound he didn't expect to get!

Gig 'em!

My family and I went on a tour of the King ranch this summer. I did not realize how long it had been dry there.

I grew up in Raymondville. My best friend from kindergarten through today grew up on the King Ranch in Norias. Norias is a small town, really a village, of people who worked the Norias division of the King Ranch. Many of them were born there, schooled there, and died there. Some had never left, ever. My buddy's dad was the head of that division, his dad before him, and his dad before him going back to the Richard King and Texas Ranger days. His dad and grandad had graced the cover of Texas Monthly a few times.

Starting in kindergarten through 7th grade, I would ride the school bus to his house in Norias on Friday and ride it back to school with him on Monday. Except for the one time in 3rd we were throwing cookies out of the windows of the bus after a school Christmas party. We were breaking them on car windshields that were passing us. The school bus driver put both of us out on highway 77 about halfway to the ranch gates. We started walking north and about an hour later my buddy's mom pulls up next to us on 77. She whooped us both.

My first horse to ride was an old former champion cutting horse named root beer. It wasn't the best experience as when we confronted a couple of young steers, he took over and started doing his thing. I was holding on for dear life. After my buddy finally got up beside us and got control we got back along with our adventure and riding lesson. I couldn't appreciate at the time but the wildlife was amazing. We could basically ride those horses within 10 feet of what I now know were some of the most monstrous white tail bucks alive. On the way back to the stalls, ol' Root Beer, got stung in the ass by a yellow jacket. He started bucking an on the third one I landed right in the middle of a damned old *****ly pear cactus, right on my ass. We pulled out as many as we could through my jeans and started the painful journey back to the house. I had to go bear ass in front of his mom while she removed all of the thorns should could find with a flash light and tweezers. This was all while he and his too hot older sisters watched and laughed at me.

Third grade was a rough year. My buddy was taught to drive early on the ranch and we wanted to go driving around. The problem was the ranch truck and jeep he was allowed to drive were gone. So we took his mom's month old fully loaded suburban out for a cruise. Well we came up to our first bump gate (previously described by another poster) and my buddy wasn't used to this vehicle and he completely screwed up. That bump gate came back around and smacked the ass end of the suburban then came back around and hit the passenger door and denting and scraping the rest of the length of their customized suburban. We decided to stay out as long as we could because we knew when we came back it was over. I took the heat for it saying I was driving (I didn't want my buddy to lose his driving priveleges). I wasn't asked to come back for 3 or 4 months.

One year we were out with his new Benjamin 25cal pellet gun. I real thing of beauty when you were 9. We decided to go turkey hunting. We each bagged a great big gobbler, we got within about ten yards of them and popped them in the head. Both of them practically stepped on their beards when they walked. I still have that turkey beard in the top of my closet.

One day when I was 7 my buddy's dad was taking some dignitary's out to shoot a buck, I got to tag along with them. After bagging a trophy buck, it was early so they decided to get him a turkey. That guy took a shot and that big gobbler started jumping, bouncing and running. My buddy's dad (always stirring up crap) yelled go git him ValleyRatAg, he's getting away. I took off sprinting and form tackled that SOB and the fight was on. I was in the fight of my life. We rolled around what felt like forever with that ******* spurring me, biting me and beating me with his wings. I finally got the best of him.

They had a domestic hog that was a show pig that they decided not to show and he became the family pet. Albert was taller than me, just gigantic. We were young enough we could ride him around and would have bucking contests on him. Sometimes when playing football in the front yard he would run up behind you and stick his snout under your butt and flip you up in the air which felt like you flew 10 feet.

They also had a pet bobcat that only liked his mom. That was one mean SOB. It was scary as hell when you'd catch him stalking you. As long as you'd make eye contact he would quit. If you didn't see it coming he'd com out of nowhere and grab you, give you a quick nip and run off. He used to do that to their dog and then run up a mesquite tree and stair down at the dog as relaxed as it could be while the dog lost it's mind.

Roscoe and Slick where there two raccoons. Those things got into everything, and were funny as hell. They were actually quite friendly and would sometimes get between you and Bobcat. When they stood up they were as tall as we were. That is where I learned that raccoons washed their food. It always cracked me up when they'd come beg a treat from you then run over to the water bowl and wash it off before they ate it. They loved french fries.

My first bow hunt was in my buddies back yard when we were 8. We got camo'ed out, covered our faces with mud, got completely decked out with our 10lb compound bow and blunt tip arrows and doe pee all over us (it was horrible). We got out in the cenizo bushes behind his house before daylight and hid out. After 30 minutes of rattling horns after daylight the bull of the woods came out. 12 point with double drop tines and I swear to this day his horns were 30" wide and 30" tall. My buddy took aim and landed a perfect shot right behind the shoulder. He hunched up and the arrow fell to the ground. He faced us and we took off running. Damn thing chased us into his garage and hung out there until his mom chased him off with a broom.

Sorry for the wall of text. I had a lot of good times out there. I had no idea how lucky I was until I grew up and got to A&M and nobody believed my stories. There are so many stories from our adventures out there I wish I could share them all. There are some that I would have to plea the 5th on as well. I'm going to call my buddy, it's been too long.

My parents gave me a king ranch duffel bag, hanging bag, and dopp kit as a graduation gift over 20 years ago. I still use them and they look better today than they did new.

Did somebody win?

My dad took us there one year when the Texas Sheriff's Association meeting was in Corpus. Tour was as lot of fun. That was also like 3 months after Selena got killed so he also made a point of driving past the motel where she was shot so he could take a picture.