Hunting for the Texas Slam
During
hunting season in Texas, hunters compete for the Texas Slam
Award that goes to those who bag some trophy native deer and antelope. Hunting is good around Memphis, Texas, located on the southeastern edge of the panhadle.
“I’ve had customers from all fifty states and about seven different countries,” says Oren Molloy, who operates a hunting business just outside Memphis. “I’ve got repeat customers; some have been with me twenty-six years and never missed a year. Some come three times a year. It’s funny because they started out as customers and ended up being really good friends that I get to see at least once a year.”
Oren turned an old general store north of the Red River into a hunting lodge. The sign on the building reads the Plaska General Store. Plaska was a community that reached its population peak in 1948 when a few dozen people lived there. The only thing there now is the hunting lodge.
The original name of the settlement when it was founded around 1905 was Lodge. It had a post office by that name.
“People come here for a three or four night stay. We take care of everything; it’s just a turnkey deal. We do meals, lodging, guide, game care, cold storage, transportation on the ranch, the whole bit.”
I asked how Oren decided to start a hunting business.
“I was sitting on a tractor trying to figure out how I could get off of it. I love to hunt and never did get to much because I was always busy farming. I thought if I could figure out a way to make hunting a living I could both hunt and have a fun business. I went to a hunting show in Dallas-fort Worth and had a booth there, not having any idea what I was dong. I was just talking to people about hunting and ended up booking my first season. This was before I turned this old general store building into a lodge. I had down payments and deposits on hunts so
I came back and got busy. From June to November we got it finished.”
His place is twelve miles from Memphis in a rural area.
“Some people had never seen the milky way before. I see it all the time. They kind of like the quiet, you know. People get out and walk or sit on the porch. Some people just want to hunt all day. If that’s what they want to do we’ll accommodate them. They hunt for white tail, mule deer, varmints, hogs, turkey, quail, and dove. In the last fifteen years we’ve added exotics including aoudad, oryx, scimitar, elk and seven different species of rams.”
Hunters like the rustic atmosphere.
“It’s pretty much like it was except the store’s storage area is now bedrooms, the old post office is now a kitchen. This is the original old wooden floor that’s got paint stains and scotches on it. Rather than sand them off I left them. The old butcher counter is still in place. You can see where the old potbellied stove was and where people crushed out their cigarettes sitting around the stove.”