Yearly Archives: 2011

First Scouting Pics

It’s that time of year again, Dylan Carr from Diamond C Outfitters starts sending me the scouting pictures. I’m heading up to the ranch August 3rd looking for a big buck to take with my bow. These are representative of the quality of deer we’ll see. Hoping to get one of something extraordinary that we’ll focus on for the hunt.

 

 

I had seen the top buck last year and passed on him as his fronts were a little shallow. He’s a great buck though and might not hesitate to take him with my bow. Here is a picture of him last year from my November hunt.

100 years later

This year marks the 100 year anniversary of John ‘Moses’ Browning‘s incredible .45 caliber pistol, the venerable “1911” which just might be more popular now than it ever was. I have been meaning to secure a top notch .45 and finally have in my Les Baer Custom Carry. I have tried every .45 I can and so far none compare to the Les Baer guns I’ve shot. Not even close. I shot 150 rounds today at Reed’s Indoor Range and am about halfway through the 500 round break in period. The gun is super tight and Les guarantees 3″ at 50 yards.

On this target at 15 yards I was able to keep 22 of 25 in the ten ring and 18 X. The cheap Fiochi ammo I bought for the break in is actually super hot so the errors are all mine. After I get used to it I imagine I’ll be able to improve on this a great deal.

If you want a great custom .45, and you live in California, I don’t think you can find a better one. Les has gone to the trouble to get 10 of his guns approved for sale here. Thank you John Browning and thank you Les Baer!

New kids on the block

First bucks showing up on the trail cam for 2011 along with some new fawns. Lots of pics with a doe with a single fawn and this doe with two fawns.

And lots of video of this young buck sporting a single spike in velvet.

And our first full fledged buck of the year, this buck was barely a forky last year so we’ll see how he does by fall.

Ireland 1983

In 1983 I was twenty years old and had planned a great adventure, to go on a solo summer backpacking trip across Ireland. My grandfather was born in Limerick, Ireland. My parents had been back and visited with our relatives there and had a great time. I wanted to go explore my Irish roots. Soon my brother Tim wanted to come along and then our cousin Mike Cleary, so we decided we would meet Mike in Dublin, rent a car and tour the entire country.

It’s hard to describe just what an incredible time we had. I was working in the photo department of a Payless store at the time and brought a lot of film for my brother and I to use with our Canon AE-1s and we took a lot of pictures!

Nearly thirty years later my old photo album full of tiny 3×5 color prints is falling apart. I finally bit the bullet and bought a Canon film scanner and scanned the 35mm negatives to have high res images online. I put together a photo book on Shutterfly for Tim and Mike and also uploaded the same files to animoto to make an online slideshow set to one of our favorite Irish bands from that time Thin Lizzy.

It’s Official!

Received confirmations from the Boone & Crockett Club that my big typical and non-typical Blacktail bucks from last year have been officially accepted. The Typical making the all time record book at 137 2/8 and the non-typical qualifying for the awards book 2010-2012 with his 127 2/8 net typical score.

They will both be listed in the Boone & Crockett Club’s 28th Big Game Awards book and my big 5×4 will be added to Records of North American Big Game, 14th edition and all subsequent editions.

Thanks to Dylan & Holly Carr and for my incredible 2010 season at the Diamond C.

The Action Shooting Club

Had a great time shooting back at TASC again. This time I did a little better than usual shooting clean all day with no miss penalties. The usual suspects and some new ones also rose to the occasion so I finished fourth. I shot too slowly on the first stage and a failure to seat my mag on stage three cost me a lot of points.

Stage One is called ‘Must Get Milk’ you engage paper targets from the first box, then run to the second for steel, and then enter the barricades for some closer targets. A fun stage but went a little too slow and had a couple extra shots on steel.

Stage Two is “Out of Sight” I shot this one very well. The last array of targets has a head shot that you really need to focus on. I took three shots at it and scored the two I needed.

Stage Three is “Soup or Salad” where you have to start with an unloaded gun, holding a plastic knife and fork. Had a great plan on this one but didn’t seat my third mag and then took too long to fix it. Finished with getting all my hits though.

Stage Four is the classifier “Six in Six” which is three separate strings shooting the same three targets within six seconds. The first is at a great distance, six shots mandatory reload and six more. At this distance few of us got a shot in past the reload and I elected to just try for six hits. Second string is six shots strong hand. Last string included here is six shots weak hand. I did ok with 13 hits. A lot harder then it looks!

Wild Pig & Upland Game

Friday, March 18, I’m headed back up to Redding to trying for wild pig again at the JS McArthur Ranch. The forecast for the weekend was heavy rain and it poured all the way to my first stop, The Free Dive Shop in Sacramento where I was looking to get a new wetsuit for the upcoming abalone season. ‘Sean’ helped me try on a few and ultimately I settled on the Cressi Sub Tecnica.

Then up to Redding and met with my guide Dave Johnson. We drive up to the ranch and as we come to the gate there seems to be a break in the rain. We pack my gear into the Rino and are off to our first spot to glass for pigs. It’s windy and cold but I’m ready with warm gear and gloves. We’re glad it’s not raining as maybe the pigs will emerge and feed. None seem to be out yet so we move to another ridge. We sight some pigs at this point far in the distance. We make our way close and then walk over a hill and to a raging stream. The pigs are just across 200 yards but turn out to all be wet sows. We were barely able to ford this stream in the Rino last time I was here and I know there is no chance today. On our way back up the ridge we spot five bull elk bedded down in a little valley out of the wind. These are the same bulls we saw last time although now they shed their antlers.

We make a complete circle now and move on back to a high ridge to glass again. This time we see five pigs in an open field on our side of the stream. One is brown, dark in the front and light in the back. From this distance looks like a little buffalo. We think he’s a boar and we decide to try for him. The wind is perfect and Dave is pretty sure we’ll get close. We drive to a spot just below them and park the Rino. At this point we need to cross a creek just deep enough to be over our boots soaking our feet in the icy water. We head up the grassy hill and emerge just behind some bushes. We try to get a good look at them. The black pigs are on the right and are sows. The brown pig is right in front of me but facing away and I can’t tell. Finally he turns right and I see he’s a boar. I try to set my rifle on the pack but it’s too low so I just sit back and get on him from a sitting position. A sow is behind him so I wait. When she clears I hold on his shoulder and touch off the shot. He’s down but then right back up again and I’ve reloaded and am about to shoot again as he’s moving broadside to the left but then goes down for good. I’m shooting my Sauer 202 in .300 Weatherby with my hand loads, 180gr Nosler Accubonds going 3100 fps. The shot was about 90 yards. He’s a good size boar, Dave thinks 160 pounds. We take some pics and then head back just as the rain starts to come down. We skin him out in an open hangar. At one point the clouds clear and the supermoon is shining full over snow capped mount Lassen.

The next morning I’m headed to Willows. My friend Jeff Ashlock has invited me to a pheasant hunt at the Thunder Hill Pheasant Club. We meet at 8am and he introduces me to some of his friends. We are going to hunt with Jim and Justin. Jim has a great Springer Spaniel we’ll be using named ‘Shawnee’ Soon we are at our field and thanking our luck for the dry weather. The four of us spread out and start to walk the field behind the circling dog. I’m on the outside left with Jeff to my right. It’s not long before a bird flushes in front of Jeff and flies left in front of me. We both hit it and our first bird is in the bag. Everyone is shooting well and soon we’ve all shot a few birds. We’ve seen a few jackrabbits flushed and I hope to try for one if a shot presents itself. Towards the end of our hunt I’m on the outside right and Shawnee flushes a big rabbit that runs right. I’m on him and shoot and roll him at about thirty yards. Shawnee deposits him near me, he’s really big, much bigger than I expected. We finish the hunt getting one extra bird, a holdover from an adjacent field. I had a fantastic time. Always enjoy hunting with Jeff and it was great meeting some of the friends he’s told me about and hear their hunting stories from Africa. I forgot how much fun it is to shoot a shotgun and hunt upland game.