Hightower

Hunting up at the Diamond C this week. The plan was to try and take a buck with my bow, however, I’m always willing to pull out the rifle when there is a buck that we simply want to take ‘by any means necessary’ right now! On Dylan’s ranch that’s not an unusual circumstance and pretty much what happened.

Wednesday I had a couple close bow opportunities. First with a bedded 3×3 that by the time I decided to get serious wisely evacuated the area. Later that night we came on a band of pigs and got to 50 yards. There were two black sows with a bunch of little ones. I found a lane in between the low branches of the oak we were under and put my 50 pin on one of the sows. My arrow sailed just over her back and they milled for a few seconds and then scrambled off. The next morning I shot three arrows at 50 on Dylan’s range and they grouped six inches high! Adjusted the pin and was good to go.

Thursday morning it was foggy up top. We weren’t seeing many deer out below and headed up there just as it was breaking up. Dylan had been guiding a very accomplished bow hunter before I arrived that tried for a big buck up here they named ‘Hightower’. He was pretty smart and they could not get within 100 yards of him.

It turns out he was the same buck standing next to my 5×7 last year when I shot him. After the 5×7 dropped he just stood there for the longest time and without the 5×7 next to him Dylan and I realized what a great buck he was too. In fact I was just about to shoot him when he moved off. We agreed if we had a chance at him we’d just pull out the rifle.

Well Thursday morning when we were checking out the ranch up top we came on a buck and a doe in the middle of a big clearing with no cover at all. We got up to a big oak tree. When he picked his head up I could see he was the tallest buck I’d ever seen. Dylan confirmed it was Hightower. The wind was wrong and the doe next to him had already busted us so we didn’t have a lot of time. Dylan handed me my Sako 30.06 and I jacked a round. He was about 120 yards and fell dead at the shot.

Was using the new Hornady Superformance ammo with a 150gr SST. I recovered the bullet from just under the hide on the offside. These shoot great through the Sako and it’s great to see they perform so well in the field too. The expanded bullet is actually wider than the .410″ three shot group from my ‘zero check‘ preparing for the hunt.

Thursday night we headed back out to hunt the pigs. We found that same band not far from a pond in a grassy clearing. We were able to sneak through the woods and get to about 30 yards as they fed towards us. I was able to shoot two of the smaller ones pretty quickly. They didn’t really spook and one of the larger black sows came right back into the middle of the field by us at 40 yards and I made a good shot on her as well. Having Dylan next to me with his Leica range finding binoculars made it seem easy. I really like my Hoyt Carbon Element bow. I will try again for my second bow buck when I return in November.

Zero Check

Went to the range today to check the zero on two of my rifles. Going hunting next week back at the Diamond C ranch again. I’m hoping to use my bow but like to have a rifle handy in case this year turns out to be anything like last year.

Went up to Los Altos Rod and Gun Club off of Skyline. Had one of those perfect range sessions where I only need to take three shots with each rifle and I’m good to go. Started off with my Sako M85 Stainless Hunter in 30.06. I have added the Leupold CDS Turret to the 4.5-14 scope indexed for the Hornady Superformance 150gr SST load.

First shot just outside the circle and second in the same hole. I shouldn’t have looked through the spotting scope as the prospect of shooting a one hole group is usually enough to get you too excited to finish it off. Third shot just to the left for a .410 inch group.

 

 

 

 

Second up is my prized Cooper 52 Custom Classic in .270 Winchester. Trying out some hand loads with 140gr Nosler Accubond bullets over 53.5grs of IMR4831 for 2910fps. My CDS scope is indexed to the same load at approx 2900. All three shots in the circle for a .896″ group. I wish every day at the range went this well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sean & Kari renew their wedding vows

For our 20th anniversary Kari & I decided to spend a relaxing weekend at the Four Seasons and to renew our wedding vows. After careful consideration Kari selected the Canterbury Chapel which is conveniently located on level two of the Excalibur Casino just past the Pizza Hut. The beautiful ceremony was commemorated by both slideshow and video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was truly a fairytale experience although it times it did get a little impassioned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you actually think you want to watch our heart felt vows here is the video:

 


 

At least there was a happy ending in that I won two of the Mandalay Bay Texas Holdem poker tournaments which paid for our stay and finally secured me this greatly coveted winner chip! This and of course Kari, my life is complete.

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.