Fun on the ATV

Hi,

We were at our property for a few days this past week.  Mainly we were there to cut trails for our ATV.  Several months back, in full summer mode, we cut some paths in the woods. Starting with the easy routes first.  Over the summer, for the first time ever, many weeds sprung up in the woods.  This was due to much more sunshine reaching the ground after we had timbering done. We really did not want to wade in waist high thick weeds to cut trails.  You know, snakes, poison ivy and other bad things lurks in that kind of stuff.  Now that the growth has died back we got in there and cut some more trails. It was a lot of work, cutting downed trees that were in our way, moving limbs, and clipping the small trees, but it's done and we have our first nice trail to ride on.

Of course, after cutting trails, we spent a few hours hunting deer.  In this particular county it is still bucks only.  I saw 6 does.  My husband saw 5 does.  They were fun to watch as they meandered around looking for acorns.  They were in no hurry.  I had many minutes to watch them as they came into sight then walk out of sight.  No bucks!  Well, with all the work we wanted to get done on the ATV trails I guess that not shooting a deer is okay.

My husband (tongue in cheek) has called me "Lead foot on the ATV".  As you will see in the attached video, I actually run through the woods pretty slow.  Someday I may get used to the ATV and really rip up the trails. Until then I am happy putting around at my own slow speed.  At the beginning of the video Bruce had to locate me, then he followed my ride on the ATV.

Enjoy the video.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting

M.

Still trying to get a deer for my father-in-law

Hi,

Both my husband and I have taken several deer this year, but my father-in-law has yet to get one in the cross hairs.  Yesterday we went hunting at the farm.  Over the past several weeks when we have arrived at the farm we have seen deer in the cow field, all the other fields have horses in them.  Any way, my husband took his dad over to the cow field, hoping to get a shot.  They walked over from our parking spot, through some woods, then on the high side of a horse field, edging up to the cow pasture.  The fence line of the cow pasture is thick with bramble, small trees, and good cover.  They crossed over into the field.  At that point there were no deer to be seen, so they were going to set up in the cover and wait.  The cows had a different plan.  Upon seeing people ie; food providers, they all came over to where the guys were standing.  The cows could not be persuaded to move. After 10 minutes of this nonsense, Bruce and Jim moved on to another area of the property.  Jim staked out a triangle of woods, very near a pond.  But, again, no luck for Jim.  No deer today.

I saw about 12 doe's on my walk through the woods to a tree stand.  Carefully I edged up to a tree to use as a rest, and cover.  I had to wait for the deer to cross over to our property before I could shoot.  After 45 minutes of watching, glassing and waiting, the deer finally ambled off deeper into the neighbors property.  So, my luck was not good today.  Same could be said for my husband.  He jumped up a heard of deer, which ran away for him through thick stuff, never to be seen again.

The weather was perfect, the moon phase was perfect, the deer were not cooperating.  Just another day of enjoying the great outdoors, not a bad consolation prize at all.

Enjoy, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Almost a 4 point Whitetail.

Hi
Yesterday, in the wind (25mph) and cold I, my husband and father-in-law braved the elements in an afternoon hunt.  We figured that the deer would be bedded down and hanging tight due to the wind.  So, a few drives might kick up some deer.  The first drive, my husband walked through some brambles along a creek and into a thicket area.  Jim and I were standing at the other end of the thicket.  There were no deer there after all.  Which we found unusual because it is a very good place for deer to be bedded, and we've seen them they earlier this season.  Oh, well.  On to another spot.  As Jim and I were walking to the fence were we would meet up with Bruce, Bruce kicked up several deer, very near the area he had just walked through.  The deer are really sitting tight. I saw the deer (Jim did not), but they were to far all and running at full tilt.
Bruce met up with us.  Jim went over to his usual spot for the last 2 hours of the day.  Bruce and I planned on walking in the woods, close to where Jim was.  The plan was for us to kick up deer and hope that they would go by Jim.  We only saw one doe, and it did run over to where Jim was.  You know how deer can change direction on a dime.  We never heard Jim shoot, so we assumed the doe did not make it as far as Jim's stand.
At that point there was about an hour left until sunset.  I got up in the same tree stand where I shot the muzzle loader and took down an 8 pointer.  I thought it felt lucky to go there again.  Bruce walked up the the front field to see what was going on there - nothing - then he got up in the tree stand where I shot my doe on the opening day of muzzle loader.
About 40 minutes into my stand hunt a deer came walking down the hill to my right. It was browsing, and it was on next doors property.  Because it was walking slowly I was able to set up some lines of sight where if the buck came through that path I would have a clear shot.  I waited.  It started to veer off behind me and to my right.  Once the buck was behind several trees I had to stand up and turn around.  This left me without a rest.  I am a pretty good shot without a rest, so I was not concerned.  The buck crossed over on to my hunting property.  It jumped a fallen tree and started walking at an angle toward me, then turn to my right.  At this point I had a very good opening to take a shot at it's lower right shoulder.  One shot, pow, and the deer went straight down.  I was so happy.  I was even prouder of my shot, right where I placed it!  Now the hard part, gutting and dragging.

Once Bruce was in his tree stand he only saw 1 squirrel.  Over all though he saw a total of 15 deer.
Jim, again, saw nothing.  We really need to work on getting Jim in front of a deer.

I'll let you know what happens.
Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Opening Day Rifle

Hi,

My opening day of the rifle season was interesting and frustrating.

I have already taken a nice doe and an 8 point buck with my muzzle loader this year.  I decided to hunt for another nice buck.  On my way to the stand I came across not one but two 8 pointer's grazing at the edge of the field.  Here I am in the woods with very crunchy leaves! What to do?
I had some thick brush between me and the deer, and a distance of 135 yards per my range finder. I did not want to make any noise trying to get closer.  And with my 7mm-08 Remington rifle I did not need to get closer. (it's sighted in at 200 yards)  I started to raise my rifle.  I was going to wait for the deer to move into a clear opening.  Unfortunately, the first buck started prancing around and trotted off, away from me.  Of course the second buck had to follow. They disappeared over a small knoll. I never even had a chance to pick one of them up in my scope.

I thought, since I did not spook them that maybe they went off a short distance and stopped.  I tried to quietly move through the woods in the direction they ran up the edge of the field.  This took some time because I had to walk very carefully in the crunchy leaves.  I got to the top of the knoll, and wouldn't you know it, there was one of the bucks eating acorns at the edge of the field.  I ranged it at about 150 yards.  I was nowhere near a tree that I could use as a rest.  I had to get closer to a tree. Once I got near a small tree, I had to wait for the deer to move out into a clearing.  I waited, and waited. The buck was milling around, but not giving me any kind of a clear shot.  It took him about 10 minutes to move, but it was in the wrong direction.  He made it to the neighbors property, where I do not have permission to hunt.  Drat!

I walked over and got up into the tree stand, and hoped that the bucks would come back my way.  They did not, but from my stand I saw 6 does and one small spike buck.  We are letting the spikes and 4 pointers walk.  That will be good for future hunts, but it was difficult to control myself not to shoot.  As for the doe's, I am looking for a 1 1/2 year old deer. The doe's I saw today were this years.   I have a friend that want's the meat, so I do not want to shoot a small deer.

As for the others that hunted with me today, my husband saw one small doe.  That was it for him.  My father-in-law did not see anything but squirrels, lots and lots of squirrels.

We'll be back out on Tuesday.
Take care,  good hunting and good shooting
M.

Whitetail Buck, success in my hunt : )

Hi,

Yesterday was a successful hunt for me.  I shot a very nice 8 pointer only 15 minutes after getting into the tree stand.
It all started on Monday when my husband, father-in-law and I went muzzle loader hunting in the afternoon.  We set up Jim in a blind near a spot where I had seen deer ever time I had been in that area during bow season.  Then Bruce and I walked into the deep woods to stand hunt.  We came upon the tree stand mentioned above.  Bruce wanted to know if I wanted to get into that stand or should he.  I had an idea where I wanted to hunt which was further up in the woods, near a field.  I told he to get up in the stand.  I also said half heatedly  that by doing that I knew who was going to shoot a buck, and it wasn't me. Well I got out to the edge of the field where I thought deer would be running in the tree line between two fields.  A good choke point and plenty of signs that the deer did travel through there.  I kicked up does as I walked to my spot, but for the rest of the afternoon I did not see anything.  Well, about 4:45pm, Bruce shoots a nice 7 point buck.  It chased a doe about 40 yards from the stand, circled around and they came back by the stand.  Nice shot.

On Wednesday we were out hunting in the same location again.  This time I took the tree stand. Good luck for me.  As Bruce and I walked out to the tree stand, we kicked up many small does, and a spike buck.  There were not really concerned that we were there.  The deer run off a short distance, turn and look back at us.  We could have shot two of them right then and there.  But, I really was hunting for a bigger buck.  

I got up in the tree stand, and Bruce went off into the deep woods.  Our plan was for him to spook deer my way. You know that this trick can work just not today.  I was watching the woods looking for movement.  About 15 minutes after getting into the stand, here comes a nice buck.  He was just ambling up an old path coming out of some thick stuff about 40 yards away.  He had no idea I was there.  When he passed behind a tree, I pulled up my muzzle loader aiming at the edge of the tree where he should come out from.  There he was.  He stopped, ate a bit, then stood there.  Long enough for me to sight in on his left shoulder.  My shot brought him down immediately.  Success!!

My husband came back to tree stand within about 10 minutes.  I dragged it a short distance so we could gut it.  He did all the hard work. Then I dragged it almost all the way back to the truck before he took over that chore.  He is a big heavy deer!

I was very proud to show the buck off to the landowner, who was pleased to see such a nice buck. 

My buck is now at the butcher, and the rack will soon be on our antler wall.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.

M.   

Opening day Muzzle Loader was a success!

Hi,

Yesterday was the opening day for Muzzle Loading guns.  It started out cool (about 45 degrees), cloudy and with a breeze.  My tree stand was set up to put me in the best position should there be a wind, so I felt pretty good at the outset.  Yesterday was before the clock change.  I did not have to get up until 4am.  Today if I were hunting I would have to get up at 3am.  That's just a bit to early for my liking.  Any way, you do what you have to.  We had a nice breakfast of fried eggs and toast, then headed out to pick up my father-in-law.  We arrived at the hunting property around 6am.  30 minutes before sunrise would be at 7:10am.  We had plenty of time to get out to our stands and set up for the hunt.

I got in my tree stand and settled down at about 7 o'clock.  I was watching mostly the area where I expected the deer to walk through after being in the fields overnight.  I was also scanning in the deep woods in case deer were walking around there too.  It was just getting light when I spotted a deer body, standing broad side to me coming from the deep woods, headed towards the fields.  At first I was not sure if I was seeing an optical illusion, those that you get during this time of dawn.  I pulled up my binoculars to verify my sighting.  Sure enough it was a deer.  Just standing. Not grazing, not moving, just standing there.  I had to check my watch to make sure it was after legal shooting time.  It was by 5 minutes.  I slowly raised my gun, taking the safety off.  From my bow hunting at this stand, I knew the spot the deer was standing at was about 50 to 60 yards away. Chip shot for the muzzle loader, if I did my job right this would be a good hit.  I aimed and shot.  It disappeared!  In the dawn light and the flash of the gun, I did not see what happened to the deer.  But, about 10 seconds later I heard a crash sound in the leaves about 50 yards from where I shot.  Somewhere behind a big thicket I was expecting to find the deer.  It was so thick that even with the binoculars I could not see through it to locate the deer.  I was fairly confident that I made a good shot.

I waited about 45 minutes in the tree stand before tracking the deer.  When I got out of the stand I walked over to the location where the deer was standing.  I found a bit of blood on a leaf.  I tried to track the blood trail but there was not much to track. I walked slowly, scanning for the blood trail, and looking ahead to see if I could spot a body. It did not take long,  I was looking ahead I saw the deer on the ground.  Wow, was she a big doe.  I had a lung shot, she did not make it far.  I called my husband to let him know my good news.  He was going to continue hunting until about 10am then he would come over and help me with the doe.

He was hunting a field edge and creek when around 9:30am a 7 point buck came his way.  He had about a 30 yard shot.  The deer ran full out, oh, maybe about 40 yards total, but always with in sight.  Bruce saw the deer fall.  No tracking needed.

My father-in-law was not so lucky.  Bruce had his dad stand where he had just shot. One reason Bruce wanted Jim at that spot was to keep an eye on the downed deer, and two, to continue hunting while Bruce came over to where I was.  While we were getting my deer gutted and put into the pickup truck, we heard Jim shoot.  When we got back to Jim, maybe 30 minutes after the shot, we found out that Jim had missed a doe. Oh, well, it happens.

By the time we got Bruce's deer gutted and in the truck the winds had picked up considerably.  This very windy condition makes the deer very weary.  They will not move unless pushed.  They cannot hear very well with the wind howling, so they typically stay put.  We had planned on hunting the whole day but the wind made us change our minds.  It was after 12:30pm, We decided to call it a day.

Monday (tomorrow), we will be back out there for an afternoon hunt.  We have already decided where we will put my father-in-law, and hope for the best.  I'll let you know how that hunt turns out.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

So close, but I was spotted.

Hi;

I was bow hunting last Friday from a tree stand.  The area behind the stand is pretty thick, so I concentrated my hunting to the 180 degrees in front of me. I was keeping an eye on the area behind me thinking that if I spotted a deer in that thick stuff at least I would know to be prepared should it come into my shoot area.

I did not see any deer until the last 45 minutes of light.  Not surprising due to the heat.  The first two deer were walking in front of me from right to left down the property line, which is about 85 yards away.  No shot there.  They were moving fast towards the open field. About 10 minutes later a deer came running through the woods at my back, from left to right.  Through the thick branches and leaves I could see the tail bouncing through the woods.  I saw it stop in the pathway off to my right, but in thick bramble.  I hoped it would settle down and walk my way down the path.  No, that did not happen.  I saw the tail bounce off going the other way up the path.

I've settled down in the tree stand again.  Another 10 minutes pass. I hear the leave rustle behind me off to the left.  It was a different sound from the squirrels that have been playing around me all afternoon.  I slowly turn to my left.  There is a spike buck walking oh, about 25 yards behind me.  He looks like he will walk very close to my stand as he goes from my back left to my front left.  I am looking for a clear spot to possibly take a shot.  I found three areas that he might walk into.  As he goes behind a small tree I turn, he looks up. I freeze.  He goes back to grazing. I move a bit more and raise the bow.  He looks up.  He is starring but not nervous. I stay still.  He goes back to grazing.  As he moves just about even with my left side, still in brush that could deflect my arrow he looks up again.  I have not moved, but he was down wind of me.  I hoped that he would not wind me, due to the fact that the wind was hardly blowing at all today.  I guess it was enough though!  He looked and looked, just not sure what was going on.  At that point he bounced/ran about 30 yards and stopped, partially behind a tree.  Then a few steps, then a slow trot.  I grunted twice.  He stopped on the second grunt in an area that I could have shot.  Unfortunately, he only stopped for a second, then it was off to the races and out of sight.  That was it for the hunting day.

I had planned on bow hunting again one more time before muzzle loading season, but with Hurricane Sandy running up the coast, it looks like I should stay out of the woods.  If the storm passes and the winds die down by Wednesday afternoon (Halloween), then I may grab the bow and go out.  Other wise I am going to be hunting all day on the opening day of black powder season.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Week Eight Trap League, last of the season

Hi,

I did average on my last shoot of the league.  I shot a 14 and a 16, which is in between my good scores and my worst score.  On both rounds I did very badly on station 4 and 5. Not good at all !  At each station you shoot five rounds, then you move to the next station.  From left to right there are five stations.  On station 4 and 5 I only hit 2 targets at each station. I was behind on all of the shots. I talked with other shooters about the difficulty in acquiring the target at night, even under the lights.  We seem to agree that it is difficult to pick up the target when it flies from the house, across the grassy hill, and then flies across the dark tree line.  This is something you cannot practice during the day.  I will have to make plans to do some night shooting, where I can work on shots from station 4 & 5.

Next April will begin the spring Trap league.  Both my husband and I are planning on doing this again.

Our awards get together after last nights shoot was fun.  The highest men's, women's and junior's award were 5 boxes of shotgun shells.  My husband missed high man by 4 targets.  I was second high women.  Because the lady that won high score is on a college shooting team, she could not accept the prize (scholarship issues), the prize was given to me.  So, she got the title and I got the shot shells.  Not really the way I wanted to win anything, but she knew before hand that she could not accept any prizes.  Our team came in 7th for the year.  Best news for my husband; he wanted to shoot a perfect 25 on at least one round sometime this season.  He accomplished that on he last round, yeah :) I was really happy for him.

As I do practice during the winter, I'll post my scores and adventures here.  Then next April I'll again let you in on how I and my husband do in the spring league.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Another day of deer hunting with the bow

Hi,

My husband and I were out yesterday afternoon/evening bow hunting for deer.  It was a nice day, partly cloudy, a bit of a breeze from time to time but nothing to worry about.  Yet, there was no deer activity to speak of.  I jumped up one doe as I was walking to my stand.  She held tight before jumping.  I was about 15 yards away when she bolted out of some really thick brush.  She actually let me walk by her!

My husband went to a stand that needed some work done to it before it would be ready for the rifle season. He made his fixes then came back to an area about 200 yards from where I was.  We were hoping that when he made his moves to his hunting location that any deer he might spook would come my way.  Well that sort of worked.  I had one deer, don't know if it was a buck or doe, galloping through the woods, from my right to left on the property line. Which in this case was about 180 yards away from me. No bow shot there. Oh well.  I can take solis in the fact that I could not have made that shot with a rifle either.  To much brush and leaves on the trees, and a very fast moving deer.

I had plenty of squirrels all around me.  Eating nuts, running up and down the trees, chasing one another, just all around having fun.  But, for those of you who have had all this nonsense going on around you while deer hunting, you know just how irritating all of this was for me.

Needless to say, today was not a successful hunting day, but it was a good day to be outdoors.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Week Seven of Trap, only one more to go.

Hi!!

I really am surprised at the weather we've had over the past seven weeks.  I knew that we were going into fall with this league and shooting at night.  I just assumed that by now I'd be shooting with my coat on, long sleeved shirt and heavy pants and possibly my long johns. But Nooo.  It's been in the upper sixties all nights except one, where it was in the mid fifties.  I'm a very glad, because I'm not a fan of cold weather.

I did okay, shooting a 17 and a 16.  My husband shot 22 birds both rounds.  Unfortunately one of our team mates did really bad hitting only 9 targets in his first round.  And on the other hand, another team mate shot a perfect 25 out of 25 in his second round. We (my team and others in the league) can joke about our shooting, we can ponder what went wrong and how to try and fix it.   Overall, I think no matter what our scores are we are all having a good time.

I am feeling more assured, even though I know I need to practice more.  I am less awkward in my stance (that's how I stand and lean into the shotgun before yelling 'Pull'.  I also am not concerned any more about people watching me shoot.  That was one scary thought knowing that there is a crowd watching, that can and does put pressure on anyone.  I also think that shooting in the bowling pin matches has helped me overcome that pressure of knowing that many people are watching and critiquing how I did.

For this weeks team scores, we shot a better total score that the first place team did, Yeah!  But, they are so far ahead of the rest of us, I guess they can afford one bad night.  Oh well.  It still made us feel better for awhile.  Our standing unfortunately slipped to eighth place.  Only one week to go.  I'll let you know how that goes and the awards party after the last round is shot.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Sixth Week of League Trap Shooting -- WINDY

Hi,

Well,  I did poorly on the first round.  Only 14 out of 25! I have thought about it but I have not come up with the reason for the poor performance.

Then the high winds came in just as my team was beginning to shoot the second round.  This time I was concentrating on the bird and the updraft from the wind.  I think that helped me immensely because I shot a 20 :)   My team mates did not fare as well.  Nor, did many of the other 60 shooters that night.  But, that is all a part of the game.  Weather conditions can make or break you.  I had been concerned that we would at one point during the eight weeks have to shoot in the rain.  I never considered we would have to shoot in gale force winds.

Now the good news.  My team when up one place in the rankings.  We are now at the number seven spot.  Since the league began my team has gone from sixth place to ninth place to seventh, with two weeks to go, maybe we can end the game in sixth. I can dream that we might make it a fifth place ending.  I'll let you know.  As far as the standing with the ladies.  There are three of us in the group of 60.  The first place lady has a total of 267 points, I am in second place with 216 points and the third place lady has 179 points.  I will be a long shot to over take first place, but I'll dream about that too.  First off I have to start being more consistent with my hits.

Tomorrow is a deer hunt.
Take care.  Good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Hi,

I was in a bowling pin shoot last Saturday.  See the photos.  What fun that was.  The day was beautiful day so a lot of shooter showed up for the morning.  In bowling pin shoots, at least this one, you have 10 rounds in either your rim fire or your center fire gun for each of the two sets of six bowling pin targets.  The first set of targets are real bowling pins, set on a table about 10 yards from the bench.  The second set of targets are steel plates shaped like bowling pins. They are on a metal rail at 15 yards.  These will fall back when hit.  There are six pins on each set, so you shoot at a total of 12 pins.  You shoot at the real bowling pins first.  When you've shot all of them off the table, or you run out of bullets, time is called.  You then reload and shoot at the steel plates, again knock all plates down or run out of bullets. So, with 10 rounds for each run you can miss yet still have enough bullets to take down all the targets.  If a real bowling pin falls over but not off the table you must shoot it off the table or incur a 3 second penalty. The object of the game is to shoot fast, and knock down all the pins.

Last Saturday, I had a good score of 4.1 sec plus 4.08 sec with my Ruger 22 semi-auto pistol for a total of 8.18 seconds hitting all the targets!! On my second round I used my Ruger 9mm semi-auto.  I shot a 8.2 seconds and a 8.4 seconds for a total score or 16.6 seconds. The official scores will not come out until later this week, but I kept an eye on the other ladies scores at the match to see how we all were doing. I am almost positive my 22 and 9mm where the quickest and best scores.

In the photos, the first two show the actual bowling pins, the the rest you can just barely make out the steel plate bowling pins at the 15 yard range.  You will have to scroll to the right to see all the pictures.

If you get a chance, contact your local gun shop, or shooting range to see if they do or know of an organization that does bowling pin shoots.  You may also try a "Google" , and watch "YouTube" for shoots.

They really are fun, and good for the whole family.  At this shoot there are normally 4 to 5 youngsters, both boys and girls.  Several ladies from the club, and the Shooting Divas in Northern Virginia also join in.  The men have a great time, shooting over and over and over trying to get the best score.

Take care.  Good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Fifth Week of Trap League, wish I had not shown up :(

Hi all : )

Unfortunately I did not do well last night at the Trap League shoot. My team had to shoot at the 17 yard marker instead of the 16 yard marker as we had done over the past four weeks.  I could not believe that 3 feet could make such a difference.  I was off on my sighting.  I could not get on track. My team mates were also having trouble hitting targets.  I shot two 16's.  One of the other guys on my team shot two 16's, the other three shooters did a bit better thank goodness.

Maybe I will have to go out sometime this week and practice from the 17 yard marker, because that is where we will be shooting from next week

I am curious to see how we and the other 11 teams fared in the rankings.  We only have three more shoots and the league is over for the fall.

Take care.  Good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Half Way Point in the Trap League

I was happy with my shooting this week.  I had a 19 on the first round.  The clay targets I missed I know I missed because I was thinking of other things. This is very bad. I shook myself out of that for the second round.  Much better with a 23.  Let's keep that up.  Sight down the barrel, see just the bead, think about the target and following the target then shoot.  Sounds simple but it is not.
My team is in 9th place over all, but this weeks shoot we came in tied for 3rd place.  This means that next week I and my team members have to step back from the target 1 yard for the normal shooting position of 16 yards. I've been told that when you move back on the range that the angles change and of course the distance to the target is greater.  Should be interesting!
One of my team members shot a 25 in the first round. That's a perfect score and he earned us an extra point for our totals.  Great going.

Till next time,
Good Hunting and good shooting.
M.

The elusive doe is still out there

Oh well!  My cross bow hunting is still turning up a big zero on getting a shot at an average size doe, or bigger.  I had decided two days ago when I went hunting that I wanted to take a doe that was at least 1 1/2 years old or older.  No fawns.

As my husband and I were setting up my camo blind in the woods, he noticed about 100 yards away was a doe feeding in the woods!  We quietly stopped setting the the blind to watch and see if the doe was old enough.  It did not take to long for the deer to meander it's way towards us.  She never noticed us, which is good.  But, it turned out the doe was a fawn.  We quietly watched it walk within 30 yards.  She then turned to the right and walked into the thicket.  I thought to myself that if there was a fawn mama may not be far behind.

We quickly set up my blind, and my husband left me to go to his hunting spot.  I'd say about an hour later I had a doe and two fawns come out of the thicket at about 50 yards.  By the time they walked through all the thick low underbrush, they were about 60 yards away.  To far for me to shoot.

About a half an hour later I had a small spike buck come out of the same thicket as the does.  Bucks are not in season.  I was having a good time watching it feed around my blind.  He got as close as 20 yards, and it took him several minutes before making me out.  He trotted away from me, but he seemed unconcerned.
Hope he stays that way, but then again, when I start buck hunting I think I want to take a deer with at least 6 points, we see.

Another day of watching and waiting.  I'll be out there again next week.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Third Week of the Trap League, better than last week!

Hi everyone!!

My trap shooting in week three of the league went better than last week.  The weather was cool and no wind.

The league starts shooting around 7pm, which right now it is just starting to get dark at that time.  The field in front of the trap houses is about 500 yards of open grass, then the woods.  A few minutes before we began, several deer came out of the woods to feed on the grass.  There were over 8 deer, does and bucks, just browsing.  Not a concern in the world.  We began firing our rounds, and they still did not have a concern  in the world.  They were out there feeding for most of the time we were shooting.  Fascinating! All the team members were having a good evening watching the deer, wishing it were deer season too.

My scores were a 20 out of 25 and a 19 out of 25.  This is my average.  I am hoping to up that score in the next week or two.  I've come to realize that I must make sure when I bring the shotgun up that I sight down the barrel where I only see the bead.  If I see any of the barrel or rib on top of the barrel I miss.  Which probably means I am shooting high over the clay bird.  Concentration. I am going to work on this. Let you all know next week if it helped me get a better score.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting,
M.

A watching game for Friday's hunt

Well, deer hunting was just a watching game Friday afternoon.  My husband and I with our Parker crossbows hunted a friends farm.  It was a nice afternoon but the deer were not moving where I had set up.  I only saw one doe, and she was around 90 yards away. She ran from the lower edge of the field I was watching, ran into the woods and started slowly walking away from me. Then about 2 minutes later, she turns around and runs out of the woods, back to where she came from!  Not sure what spooked her.
My husband had a show to watch.  He had a fawn come by, just jumping and prancing around then it walked off into the dark of the woods.  A bit later two fawns came down the path from the woods headed towards the field.  They were running around in circles, prancing, racing up and down the path.  He said they were there for about 10 minutes before going back into the woods.  About a half an hour before sunset, a doe and two fawns came to within 20 yards of him.  They too were having fun running around, browsing and totally unconcerned or unaware of my husbands presence.  He decided the doe was a small one.  He did not shoot.  The doe when it got to about 20 yards, realized something was out of place.  She looked at the blind he was behind, stomped her hoof, snorted, twirled around and took off.
That was the show for the day.

Take care, good hunting, good shooting,
M.

Second week of the Trap League

Hi everyone.
Well, I cannot come up with a definitive reason for my second round last night being so dismal :(
My team started shooting at 7pm EST, the sun was still out and would not begin to set until just about the time we were finished with our two rounds, so I cannot blame the setting sun.  There was no wind to speak of, too bad that's always a good excuse. I think it was just me, and not shooting ahead of the target.
Now to the scores.  My first round was 20 out of 25.  In Trap there are 5 stations, and at each station you shoot 5 times.  The clay birds come out of the house at different angles, so you never know which way (left, right or straight) it will come out. Watching the bird, swinging the shotgun and shooting takes some practice, which I am working on.  I was pretty happy with my first round.
The second round started out really bad.  On the first station I missed 5, on the second station I missed 4.  My team mates were giving me advice and we were all wondering if my shells had shot in them.  The other team members thought I was shooting behind the target, meaning I needed to swing my gun faster and get it pointed ahead on the clay target before pulling the trigger.  I had to concentrate more, and began to pick up the targets.  But, because of the dismal start, I could only eek out a score of 11.

I was given two boxes on a number 8 shot by one of my team mates.  He thought I might do better using a slightly lighter load. I can practice with those boxes before next week shoot.

I'll keep you posted on how next weeks shoot turns out.
Good news, I get to go cross bow deer hunting tomorrow afternoon.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

First night of my first ever Trap League shoot

I am glad to say that I did not embarrass myself at the first night of the Trap league.

There are 12 teams, my team in #10.  Each team has five people.  We shot two rounds of 25, which went surprisingly quick, maybe 30 minutes.  The league started at 7 pm with my team shooting at the 7:30 pm time slot.  At this time of year dusk is just starting as I was shooting. Even with the overhead lights it was sometimes hard to pick out the clay bird.

I shot 20 out of 25 the first round, and 19 out of 25 on the second round.  I was happy with that, knowing I can improve over the next 7 weeks.  My husband shot 24 and 24!! Good Going! My team ended up the night in 6th place.  In reviewing the scores I am pretty much in the high middle grouping of scores.  My husband is in the middle of the high range of scores.  One of the guy actually shot two perfect rounds of 25 each.  Maybe someday ...

As we continue through the next 7 weeks, the sun will set earlier and earlier.  I expect in about 3 weeks we'll be shooting totally after sunset.  I wonder how the shooting will be with the overhead lights.  I have always shot during the day light hours.  Hope it is not to hard to do, but I guess that is just another challenge I can overcome.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Update on the bow hunt

To bad!  I did not see any deer until we were driving home.  My husband did see several does but with all the leaves still on the trees there were never any chances to shoot.

Boy was it hot and humid.  I think that along with the full moon kept the deer from moving much.  We will try again another day.

Take care, good hunting, good shooting.
M.

Deer hunting starts tomorrow

I was out again practicing with my Parker crossbow this afternoon.  I'm ready to hunt doe starting tomorrow.   There are several counties in Northern Virginia that are truly over run with deer.  The state has an early archery doe only season for the month of September, which I am going to take advantage of.  The county I hunt in; Loudoun, also has the earn a buck restriction.  I can shoot a buck, but then must shoot a doe, or I can shoot a doe, then I can take two bucks before I have to shoot another doe, or I can shoot all does.
With the early season I can hopefully take a doe or two before the regular archery season starts in October.
The landowner where I hunt is all for bringing down the deer population on his farm,, so he encourages my husband and I to come often to his farm to hunt.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting,
M.

Practice hopefully makes perfect

I just got back from practicing at Trap.  I think I did well.  21 out of 25 and 20 out of 25.  This was my sixth time out shooting this game.  My first round ever was a dismal 12 out of 25, so I am improving. It seems that my difficult station spots are the 4th and 5th positions.  I am still shooting behind or letting the bird get to far out on the ones I miss.

I love my new shotgun. A Browning Citori Lighting over under 12 gauge.

My friend who shoots Trap in tournaments offered to watch me and offer tips.  He noticed I was always shooting high and asked me a few questions about the feel of the gun and how it comes up to my shoulder.  The Winchester I was using, we realized, was not giving me the proper line of site to the bead! I was holding it up high when I brought it up naturally to my shoulder.  I had to scrunch my face and cheek down on the stock to get a good sight on the bead.  Not a comfortable situation. I am not bashing Winchester, they make a very fine weapon.  The particular model I had was just not sized right for me.   I tried my husbands Citori White Lighting, and my friends fancy Trap shotgun.  Both of them came up so easily to my shoulder, my cheek rested properly on the stock, and I could just see the bead, not the whole barrel and bead.  My friend said that was exactly what I should be seeing, just the bead.  I shot a few clays with the Citori breaking every one.

With in two days I had traded in my old gun (at a very good trade in price) for the Browning Citori.  So far, two months into this adventure I am so glad I have the Citori.

Take care, good shooting and hunting,
M.

How I got into hunting and shooting

Hi 
I'm going to write to all those who wish to follow me through the next 9 weeks of learning how to shoot Trap, and how I do in the Trap League.  Let's hope for the best.

I got into hunting and shooting through my husband, then boyfriend, during our dating in High School and College.  He pretty much told me up front when we started dating that he was a avid hunter.  He would welcome my learning how to hunt and shoot, but if I did not want to that was okay.  He did let me know that when he scheduled hunting he would not be available to go out with me.  I'm glad he was honest with his passion to hunt and shoot.

I am game for trying new things.  I had no hesitation in trying out this shooting and hunting sport.  

We started at a friends farm, roaming around looking for inanimate objects to shoot at.  My husband thought a 410 single shot shotgun would be a good starter gun.  He would be shooting a 12 gauge shotgun.  He schooled me on safety, and shooting techniques.  I was having a blast.  We spent a lot of time that first summer with our friend at his granddad's farm shooting at corn stalks, hay bales, and targets.  

I was ready to try my hand at squirrel hunting that fall.  During the summer Bruce showed me and told me how to spot squirrels, what to listen for (their barking), and where squirrels liked to live and eat.  I was nervous because I wanted to do well.  We went to the farm on fall afternoon after school.  Bruce and I walked carefully through the woods.  He spotted a squirrel in a tree.  We were getting closer when it took off through the trees.  I remember running through the woods to catch up with the squirrel and Bruce.  Finally they stopped.  The squirrel was barking, Bruce motioned me to slowly walk up to his side.  Once there I rose my gun to my shoulder and shot.  The squirrel came tumbling down out of the tree.  I was thrilled and excited!!  

This little adventure got me stuck on hunting.  More stories about squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, and deer to come soon.

I have been shooting quite a lot over the intervening years (my first squirrel and now) with pistols, rifles, muzzle loaders and shotguns.  

I am on a new adventure in shooting this fall.  My gun club has a Fall Trap League.  I've been talked into joining for the 8 week league.  I had never shot trap and do not really know the game.   I am on a big quick learning curve.  I'll keep you posted over the next two months or so.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.