Great day to practice for the Bowling Pin Shoot

Hi,

The weather has been unseasonable warm the past few days.  I took advantage of it, and went shooting Wednesday.

Bowling Pin matches begin in March.  I cannot wait : )  I've had a lot of fun at the matches, and I've met some very nice people. There are several ladies from a local shooting club that show up for most matches.  It is fun to discuss weapons, shooting techniques, optics, and hunting with them.
 
My shooting on Wednesday was very good.  I could only hope my time on the pins will be as good as it was in practice.  I was taking down 6 plates with the .22 Ruger in about 4.05 seconds.  The 9mm is a bit longer because of the recoil and having to reacquire the target after each shot.  I was running around 10.45 seconds.  There is just something intimidating about shooting in front of a group and with the timer person standing next to me, that makes me nervous. I think about what I will feel like when I miss, what the crowd may say, things that don't really matter but they play on my mind.   Then I think too much about some of the things that do matter like will I bring the gun up quick enough when the buzzer goes off, will I assume I hit a target and move to the next, then come back for any I miss. All kinds a thoughts in a split second that hamper my speed.

I've decided in this years practice to do drills on the first shot.  I have my husband call out the ready command and beep, I raise the gun from the ready position and shoot the first target.  Then repeat until I feel comfortable, and ready to shoot with out all of other cluttering thoughts.  Muscle repetition is what I hear this is called. We'll see.

I'll let you know how it goes after the first match of 2013.
Taker care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

A little bit of target shooting

Hi,

Hunting season is over!

I was out this morning in the fog and mist to pistol shoot.  I need to start practicing for the Bowling Pin matches that start the second weekend in March.  I shot a .22 cal Ruger SR22.  Very nice.  I was happy with my shooting at the metal plates.  I am practicing on speed of shots between targets.  Moving the gun to the next target, bringing the gun under control after a shot (which is very easy with a .22 cal) and shooting accurately.  Later I will work on bringing the gun for the ready position (barrel on the table) to the first target, acquiring the target and shooting.  This motion is where I find I need the most work on, which will being down my overall time.  I will have to decide which of my .22 to use for the matches.

I also shot my husbands newest revolver.  The 7 shot .357 S&W.  It is very accurate.  I had a good time shooting it single action.  When I tried the double action pull, I felt that the trigger sat to far forward.  My finger did not sit fulling on the trigger pull.  Bruce had no problem with the double action and was kidding me about my complaint.  Well!  he's got a bigger hand, what can I say??  Plus it is his gun.  I am not worried.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Last day of the deer season

Hi;

Well the final day of deer hunting for us arrived last Saturday.  The weather was a little warmer than I might have liked, but okay, no breeze and partly cloudy.  We got to the property around 2 pm.  I went off to the front woods and got up in the stand. I've seen deer in this area almost every time I've been hunting there.  Unfortunalty today was one of the off days.  I did see plenty of squirrels and a fox.  Nice looking bushy tailed red fox.  My season ended this year with a good size doe, a 4 point and a really nice 8 point buck.  I am very happy with my success this year.

My husband took his dad to two spots to hunt today.  First was at a creek bed with lots of bramble and cover.  As they walked to the spot, there was a deer.  Bruce pointed it out to his dad.   Jim saw it, then raised his rifle.  He could not find the deer in the scope.  The deer walked off.  Frustration!  Later they moved over into a cow field with several islands of trees and bramble. They got within 30 yards of the island they wanted to stand in when Bruce saw a big doe in that island staring at them.  They stopped.  Jim could not see the deer.  Bruce is trying desperately to point out the deer, yet not make to much noise or movement.  The deer is broad side to the two of them, head turned to watch them both.  Again, Jim could not get the deer in the scope of the gun.  That was it for Jim's hunting season.  No deer.  We are going to have to figure out why Jim could not see the deer in the scope, so he can be ready for next season.

My husband had a really good year.  He took 6 does and 3 nice bucks.  He's happy.

We were able to give venison to many friends and to Hunters for the Hungry, plus stock our own freezer for the next year.

Now I will be working on my trap shooting and bowling pin shooting.  The trap team shoot starts in April, and the monthly Bowling Pin shoot starts in March.  I am looking forward to both.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting,
M.

Not many hunting days left this season

Hi,

We are still trying to get my father-in-law a deer.  A few days ago we tried again.  My husband took his dad to a location where we have seen deer every time we've been there.  He was standing right beside a thicket. We expected the deer to come up or down the small valley to his right.  Bruce left Jim and walked over to where he wanted to hunt. I went to the front woods hoping to kick up a few deer and have them run Jim's way.

Bruce on his walk to the tree stand did kick up several deer, which ran towards Jim, but no shots were fired by Jim. Bruce got up in the tree stand and settled in for the afternoon.  Around 4pm 3 yearlings and 4 big does came into Bruce's view.  The little ones played around while the big ones bedded down.  Bruce could just see the head of one of the bedded deer, the rest were out of sight.  So, he waited. This was the same location that Jim had hunted four times this year.

In the mean time, I jumped up one doe which ran to the fence on the property line.  It would have been about a 160 yd shot, which I could do, but I just knew the deer would run onto the neighbors property where I would not be allowed to retrieve it.  I watched as she turned away from me and trotted down the fence line out of sight.  I found a nice tree to stand by and surveyed a small valley and hill side about 100 yards inside the tree line of the woods.  Nice spot.  Now I just waited for the big one to come by.

Bruce's deer finally got up and started milling around, then walking diagonally right to left, away from Bruce.  While he was waiting for them to get up, he ranged the bedded deer.  They were about 130 yards away.  Bruce watched the first big doe walk through a clear spot.  The second doe walked into the clear spot.  It was a bit bigger.  Bruce shot and it went straight down. Nice shot!  Now for the surprise. The third doe walked right by the dead doe.  It did not look at the dead doe, it did not run from the sound of the shot, or have any reaction.  It was as if Bruce had not shot at all.  Then the three small deer came prancing by the downed doe, and they did not care that the doe was lying there.  Very odd.  The bunch of deer did not run until Bruce was down out of the tree stand and started walking over to the doe.  Of course they ran in Jim's direction.

Jim did not see any of those deer.

I talked to Bruce on the radio to find out what he shot.  Knowing he had a big doe down, let me feel okay about not shooting a doe today.  We are giving this deer to a friend.  About 10 minutes after talking to Bruce, I had three deer come by at about 80 yards. An okay size and two small does.  I put the binoculars on them to verify that they were or were not shooters today.  In my opinion they get to live another day.  I was surprised to even see them as they came from Jim's direction.  I thought he surely should have seen them and shot.  But, no, he did not see them.  Oh well.

Jim did see three does.  He watched them for over half an hour, just willing them to step on our hunting property.  They must has some sixth sense, because they would come close to the property line, then turn. They'd come back and turn again. He soooo wanted them to cross over the line.  What a frustrating day.  Reminds me of my last hunt were the deer just would not cross over the line.

We have one more hunting day this season.  I'll let you know if Jim get a deer this year.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.