Friday, September 27, 2013

Trap League shooting.

Hi,

Our weekly Trap League shoot was a nice one.  Weather was perfect, mild and no wind.  The deer were out in force feeding just out of shotgun range.  Our trap shooting never bothers them.  Several of us saw two nice bucks in the herd of about 15.  If they know what's good for them they will stay within the gun club grounds.

My team did exceptionally well this week.  We ended up in a tie for first place for the week.  Unfortunately that means when we shoot next week we have to be at the 19 yard line instead of the 16 yard line!  My husband and I plan on a practice shoot Monday to see how we do that far back.  My scores were 21 and 21. Best for me ever.  Maybe I am getting the hang of it.

Will be out deer hunting this afternoon.  Wish me luck.
Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Squirrel Hunting

Hi;

Yesterday I went squirrel for the morning.  It was a nice day for it, in the low 60's and sunny.  I did not get any but I have a story to tell.

When I first got into the woods and pick out a place to stand, I saw a partially bent over small tree limb just bobbing away.  From the looks of it, I thought a squirrel had been sitting on the limb and I scarred it away.  Figuring that was the case I decided to stay there and wait for the squirrel to reappear.  The woods were quite for over 10 minutes.  No squirrel chatter, no leaves rustling, just some birds singing.  All of a sudden behind some low brush about 30 yards away I heard a big commotion.  I thought at first maybe a deer was coming though, but no.  All of a sudden on a bent over tree trunk (maybe 10 feet off the ground), a squirrel comes tearing up the tree trunk. When it got to the apex of the bend a hawk came swooping down trying to pick up the squirrel in it's talons.  Fortunately for the squirrel, he jumped off the tree trunk just as the hawk was reaching out to grab him.  The squirrel ran off to safety.  The hawk was making a bee line towards me! With in 5 yards of me he turned slightly and flew away.  Whew!
From that point on any squirrel in the area had fled.  I heard all around me the barking squirrels.  Time for me to move to a new area.  I followed one of the barking squirrels and set out to hunt that one.  To bad for me the squirrels I did find were all way up in the trees, hidden most of the time by the leaves.  Oh well.  maybe next time I get to go out the leaves will have turned and beginning to fall.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Trap League two weeks and deer hunting begins

Hi,

The Wednesday Night Trap League began two weeks ago.  The first night the weather was beautiful, in the low 80's and a slight breeze.  That did not help my first round though!  My husband and I shot the day before to practice and I shot my average a 17 and 18.  I was feeling pretty good.

We have a new person on our team this year.  He is a skeet shooter. One of our friends suggested to J that he give it a try this year.  Boy did that turn out to be good for us.  He is a excellent trap shooter.  In the past two weeks he has had rounds of 22, 23, 23 and 24.  Keep up the good work.

I on the other hand had a dismal first round on the first week.  A 14.  I had one particularly bad set at the 4th station - only 1 bird hit.  I was not going to let that faze me.  Thank goodness my second round was one of my best, go figure.  I shot a 20!  That put me in a tie for high lady at 34.  At this point I don't think that is saying much.  My husband shot a 22 and 22.  He was okay with that.  Our team for the first week ended up in 6th place out of 12 teams.  A bit better than last year.

In between the first and second week of trap, we went deer hunting.  This year our September hunts will be with the pistols.  I took my S&W 41, and my husband took his scoped S&W 44.  The day was pretty hot and a bit humid, thankfully a small breeze came through from time to time.  Before we settled down for the afternoon hunt, we set up a spot for my father-in-law to hunt the next time we go out.  We located two spots that he could stand.  We set up the camo blind in both locations to make sure it worked.  Then we set out surveying ribbons at 40 yards.  That is his limit with the shot gun and buck shot. He should be in good shape with this set up.
I got up in a tree stand, and ranged out to 50 yards. That set me up with several good lanes should the doe's come by.  Unfortunately, I did not see one deer.  My husband set up in a ground blind in the woods near a field.  He had two doe's playing around but just out of range.  They taunted him for over an hour.  Finally one of the doe's started to head out to the field, bringing her within range of my husbands pistol.  He took a shot at 45 yards and nailed the doe.  It went straight down.  Very nice not to have to trail the deer.
The next day we butchered the doe.

Week two of the trap league was better for me but worse for my husband.  The weather was hot, around 93 degrees and humid.  Maybe I just like shooting in the hot weather.  I hope not because the temperatures are only going to go down from hear on out for this league.  I shot a 17 and a 20.  The other ladies must have had really ruff times shooting this week, because I ended up in the lead for top lady by 10 birds. Wow.
My husband however was not having a good evening.  He shot a 18 and 19.  Now he feels like he is out of the race for top men's score.  I told him to just sit back, have fun at all the rest of the shoots, the pressure is off.  Maybe he will actually shoot his best from now on. I'll let you know.

Our team jumped up a spot to number five.  Wish us luck for the next round of trap.  Also I need your good wishes that I see a doe next time out hunting.

Take care,  good hunting and good shooting.
M.