Notes from the Hunting Journal--11/11/07

11-11-07: John A. and I went out again, this time to a different area, XX, which was open this day to hunting with high-velocity rifles. (I should explain that there are certain areas at certain times on Ft. Carson that are closed, closed for all but low-velocity guns [muzzleloaders, shotguns], or open to all types of guns, including high-velocity cartridges. All of this seems due to the training or non-training of army personnel that goes on in a given area.)

Not too long, perhaps one hour, after we started hunting the area, I sat down near the crest of a hill to glass the area below. Within a few minutes, I saw a doe in a small clearing about 400 yards to my left foraging down a hill. In a seated position, I put the crosshairs on her, but the rest was too unsteady, so I decided to go prone. Whenever the deer looked in my direction as I was getting into position, I froze. After finally going prone, with my rifle resting on my blaze orange-colored backpack, I was ready to shoot, but the deer by that time had moved to a less-than-optimal stance, which was okay since I didn’t feel that confident about taking a shot at that distance anyway. She eventually disappeared behind a tree and I never saw her again.

About this time, while I was watching to see if more deer would appear in the area I had seen the other one, I heard a shot to my right. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was John bagging a deer. As soon as I looked over to the direction the shot came from, I saw two deer run over the summit of a hill across the small valley that was below my perch. I glassed the area and saw nothing.

By this time John, who had fired at his deer from a kneeling position about 200-250 yards away, had made it to his deer. This scared three more of the animals still in the immediate vicinity into moving and I saw them clearly. Grabbing my rifle, I assumed a seated position, but again found it too unsteady for the distance (at least 350 yards). Since I couldn’t go prone due to the direction of the deer, which were straight across from the face of my hill, and due to the grade of my hill, I was at a loss for a course of action. Thinking quickly, I grabbed my backpack, laid it across my knees/lap, and laid back against the hill. This was still a less-than-ideal setup, but it’s all I had time for. In retrospect, I should have just passed on the whole situation, but I didn’t. I fired at the creatures, and missed, not once, but five times (I believe I was shooting under them due to the distance). They actually stayed around so long after I started shooting because their attention was focused on John. After serving as shooting gallery targets for a while, they decided to vacate the area, and did so quickly. I then began to walk over to John.

On my was to John, I saw still more deer. Three of ‘em, to be exact, about 150 yards away. As soon as I saw them, I went into the kneeling position and my left knee landed squarely on a cactus. Ouch! I moved a bit forward and once again kneeled, waiting for my breathing to return to normal so I could take a shot. Of course, by the time I did, they were already moving behind a scrub oak bush. "When they come out," I thought, "I’ll take one," but they never did reappear. They took the back exit and went down a draw behind the bush. Oh well. I continued on to John, my knee smarting with what would turn out to be seven cactus thorns stuck in it.

When I got to John, he already had his deer open and had the innards halfway out. He said he was getting tired, and that he needed help. After pulling on some vinyl gloves he gave me, I cut the connecting tissue while he pulled the guts out. I then retrieved a folding saw from my pack and cut the pelvic bone to finish the process. We dragged the deer uphill about 60 yards to a rough dirt road, and I went to fetch my truck. By the time I returned, John had already called the game processor and set up a time for us to drop his deer off. We loaded the deer in the truck, I snapped a few photos, and we were off.

The lessons I either learned or that were reinforced on this outing are as follows. 1) Never, obviously, kneel on, or in any other way touch, a cactus. 2) Bring the shooting sticks you took the trouble to make (this alone might have helped bag me a deer). 3) Don’t forget your gear. (I forgot my hunting gear belt which included my knife, compass, water bottle, and earplugs, among other things. I could really have used those earplugs on this trip because firing five rounds from a muzzle-braked .30-06 is LOUD. My left ear is still ringing.) 4) Practice at distances farther than 100 yards from positions other than at the shooting bench. Learn the bullet drop for your particular load and either commit it to memory or, better yet, tape it to the stock of your gun.

Even though I did not bag a deer this time, the good thing is the season is long and we’ve found an area with abundant game. I’m reasonably sure I’ll get another chance at venison soon.

Take care.
DAL357

Notes from the Hunting Journal--10/27/07

10-27-07: Went deer hunting on Ft. Carson for the first time of the post’s long season (it runs until Jan. 31) with John A. Although the area we went to had some sign (tracks and scat), we failed to see anything.

John and I devised a strategy to try to flush out some deer. John stayed in one spot, on the hillside of a draw, while I walked through the draw to flush any deer that might be there toward him. A decent plan, but the problem was in its execution.

I got somewhat lost and didn’t see John again for two hours. I lost sight of my direction beacon, the mountains to the west, and I wandered aimlessly. While I eventually used my compass to try to help me, I distrusted it since I thought I knew approximately where I was, a dumb mistake some people make, or so I’ve read. Finally, realizing I was getting nowhere fast, and knowing that the road I came in on was to the east, I decided to quit screwing around and follow the compass east. I did this and within 15 minutes was back on the road.

When I reached the road, however, the truck was nowhere in sight. I called John on the two-way FRS radio I had and he recognized the spot I described as being about half a mile(!) south of the vehicle. He came and picked me up and we had a quick snack and decided to call it a day, as it was around 11 a.m. On our way back, in an area that was closed that particular day to hunting, we saw two doe lying within a stone’s throw of the road peacefully watching us as we passed by.

Take care.
DAL357

One man's creativity.

One of the fascinating things I've found in my years on the 'Net is the creativity of people out there. Below is a link to a site where a man shows, step-by-step, how he built his own little travel trailer. It looks pretty darn good, and he did it for under $1,000. I've seen similar factory-built rigs going for close to ten grand! Take a look and enjoy one man's creative energy.
http://www.crocodiletear.com/

Take care.
DAL357

A sacred trust

Perhaps it's too much to ask for people to care for borrowed library materials while in their custody and return them in decent shape? I've noticed the shabby shape many materials are in when I check them out, with CDs and DVDs often being the worst. I can understand normal wear and tear, but some of this stuff looks like wanton neglect or destruction. From audio book CDs that appear to have been used as hockey pucks to books that look as if they've been used as doorstops or chock blocks for automobile tires, it's a sad state of affairs.

When I was in early elementary school, over forty years ago now, it was drilled into me to NEVER write in a book and to treat books with the utmost respect. Apparently, many people never got this message. To this day I've never forgotten these lessons and even with the books I own I feel like a vandal if I make notes in them. I always strive to do no further damage to any library material I borrow; I wish everyone had this attitude.

I don't know if this happens everywhere, but it sure does in my neck of the woods.

To me, when one borrows library materials, one enters into an almost sacred trust. Apparently, however, I am in the minority on this point.

Take care.
DAL357

Putting the HOly back into Christmas

The sheer absurdity of this, if true, something never for certain when reading news stories, leaves no room for comment; it speaks volumes for itself.


Santas warned 'ho ho ho' offensive to women
Wed Nov 14, 9:45 PM ET

Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho," a US slang term for prostitute.

"Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids.

"We are talking about little kids who do not understand that "ho, ho, ho" has any other connotation and nor should they," she told the Telegraph.

"Leave Santa alone."

A local spokesman for the US-based Westaff recruitment firm said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of the individual Santa himself.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse.


Take care.
DAL357

Which came first, the cell phone or the moron?

A good number of surprises fall into most peoples' lives, some good, some bad, some in between. Often, these surprises seem to occur in certain areas (finance, love, etc.) over and over to certain people, usually because they are ignorant or weak in these areas. My big area of surprise due to ignorance happens to be in technology. At one point in my life, at least 20 years ago, I was fairly up on the latest inventions/gadgets in the marketplace; that is no longer true.

Take, for instance, something I just became aware of: cell phone jammers. Until I heard a blurb on the radio about them just minutes ago, I knew nothing about them. After a quick check on the 'Net, I now know that they work, but that they are illegal to use in the U.S. Okay, fine, I doubt that I ever would have bought one anyway, but the fact that there is even a need for this type of device brings me to the point of this piece (of course there's one!).

Simply put, these devices exist because there are so GD many self-centered, ignorant, and oblivious people who haven't a clue about common courtesy and how to act in public. If these clueless cacklers were ever exposed to lessons in civility, they quickly forgot them. The cell phone jammer must have been invented as a defense against the virus that has infected much of the population of this country--moronism. I've learned from listening to umpteen one-sided cell phone conversations, most of them in inappropriate settings (restaurants, stores, break rooms, workplaces, etc.), that people rarely have anything to say that couldn't have waited for a more apropos time/place, and that they speak as if they are sure all around them want to hear every detail.

We truly are, as Jeff Cooper once said, in the age of the common (low-class) man. Those few folks who do seem to have a modicum of decorum are no longer looked at as examples to emulate, but as objects to ridicule. More's the pity.

Take care.
DAL357