Videos up

Infantry Trophy was put up and I added the Service Rifle Championship and now the Awards ceremony. Worth seeing on the Blackfork6 Channel. Leg match to come but I am off to shoot the Garand/Vintage/Springfield/Carbine match....plus the delayed Panola Pistol EIC/LEG match at Terrell Rifle and Pistol club.

Awards ceremony is worth seeing just to hear Rick Crawford and Ken Gaby talk about the different competitions we shoot at the National Matches, the National Postal Team Match and the Elihu Root Trophy.

Infantry Trophy Team Match.

Video posted. 10 three-man teams in four relays. 192 rounds per team. Three shooters, four targets so someone has to shoot two targets, (the swing). 600, 500, 300 and 200 yards. Four points a hit at 600, three points a hit at 500, two points a hit at 300 and one point a hit at 200.

Team Blackfork: Langham/Foster/Stephens won with a 729. We squared all the targets and lost very few points to misses.

TSRA Service Rifle Results.

Clay Hefner, Pittsburg, Tx. Expert @ 729X8. Clay upholds the traditions of all things Texan.

Kim, Justin Utley, Clay Hefner. Kim shot for the first time in the LEG match and shot 81 offhand.

Now everyone is going to want to be Justin's girlfriend.

Justin Utley, TSRA Service Rifle Champion, 779X23.

Keith Stephens, 2nd, 775X24.

Glenn Edgard, 3rd, 770X14

TSRA Governor's 20. Top 20 shooters on Saturday. They all got a Governor's 20 pin.

Langham, Foster, Sepaugh, Stephens. Top Civilian Team and 2nd overall on Team Day, Friday. 1129X18

1st place: Texas Military Force, 1131X19.

2nd place: Blackfork, 1129X18.

In Infantry Trophy Team Blackfork, (Langham/Foster/Stephens), shot the lights out with a 729 for first place by 150 points.

Eight LEGs given in the Sunday EIC/LEG match, (Katie Foster, Jim Booker and Wayne Nunn were some of them. Nobody legged out. The cut-off was a very low 459 in tough fishtailing wind at 600.

97 shooters on Saturday for the Championship and 96 or so on Sunday for the EIC/LEG match.

Match Directors Rick Crawford and Ken Gaby put on a terrific match with help from Dave Wilson who called the line, Charlie Wallis and Paul LaBerge in the pits, Rick Tanner and Ltc Don Tryce who co-ordinated the hosting of the match at Camp Swift. You can't thank these folks enough for this kind of event. Every year this gets bigger and better.

The Quds are back.

The Iranian Quds force, the paramilitary arm or the Islamic Revolution? The last guys making war in Iraq that were swept up by Bush's surge? The guys Obama let go home before the fraudulent Iranian Election?

After a welcome home, a short rest and a refit, they're back.

These dead people, family folks and children, are on Obama's card.

A little more like it.

Might be this guy from last year.

May never see him again.

But at least he dropped by.

This is a shootable buck. Bigger than last year by a good bit.

Update: Dang that's a big deer. I wish Dad was still with us. He'd be tickled. Right at his lakehouse.

Texas State Rifle Association Service Rifle Championship

TSRA Junior Conrad Powers. 732X9.

TSRA Junior Trevino firing his first match.

TSRA Junior Ben Wright. 676X7 in the Championship.

EIC?LEG Match firing line at 300 yards.

Sam Houston State University ROTC.

Team Day, Friday.

This is the small day. 96 shooters on Saturday for the Championship.

Absolutely no wind on the first relay so the gunsmoke hung around.

TSRA Junior Clayton Rogers during the LEG Match on Sunday. We gave eight legs in the EIC/LEG match. Clayton shot a 687X6 in the Championship.

Distinguished Riflemen Badges at the LEG Match.

Ltc Don Tryce finally got his High Senior Springfield Award from Camp Perry. Tryce was 7th overall with a 763X13 in the Championship.

Camp Swift this last weekend. Big Team Day on Friday for a Presidents 100 4-man team and Infantry Trophy. 97 shooters in the Championship on Saturday. 96 Shooters on Sunday for the LEG/EIC Match with 8 legs given.

First Amendment

I'm furious that the White House thinks they have the power OR any business defining who is a news organization and who isn't. When this came up, if I had been in the reporting pool I would have walked out. Of course, nobody DID.

People fought and died for this right and these.......fools and criminals think they can just dismiss it with a sweep of their hand?

Who do these folks THINK they are?

Crickets, of course, from the mainstream media. Just wait until someone comes for THEM.

This is positively and unmistakeably wrong. This is an impeachable offense. Anyone signing on should be fired on the spot.

It's Hard Out There for a Witch.

Go figure.

The Cat

My cat,my cat, my cat.

How much per Iman?

That's all I want to know.

Youngster. Hope he makes it.

Same buck bopping around wondering whats going on. 1 1/2 year old.

Bobcat making the rounds.

Coyote, one of a pair on cam that came by a couple of times.

Smushed horn buck on the other cam.

Doe and two fawns. They are in for a shock.

See the tail?

Doe with that rutting look.

Put black pasters over the indicator lights on the cams.

RedState Update

Jackie Broyles and Dunlap. I thought they were kidding at first but they make more sense than Congress or the Senate.

Jackiesaw.

Moultrie Game Cams.

A serious buck from last year. One frame, one time. The big bucks are notoriously camera shy.

Bubba. Looking at the red light blinking.

I'm cheap and I don't want to memorize too many operating systems. I like this cam a lot. Just can't find one at Academy or WalMart now. Wrong time of the year to be buying game cams.

Two of my multi-year veteran cams are having display board failure. I can't read the instructions anymore and one of them thinks all SD cards are locked when they aren't. Maybe I don't LIKE Moultries.....and I'm just being pig-headed.

I stuck with Moultries at first because you could use rechargeable lantern batteries. They seem to have moved away from those batts to using Ds. At the same time the Ds get a lot more life than they used to. It's not entirely a wash but much better than it used to be.

When you are down on one knee in the bottom with mosquitos whining in your ears and sucking blood out of your cheekbones while you punch through selections on a cam software program...believe me, you want a simple and fast operating system.

And folks can swipe cams, so you don't want 200.00 hanging on a tree somewhere.

Big bucks run at the red blinking light or the flash or both. They are cam-shy. Might help to tape up the red light, though I love the look of a deer looking closely at the blinking red light.

Daily Deercam

Little bobcat.

Smushed horn buck. Haven't seen Bubba in a while.

Doe and a couple of grown fawns. Lots of tracks down in this corner.

Nice buck whirling away. Might be the red light before it takes a photo.

I don't think this is the same buck. Nearly shootable. Operating late at night. Have to catch them during the rut.

First big bucks of the year. Saw a huge rub off the trail going across the creek. I think they are camera shy. They don't like that red flashing light.

Scrapes settling down. Rubs showing up.

Two cameras display gone bad. And one cam always thinks the SD card is locked. Going to have to buy at least one cam.

Daily Deercam

Doe and buck fawn across the creek.

Mix. No Match seen. Never seen the twins apart before. They must be wondering what the heck is going on.

Fixed this camera angle, but the cam display has gotten flaky.

Ok. Rain and rabbit.

Rain and fog. Condensation. She is stamping her foot at something. Had another doe or fawn with her in next frame.

Smushed horn buck. First time I have seen him. Look at the size of the scrape at his feet.

Smushed horn buck checking out the odors. He's not going to do much fighting with those antlers. Might be a 2 1/2 year old, but probably 1 1/2.

Overcast skies but nothing coming down today for a change.

God Drinks.

New cam needs a little more tilt down.

Nice big doe.

The Big Guy. The Man Upstairs. Gawd. Yahweh. He does a heck of a job most the time but every now and then you wonder what is going on. It's about time to build Arks and line up the animals two by two.

Overcast foggy dim rainy weather for weeks. The deer are gearing up the rut- the low light and temps tend to bring it on, but this is ridiculous. I went out deer-camming today in the rain and set a new cam and pulled the card on a scrape. The sloping field was flooded. Soggy corn. No sign- everything rained out. I left deep footprints in sand that normally drains in minutes. No question about crossing the creek.

Update: Saw a small bit of dry pavement at about 10:00 this morning.

10 Reasons I deserve the Nobel Prize for Deer Hunting.

1. I'm green.

2. Recycling by reloading ammo.

3. Harvest is organic free-range meat.

4. Traditional activity yet adapting modern technology.

5. Negative carbon footprint saves chickens, cows, fish.

6. Expresses inner apex predator without civil confrontations.

7. Using a Norwegian-designed Krag to suck up to Nobel Committee.

8. I'm not George Bush.

9.

Ready-to-Hunt Rifles!

Sunday morning Dallas paper over breakfast. Gander Mountain's "Deer Camp" flyer is full of hunting stuff to buy. Rifles, overpriced ammo, rangefinders, sausage stuffers, treeblinds, feeders. It's too late to be buying any of that stuff for a real hunter but you gotta admire the selection. "Ready-to-hunt" rifles! Just flop out the credit card and HUNT!

It did get interesting about page four where they list EBRs. There's a Bushmaster for 1099. and a S&W carbine for 1399. More interesting are THREE .22 caliber AR15 carbine rifles, a Remington for 399, a Colt for 599 and a S&W .22 for 499. We are in the mainstream when a big box store like Gander has Evil Black .22 rifles, not as a single item but with CHOICES.

In New Jersey, this would be a full felony flyer.

Last Year

I shot this deer at about 9:08 on the 26th of November. Lefthanded at about 115 yards. Ruger #1 in 7X57, though anything would have worked.

I was scanning the woodline when I looked over and he was standing on his hind legs sniffing the branch over a scrape. I could see he had a big set of antlers. If you have to look or count or wonder if a deer has a big set of antlers....he doesn't. He looked as big as a mule. Really big deer are only in sight for a few seconds in the open so I raised my rifle. Because of the way I was sitting on the pine branch it was a lefthand shot. I've shot a little lefthanded just in case so it didn't even register. He went down and dug a couple of times in the scrape quartering away from me. I took a breath and made a sight picture. He turned toward me and I remember starting the trigger and thinking about holding through the shot. The trigger broke and I called it good. He went down in place and kicked a few times.

And now I get to do it all again. Maybe.

I was really after this guy. Maybe he is still around.

Made it to the cusp of another hunting season. Rarely shoot a deer after November 15th. Won't shoot a little deer, though they are fun to watch.

Daily Deercam

Bubba Buck.

He's such a nice looking guy I went back and added some files.

I think he's annointing the scrape here.

Doe with great tongue action along with a buck fawn and a doe fawn. She'll be a hot property in a week.

A little gland rubbing action.

Digging up the scrape. Nice looking buck. 2 1/2 probably. Too young for me but his antlers are big enough to be legally shot. Hope he is careful.

Grunting at the doe. Very impressive. First time I have seen him on cam. Going to have to name him. Bubba, I think.

When it comes right down to it, he isn't that smart.

Walked all around the bottom at the lake at mid-day. Fresh scrapes around, (where the deer dig up the dirt and make a scent patch) but few rubs, (where the bucks rub the bark off a little tree as a scent marker).

They are working. The twins weren't on either cam. They must wonder what the heck is going on. First year for them. I think I'm going to name them Mix and Match. Mix has the odd-shaped antlers and Match is the little four point.

I moved the camera up on a tree trunk, though it had been doing OK on the ground. Scrape was freshly dug.