Blowing Up the Skunked

Laying on my stomach on an old packing blanket my feet flat on the concrete. My marlin .17HMR nestled into two shooting bags. I chamber a round, pressing my check against the stalk of the gun. My victim is 215 yards away, focusing the recticle of my scope on my victim I adjust the elevation turret of my scope to 215yds.  I exhale a breath and hold slighty to the left to compensate for the wind. I squeeze the trigger and see an instant explosion through my scope. I bagged another skunked can of beer.

One of my favorite pass times/ stress reliever, is shooting skunked cans of beer. I shake up the old beer and sit them on my pond dam. I then set up my shooting posistion from my back patio which is exactly 215yds from my pond dam. Setting up a variety of old nasty beer, I then begin to shoot them and watch them explode. They fly into the air into pieces, or simply lay on their side and spin and foam. Its a great past time for a person who loves to shoot, or for a beginner shooter. This will teach the beginner shooter how to shoot long range. It will teach them bullet drop and wind compensation. It also teaches them how to properly prepare their body and mind for a shot, and its just plane exciting when you see one explode. The art of shooting skunked beer never gets old. It gives the shooter an outlet for stress, and it also leaves them a new spot in the fridge for a few more cold ones that will hopefully not fall victim to the game of blowing up skunked beer.

Caught in the Moment

I pulled up to my uncles cabin and turned my truck off. I went to the back door and loaded my Remington 11-87 12ga. I checked my Walther p-22 pistol to see if i had a round chambered. I was ready. There was four inches of snow on the ground. Perfect for seeing rabbit tracks around brush piles. It was a chilly 18 degrees out with no wind. Perfect day for rabbit and squirrel hunting. I walked to a section of woods that had just been logged. The loggers had left the tree tops and brush in big piles. Perfect for trying to flush a rabbit.

I pulled a Backwoods cigar out of my hunting vest and struck my trusty Zippo. The sweet aroma filled the air around me. I was ready. I walked from brush pile to brush pile kicking and shaking limbs trying to flush something out of hiding, nothing. There were no rabbit tracks or any sign of rabbits. So i headed to another section of the woods where I knew there would be squirrels on the ground. puffing away at my cigar and enjoying the weather I kicked up a squirrel. I instinctively swung my shotgun up (forgetting i had a cigar in my mouth) knocking my half smoked cigar into the snow. The cigar went out with a sizzle. i thought to myself “I better get this squirrel cause it cost me a two dollar cigar.” The squirrel had climbed a beech tree and was sitting on a limb not 15yds from me . I unshouldered my shotgun and layed it against a tree. I unholstered my pistol because the squirrel was way to close for a shotgun. It would get blown to pieces therefore defeating the whole purpose of hunting. I took a lean off a small beech tree and rested my sight center mass of the squirrel. I squeezed the trigger and bam I had a squirrel. First kill with my little pistol. I was so excited, so I pulled out another cigar and lit it up (never take less then three cigars when hunting, you never know what you are going to get yourself into or if you need to smoke a victory cigar.) Unsheathing my knife I cut a small branch off the beech tree i leaned off of and sharpened one end of it. I then picked the squirrel up and made a small incision between its Achilles tendon and its calf muscle. Sliding the pointed end of the stick into the incision. I had constructed a small game carrying handle, I was hoping to bag my limit of five before the day was over. Sliding the stick between two belt loops, i let the squirrel just hang at my side. I slung my shotgun over my shoulder and headed on down the trail to the creek bottom, puffing away at my new cigar. I got to the bottom of a hill where a small creek runs into a bigger creek. The freshly fallen snow covered the rocks that were not exposed to the water. Water fell over water falls that looked like a stair case. I stopped and stood still taking in the beauty of it all.

The woods became silent. All i could here was the water running over the rocks. I drew on my cigar and could hear the end of it cracking and popping as it burned. I did not move. A light snow started to fall, three red birds flew down to the edge of the creek bank and started splashing in the water. I was hypnotized by the beauty of it all. Completely caught in the moment of it all. Claws scratching bark behind me knocked me out of my trance. I swung around and raised my shotgun (taking my cigar out of my mouth this time.) A red squirrel was perched on the side of a shag bark hickory. I clicked my safety off and nestled the bead of my shotgun on the squirrel. Complete silence. Nothing moved, there was no sound, everything was completely still and silent. My trigger finger was pressing down on the trigger, I let up on it and lowered my shotgun silently. Not wanting the complete silence to be broken by a thunderous blast of my shot gun or the sharp crack of my pistol. The squirrel looked at me and jumped to a pine tree and disappeared  into the pine boughs. Everything was so calm and peaceful. “You got lucky today mister bushy tail, but next time your tail will be hanging from my truck antenna,” I thought to myself. The day was growing dark. The light was casting long shadows on the creek bottom. Turning around i shouldered my shotgun, took a hit off my cigar and headed back to my truck. Back to civilization.

Coon Hunters vs. Trappers

Coon hunters and trappers have butted heads for decades. A coon hunter is equipped with a spotlight, rifle or pistol, and of course their trusty coon hound. A coon hunter hunts dense woods that border open fields or creek bottoms. These places are the same places trappers set their traps. Coon hunters will drop their dogs off at the edge of the field and wait for them to hit on a coon track. Coon dogs will usually run around the edge of the field just sniffing around to try and hit on or wind on a track. Trappers usually set coyote and or fox traps along the edge of fields next to the wood line. Trappers use a dirt hole set for canine trapping. A dirt hole set consists  of a 2-3 inch hole angled into the ground. A trap is bedded 4-6 inchs in front of this hole. The hole is usually baited with a cotton ball with coyote or fox urine on it. This intrests the fox or coyote. They will go to investigate the cotton ball and the smell of a non familiar urine. They will lower their head to investigate the hole ( if the trap is set right, properly bedded with a light sifting of dirt over it) they will step on the pan of the trap triggering the jaws to close, and snap you have a coyote or fox. Now dogs have these same instincts. they will do they same thing as a coyote or fox. And snap the trapper has a coon dog. The dog will usually let out a bawl and start barking or whimpering. A coon hunter will hear this and go to investigate the yelping of pain coming from their dog. The hunter will get there dog out of the leg hold trap and then pull the trap and stake out of the ground and then throw the trap and stake into the woods or take it home with them. The trapper will come to see what he has caught the next day. Once he comes upon the set he will see the dog tracks and boot prints from the hunter. He knows what has happened. He has lost a trap and or a coyote or fox catch do to the inconsiderate hunter. Coon hunters will also come upon a trapped animal that the trapper has caught. He will then dispatch the animal and take the pelt for himself and take the trap with him. This is why coon hunters and trappers should work together to see where one will be trapping or hunting, and avoid these areas. For the well being of the hunting dogs and to keep everyone happy.

The Whammy Hammer

One day after work i met my friend Alex Wittmer at our local gunshop. We were just going to see what was new and talk to our friends that live in the gun world and just catch up on some gossip. The owner of the gunshop (which is a good friend of Wittmer and I) told me to stick around till the store closed. I thought to myself “we were gonna do that anyway because thats when the deals are made.”  Wittmer and I hung around till they turned the open sign off. My gunsmith friend pulled a long pistol case out from under the counter and said “this is you Butchy.” I knew I already wanted what was inside that case without even looking at it. I unzipped the case and pulled the pistol out. I was already checking my phone to see if I had enough time to run to the bank. The pistol was a monster, Ruger Super Redhawk Sporting a Leopold stainless steel fixed 4x scope with a 9 1/2inch barrel chambered in the potent .44magnum. Wittmer looked at me with a opossum eating cow  patty grin and said “buy it (other word for cat).” Those words got under my skin. I asked my gunsmith friend how much he wanted (i will not tell the price because i do not want to ruin his buisness with his customers, but it was a deal.) I headed to the bank and withdrew some college money. I bought the gun and some ammo and headed home, asking Wittmer “will mom and dad really kill me if i brought another gun home? they were prolly just kidding right?,” Wittmer replied ” i dont care if they kill you that means i get some of your guns.” the rest of the ride home was dead arms and name calling. We get home i handed wittmer the ammo and i carry the pistol case in. Of course dad is sitting on the couch looking at me funny. “Whats that case for?” I cant lie to my dad “its just a  pistol case for my .17hmr tracker.” Dad “kinda big for that pistol aint it?” “I bought it big incase i scope  it and so i can put my ammo in the case too.” Dad didnt say anything else, he just reclined and fell asleep again. Wittmer was wanting to shoot it, i told him we will shoot it on Saturday when we shoot .22’s.

That Saturday I took the pistol out to our local conservation club, since i couldnt shoot it at home because dad was home. We set up the shooting bench and placed a target 50yds away. I dropped six Hornady Lever Revolution 225gr shells into the cylinder of the massive pistol. I cocked the hammer and aimed down range. Wittmer tapped me on the shoulder and handed me my earplugs. I always forget to use earplugs when im shooting large caliber guns. I stuck the earplugs in, recocked the hammer, nestled the crosshairs on the middle of the target, and squeezed the trigger. The pistol flew up of the bench and almost over my head. “I think i need to hold it tighter.” I said to Wittmer. Of course Wittmer had the dumb struck look on his face . I popped off two more rounds, making sure i held on tight so my face wouldnt get rearranged.

We walked down to look at the target. I held a three inch group at 50yds. Not bad for a beginner pistol shooter. I marked the holes on the target so that Wittmer could send a few rounds into it (most people put up a new target but im cheap.) Wittmer set up and fired. The same thing happened to Wittmer as to me. Wittmer smiled and let out a chuckle “now thats a whammy hammer!” he stated. We burnt up the rest of the ammo and saved the empty brass. I had a bright idea to reload my own shells for the monster.

After we got done shooting the pistol and shooting 1,000 rounds of .22’s, we headed to the gunshop. I ordered Lee .44mag reloading dies, a shell tumbler, primers, and 500 250gr Elmer Keith semi-wadcutters (my gunsmith friend hooked me up with powder.) The next Tuesday I went back to the shop and picked up my merchandise with what spending money I had left. (In between Saturday ans Tuesday dad found out about my new pistol, well lets just say im still here.)

That night i went down in the basement to my man cave (reloading area of the basement) and started cranking out shells. I hand loaded four diffrent kinds of loads varying in powder grains and bullet seating. The next day was my day off from work so I headed back to the conservation club. I fired every type of load i reloaded and found my best accuracy was from the shells loaded with 20grains of accurate no.9 pistol powder.

I ventured back home and started reloading . i loaded the shells with 20gr of no.9. thinking to my self “those deer better watch out this season.” The last weekend of shotgun season I finally got to go out. After sitting in a stand all day, only seeing a small four pointer and three big bucks that another hunter spooked, and countless squirrels. I was looking at a squirrel on a tree not twenty yards from me at eye level, something brown caught my eye. I looked down and there were two does coming out of a pine thicket. The does walked around for ten minutes ( I was waiting for that buck of a life time to emerge behind them.) It was growing dark, so i picked the biggest doe. She wast but 30yds away from my stand standing brodside. I cock the hammer and drop the crosshairs on her shoulder, squeeze the trigger, and wham bam i missed. The doe trots off to sixty yards and stops behind a tree. All i can see is the front part of her shoulder and head. I cocked the hammer again and put the crosshairs on her shoulder (again) exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The doe dropped where she stood. I climbed out of my stand and went over to her and poked her with a stick to make sure she was deas. i did not get a response , not even a leg kick. I thought ” i couldnt have hit her in the chest she woulda ran off and died.” I tried to find where I hit her. didnt hit her in the chest or spine, couldnt find any blood on the neck or the head. Was she stunned? Am I going to get mauled by a 100lb doe if she wakes up? she was clearly dead I lifted her head by the ear and then I seen it. My bullet caught her on the right side of the head right behind her eye. All i could get out of it was she lowered her head and moved it to the left side of her body when I shot. I just new she was dead, I said out loud ” You just got whammy hammered!”

 

Trappers Best Friend

The .22 long rifle is the trappers best freind. It is used to dipatch caught animals and to also bag small game. Northern trappers (Alaskan and Canadian) use them as a trapping gun. The .22 is usely carried in a rifle but alot of trappers carry them as a pistol. My dad has been trapping for over thirty years, when he turned 18 he had his best freind buy him a Ruger single six chambered in .22LR.

While down in the basement one day I asked him what gun he had bagged the most game with and he told me “that little Ruger has shot more critters then any gun I own, prolly all my guns combined hasn’t shot as many critters as that thing.” My dad carries that pistol every time he heads out to check his line. He has it holstered in a camo nylon revolver holster. The bluing on the tip and upper barrel is wore off from years of holstering and unholstering.

Most trappers like to carry the .22 do to the fact that the ammunition is small and light to carry. Small game is not damaged when it is hit by the .22, leaving the meat edible. A .22 also inflicts minimal fur damage to what ever fur-bearer being harvested.

A gun chambered in .22LR can also shoot a .22Short. The .22 Short is shorter than the .22LR. The short does not have the ditance or velocity of the LR, but at close range it does the trick leaving even less damage to fur then the LR.

Experienced trappers become handy with a .22. They can snipe out game up to 100yds. 22 rifles are light to carry and are usually rugged enough to take a beating in any situation.

Gun Control

In this day in age people wonder why civilians need guns. They seem to think that the only people that need guns is the military and law enforcement officers. Guns take the lives of innocent people and animals. All guns do is reek death and destruction wherever they are. In 2005 there were 6,420,000people killed in car accidents, thats same year only 29,569  people were killed by gun fire. So why are politicians and anti-gun groups targeting guns. Why don’t they target vehicles. A car is a rolling missile that can reek as much havoc and destruction as a gun.  Registered gun owners use there firearms for recreation and self defense. Recreation meaning hunting and sport shooting. Self defense meaning protecting ones family and belongings from someone that is trying to take one or the other, or both. Registered gun owners actually have the paper work and training needed to operate and carry a gun. Its a lot easier to carry a gun in your waste band for self defense then a baseball bat or crowbar, which are commonly used in murders . A gun is a simple tool meant to do simple tasks like every thing else in our corrupted world. If we take the guns away from honest people who have and deserve the right to use them, only criminals will have guns. Anti-gun groups are often fret over the news about the wackos in our world that do cruel and disgusting things to other living beings. Wouldnt you want to protect yourself and your family from these lunatics?

” 1935 will go down in history ! For the first time,a civilized nation
has full gun registration ! Our streets will be safer,our police more
efficient and the world will follow our lead into the future!” Adolph Hitler

sources on stats: http://news-events.indie.my/2010/02/15/how-many-people-are-killed-by-guns-in-the-united-states/

http://www.crashstuff.com/car-accidents-statistics/

 

One Shot One Kill

After taking three deep breaths, you exhale the third. Heart beat between 60-65 beats per second, hearing your heart beat. Waiting for the split second between heart beats, squeezing the trigger with a highly trained quick twitch trigger finger. The only thing that is felt is the recoil of the rifle that is nestled deep into your shoulder.

The modern sniper is not a cold hearted killing machine. The modern sniper is a highly trained predator. To be a sniper one can not have a short temper, one can not be impatient. One has to be stealthy, quick thinking with a clear mind. Snipers are master hunters, with the skills to disappear into any environment. To be a sniper, one has to be an expert in camouflage, marksmanship, and body control. Snipers best friend is their ghillie suit. Without this the sniper would have a hard time disappearing and being literally invisible. Unless though they are sniping from a building or from dense cover, but out in the open one will need to make a ghillie suit. Snipers have an arm extension, as in a rifle. The most common military sniper rifle is a Remington 700 chambered in .308 Winchester. They also carry Barret .50BMG in various models. These rifles are usually fixed with a fixed 10x scope with MIL-Dots (milliradian dot). MIL-Dots help the sniper calibrate the hold for wind age, elevation, temperature, and spin drift. There is a sceince to using the MIL-Dot scope which requires trigonometry and bullet compensation. A sniper usually will have a spotter to call shots and tell him what hold he will have to use to make the shot (hold meaning having a lead or negative lead and windage and elevation with his scope.) The sniper is usually familiar with the bullet composition and ballistics of the bullet he is shooting. The most common round used is from the .308 winchester with a Sierra Match King 168-grain match grade boat tail. The sniper knows the drop of the bullet and energy that it will produce at the point of impact.

There is more to being a sniper then people think there is. I have barley skimmed the surface of this fine art. A sniper will bring death from afar with the single squeeze of his index finger. The best way to counter act a sniper is to use another sniper against him. Just like the epic sniper dual at the battle of Stalingrad. Being a sniper is not for the faint of heart. One has to be mentally and physically fit to endure what the modern sniper endures.  One shot one kill.

Good Sniper Quotes

“2 lines you should never cross….horizontal and vertical” unknown

“the only thing I feel when I kill is the recoil from my rifle” unknown

“Reach out and touch someone”
-Private Murphy

 

To learn more about ghillie suits visit http://www.theghilliesuits.com/

The simplest way to learn more on snipers is to just research it…

The Black Gun

The black gun could be a number of thing. It can be a M4, an AR15, or a M16. All of these rifles are chambered in the 5.56 or as most people call it .223. The M16 has been in service since Vietnam. The M4 is the military standard issue. The AR15 however is the civilian version of this family. Even though its standard version is chambered in 5.56 you can chamber it in whatever caliber that suits you (as long as the caliber will fit on the AR platform.) All three of these guns laying side by side look identical, but they are different in so many ways. The M16 can be fired in fully automatic while the M4 can be fired in three round burst. The AR can only be fired in semi-automatic. All three of these guns parts are compatible with each other. These guns can be customized to your likings. There are thousands of different accessories that you can pimp these rifles out with. The AR how ever is the most popular since you do not have to buy a machine gun license for it. My personal favorite AR is manufactured by Rock River Arms. This manufacture builds rifles from tactical assault rifles to competition long range rifles. I have shot tactical rifles or should i say tacticool rifles, but for practical shooting you need an AR with at least a 18in barrel. The Ar that i shoot all the time has a Rock River lower with a custom Jeff Chaffee upper. The upper has a 20in stainless steel fluted barrel with a 1:9 rifle twist. The barrel is nestled into a Rock River receiver and, has a free floating fore arm. The upper is a flattop with high rise Burris scope rings. Fixed into those scope rings is a Bushnell Elite 3200 series 3×9 with DOA recticles.  Now this gun is my go to gun for any varmint or for just popping of a few rounds down range. With no recoil and a loud bang, and total inceneration with whatever it comes into contact with. The black gun is fun to shoot but sort of expensive at the same time.

For a free catalog on Ar15s go to http://www.rockriverarms.com/

Carrying At Home

Some people may think that an individual is crazy for carrying a concealed weapon at home. Some people may want to becomes friends with this individual. Why is he carrying a gun around his home. Maybe they are waiting for a zombie apocalypse, or there just plain crazy.  As for me I like to be ready for any situation. Whether it be zombies or some stranger trying to steal what little i have. Carrying concealed in your own home is a good idea because you never know what is going to happen, but carry it responsibly. Never have a loaded gun laying around, most people have never fired or handled a gun properly. So protect yourself from the idiots in your own home and keep it on you or stowed away in a place that is easy to access and hidden. The best way to conceal a hand gun is to keep it in a belt holster, or a pancake holster. if you like to wear sweat pants while lounging on the couch or your favorite chair, try investing in an ankle holster. Now if your not big on toting  a pistol around everywhere you go it might be a good idea to keep a shotgun in a corner somewhere. The best way to keep a shotgun ready for home protection is to keep a short barrel. You dont want to be swinging a 28in barrel around through door jams and trying to get on target around corners. If your gonna use that long of a barrel you mine as well just poke them with it. The best length of barrel is a 20in or a 18 1/8in barrel. With an 18in barrel you have to have an extra 1/8in on it so that it is legal. These short barrels help manuver  around corners and you can get on target quicker with a shorter barrel.

Reloading

Reloading  ammunition is fun and it saves the shooter money. I reload my own ammunition and i figured i am saving 50cents a shot. It dosent pay off at the begining but in the long run it will. When reloading be have to be careful not to over charge the loads because it could cause serious bodily injury or death. Any centerfire round can be reloaded. It dosent mater what size or caliber. To start reloadig the shooter will have to get a reloader. This can be a single stage, triple, or have a platform with five reloading dies. For doing persise reloading I like to use a single stage. The only down fall is that you have to change yur dies out for every stage of the reloading. Reloading dies are like machine dies that deprime the case and resize it. The next die will put the powder in and flare the neck out so that the bullet will clear. The third die seats the bullet. When you have a three stage reloader all three of these dies are on the same platform and all u do is put a primer in and seat a bullet in the case and just keep pulling the handle. If you do a lot of shogunning and want to reload you will want to get a five stage reloader. This reloader will put out a finished round every time you pull the handle down. It deprimes, resizes, charges, puts a wad in, charges shot and crimps it. reloading is safe and fun you just have to be careful.