a blast from the past of a day's venture in airgun hunting

my hunting partner and i went to one of our favorite hunting spots with our air rifles in search of small game.

now by saying small game, that's exactly what i mean...small...like in ground squirrels, rabbit and such. and...we sought the rattlesnake as well...we found out later, that they are a "no, no" so we no longer do that.

for those of you that are not familiar with air guns, i assure you, there are MANY air guns on the market that are HIGHLY capable of taking game cleanly, efficiently, humanely and easily.

in fact, if you're of the persuasion, you can get an air rifle that's capable of taking big game, like deer, and even American bison..but be prepared to open up the bank book; they're NOT cheap. in fact, many in that category reach into the four figures. but hey...quality normally demands payment does it not?

the area we used to frequent in search of game was not far south, off of a major southern California highway, and is an area that is VERY rich in history.

i found a US Geographical survey marker dated 1916, Pancho Villa raided not far from here during the Mexican revolution, we routinely found shards, many shards, of native American pottery and the native American matades abound in the area, indicating long time native American habitation; some are over 12" deep. it takes many years to get one that deep. in our minds eye, we could see native American women and girls grinding acorns and doing laundry along this,now, long dry, river bed.

we are also aware most native American activity came to a halt approximately 1900 in the area; the last known birth of a native American child in that area, was recorded then. then like many other tribes of native Americans, faded into oblivion and now exist only in the pages and archives of history. gone, but not forgotten.

we found fence posts and timbers with square nails in them...square nails were discontinued around 1920... we found barbed wire fence remnants embedded into old oak trees, some measuring 24-30" in diameter with the wire embedded half way in them. how long did it take that tree to grow around that wire? more than likely, fifty or more years as oak grows very slowly.

one particular oddity sticks out in my mind about the artifacts we witnessed there. we were seeking refuge from the mid-day heat in the overhang of an old oak tree where we planned to have our lunch and sit out the mid day heat then continue our hunt.

i chose to sit under a huge overhanging branch that nearly touched me on top of the head when i was sitting. i looked around at our surroundings out of curiosity and glanced up over my head at the overhanging branch to see what appeared to be the bottom of a bottle looking at me.

closer examination proved that's EXACTLY what it was. i reached up and grabbed the bottle in an effort to remove it from the knothole it had been pushed into and was unable to dislodge it; it was embedded all the way to it's shoulder and grown over by the old oak tree. the only way to extract the bottle would be to break it. we had NO intentions on breaking that bottle just to remove it! as far as i know, it's still in that tree. i have often thought about going back with my digital camera and photographing it, but i don't know if i could locate it again after all the years that have past since we first saw it. for that matter, it may not even be there any longer; it may have fallen to "progress"...someone probably put in a mobile home* there...(*that's my sardonic perspective about "progress" that i feel is destroying our nation)

that artifact has stirred the imagination on how that bottle got there on more than one occasion with my friend and i. the most popular version is that sometime in the distant past, probably around 1900, as that's when that area became active in the way of settlers, ranchers, travelers, etc... cowboys were camped there, riding fence, rounding up strays, just passing thru or whatever they were doing and after a nite of frivolity, thought that knothole would be a good place to deposit an empty whiskey bottle; a part of Americana now. a long gone cowboy having a "snoot full" and leaving his empty as a reminder of the long cold nites he endured to punch cows for a living and how hard life and times were then.



oddly enough, we have seen animal life ranging from the elusive mountain lion to the ever present mule deer all within sight of the major highway and a cafe (that no longer exists)

sadly, it's now a government facility that's surround by the area we once loved to hunt and wonder about, talk about the rich heritage that lies buried beneath the surface and how now it's been disregarded and disrespected by the spectacle that's now there. another example of today's society and it's governmental travesties that will no longer allow us access.

anyway...we took lots of game out of that area over the years and logged many adventures that are permanently emblazoned in our memories.

most of our adventures were with the bow in hand but there are some with firearms and airguns as well.

decisions, decisions...

if you care to, you can go to www.tradtalk.com and read my blog on trad archery since I've posted on since 2005.

i shot for a while last evening...until i got too cold and decided to hang it up for the evening.

i came in and installed an adjustable, cross-hair sight on my Hoyt GameMaster take down recurve that i hope to try today. i purchased this bow thru an internet deal; one of my better trades/purchases.

i purchased a rather costly set of carbon limbs for this bow at one time and found them 'lagging', shall we say, so i traded them for another set of limbs of equal quality but of different poundage; they delaminated a while later. i decided to stay with the standard factory limbs after that. they seem to provide very satisfactory performance unlike many have posted on various internet forums i frequent.

from time to time, I've considered getting heavier limbs for this bow but then i realize I've already got bows that cover from 40# to 56# so why go to all the trouble to buy more? it does not make sense.

but some of us that are into archery seem to never be satisfied with what we have on hand, do we?

which makes more sense: one take down bow with multiple sets of limbs in various poundages to meet your needs, or one bow in each poundage you wish? right off hand...I'd say one take down with limbs in the poundages you wish, wouldn't you?

well, for some durn reason that eludes me, i chose to get BOTH.

the problem is that i have some recurve bows that I've had since i started into archery that some might consider as being "classic" that I'm really hesitant to part with such as my Bear Kodiak Hunter, Howatt Ventura, Martin Hunter and Martin DreamCatcher. all are indeed, to me at least, "classic" with many fond memories attached.

the Bear Kodiak i purchased from a past NFAA, five time, national champion by the name of Rube Powell, of Chula Vista, California, whom i came to know very well, and shot with on many occasions, over the years until his death in 1992. i still shoot the ole Bear on occasions and I'm still amazed at it's performances. even in it's "used" condition, it would be considered as a "collectors" bow since it is one of the "Grayling" models produced in Grayling, Michigan, prior to Fred Bear moving his operation to Florida.

that recurve has walked the hills and deserts of California and Arizona with me on many occasions seeking game; and took game, too.

that's but one of my bows and a short explanation/reason/rationalization for not wanting to part with it.

now, time, age and other factors are coming into play and all is on hold for the moment. we have priorities that MUST be dealt with before i go any farther.

well...another day

I'm getting ready to go out into the near freezing cold and shoot my Bob Lee take down recurve bow.

this bow has been one of my favorite stand-by AND "go to" bows since purchasing it new in 2000.

over the years I've managed to purchase and trade in and out of bows of all kinds...mostly recurves over the last number of years though. i lost interest in the 'wheel' bows when they started becoming so 'technical' they looked more like an erector set than a bow. (i draw lots of tongue-in-cheek criticism from my kids for it, too...) it's something I've come to expect now and i just chuckle and go along with.

lately, I've been getting stiff in my neck and shoulders area and i need to shoot more often to help relieve the stress; i used to try to shoot at least a little each day but time, situations and weather sometime intervene.

my long time friend and hunting/shooting partner and i discuss our maladies quite freely with one another and offer up suggestions as to what to do to help. he recently decided to go to a reduced poundage bow in order to keep up with his love of the recurve bows. i did that a while back as i saw i was having a difficult time shooting the bows i had at the time...and my fingers are now, with age, getting a visit from arthritis, decided to switch to a mechanical release aid.

I've made changes in the last few years that have influenced my archery abilities and i don't regret the change. I'm now about to make (or at least try) another change that may have a great deal of influence on my shooting; I'm going to install sights on one of my recurve bows.

you need to know and understand that i have not shot with sights on my bow since circa 1982-3...oh, i did use sights and a mechanical release aid a while back on a compound bow i had in an effort to increase my accuracy for hunting. but i made a BIG mistake...i became TOO technical with the application...by the time i got thru adding stuff, the bow was so heavy it was difficult for me to handle/maneuver in most hunting environments i frequented at the time...so...off they came. too much associated with them and their use.

since then, my fingers have told me "either use a release aid, or give it up". i did start using the release aid and haven't looked back. i even applied that to using with a recurve bow and, occasionally, with a longbow.

in some "circles" using sights on a recurve is taboo and sights AND a mechanical release aid is so traumatic to some it's unbelievable; I'm not in that circle.

tomorrow, or near, I'm gonna try sights once again on my recurve bow. let's hope it goes well...

i'm also into airguns and firearms.

right now i don't indulge much in firearms as it's quite expensive to pursue...just to and from a LEGAL place to hunt/shoot is costly and time consuming. i am a life NRA member but that really doesn't account for much when it comes to the laws and rules set forth by our so-called "legislators". if it were up to me, I'd fire the whole legislature and replace them with gun/hunting/shooting friendly legislators.

i just got some reloads for my .308 Winchester. now i have to sight in the scope/rifle to the load. that will be fun, interesting and challenging since i don't know if i can get over 500 yards where i shoot.

i have numerous 'projects' in the fire insofar as air rifles are concerned.

stay tuned...