Happy New Year! My Reflection of 2012!

2013 is upon us and I wanted to share a special moment I had recently on this last day of 2012.

My wife and I celebrate our 35th  wedding anniversary today and when we both reflected on the past 35 years, the common denominator for our love always comes back to our children.

Our children are our legacy because they are such marvelous human beings and make this world a better place. Is that not the essence of love, to leave this world a better place? It isn’t about the money, the things you acquire but the impact you make on others.

Let me give you just some examples of how proud we are of these three special people.  We watched our oldest daughter perform her award winning choreography piece at the Sacramento State Dance competition and her creativity took our breath away on how good it was. She has repeatedly amazed us with awards for her creative work, recently winning the top fundraiser publication for Sacramento Safari Club International. This is her fourth win in five years, amazing.

We watched out number two daughter perform in a play at the California High School drama competition in front of hundreds of people and she was a star.  She also just completed her UC Davis Physician Assistant degree and we marvel at her passion for medicine and helping others.

My son wrote a play in high school and it was performed at the B Street Theater in Sacramento, How neat was that and how proud we were.

This last week I attended the Kendal Arnett Basketball Tournament at Placer High School. I sat down next to a man I recognized from the High School my kids went to and we began a conversation.  I told him my kids went to the high school he works at and he said he remembered them.  We confirmed that he had presented a scholarship to my son in memory of his son who was a policeman and was killed in the line of duty.  I thanked him for recognizing my son and he said it was no contest. Every time they ran the criteria model to choose the recipient, my son always came up on top. They loved all the comments his peers, teachers, and administration said about him, his integrity, honesty, leadership and that he was admired by many. Wow! I had a hard time composing myself, emotions surfaced. He said to say hello to Dan and left. 

Our love for each other the past 35 years has been a journey many do not get to enjoy. Thanks you my love for the past 35 years.  I told my wife, “Ok, just 15 more years and your free, that was our agreement, 50 yrs” She said “Deal” Ha- Ha, we will just renew for another 50!

Have a safe and peaceful New Years Eve, be careful and we will talk in 2013!

Muzzleloader Hunt in Northern California

Muzzleloder Hunt in Northern California

Finally I get to share this hunt. You have enjoyed how to choose a muzzleloader and the bullet and powder preference in previous blogs,  but now you get to hear how this hunt unfolded.

Some history: I drew this tag for this California Muzzleloader unit two years ago and Dan and I had a great time. I never had shot one of these smokepoles before at anything and with my new TC gun I thought I could hit something, wrong!

I missed some nice bucks but finally on the last day I hit a nice 4x2.  We were stoked with this unit since we saw 13 bucks in two weekends that were shooters.  Emily, Dan's girl friend  also drew this tag as a rifle unit last year and harvested a nice 3x3 so we knew this unit well.

For 2012, with one pt, I just thought I would get another pt but decided to put in for this unit again because Dan had max points for this tag and may be l would get lucky and draw again so we could hunt together.  Well, Dan drew the tag and I also drew the tag to our shock.  Now we both had drawn mule deer rut tags in a great area.

Also, we had access thru private land to hunt land locked BLM land as before so we knew where we were hunting which always is big plus for success.

I traveled up to the NE corner of California, met Dan and his Emily and headed out to the unit.  When we got to the edge of the area that we were going to camp at, we noticed signs posting no fires or camping, our first problem.  As we were trying to decide what to do, the property caretaker came driving by in his ATV.  What is nice is that Dan knew him from two years before. He said they had fires this past year from wood cutters and campers and decided not to risk more fires so the closed it down to fires or camping.  He also had drawn this tag and was excited for the hunt but was going to another part of the unit.

Dan said that he knew of a small piece of BLM land right in the hunt area and with his GPS we  could camp there since it was BLM. The caretaker agreed, wished us luck and took off. 

We headed into our hunt area, found the BLM area based on the GPS  and set up camp right where we wanted to hunt. We thought this may be a problem with noise, fire, and camp smells but we just did not want to travel far to hunt the area.

After setting up camp, we did some scouting and saw does and small buck not 200 yds from our camp. They seem to not care as long as we stayed in the truck and not get out, they then  headed up the mountain.

Opening morning came and we started walking the road to view the hills and basins. This area burned a few years ago so it had major grass and burned junipers with small shrubs, nice habitat.  Not 100yds down the road, we spotted several bucks with does in a basin and moving up the hill. One was a nice 4x4 and a small 3x3.  We tried a sneak up the mountain, but could not get close. The rest of the morning was walking the ridge lines glassing and seeing a lot of does with smaller bucks.  The evening was about the same but we were seeing bucks with does so the rut had began.

The second morning started out the same, not far from camp, walking the road we spotted a nice 5x3 they had seen during scouting. He was pushing does up the ridge, skylined. As soon as he went over the edge, we worked up to the ridge. Got up there, and saw three more bucks and does on another side hill about 300yds.  We watched them go up the hill and over that ridge but decided to try for the 5x3. 

We crept slowly over the edge where they went over, and there he was looking at us at about 60yds.  Instinctly, they knew or heard us coming.  I quickly moved around a burnt tree to shoot and he busted us.  We ran to the left but he never would stop for the shot.  This was getting fun but tough.

We decided to follow the other bucks we saw earlier that went over the other ridge to see if they just went over the edge to feed. We did another stalk but when we got up on top they were no where to be seen, just disappeared?  The rest of the day was spent driving roads looking at new areas, but nothing happened.

Monday was the next day, hunted the am the same way, saw this 5x3 up on top of the ridge skyl-lined. Took aim and fired at about 150 yds, missed but he just walked a few yds. I  reloaded quickly and fired again. With open sights, early light and up a hill, not a great shot to take. Missed again and he took off. Frustration starting to take over.

Hunted the rest of the am and we decided to drive to a new part of the unit and hunt the evening.  Dan and Emily worked a ridge and I sat on a basin but no action. The weather was warming and the rutting activity was slowing down, seeing less deer.  We decided to stay in the nearest town,  get a motel for a shower and have a nice dinner. 

Since the weather was warming, I was trying to decide if I should  go home and come back the last weekend.  We got up on Tuesday am , we  headed back to our hunting area and as we drove to camp, three bucks were bedded right off the road. One was a nice 3x3 and not 20yds away and not spooked. I really had to hold back and decided not to shoot this 3x3. 

We continued to camp and got organized to go walk some ridges when Dan said, “there are bucks right up the hill from camp” We all glassed and lo and behold the 5x3 with does and a couple other bucks were not 200 yds up the hill.  They then bedded down.

We planned our strategy: Emily and I decided we would go around the hill and hike up above them and come down on the area where they were bedded. Dan would go the other way and work up to them so if they busted us , maybe one of us would get a shot.

We worked our way up the hill above the bucks and slowly worked down the hill to where we thought they would be. I was working too far to the left when Emily said we need to go more to the right. Well she was right. As we started to move, there was Dan below us and to the left motioning us to head fast to the right, we moved fast.

The 5x3 was walking with the other buck below us, he knew something was up. As he came out behind a tree, he look up at us. I hit a knee and put the bead on his vitals and fired, We heard the ”wack” and he collapsed. We froze and could not believe what had just happened.  We walked up to him and could not believe what a brute he was. No ground shrinkage,  my hunt was over and I was blessed. 

We took pics, gutted him, and dragged him down the hill to camp. What an easy retrieve.  So the rest of the day waa spent skinning and packing the cooler. We went into town where I had parked my car and I was headed home with a great harvest.

Dan and Emily stayed two more days, had some shots at bucks and harvested an nice 4x4.  He and Emily had to bone it out and hike up a canyon and down to camp so they had a lot more of a challenge than I had.

What a great hunt, two tags, two nice bucks, great camp, food, and experiences. I cannot thank Dan and Emily enough, Emily is amazing at spotting animals and packing out animals and Dan is just the best hunter I have ever known. I love them both, thanks again for taking care of the ol'man.

Enjoy the photos! Maybe with no pts I will draw this unit again? Ha!  Check out my Facebook page for more pics.

How to Choose the Right Muzzleloading Bullet/Powder Combination

How do you choose the right combination of powder and bullet choices for muzzleloading hunting?

My previous blog talked about shooting a muzzleloader for the first time and trying to figure out how to shoot this unfamiliar type of gun.  The real challenge is trying to understand the types of powder, bullets and primers that give you confidence when the time is right to pull the trigger.

The wonder of the internet is probably the most helpful when it comes to getting up to date information on what are the best loads available. Let’s face it, the choices are many and how do you pick the ones that will work best. Like centerfire shooting, the load that works best for your gun depends on several factors, bullet weight, penetration ballistics, and velocity. The manufacturer gives you ranges of bullet choices with low end and high-end powder grain based on what you’re hunting so I started there in my research.

The first resource was to check the Internet on the Knight Shadow 50 caliber gun and what people were saying about it.  There were positives and negatives on this gun. Some said it was heavy to carry, I did not find that the case.  Others said it was hard to clean with a lot of fowling especially with the breach plug.  I did find that the breach plug had to removed with a breach tool that I did not have so I used a socket set out of my garage tools that fit and could easily remove it.  I also read that you had to use a solution of Dawn soap and water after several shots in the field to get it clean.  Wow, that seemed like a lot of hassle especially when the big buck in moving away.

Well, I was concerned, so I went down to the local Sportsman’s Warehouse, and talked to Mike, the expert in Muzzleloading. I explained my concerns from what I learned and he said, “Forget it”.  Get a 240gr Dead Center bullet with Hodgdon Triple 7 30 grain pyrodex powder along with 209 primers.  He said the shot shell 209 primers are a little powerful for a muzzleloader and will cause more fowling so try Remington Black Powder primers for muzzleloaders.

He also said, in the field or at the range, shoot three shots and to clean the barrel, take a patch, put it in your mouth and saliva it up. Run in down the barrel a few times and shoot another three shots.  I did this at the range and viola, no major fowling in between six shots, easy to do. I did not need all the recommended stuff to carry in the field, and they all shot great at 100 yds. Hit the 8-inch circle three inches high and to the right of the bull’s eye.  Now I was cooking! 

Next was to shoot three shots at 150 yds.  Ran a salivated patch down the barrel, took out the breach plug and with a few salivated soaked patches, cleaned the powder residue from the plug and barrel, it worked great.

I shot three shells at 150yds but hit very high and off the 8inch circle. Not good but what I realized was that my sight picture with open sights was high with my view down the barrel. You have to put the target just on top of the round sight bead picture. Did this with three more shots and I hit just above and to the right of the bulls eye, now I felt better.  And I did not have to use the Dawn soap rinse suggested to clean this gun.  Mike said the Dawn wash is for the end of the season when you are really cleaning the gun for hibernation in your gun case.

The next week, I wanted to go shoot more but no one had my Dead Center 240-grain bullets.  Now I was panicking.  I would have to start all over with a new bullet.  I went back to Mike; he suggested using a Powerbelt Copper Hollow Point 245gr with three Triple 7 30gr pellets. He said it should shoot the same but I need to try it.  Well, went back to the range and shot three at 100yds with this formula.  Wow, hit just above the bullseye and a little to the right.  Next tried at 150yds, hit a little higher and to the right also.  What I did find is was the Powerbelts really were easier to seed than the Dead Center every time.  I did my saliva patch after the three shots and there was no difference in accuracy.

I also learned that every major gun store carry’s Powerbelts, Triple 7 powder, and Remington 209 muzzleloader primers.  That is important if you need more supplies out in the hunting area. They are the standard for muzzleloading that I can tell.

Ok, how did I do in the field?  You will have to tune in next week to see my success and hear the hunt story. 

Today’s blog information is my opinion and experience; you may find a better combination and have a different experience.  Talk at ya and be careful out there!