Now I know why I was feeling so paranoid The whole time I was there..... It was IllBeer watchin my backside all day.Well for your personal bedside photo I hope  you got my good cheek.
I ate so good I couldn't hunt in the afternoon. Had 2 differant kinds of Salmon, cheese, crackers,About 3 lbs of the best deer steak I've ever had in my life. 3 differant kinds of Deer Jerky and 4 slices of killy's pies to finish it off. All I could do was set in the truck and listen to my old friend Johnny Cash.
Didn't hunt much but sure ate good.

I'll get some video posted as soon as I get it edited.  Most of what I got on tape was the food feasting and target practice.  I should have taken the video camera into the woods for the stump shooting, that's where all the laughs were.  Next time I'll remember it.
   
I'm here to tell y'all I never had that much fun shooting before...ever.  All y'all are GREAT people and I can't wait to get together again.

What can I say, great day! those stumps did not stand a chance. I don't know why Cleve is whining about looking bad he hit 2 stumps over 40 yrds! By the way Ron can cook! Possibly the best Deer I have eaten (Pies weren't bad either)

Adam

LOL I was hoping someone would mention those AWESOME shots Cleve made on them FAR out stumps    ... And he cooks a mean Brat.

Chucks ( Talondale) Salmon was REAL good too. Hell... Everything was Good, Except for me getting called  back to work. LOL

boys face facts god has a soft spot for the shooter with no ranging skills...... you can qoute the sky boy on that one.the 2 reasons I hit them was devine intervention and the fact that it was all but impossible to shoot over them.   . Adam please send me video of the flu's I love those things, I've giggled like a school girl all day.

Enjoyed meeting up with people, even if only for a short time. Maybe next time hris, Connor and I won't take the long way around the perimeter.
Killy, enjoyed meeting the ghost(Clark) and liked the sundowners with Adam as well.
Hope to meet up again at ATAR or maybe a hoghunt or something again.

Enjoyed meeting up with people, even if only for a short time. Maybe next time Chris, Connor and I won't take the long way around the perimeter.
Killy, enjoyed meeting the ghost(Clark) and liked the sundowners with Adam as well.
Hope to meet up again at ATAR or maybe a hoghunt or something again.

Lets do it again soon  

Okay, simmer down.  I'm working on the pictures now.  I waited until I got into work so I had high speed connection and nothing else to do (just kidding boss really!)

I had a great time.  It was my first time stumping and I was dutifully humbled, but enjoyed myself immensely!  BTW, I did have one of them big red fox squirrels playing behind my house yesterday despite snow and freezing rain.  Go figure.

To start off I left my house around 4:00 AM and drove east with 20 MPH winds and near 30 F temps.  I arrived at the designated spot almost exactly at 6:30 AM.   There was only one truck there.  I was beginning to think I had the wrong time and place when VA Bowbender came over to introduce himself.  We talked for awhile waiting for dawn and the other shooters.  UK Bowman showed up next and for some reason noone had a problem figuring out who he was once he opened his mouth.  (He tried to tell us it was a Kentucky accent) Soon NC recurveman, String Cutter, and BigRonHuntAlot show up.  We decide to warm up, figuratively and literally. We put on a few extra layers of clothes and pull out a couple of block targets.

Here we are in the early morning chill.

 


VA Bowbender shoots with authority.

 

yall didnt kill anything? AGAIN?!

gee whiz...looks like ill have to come next year and break the curse  

We then split up in groups of three and went looking for squirrels.  Signs of squirrel were everywhere, nests and cuttings, but after a short while in the woods, and only some ghostly sightings, it became evident that the squirrels weren't coming out to play.  The area is well managed and has some good habitat for game but either high pressure or cold weather had all game in hiding.  BigRonHuntAlot, VA bowbender, and I walked along a wooded road that had lespadeza and dried forbes along the edge trying to kick up some rabbits but only found a plethora (stole that one from killdeer) of water bottles that we cleaned up by shooting them all the way back to the parking lot.  The other group had the same amount of luck.  We noticed that Killdeer, Clark, and Spirit, had showed up while we were out, but they were still persuing game.  What we didn't know was that Tom, Chris, and Conner were out playing in marsh mud as well.  We wasted no time in setting up a make-shift kitchen in the back of VA Bowbender's truck.  Everyone pulled out one delicacy or another.  Ron made the BEST batter fried cubed venison I'd ever tasted.  It literally melted in the mouth.  UK made some bangers and a spot of tea.      There was jerky, smoked venison, smoked salmon, cheese,crackers, and venison bologna.  
 

Just as we were finishing up Killdeer, Clark, and Spirit emerged from the woods.  This was timely because Killdeer had brought three pies and we were ready for dessert.  I never got the opportunity to photo either shooting, they always seemed in motion (especially Spirit).  There were a few morsels of cubed venison left to share, but all were gone when Tom, et al emerged from their trip in the marsh.  We decided to work off some calories by shooting some more arrows.

BigRon:
 

String Cutter



NC Recurveman

 

UK Bowman

 

After shooting for awhile the wind died down some so we decided to take another go at it.  String Cutter begged off saying he had some deep meditating he needed to do.  So VA, NC, UK, BigRon, and I headed for the woods, pushing a brushy field for rabbits on the way.  Nothing was kicked up and we decided the most abundant game available were stumps so we persued them with great zeal.

Here's BigRon threading his orange flu flu through two trees.  (notice arrow in flight)
 

I also caught UK's arrow in flight but that was a little easier because as he said, his longbow "puts the arch in archery".  LOL.
 

BigRon and VA Bowbender definitely schooled us but the long shots went to NC recurveman.

 

Here he is with his 55 yard hero shot.

 

All in all a good time was had, even if the game didn't cooperate.  Thanks everyone for a great day.

 

thanks talondale, didn't realize you did so much camera work in the woods

Chuck, Great Pics.  Thanks