Bowhunter's Weekend '13

Expectations were high for another successful Bowhunter's Weekend. After followin' up an unreal shellackin' in '11 and a few more bucks last year, we was hopin' for another banner year.

Well, let's just say that we'd have done just fine if we'd have actually hit what we were shootin' at.

Reds got the party started on Friday mornin' with another Bradford County "Junkyard" buck. Eight or nine years ago, durin' what turned out to be our inaugural Bowhunter's Weekend, I sent Reds in the general direction of a known decent spot. He found a tree that looked like a good spot to sit, and that hunt yielded a fine six-point for him. Friday's buck marks the third that he's taken from that tree, which ain't bad for only huntin' it one, maybe two days a year with no scoutin'. This one took a short chase and a clean up shot, but he got 'er done.

After that, we couldn't do a damn thing.

Saturday, the ol' man shot under a decent 10-point at first light. I followed up with a grossly high hit on a six-point that likely didn't do anything but make him sore and educate him. I tracked for a few hours, but after seein' where the arrow hit and the lack of sign, I'd have to say he's prolly back to bangin' does already. Lastly, Matt threw one high over a nice eight-point just before dark.

Tater spent some time on the river chasin' waterfowl with some of the other guys, and Schlongie managed to get a goose. The fowl huntin' on the river was pretty slow, but they had a good time.

Ron did us a good turn though, by showin' us how to drop the hammer on some hens... second year in a row for him fillin' his fall turkey tag durin' bowhunter's weekend.

Misses aside, though, it was a helluva good weekend. We had a packed camp, oodles of good food, plenty of cold beer and some great camaraderie. As always, many thanks to Ron and Brenda for bein' such great hosts and puttin' up with the insanity of 11 men invadin' their home.

Schlongie strikes!

A week late in postin' (I know, you're shocked), but my best friend in the whole damn world put the hammer down on this fine mountain buck last Saturday.

Now, when Schlongie sends me a picture message, it almost always involves a dead critter. He ain't exactly tech savvy, so it has to be a special occasion for him to figger out how to send a picture. I was at work, and when I saw the picture message pop up on my phone, I was purty much instantly giddy. You couldn't have beat the grin off my face with a chuck of re-bar for the rest of the day. Made my day at work much more bearable.

Now he's bummed because he's done huntin' deer for the year. Tough problem to have, indeed.

New shifter knobs

Courtesy of one of the mule deer sheds that my brother Joe picked up in Wyoming this past summer.

They were bleached white, so I added a little stain to dirty 'em up a bit. Didn't take long to make, and they add a little bit more character to the Blue Bomber.

Sure beats the shit outta the store-bought, Made In China junk.

Prayin' Mantis

They never get any less fascinatin'.

Humorous back story... At work, when we encounter a bug of some sort, they wind up in one of the ink fountains. Those are the rules set forth by my operator, who is even more of a sick, twisted bastard than I am. Well, we were ponderin' just the other day what would happen if we ever had the throw a prayin' mantis into the ink fountains.

Well, sure as shootin', the next day we both saw a prayin' mantis at our respective domiciles, the first ones either of us had seen in months. We're pretty sure they had overheard our conversation the day before, and are now plottin' to kill us. These were just scouts sent out to find us...

Skulls from last year

I had a few skulls to finish up from last year for a few buddies. The bone had long since been simmered off, but I hadn't gotten around to mountin' 'em up on plaques yet. It wouldn't have been too much of a problem, but the one had the back of his brain cavity blowed off, so it made things a little trickier to work with.

I finally took the time to get it figured out though, and I think it turned out alright. That's two fine West -By-God-Virginia bucks right there.

Close encounters

The allure of bowhuntin' for most folks is sharin' close quarters with some very keen critters. There's nothin' I love more than havin' a whitetail walk right under my stand, a turkey within spittin' distance, or hell, even a simple squirrel crawlin' around the next branch over.

I just had a couple days off, and although it damn near killed me, I mostly stayed home and caught up on things that had been pilin' up. I finally managed to make it out Thursday evenin' for a sit, even though the weather was less than agreeable.

I'm glad I did... this little spike came in and made my night.

He showed up about 40 yards to my left and farted around for awhile, and wound up beddin' down behind me for about a half-hour. I looked back to where he bedded at one point, and he wasn't there. Next thing I know, he was less than 10 yards away.

At this point, the gig was up... he'd had enough of that oversized squirrel wavin' his phone around. Didn't matter to me at that point. I had a great time snappin' pictures of the little shit.

Hopefully, he'll be a bit bigger next year...

The Growler Diaries, vol. 6

I shoulda posted this a few weeks ago, seein' that Wade and I polished off the rest of this after our duck hunt last Friday.

I came home from work a few weeks ago and was jonesin' for pizza. My lady didn't feel like cookin', so we headed over to Gettysburg and wound up at Tommy's, where I had originally scored my growler. The growler had been sittin' dormant for most of my extremely busy summer, so I grabbed it as we ran out the door.

Not only does Tommy's have the best pizza in the area, their tap list is always changin' and always awesome.

On that particular day, I settled on Starr Hill's Little Red Rooster Coffee Cream Stout. I love dark, heavy beers with a lot of flavor, so this stuff was right up my alley. Definitely one of my favorite pours so far.

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Pour Five
Perpetual IPA
Troegs Brewing Company

Pour Four
Guinness Draught
Guinness & Co.

Pour Three
Troegs Nugget Nectar
Troegs Brewing Company

Pour Two
Zack Morgan's Pale Ale
Morgantown Brewing Company

Pour One
Troegs Mad Elf
Troegs Brewing Company