Rack 'o ribs

For the first time ever, I took the whole racks of ribs from the humongous doe that I got with the muzzleloader back in January. Really, it was the first deer I've ever killed that had enough meat on the ribs to warrant takin' the whole rack.

Since I lack any culinary chops outside of a damn good breakfast sammich, I had Joe figger out a good recipe to use for 'em  for camp last weekend. Bein' that venison is super lean and dries easily, I knew that we'd have a challenge.

I couldn't begin to tell ya the recipe that Boy Wonder found, but the flavor was purty damn good. Unfortunately, we pretty much screwed the pooch on gettin' 'em cooked up. We attempted to braise 'em in the oven, then finish 'em out on the grill. They were dry as all hell, and we really shoulda made a few more bone cuts before we cooked 'em, as they were kinda hard to yank apart in some places.

Oh well... it all got ate anyway, and it gives us a better idea of how to whip 'em up a bit better next time. And, I still have the other set of ribs to work with.

2011 Trophies

A couple weeks ago, I finally got around to gettin' my critters from Wyoming and my rifle season buck from 2011 mounted up on plaques. I'd already done simmered 'em off a long time ago, but didn't really have room to put 'em up in the old place, so I never got real ambitious with gettin' 'em on plaques.

Well, I got the space now, and I'm tryin' to get all these little nit-pickin' projects outta the way so I can focus on the big stuff that needs done around the house.

Now to figure out how to arrange 'em on the wall...

I also finished up our buddy Smitty's 2011 spring gobbler. I'd made the mistake of settin' it up out in the shop, and it was more or less out of sight, therefore, out of mind. I made a point to get it done before I headed up to camp, so I knocked that out as well.

Thankfully, Smitty was patient with me, and he was purty tickled to get his hands on the mount.

Body Count '14 - #2

I was takin' turkey scraps back to Ron's woodlot when I looked down into the field and saw a little brown bastard mockin' my gun-free condition. Well, I ran back to the house, grabbed the ol' .223, and went back down there and cleaned the little bastard's clock.

I did forget to grab the phone in the process, so no pics of this one.

I brought the .223 up to camp just for grins, but wasn't sure if I'd get a chance to bust it out or not. Glad I got the opportunity to put 'er to work.

Mondays are good to Ron

Two Mondays, two longbeards for Ron, and his season is done. He called in this bird from a long ways away, and the bird put on quite a show on his way down Ron's Mossberg barrel. This was his first bird with barred feathers in the fan, which is surprisin' seein' that he's killed more turkeys than avian flu. He was pretty tickled with it though, so I'll be takin' that home to work up for him.

18.5 lbs, 9-1/8" beard, 3/4" spurs

I'm still strikin' out, but not for lack of effort. As always, optimism prevails, and I'm hopin' to get back on 'em tomorrow.

The first week

I've been runnin' at a flat lope the last few weeks, tryin' to get some loose ends taken care of before I came upstate and workin' like a dog. Not much time for bloggin', unfortunately. It was much easier maintainin' this blog when I made my livin' in front of a computer...

The opener, as always, was very excitin', although I spent the day at work. Thankfully, my phone spent a good bit of time transmittin' the excitement from the woods directly to me at work.

A regular from the bar that I moonlight at opened the dance, smokin' a fine public land longbeard down home in Adams County. The birds really seem to be gettin' a foothold down here, so hopefully that trend continues and the huntin' is good.

A little while later, cousin Danny got ahold of me. He had guided his cousin that mornin', and had gotten into some birds.

Then, the best text of the day. My best friend, Erik, followed up his success from last year with another fine longbeard, from the same spot, no less.

20-1/4 lbs, 9" beard, 1-1/8" spurs

The first Monday was good to us yet again. We've prolly brought more birds back to camp on the first Monday than any other day of the season.

Spanky got things started with a unique trophy; a bearded hen. Sounded like she put on quite a show by comin' in and beatin' the hell outta his decoy. Bearded hens are legal in PA, so he had no qualms about puttin' the hammer down on her.

6" beard, 15.5 lbs.

 Ron, who has been waitin' years for his opporunity to take a bearded hen, actually passed up on one to take this fine longbeard a little while later.

20-3/4 lbs, 9-3/4" beard, 1-1/8" spurs

The rest of the week was a whiff-fest.

Joe got into some birds on Thursday, and whiffed a rushed shot after gettin' busted by a nearby hen. Oddly enough, he was a mere 40 yards away from one of my most memorable misses.

I finally made it up Thursday night, and less than five minutes into legal shootin' light on Friday mornin', duffed a shot that I never shoulda taken. Impaience and excitement combined for an ugly shot. Had I been more patient, I mighta fared better. Regardless, it was a tremendous mornin', with great weather and lots of action.

Dad and cousin Danny had plenty of excitement of their own, and had several missed opportunities. Dad dispensed the full quota of three shells in the direction of of a jake, to no avail.

Saturday, things got a little more on the right track. This ol' longbeard gobbled his brains out, and wound up right in Joe's lap. He promptly made ammends for his miss earlier in the week, and after a sprint downhill to try and stop the rollin' bird, he had his trophy in one hand, and a handful of tail feathers in the other.

21 lbs, 9-3/4" beard, 1" spurs

So, four birds in the first week... definitely a good showin'. I have four days this week to hunt before I report back to work, and Ron has a few days off this week as well. Hopefully we'll get a few more on the board. There's plenty of 'em around.

Robert Mika Holsters

A few months ago, I decided that I needed an improvement in my defensive gun arsenal.

I love carryin' my Springfield XDm in .45 Auto, and most of the time it's perfectly fine to carry it. However, every now and then, I have to tuck my shirttail in a look presentable, and regardless of it's "compact" credentials, it's a damn big gun to try to hide, even on my less-than-petite frame. My older but reliable Bersa Thunder .380 was a slightly smaller substitute, but still a little on the large size and, in my opinion, an inferior caliber. Couple that with the need to operate both a safety and a hammer before gettin' into action, it made for a less-than-desirable defensive gun. With several events comin' up this year that require a little more discretion with my carryin' habits, I decided it was time to go gun shoppin'.

After a ton of research, and visitin' a few different gun stores and puttin' my hands on as many guns as possible, I finally settled on the Kahr CM9 in 9mm Luger. (On a side note, I highly recommend The Truth About Guns website for unbiased reviews of many different firearms. I make most of my firearm purchases based on their honest reviews.) The local Gettysburg Trading Post gave me a great price, as well as a very fair trade-in value on the Bersa.

So, now I had the gun, but I had to settle on the most efficient way to carry it discreetly. I weighed the pros and cons of several different methods, but finally decided that pocket carry would be the way to go.

Again, I spent hours researchin' holsters, and I kept seein' Robert Mika's name in regards to his handmade, custom holsters. For those that have ever researched holsters, it's maddenin'. You get 4,000 different opinions from 3,999 people. Continually seein' "Robert Mika's Holsters" on all the forums finally sold me. Bein' that they are very fairly priced, I figured I couldn't go wrong, even it if didn't fit my needs. I made my decision, then went over to Robert's website and placed my order.

Within 30 seconds, my phone rang. It was Robert Mika himself. He explained that he'd received my order, and took the time to go over what his product was about, as well as ask me questions about how I would be usin' the gun and holster. We spent almost 20 minutes talkin' about everythin' rangin' from our favorite guns to his 20 years on the LA police force. I was absolutely shocked... this was good ol' fashioned American business in its prime form, which is somethin' that I don't get to experience very often. Needless to say, that phone call confirmed that I'd made an excellent decision.

Robert told me that it'd be a few weeks until he got to work on my holster, as he was a one-man show. That was fine by me, as I understand that good work takes time.

A few weeks later, as promised, the package arrived in the mail. I ripped into it like an excited kid at Christmas, cleared the CM9 and promptly checked everythin' for fit and function. As expected, it was spot-on and exactly what I was expectin'. Nothin' purty about it, but superb in function... kinda like myself.

Overall, I'm more than happy with both of these purchases. After doin' the recommended prep work and break-in on the CM9 as per the Kahrtalk website, the gun runs like a champ, and I have no problems trustin' my life to it. The Mika holster works just as advertised; it leaves a minimal footprint in the pocket and stays in the pocket on the draw, with no hang-up, each and every time. It's so comfortable, concealable and easy to pocket, I already find myself reachin' for that gun and holster more than the XDm.

When it comes to pickin' a defensive-use firearm, I realize that it mostly boils down to personal preference. Whatever gun you may pick though, I would definitely recommend a Mika holster to put it in. It was definitely a positive buyin' experience and an excellent product to boot.

Body Count '14 - #1

I got off to a bit of a slow start this year, thanks to Momma Nature and her wicked ways of snow and ice. I did whack one with the scattergun in the back yard a few weeks ago, but the little bastard managed to make it back into its hole. I had a decent blood trail and ain't seen it since, so I'm 99.9% certain it's dead. That said, I don't have confirmation of that, so I didn't start Body Count with that one. Aside from that, time just hasn't allowed me to make many dedicated efforts to hog huntin'.

I finally got to go to the range and check my zero on the Remmy 700, and on the way home, I noticed a hog in the field just across from our driveway. I ran one more errand, and the little wench was still there as I left, and then again as I returned home.

I promptly grabbed the freshly dialed-in .223, marched down the driveway, and quickly ruined her day. Turned out to be a good-sized female.

That'll learn 'er.

Felt good to finally drop the hammer on one. I ain't sure if I'll beat last year's count of 15 hogs, given that most of my free time will be dedicated to improvements to the new estate, but I'm damn sure gonna try. All it takes is one full field and a good afternoon of shootin'...