Went Out. No Luck.

Finally we were able to make it out afield this season for some quail and duck hunting.  It proved fruitless though.  The first day I decided to check out an old quail spot that I've left alone for years due to the drought.  The area has completely changed, brush is now sparse and looks more gambels terrain than valley quail.  There were a number of jackrabbits which makes sense.

We gave up on the quail and started our way north.  With only a few hours of light, we checked some new areas.  We did find raft of mixed ducks in a pond but we were running out of light to make a stalk.  In the same area we did find at least five cow elk grazing which was nice to see.

The next day we were hard pressed to find any waterfowl.  After hours of searching we did find a trio of ringnecks.  I put a stalk on them and managed a shot after they took flight.  The shot managed to drop one to the water.  As it struggled swimming I decided to place an insurance shot at him before I sent the dog after him.  Once the spread hit though all the sudden he decided to muster all his strength and amazingly took flight.  Once I reloaded he was far out of range.  I eyed him as long as I could hoping he'd realize he should be dead but managed to fly out of sight miles away.  Seemed to epitomized the whole trip but it wasn't complete bust though as I was able to see my friend Dave before he moves away for retirement.  He was also kind enough to give me quite a bit of venison meat he managed this season.  So at least I came home with some quality game meat.

Additions to the Film Library

I wrote about Rainer Joesch some time ago when he made his first movie about hunting Cape Buffalo in the mountains of Tanzania (that post can be found here).  Since then he has made three more movies regarding the subject of buffalo hunting.  They have been out for some time but I finally picked up a two of the three.  I would have purchased part two but the retailer did not have it in stock.  I also picked up an Ivan Carter film as well, Sunset in Botwana.

I've watched the two Rainer Joesch films so far and they like his previous film are amazing.  Most hunting films are, I'll admit, pretty lame.  Joesch's film are not.  They are filmed documentary style and the focus is not the kill shot, like in most films, but rather the whole hunting experience. When I have the time I'll do a full review of each film.  Stay tuned.  Check out the trailer for Part One:

Vet Gives The Go Ahead

After Kaiser's bout with bloat in December I accepted the fact that the wingshooting season for us was over.  But after a visit to the vet, she had given us the all clear to begin normal life.  With only one week left in the season, I decided to bite the bullet and buy all the bird stamps.

We made it to the Eastern Sierras late afternoon on Tuesday.  I tried a small creek that usually produces but without any luck.  I then paid a visit to my old friend Dave who let me know that the LADWP had dried up some ponds and diverted it to a new location.  So we went to check it out only to find a pair of hunters leaving the area.  No birds in sight.

The next morning we hunted the river and managed to flush a pair of mallards too far out of range. Not long after I managed a shot at a drake ringneck only to miss.  Afterwards we decided to head to the Upper to do some fishing and found the river loaded with fishermen on every bend.  What the heck?  Why some many people midweek?  I didn't even want to bother so we checked out some nearby areas for duck but without any luck.  So we headed down the valley.  I was looking for some old ponds but ended up wasting time driving around.  I didn't really hunt the area last year as Jeff invited me to his duck club most weekends so my memory was bit hazing as to where these locations were exactly.  When I did find these areas they were void of ducks.  So I tried some parts of the river I knew usually held birds.  The Owens is getting harder and harder to jump shoot.  There simply is too much overgrowth.  You can barely get to the water anymore.  In a year or two a lot of the water will be inaccessible.  We did mange to see a covey of quail but they were in a residential area likely wild "pets" of the residents.

Thursday morning I decided we will head to the Upper and fish for a couple hours and hunt the rest of the day.  On the way up we saw a herd of 40 or more deer all does.  Geese lined the river but would have been impossible to hunt as there is no cover to conceal a stalk. Anyway I wanted to rest Kaiser somewhat as he is not in full hunting strength.  I did not want to push him too hard.

Jeff had suggested a new streamer technique for the Upper that he used with great success in the past so I wanted to try it.  By 9am there were all ready four cars on the river.  I managed a spot on the river and tried my luck for two hours.  No success.  We headed down the valley in search of birds.

The old man asked to stop by a shop to get some beef jerky.  I said I can do better and took him to the Mahogany Smoked Meats.  After sampling a few we ended with the elk and wild boar jerky.  We started our way south stopping a few locations.  I managed to jump another pair.  After missing the first shot I carefully aimed at the second.  Clearly missing even more.  I completely stopped my swing and shot under him as he was raising.  Eventually we flushed another pair, I connected and saw the drake mallard fall on the opposite bank in the reeds.  I had to navigate a way for the dog and I to cross.  When we did we looked for the bird only to lose it.  I can't believe we lost it.  We looked for at least half an hour or more.  I marked it well but it either dove or somehow swam away while we were trying to cross the river.  The wingshooting season ends this Sunday and it is unlikely we'll head out again but at least Kaiser was able to do what he loves at least once this year. I think in the future I will forego cast and blast type trips.  For me it's too distracting, either focus on fishing or focus on hunting.

Lufftwaffe Drilling On Youtube

Oh Yeah Part II

Oh Yeah.

Double Limits Menagerie

Day One.  It seems that any plan I make, it only ends up being altered.  I had planned on hitting the Sierra earlier in the week only to have that canceled.  So rather then head north I decided to head south for the weekend and chase pheasants.  On Thursday Jeff called and let me know his regular hunting partner cancelled on him and asked if I wanted to sub for him.  In a heartbeat I answered in the affirmative.  Jeff had ran his dogs on Tuesday at the club and saw an abundance of big ducks.  The northern arctic freeze had pushed the birds down and Jeff predicted a good day.

Not an uncommon sight for the spectacular day

At 3am my alarm went off and I packed up the shotguns and headed to the duck club to meet Jeff.  Unlike our last outing Jeff would have to draw a new blind for this time around since he didn't like the blind he was assigned to for this round.  Luckily he drew number one and chose blind 15, one of the best of day's vacant blinds available.

In the darkness of night while heading to the blind, we could hear the variety of ducks teasing us within the various ponds, pintails, wigeons and mallards before legal shoot time.  We sat patiently as quality ducks flew overhead teasing us as we waited for the buzzard to inform that we could begin hunting.  By 5:56 am Jeff began skillfully calling them in. The first birds to fly by were shovelers and we let them pass, waiting for the quality birds that Jeff was so confident would eventually pass.

Our first pintail

It wasn't long before we had birds falling from the sky.  Jeff was dead on with his Beretta auto taking the first bird, a greenwing teal.  Jeff had several before down before I finally connected with my first bird, a hen spoonie.  My first several misses were caused by my over thinking each shot; I was trying to calculate the lead rather than letting it come naturally.  Once I finally shut the brain off I was connecting with some regularity including my first pintail, a drake in eclipse plumage

Jeff readying himself for a shot

Time in a blind is often spent waiting staring at the sky with a brief moments of action which was the case the last time Jeff invited me to his club.  Usually the only thing to pass the time is excellent conversation but on this day it was not the case.  In fact most of our conversations were abruptly cut off with someone interrupting to point out birds flying by.  For the first several hours it seemed nonstop.  Jeff hooked many and got them to commit to landing in the spread but was ultimately foiled by our neighboring blinds that foolishly skybusted birds.  I thought duck clubs had a better class of hunters than refuge hunters but I guess this is not the case.  Naturally this type of nonsense inflames Jeff and rightfully so, most of the birds the neighboring blinds had taken were because Jeff managed to get he birds to commit and work the area.

I expelled more shot than I care to admit.  Shooting Bismuth, Hevi Shot Classic Double, and Tungsten Matrix, at an average of $3.00 let's just say it was an expensive day.  I actually feared I might run out before we reached our limits.  That would not be the case though thanks mostly due to Jeff's dead aim.  On the advice of Jeff he suggested I ditch the side by side in favor of a gun that can shoot steel.  I agree and if he invites me again, I'll take my Model 12. Financially speaking I think this is prudent especially if we have another day like this one.  I'll keep the Merkel Model 8 for jumpshooting.

We managed our limits and had a just about ever species in our bag.  Three mallards (two of which were drakes), one drake pintail, three greenwings (two drakes), one drake cinnamon teal, one hen bufflehead, one hen spoonie, one hen ringneck, one hen gadwall and two hen wigeon.  It was quite a day and I am truly appreciative of Jeff's generosity and not to mention his patience with Kaiser.   while my drahthaar is an outstanding upland dog, a decent jump shooting dog, he is unfortunately an annoying blind dog.  He simpy wants to run.  Sitting and patience are not his forte at least when it comes to hearing gunfire or birds in the air.

We limited out at around noon.  Since I was already packed for pheasants and my drive already cut in half I decided to continue the day looking for roosters.  I drove down and had about 2 hours of light to work with.  I tried a few new fields but had no luck in finding any.  I headed toward town for some burgers at In-N-Out before looking for a motel to rest up for the next day.

Preseason Warm Up

With the season forthcoming and since I haven't shot with Mike in a couple years, I decided to hit the skeet range.  I was also able to meet Mike's new pup, Lizzy, a pointing black lab.  The old man and I shot our side by side Merkels but Mike left his side by sides home in favor of his Benelli Ultralight.  This is the gun he takes every year to South Dakota for pheasants and since he is required to shoot nontox there he has moved away from hunting with his double barrels.  He used to use his Garbi, WC Scott or AyA but he grew tried of paying for bismuth rounds and now sticks with the Benelli that can shot safely with steel.  Mike as always showed us up  but  I actually shot better than I expected considering I haven't picked up a double since last season.  I still need to shake the rust off though.

Walther KKJ .22 Hornet

One of my favorites from the old man's collection is a somewhat rare hunting gun, the Walther KKJ (Kleinkaliber Jagd, small bore hunt).  Available in .22LR, .22 Hornet, and .22 WMR, the KKJ was introduced in 1957.  My father's is chambered in .22 Hornet. 

The rifle has double set triggers and an extended five shot magazine that sits flush with the trigger guard.  Magazines if one can find them are currently fetching over $250. 

The walnut stock is in typical German styling with a hump back butt.  The butt plate is plastic.

This gun is Ulm proofed in 1974 and is a later model. 

As evidenced by it's safety, earlier models had a cross bolt safety catch mounted through the stock preventing the trigger to be depressed.  Later the safety design was moved to the end of the bolt.  The receiver is grooved to accept 11mm scope mounts.  I am still looking for a period correct cold war era German optic to place on this gun.

Until then I must settle with irons.  The rear leaf rear sight is adjustable.

Here is the exploded parts diagram for the rifle.  Design of this gun changed throughout it's production so the right parts are hard to come by if not impossible.  So hopefully there won't ever be a problem with this one or we're screwed.

All in all it's an interesting post war German hunting gun that I've admired in my old man's gun cabinet for years.

It Can't Be, Quality Televison On Discovery Channel?

I just finished watching Kodiak and I can say after it's the best show on Discovery Channel I've seen in sometime.  With a channel that's lost all credibility and known for producing turds like Bear Grylls and Amish Mafia , it's nice to see some decent television for once.   I stumbled on this show tonight and was intrigued about the Grizzly hunting it portrayed in it's promo.  When the end credit ran I noticed Chris Dorsey as an Executive Producer and Orion Entertainment.  No wonder the show is good they have someone competent running the production.  Chris Dorsey, once the editor of Petersen's Hunting, has produced some of my favorite outdoor (mostly hunting) shows on television including but no limited to Dangerous Game (by far the best on TV), World of Beretta, Bird Hunter's Journal, A Dog's Life and a few others I don't recall the name of as of this moment.  I'm hoping the rest of the four part series is good and the lame ass Discovery Channel producers don't muck it up with fake drama and gimmicky shit like making them hunt naked.  What do you think?  Did you watch it?

Make Room On Your Bookshelf

Time to pay a visit to your local Barnes and Noble as they (at least my local store) have a true gem in the bargain aisle.  Treasures of the NRA National Firearms Museum by Jim Supica, Doug Wicklund and Phillip Schreir is a coffee table book that showcases all the jewels of the NRA collection. 

Considering my latest posts were all regarding airguns I thought it is appropriate to show some of the airguns in the NRA collection.  The most interesting is the Girardoni (often misspelled Girandoni) repeating air rifle, as carried by Lewis and Clark.  Google or youtube this airgun and you'll be impressed with it's ingenuity and history.

Other airguns include President H.W. Bush's Crosman Air rifle.  I recall reading about this gun in one of my father's airgun magazines.  Also contained in the collection is Prince Charles' Omega air rifle.

Theodore Roosevelt's gun collection is well represented including his .405 1895.  There are several other presidental guns from Eisenhower and Kennedy.

The book includes many of publisher Robert E. Petersen's collection which include the last Purdey .600NE ever produced. 

Among the 425 guns donated by the Petersen family is some fascinating odd ball guns like the Hoenig over-under double rifle with a twist action in equally odd .225 caliber round.

As a fan of Teutonic guns, there are several Nazi guns including one of my dream guns, a Luftwaffe survival drilling, a belt buckle gun and Hermann Goering's Merkel.

Obviously this is just a sampling of, the book and museum there are many guns of different eras and styles.  The NRA collection is so diverse and likely to please just about any gun nut, from those interested in ancient guns carried by pilgrims from the Mayflower to modern military guns to everything in between. If you consider yourself a gun enthusiast buy this book or better yet go visit the museums (one in Virgina at the NRA headquarters and the other in Missouri at the Bass Pro flagship store) in person.  I need check out these works of art.  Several of these guns shown on this post and many others can be seen and discussed on NRA museum's youtube page.

Quality Time On Youtube

Illness has kept me down for the past week or so.  As a result I've been spending much of my time on the web trying to pass the time.  I think I've found my new favorite channel, Shooting Photography by Jonathan M McGee.  Here is just a sampling of his beautifully done videos. 

He has even done the trailer for the reborn John Rigby & Co (now properly located in London once again).

Harkila Double Rifle Slip and Harkila Rifle Cartridge Cover in leather

Harkila, while not well known among US hunters, is a Scandinavian outdoor company that specializes in hunting gear.  From what I gather they are quite popular among European hunters.  My first experience with them is with one of their sweaters.  Its been the warmest sweater I've ever worn and it's lined with Gore-Tex so gives me added protection in case my Filson jacket is compromised. 

The old man has been in need of a soft case for fie rifles years now and with the addition of his new Martini Hagn single shot, it's about time he got a new one.  Since I was already placing an order for the Musto gun slip, I decided to pick up a slip for his rifles.

I chose the Harkila for many reasons.  For one I was so impressed with my sweater, I figured their other products should be just as good.  Another is that this case holds more than one scoped rifle.

This rifle slip's outer shell is made from waterproof PU fabric with nice and supple leather trim.  The interior is made with a high quality foam ensuring protection of optics and sporting rifles.  There are two expandable pockets which allow for carrying of spotting scopes, shooting sticks, spare barrels, ammo or any other accessory.

 

 

A removable and adjustable sling is proved for shoulder carry. One negative is that the is slip is rather tall and there is a lot of room height-wise so if you do carry the slip on the shoulder the gun within may get bounced around.  On a positive note though, for added protection the zippers are waterproof as well as lockable. 

I also picked up for the old man a Harkila Rifle Cartridge Cover in leather.  This ammo holder carries five cartridges of most standard medium bore.  It looks to be made of the same leather as the trim of the rifle slip.  All in all not a bad piece of kit.

If you've read this post and a few of my latest posts I've written about the Croots cartridge belt and the Musto gun slip, all were purchased overseas from Ardmour in Scotland.  They have been a pleasure to deal with and unlike a previous experience from another Scottish vendor (the one I bought the Harkila sweater from) everything went smoothly.  Ardmour was relatively fast to ship, the actual shipping though only took three days to arrive at my doorstep in California which is faster than some domestic routes, only one item was not instock and received a full refund back on my card.  I am not affiliated with Ardmour nor do I receive any compensation for anything on this blog.  I write for fun.  If I did get paid I'd let you know.  So if you have a need for any European hunting gear that is unavailable here stateside, you may want to check them out.  Currently they do have a sale on most of their items and international shipping is free over 250GBP.