The Hunting Times

So Krueger is doing some snooping around on the internet trying to figure out what barrel to put on his Thompson / Center (T / C) Encore muzzle loader.  The problem is that the trigger is not the best for precision shooting.  That leads to an investigation on what to do to improve the trigger function on the T / C Encore so that he could get excellent groups. Turns out that Mike Bellm's T/Cs provides multiple spring kits (at different poundages) for $20.  This turns out to be a Great Deal for 5 springs that will definitely improve your trigger function!  You can go to Mike's website to buy direct here:  https://www.bellmtcs.com/ Go to Store Categories -> Shop and pick the right spring kit for your gun and your preferred poundage. We order the Encore 2.5# spring kits and await their arrival.  Kruger comes over and we tear our guns apart - carefully. Thanks to the wonderful research tool that is YouTube, we utilized the following video to help u...

Deer Season in Indiana opened on 01 OCT for archery for the general public.  It has been way too warm to go sit and swat mosquitos, hoping for deer to be traveling around during the day.  So instead, we have been mowing the yards - plural. Finally, it has gotten cold enough to keep the bugs down and get the deer up, but Mother Nature also brought about 1.5" of rain.  Oh well, time to get into the woods. Alex came home from the high school volleyball sectional at CP Friday night and saw 8 deer feeding on Marshall's N woods.  We got up and rolled at 6:40 to head that way. Alex sat on Neal and I went to the bottom ground on Marshall's N woods.  Sunrise was at 7:54, so legal light was 7:24.  We were well on our way into the woods when it got to legal light. Yep, it was a bit chilly, but fortunately the wind was not blowing hard. I watched a nice-sized deer head E across a row of trees.  I snuck E to cut it off.  I waited for what seemed l...

Sandy and I heard a news report from the UK that 80% of the people surveyed were bored for 2 hours per day.  Not sure the population that they surveyed, but we looked at each other and said that we can't remember being bored.  And work goes so fast we are not bored there either.  Wow.  Who are these people? So we spent the weekend cleaning up the wood from the four trees we had dropped.  We hauled 5 wagon loads of wood and two trips of brush.  It was H-O-T.  But we did it without any complaints and we sure were not bored! Two pictures of the wood we stacked behind the barn. East side of barn facing South Now facing North If you find yourself getting bored, by all means give us a call.  We have plenty for everyone to do here on the Ranch!

So a local group of hornets decided to build a nest directly between the power line poles on the N side of the house (see earlier post).  I left them alone and they left us alone for most of the Summer.  I mowed by them without incident. In fact, I also mowed by the other two nests (one in lane and one at Nick's) without issue as well. But now it's time to clean up the trees we had felled due to the emerald ash borer.  It was too close to the nest and some of us were going to lose.  Unfortunately for the hornets, it was them. I took some pictures of the inside of the nest.  Well laid out.  Nature is awesome.  Hopefully some of the little guys went to the other nests and did not perish. At least the meter reader can check our electric meter now. The now open nest built directly below our electric meter. The remnants on the ground.

Posting a Shout Out to Mulberry Telecommunications (full disclosure of bias - I am on their board of trustees).  But they have a Honeywell security system that, for the money, is tough to beat. We have had our system installed now for about three months.  It includes door sensors (we installed 4), glass break sensors (we installed a ton), motion sensors (installed 1), smoke detectors (installed 4), and video cameras (we picked 0).  The installation fee is minimal and can be completed in just a few short hours.  Go check out the product on their website:   https://www.mintel.net/home-security Have we had any issues with the system?  None.  We have accidentally set it off four times of our own doing (me one, cats one, and wife two).  But those were all relatively early and getting use to the system.  It obviously works really well. So why did I pass on the cameras?  Because I wanted a wireless system that uses my network instead of r...

You always trust the Fat Guy when it comes to eating a great meal. I cut some jalapenos in half, cleaned them, stuffed them with cream cheese, and then wrapped them in duck bacon.  These I threw on the grill with ribeye steaks. I will make somebody a good wife one day.

Dove season opened up here in Indiana on Saturday, 01 SEP.  RePhil, Krueger, Davey, and I went to Tippecanoe County to try and rustle some up. We did, but not very many.  Seems they all wanted to be in the cattle feed lots and we did not have permission to hunt there.  We bagged about 7 that morning.  But hey, we had fun. RePhil.  Opening morning for doves. Then on Sunday, we held the annual hunt fest at the Ranch.  Again, not many doves.  I think the 8 of us ended up with 6 doves.  Really, we are not that bad of shots - there are just no doves here yet. We had a great breakfast of venison biscuits and gravy.  Since the birds were slow, we pulled out the trap and shot some rounds off.  It sounded like we were slaying the birds.  We were, they were just the clay type. Sykes out in the NE corner in the early morning. Alex, Zach, Nick, and Tony (goofballs). That's better - at least more suitable for publishi...