The Hunting Times

Well I ain't got much better to do when the weather won't cooperate and we're all stuck at home, so I worked up a load for my 6.5 Creedmoor. I utilized Scott Satterlee's 10 Round Load Development test method (which is available all over the internet).  I found 2 nodes for the specific bullet weight I was using (120 grain).  I went with the higher powder grain weight in hopes of filling the case and therefore maintaining better consistency (so I thought). From there, I started playing with bullet seating depth and shot 5 rounds each of bullets seated at -10, -20, and -30 thousandths off the lands of the barrel (do the math, that's 15 rounds total).  I found that I was not able to get adequate accuracy from this bullet and gave up on it.  Oh, I will add here that I am shooting all bullets with my SureFire suppressor on the firearm.  I then switched to two heavier bullets and performed the same tests as outlined above.  The heaviest bullet, a 147 grain H...

I took a single pheasant that we were fortunate enough to harvest last October in Nebraska and cooked him up for dinner.  How do I know it's a male?  Because you are only allowed to kill the male birds - the females get to live and continue to populate the species. So, said rooster went into the pan with some butter and Teriyaki sauce until just starting to brown.  Then he was covered with apple juice to about the mid-way point.  Once boiling, I reduced the heat and stirred in some Duluth Trading 'Tongues A Blazin' jalapeno sauce and a dash of brown sugar.  I was going for the sweet-hot flavor.  I let this concoction simmer while I cooked the wild rice. How do I convince you that this was a wild bird and not some pen-raised copy?  Well, while I was cutting it to put over the wild rice, I found one of the steel pellets used in the dispatch of said wild bird.  The pellet is small and steel.  The red arrow in the picture is pointing at the p...

Kinda cliche right?  But does anyone not have this memory?  To you, I am truly sorry for you have missed out on one of the most cherished memories you can have.  Oh what fun it was to "help" grandma bake her cookies! Well, two of our grandkids called yesterday and asked Grandma if they could come over and help her bake cookies.  What does Grandma say but "Of course!"  So Will and Hadley walked this way. The result?  Well, cookies did get made, but I think that wasn't all...fun & great memories, with the bonus at the end of getting to eat the result of all your hard work....well, maybe not that hard.   Look at the smile on Will's face - and the flour in his hair. Will decided that a flour fight was in order and threw more than what was used for baking. The red item if the foreground is a cookie cutter in the shape of an airplane. Any 4-YO MUST have airplane cookies!  Y'all know that.     And here is Miss Hadley...

So our successful deer season from last fall has finally come to the bit where we process the venison into edible bits.  To date, all we have done is hunt the deer, shoot the deer, tag them, gut them, remove the hides, take the meat off the bones, and cut it into strips that will fit into the grinder.  Yes, this took several hours to complete.  It was stored in the freezer until yesterday, February 29, 2020.  We took this "extra day" to almost complete the cycle.  All that remains now is to Eat the Deer. We met up at 6 am.  Delayed only slightly by RePhil, but that's to be expected.  We landed at Rob's place for breakfast at 7:45.  He had prepared biscuits, gravy, and hash browns, which we ate with Rob and his Dad Bob.  We then proceeded to the garage to process venison. We had a crew of 5 (down one man, Nick, who was at the semi-state robotics meet with his high school team).  Attending was Davey, RePhil, Eric, Alex, and myself....

So I have watched every single YouTube video out there that discusses painting an AR15 rifle.  From rattle cans (spray paint) to Duracoat to Ceracoat to distressing the rifle... I settled on spray paint because it is cheap, easy, and can be undone if you don't like it.  Next problem was, which gun to paint? Seems that buddy Zach had an AR that went through a flood in his basement.  He cleaned the trigger mechanism and the barrel immediately following said flood.  The buffer tube, buffer spring, the locking nuts, and the muzzle break all took on rust.  Zach wanted a "winter" camo pattern to take out and hunt coyotes.  He gladly donated the gun as a test subject for me to get the experience. My plan was as follows: Clean the gun thoroughly, removing as much rust as possible (3 hours) Degrease gun (10 mins) - I used spray brake cleaner Tape off components that I do not want painted (1 hour) Paint gun all white (10 mins with 30 mins between coats) P...

Most of you have heard the story before, but here it goes again... Since I was 13, I have joined my Dad, Cousin Shane, and Uncle DC in the deer woods.  Our "Thanksgiving Dinner" was usually a cold ham sandwich and a pop.  Back then, you could only shoot bucks in Indiana, so we usually came home empty handed. Flash forward to 2018 (last year) and it's the first year that the 'Old Men' decided against hunting.  We Young Bucks were still planning on going, but we ended up at the barn telling stories and maybe drinking a cold 'pop' or two. This year, we didn't even pretend that we were going out hunting.  Instead we met at the barn at 8 am just for the purpose of seeing everyone and reconnecting. What Uncle DC shared was that this was the first time since 1961 (58 years) that he has not purchased an Indiana Hunting License.  I planned ahead and brined a deer roast and 3 pheasant breasts prior to smoking them on Wednesday.  I cut them up along wit...

We took a break from hunting deer and went to my mom's (Grandma Barb's) for lunch this Thanksgiving.  Sandy had to work, but the rest of my family made it. Grandma slaved over the stove for hours and hours to make pork loin, cranberry salad, cheesy potatoes, and pumpkin pies.  I took a left-over carrot cake from the Albitz Thanksgiving celebrated last Sunday. We counted 10 and 3/4 because Shelby is due next month.  You could argue 8/9ths.  After the great-grands were done eating (which for Mallory was immediately), they got some books off the shelf and read stories to each other for entertainment. Here is the result.  Too cute.   2.5, 4, and 2.5 year-olds reading stories at Great-Grandma Barb's (Cousin Mallory, Brother Will, and Sister Hadley)