QUICK TRIP BUT . . . LOTS OF FUN.

Bounty Hunter 6 is in town for just a few days in between fighting fires.  He took me to lunch Tuesday and we had a great conversation.  I asked if he would like to go hunt some chizzlers just for a short time in the morning and of course he said "YES!"  He is one of two guys that like to hunt the little varmints more than I do.  The next morning we took off on a quick trip to Iron County to see what damage we could do to prevent alfalfa crop shrinkage from the chizzlers and help the farmers make more money.

We arrived in a good location at 9:10 a.m. and set up two squirrel-o-matics in the back of my truck.  We started to shoot almost immediately.  We fired for about 2 hours and then the critters kind of were "shot out".  Bounty Hunter 6 had fired just over 100 rounds and I had fired maybe 75 rounds.  As I looked over the target area for Bounty Hunter 6 there were dozens of bodies in various poses of death at distances from 10 yards to 175 yards.  The wind started to really blow and even the birds, e.g. crows = 'nature's undertakers', were not flying due to the wind.  We packed up and headed home.

The short hunt was do to the fact that I had work to do and Bounty Hunter 6 had to get ready for another round of flying to keep California from totally burning up.  My best shots of the day were at three big old crop destroyers at 160 yards.  Not bad if I do say so myself for a little .22 L.R.

CLEAR -- NO WIND MORNING

Took off this morning at 8 a.m.  My son was with me and we were on our way to Iron County to help the farmers lower the vermin eating up the profits in their fields.  It was a great time to drive and talk about all kinds of topics and get together one on one with my son.  I really enjoy the trip to and from the hunting area a great time to converse, share ideas, and not be interrupted. 

We arrived and and set up the squirrel-o-matic in the back of the truck.  We started seeing chizzlers right off.  I could tell the varmints had been shot at recently as they were moving real quick and trying to get in their burrows and into the concealment of the grass or alfalfa.  My son said they seemed far away for our .22 l.r. firearms.  I told him not to worry as the closer targets would be back out in a few minutes.

 Rusty on squirrel-o-matic

Once we got set up and started to get serious about shooting the little rascals began to pop out of their hiding places and run into the dry plowed up area between the alfalfa and the rough desert terrain.  Chizzlers would stop and look all around in the dry no-man's land and then the carnage started.  Rusty was the first to fire and hit one on his first shot.  Many more were to follow the example of their leader on his way to Valhalla alfalfa.

{NOTE:  This kid is a naturally excellent shot. I asked him if he had practiced shooting lately.  He replied the last time he went shooting was with me.  I think it was 18 months ago.  Crap-o-rama, I practice shooting almost weekly and try to shoot better all the time.  He can shoot as well as me and sometimes better than me and only shoots when someone takes him.  He owns no firearms.}

We acquired targets and made them do the break-dance of death, plop and flip flop in the air, separate into multiple pieces, and just permanently retire for about 2 hours.  We were shooting bolt action .22's and the pause while loading our magazines was the only reprieve they got from us.  Rusty got into it.  He started to snicker from time to time when he would make a long shot.  I was truly impressed as he toasted them at from 30 to 116 yards.  I took my laser ranger finder and as we did a quick verification body count I ranged back to the truck to get exact distances.

I got a few at distance and was really please with my "luck."   I got a double at 124 yards.  I was more lucky than good on this one, yet the chizzlers were still laying there dead as heck even after the "luck" had all dissipated into the atmosphere. 

double

I also got a herd bull at 156 yards for my longest confirmed hit of the day.

There was little or no wind and we really scored well for the farmers.  We packed up at 11:00 a.m. and headed back to St. George as my son had a lunch appointment.  We had a great time and I will always remember going with Rusty to do something I like to do.  He told me he had a good time and that was icing on the cake!

FAST FIRING MORNING

I ran into a good friend at Karl's Jr. after picking up some lumber.  Our conversation, of course, turned to chizzler hunting and we set a date.  I was right in the heat of the effort in building a new house but I decided to take a morning off and go hunt some anti-agriculture varmints while sitting there eating onion rings.

It was a great drive to the location with my pal.  We caught each other up on our families and various topics.  We arrived at the northwest side of a circular pivot irrigation system around 9:30 a.m.  We had no sooner parked our truck when the chizzlers went nuts.  They were constantly crossing the bare earth "no mans" land between the desert vegetation and the irrigated alfalfa field.  We were shooting as we were setting up our individual positions.

I went through about 225 rounds of .22 l.r. ammo. all in all.  My pal was shooting a nifty new Mossberg MVP .223 Rem. caliber that used AR-15 clips to feed the bolt action.  He shot about 100 rounds of .223 Rem. and launched several chizzlers into a low orbit over the alfalfa field.  He was also exploding them into red mist.  I was really impressed.  After about an hour of this mischief he then switched over to a Ruger 10-22 and proceeded to nail dozens more varmints with his "little" rifle.  He is a good shot and not boastful at all.  I just noticed the consistent "plop, -- plop, -- plop" sound as he fired rounds and they hit their intended mark.  One can tell when the projectile hits vermin by the sound of impact even if you don't see the projectile strike.  {It's kind of a cool sound to me and others who hunt chizzlers.}

I had a well stocked nest of varmints about 60 yards out from my firing position and another good nest about 110 yards out.  I was using the stadia lines in my scope and really found the sweet spots on the stadia lines for the two ranges.  I would lay waste to one nest for a 10 - 15 rounds then move my point of aim over to the other nest and unload another 10 - 15 rounds at that group of profit eaters.  I would pause in my bombardment to reload my magazines and in a few moments start the whole adventure over again.  I did this for 2 1/2 hours.  It was amazing.  There were some big old "herd bulls" out that morning.  I was kind of proud to get three or four of them.  They are really lots bigger than regular chizzlers.

Herd bull circled in red

 
 I was joking when I told my hunting partner my trigger finger was sore.  He agreed his too was sore but he wasn't kidding.  My thumb and my trigger finger were dark grey from loading ammo.  His were dark also.  I don't know if I have ever experienced trigger finger fatigue before, it was a new and different situation but COOL.

Yes, I took many chizzlers out on May 16, 2014.  No, I don't feel sorry for them.  They were in the wrong field and eating the wrong farmer's alfalfa.  I was helping out and having a real good time doing it.  The chizzlers could be poisoned and die a slow and painful death or could be shot and instantly be transported to the big alfalfa field in the sky.  I was just helping out.

Work gets in the way of having fun.  I look forward to another run away day in the future helping out my friendly farmers.

DRAW A TAG? SO NOW WHAT ???

I am waiting.  Waiting for the big game draw results.  I need to know if I should be happy or totally dissatisfied with my ability to draw a hunting tag for the fall.  I like to hunt.  I like to get ready to hunt.  I like to day-dream about hunting.  I am so totally happy to remember both in my mind and through photos the wonderful hunts in the past years.  I am not alone among sportsmen who travel in my Goddess Diana worship circles.

The State of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources seems to have my hunting life and dreams in the belly of their contractors' computer belly over in Fallon, Nevada.  Crap-o-rama, I want to have a tag to hunt some big game every year.  I guess I could try to get a camel permit for the desert around here.  I could put in for and probably draw a Sasquatch tag for the mountains above Heber City.  Still I would really like to draw a deer tag or a bear tag or a bison tag somewhere in Utah with relative consistency.

I am not rich.  I can not buy an auction tag for $250,000 for deer or elk at the wildlife banquets --  I am out of luck and out of buck$.  I can recognize big game hunting is going to get harder and harder to do for the next decades.  I need to find an alternative.  I am going to start looking at Africa and good 'ol Namibia lots harder in the future.  I can buy a Namibian license, travel to the far away Kalahari desert, hire a great guide (PH is what they are called over there) and harvest 3 - 7 big game animals and return for less cost than a single elk hunt on a CWMU.  I have been to Namibia before, and I am sure I will go again.  "Utah We Love Thee" is the state song, however, Namibia is where the oryx run free and the kudu are home on the big red sanded range.  Tags are available .... 

WHAT A PLEASANT MORNING

Bounty Hunter 6 is back in town from Alaska and wanted me to go hunt chizzlers with him.  I agreed to go but with the condition we came home early as I had lots of work to do.  {I am actually trying to make a living here you know.  Besides, with the price and scarcity of .22 l.r. ammo -- it is harder to make ends meet.}  We left Santa Clara at 8 a.m. on May 8th.  We drove to one of the farms plagued with vermin and set up our battle station.  We started to shoot as soon as we got out of the truck.  We seemed to be surrounded by mostly teenager and baby chizzlers.  There were a few big old "herd bulls" taken out during the battle.

I was loading and shooting as fast as I could and still maintain accuracy.  We delivered lethal doses of lead to the varmints for 2+ hours.  I fired about 170 rounds.  The wind came up slightly and the area where we were was "shot out" so we packed up and started for home.  It was amazing.  While we were shooting I could hear the telltale "plop" sound from Bounty Hunter 6's .17 HMR as he connected over and over and over again with chizzlers.  Occasionally he would snicker loudly and I could hear it through my ear plugs.  I admit I too was snickering as I laid waste to tribes of chizzlers.  I even got to shoot some cannibal chizzlers.  When they started munching on their recently shot dead cousins I shot the cannibals as well.  The best bait to draw out the adolescent chizzlers is a dead chizzler.  The two dead chizzlers is even better bait for more chizzler targets to show themselves.

I had a dream I was taken hostage by some renegade chizzlers and was forced to fabricate a proto-type nuclear powered super revenge chizzler robot.  I was tortured and finally forced to make the mechanical beast for them.It was made of the only metal available in the chizzler domain, empty brass.  I have a picture below the dream seemed so real  ???

I need to quote my friend from Soda Springs, Idaho.  He and I used to hunt rockchucks lots.  We hunted so much we got in deep trouble with our wives year after year for never being home in the spring when the rockchuck season started up as the snow melted. We hunted with centerfire varmint rifles out on lava flows between farmers fields in the potato state.  It was great fun.  He said, "This is really fun but wouldn't be half as much fun if they shot back."

HUNTER SCORES AT DISTANCE

April 18, 2014.  It was a less than stellar day.

The conditions were not right and the little vermin were holed up or already shot from weeks of bombardment.  We went to find a few survivors and make them not survivors.  Hunter was patient and saw several chizzlers that were too quick moving for him to get the crosshairs on.  Finally, one cheeky varmint thought the range was too great and hesitated at about 65 yards in front of Hunter.  Great mistake for Hunter and bad mistake for the chizzler.  Hunter couldn't be prouder of any game shot.  He did the deed with a .22L.R. at about 65 yards and the scope on 4X.  GREAT SHOT LITTLE BUDDY!

Check out the smile on Hunter's face.  Mack was showing the distance as if through binoculars.  Dad is way pleased too.  We all shot other varmints but this one was especially rewarding.

The family that hunts together stays together.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?

What a beautiful morning.  The fellow below had just stepped out of his burrow and was looking for the choicest, greenest, leafiest alfalfa to eat when -- he suddenly died. 

I have been hunting chizzlers lots lately.  I went on three different mornings with my son last week and the first of this week.  I went with my pals this morning.  I have fired about 600 rounds of .22L.R. at chizzlers over the last 11 days in four trips. I calculate I have connected with my intended targets about 50 - 60% of the time.  Is this too much of a good thing? 

NO, I don't think so!

I have done my best, to do my duty, to help the farmers in Iron County, Utah.  I have "plooped", flopped, and bounced vermin all over the fields.  The little critters seem to just keep coming.  The crows and the raptors {nature's undertakers} are getting so fat they just waddle around the fields.  I doubt they can even fly with their heavy load of chizzler meat built up in their "pot-guts".  I have taken chizzlers at ranges of from 20 yards to 142 yards.  I have taken them with no wind and with wind gusts in the 20 MPH range.  I have taken them in a hurry to beat my pal Bounty Hunter 6, and I have taken them slowly when they are just giving me a head shot target.  I have taken no prisoners.

The majority of the varmints taken in the last two trips were about 85% males.  I think the females are down their burrows and are having the next wave of baby varmints.  I will have to sharpen my skills for the tiny varmints.  Even though, the tiny varmints are rather dumb they present a really small target to hit.  Smaller than a golf ball.

Am I having too much fun?  NO, I don't think so.