Sinkin' The Gator

We have had a lot of rain around here, and every bottom turned into a swamp.
We had a couple dogs doing circles in the deep part of the swamp, which meant some of the boys had to hike in and a couple rode in on 4 wheelers to get the dogs, and drag a few deer out.
One of the boys went over to the barn and got the John Deere Gator and was doing pretty good through the thick stuff, but then he found spring.

Before any of the wheelers got back, they decided to use a come-a-long a winch him out

Did not do much good, wound up having to use the winch on my Kawasaki Bear Tracker, and the snatch strap on a Honda Foreman.

We got him out.

After that, and all the deer were skinned, we all went down to the Turkey Shoot at Potomac Hunt Club

My son Bobby won a meat round

My brother Karl won a couple meat rounds and some money rounds.

Just so you know, you get some people shooting at a target with equal guns, and equal loads, at the same distance, and the one with the pellet closest to the mark, or the most pellets to the mark wins the round.

The money goes for a good cause, and it's a chance to get together with some good guys and just have some fun

We use an old Belgium made Browning 12 Ga, and have a Remington 870 to shoot with.

I did see a few Thompson's, Ithaca's, and even a Mossberg that gave a few good shots

Hondo And The 9 Point

At the hunt club last weekend, one of the guys got a nice 9 point buck.
I was on the other side of the swamp picking up dogs, so I did not get a shot of the deer on the ground when he shot it

By the time I made it to the skinnin shed, Hondo and Garnet were almost done with it. My son Jesse wanted to get in there and help

The proud hunter. We are gonna hear about this for the rest of the season

It was a tall rack, and wide, but did not seem as full as it could have been.

Either way, I would have been happy to have it on my tailgate

Deer Season Begins

Our First day of deer season here was rain rain rain

I did prepare, and got in a blind early in the morning near some thick pines hoping to catch something coming in from the bean fields.

No luck.

Our dogs got a few hits, but the runs were short lived, and as I switched channels on the radio to listen in on the other clubs in the area, it seemed that they were not having much luck either.

After lunch, we did a drive in a thick, pine piece bordered by a beaver pond and bean fields.

The guys got around at different spots and the beagles went in.

Sure enough, as soon as they got in, they hit it hot, and we put a few on the ground.

I think I am getting old because I did not even take my 50 cal. or my 12 gauge out of the truck all day, I just enjoy listening to the dogs run

Sad Sad

Here are the leftovers from our last crab feast of the season.

A sad day.

We have had some frost, and the water temps are dropping, and for the recreational crabber, you can't catch enough in the 2 pots and the short line you are allowed to use to make a good meal now, so it is time to wash it all down and put it up for the winter.

Bow season is in now, and black powder comes in on the 31st, so I will be in my stand Saturday morning.

Later in the week, I will post about my new 50 caliber black powder rifle, so check back in a couple days.

as for now, I did pick some of the leftover crab meat, so It is crab cake time : )

The Tree

My brothers and my two sons tackled a red oak the other day at a neighbors house. It was dead, and was close to falling across her shed and clothesline.

My brother Karl put his spikes on and walked up the tree and took out some of the lower branches

The tree was so rotten in the top, he could not get to far, so we had to rope it off and notch it. We tied it off to his F-350 Ford to persuade the tree to come down where we wanted

A shed on one side, and a basketball court/picnic area on the other

It came down right where we needed.

The base of the tree where we made the notch to bring it down was about 35"

My brother took home about 3 cords of firewood, and I took my other brother a truckload for his smoker and fire pit, and I was still able to go back and get a full truckload to take to my house
This was our good deed for the month, to help a lady that we grew up with. Out of all the kids that used to run around our little neighborhood, I think my brothers and I are all that are left that ever come back

In The Woods

My boys and I decided to do some squirrel hunting this past Saturday.
What this means to us is ride the trails where we deer hunt, clear away the brush and fallen branches, and maybe take a shot or two if the dogs get a good chase going.


We look around for scrapes, and deer trails and check for tracks




And sit back and enjoy the outdoors

After some scouting, and following some rub lines, we find some choice spots to attach our tree stands.

Black powder season starts in a few more weeks, so with our stands up and trails cleaned out, we enjoy the 4-wheeler paths for the last time until we are ready to hunt

All this week, the surrounding fields will have the corn harvested and with the cooler temps, and the full moon, Rut should be in full swing

Summertime

Only 3 weeks left till school starts, but we are still havin fun

Ranger Runs

It seems that the bugs have been removed from the Ford Ranger I have been showing in some past posts
Have a look

Here is his second run

And I had to share this Mercedes

And a sand drag car

Only in America !

Firemens Parade

Thought I would share our pride

More Mud

Some pic's and video of the mud races last weekend

Still Got A few Bugs

A fuel system problem kept us from having a good run, but it looks like that is the last problem to work out.
Have a look............

Little Brothers Beast

A few post's back, I told you about my brothers beast truck that he has built for the mud bogs we have around here
Well, the Ford Ranger went from this......


To this.
This past Saturday, he took it to a bog to test it out and get a feel for how it would do.
Unfortunately, the pit was not dug for speed, and it had no decent launch area in the entrance, so the hole was just for flat out digging
Here is his first attempt with 33' Super Swampers




Here with 36' TSL Swamper Boggers



And with his cut tires




He is making some modifications now, and should have all the bugs worked out before the next race this Saturday.
From what we have heard, the pit at the next event is a fast one so I hope he has some better luck next weekend

What Major League

Now this is baseball to me. A sunny afternoon, my cooler with some root beer iced down, and my sons team ready to play

I would trade the best box seats behind home plate, or any seats behind the dugout of any majors game to be right there on the third base line watching my boy

One of the best parts of summer. If I could bring my grill, I would never leave, but when I do.....

We just go jump in the river.

Yeah, we know, its not summertime yet officially, but it has been warm around here

Even the dog wanted to cool off some

Happy Memorial Day

Back In The Day

Back in the day I used to hit any mud bog within a 100 mile radius of my house.
I had some good trucks and some bad, but I was not looking to be a big winner, I just wanted to get in the slop and root it up

My younger brother has taken up the mud racing now, and the big thing to do around here is to use a mini truck with a big motor

He took his ranger and put it on a full size Ford truck frame

Bolted in a 460 ci motor, and had a really lightweight truck with plenty of horsepower. He hopes to have all the bugs worked out in the next few weeks to make his first run of the year

The mud season has already started here, so he went to his original mud truck this past weekend just for fun

As for me, I have taken on the task of stripping out an old 5th wheel camper so we can fabricate a bigger, stronger trailer to haul his Ford Ranger beast around on

It is my contribution to the team I guess, and it gives me something to do

You can check his pics and story of the truck build here

http://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displaygallery.php?userid=9303

Spring Training ( kinda )

After more than a week of warm dry days here, T ball practice started today with light wind and 40 degree temps, and rain moving in.



Despite the cold, the kids got in a good practice, they got to run the basses and burn off a little energy



And they got the chance to hit the ball a few times.
They have 4 weeks of practices before the first game, so I now have plans for my Wednesday afternoons, and Saturday mornings, I can't wait

In just a matter of a few day's, we go from this,

To this.

It has been in the mid to upper 60's for the last few days. Walking around in short sleeves, and driving with the windows down. But this morning we wake up to some snowfall again.

Oh well, it is not sticking, and it mostly melts when it hits the ground. The little tease of warm weather had me out in the shed looking over my fishing rods and checking my baits.Here where I live on the Potomac in the Northern Neck, just above the Chesapeake Bay, Many people are preparing for the migration of the Rockfish that come in around late April to early June.

The ads are out for charters as well for the early run that has already started in the mouth of the bay, and word has it that some big fish are being caught.

As for me, I have my own boat, so I wait until the fish get into the Potomac near Westmoreland State Park and troll for them as they continue towards the 301 Bridge. I give it about another 2 weeks and I will take the boat down and put in at Colonial Beach for a trip to St. Clements Island and back up to the 301 bridge for a look see.