Peach and Opa
After a quick visit down to see Dad for Thanksgiving, I was able to bring the rifles home with me.
Peach is a Savage 24D series M.
Opa is a Remington Model 33 that originally sold for $5 when his family got it for him in the early 1930's. There's a picture of him somewhere holding it.
I like to feel the connection to my grandfather's when I carry these. Just a little piece of family history.
On the 27th of November, I took them over to the local gun shop to have them checked out by a gunsmith. He deemed them in good shape, so I used their 25 yard range to do some shooting. After a hundred rounds or so, I felt pretty comfortable with them. So on the 29th, I headed out into the woods for my first actual hunt.
It was a cold day. 24 degrees, and winter had finally brought some snow to our area. I was headed for the Rock Dell WMA after dropping off the kids at school, but stumbled upon the Keller WMA on the way, and seeing nobody in the parking lot, decided to give it a try.
I loaded the .22 on Peach, and headed off into the woods. Mine were the first human tracks laid down in the fresh snow, and though I didn't yet know it, today would be an excellent day for learning to track.
Not a hundred yards into the steep terrain, I found a set of rabbit tracks. I followed them for a bit until they disappeared into a thick growth of thorny raspberry bushes. Then wandered deeper into the hills. I found a few squirrel tracks, and lots more rabbit tracks, found a good spot to sit and wait, and settled in to see if anything would pop out.
After an hour of nothing but birds, I decided to check out other areas. There was a bridge across the river that connected both sides of the WMA, and I have to be honest, I was a little thrilled that mine were the only tracks on the bridge.
Once on the other side, I saw some human and dog tracks. I wasn't sure if it was a hunter, or just someone out for a walk with their pup, so I headed in the opposite direction and stumbled upon squirrel track after squirrel track after squirrel track.
I settled in to wait again, staying silent and still just like the books say to do. But after another 45 minutes, there was nothing moving in the woods. I wondered if squirrels, like humans, just stayed inside when the weather was cold. It makes sense in my head that after they've dug up their breakfast, they'd go back to their warm spots to sleep the chilly day away. Then get supper before bedtime. Which is probably why the literature says that the best time to hunt them is in the mornings and evenings.
Unfortunately what I have available for time is mid morning to early afternoon. Speaking of which, it was soon time to head back to the world and pick up Sweat Pea from school.
Peach is a Savage 24D series M.
I like to feel the connection to my grandfather's when I carry these. Just a little piece of family history.
On the 27th of November, I took them over to the local gun shop to have them checked out by a gunsmith. He deemed them in good shape, so I used their 25 yard range to do some shooting. After a hundred rounds or so, I felt pretty comfortable with them. So on the 29th, I headed out into the woods for my first actual hunt.
It was a cold day. 24 degrees, and winter had finally brought some snow to our area. I was headed for the Rock Dell WMA after dropping off the kids at school, but stumbled upon the Keller WMA on the way, and seeing nobody in the parking lot, decided to give it a try.
I loaded the .22 on Peach, and headed off into the woods. Mine were the first human tracks laid down in the fresh snow, and though I didn't yet know it, today would be an excellent day for learning to track.
Not a hundred yards into the steep terrain, I found a set of rabbit tracks. I followed them for a bit until they disappeared into a thick growth of thorny raspberry bushes. Then wandered deeper into the hills. I found a few squirrel tracks, and lots more rabbit tracks, found a good spot to sit and wait, and settled in to see if anything would pop out.
After an hour of nothing but birds, I decided to check out other areas. There was a bridge across the river that connected both sides of the WMA, and I have to be honest, I was a little thrilled that mine were the only tracks on the bridge.
Once on the other side, I saw some human and dog tracks. I wasn't sure if it was a hunter, or just someone out for a walk with their pup, so I headed in the opposite direction and stumbled upon squirrel track after squirrel track after squirrel track.
I settled in to wait again, staying silent and still just like the books say to do. But after another 45 minutes, there was nothing moving in the woods. I wondered if squirrels, like humans, just stayed inside when the weather was cold. It makes sense in my head that after they've dug up their breakfast, they'd go back to their warm spots to sleep the chilly day away. Then get supper before bedtime. Which is probably why the literature says that the best time to hunt them is in the mornings and evenings.
Unfortunately what I have available for time is mid morning to early afternoon. Speaking of which, it was soon time to head back to the world and pick up Sweat Pea from school.
Our public lands are beautiful!
I had come up empty, but was not discouraged. I had learned a ton about tracking. Including what tracks less than 24 hours old in snow looked and felt like, and which areas of this particular woods definitely had squirrels and rabbits around.
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