Closing Day Mojo

I'll be honest, after driving around the country to say Mass and then to Waco to visit the sick in hospital, I wasn't too keen on going dove hunting.

But my philisophical pal, GWB, tipped up looking for action, so off we went to catch the last two hours of dove season.

The clouds were grey and threatening and a chill wind blew over the waterlogged fields. It felt like Yorkshire, in June, and I wished I'd worn Wellingtons as I walked the treelines, hoping for a bird or two to rocket overhead.

Old Skool Lancruiser

They didn't, but that was alright, it was simply good to be out in the field, shotgun in hand. Armed walkabout over, I joined GWB at the decoys and waited. Soon enough, a couple of feathered predators were lured in by the Mojo and flew towards the setting sun. An easy shot, one went down.

Then a couple of squadrons came in fast, heading west; shoot, pump, and shoot again! I missed, but GWB brought one down with a snap-shot from his 20 gauge O/U Franchi Instinct. 

Dove cleaned, it was back to the Compound for poppers. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to bring along a quorum of previously shot birds from an earlier hunt. The tasty morsels found their way to the grill and feasting commenced.

And that was closing day.

God bless,

LSP

Sunday Shoot

Sunday evening seemed like a good time to drive out to a friend's ranch and shoot some dove, which is exactly what me and GWB tried to do.

We set up in a favorable treeline and waited for the birds to fly. We had high hopes, shotguns, a Mojo decoy and we'd seen plenty of dove while driving in.

An hour later it was getting near dark, a very beautiful twilight, to be sure, but no birds. So we fell back to the pickup, unloaded the guns and reached into the Yeti for a couple of cold ones. The lack of action was a disappointment but not by much, it was just good to get out in the field and enjoy that time when night is setting in over the fields.

Then, just as the first sip of the right stuff went down, two dove shot over. "Did you see that?" I asked GWB. "Unh hunh," he answered perceptively. Two more flew over, then a small wave, followed by a larger one and on and on. Just a lot of dove and well within range.

Kindly Old LSP

"I guess we know where to find the birds," I uttered with rare rhetorical insight. "Oh yeah," replied the parser of post-structuralist word games, "right above the beer concession."

I was tempted to do a quick reload and have at it but no, we had had our chance, and the birds had theirs.

God bless,

LSP

Rabbit Hunt

Emboldened by success against the Aoudads, GWB came by for a rabbit hunt and sure enough, before you can say the Episcopal Divinity School is a conventicle of Satan, we were on the trail of cotton tails.

Clanking Spear & Some Clays

The plan was simple. Scout through VS's 10 acre back pasture and flush the bunnies from piles of brush. I got the first shot, as a rabbit streaked like a furry Exocet across my front. I missed, annoyingly; still, excitement was up and before long GWB was able to use his 20 gauge Franchi to good effect. One rabbit down.

Turkeys, Don't Vote For Christmas

I fired at a leaping shadow as dusk was falling, perhaps it was a ghost. My Wittgensteinian ally connected with a final bunny, well done. 

Rabbit For The Pot

As VS's husband said, looking at the two rabbits on the tailgate, "LSP, he smoked ya!"

I won't argue with that. 

A Good night was had by all.

LSP

Horse!

For a horseman you sure don't seem to go riding very much, I thought grimly to myself, as I watched the sun rise over the Compound and the dawn chorus of crazed peacocks, roosters, bleating goats and growling pit bulls.

To set that right I headed off to J&P's ranch, not far from Slap Out. Slap Out's called "Slap Out" because the store there was always "slap out" of stuff to buy. I'd say that was still pretty much true, but J&P weren't out of horses.

Hobo

They had a barn full of Foundation Quarter Horses, including a mare sired by Dash For Cash, though I forget the various bloodlines, and a gelding, Lone Star Hobo. Good looking animals and I was hoping to ride Hobo, but his feet had been trimmed and couldn't be ridden.

One Clanking Spear And A Shotgun

I'll go back in a couple of weeks to try out Hobo and here's the thing. J feels he has to give his horses away, but they're a part of his life; that means he has to keep some. Solution? I get to ride the "some" left over, including Hobo.

Walk, trot, canter, gallop, RUN!

LSP

Get That Franchi Instinct

Franchi Instinct L

GWB tipped up at the compound yesterday and before you could say "Archbishop Justin Welby's an Oil Shark!", there was an over and under on the mahogany. My philisophical friend had cleverly gone out and bought a Franchi Instinct L 20 gauge, and who can blame him?

Young Sharky

We took it out for a test drive today, rambling about in search of rabbits, who sensibly stayed under cover, and then slinging a box or so of skeet, country style. Just a lot of explosive fun and good practice. 

Old Sharky

I shot reasonably well, once I remembered to aim... and GWB was knocking the clays out of the air like a good 'un. But how did the Franchi perform? I took a couple of breaks from my cheap, but hey it works, Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag pump to find out.

Prince of Wales grip

I enjoyed shooting this gun; it's light, at 6.5 Ilbs, and comes quickly to the shoulder and to target.  I thought it looked good too, with traditional styling, case hardened finish on the receiver and no gaps between metal and wood. That said, the wood of the buttstock sits proud to the receiver by a millimeter or so, but I felt this was balanced out by well-defined, deeply cut checkering and A grade walnut furniture. Not a bad looking gun, but did it work?

dove feast

For sure, the Instinct functioned flawlessly over several hours of pretty much continuous shooting, with no misfires, failure to eject or mechanical problems. So that's alright then, but would I buy one? If I was looking for an over and under shotgun that costs $1149, yes, I think I would. 

The gun looks good, handles well and if you don't get carried away and forget to aim, it's perfectly capable of knocking the opposition out of the sky. Granted, it's not a $2000 plus firearm, but whoever said it was?

Shoot straight,

LSP