Dove Hunt

There's been a lot of horse lately, but not much gun. So loaded a shotgun in the truck and went in search of a more balanced life.

This meant walking the treelines in search of dove, and the method's simple, if not easy. Walk up on a tree with dove in it, and when they fly out of the tree like Exocet missiles, shoot them. At first there were no doves, although there were spiders.

Then the avian acrobats burst out of a tree! One round off, no birds down, and in fairness to me they were going fast at the outer limits of my range. So I headed over to a dried-up creek and hunkered down for a bit, listening to someone making a rabbit distress call somewhere off to my left, in the brush. For the benefit of coyotes, probably.

After shooting a snake, I climbed out of the creek bed and headed towards a small clump of trees. If I was a dove, would I be in those trees? I asked myself, and figured yes, I would be. Sure enough they were, and exploded out of the tree as I got up on it. Big excitement, shots were fired, adrenaline up, and another miss. 

Berating myself for being slow off the mark, I walked back to my starting point and chased a few birds along the trees, but didn't get a shot in the autumnal 100 degree weather.

So. LSP 0, Dove 1.

This isn't over.

LSP

E=mc2

I call this portrait "Einstein."

Speaking of which, have you watched the new Planned Parenthood video yet? Go on, I dare you, it's all about healthcare.

Carry on,

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

White Flyer

One of the things I like to do is say Evening Prayer and then go off to shoot some skeet. I find it clears the mind and it's just a whole lot of fun, especially when you remember to aim and the enemy disintegrates under a withering hail of shot. 

Weber

With that in mind, we knocked the adversary out of the sky like good 'uns and fell back to the compound for some Weber action.

Dobby

Result, unlike Justin "Dobby" Welby, who isn't.

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

Alright There

So what's been going on in LSPland? Lent, obviously. Also some shooting and some not very successful small game hunting, but hey, it's good to get out in the field.

And some riding. About time too! 

I've been offered a Foundation Quarterhorse gelding and have a good mind to take it on, but first things first, let's meet the creature.

Have a blessed Lent,

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