A Memorial Day Weekend without Fishing.....

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Staci Matheis

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As some of you know, the woods and streams always have been my first and greatest love! Lakes and bass boats came along much further down the line and will always run a distant 2nd..... I had posted these two threads over at GunsandBullets.com and one of the guys suggested that I share my weekend with all of you..... So.....







Friday, May 27th.



I headed into the woods early this morning for the beginning of squirrel season...... I've spent a good deal of time in the last 5 months tinkering with the trigger and action on a new Ruger 10/22. (The 3rd Ruger 10/22 I've owned over the last 25 years.) This was to be it's first chance at real game! I chose a spot that I had come across this last winter while coyote hunting. I hadn't called in any coyotes there - but there were big red fox squirrels all over the place!



What I hadn't counted on was the amount of undergrowth. I was right next to a corn field and the uncultivated land next to it was thick - with poison ivy! :( The leaves were really heavy on the trees, too.



I saw 4 squirrels before I finally got a shot at this one. I love the "Thud!" made by a big red squirrel hitting the ground! He was about 35 yards away and 25 feet up. The shot was off-hand - I sometimes amaze myself! He managed to land in some of that poison ivy - but I wasn't about to let the first squirrel of the year and the first taken with the new 10/22 go without a picture. I haven't gotten poison ivy since I was about 9..... I hope it doesn't come back now.....



PT3%20squirrel%20052805.jpg




You can see in this picture how I've had the stock shortened on the rifle to a 12 3/4" length of pull to fit me. About 1" came off the butt end.



I probably saw a dozen more squirrels but just couldn't get off shots at them in the heavy foliage. I did finally find 2 more chasing each other around a tree and managed to pick them off..... But..... Their "Thud's!" were right smack dab in the middle of a really huge patch of poison ivy..... I wasn't all that interested in stew..... I like McDonald's better anyway! :p



Early-afternoon, I came across a big groundhog at about 60 yards. He was Fat! Probably weighed about 15 pounds!



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A bit later in the day, I went up into the hills on the right in the groundhog picture..... This is all about 10 miles south of Hannibal, Missouri along the Mississippi River..... I saw several gray squirrels - or should I say "glimpsed"! :lol: There wasn't much ground cover because the canopy was just too thick..... But there was just enough that, for the few moments a squirrel was bouncing along the ground, I didn't even have enough time to get the rifle up. They didn't stay on the trunks long - just there in passing from the ground to the tree tops.



Actually, I was in there for a couple of hours..... I took a nap against a tree trunk! :lol:



I don't ever remember hearing more birds singing! WOW! It was a gorgeous day! 60-ish in the morning; low-70's the rest of the day!! Lot's of sun! Nice breeze!! It was wonderful! I'm going back out on Monday!



So..... That was my day! Lots of fun! And I gotta tell ya..... The 5 months I spent tinkering on that little .22 were well worth it! All I had to do was think "shoot!" and it did! :) I love it!! :)



me!



P.S. added on Sunday morning..... No itching! :)

 
Tuesday, May 31st.



I did go back yesterday!



One of the things I've always wished is that I could share my love of the outdoors and the special, little spots that I keep going back to time and time again, year after year after year..... Those spots that give me so very much peace and serenity..... I'm never going to be able to take all of you with me..... Heck, if I did, you'd just go back on your own and shoot all my squirrels! So please allow me to take you there in pictures.....







I know that it's going to be a good day when I start off with my kinda road! A two lane roller coaster!! The road I'm taking is the one to the right!



my%20kinda%20road.jpg


"Caution! Trucks: Sharp Curves. Alternate Routes Recommended."



20 Miles later, I pull to the side of the road and walk in..... It's a bit overcast and dark inside..... This is when I wish I had a tall person with me; let them go first and take the spiderwebs in their face! I don't know how this pathway has stayed here for the past 20+ years that I've been walking in. I've never, ever seen anyone else in here. I think the only time anyone else uses this area is during deer season.



pathway%20in%20and%20down.jpg




I don't have to go in very far to become totally isolated..... This day, I found myself the same tree I've used for a backrest many times before..... I didn't have to clear a spot to sit - my butt has left an indelible mark on the rocky ground!



That bent oak just to the front of me and to the left is an old friend.....



foward%20left.jpg




Forward to the right.....



foward%20right.jpg




I heard squirrels tearing up the leaves as they played tag behind me and to the right twice during the morning. I couldn't see them over the log that had lain there for oh so many years..... There isn't very much left of it these days.....



behind%20right.jpg




May apples and seedling trees were all over behind and to the left.....



behind%20left.jpg




About 9:30 in the morning, two deer passed about 30 feet in front of me! When Greg Meyer saw this picture, he remarked "You always see loads of deer during squirrel season and loads of squirrels during deer season... And, we think they can't read!"



2%20deer.jpg




I stayed here for about 4 hours..... Just me..... Alone with my thoughts..... And hundreds of chickadees and titmice and bluejays and woodpeckers and nuthatches and warblers..... The squirrels were on holiday!



My cheeks were getting a bit sore, so I decided to head to the base of the bluff..... To walk the field down in the river bottom land..... I had a bit of a drive to get to the field.....



The dirt road started out almost paved! Dorothy would have envied me! She only had yellow bricks; I had hundreds of thousands of yellow flowers!



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yellow%20flowers.jpg




There were times when my city-girl Jeep would have gladly traded all of my flowers for just some of Dorothy's bricks.....



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That was, by far, the shallowest of 4 or 5 mudholes. Two were so deep that I really had concerns about getting through them. Just go.
 
Oooops!!! Never was any good at time keeping! :lol:

Thanks, Ken! Correction will be made!
 
Poor Rocky, Bowinkle is going to hunt you down.



What do you do with those dead things?
 
I'll sometimes make squirrel stew.....

Careful if you ever come to my place for a pot luck dinner! :lol:



The groundhogs :wacko: ..... Well.....

Buzzards need to eat, too! ;)
 
do you ever eat squirrel brains now that is good eating :p







JD
 
OK, now I sound like I'm a Democrat from PETA, but you shoot those groundhogs just for the fun of shooting it?



Not sure I get it?, but to each is own.
 
Chris -



Imagine what something like that burrowing in your flower garden could do.... Or if your riding lawn mower fell into its hole..... Or the pasture right next to this field has cows; imagine one of them stumbling into the borrow.....
 
ME,



Ignore my comment, if you enjoy doing it, then that's all that counts. Look who's calling the pot black @ myself.
 
LOL!! :lol: Chris, if someone doesn't hunt, they always ask that question! No way am I ever gonna ignore anything you have to say! Now, why don't you come down for the pot luck at my place this weekend..... :lol: :lol:
 
Nah, unless your smothering it in some General Tso's sauce I'll pass LOL. (aka special 4 legged chicken)



Besides I'm too busy plucking smallies off there beds, but than again maybe I should dress up like a big "greenpumpkin" flippin tube and block the boat ramp LMAO.



Try to talk Bill Barham into driving up to NJ for some great smallmouth fishin this weekend, if you can accomplish that, I'll go shoot some ghetto rats or chase some geese with my lab.
 
Man..... I wish I could talk Bill into getting his butt up there to fish with you! He really needs to get out!



Hey, Barham! Go fishin' with Chris, wouldya! :cool:







Hey, Chris..... That smiley with the shades kinda looks like you! :lol: :p :lol:
 
you mean like this :cool:



Question is, do I own a comb? you would have thought my wife suggested a hat before she took the picture?





MC 2005 C.jpg
 
Hat? Na-a-ah..... She probably uses that picture to scare the kids into behaving! :p "Just you wait until I tell your father! You don't want him to give you this look do you?" :lol:
 
Looks like a great weekend..



Staci's right Chris.

I come from the middle of farm country and those stinkin' groundhogs can reek havock.

Horses and cows with broken legs from stepping in holes,hay wagons with broken axles flipping on their sides.

The only good groundhog,is a dead groundhog.





And you also need to kill the little Red Squirrels because they sneak up behind the much bigger Grey Squirrels and bite their nuts off..:eek:



Steve
 
I had to add this. The farmer next door has a Wild Game feast every year that I have not missed since the first time I was invited. I was taught this, don't ask until you try it. New to myself, Alligator,Crock,Turtle,Bear,Elk,Mule Deer, Bison, Ground hog, the normal stuff was there also, Deer,Trout, Panfish, Squirrel, pheasent, Quail, Duck, Wild Turkey (bird not whiskey) and I am sure I forgot some. It's all in how its cooked and your perception of how or what it should taste like.

On a side note one of my cats chased a deer across the yard this afternoon, not real sure if it was chaseing or following because it spooked?

BF
 
LOL!! That has got to be s sight! A cat chasing a deer! :lol::huh:

What in the world does he think he's gonna do with it if he catches it? :wacko:
 

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