The Adventures and Lessons at the Ranch

I got my 8 y/o a new pellet rifle for Christmas. It was his first. We went to the new ranch this week and boy did he have a blast. My 13 Y/O didn't want to attent this event as rough camping is not his bag so much when it's cold. I'm sure he'll come next time.

Everything is an adventure when you are 8. We spent a few days camping, hunting, working, and enjoying nature as it was intended; wild and free. My son kept saying how he was learning so much on this trip. Things like how to build a fire, how to hunt, chop fire wood and more. Well I learned a thing or two about how to really live life from my little boy these past few days.

When you're 8, a giant flock of birds flying overhead, no matter what species is a thing of wonder. Where will they land, where are they going. To get to put a new log on the camp fire is a huge treat as you carefully place it just right with your dad's guidance and supervision. Oh and the Coleman lantern . . . this was one of the 7 wonders of the world for him! He mastered the process of lighting and turning off this wonderful outdoor device that no camp is complete without.

As we sat on a deer stand he found wonder with and was curious about every detail of the blind itself, our guns, the trees and rocks that wove the fabric of the landscape. Everything and I mean everything was worth examination and discussion. Though I desperately wanted to harvest a deer, which was not likely to happen with all the talking and inquisition, I found delight in his natural curiosity for things, all things, and what role they play in our world. Then I came to the realization that this natural curiosity is in each and every one of us by our very nature but is extinguished over the years with what we perceive to be knowledge and age. I believe that curiosity is the seed of creativity. With curiosity and creativity in our daily lives we will live life more fully, we will see things as brand new, we will taste every moment of our life with a new zeal that makes life so much more than existence. This is what I learned from an 8 year old with a whole lot of questions.

Thanks so much for sharing this time with me;

Steve Smith

If you enjoyed this article or anything on this site please post a comment or send an e-mail to steveshots@yahoo.com

Well, I guess this says it all! A boy an his gun and his quary! See the photos below for our latest trip out to our new land. My 8 year old and I roughed it for a couple of days of wilderness bliss! 

Sorry for the horizontal . . . we even built a gate and set some posts. 

We camped out, cooked out, and every thing that goes with it. What a wonderful collection of memories that were formed. 

Here we saw a dove in a tree. Sam hangs the scoped, bolt action rifle out of the blind windo to draw a bead, but the dove flew away. Good practice for him still. 

Sam on his way the the Deer blind one evening. Today he chose to hunt with a Remington .22 with a scope rather than his pelet rifle. He was mainly after birds and small game. It's good to have choices.

The view from our dog house pop up deer blind. They're great if there is no wind.  

My 8 year old enjoying the freedom of his own land and the comfortable grip of his new (soon to be old) friend, his Chineese springer pellet rifle. Here he is hoping for a shot at a bird. 

The Ranch is Almost Ours!!!!!

Well I’ve come to terms with the seller on the ranch deal. I’m waiting on the closing now. I do, however have some access to the place between now and closing. Over Christmas break me and my two sons went hunting and surveying the place. We really had a great time as we let down our hair and had our first Smith boys deer camp. My oldest son is 13 and his little brother is 8. We’ve never had a place to hunt before and it is a wonderful blessing for us all to enjoy the things that I did as a young man in the outdoors.

I bought my youngest son a little XS B-15 youth air gun for Christmas and he took to it like a duck to water. He honed his stalking skills on birds and practiced shooting. The freedom was amazing in this time of crowded suburbia that so many of us live in today. To watch him enjoy the wide open wilderness unencumbered was very fulfilling.

Seems that we are all wild wolves at heart; needing to stretch our legs out and “romp” once in a while. We need to run free without the constraints of a neighborhood, passing cars, and too many people at least occasionally. Enough philosophical psycho-babble!

It’s all I can do to keep from spending a ton of money on “Ranch stuff” right now. I need to wait until we close and it’s all mine before I begin the improvements. It’s just that I have such vision for this property. I can see the camp as plain as my hand in front of my face though it only exists in my mind at this point.

My youngest son and I will travel out to the Ranch again tomorrow morning and will camp for a few days. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for sharing this short time with me. I hope you’ve had fun.

Steve

Views on the ranch. 

Veiws on the ranch. 

A cool looking old dead tree. Notice the unidirectional limbs. 

One of the vista views. The ranch is basically 2 mountains and a canyon. 

The Ranch Purchase

As you may have seen in an earlier post, I am in the process of trying to buy some land for me and my family to enjoy for a retreat, get-away, hunting, camping, etc. Well the old saying "they ain't making anymore land" has me wanting to stretch out and get a piece of ground for me and my descendants to enjoy while we still can. But first, are we all comfortable with my calling this little 60 acre piece of heaven a "ranch"? I don't really know what to call it. Is it a camp, a "deer" camp, a cabin in the woods, a retreat? What shall we call this future memory factory? I would love to hear your suggestions and input. Use the "comments" link below to join in the discussion or I may even put another poll on for you to cast your vote.

Anyway . . . the land company rep called me again today. At this point in the process I have visited the land, thought things over, done some research, and submitted my proposed terms of an offer for the land. Renee, the land company rep is now putting together some stuff that I need and also drawing up a contract and faxing it all to me. Well I've never bought raw land before and I don't really know what I'm doing. I need some guidance as to what to watch out for in the contract. Your input is welcome here so feel free to leave comments or e-mail me at steveshots@yahoo.com.

Renee feels like that our offer will most likely be accepted by the seller. I am most excited about this and can't wait to start building the cabin, setting feeders and stands, improving the land, and making things generally ready for a good time for all who visit.

As things progress I will post photos and updates.

Thanks for your time;

Steve

2 Squirrels harvested with my XS B-22 equiped with bi-pod, TF 4X32 scope, one piece scope mount and strap. Hunting on Thanksgiving day 2004 on land near Houston. 

Thanksgiving 2004 squirrel hunting with the XS-B-22. 

HUNTING

Thanksgiving 2004: Texas, and other states I’m sure, had tons of rain for the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. In fact, we broke the rainfall record and I figured that we should have just taken our trophy and put on the shelf and stop running up the score so dang bad, but still the rain fell.

Low and behold, the sun peaked out just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday and made for a great opportunity for all us air gunners to get a little squirrel hunting in. After all they (the squirrels) were ready to get out and bounce around in the trees after spending a couple of weeks pinned down by the rain. I know I had been jonesin’ to get out and shoot, so I can only imagine how the wildlife felt.

My family and I traveled to Splendora, Texas which is just north of Houston on HWY 59, to my uncle’s farm/get away. Thanksgiving morning was the first cold, clear day after a long rainy spell and that is the makings for a good day of hunting! This would be the first time that I would get to really see how the Xsisco B-22 (a very affordable Chinese made knock off) would perform on squirrels at various distances and actually have many shots.

The gun and I made a couple of really nice shots, and I made a few really bad ones. I’m sorry to admit that there were 3 other squirrels that were not able to attend the photo op seen above. 2 of which fell in the water and were never seen again, and one who took a pellet but either stuck in a tree or something, but was not retrieved. Please accept my regrets and apologies on the missing 3.

I was really impressed at how well the gun performed. The B-22 shot hard and connected well with its targets. I really like this gun. I also took the opportunity to shoot at 70 yards. I set up a paper target first and with a good cross wind grouped around 2.5 to 3 inches, about 3 inches low and about 2 inches to the left. I then replaced the paper target with 2 cans and hit them semi regularly. What a hoot!!! I am considering putting a 2X7 scope on this gun so I can shoot at the longer distances, and see where I hit as well.

I really had a great time and it really scratched an itch that I’ve been having for a long time. I bet it would be great to try turkey hunting with “The Beast” (XS B-22 . . . not the devil!).

If you got to get out and hunt or shoot over the holiday, please click the little “comments” link below and share with our readers.

Thanks for your time;

Steve

My B-22 before I refinished the stock and put the bi-pod. I'll get new pix up soon. 

The B-22 got to stretch her legs out today in the field

I took my B-22 out in the field today. The Central Texas weather was cool and cloudy with a brisk wind. The conditions seemed to keep the squirrels in, but the birds were out pretty well. Seem that the robins are in migration now.

I started the testing with the B-4-2 at 20 yards to see if the red dot sight was going to be true out at greater distances. It did fine at 20 and then 30 yards. But let’s talk about the B-22!

I put a bi-pod on the B-22 for steadying in the field. It works great! I started at 20 yards, but that’s nothing to write about, so then I backed her up to 30 yards. She gave easy accuracy; swinging the small silhouette on the left (only about an inch round) with ease, and grouping nicely on paper also. After I got board with that, I decided to make it a little more “field like” conditions. I backed up to about 43 yards from the silhouettes, which put me about 45 yards from the paper target, and about 50 yards from a 12 oz beer can placed on a limb in a tree down the make-shift shooting lane. I lay in the prone shooting position with the bi-pod in use. I would say that I was able to hit the large circle silhouette on the far right (about 3.5 or 4 inches round) about 4 out of 6 shots. I hit the center one which is about 2 to 2.5 inches round about half of the shots, and I occasionally hit the small 1 inch one at this distance. Keep in mind that they were somewhat buried by grass and weeds and other obstructions. I maintained decent groups on paper, but the best part was the can! I smacked that can like it was nobody’s business! These were the 50 yard shots. I have not had the opportunity to shoot any of my guns at this distance yet so this was a wonderful experience and confidence builder.

The B-22 performed with true excellence today and I would recommend this gun to anyone.

through the scope of my XS B-22 looking down range at my backyard range. Old photo, I have improved the range considerably since this shot.

Product review of the Gamo Silver Shadow 1000

I have had this gun for several months now. I have had some problems with it, but they were problems that were solved by properly mounting my scope and other operator error issues. On forums and other places I learned that air guns have a different kind of recoil and require a different type of scope and mounting technique to stand up to the possibility of scope creep or whatever. I got a one piece mount and I have a BSA 2X7 AO scope and IT PERFORMS FANTASTIC regardless of what some may say about BSA scopes. When properly mounted, this unit works fine and is deadly accurate.

The Gamo SS 1000 has an all-weather, black stock which makes it light and look cool in my opinion. Accuracy is quite good, but once in a while I see a flyer. It is a very comfortable shooting gun and quite affordable at $125.00 from academy in Austin, TX. The usual price tag is between $150.00-$189.00 from what I have seen.
What I like about it: Looks, price, stainless makes it easy to keep nice, very accurate, light weight, adjustable trigger, though you don’t have much range of adjustment, great “use” gun: not a pamper gun, take it our and use it in the elements, touch it, use it, it will stand up to the punishment and perform well.
What I don’t like: You have to modify the gun to put a strap on it. It is twangy- goes “TWANG”. Trigger isn’t terrible, but could be better.

Overall this is a great gun if you don’t already have a good, light, easy/fun shooting gun. If you had a XS B-20 or Beeman GS-950 or 1000, you may had similar guns as far as what they will do. Of course there are differences, but similar.

Next Review: XS B-4-2

The XS B-4-2 with a red dot sight. The new rat killer!!! Revived from the dead after a 2 week coma with no trigger. 

The XS B-4-2 Makes a Kill!

The XS B-4-2 gets the first kill, on the first shooting session (actually the sighting in session) only minutes after Charlie talked me through the trigger issue! This is amazing!
As you know, Charlie DaTuna fixed me up regarding my trigger problem. Well I mounted my red dot sight, took the B-4-2 out in the back and sighted it in. It shoots great at 10 yards anyway, I’ll be working on it at 20 and 30 yards later.

Now for the kicker!!!! I have the worlds greatest rat lease in my back yard. I got em coming out of every corner. They love my dog’s food so I keep them baited so I can have some memorable rat hunting moments. I was just about ready to come in and call it quits when I see one of the little beady eyes rascals stick his head up from under the deck. He just sat there so I began loading the gun. He left. I waited. One came to the food plot (dog bowl) I did not shoot. Then another, still no shot. After analyzing the situation and making sure I could make a safe shot that would not result in a ricochet and damage someone’s property I was ready for the next victim. Sure enough, here he came. Just as he perched up on the side of moose’s bowl, “THUNK-B-TAT” SQUEEK-SQUEEK!” and it was over. I waited for several minutes to so as not to drive the beautiful trophy into deep cover where he may never be found and only be wasted. I went to the spot where I had shot him. There it was, the blood trail! I know that this would be a true test of my tracking skills. OK, OK enough BS!!! It was fun though right?!!??! Anyway, The ol B-4-2 is shooting really accurately after my tune and of course after Charlie helped me get my trigger working. Speaking of the trigger, it is not gritty and hard anymore either. The tune I did was from Charlie’s instructions found on his website. It was simple and a great learning experience. Not to mention that the gun shoots much better now.

Thanks for spending this time!