Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail

I had to wuss out about 5-6 miles into the trail from realizing that I needed a lot more food than the 3 granola bars I had on me (already about 3-4 miles from home by my guess) but I had some delightful sights. Unfortunately, my camera also decided to go on vacation just as things got really good with the raptor sightings. I still got some landscapes, including Alachua Lake (or as I think of it, "sink") and the northern rim of Paynes Prairie.

Maybe tomorrow I'll do the entire trail, which I think will provide me with a 30ish mile round trip. It's a really nice trail, well-traveled, and just absolutely beautiful. Plus the weather is fairly cooperative, so maybe I'll pass up my chance to hunt and instead go on this little journey that I've been itching to do for quite some time. Now if there was only a way of getting my hunting mentor on a bike without letting the seat violate him too badly...

Barrel of a Gun Redux, Part 2

I promised more details on how I took this doe down, and here they are.

I was sitting in my friend's tree stand, rifle in hand and the seat threatening to violate me if I don't relieve myself of excess fat deposits. It was a fairly warm morning and I didn't have to wear as many layers as I did the last two weeks. I was actually a bit tired and hungry too, having been up since about 0400 hrs and only having had a sugar-free pudding and a granola bar for breakfast shortly after 0400 hrs. I heard a deer blowing, suspecting that they either smelled someone or saw/heard something they didn't like, maybe that bear I saw last week or my friend (an extremely experienced hunter, albeit one who also had a bit of indigestion going into the last few hunts) moved in the wrong way.

Then I heard rustling nearby and it wasn't one of those darn squirrels that I hoped that the local hawks, falcons, and bobcats would eat. I saw something light brown moving so I knew it wasn't a hog or bear and it was all by itself.

"Darn," I thought. "Probably that ... censored ... spike or one of those censored button-bucks." There's a particular annoying spike that my friend and I keep seeing. He named this annoying little spike "Hoover" after his ability to seemingly vacuum up everything edible in an area and still remain relatively scrawny and thin. Neither the spike nor the button are legal targets at the club, so I didn't undo the safety just yet but I did continue to watch.

No bumps on the head, no little spike-like antlers poking out. Odd. What was a doe doing all by herself? She had a beautiful coat and seemed to be a decent size, although obviously smaller than the doe I took in November. I watched her movements and confirmed she wasn't a button-buck. Then I raised the rifle, hoping she'd stay in the relatively clear area slightly to my left, but she raised her head and looked up at me. I had to freeze and this scene played itself several time -- I'd adjust myself again to follow her movements, ever to the right and further away, always freezing if she even looked up. At one point, she even looked up, bolted about 2-3 yards away, flashed her white tail up (bad sign!) but instead of blowing, she went back to feeding, moving about among the acorns. I could hear her munching and she kept presenting her butt to me. She even started cleaning herself and wagging her tail, good signs that she was really relaxed.

I slowly adjusted myself until I was able to get as clear of a path as possible through the tree in front of me and waited until she was broadside. Finally, when I saw her approaching broadside, heading towards quartering towards (bad, as I learned from the last deer when I did some gut damage), I slowly squeezed the trigger, ever holding my aim onto the "pocket" right behind her shoulder, roughly corresponding to a 10 ring on an ASA-style 3D target. I heard the thunder from my rifle and I saw her take two steps and drop. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest and I knew I was not coming out of the tree-stand in one piece for at least 10-15 minutes. She flopped around for a few heartbeats before she became still, so I knew I dropped her right then and there.

Ten or fifteen minutes later, my friend arrived from his stand about 80-100 yards away and helped me down knowing that I was still unsteady. We went over to where she fell and examined the entrance and exit wounds. I saw the dreaded clumpy stuff -- guts. I busted yet another deer's gut but it looked like I also took out part of her lung because she was bleeding quite a bit out of her mouth. Later on, while we were cleaning her out, I found out that I actually damaged one of her lungs a bit and destroyed her liver. Apparently between the shock and the heavy bleeding in her liver, she just didn't have a chance to move more than two steps before dropping. I still lost the tenderloin and the rib meat, but I still have plenty of really good back-strap steaks, hams, and shoulder (something I had lost on the last deer from all the trauma in that area).

Barrel of a Gun Redux

For the higher quality, easily downloadable pictures, goto http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~greywolf/hunt20071229/

I'll write some more once my brain isn't so mushy. Having been up since 0400 hrs without a nap does make a big difference in my alertness level!

Here's one picture from the series:

Spikes and Buttons

If you want higher quality pictures, go here instead of clicking on the title.

My friend told me that the stand he had me sit at was a really good stand for seeing deer and he was not wrong. In the last few days, I have seen more deer up close and personal, many within bow range, than I have seen in the rest of my life. I've also seen a bobcat fairly close on three separate occasions and it's extremely cute. Of course, I'm also not a squirrel or small bird, and I'm fairly high up on the tree-stand. We're both hoping to see at least a 6 point buck but so far, the only confirmed male deer observations we've had were a button and one or two spike bucks. There was a group of four does -- one small one and three large ones -- and they would feed before my eyes, oblivious to the hunter staring at them and wishing she had an extra doe tag. Even just watching them up close and personal was quite the experience and hearing them crunch away at those acorns. I really like venison and I was extremely tempted to take one of the large does, but I refrained from taking any shots at them because Murphy's Laws seem to be rolling against me of late.

The spike buck, or a young male without anything branching on his antlers, was extremely tempting. He was already a pretty good sized deer with plenty of meat and with one antler longer than the other. At first, I only saw something moving with a bit of antler, so I hoped against all odds that he was at least a 6 pointer. Then I set the rifle on him, mostly to confirm what I saw and as I did, he moved towards me, semi-oblivious of the hungry predator in the tree. He looked up at me twice and pretty much regarded me as just some funny-looking part of the tree or some weird-looking bird before munching away at soybeans, acorns, and anything else tasty. Unfortunately, he had no branching on his antlers, which meant he was not legal to shoot at this hunt club, although in most areas he would've been either legal or nearly legal. I figure next year, if he survives, he'll be a legal target. My friend doesn't think he'll have a monster set of antlers, but he should be a 6 pointer next year if he has the right genes, eats properly and otherwise stays healthy. One of these days, I'm going to get me a good-sized buck with a decent set of antlers!

Along the Ocklawaha

Thought I'd share these pictures... more on the adventures later.

Path to Less Chaos?

We built a bow-rack and an archery drawer this weekend in hopes of keeping the bulk of my archery equipment in one part of the apartment. Isn't this a beauty? With just a basic drawer, some lumber and some basic supplies from the local hardware store, I now am the proud owner of a nice bow-rack that'll nicely keep my bows off my bed :)

Another use for Serenoa repens

Besides making for great kindling and an even better way of tearing things up, S. repens and many similar-looking Sabal species (which don't tear things up as readily) also make for a great ground-blind. The ground blind was actually pretty neat because we were on the ground and much close to eye-level with our quarry. This also meant we (or at least I) had to remain a whole lot more still, but at the same time, it also meant that I didn't have to worry about falling out of a tree-stand! I do like the view from the tree-stand a lot more because I do enjoy looking down, but the ground-blind certainly has its own appeal to me too. We didn't see anything today, unless you count the annoying little squirrels and rabbits that don't quite make for much of a meal. I was really hoping to see either some hogs or maybe a buck that was at least a 6-pointer, but oh well, part of the fun of hunting is the uncertainty and getting to enjoy being in the wilderness. I can see why my friend/mentor spends so much time out in the woods -- now if I can only convince some of my colleagues that time in the woods is far healthier for me than these horrible places downtown that they like to lurk in and that the Ranger cannot thrive on computers, books and socializing alone but must be free to roam about outdoors in the wilds and be given a chance to stalk prey of some sort.

From the Depths of my Camera...

...Come pictures of a magnificent, beautiful raptor. I was hoping to get a better view and better lighting so I could stand a chance of at least identifying to genus, but just being within a few meters of it was a thrill enough. I can guess to one of two families -- either Accipteridae or Falconidae. The body build makes me think it could be something within Accipteridae, but when it flew off, the tapered wings made me think more along the lines of Falconidae. I'm willing to put my bets more towards Falconidae though because of the wings and the facial markings. The camera just doesn't do this magnificent raptor justice. Below are my two best shots but clicking on the title will let you see the rest of the pictures as well as these two better shots.

Yet Another Do Not Attempt...

In an attempt to increase my exercise opportunities, I tried biking to the Fred Bear Archery range, a (theoretically) easy 1.5 mile or so ride.

Smart move: I took a take-down bow.
Except... I took the Four Winds, which doesn't fit quite as well in the case as the shorter Chek-Mate and is a lot more sensitive to changes in brace-height.

Smart move: I took the northern entrance to the service road the range is on to avoid a really scary crossing past I-75.
Dumb move: I didn't realize the lack of bike lanes or anything to support bikers on the service road.

Smart move: I took emergency supplies.
Only problem was... the basket is already full of high-powered longbow so I had to take advantage of big pockets in my pants and the hip pack.

Smart move: I wore the back-quiver instead of the hip quiver.
But... that back-quiver with the wood-grained aluminum arrows with bright blue fletching and what looks like snake-skin cresting certainly got me stared at a lot!

Overall, I liked the extra exercise from the lousy aerodynamics and the extra weight of supplies, but whew, I was tired when I got there and set up. I also had to re-do the brace height on my bow because the string decided to untwist a few times in the case. I was still able to keep my groups within a 12" diameter with Sparrowhawk at 20 yards though. The conclusion? If I'm going to bike to Fred Bear Archery again, I'm going to take a shorter 3-piece takedown bow and use a Catquiver (which conceals the arrows a lot better and isn't as likely to make me a safety hazard in narrow spaces).

First Kill with Sparrowhawk

I really need to take the time to check the targets closely before I take shots at them, especially with dusk creeping in.


My Eyes: The target looks slightly more chewed up than usual but it'll make it easier to see.
My Brain: Maybe we should check it in case it's a another lizard. Don't exactly want a re-run of what happened with the Martin X-200.
The Ranger: We're running a bit low on time, should be safe plus my accuracy sucks enough for it not to be an issue.
(First shot hits slightly to the side, second hits the center, something can be seen writhing and something kinda pinkish/red squirts out too.
My Eyes: Uhh, I think that was a lizard or something.
My Brain: Crap. I agree with Eyes. We should've checked first, but no, the Ranger didn't listen.
The Ranger: Finally another kill, but sheesh, I need to kill something with serious nutritional value. Hey, when are we going hunting again? I need to relieve some deer or hog of its blood pressure! (Huge rush of excitement passes through even at the slaying of a little fence lizard)

200th Post!

Still got two more hurdles to pass through, but it seems like my rate of blogging is positively correlated to my academic stress level.

The file is misnamed but 1/8th of a cubic meter is still a lot of plant material to work with! Found this on my cell phone while cleaning it out. I think the team from the ecosystem ecology methods class would've appreciated it if I found this picture sooner!

I accomplished this feat at 30 yards. I barely feel the draw weight on this little one. This is one sweet little comfort bow I could shoot all day. I seem to get much better confidence intervals on my horizonal axis, but Sparrowhawk gives me a better vertical confidence interval. I think I need to watch my form a bit more with Sorondil-Telcontar because I sometimes get major porpoising. I know the arrows are well-spined for this bow because I've had someone draw it to 24" (my traditional draw length) and there were no problems, so I suspect it's something with the way I'm torquing the bow. I guess it's time to get someone to watch my movements again!

One Down and Far Too Many To Go

I survived my methods of ecosystem ecology poster presentation. One class is finally done and still have the ecological modelling and principles of ecosystem ecology classes to go. I can't wait to be able to spend more time exercising and less time on the computer! I feel an exponential function coming on in my gut and butt diameter from sitting at the computer or in class. Click on the link for the pictures from the presentation, by the way.

Just one more week and I'll be free to follow the wind with my feet and/or my bike again!

The Ranger

The Ranger is growing stronger and stronger in me, which is exactly what I don't need for my academic situation, but I guess there's worse things that could come up than the Ranger. On one hand, the Ranger certainly gives me a sense of determination and toughness to get things done, but on the other hand, it also makes me restless, only wanting to be out in the wilds with my trusty bow or following the wind on my bike.

Worst places for the Ranger to emerge:
-- while trying to get term projects done
-- at a professional conference
-- social situation that requires being an (over)refined sissy
-- any situation involving enforced inactivity

Best places for the Ranger to emerge:
-- hunting
-- exploring new areas
-- archery tournaments
-- any situation involving strenuous, sustained activity

Now if I can only get selected features of the Ranger to emerge and/or (de)activate it at will instead of having it emerge in full at inappropriate times! It's much easier to fall into the Ranger than to come out of it and it's pretty much the most natural entity in me. Will the Ranger protect me from upcoming hazards?

Target or Hunting Bow?

Someone dared me to attempt shots at 50 yards with Sparrowhawk. Suffice to say, I was impressed with the results :)



Here's a group at the 30 yards while really tired:

A Day Late...

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the first atmospheric CO2 measurements from Mauna Loa by C.D. Keeling and the beginning of the construction of the Keeling curves. Heck, if politician and other non-exciting types get celebrated, why not scientists who actually do something exciting?

Pictures From the Cell Phone

I saw a really beautiful red-tailed hawk earlier today on campus. It was a shame I only had the cell phone, which doesn't do him or her justice, but maybe I'll see some more up-close and personal.

I also had an unusually good group at 30 yards with my freshly built 27.75" 1916s with 125 grain points and 5" parabolic-cut fletching. This was while I was blind-baling to help combat some of the target panic issues I still seem to have.

I can't wait for the collard greens to finish cooking so I can enjoy them with some home-made deer meatloaf!

Arrows A-Plenty

I've now got me a set of both relatively thin arrows that my compound will be happy with until about 47.5 lbs and a set of thicker, heavy arrows that will let me crank up the draw weight to 50 lbs (and a bit more). I'm actually impressed that my bow, even with my painfully short draw length (25") and light draw (45 lbs), likes the CXL 150s when a good friend of mine with a "real" draw length (28") and stronger draw (close to 60 lbs) on a high-performance bow uses them at full (28.5") length! Cutting off 5 inches really stiffens up the shaft, but I guess the 75 grain point does soften it a bit.

Interesting Object

Any guesses what this is?

Grab-Bag

I was digging through my hard disk and found some recent pictures that I felt like posting just for the heck of it.

This was a 35 foot walk-up (35, 30, 25, 20 yards) on the "bunny" targets during practice.

This was from about 30 yards at Gator Bowmen with Sparrowhawk. There's obviously some grouping by the types of arrows: Easton Legacy 1916s, Easton Super Slam XX78 2016, and Gold Tip Hunter 3555.

Biking Along SR 24

I almost reached the city of Archer, just west of Gainesville on my bike. The only thing that stopped me from attempting it was the lack of anything resembling a bike lane. Duration of trip from start to finish: 2 hrs. Except for a few traffic-light ridden spots, I was in racing mode. Thank goodness for that new seat on my bike or my butt would be cursing at me! Sometimes, it's just way too nice of a day to be working on term projects and I just need that outdoor exercise time more than anything else!

Rolling a 1 on a d20 on a Saving Throw or Attack Roll

I shot my first official American 900 at The Villages this morning with the Equalizer. I scored a pretty decent 806/900 -- not bad for being first timer at this, even if I did practice a bit. Oddly, I felt unusually relaxed and I was able to settle into my form really well and just focus on the target. Maybe it was practically being uncontested in my division or maybe because I knew that unless something really went wrong, there was no risk of me losing any arrows. Whatever it was, I just shot really well. It also helped being able to see the target!


Then I had the critical fumble of the millenium. My string loop took a bit of a munching at the 900 and I went to the pro-shop to chat with some friends and get things checked out. Two of my friends had been shooting a Vegas-style round and I decided to join in, thinking things were going to be ok until we were done. And then... it all happened at once. As I drew back one of many shots as I always did, I suddenly felt the back-tension release go off before I hit full anchor and the bow kicked back as it was supposed to and it fell at my feet, bouncing like a robotic Tigger. When I picked the bow up, my friend (a master bow-mechanic and wonderful mentor) evaluated the damage. My upper cam was severely bent and my string loop was no longer a loop. So now my poor Equalizer is sitting in line at the shop for some serious repair work. With the number of bow accidents I've been having, I'm starting to think that maybe there's a curse, perhaps from trusty little Sorondil-Telcontar in his (yes, I see the bow as male) envy at the other bows that have come into my life. Or maybe I just got a badly weighted 20-sided die and I've been rolling a lot of 1's.

Speaking of rolling 1's, I think I may've just missed a saving throw somewhere, either one versus spells (for you AD&D types) or a Will Save (for you 3rd/3.5th edition types) or maybe a Reflex Save (also 3/3.5)... I need to re-roll and hope I can get a better roll after improving my odds of making the save...

Compound Adventures

That's one neat looking spider there! I nearly shot the poor thing from 60 yards.


That one shot in the center of the "X" is noteworthy at 45 yards. It's a lot easier to aim when I can see the dot on my scope!


How does one get a 20X0? This is how! This one was at 50 yards. Apparently I'm either dropping my bow-arm as I release or my sight-tape is off. I think it's me dropping the bow-arm a bit because that new stabilizer is pretty darned heavy!

Staring Down the Barrel of a Gun... Kinda

It was only the second time in the tree-stand at my friend's hunting club and a crisp, cold morning where I welcomed some of the sunlight. I think we had been sitting in our stands since a bit after 0600hrs -- my friend is on a climbing stand on a big palm tree while I'm sitting on a 15 foot ladder stand that he designated as a gun stand. I could see why he put that rifle in my hands, why he wanted me to use that instead of a bow. We hadn't really seen anything unless you count the neat-looking bugs and birds that flew around us. My friend was getting somewhat fidgety and was thinking about heading out in about 20-30 minutes if we didn't see anything.

Then from the 15 foot high ladder stand, I saw some objects moving about 25 yards away and my first thought was coyotes. Then they came closer and they didn't have the coyote-like look and then I realized that the three objects were deer. There were two yearlings and a large, mature doe -- one of the yearlings I recognized was a "button buck". Silently, I flipped the safety into the "off" position and raised the rifle while the deer began to feed. The doe looked up at me and I could feel everything freezing in me, thinking that she was going to blow and bolt off. She just resumed feeding when I froze my own movements and I continued to move slowly, cautiously in hopes of getting in a good shot on her. Once again, she looked up, nervous and I held off on my actions until she relaxed. She bent back down to start feeding about 20 yards from me and I slowly aimed with the sight on the rifle until I lined up with the "pocket", the indentation right behind the shoulder. As soon as I was satisfied with my alignment and realized that my trembling wasn't going to decrease, my right index finger moved to the trigger and gradually squeezed back until I heard the thunder.

Stunned, all I could do was tremble as I watched the doe bolt off into the saw palmettoes. I turned to my friend, a seasoned hunter, and I saw him give me the thumbs-up, which reassured me that I made the right move and took a good shot. A few minutes later, he was back down on the ground with that climbing stand and I was back down, relieved to be back on solid ground where I didn't have to worry about falling. After regaining enough strength to walk in a straight line, my friend and I searched for the blood trail. He saw where she fell, but he's the type who'd rather follow the path of least resistance or failing that, the blood trail.

Then my friend noticed that there were partially digested acorns in the blood trail. Not a good sign because that indicates a gut-shot, although he swore that he saw me shoot right behind the shoulder. The pieces came together after I realized what happened -- I did aim for that "pocket" but she was also facing towards me. The entrance wound suggested that the shot went through her lungs, but the exit wound showed that it also went through parts of her digestive tract. Nonetheless, she left a good trail and we found her fairly close to where I had shot her.

My friend used the tree-stand harnesses to drag the 100ish lb deer out and then we went to get some ice and began to skin her in his yard. All I can say of the process are the following: 1) guts stink especially if they've been poked open 2) it's cool to see what my shot destroyed and 3) it's far more pleasant than the biology class dissection stuff. Granted, most of my duties revolved around holding up a water hose and spraying water where I was directed to or holding things stable. After quartering the deer and removing the bullet wound and trauma areas, we took the skinned deer to the butcher for further work.

I can't wait for my steaks, roasts, and other venison products!

Return of Sparrowhawk

I finally got Sparrowhawk back after taking her in for repairs to the glass on the top limb and re-finishing. I think I spend too much time on my butt and not enough shooting things or running around.



Not too shabby for being severely chewed on by mosquitoes and not having practiced for a long time...

Escape From Gainesville

Click on the title to see what I did this weekend. Suffice to say, I definitely need to be shooting and exercising more!

I'll Let You Ponder These

Let's see if you can figure out what's going on here.




On a different note, I did a bit of an experiment today with none other than Sorondil-Telcontar. So I had a dozen Easton Legacy shafts size 1916 that were 29.5" long. I decided to build them up knowing that the 28" shafts with 125 grain points were a bit stiff for Sorondil-Telcontar even though they were a bit soft for Sparrowhawk and that a 27" size 1816 shaft with a 125 grain point was ever so slightly soft for Sorondil-Telcontar. Suffice to say, I think I can just keep a nice, big stash of 1916s and they'll satisfy both Sparrowhawk and Sorondil-Telcontar even if I may have to cut them to different lengths if I want to keep the same weight points to make life a bit easier. I still prefer wooden arrows, but with the amount of time involved in making them and the frequency at which I hit them or hard objects, it does get prohibitively labor-intensive!

Need a Venison and 3D Fix

For some reason, I've been really wanting some good, tender venison. I'm also getting a serious hankering for doing some 3D shooting, which I've hardly done ever since school kicked in. I guess I'll get my 3D fix this weekend, barring the homework set from hell or any annoyance that may come up from a four-headed troll. I really want to shoot the living daylights out of something -- for some reason, drills aren't quite satisfying that urge to kill something, even if they are very time-efficient and about the only thing I can do given that most of my daylight hours are either stuck behind a computer, in a classroom, or too fragmented to get to my favorite haunts.

I definitely need to evacuate from town too -- I'm not at all enthused about homecoming, although the one plus is that it gives me a day for myself to actually get things done (3D fix, too bad bow-hunting season's already over here in FL... it's way too short). I thought homecoming was only for high schoolers with the wits of partially digested detritus and nothing better to do, but apparently it's also for university critters (students, professors, staff) with nothing better to do!

That predatory urge is getting really intense, I'm starting to really understand why a buddy of mine was spazzing out not long ago and kept going off on how he needed to kill something with his bow. I can't wait to finally shoot my own deer or hog, preferably with Sparrowhawk, but I can use the Equalizer or the River's Edge recurve or even little Sorondil-Telcontar in a serious pinch. Click on the above link for a really nice-looking buck -- one of these days I'll be the one out in the woods and doing real shooting instead of sitting in front of the computer with my body weight in readings and code!

I think I just accidentally let off a blinding -VOIP!- with my ever-so-pale visage...

A Few Sights...

Let's see if you can guess what this plant is used for...


A deer passed through here! Darn, where's my weapon when I need it? I really want to take the wind out of some edible critter (ie, deer or hog) by putting a hole through its lungs/heart with either Sparrowhawk or Sorondil-Telcontar!



A most beautiful sunset, taken while going down the interstate with my friend in his truck. It was a bit of a shame that the clouds took over though, would've been a great night for star-gazing.



An old-style tractor (c. 1940s or 1950s) with my friend providing a sense of scale.