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?