Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire So, me an' eyeball went huntin' yesterday with our POS foreign shotguns...

... and since there were a lot of complaints from slow readers last time I wrote a story here on the 'Fire--about my POS foreign car, you may recall--I'll use a lot of small words and put in some pictures to hold those fellows' attention. I decided to put it up here on the general Campfire as the subject matter covers a lot of topics, including bird hunting, shotguns, mule deer hunting, pickup trucks, and politics. My POS foreign car (POSFC) does not figure in this story, although several POS foreign shotguns (POSFS's) do.

A lot of folks have been inquiring about whether the old coot--eyeball, that is, not me; I ain't as old as he is, nor anywhere near as ornery--whether the old coot is still alive since he got banned from this here Campfire, I thought I'd put up some photo evidence as proof of life.

First, here's a pic from less than 2 months ago of eyeball and his pard & 24HCF member Sand Billy out of New Mexico, who went mule deer hunting on a ranch near Monahans, and on which eyeball shot the latest and greatest of the many mule deer he's shot over the years. Seems to me eyeball has been slagged on the 'Fire from time to time for not putting up pics of game he's shot, so I guess I'll carry his water for him this one time.



For you tape-measure perverts, that's a 252 green score buck. I'd tell you the story of how he got it, except it took him nearly 4 hours yesterday to tell the story to me, so I'll have to edit the tale some for brevity. I ain't sayin' eyeball is long-winded, mind you; but I won't call you a liar if you say he is.

Well, deer hunting being over, me and eyeball made a plan to chase some quail yesterday. We decided it would be best to meet up on Highway 15 between Kermit and Andrews, which is about as close as I can go to eyeball's house safely. I shouldn't ought to have said anything about his wife bein' mad at me, as she reads posts here on the 'Fire. Seems to me most men's huntin' pards are not well-liked by their wives, and that's just how it goes, I guess. Let's just say discretion is the better part of valor and leave it at that.

So anyways, we met up west of Andrews, and then drove north a ways to a ranch eyeball knows. Which isn't giving much away, as eyeball knows every ranch between Odessa and El Paso, and has permission to hunt all of 'em.

We arrived at the ranch, parked my pickup by a deserted house & windmill, then loaded up my guns & ammo in eyeball's sorry excuse for a GMC pickup and headed west. We didn't bother using roads much, as the oilfield trucks have beat up the roads so much that it's easier on the suspension just to drive cross-country. Which eyeball proceeded to do, at a goodly speed.

Now, I'm not sayin' eyeball is rough on his trucks. He is about as careful with his trucks as Shrapnel is with antique Colt's revolvers, if you catch my drift. (Let's just say if I die and get reincarnated as a pickup truck, please Lord don't let eyeball buy me!)

Bein' sporting men, we eschewed the time-honored west Texas tradition of ground-sluicing quail. That is to say, the birds were so wild we couldn't get close enough to ground-sluice 'em. So we had to resort to the use of Babe the gun dog. She's a 2-1/2 year old GSP bitch, a bit on the small side for the breed, but a real gem.

We unlimbered our POS foreign shotguns. I brought the new pretty sidelock 20-gauge I mortgaged my house for last year (they DID give me a free hat with their name on it, which I thought was nice) and eyeball took out his 12-gauge Benelli, which he had brung along instead of his ol' reliable Browning A5 20-gauge. He advised me to use high-base No. 6 shotshells, as the quail tend to be pretty wild this time of year, especially in the wind. And the wind was blowin' pretty hard yesterday, which made for tough gunning.

Here's a pic of my POSFS for all you gun porn types:



I didn't bother to take a pic of eyeball's POSFS because if you've seen one Benelli, you've seen 'em all...

The first flock we saw flushed 50 yards out, but only flew about 150 yards to the next copse of mesquite. We trudged on over, busted 'em again at about 60 yards, then the third time at about 80 yards. By this time we were all gettin' pretty tired, men, dog, and birds... so when we finally got into them the 4th time, Babe got a good point on several bunches of 'em. She pointed beautifully, much to the credit of her trainer & handler, eyeball.

Which was all well and good, except them quail came up so hard and fast and took to the wind so that we had a hard time getting our guns on 'em. I fired 6 shots on three flushes, and eyeball fired 5, and he finally knocked one bird down out of the last bunch. I was 0 for 6. Same deal with the next covey, more or less. So it went for most of the morning. After a while I decided to put my POSFS back in its fancy case and took out my old reliable American 12-gauge, the Ithaca side-by-side I've been hunting with since 1977. (Never mind that it's actually an SKB and was built in Japan, dammit.)

Anyways, I stoked my Ithaca with some fast duck loads, which are handloads comprised of 1-1/8 oz. ITX #6 shot, loaded over enough Steel powder to get 1400 fps muzzle velocity. I have knocked down a lot of waterfowl and pheasants at good range with this load. Yesterday I learned that with this load and a lead of about 40 feet, I could just barely scratch down the occasional quail. So I eventually contributed my fair share to the day's bag, but it wasn't pretty.

Speaking of the day's bag and not pretty, here's a pic of eyeball with a mess of birds at the end of the day:



And of course a pic of yours truly with a brace of pocket rockets, my old Ithaca, and the estimable Babe:



Babe was wonderful, making staunch points a dozen or more times, hunting dead, and retrieving beautifully. For a young dog she did great, great work. She is going to be a helluva bird dog. As far as I'm concerned, watching the gun dog(s) work is the biggest thrill of bird hunting. I can't wait to hunt with her again, the rest of this quail season, and many more to come.

So that brings us to the end of this story. Here's a pic of last night's sunset over the west Texas prairie to say so long.

Great story Doc...

looks like a wonderful outing... dreary rainy winter has me groovin on that blue sky....

thanks for sharing...

Thanks for posting Doc.

I really miss the great pheasant hunting we used to have here.

You're right about watching the dogs...

Good tale well told.

Doc

Damn fine story! Keep on havin those trips! You'll eventually learn how to lead those litle 'brown bombers'!!

Awesome stuff Doc. For the benefit of the rest of the 'fire, Doc and eyeball are both first rate guys and a blast to hunt with, even though they aren't much to look at....... They can both shoot extremely well.

Thanks for the pics and story.

Great story.

If reincarnation is real please don't let me come back as a gun in shrapnel's safe....

Doc,

Thanks for another great story. Didn't know eyeball got banned, that's pretty bad...coming from a guy that got thrown out of Dick's in San Anton.

Glad you posted pics of the shotgun, sort of compensates for the burnt eyes from lookin at the old coots, ya, that was plural! Grin.

Keep writing and Rick B. Might have to start paying you for your stories!

Would love to make one of the Texas get-together one of these times, thinkin that would be a hoot!

I miss my ole buddy eyeball. I really didn't think he caused any problems. Had me a little worried there for awhile but we discussed off-line. Please say hey from all of us.

Looks like a very nice day in TX!

Thanks for sharing Doc!

David

thanks for the update and status report Doc. I sure miss ole eyeball.

Doc,

Great picture story! Good dog.

Thanks for sharing a memorable day with us.

Thanks Doc and tell Eyeball that's a GREAT mule deer. He knows already,but,just had to say/write it.

Well done Doc!

Thanks for the story. Tell eyeball that I said hello. Still haven't figured out how he got banned.

Thanks for that Doc!
A few thoughts.
That looks like more fun than a feller should be allowed to have with his clothes on.

It's nice to have faces to put on the posters.

Thanks for makin' me feel slimmer, and younger lookin'

You two in NO way deserved to have that much fun, and keep to yourselves.

Good times!

Good story and pics.

Would have liked more info and pics on the dog, though.

Eyeball that sure is a funky head of antlers...congrats

Good stuff Doc ,

That's a great buck he got ; congratulations to him

Great story, thanks Doc!

Doc,

Are those Bobwhites or some other type of quail? They don't look like Bobwhites to me as they look more grey, but I figure they might look a little different in TX.