Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire August 2014 SW Gathering at Armijo Springs near Quemado, NM

Ed and Ben will be missed.

This is true, along with young Mr. Graham. miles

I'm pretty sure had I swallered one 'o them thangs, the G&F would have been plumb perplexed as to how a tiger muskie got into the Albuquerque sewer system.

A neighbor lady in town swallowed one of those gadgets and soon grew a jut jaw, two rows of really sharp teeth and a dorsal fin.

� ancient comment on prenatal determinance �

Guy beat his wife with a broom when she was pregnant with their son.

Kid was born with a straw hat and a peg leg.

If it doesn't sell, I may learn to shoot left handed...

Holy smokes Patrick -
I thought you just got that beautiful thing !!

Does it have a left-cheek piece or any cast to the stock? If not, just use it righty, but maybe not when you need to take a second or third shot at escaping game.

I will have to look at cast; it does have a cheekpiece on the other side.

Paul, I really enjoyed my visit with you and Maddy. It was a pleasure to spend the time we did and get to know you a little better. Should be seeing you a bit more often now.

David

well, it did sell, and the buyer is a lefty who collects left hand Mauser actions, and is delighted to have it. I'm pleased with the profit - win/win

Wow, the attendees are dropping like flies! We may have to do two of them to accommodate everyone!

I booked a 3 day fishing trip for August 3-5 out of San Diego but will certainly will be back in time for Armijo spgs.

Hurts to have to say this, guys �

For reasons that you don't want to hear, I won't be contributing as usual to this year's rendezvous � (my loss).

No guns or binoculars for prizes, no food, no personal mementos as in the past. No one'll notice that lack, of course. The food supply won't suffer, and maybe someone else'll step-up, as Butch Lambert has done, with prizes for the best shooting.

I'll be out there for a few minutes if I can, just to watch the goin's-on.

The shining fact � worth joyfully shouting about � is that our wonderful little get-togethers sustain themselves very well. Camaraderie at its best! Wonderful to behold.

Dennis - of course we will miss Ed and Ben as they are among the key guys that have contributed by their presence and otherwise - and they will be back next time (I sure hope). And, it looks as though we are going to gain some interesting folks this time, just as we did at Roosevelt in Feb. AND - - DARBY will be at this one in all of his glory!!

All hope is not lost I plan on being at Quemado

I really missed out by not making it to Ed too many letters get together.

CCCC- I have some outdoors/hunting books I will try to bring down. They will make great pay forward fodder...

Looking forward to August and seeing some new and old friends...

Ever since "When will Armijo Springs camp ground get some rain this summer?" became a nagging question earlier this year, I've been increasingly curious about it.

I haven't kept records during the nine years that I've lived here, but my recollection is that the monsoon has begun in July more often than later.

So yesterday, I had Rick freight me over to the USFS ranger station (just across the street, but a journey for this ol' relic) to see what data I might get from the fire guy over there.

The Forest Service has obviously become much more of a bureaucracy than it was when I wore the green in the 1950s and 1960. What used to be simple records are now bales of paper and banks of file cabinets � mountains of virtually indecipherable minuti�. So much, in fact, that the district's kept records go back only four years (I wanted precipitation data for July over the years 2000�2013, or at least the last ten years � simple data in the old days.)

Interestingly, the data for the last four years show rainfall somewhere or other in the Quemado district every year.

When it comes to rainfall, this area is like a checker board, with the red squares stone-dry while the black squares soak and drip. I vividly remember the day a few summers ago when my front walk was as dry as my living-room floor, and seventy-five yards away, next-door, heavy rain was soaking the ground at the veterans' hall.

Oh, yes � almost forgot � data from the ranger station � somewhere or other in the district �
2010 � July 2.72 in. � August 3.35 in.
2011 � July 1.69 in. � August 2.99 in.
2012 � July 1.84 in. � August 2.40 in.
2013 � July 3.30 in. � August 2.58 in.

So � remembering the checker board � will we get rain at Armijo Springs this August? Somewhere close, for sure! Bring rain gear, "jes' in case!"

Well, it did rain lightly most of one night at the 2013 gathering. I was glad that I went ahead and put up the tent.

Minority opinion, maybe, but I'd rather have more people come, even if there's no rain to speak of.

If it were to be moved to July there is no way we could make it The kids will be in California for much of the month. Surely the world doesn't revolve around me, but what I am gettin at is I think no matter the date its going to conflict for someone. It stinks but its the nature of big group meets like this.

As I recall we sceduled the second Quemado event in August after getting relegated to the gravel parking area by the lake at the first one due to lack of rain. It was a good time, but none of us appreciated the gravel, or the proximity of non-campfire folks especially when we left camp unattended to go shoot.

True to the nth.

Thomas - your recall is quite correct and, after that experience, the worker bees decided it best to schedule ensuing summer gatherings for August, feeling that the odds for an open forest, with campfires, are much better.

Past USFS decisions about closed/open forests after a very dry Spring (like this one) show that some dispersed rain during the month of July usually is not the key factor. A significant determinant is the accumulation of rainfall to a point where the forest vegetation and earth/duff floor are in a decently wet condition. That accumulation and resultant favorably wet condition normally does not develop until August. Thus, our Aug. date.