Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire August Campfire gathering in New Mexico

Just don't throw 'em too high in the air.

I'm fervently hoping that one or two talented (or unabashed) guitarists'll bring their git-fiddles along for apr�s la f�te entertainment to mask some of the nether effects of any who might be surfeit (i e, bloated) from the expected and understandable over-enjoyment of certain animal and vegetable proteins.

Curdog4570 not only plays guitar, but he writes music and he sings. Perhaps he will toss his git-tar in the truck with his guns.

RickyD is another of our accomplished git-tar pluckers and singers.


I promised my bride that I would sing tenor. Ten or twelve miles from other humans so I wouldn't scare anybody.

I took my grandsons shooting this morning and fishing this evening, so I have had a great day! It's tough to beat days like today.

Ed

Ed, I will get some - do you have the fixins' for hanging them?

I think that my inverter will run my small hot glue gun, if I can locate it. If so, I will be bringing both. miles

Paul,

I do. Another way of using them is to do a micro version of a Pin Shoot, using golf balls on a 2" x 4". The balls rest in shallow holes drilled in the board so that a hit on the board itself will not dislodge them, but a solid hit on the ball will.
Shot at 25, 50, 75, and 100yds with .22lr rifles. One shot per ball, five balls per distance, ala Siluetas, best time and aggregate of hits wins.
25yd balls are shot offhand, all others are shooters choice of positions, offhand, kneeling, sitting, or prone. Sticks or bipods are acceptable for the 50, 75, and 100yd balls.

Ed

Interesting challenge, Ed - I like it. T'would take a while to set up and run, and quite a few targets per shooter. In the past, have been accused of having a lot of balls, but not likely to come across that many up here.

I am for starting with something informal, with the hanging balls - at a challenging distance - taking turns at trying to nail the nut.

Good handgun thing!

Sounds like a lot of fun.

How is the weather up there Paul and Ken? Have you had any sprinkles?

Hopefully some rain before the gathering.

Dave

A few. Light. Brief.

Here's the link where you can keep checking � up to ten days ahead �

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=87829

On the map, Catron County is the fourth one (third BIG one) from the top � almost square. Quemado is near the top and toward the west side (34 miles from Arizona). The Armijo Springs camp ground, where we'll gather, is about twenty air miles south of Quemado.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/gila/recreation/camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=1962&actid=31

The shooting games are sounding interesting. The High Wall .45-90's a given for the big bore shoot, assuming I can get the tang sight sorted out. Or if not I'll have to find a receiver sight for the .375 H&H #1.

I have a really accurate 77/22, but if time's a factor then I might have to dig out the 10/22. Which needs a trigger job

Some load development/firelapping for the Kimber 7mm-08 Montana is overdue as well, and might be a good tuneup for hunting this year

Too bad that I let somebody have all my trigger stones and tools a while back! Can't help you with any of that good ol' fun!

Paul,
Yes, it is a bit more complicated. I am all for more informal shooting matches as they offer less "down time" for the other participants. Quick & dirty is the name of the game. You need less balls for them as well.

Ken,
It would be a lot of fun at 25yds with .22lr handguns! I think your Taurus would probably take that one.

My grandsons and I, shooting .22lr rifles yesterday, played a variation of an archery game called "Chase The Rabbit".
One shooter put a hole in the target. The challenge was for the other shooters to put their bullet into that same hole. Closest one to the hole wins. The winner of that match gets to place the first hole, and again, everyone tries to put their shot into that hole. No waiting.
Everyone can get a sight picture and fire when it is their turn.
We went left-to-right firing order, so you always knew when to fire your shot. All shooting was at 35yds, offhand.

Ed

One of my old handgun games used a sheet of plywood or "beaver board" with nails spaced every 8�9 inches or so horizontally and vertically, with ��� inch or so left exposed to hang clay "birds" on.

"Odd-manning" decided the sequence of shooters. If the first shooter shattered his first bird (with his first shot), he could take one shot at the next bird, and so on. Once he missed, it was the next shooter's turn.

When it got too easy for the best shooter (i e when he could clean the board or could exceed an agreed number of "kills" (10, IIRC) we increased the distance.

.22 handguns only, no optics, hind-leg erect, one hand.

With any luck, the nails were moderately safe, and the "birds" covered a lot of the holes.

That one sounds like fun, too.

With the new bio-degradable clay birds available now, they are an even more popular target for us.
They are about the same size as a whitetail's heart, so they can be used for hunting practice, too.

Ed

Hi Dave. We need the rain, right now. Dry as an old bone up here - and unusually hot for 8k ft. The trees still look OK, but the grass is tan tinder.

I am hopeful, in that the higher heat normally helps usher in our summer rains, and we are getting some moisture in the air from the gulfs. Just waitin' and hopin' - and sure want plenty before August 8 when the gathering commences.

Weather is awfully random and spotty here, as you can see on the radar map on the weather link that I posted above. (Have you looked at it?)

Paul's hacienda is about 20 air miles south of here and about 1,000�1,500 feet higher, so he and I often get different weather at the same time or the same weather at different times.

Quemado's in sort of a bowl, and precipitation often falls all around us and skips over us.

Paul's place is closer to the camp ground than mine is and at about the same elevation as the camp ground.

It does not seem like that much difference. I do know that the air is thinner than Arkansas air. miles

Yes, it is much thinner than the air I have adjusted to over the past couple of months in Houston. Some days I really wish I was back in NM. But, the job is good and the wife and children are happy.

I wish I could send some rain.

Dave

Dave,

While you are sending rain, could you send an inch or two up here?

Ed

NOOOOO! It's all New Mexico's.