As early as SuperBowl Weekend, I could see a potential weather window open up for an early return to Camp. This past weekend would marginally fit the profile:

High on Saturday of 50F or better
No rain until afternoon Sunday
No other problems like recent ice storms or heavy snowfall

Experience has also taught us that it is best not to leave on Friday night. You never know what you are going to find once you get down there. At times, the power has been out for 6 weeks at a stretch. Sometimes there are trees across the road. It is always best to go in daylight or the first trip after 3 months.

Indeed, this trip had plenty to offer. A windstorm in mid-January had done a lot of damage. One of the neighbor’s barns had its roof peeled off. Ours were in good shape, but there were lots of branches in the yard.

Moose and Angus went down ahead so that they could retrieve Moose’s S-10 from the mechanic over by Salem Ridge. He’d left it down there over the winter. I had done similarly, but the mechanic called before Christmas and said my old S-10, Der Hirschwagen, was hopeless. I kind of knew that already, but I wanted an expert opinion.

There was one big job ahead of us. The handle had come off a shut-off valve in the cistern. It broke off during Deer Season, but I did not want to deal with it at the time. Moose and Angus helped me remove the old one, and then Mooselette and I took the long way to Falmouth and back to retrieve the new one. We stopped at Howard’s on the way back for ice cream. We got to watch a large herd of deer in a field before we got to Bachelor’s Rest.

When we returned, Moose and Angus worked installed the new valve and then we all stopped to admire the new 16-inch AR-500 gong they had placed in the field at 200 yards. As you may remember, this was my big Christmas present from Angus. It was late in the day, and we held off shooting until morning.

After dark, the plumbing had warmed up enough that we could start the pump and test out our plumbing job. Everything seemed to go okay for a bit, but it turned out the valve was leaking– not fully shut. The bottom line was that it just was not shut all the way, but it caused a bit of a hoo-hah. Angus managed to pull off the pipe that went to the foot valve at the bottom of the cistern. However, by dinner time, all was set aright. We dined on steaks from the grill.

Sunday, Mooselette and I went out to scout turkeys and enjoy the sunrise. I was pleasantly surprised by a hearty gobble as soon as I stepped out onto the front porch. The gobbler was answering hens over in the Boondocks, west of camp. There were other gobblers active as well, over on Wally’s Ridge down in Pity Creek. We usually do not have much activity this time of year. In fact, for most of the past 5 years, there has been nary a gobble until a week or so before season started.  I told Mooselette of the Saga of Mister Moto.  The motor-mouthed gobbler that first graced our ridges over a decade ago.  I believe old Moto passed his genes on to these new mouthy gobblers.  Moto was the first gobbler I ever heard that gobbled in every month of the year. It is good to hear the Sons of Moto again.  I was almost sure the strain had died out 3 years ago.

NEW TOYS FOR THE SHOOTING BENCH

We all had some new toys to play with. He had acquired a nice new AR. We had all acquired new AR’s. Moose had also just found a Micro Roni Gen 4x for his Glock. It is a rather odd looking contraption, but it really improves the utility of a Glock pistol.  He will use it for taking care of coyotes and other pests that come close to camp.

The morning’s big event was getting the gong properly dinged. I had a new AR, a homebrew that I picked up used. I mated it with O.T.’s old Aimpoint. On Bob’s Model 44, it just wasn’t cutting it in the gloom of twilight, but on an AR being fired in the middle of the day, it works just fine. I put a few shots in at 10 yards. I moved out to 100 yards, printed a few on a box, and then managed to hit the gong at 200 yards with my first try. Hooah!

A RIDE IN THE COUNTRY

Once I’d emptied a mag at the gong and got it thoroughly defaced, Mooselette and I took off in the truck for parts unknown. I took her on some neighboring roads so that we could see the farm from a distance and actually here her father and uncle blast away at the gong. We could hear them plainly at 2500 yards over on Chaney Road. Just past the ford over Willow Creek, we saw four gobblers in the road. That reconfirms my thoughts about the turkeys being in the best shape we have seen them in years.

Mooselette and I then wandered around the southern tip of Bracken County. Before we finally hit the Oddville-Milford road and came home, we stumbled upon an interesting sign near a trailer. Although I cannot point to a current neighbor, I could definitely understand the man’s feelings. We made one more side trip onto Browning’s Corner before heading in.

The wind was just picking up as we pulled in. It had gotten quite cloudy and the rain was expected overnight. Angus had sent a round from his M44 into the plate and ripped one of the chains off the 2X4 crossbar. We’ll have to come up with a better mount for the long term. We packed up and headed out. I was asleep in the recliner by 1600, well ahead of the rain.

There is another weather window appearing now for the 7th of March.

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