[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145947

I live two miles outside of the little farming community of McCune, Ks. where I was raised.  Nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away, too close sometimes.

There have been several people around here that had cross breed coydogs.  My grandparents neighbor had one that was a female that was real skittish around people.  A coyote mated with her and she had one pup.  It looked kind of like a dog but had all the traits of a coyote and it finally left and went with the local pack.  It was easy to tell it when you saw it.

There are lots of coyotes around here.  Years ago three were several groups that chased them with dogs and kept them thinned down and really wary of being anywhere near people.  Those guys and gals are gone now and the coyote population has blossomed.

I see a thread on the leatherwall at times about coyotes and some say to just leave them alone because they are just fellow hunters.  Those people have not been raised around a farm and see the destruction a pack of coyotes can do to calves, sheep, chickens, and other livestock.  I like to hear their yodeling in the evenings but if I see one they get no pass from me and I am always on watch during calving season and I carry a firearm for that purpose all the time.  Their repeated excursions into my yard has reached the point where they needed to be dealt with harshly.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145931

A little different kind of hunting here.

I have been plagued with coyotes coming into my yard for quite a while so it was time to put a stop to it.
My dog went into her coyote bark just before 1am Wednesday. I slipped downstairs and grabbed my shotgun. The dog had been barking on the north side of the house so I eased up to the door looking to the tree line on the north side of the yard. I caught movement right at the bottom of the steps and initially thought it was my dog. Wrong! It was a large male coyote.
There were three coyotes in the yard and each got a severe case of #00 buckshot, one fatally. My security camera video shows my dog make a run and chases one off to the right of the screen, then she turns and heads toward the front porch. A second coyote come along behind her then turn and go to my north door. Big mistake.  He got a partial load of #00 buckshot followed up with shots at all three when they stopped across the road and looked back at me.  Real big mistake for all of them.

Found him Thursday morning a lot farther out than I thought. 70+ yard kill shot with a short barreled 870.
The two that were with him took a beating too.  It’s been some peaceful sleeping the last two nights.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Quarantine Archery Tournament #145881

The only time I ever filled out a score card and turned it in was when they were drawn for door prizes.  I did actually win a couple of items.

We mainly just shoot for the fun of it.

I went to a 3D shoot a local club put on and joined up with two fellas to walk the course.  We were the only three at the shoot with trad gear and I was shooting a BBO I had just made.  We had a blast and never filled out a score card.  The wheel shooters with their fancy bows, rangefinders and binoculars seemed too serious and took forever to shoot.

A lot of them looked at my BBO like it was something a caveman would carry.

[aeronut]

in reply to: TBOT and Championship Shoot at Memphis, TX #145852

I know what you mean Ralph.  We cancelled OJAM XVI last month at the last minute and it’s the only one I’ve missed.

I have three acres here and the nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away so I feel pretty safe.  I’ve got my targets to shoot, my woodshop, and am giving the starlings heck with my pcp pellet rifle.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145799

On another note I got this in the mail today.  Did some trading and wound up with a Kodiak Magnum.  52″  50#@28.

After a good cleaning I put on a new rest and back plate and twisted a new string for it.  It shoots hard and fast and I found out I can’t hit squat in 30mph winds with higher gusts.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145798

Picture taken today.  My daughter wanted a shot of me in my bee suit.  Didn’t need the suit.  These bees are so docile they don’t even pay attention unless you start banging on the hive.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145797

Unfortunately this was one of the hives that I was worried about.  Activity around the hive dropped off to nothing in just a couple of weeks so I decided to open it up.  There was no brood in the hive and a bunch of dead bees in the bottom.  The amount of dead bees was just a fraction of the bees that was in  this hive.  I don’t really have any idea what happened.

It’s almost time to set swarm traps so we’ll see how that goes.

I haven’t seen the bee numbers around here like I used to.  Last April I was down in southern Arizona, two miles from Mexico, on a different kind of hunting trip.  While in camp one day I watched four large swarms of bees fly over camp and another day four of us passed by a Mesquite tree that had a large swarm in it.  I wondered if these were the Africanized variety.  You don’t hear much about them like you used to.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145793

Well, I ran out of jars.  Wound up with about 4.5 gallons of honey.  I have 24 12oz jars and 29 8oz jars and about 2″ left in the five gallon bucket.  Now to clean up the mess.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145779

One of my beehives has had little or no activity around it for a couple of weeks so since the temperature was in the 70’s I decided to open it up.  The supers are crammed full and the bees had bridged the frames.

I got the top super off and got seven frames of honey.  I pulled three frames out it last fall.  Tomorrow I will pull the next super and work on it.

So far the seven frames have yielded around two gallons of honey.  I need to go buy some jars.

[aeronut]

in reply to: OJAM Oklahoma Selfbow Jamboree #145695

The OSS board has made the decision to cancel OJAM XVI because of the health guidelines put forth by President Trump in yesterday’s press conference.  It is very late notice but is a needed precaution.
I hope the media induced panic subsides soon and people realize this is no worse than the H1N1 flu that the media barely mentioned at all.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142666

Here’s my bottle targets.  Lots of fun.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142665

I recently made these practice blunts to shoot at my hanging bottle targets.  They are Poplar shafts and weigh the same as my hunting arrows.  Had to wait about four days for the rain to quit so I could go out and shoot them.

My bees really like the yellow fletchings.

I make my blunts by pressing a 125 grain  11/32″ field tip into a .38 Special casing.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142655

Ralph, these bees are really docile.  The reason for waiting until after dark is not that I might get stung but the fact that the bees will fly into the liquid stream as it goes into the feeder and I have had to rescue a lot of them from drowning.  I have since changed from the chick feeder to a bucket modified to sit upside down.  The number of drowned bees has gone down substantially.

 

Old feeder

This is one of the modified bucket feeders.  Less mess.  This is one of two I have and set it on the end of my picnic table by my wood shop.  I work on the other end of the table and they don’t bother me a bit.  The wasps are the ones I watch out for.

My hives are right out in my range and I shoot my bows around them all the time.  I always have one or two bees checking out the bright fletching and cresting colors on my arrows.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Hunting truck #142369

1999 Dodge Ram 1500.  Over 275,000 miles and I’ve owned it for 15 years.

Also a 1997 Jeep Wrangler.

 

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142368

I haven’t seen the bee numbers here in SE Ks. like I used to in the past so I started keeping bees last July.  I’ve got four hives set up now.  I robbed five frames of honey from them this year.  Leaving the rest for their winter feed.

I went out to fill their feeder and decided to wait until after dark.

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