I have to say that I'm glad 2008 is over, and I hope 2009 will be a bit less stressful.  Christmas at my house was good... the days leading up to it were a bit hairy, but aren't they every year?  This New Years Eve, my wife and I actually went out and celebrated for the first time in 18 years.  Didn't stay home and watch the ball drop this time.  That was great.

Hunting in 2008 was fun and frustrating.  I love to simply get out in the woods or in the fields.  But, I had only two pheasants on the kill list.  The thing that really ticks me off about that is that we went to a WMA that was supposed to be stocked with pheasants each week.  I don't think they stocked it nearly as much as they say they did, otherwise I would have at least seen more birds.

Also, no deer, no quail, no grouse.  Not happy about that.  But, I've started working on plans for next year, including checking state stats, etc.  It will require some serious Spring and Summer scouting, as the areas with the best harvest rates I am not at all familiar with.  Thankfully, my wonderful wife got me a spotting scope which should make it easier to glass with.

In the meantime, I'm going to do some coyote hunting, and this Spring I hope to chase some turkeys.  I've never done either and am looking forward to it.  Tell me this - do turkeys have excellent eye sight, which is why guys camo-up so much?  Seems like the turkey hunters I see on ODC are camo'd to the hilt!  I'm just curious.

Well, that's it for now.  Happy New Year, everyone.

It's been a few days since I've been here! 

Well, at the risk of quoting a "entertainer" (those quotation marks are intentional), "Oops, I did it again." 

My last blog post talked about the .223 NEF rifle I bought myself right before Christmas.  It was one of those deals I simply couldn't pass up.  I took it out this weekend with the new Tasco scope I put on it and zero'd it to 100 yards.  It was a blast to shoot - no pun intended.

So, here I am, thinking I've gotten it out of my system and avoided, for the most part, the evil eye from my wife for buying myself something.  Then low and behold, a different friend from the shooters group is selling a NIB H&R Buffalo Classic in 45-70.  :eek:  So I spent the last few days trying to figure out (also known as scheming) how it was I could swing this rifle.  I knew I didn't have the money (he only wanted $300 for it).  Not right before Christmas anyway.  I looked on line at prices for the same rifle and convinced myself that this was far too good of a deal to pass up, even with the higher ammo prices (Next investment is going to have to be a reloading system).

So, I went to the gun cabinet and stared at what I had, finally deciding to give up my "fun" gun - my Yugoslavian SKS.  Yes, it was a fun rifle, but not too practical.  So, I sold it, along with some ammo to a gun broker who wanted it for his ranch house.  It was a really clean rifle and I hated to part with it.  But the H&R had stolen my heart!  What else could I do.  :)  Now, I can't wait for Fall to roll around again to take it hunting!

Oh - by the way, here's a pic of my NEF .223 with the bull barrel

My lovely wife for the past 18 or so years had accused me of ruining Christmas for her... well, not necessarily ruining Christmas as a whole, but I seem to have this habit of finding things around this time of year that I just can't live without, lol.  So, I hem and haw, trying to decide if I should buy it, or put it on the Christmas list.  But if I put it on my Christmas list, what if she doesn't buy it, or it's gone when she goes to get it!?  I know - I'm bad... I've had lots of practice.

So, I come to this Christmas season with the FULL intention of not buying myself anything.  Then a friend of mine in a shooters club that we both belong to tells me he has an NEF (New England Firearms) chambered in .223, with a scope and some ammo that he's wanting to sell.  He know's I've wanted one for a while.  I think it's a pretty cool rifle and the fact that you can switch out the barrels for different calibers is like a dream come true.  Plus, being affordable, just sweetened the pot that much more... so, I broke my promise to myself and ended up buying it.  I don't think my wife was too happy with me, but I did ask to do it first.  I figured I better at least do that.  So, if I ruined Christmas again, I have a way for her to get things back on track!  She can always buy me the 30-06 barrel and the 12 guage turkey gun barrel that I'd like to get for it!  See, I told ya I was bad!

Saturday was Buddy's first day of formal training.  It's not a class, just one on one work with the trainer, who seems to know her stuff.  Right now, we're just working on the basics.  He's learning quickly and has gotten come, heal and sit down pretty well.  He's started sitting when he comes to us, without being asked, which is good.  The trainer gave us some "games" to play with him so he learns to obey all of us in the family.

So, as I'm sitting in the training room, getting ready to leave, I happen to glance out the window.  Now for reference, this place is in an area of Boise that used to be farm land and is now a bunch of commercial buildings, with some small fields separating developments.  So, as I said, I was looking out the window when low and behold a hen pheasant flies by!  I make a comment, "Hey, look at that!"  Then... not 10 seconds later, two roosters and another hen fly by!!  What the heck!!  No, wait, more birds... two more hens and one more rooster.  I couldn't believe it!  I had my shotgun in my truck, but it was in the middle of town, so obviously I couldn't shoot them.  I couldn't believe it.  That's where all the pheasants have gone - to TOWN!!  Go figure, lol!  :-(   ;-)

Arrrg!  Well, I guess my impatience from earlier this week was rewarded.  What do they call it... Karma?  I dunno.  So, Thanksgiving morning, we head out to our pheasant spot at a local WMA.  We got a late start out the door because my buddy overslept.  We paid for it by having our best spots being taken.  It was a quick hunt as we had to be back early.  Only 90 minutes in the field - no birds for us, but the guys who had gotten to our spot got some!

Today - back again.  We decided to try a spot at the WMA that we hadn't hunted before and noticed that only a few people hunted at.  It "looked" good as far as cover, food, etc. goes.  Well, we get over there and it's a muddy muck under all the grass.  Yuck!  No birds - just smelly mud.  If I was a bird, I wouldn't have been over there either.  I'm thinking it was wet from ground water and the nearby river and some ponds.  So, we go to another field that had been gone through earlier... they got the birds, we didn't.  My son (12 years old) was starting to get cranky by this time, so my buddy and I got sick of it and just packed it in.  Arrg!

There was quite a bit of shooting going on around us - just not from us.  Not a good day.

Tomorrow is the first day of puppy training with the new Golden.  Should be fun.  Maybe we'll try our luck again in Sunday.  It's gotta get better.