PhoneSkope Monday- Long Range Shot ID

Not all Vortex Viper HD Spotting Scopes are created equal, some get pimped with the PhoneSkope and are used to ID targets at long range. Here is my set up at this weekend 600 yard mid range F-open match. 

Bearded Boar

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Kicking Off PhoneSkope Monday

I like to shoot pictures of animals as much as I like to shoot with a bow and rifle, so when I got the opportunity to extend my photo abilities with PhoneSkope this year I was just a little excited to say the least. From this day forth Monday will be PhoneSkope Monday, where I will be sharing photos that others and myself have taken.  So to start you week off right here you go.

PhoneSkopes can be found here at www.phoneskope.com and use their product selector to get the correct setup for your phone, iPad or other.

Cheers

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Building an Archery Range.....In My Back Yard

  My first archery range at my house was a small hay bail in the front yard that I hid behind my wooden fence that was about 20 yards.  Then I graduated to a block target when my new Mathews Reezen started to punch through that hail bail on a consistent basis and would slam into my concrete wall. For some reason concrete walls and Easton St. Axis arrows don't play well together. So as I started to move around the house I was able to get out to 35 yards if I set the targets in the corner of my property and then shot from the other side of the yard.  I don't think my neighbors knew what was going on and if they did I am sure they would not have liked it very much. Fast forward to the present day and my new home in the mountains.

I went from a 1/4 acre rental to my current spread of 4 1/2 acres. By no means huge, but it works for me and my family.  I have toyed with all sorts of lay outs for a range, a traditional firing line and then a walk around course.  But, with the possibility of the SoCal Bowhunter and the Strother Archery Rep coming up for a visit and field shoot I had to make some changes.  Then it donned on me, I did not have a good place for my Kids to shoot either. And given my last post , I Almost Gave Up Hunting, it was fitting that I made some adjustments for the others shooters in my family.

So Que the A-Team theme music, get the Honda quad and my kids in tow.

After a quick dismantling of the current setup I went to a new format of range.  A firing line-Course mixed layout. Both kids helps gather the course markets, hay bails, block targets and were cutting pads and building platforms in the new areas.  They were really keen to help, though I just think they wanted to ride atop the hay bails on the quad, and in an hours time we had ourselves an new range with positions set up at 10, 20, 30, 40, 45, 50, 65, 80 and really on out to your wildest reaches if you shot over the corral. A "Please don't shoot the Goats" sign will need to be put up though.


Best part of the day was the very end where my son and I were able to have a great father-son shoot.  And though his bow is not the greatest, do yourself a favor never by the Bear Archery Kids bows, we had a great time working and teaching the kids how to set up the range for shooting.  After the chaos subsided I was able to sight in my new HHA Optimizer XL5510, but that is for another post.

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What if I gave up HUNTING???? Is hunting worth it anymore?

There was a lot of soul searching that I had to do this past two years.  I went from hunting three plus times a week during the season to maybe hunting a few days in a season total.  I thought I was going to move into a great job within the Hunting and Tactical Industry that was going to allow me to hunt more open doors to great things and it did at time, but it also had the opposite effect at times.  Thought I am very thankful for the opportunity to work in the industry in the capacity that I did, I realized that I needed to do it more on my terms and not on the opportunity. Before and during that time I was able to hook up with Gerber Gear, Vortex Optics, Contour Camera, Tight Spot Quivers, Cajun Archery, Hot Shot Manufacturing, Lacrosse Footwear, SKB Cases, Bee Stinger Stabilizers and Chesebro Rifles and for them I am thankful. Nothing but the best for them all.



  Because of the above people the 2012-2013 hunting season was profitable, very much to say the least.  I was able to harvest my first pig with my Mathew's bow, and learn a lot about the marketing side of hunting. I came in second during a cooking competition to none other the the great Bill Miller.  I did indeed miss a California Mule Deer at 30yrd & the same deer at 90 yards due to a low hanging branch and that was devastating to say the least.  I almost gave up hunting because of that.  Literally I can replay the whole sequence of event leading up to the even and all I want to do is curl up in the fetal position and give up......but I will not.



Through all of the crap that has taken place over the past two years and how hunting became a job and a push to perform and give results, one thing brought me back to my passion for hunting, my son.  Yup, my boy.  This year something happened that had never happened to me before, I went hunting for someone else.  I was hunting not for a manufacture to have kill pics or a great review, I found that I could hunt for something way more important.  My son "The Boy" aka "Chew". I was not hunting to show him how to be successful. mind blowing and life changing.

  I found more determination in his love for hunting, which he only reads about or watches on tv, that I had getting paid to do it.  He has pure excitement when he sees a buck, duck or quail.  I seen pictures, video and possibly another sponsorship deal.  This was very evident last weekend in his first over-night hunting trip with me to the Lower Owens Valley for duck last week.  Even though he was throwing up all over the back of my truck he was determined to stay and finish out our "Man Trip." It was at the behest of my wife that I made sure to bring the little man home to rest up and live to fight another day.  He wanted to hunt, just for the sake of being outside and seeing ducks fall from the sky.




So to my Son, thanks.  You saved me from a lifetime of regret and renewed my desire to hunt, film, fly fish and be outside.

Here is his first hunt that we went on a few seasons ago.


Pass'n It On from Bearded Boar on Vimeo.


So more on the past year as I remember the good, the bad and the ugly.

But until then shoot straight.

The Bearded Boar.

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