Tejon youth hunt

I had heard about the Tejon Ranch youth hunt sponsored by the California Deer Association. I entered my daughters name, and got a call back from Jerry Springer, President of CDA. He said that Sydney had won a deer hunt at the Ranch. 275 junior hunters applied, 5 were picked for Deer, and 10 for Hog. We were asked to practice at the rifle range, be prepared for any kind of weather, bring a big cooler, do not bring ammo( it would be provided) bring one parent, and a camera. We headed out of San Diego Monday the 17th, and stayed in Santa Clarita. The next morning we drove through the heavy fog and rain to the offices of Tejon Ranch Lebec California. We were met with open arms by the staff of Tejon Ranch, Jerry from CDA, and the other JR. hunters and Dads. Jerry Passed out gift bags to the kids filled with goodies: Alpen Optics binoculars, Barnes ammo ( 2 box's), z-blades knives, scent away shower kit, Hunters specialties Deer call and rattle,.Binocular harness, and 3 hats. along with a few other items that were in the bag. We were very excited about these give-aways, from the sponsors, and plan on writing them thank you letters. Our guides showed up, and we followed them through the main gate, and we headed to the cabin, where we would set our gear.

We waited to see if the weather would clear so we could practice shooting. The fog and sleet showed no sign of clearing, so we started shooting at short range:

Once we were sighted in, we jumped in the truck of our Guide "Cody", he drove us around the Western end of the Ranch, and we started seeing deer right away:

Cody found a nice Bobcat to get pictures of.

Since we were there to help balance the herd, we were only allowed to shoot Does. Here is a shot of a young buck we saw early.

We saw close to 70 deer in 3 hours, but it wasn't as easy as spot and shoot. I was the goal of the guide to not shoot does with yearlings, and if we couldn't tell which doe the yearlings belonged to, we moved on:

Finally we found 3-4 bachelorettes, Sydney and the guide got out of the truck with the rifle, and tri-pod, and started hiking out to the base of the mountain the deer were spotted on. I tried to hang back so I could capture it all on film. She set up, and took a shot that just went under the lead doe. We kept an eye on that deer, to make sure she was not hit. She did not leave, nor did the other 3 deer. Sydney put the cross-hairs on her again, and let another round fly. You could see the impact on the deers ribcage, it instantly lurched, and took off to the top of the hill and disappeared in the brush. Our guide asked us to stay put and keep an eye out for her around the base of the hill. Sydney and I walked around the hill, and found our doe expired. We quickly took a few pictures as the sun disappeared on the horizon. She was all smiles. I kept an eye on her to see if she was truly enjoying this, or doing it for Dad. She never stopped smiling, and loved it all. I had told My daughter that I wanted her to gut the deer, ( against her mothers wishes). She flipped the deer over and used Dads knife and followed the guides instructions well. she was allowed to turn the knife over at any time, she made it all the way to cutting the esophagus. That was fine with me. I have learned over the years of coaching my daughters that sometimes it is best to let someone else coach her. She listened to the guide intently, and he was a very good instructor, and a very patient man. I think he appreciated me not butting in, too.

Sydney and her guide Cody:

I can't thank the folks at Tejon enough for giving my daughter the experience of a lifetime. Jerry hooking her up with the hunt, and all the goodies. And mostly Cody( our guide) for making it a very pleasurable experience. Sydney was a fine young lady throughout the whole thing, and I couldn't be prouder of her. She was involved, a good shot, patient, polite, sociable, and grateful.

4 out of 5 of the kids were able to harvest a deer. The 4 were very conscious of the feelings of the young man who did not get his deer. That night we all sat around the cabin as one of the old timers told a story or two, and we all shared some laughs. I highly recommend you try to get your youngster in this hunt, but if you don't I hope you have a great experience in the outdoors as we did. Eric Here is the video:
 WARNING GRAPHIC

Amber and Oma are back

Amber flew back into SD. We picked he up at the airport, and stopped by the Mexican food joint. It was also the week that Oma came out for a visit. We were smiles from ear-to-ear.

Hunting and riding

Hunting season came and went. I spent a lot of time scouting as it is as much fun as the actual hunt, and I can bring my friends with me. I explored a lot of new places this year, but I settled on Pine Valley and McCain Valley. I hunted in both places. I shot my deer in McCain Valley. It's size wasn't impressive, but it was still a success.

Amber wanted to try to ride my street bike before I sold it. The bike is a Honda vtr1000. She did very well.

It has been a while since I have talked to you all. The bad: After working for 8 years with AT&T, my employment with them has come to an end. Apparently they didn't need me as bad as I needed them. I spent 3-4 months looking for employment. I found a new home with a great compnay called NPA (National Powersport Auction) they are a few miles away, and I have known of them for about 20 years. NPA is a auction house for motorcycles, quads, boats personal watercraft... etc. I am a sales rep for them, and I go to dealerships, and try to bring in inventory( consignments) to the auctions. I have been working with them for 4 months, and so far so good. I do travel a lot. thank goodness the girls are old enough to not require my constant attention. I didn't take much of a hit in salary. so I think we are going to be ok. I miss the security of AT&T, but definately not the people. Love my new home NPA!

Dad and Daughter weekend, Oh, and some gardening

We were bored Saturday night, so Bob took us ( 'S' and I , and Bobs daughter)out to the bowling alley on base.
We bowled a game and a half. The scores were not impressive, but everyone was smiling.
We had some fries, and beer. Made our way over to the pool table, and tried to teach the girls about shooting pool. We listened to some country music and had a great time.

















Sunday, we got up early and went out to the mountains, and 'S' participated in the Youth Pheasant hunt. They had booths set up for shooting clays, learning about the environment, archery, bird dogs, and finally going out into the field with a dog, and handler, and a partner. 'S' had a shot at two birds. She hit the first one pretty hard, but it flew into another field, and it's demise could not be verified. The second bird was hit, but flew off to live another day. Her hunting partner was able to knock down one bird ( kids were given an opportunity at two birds, often a rooster, and a hen). Here is a picture of 'S' with her partners bird.

We left the hunt, and I let 'S' drive the truck down a dirt road in the mountains. It was one lane mostly, and winded its way out of the mountains and some beautiful scenery, that included seeing wild animals, waterfalls and stream, an arboreal tunnel.
We made it home after a long day. 'S' took a nap in the sun ( it was in the 70's all day) I cleaned the gun, then went out back to plant some tomato plants, and some onion bulbs. This is my first earnest attempt at a garden, I will keep you updated

Internal Medicine

Anyone see anything wrong with this?

Went to the Supercross

It was quite a logistical nightmare, but we got it done with minimal problems.
Got into the stadium parking lot early, had a little cookout on the tailgate. The 'A' showed up, because she was at softball in OC. We went into the pits and saw some famous riders, and people. 'A' got a free hat, and T-shirt by turning on the charm. 'S' and her friend also enjoyed the pits, and the boys they saw. We made our way into the Stadium ( Bob, myself, and the 3 girls, ) when Bob got a call from his daughter who had just arrived. We all watched, cheered, and laughed. We had a very good time.

Finished a helmet

I had promised to not paint a helmet again, but I gave in and painted one because the family is close to us, and I totally dig their daughter. It is not the best work I have done, but it has been a while, and this is the result:

VolleyBall

'S' had her first weekend of Volleyball, and they won all 3 matches, never loosing a game.
A couple of the girls have played together before. Last year they looked pretty good, but they look like they have made huge improvements.
Their timing is down, they are blocking at the net, they are spiking the ball with authority, and their serves are strong, and sometimes un-returnable.