Good Evening Shooters
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Good Evening Shooters,
A virus went through my address book a couple of times lately. Some of you received strange messages, but no damage that anyone reported. Just embarrassment. MSN suggested a new, more elaborate password; which has fixed the problem.
Plans are progressing nicely for this year's event on Saturday, June 2. We're in the the premium gathering phase of our preparations and can use whatever help you may wish to contribute to enhance the experience. Books, especially by Keith, hunting accessories, reloading equipment, ammo, components, holsters and related items are popular as well as guided hunting and fishing trips. Dusty old Colts and Smith & Wessons lying forlorn in your safe will be especially appreciated.
Last Friday, the charter members of the DWA (Dead Wolf Appreciation) Society contingent of the ELMER KEITH MEMORIAL Shoot Association held it's first meeting at HOOTERS in the Spokane Valley. While half those in attendance were Washington residents, all shared a common interest in roaming the bumpy geography of our region as well as a desire to control the blight inflicted upon us by USF&G bureaucrats seven years ago. Indeed, numerous reports of the plague have already spilled across the Idaho border westward into Washington and Oregon have been recorded.
Protecting the suburbs of Seattle and Portland can only be the patriotic duty of the red blooded among us, one ELMER KEITH would have certainly endorsed.
A lively discussion began at the outset of our gathering regarding the virtues of the 300 Whisper/300 AAC Blackout cartridge as the complement to longer range tools for our endeavor. Being a fascinating, but distracting diversion from the primary purpose of the occasion, however, the subject was tabled until the next meeting. The attractive waitresses had difficulty butting into the discussion to take lunch orders.
S&W M&P 15-300 Whisper
So far, the greatest number of wolves have been taken by trappers followed by individuals who happen to cross paths with them while engaged in other activities. According to IDF&G studies, only 2-3% of licensed hunters actually hunt wolves. Although a number north of 300 have been killed so far this season, it was clear during a meeting at the Coeur d'Alene Resort on March 9, when Idaho Fish & Game biologists attempted to explain the reasons for severely curtailed deer and elk hunting seasons this year that they have no idea how many wolves reside in Idaho. The difficulty in counting them is due to the huge territories they cover. When asked how many they have collared, the answer was THREE! The biologists want more hunters out actually hunting wolves. The consensus of the nearly 200 gathered at that meeting was that because of wolf predation and lack of effective methods of control (poisons) the days of deer and elk hunting are numbered.
Renee Anderson with wolf that attacked her while bow hunting
One participant at our DWAS meeting, an active and accomplished back country aviator with business interests in the Idaho Wilderness Area, said wolves are ghosts. During all his years of flying, he's never seen one. All he knows is the elk herd that winters around his hunting lodge that normally numbered six to eight hundred is now fewer than 200. Wolves kill elk next to their buildings. Deer, however, find protection next to inhabited buildings, sometimes on porches. Interestingly, now that elk numbers are below what are considered huntable in this remote area, the wolves have left too...perhaps only temporarily.
Fortunately, the IDF&G Commission understands the problem and on Thursday, March 23, approved adjustments to the wolf hunting rules for 2012. The new bag limit will be five. The season will begin on July 1, on private land (Potlatch, Plum Creek, Bennett Lumber, etc.) and everywhere else about September 1, when the archery seasons open. Wolf seasons extend through March 31, although new licenses and tags must be purchased on January 1.
Unidentified successful wolf hunter
While roaming around the mountains aimlessly might eventually provide an opportunity to put wolf whiskers in the crosshairs, the largest number of reports from the past season of people actually seeing wolves were from bow hunters using cow calls. Several observers said wolf sign is always coincidental with elk. The best strategy, therefore, may be to find elk and set up to call during twilight hours. If wolves are smarter than coyotes, one chance is all one is likely to ever get at an individual or pack; so good equipment and thoughtful setups will be necessary. Networking and trial & error experimentation will be the only way to gain experience at this game inasmuch as precious little has been written on the subject.
Interested in participating? Send a note and I'll let you know about the next DWAS meeting.
Will
Good Evening Short Gun Shooters,
Perfect conditions for long range fist-gun shooting have arrived! That is, if we were doing it today. Our weather guy has copied and pasted it for reproduction on June 2.
If you haven't already done so, it's getting close to the time when you should be letting me know your plans for attending. Send an RSVP. I know some on short leashes have difficulty getting kitchen passes until the last minute. But you know how you're doing on your "honey-do" lists and what the home political climate feels like, so give me a shout. It makes planning so much easier.
Last weekend I had the good fortune of attending the NRA Celebration of American Values in St. Louis. In addition to the acres of guns, gadgets & gismos there to tempt raids on 401k's & kid's college funds were numerous inspirational presentations by numbers of national leaders. Two were based on familiar images that particularly impressed me.
The first was that of the familiar coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me". The image and it's history date to pre-revolutionary war times. Rather than attempt to summarize it, you'll find a fascinating history of it here: http://www.foundingfathers.info/stories/gadsden.html.
Sorry, I don't recall the speaker who used it as the theme for his talk, but upon his conclusion, murmurs of "I didn't know that" could be heard throughout the crowd.
The second image of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" was used by Glenn Beck, the keynote speaker on Saturday evening.
Glenn followed Larry the Cable Guy, quite a feat to be sure. Regardless, Beck was up to the task with his story about the history about and significance of the famous painting. The Wikipedia history of the painting is interesting enough, but the back story is even more significant; especially when certain additional facts and the perspective of current events are considered. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware
What Wikipedia refers to as "Europe's liberal reformers" were largely influenced by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, who published a collection of their lectures as the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO in February, 1848. These were largely responsible for the unrest that was sweeping Europe at the time that history calls the "Revolutions of 1848." The artist, Emanuel Gottleib Luetz (1816-1868) attempted to influence events by encouraging people to follow the American example with his painting. Unfortunately, the original was damaged upon completion in 1850, but quickly repaired. However, it was destroyed by British bombing in 1942, in Germany. A copy has been on display in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art until recently. Now, sadly, it's in storage.
Beck's point is that we now face challenges reminiscent of Europe in 1850.
Keep in mind the Annual ELMER KEITH Memorial Shoot is much more than an opportunity to stretch the barrel of your short gun and get a championship certificate giving you bragging rights for having done so. We have generated $40,000 so far by our efforts for the NRA and the NRA Foundation for the benefit of our Second Amendment Rights. This year more than any other in our lifetime will make the difference of whether we continue to enjoy them. Please join me in this effort and have some fun doing it.
Will
Good Evening Handgunners,
Here's wishing all the mothers in your lives were treated lavishly this weekend so your travel documents will be in order for the weekend of June 2nd, now less than three weeks away. Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare:
1. BRING A CHAIR. A few were left here last year, but not nearly enough.
2. Bring FOUL WEATHER GEAR. It's been too nice too long and the weather pattern is bound to change.
3. We'll have a FUZZY RANGE again this year. Hal planted Triticale in our range (his field) last fall that lay dormant until the first 50 degree day. Look at it now!
In three weeks it won't be ready to harvest, but we may have to transplant a few so our misses can make dust. I have no idea what will be required to walk our shots out to the 650 yard target given the foliage, perhaps a howitzer. However, today I discovered rock chucks in the vicinity so we'll have added incentives. I'm embarrassed to admit how they escaped my notice so long.
4. PRACTICE LONG RANGE SHOOTING Techniques. That means trigger control. If you were yanking triggers in the upland fields or duck marshes during the fall and hosing paper targets in action shooting games during the winter, you need to become reacquainted with your trigger. It's not necessary, however, to pump lead from your "Eargensplitzenloutenboomers" across the county to do this.
The K-22 you've carried under the seat of your truck will do just fine. Set the target at about 25' and work on making dime-size groups about 1/4" high. That'll scare the dickens out of anything you aim at out to 150 yards.
Can't make it to a place to shoot? Dry fire at a 1/8" dot on your bedroom wall until the hammer falls without the slightest wiggle of the front sight.
Remember: When shooting long range with a handgun, the relationship between the target and front sight is constant; ie., one on top of the other; front sight level with top of rear sight. Adjust elevation by raising the front sight in relation to the rear sight. Magnum cartridges require about 1/16" front sight above the rear sight to hit a target at 150 yards and full front sight plus a bit of the ramp to close in on a target at 600 yards.
Adjusting for wind will be covered in Update 4.
Coming soon,
Will
Good Afternoon Shooters!
Two items for your attention:
Item 1.
Our able Range Officer, Gene Clow, clarifies my sight picture description in Update 3: When shooting long range with a handgun, the relationship between the target and front sight is constant; ie., one on top of the other; front sight level with top of rear sight. Adjust elevation by raising the front sight in relation to the rear sight. (Lower the rear sight in relation to the front sight thereby maintaining the relationship of the front sight to the target at all times) Magnum cartridges require about 1/16" front sight above the rear sight to hit a target at 150 yards and full front sight plus a bit of the ramp to close in on a target at 600 yards.
Item 2.
This is for those of you who will not be able to attend, but want to make a small contribution nevertheless. And, possibly win a bunch of prizes doing it.
Our friend Rush announced his "Grill & Chill Sweepstakes" yesterday described here: http://twoifbytea.com/bbq/index.php.
Many thanks in advance,
Will
Fir tst, Hello Will. Hope you have a good time at the shoot. Try out Als 44. Shoots like a house on fire. \
To get good trigger control, put a quarter on the barrel, and dry fire. When you can do this 20 times in a row, change to a dime. When you can do this 20 times in a row, put on a needle. Do this with the needle sideways on the barrel. When you can do this, you have perfect trigger control. Then continue doing it every day for the rest of your life, if you are serious about hitting at long range. This eliminates flinch, trigger jerk, ect. If you really want to get good, then do it double action. \
Shooting a handgun is a form of martial arts. It should be treated as such. When you can do the needle thing double action, you are a MASTER.
And no I cannot do it, YET. I have only been working on it for 2 years.
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