A Slow Day in the Texas Outdoors is better than.....

My wife and I went up to the family place yesterday to spend some time in the outdoors. We had invited our neighbor couple next door to go with us and were going to make some calling stands and see if we could call up some varmints for pictures. We made several stands and had no luck so we broke for a picnic lunch of fast food place fried chicken. It is always amazing how much better even fast food tastes when I am out in the country. After lunch we had dessert of homemade pralines that became a gourmet sweet just because of where we were when we ate them.

We checked out the deer feeders to find that the raccoons had dissected my digital clock timer on one and I now have to order parts again. I still can not imagine a coon hanging on the feeder and unscrewing the wing nut on the timer housing. Those animals are unbelievable in their ability to get into stuff. I suppose I am going to have to break down and eliminate enough of them to control their antics and save some of the corn for the deer.

After lunch we set up pistol targets at about 30 yards and rifle targets at 100 and took turns shooting some of our favorite firearms. We burned enough ammo to feel like we had spent too much money on it and then put it all away. It is so enjoyable to shoot for a while and watch all your worldly thoughts fade away as you concentrate on bullet placement. We shot several different AR-15 uppers in different calibers that my neighbor had collected. I am more and more becoming a convert in the versatility and accuracy of this modern rifle platform in its modular system. Stoner was way ahead of his time with this design. I use to believe that there was no way a semi auto rifle platform could shoot as accurately as a bolt action. I have recently changed my mind.

Later in the evening we set chairs up under a large oak tree and turned on the electric wildlife caller with owl calls in hopes of getting to see some of the owls that inhabit the Oak Motts in the area. We were not successful in calling in any owls but the haunting calls of the owls coming from the tape and echoing through the oak trees while we rested in the cool evening breeze was a truly unique and haunting sound. The time spent was some of the most soothing I have wasted in a long while. We each need to get back out in the outdoors every once in a while. It does not matter if the hunt ends in a kill or we simply kill time with friends and love ones while getting back to nature. It is time well spent. Enjoy the time outdoors. Wild Ed