The 1911 .22 Long Rifle Conversion Unit

I grew up with a gun in my hands and spent many an hour roaming the Colorado River in Central Texas. My brother and I spent much of the time on the river with a pistol in our hands shooting various varmints and small game. When in my mid-teens my father gave me a very special pistol. It was a Colt 1911 MKIV that had been coated with a protective treatment called Armaloy by a friend of my fathers. This pistol rode in a holster on my hip for many years. I traded it for another gun in the 90s and wish I had kept it, but that is the way with many firearms I let get away through the years.

My brother also was given a 1911 colt and together we scrounged gun shows and classifieds to get surplus military hardball ammo at a decent price. Many a rattlesnake, jackrabbit, armadillo, squirrel, turtle, nutria, hog and other varmints wish we had not been able to procure that ammo. I still carry a .45 ACP often but the cost of ammo has gotten to be too unbearable to go out and plink like we did in the old days. I recently ran across and item that has become one of my favorites and has really helped the shooting budget. It is a .22 Long Rifle conversion unit to fit any Mil-spec 1911 with a full size non-ramped barrel.

The one I bought is a Kimber conversion unit in Silver to match my Kimber Pro Carry. This unit replaces the entire slide and magazine on the 1911 and takes about 30 seconds to change out. I can go out and spend the whole day shooting for about the cost of one box of .45 ACP ammo. The unit allows me to stay familiar with the trigger and pointing ability of my pistol.

There are many brands and versions of the 1911 .22LR conversion units but I have only shot two. I had a Colt unit with floating chamber for a while and it worked fine but the floating chamber was difficult to keep clean. I have been very impressed with not only the functioning of the Kimber unit but also how easy it is to keep clean.
There are units made by Ciener, Marvel, Jarvis, Advantage Arms and others. The units start at about $250.00 and go up from there depending on the use you wish. Most of them will pay for themselves in short order just in the ammo cost savings over .45 ACP. Whether you want to work on your combat, self defense shooting or just have fun for less money, these conversions units are well worth looking into if you like to shoot.

Stay focused on the target. Wild Ed

Tell Texas Parks and Wildlife Not to Raise Fees

Texas Parks and Wildlife is getting ready to raise hunting and fishing license fees and is holding public meetings for comment. At the following link is a schedule of the public meetings. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20090416a

Please take the time to go make a comment or at least send an email to TPWD at the following email contact: robert.macdonald@tpwd.state.tx.us

TPWD is conducting 21 public hearings to present recommendations seeking a modest $2-$4 bump in license and boat registration/titling fees. The department says the fee increase is necessary to address critical needs.
Under the proposed increase, hunting licenses would go from the current price of $23 to $25, while the popular Super Combo all-inclusive license would increase from $64 to $68. Fishing packages would increase by $2.
The vast majority of boat owners in Texas would also see only a small increase in boat registration and titling fees under the proposal. Biennial boat registration for vessels less than 16 feet in length would increase from $30 to $32 and those in the 16-26 foot range would go from $50 to $53.
Two exceptions pertain to larger craft. Those vessels 26-40 feet in length would increase by $40 and 40-foot-plus vessels would go up by $110. These larger increases are necessary because the department has been undercharging for these larger boats for many years in comparison with smaller boats, especially when considering the fee as a percentage of boat size and value.
The public is invited to comment on these proposals by visiting the TPWD Web site or by writing TPWD Public Comment, attn. Robert Macdonald, 4200 Smith School Rd., Austin, TX 78744 or email robert.macdonald@tpwd.state.tx.us.

Watching and Raising Texas Birds

I have always been infatuated with birds and flight. I remember as a kid watching the bird migrations in West Texas. We would have long lines of crows, flocks of geese, kettles of broad winged hawks along with the strange sounding sandhill cranes. All would fly over in the seasonal passages north and south. I loved the thrill of my heart skipping at the flush of a covey of quail or the cackle of a cock pheasant as they lifted into the air. I was always anticipating the shot-dodging flight of dove in the fall. I could think of nothing more engrossing than waterfowl settling into the decoys on a cold foggy morning. Even though I was an avid bird hunter I often raised game birds, hawks, owls and any other feathered babies I would find and bring home.

As I grew older I became fascinated with hawks, parrots and pigeons and have raised them all from just hatched to fully mature. I was intrigued by the idea of taking a bird several hundred miles away from home and releasing it only to have it beat me home to the pigeon loft. I later became engrossed with breeding the Roller pigeon and flying kits of birds that would fly a figure eight pattern high above the house while making breath taking spins of 10-50 feet at almost every turn. Due to a move to a restricted subdivision and work, I had to quit raising Roller pigeons. This last weekend I again watched Rollers high in the air working their magic and performing spins while in the air high above their homes. Thanks to the generosity of another breeder I came home with a box of young birds and hope to again fly some pigeons of my own breeding in the near future. Get out and watch some birds, it will do your soul good. Wild Ed

Texas Hunters to Pay Again...And For What?

Texas Parks and Wildlife is going to raise the price of hunting and fishing license in Texas again. They keep saying what a bargain the Texas license is compared to other states. I say BULL! What do we get for the price of a hunting license? The State says you get to hunt deer, waterfowl, dove, quail, turkeys, predators and small game, what a bargain. Excuse me but that license will not allow you to hunt anywhere, you still must have a place to go whether you lease or own a place. Well there must be public hunting like in other states right? Very little public hunting in Texas and if you want to hunt what little public lands there are you must purchase another permit for public hunting. By the way most of the good public hunts are by draw or lottery system and if drawn you must pay another fee. On many of the draw hunts the numbers of applicants make the odds of getting drawn slim and none. The deer hunting that is not by draw is mostly in poor deer areas or over crowded with hunters.



Texas Parks and Wildlife says it has to raise the fees to keep programs like deer management by State Biologists on private lands. But you and I can’t hunt these deer that belong to the people of the State of Texas unless we pay exorbitant fees for hunts or leases. If they want to fund wildlife management on private lands let the landowners pay the fee. The whole Managed Land Deer Permits for private ranches is funded without charge to the landowners and they want you and me to pay for it. This program eats up tons of our State Wildlife Biologist’s time and brings in next to nothing in revenues. Apparently the brains at Texas Parks and Wildlife can’t come up with an equitable way to charge for the service. How about by the acre or number of deer per acre or number of deer killed per year. Let me see it took 10 seconds to think of those and I bet if a group spent some time on it they could come up with all sorts of workable solutions. The cost for a service should be paid by those that use or benefit from the service.



Texas Parks and Wildlife keep telling us they want to increase hunting and fishing opportunities and get more people involved in the sport. Yet even with Texas population increases, they are seeing license sales go down and I for one have not seen more hunting opportunities and I would bet that few of you have unless you have spent the big money to hunt managed private land. The State has no business increasing fees again and in this hunters opinion all it will do is drive more people out of the sport as the cost to hunt is outgrowing the working family budget.
Think about it, Wild Ed

Jonathan Coleman and Kent Carbaugh's Redtail Hawks hawking bunnies in Oklahoma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIW2PgKAln0

What Is Wrong With Texas Sportsmen?

I have recently seen Texas sportsmen attack others and separate ranks over a bunch of issues. It has become quite the thing to call other people names and inferior if they do something different than the way you think is right, ethical or moral. I can not understand where all these people get the attitude that only their methods are acceptable. If a method of hunting, fishing or any other outdoor sport is legal and approved by the State powers of regulation then have at and have fun.



A famous person once said that we should all stick together or surely we would hang apart. There are enough ANTI groups out there without us becoming our own enemy.

I have received derogatory email about other groups, heard lots of name calling, even seen threats made over some of the things I am about to cover. Many of us need to step back and take a look at ourselves and get over whatever it is that bothers us about others enjoying the outdoors in whatever legal way they please.

The first issue is hunting a high fence ranch, boy does that start fights. The next is hunting bait or feeders. You can even add food plots planted to draw in game birds, waterfowl and big game to the list. What difference does it make as long as it is done legally and fair chase. If you do not want to hunt one of those scenarios then don’t but stay out of other people's business.

The dyed in the wool bowhunters are up in arms against the crossbow people. I have read so much conflict over this I get ill. Who cares if you use a Compound bow, Longbow, Recurve or Crossbow? If you do not want to use one of the above then don’t. Many hunters do not want to share the woods with those that use a different weapon than they do. Those days in Texas are over; we have too many people here not to share our Outdoors. I will use whatever method I want, thank you very much.What difference does it make if you hunt turkey with a shotgun, rifle or bow but that seems to be another topic to fight over? That is not even taking into account whether you use a call, decoy or pop-up blind.

I have heard fights about gigging flounder or shooting catfish with a bow by those that fish with a rod and reel. There are people that want to restrict what caliber you can use for whatever game because they want to decide what is an ethical caliber to hunt with and what is not. Most of the hunting heroes of old would have been shooting guns that this group would not approve of today. Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett carried Kentucky squirrel rifles but lots of big game fell to those small rifles. How many Mule Deer, Elk and Bear fell to the old 30/30? Kids today can not even hunt a squirrel with a pump up pellet rifle as that is now against the law. How many of us as kids began hunting by using a pellet rifle on squirrel? I know my friends and I did.




I get email about hunting exotics on Texas ranches and how it is like hunting livestock. Those hunters have never hunted exotics such as Aoudad in the Big Bend Country or free ranging Axis Deer around Sonora. If they hunted any of the thousands of free range exotics or those behind high fences on large ranches, they would find that most are as difficult if not more so than a Texas Whitetail. What about hog hunting or pheasants which are neither one native game. It always seems that many that want to ban or outlaw something have never done or know really nothing about it.




Another issue is what age can you take your son or daughter hunting. The State has even got into this issue and made laws to such. I can tell you on my place no one will tell me at what time my children or grandchildren are ready to hunt with a rifle. That decision will be made by me and the parents. How in the world can you pick an age and say that works for all kids? I killed my first deer when I was six years old but I also was driving a tractor and plowing by nine. It just depends on the maturity level of the child and how they were raised. I have know grown people that I would not let hunt alone on my place.




A lot of what other people are trying to force on everyone should be decided by individuals or landowners. That is much of our problem today, too many want the government to do everything and are no longer willing to stand up and be responsible for themselves. Step up and be a man or a woman and not a subject.


I often hunt predators, varmints, hogs and even deer with an AR-15 platform rifle. I pulled it out on a hunt the other day and had someone say that I could not use it to hunt. When I asked why, they said it was an assault rifle. It is a semi auto rifle no more no less. ASSAULT IS A VERB not a rifle. Talk about being brain washed. They then said it was not ethical because it held over 5 cartridges. How many rounds does granddad’s 30/30 hold folks?



I recently had a hunting buddy tell me that it would not bother him if they banned AR-15 rifles as he did not have one and none of his guns are on the liberals ban list. Guess what, they want them all not just the AR-15 and when they get some they will come back for more. Your kids .22 semi-auto rifle and your semi-auto shotgun are on the list.



In my favorite sport of Falconry, the United States Fish and Wildlife recently released the new Falconry Regulations to be adopted by the State. Some Texas falconers have decided that the regulations need to be stricter and they want to decide who can get into the sport and who is qualified to teach new falconers. They also want to decide what birds other people are allowed to use in falconry. If you do not want to fly a certain bird or practice falconry a certain way then don't, and quit trying to have laws created to hold others back. If this continues, the ancient sport of falconry will die out in a generation maybe less.



Many others sit back as certain methods or sports are attacked and outlawed. Recently trapping has been under attack and live pigeon shoots have been outlawed forever. I have heard some say that they did not mind, they never did it and maybe it should be illegal. Remember the pigeons used are causing millions of dollars of damages a year and many areas are screaming for tax dollars to help get rid of pigeons. The people that trapped them for sale are now unemployed and we will all have to pay to have pigeons trapped, killed and poisoned in the future. How far a jump is it to outlaw bird dog field trials where pen raised birds are planted, flushed by a dog and shot? What about stocked hunting preserves or falconry sky trials? Not too far a jump for the antis in my opinion. When predator trapping is gone and predators take over how will that effect the game populations where you hunt?




I can’t believe the thought process of some of these people that claim to be SPORTSMEN as they sure are not what I grew up knowing as sportsmen. We all need to step back and evaluate our methods and make sure we are pursuing the sport as we believe we should. Are we preventing or trying to prevent others from enjoying other outdoor pursuits? We also need to get our noses out of everybody else’s business and leave that up to those that enforce our hunting and fishing laws. There are plenty of people that will push to outlaw your sport and they are trying to divide and conquer right now. If we are not careful we will eventually regulate each other out of our outdoor sports. Then everybody can sit around and play video games or watch stuff on TV. Think about it, Wild Ed


You might like to check out a discussion on ethical hunting at the following link to a friend's Blog.

http://trochronicles.blogspot.com/2009/04/ethical-question-hunting-or-shooting.html

Texas Style Jerky

I seem to get more email asking how to make jerky than any other topic. Everyone must like jerky and wants to know how to make their own. This has been my go to recipe for years and it sure doesn't last long around my house so it must be pretty good. If I take a bag of it along to deer camp or on a fishing trip it seems to disappear almost like magic. You can change it by adding other flavors and or spices but here is the basic no fail way I make it.

Cut lean strips of venison, beef, chicken or turkey. The pieces should be no more than ¾ inch thick at the most but as large as you want them. Trim off all fat as it will turn rancid as the meat dries. Fill a large mixing bowl with water and stir in equal amounts of Brown Sugar and Kosher non iodized Salt until it starts to fall out, kind of like a glass of tea with to much sugar in it. Stir in 1 Teaspoon of Garlic powder,½ Teaspoon of Allspice 1/8 Teaspoon of ground Cloves. Add meat and soak in the brine for 4-8 hours in a refrigerator. Remove meat from brine and rinse in cold water. Roll or shake on coarse ground black pepper to taste. Do not use table ground black pepper or it will have too strong a pepper taste. Remember course ground pepper adds flavor fine ground adds heat. Arrange meat on a smoker and slow smoke with your favorite wood keeping the heat under 170 degrees until fully smoked. I smoke mine overnight. I use very dry or seasoned mesquite with no green left in the wood. If you do not have a smoker you can do this in your oven, just add liquid smoke to the original brine and dry on your ovens lowest setting or warm setting. Place a wood spoon in the oven door so moisture can escape and dry meat to the texture and hardness desired. You can then place jerky in a bowl in the refrigerator for up to a week to finish dehydrating. It never lasts that long at my place. Place any extra in a bag in the freezer and take out about 2 hours before you intend to eat it. It is worth it to take the time to slow smoke the jerky as the wood smoke flavor enhanced meat can never be matched by that made in an oven. Enjoy, Wild Ed