have you ever had one of those days,... that you just didn't want it to end ?

[Gertrude]

Well, that was what today was for me, and I think all who I can now call my newest bestestestest shooting buddies !

 First off let me say, The new GTA Members Map is working quite well.
Had it not been for that map, I'd not have met and shared the day with 3 more of the nicest and best shooting buddies a guy could ask for.  I want to thank  BWalton, RayK, and  Nappyman for the funnest day I have had in a long time. I know we will be doing more hunts together in the future.

We started the day early, and were up at the goat farm about 6am, to serve up some lead injection therapy to the burrow builders.
 The squirrels were going to be in serious trouble today... as the big bores were coming out to do some damage .
 We started off sighting in to get the boyz toys zeroed for our expected full on frontal assault on the dirty diggers...




We went and said our Good Morning to all the Lady's of the House, and let them know we loved them and were going to be hitting the Fuzzy Tailed Lead Catchers with everything we had today.
 They seemed pleased with that news, and were content to kick back and start watching.




We started taking up positions, and prepared for a great and memorable day.





I was getting a little help spotting the rodents, and then she'd whisper the coordinates  into my ear





"Austin the Executioner" has a soft spot in his heart for the ladys, and has a new girlfriend too.
 She took quite a liking to him, and just wanted to spend time helping him, and loving him. What a beauty she is !





We popped a few in the morning session, and then broke for lunch. A couple of monster sub sandwiches from the nearby Deli, and a couple of cold brews  shared with new buddies. Baxter showed up with the coolest hat that we all were jealous of him having. Saying he got it from Big5.
 (mental note to self), (must go to Big5 tomorrow )




after lunch, we went back out to hit 'em some more, and we had a blast.
at the end of the day, we had 25 on deck, and another 20 that we couldn't retreive.




The farm owner stopped by and was very pleased to see us back, and the pile of targets continuing  to grow




After we finished up the day, I just HAD to stop by Big 5 on the way home, to get one of Baxters cool hats.
 I'm glad I did, because it was the last one they had. (I'll probably need to go to another store to see if I can get a couple more )
 I proudly wore it the rest of the way home, while smiling all the way, and thinking of my 3 newest shooting buddies, and the absolutely GREAT day we shared.




Another GREAT DAY with some FINE GTA MEMBERS !
Thanks Guys ! I had a BLAST Shooting with you all today ! ! !


And for all of you other GTA members who have not yet put your markers on the new Members Map,...
 ... all I can say is, You are missing out on meeting some of the best guys you will ever share a day with !

Go to the map and get your markers on there,
 so folks can find you, and hook up with them for fantastic fun filled days of shooting !

[dk1677]

Great haul and pictures Ron!

[Yarp]

Great story and great pix.
Wasted my day with house painting.

[Lightninrod]

Nice writeup and pics Ron. I'm envious.

Dan

[Austin E]

Yesterday was another great day, with great company.

I got to witness a lot of awesome shots. We had multiple shots at 70+ yards, and I watched Nappyman hit a squirrel from something like 113 yards with his .30 cal. Unfortunately we didn't recover that one, as it crawled back into it's hole with a broken back. But it was still very impressive. I'm still learning trajectory on my new marauder, so I wasn't doing great at the longer yardage, but did manage one at a lasered 83 yards I think Ron said. I can't wait to figure out chairgun and get my range card finished.

I used predator polymags throughout the day, and only didn't recover 6, with 9 recovered. 3 of those I could have got but I didn't want to climb up the trash pile. Much, much better success rate than I was getting with the .22 cphp's. With a shot through the neck, 40fpe really anchors the ground squirrels.

All the guys we had there were great company, and I can't wait until we take a trip up north to see what Baxter and Napolean have for hunting in their neck of the woods.

I think we have the best group of air gunners in the country. :-p

[RayK]

It was a great day!

We all clicked and our passion for high-end air-gunning and squirrel pesting brought immediate friendship.

I got to shoot a few very cool airguns I have never seen before.  I love the side levers (vs bolt action).  The Evanix Rainstorm II is a real winner of an airgun!  Only thing I would change is the trigger.  I wish I could have shot the 30 cal FX Bobcat, but then I'm pretty sure I would want one....  I've already decided my next PCP will be a Cricket in 22 caliber.

Ron brought his $100 Flying Dragons PCP.  Man is that thing loud!  But then I took the shroud off my 177 M-rod and shot next to him and it was just as loud.  (I love our quiet airguns!)  I wish I had shot the FD to see how accurate it is with stock barrel. Ron offered, but there was just too many things to do in just one day.   Maybe next time.  We still need to chrony and tune your Marauders guys!  Maybe next time....

The goats were very entertaining and we got to witness a few births.  The babies are very cute.

Note to self, next time, wear sun block.  My face and arms are very burnt today.

BTW, I'm sure I shot the fewest squirrels: 5 with my 177 cal Marauder rifle (two recovered) and 2 with my 22 cal Marauder Pistol (both recovered), but I was just as happy shooting at paper at 45 yards and spent lots of the day doing that.  My 25 Marauder is laser accurate and powerful, but I was having fun with the "light tackle" this day.  The P-rod is a delight to carry around in the field, but it is not a long range gun.  The kill shots were both about 35 yards.  The other guys were making kill shots 80 to 120 yards with their 22, 25, and 30 caliber guns.  And I heard one of the guys has a big bore, but I don't think we had a solid enough backstop to shoot it.

Thanks for a great day Austin, Baxter, Napoleon, and Ron!

Ray

[wwonka]

Great post and pics. Thanks

[Bwalton]

I can not began to express the awesome time that I had! a 12hr day of airguning and great friends! I was hard press to beat Austins GS numbers as he got off to a terrific start! as I seen him walking in with what looked like a fishing string of not fish but devastated GS on a stringer. I encouraged him to point me in the direction! I went and let the lead fly!  me and nappyman were taking them down!
The only down part of the day is when they called me in for lunch! I did not want to eat...little did they know I did not even want to eat breakfast ;
But I did well  holding my excitement of the anticipation of the hunt deep inside......I was like a kid the night before Christmas cant sleep cant eat...
I had a wonderful time and all the guys were like my long time friends.....cant wait to do it again.
My high light of the day was when I nailed a GS at 70yards and he was trying to crawl back into the hole about 10ft away....Im yelling to nappyman who was just a few feet behind me with the Bobcat .30 GET HIM! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY! as he is moving slowly with his front twp paws...GET HIM
Nappyman response IM OUT OF PELLETS
What a back up man LOL It was a real fun time!!!
P.S he did not make it back...Austin did recover him.

[BenjiHunter]

Sweet.
What a great haul!!
You guys had a very nice day!!

[Austin E]

Sweet.
What a great haul!!
You guys had a very nice day!!

Wish you could have made it, Stefan.

[BenjiHunter]

Sweet.
What a great haul!!
You guys had a very nice day!!

Wish you could have made it, Stefan.

Yeah, it would have been a lot of fun meeting you guys.

[rwsfan1]

You guys are killing me  .. I wish I could have made it but had a couple of things I had to take care of ..

I'll make sure I can go next time though, looks like you guys had a great time. 

Henry

[nappyman]

Yes I must say it don't get much better than the the day spent meeting new shooting buddies and participating in a relaxed fun fill day of GS dispatching .

The day started off early for me at 2:45am for a drive out to Disneyland area to meet up with Baxter who was there already the night before. About 5:45 Ron showed up , "great guy by the way" and off we went for a 30min drive near the goat farm. Met another member and the four of us had a quick breakfast and off we went.

Austin showed up "good guy and shooter" while we were checking zero he was laying out some incentives for those bashful GS.  after all, no better way to die than with your belly full

The hunt began with me taking a fat GS at 71y thru (3) chain Linked fences , we all watch in amazement how that .30 cal made the loudest pop and see how the GS was dead before he could hit the ground good. Austin stole the show with kill count and recovery, at one point after leaving out only to return 5min later with four or five of the. Buggers with a grin on his face

Want to thank everyone there for the wonderful day and having the the good fortune to meet and shoot with a great bunch of guys and also the host of the goat farm who had enough trust that we would regulate safely & productively . I'm still smiling thinking about that experience , thanks so much Ron for the opportunity

[Bwalton]

How could we forget that one Nappyman lol did Austin go to recover that 1st one of the day, and it was still moving around and he kicked it right into the hole lol that was funny

[William]

All I got to say is, WoW and wish I was there, looks like you all had a great time. Nothing like a get together with some great people, sure sounds like you had the best time of your life.... I love those pics they really make the day thats for sure. All i did today was clean the stupid pool nobody ever uses and a little bush hogging. Shot my Mrod 25 at paper a few rounds which is no way as much fun as you all had.

Thanks, you made my day...

William

[crosman999]

   Wow that's a great day with some good company!! Great pics and nice kills too.

[WolfyW]

Now that's really somethin' !!!  Good shooting, men.

[Gertrude]

Today I had the 4H shoot with the kids which is only about 6 miles from the goat farm. After we finished my daughter and I headed over to try and pop a few more pellet stoppers. She did pretty well and got 3 in about an hour but we couldn't retrieve any of them.
 I pulled off 3 more, but was only able to retrieve this big fatty.
This dude had to be close to 3 lbs. !

 
 

It was a bit hotter today, so we took off after about an hour, and headed over to Bass Pro Shops to burn up my $100 gift card and have a nice lunch. Picked up a new bipod, nice sling, and she got a low shooters stool. Then we went to the restaurant for something to eat. Here she is enjoying some fried Alligator Appetizer, and a big 'ol Trout dinner.
 It was a great way to wrap up the weekend, and spend some one on one time with her.




Oh Yeah,... and she took my new hat too 

[stonykill]

 sounds like a fantastic time Ron. Thanks for sharing!

[Bwalton]

That's awesome another back to back no end day! You are a lucky man!