- Joined
- Aug 25, 2005
- Messages
- 2,276
I absolutely love all the picture threads from everyone's outdoor adventures. It has been way too many years since I was able to get out for anything other than a day hike for a couple hours. All of your pics have helped me deal with not being able to get out and enjoy the country but it also spurred me on to make a trip happen. This last weekend my father, brother's, and best friend of 30 years went out to our family ranch for a night out in the woods. Our ranch is in the Texas hill country, it is a little less than 700 acres and has been in our family for 45 years now. I grew up spending almost every weekend and most of the summer learning how to tend cattle, ride horses, care for livestock, take care of the land, hunt, and camp with a minimum of gear. Being outdoors was always a huge part of my life and I didn't realize just how much I missed it until last weekend... I tried to get some decent pics, but I was having so much fun I forgot to take pics most of the time. Here are few that made it to the camera 
We picked a spot where lightning had struck a tree a few years back. We cleaned up the area, seems like everything in south Texas is designed to stick, cut, or poke you... got it ready to set up the tents. My dad and younger brother at work.
At least we all remembered how to set up a tent.
Youngest brother (by 26 years from me), Dad, other brother 4 years younger than me, best friend of 30 years.
After setting up camp we broke out the arsenal and started depositing lead into the hill side... Shot 2 cases of clay.
Moved on to plinking with .22's
My dad brought our Grandfather's Colt .45 that he carried in WWII, he joined the Army before WWII broke out. He was Army air corp and eventually retired as a Colonel from the air force.
I got to shoot it too, It was really cool to shoot knowing that he carried it for years while over seas.
I think we brought two shotguns, three .22's, a 45-70, Australian .303 Enfield, Colt .45, two .357s, Taurus Judge, .38 snub nose, and what seemed like $400 worth of ammo...
The 45-70 is an awesome gun to shoot.. The barrel is so heavy it barely kicks, but makes a huge percussion...
After 4 hours of shooting we retired to the campsite for drinks and appetizers... It was starting to get cold too. (cold for down here, not for you snowshoers )
I used my 14 to prepare dinner (didn't get a pic of it in action though) Everyone loved it.. the knife and food too. We are on a two year drought right now so I brought my fire pit from home to help contain the flames. There is actually a burn ban in effect so we kept it small and as safe as possible.
Almost ready
It was a cold one for us that night, was supposed to have had a freeze. I think it might have got close, was probably mid 30's. We all piled out for breakfast.
My uncle showed up with his youngest to enjoy some breakfast. My little cousin was just happy he got to come and his sister had to stay home, lol
Shot of the king and the lightening strike tree. You can see where the bark exploded off of half of the tree. As Bladite had told me in my thread where I posted pics of my old 9 with the chips in it, my family was amazed at Kabar's customer service and that I had gotten the blade replaced so quickly! I had my 9 on my belt the whole weekend and at least once everyone asked to use it or admire it. I would be surprised if both of my brothers didn't buy one too. The 9 and 14 are a hell of a combo and I couldn't foresee a situation you couldn't handle with the two of them...
We ate breakfast, shot the remainder of our ammo up, and cleaned the camp up. All in all it was an outstanding time and was so refreshing and such a recharge to get back in the woods, even for just some weekend trunk camping. I had such a wonderful time I can't wait for the next one. Hoping to be able to hit Lost Maples soon. Only drawback is that we will be in summer weather in less than a month and the temps will be off the chart again..
Leave it better than you found it....
We picked a spot where lightning had struck a tree a few years back. We cleaned up the area, seems like everything in south Texas is designed to stick, cut, or poke you... got it ready to set up the tents. My dad and younger brother at work.
At least we all remembered how to set up a tent.
Youngest brother (by 26 years from me), Dad, other brother 4 years younger than me, best friend of 30 years.
After setting up camp we broke out the arsenal and started depositing lead into the hill side... Shot 2 cases of clay.
Moved on to plinking with .22's
My dad brought our Grandfather's Colt .45 that he carried in WWII, he joined the Army before WWII broke out. He was Army air corp and eventually retired as a Colonel from the air force.
I got to shoot it too, It was really cool to shoot knowing that he carried it for years while over seas.
I think we brought two shotguns, three .22's, a 45-70, Australian .303 Enfield, Colt .45, two .357s, Taurus Judge, .38 snub nose, and what seemed like $400 worth of ammo...
The 45-70 is an awesome gun to shoot.. The barrel is so heavy it barely kicks, but makes a huge percussion...
After 4 hours of shooting we retired to the campsite for drinks and appetizers... It was starting to get cold too. (cold for down here, not for you snowshoers
)
I used my 14 to prepare dinner (didn't get a pic of it in action though) Everyone loved it.. the knife and food too. We are on a two year drought right now so I brought my fire pit from home to help contain the flames. There is actually a burn ban in effect so we kept it small and as safe as possible.
Almost ready
It was a cold one for us that night, was supposed to have had a freeze. I think it might have got close, was probably mid 30's. We all piled out for breakfast.
My uncle showed up with his youngest to enjoy some breakfast. My little cousin was just happy he got to come and his sister had to stay home, lol
Shot of the king and the lightening strike tree. You can see where the bark exploded off of half of the tree. As Bladite had told me in my thread where I posted pics of my old 9 with the chips in it, my family was amazed at Kabar's customer service and that I had gotten the blade replaced so quickly! I had my 9 on my belt the whole weekend and at least once everyone asked to use it or admire it. I would be surprised if both of my brothers didn't buy one too. The 9 and 14 are a hell of a combo and I couldn't foresee a situation you couldn't handle with the two of them...
We ate breakfast, shot the remainder of our ammo up, and cleaned the camp up. All in all it was an outstanding time and was so refreshing and such a recharge to get back in the woods, even for just some weekend trunk camping. I had such a wonderful time I can't wait for the next one. Hoping to be able to hit Lost Maples soon. Only drawback is that we will be in summer weather in less than a month and the temps will be off the chart again..
Leave it better than you found it....
