Thomas Shooting Area 3 - in Rolla, MO

Thomas has been doing competitive pistol shooting since last year, and is REALLY good at it. This year, he placed first in "B" Class in the Production* division of shooting at the Sectional Match that was at the Eastern Nebraska Gun Club in Louisville, NE in September. Here is a video of the Sectional Match. Note: I am doing the filming, so the filming is not the best!
This video is of stage 1 of the Sectional match. Thomas has all of the stages on the youtube site. Click here for the videos.


We then traveled to Rolla, MO in October for the Area 3 match. Area 3 is 6 states in the surrounding area with shooters who are really quite good at shooting. Again, he planned to shoot production class, but due to a very tiny alteration on his gun, he got bumped to Open** class about half way through the day. His chances of placing high up were gone at that time, but he still shot quite well, and had a great time. Here's the video -- again, I'm filming, so bear with me.




Since he had to pick a hobby that is EXPENSIVE, he got a shooting cart to carry his stuff. It looks a lot like the baby strollers made for runners, but it isn't, is for shooting supplies and gear. This is Thomas early in the morning on Sunday before shooting in Rolla.

* Production Division: the gun is pretty much just out of the box as you would purchase it in the store. No modifications, regular sights, only 10 rounds in the magazine.
** Open Division: pretty much any alteration you can think of, you can do. These are also called "Race Guns".

The Mighty Hunter & Huntress

Opening weekend of deer season .... take 3! This is the 3rd year that Thomas and I have traveled to my parents for opening weekend of deer season. With our schedules, we pretty much get one weekend to hunt, so this is it! The first year, I shot a deer at quite a distance, it fell down, got up & ran away. We didn't find it until the following weekend (okay, we went two weekends that year). Last year we went up and didn't even see a deer! So, we went up this weekend with high hopes for deer that we haven't gotten the past two years.

Saturday morning we went out before sunrise and didn't see much of anything. We saw a couple of deer, but nobody had a good shot. ... back to the house for lunch & a nap. We woke up and decided to head back out just before sunset. We went back out to my great-grandmother's place and stood along an area that has some trees along a shelter belt with a swampy area at the bottom --- a perfect place for deer. So, its getting darker and I hear something walking down below. I slowly move forward and down the hill (think Elmer Fudd stalking the wabbit here). Just as I get to the bottom I see a deer peek over the ravine. I slowly start bringing my rifle up to shoot her as she is watching me. In my head, the monologue runs "here we have the mighty huntress, stalking her prey, waiting for the critical moment...." I sight down the scope and shoot....I MISS! CRAP! I run forward just as I see 4 more deer head out. Thomas starts running down the ravine toward me as I go to chamber another round, only to find out ... my magazine had fallen out of my gun. CRAP again! I grab a shell and manually put it into the chamber and work the bolt. The deer were graciously waiting for me. I sight on another deer (now a LOT farther away).. I shoot & MISS! I shoot again, and miss again (I think). By this time Thomas has reached me and I'm a little frustrated. I look across the swampy area between two trees and see what I think is a log. I look through my scope and nope, its a deer! I sight in on it, gently press the trigger and....she goes down! YAY!! Thomas sees the other deer that I've missed on top of the other side of the ravine and takes a shot. We found my deer on the other side. She had apparently gotten up from where I shot her, walked about 30 feet, and died. We did find another blood trail but couldn't find any dead animal at the end.


Yep, I'm a little happy that I got her!

We decided to go back out Sunday morning so Thomas could get his deer. We went to the same ravine thinking they would be there again. We waited an hour or so and they didn't show so Thomas decided to walk the fence-line of the shelter belt. He gets all the way across and stops. (I'm following way behind in the pickup). He shoots ... and the deer goes down! ONE SHOT! Apparently there was another deer there as well, bigger than the one he shot, but we only had one permit each. However, we both got our deer this year and are happy about that. We will have deer meat this winter! :)


Note the "dead pose" of the deer -- the tongue is sticking out! :)

Trip to my parents

Thomas & I went to my parents this weekend for opening weekend of deer season. We got there Friday evening and returned home on Sunday. A month or so ago they "adopted" two little kitties. Being cat lovers, Thomas and I had to play with their little ones.

Here they are. They are named Mitzi and Buffy (I THINK Buffy is the brown one and Mitzi is the white/black one)


She loved to play with the string from my coat. :)



This was a favorite activity of both the kitty & Thomas. :)