"A Dappled Blonde"...

[HuntnCarve]

It’s been quiet at the Honey Holes as we entered the Summer Solstice?  I sort of got errant in keeping an eye on the holes for signs of new occupants.  That was until the other day when I glanced down at HH1, and saw what I thought was the small cottontail that had set up shop there.  My trusty 10x binos revealed not a rabbit?  But a young chuck!
   Running back to the bedroom, I grabbed the Ol’ Mossberg from the corner.  Seems the lens had gathered a bit of dust in its dormancy?  Have to address the wife on that issue…Well, discretion the better part of valor, I’ll let it pass I suppose?  Besides, the corner of a freshly laundered shirt hanging there (undoubtedly left for me to put away?) cleaned the lens lickety split!  Back in business!
       Belly crawling out onto the deck, I found the young chucklet had observed my cat like stalk, and inched his way to the mouth of HH1.  Panicking, I hastily planted the crosshairs on his chest and rapped the trigger…The explosion of dirt right between the chucks paws and his triple back flip the hell out of there, signaled I had missed!  Straight into the depths of HH1 he plunged.
After interrogating the wife as to whether or not she bumped my rifle scope sometime in the past month or so?  I ascertained that I was walking a fine line between a beating and a lecture on “leaving your guns laying all over the house”…So I begrudgingly chalked it up as “shooter error” until a later investigation can exonerate me..
   So jump ahead to present day.  Passing by the deck door, I looked down to HH1 hoping to catch the “charmed” chuck outside on a walk about.  Nothing there.  Turning my attention to HH2 I beheld the unmistakable shape of a chunky chuck strolling the hill a few feet to the right of the hole.  Seizing the moment, I grabbed the .22 right beside the door (its magazine stoked with CB’s) and bolted a round into the chamber.  Waiting for the chuck to start its downward descent towards the hole, I slid open the screen door, and took a shooting position on the railing.  After what seemed a decade, the chuck emerged from the hole opening and took a sentinel stance , staring across the field.  This time Diane and HaMer would have been proud!  For I locked the crosshairs right on the back of the chucks neck and “gently pressed” the trigger…The chuck wilted, then rolled down the bank, consumed by the greenery.
   Climbing down the bank, I battled cobwebs and a host of unmerciful vegetation in my search for the chuck.  A bit of panic set in , as he was not laying where I thought he would be?  Moving a few more yards down the hill I spotted his dappled blonde coat accented by  beams of sunlight penetrating the jungle canopy.  My shot had been true and to point of aim.  The wife must have re-sighted the scope for me some time in the interim?  Probably in a moment of remorse over the situation she placed her loving husband in with the first chuck?  Yeah, that must be it..
   So here’s No.5 from the land of the Honey Holes.  Meantime, sit back and stay tuned.  As I soon hope to be telling the future tale of the young chuck that pressed his luck a bit too far…?
“What?  How the heck do I know how that shirt got a dirt spot on it???”  Gotta go!

Good Shooting to you all!

Dave



(Above) View down to HH2




(Above) "There you be!"  The final resting spot...



A dappled blonde..

[Hawks Feather]

Way to go Dave.  Well, except for the miss, the scope cleaning, almost angering your wife, and a few other details that probably shouldn't be mentioned.   

Jerry

P.S.  Did you read that Jim has already abandoned his attempt to have his own Honey Holes?

[HaMeR]

Diane said not to worry about that miss Dave. She said you'll get used to them just like I did.   Aint sure what that means yet but like you,, I should prolly just let it go.    I'm glad you found that chuck. I know how difficult it can be at times to find anything that isn't moving on a forest floor with the light shooting thru the canopy in streaks like that.    

Congratulations on a fine "hunt"   once again!! I await the results of the young chucks fate with toes tapping on the mat under the desk chair here!!   

[Todd Rahm]

Man, I enjoy the Ground Hog Chronicles from ya Dave, and I'm kinda taking interest in the Ground Hog Wars between you and HaMer.  This is better then ESPN. 

[HuntnCarve]

Todd,
Yeah, I've shot a few groundhogs in my day.  But I'm not in the same league as HaMer, VVarmiter, and of course Diane.  They are where I aspire to be someday!  I have fun hunting them.  In the case of the Honey Holes, it's more like "shooting" them when they show up to hang up their shingle. LOL!  In the meantime, glad you enjoy the tales.  Hopefully I'll be jotting down a few more as the Summer progresses? 

Dave

[Yotehntr]

   Always fun to read your ground hog tail Dave! 

[HaMeR]

Heck I wouldn't mind being in the same league as Diane & vvarmitr!!    Oh well. Something to aspire for I guess. 

I wish I could relay the sequence of events as well as you do Dave. Then again I don't suppose the stories would be the same if they didn't involve laundry. 

[HuntnCarve]

HaMer, I looked out the back deck door today, and holy smokes!  There was a hog sitting on the edge of HH1!  Turned to grab the rifle, and remembered I had taken it back to the bedroom.   By the time I returned with it in hand, the hog was gone?  Watched for a few minutes, but nothing?  I'm sure he'll be back.  And as always:  "We'll leave the light on for him."

[Hawks Feather]

Dave,

If you didn't stop to iron the shirt that was still hanging there you would have got him.  Just a reminder to get your work done so that when a time to play happens you will be ready.   

Jerry

[FinsnFur]

  Triple back flip??

Thats an Olympic move right there.
We gotta send these into Varmint Hunter magazine

[HuntnCarve]

Jerry, I put that shirt away right after dispatching that hog.  And I can honestly say; "I've never personally ironed a shirt". LOL!  I tell the wife that before I met her, my shirts never needed ironing?  She said that I was pretty "rag tag"???   So rather than risk a not so favorable write up in "Good Wives HouseKeeping Magazine" she irons my shirts before I can get at them. LOL!   

[HaMeR]

Why do I get the feeling that hogs days are numbered?? Like maybe 2 or 3. 

[pitw]

  Slaughter, just pure slaughter when you are in your stealth mode.

[HaMeR]

  Slaughter, just pure slaughter when you are in your stealth mode.

  Damn straight it is Barry!!