Lest I forgot---Easy at my age ! !

[ImAfossil]

How I identified the target at 220 yards.

I carry 7X minature binocs for scanning and a small / light 15 by 45X spotting scope in my backpack, plus a soda and Halls Mentho (I am a Halls junkie).

On this chuck I only picked up a color variation at 220 yards with the 7Xrs. I knew I had an excellent backstop for a miss, but the chuck did not move for about 25 minutes. Only his head was showing out of his hole. How did I know it was his head ????? I removed the rest from the homebuilt bipod and screwed in my spotting scope. At about 25X---AHHHHH ! ! ! There you are, looking right at me.

Curious, but maybe baffled by my camo and very slow movement----Even though you have to wear a blaze orange cap, I am convinced after years of chasing chucks, that very little head movement will not spook them. I also believe that very light camo gloves and a camo face mask are EXTREMELY ESSENTIAL.. Not the blaze cap, the glare from your hands and face are the giveaway.

Just my opinion, but I am superstitious and I will not change. Old dog, new tricks--NADA, NITZ, NO. or maybe I am ECCENTRIC (polite for wacky)--I also carry a 64 inch by 40 inch thin & light, see through, net camo and hang it from hedgerow bushes while scanning the countryside. Yes I am guilty of being a wackjob, but my passion is Porkers, Ground Grizzlies, Chucks---In all of these years, some of them know me by name.

I can hear the Porkers say, 'here comes _ _ _ _ _ _ _". You can fill in the blanks.

See pictures below:

A) The chuck, gun and the homebuilt adjustable rest.

B) The sitting to standing adjustable homebuilt rest.

C) The removable (unscrew it) rest

D) The 15 by 45 spotting scope screwed on, with rest removed.

Maybe a bit HOKEY, but it has worked for 2+years (a bonus is cheap)--Cheap is good ! ! !
fossil

[GrumpyBear]

Nicely done.We (the forum)hadn't heard from you for a while and I was wondering how you were doing.Missed your stories.Good to see that you
are out hunting ground grizzlies already.

[ImAfossil]

To Grumpy, A 5 and 5 0, plus the BOARD.

Thanks for thinking about me. The hills are getting steeper, but my wife & I are doing fine.

With the hills getting steeper, you youngins' will know what I mean someday, I will keep on chuggin'.

My family Witch Doctor recommended ; maybe a 4 wheeler is in order. I thought about that. He is lowering the bar on me ! ! !

I politely showed him 4 fingers and a thumb. I retracted 3 fingers and the thumb leaving one finger up.

He smiled and said, "think about crawling under the bar, not jumping over it". I will comply. I raised the bar another foot and now I will crawl under it.
fossil

[A-5]

To Grumpy & A 5 plus the BOARD.

Thanks for thinking about me. The hills are getting steeper, but my wife & I are doing fine.

With the hills getting steeper, you youngins' will know what I mean someday, I will keep on chuggin'.

My family Witch Doctor recommended ; maybe a 4 wheeler is in order. I thought about that. He is lowering the bar on me ! ! !

I politelty showed him 4 fingers and a thumb. I retracted 3 fingers and the thumb leaving one finger up.

He smiled and said, "think about crawling under the bar, not jumping over it". I will comply. I raised the bar another foot and now I will crawl under it.
fossil

I grew up in a woodchuck hunting family, I spent a lot of Sat. in the summer going after the ground grizzly. It was in Shoemakerville, Berks Co and it was one of the things I enjoyed as a youngster, hunting with my Dad, and best friend Clyde. My father a year or so ago fell ill without warning and has been in nursing care ever since. I don't really miss hunting with dad, as much as not being able to visit him at home and tell him the stories of our hunting adventures. I guess the hunting void has been taken over with my own boy's (3 hunting age) being able to hunt so they keep dad busy. Fossil I envy you being able to hunt these things and don't be shy of posting the pictures. I hunt through you and your stories, I work 6 days a week to support a wife and 5 kids and can't get out as much as I would like. So my suggestion is to start the fossil hunting journal thread and throughout the year log your hunts and post the pictures on your thread. Be a PAFOA star!

[ImAfossil]

A-5
In my personal BIO I have been there when my son shot his 1st deer with his .243. I was there when he caught his 1st trout. I heard the shot, crack and there was my Son with his HOYT and his first bow and arrow deer. The quartering rear shot through the lungs and a passthrough arrow. His passthrough exited the right shoulder completely and the buck just dropped.

I was there for his 1st Groundhog. I was here when he and his lovely wife presented me (pop-pop) and my wife (mom-mom) with two future Chuck Chasers. As it looks, they will own twin.204s when the time is right.

Do I miss anything from my younger days---absolutely. I miss retiring from the best non-job JOB, that I ever had. At 69 I was a Girls' Varsity HS Basketball Coach for a few years.
I was still running with the Ladies and Refereeing scrimmages and still demonstrating fundamentals. You can't blackboard fundamentals, you have to do it. The knees, legs and lungs quit---Time to hang up the whistle and clipboard. Basically I am a fun guy, but I still tear up thinking about the Ladies who the experts said ; wasting your time'----Being a player myself passion is the starting point. Fixing fundamentals was my job. The reward for wasting my time ; #13, #24, #21 and others. You are starters tonight. It is your job to make your family, friends and fans proud. More important, feel good about yourself. You came through with the heavy lifting to get here.

My wife and I travel 3 to 4 times a year to a Virginia College, to watch and enjoy a skilled and talented young Lady that I had the priviledge to be associated with as a coach. More tears from this big lug (me) when we meet before game time. Call me an anomoly--Tough and disiplined, but a pussycat. I still have lots of time to figure that one out.

Life is good. NO. Life is great. If you look at something, do it. Don't look back and say, "Man I wish I did that"----Take it and get it all in. You may only have one shot at IT ! !
fossil

[GrumpyBear]

A-5
In my personal BIO I have been there when my son shot his 1st deer with his .243. I was there when he caught his 1st trout. I heard the shot, crack and there was my Son with his HOYT and his first bow and arrow deer. The quartering rear shot through the lungs and a passthrough arrow. His passthrough exited the right shoulder completely and the buck just dropped.

I was there for his 1st Groundhog. I was here when he and his lovely wife presented me (pop-pop) and my wife (mom-mom) with two future Chuck Chasers. As it looks, they will own twin.204s when the time is right.

Do I miss anything from my younger days---absolutely. I miss retiring from the best non-job JOB, that I ever had. At 69 I was a Girls' Varsity HS Basketball Coach for a few years.
I was still running with the Ladies and Refereeing scrimmages and still demonstrating fundamentals. You can't blackboard fundamentals, you have to do it. The knees, legs and lungs quit---Time to hang up the whistle and clipboard. Basically I am a fun guy, but I still tear up thinking about the Ladies who the experts said ; wasting your time'----Being a player myself passion is the starting point. Fixing fundamentals was my job. The reward for wasting my time ; #13, #24, #21 and others. You are starters tonight. It is your job to make your family, friends and fans proud. More important, feel good about yourself. You came through with the heavy lifting to get here.

My wife and I travel 3 to 4 times a year to Virginia College, to watch and enjoy a skilled and talented young Lady that I had the priviledge to be associated with as a coach. More tears from this big lug (me) when we meet before game time. Call me an anomoly--Tough and disiplined, but a pussycat. I still have lots of time to figure that one out.

Life is good. NO. Life is great. If you look at something, do it. Don't look back and say, "Man I wish I did that"----Take it and get it all in. You may only have one shot at IT ! !
fossil

^^^^^^ Amen to that,I agree.

[A-5]

I went to a B-ball tournament that my nephews played in and I don't think these things are taught anymore.


1. Box Out
2. the defensive shuffle
3. The coach needs a lesson on managing a 7 point lead with 3 minutes left
4. Defensive help down low, and defensive help on perimeter drives you need to fill the lane and stop the penetration.

My kids play Baseball that's the world I live in now. I was there when 2 of my sons shot there first deer and most of the other game they have shot ( sometimes there uncles take them and I don't get to see their harvest but I get the story later). I have to really step back and make shur that I get off work enough to cherish the time with them. They will not be little long. I know that but the bills have to ge payed also, so I juggle with being a Dad, but it's much better having to deal with it than not having them around at all. I just hope the good Lord blesses me more in the future so I can enjoy them for a long time coming.

[Deer Hunter]

I certainly agree with Iamafossils theory on life at this stage (although he is a bit younger). I continue to invest in quality guns and make it to the range a couple times a week and can still shoot a descent pattern. Health, wife, children and grand daughters what better reason to continue???

[ImAfossil]

A-5 --- Hang in there. One day things loosen up and there is a peek of 'just doing it'----I think we all pay our dues along the the way.

Boy am I glad you were not my competition as a B-Ball Coach.

Everything you touched on was "FUNDAMENTALS' based. As a coach I probably missed half of the game looking at opponents tendencies and my Ladies using the fundamentals of the game.

I rarely called a timeout, unless the wheels were coming off or late in a close game. Keep running the floor, push the ball up the court, follow your shot, solid legal screens, short crisp passing, constant movement--no watching the game and boxing out that 6'1' big. The list of fundamentals is infinite. The TEAM just has to understand the objective.

When a 5'5r checks (boxing) a big off of the offensive boards, isn't that just a thing of beauty.

Not to rub it in----Now grabbing the .204. Watch out Grizzlies here I come.

fossil

[GrumpyBear]

Any more ground grizzilies or are you too busy watching basketball?