Last weekend, my Dad and I went up north to a state forest. It’d been a couple months since I’d been up there, those old logging roads, when the frost gives out… It’s very easy to bury a Chevy. Plus the need to get a new truck put shooting on the back burner, for a few weeks.
Dad being the die hard hunter, was hell bent on checking out the deer stands, he always has a list of things he wants to do, this time, tar paper the roof. I’m the die hard shooter in the family. We were both a little nervous of what we’d find, as there’s a lot of bear up there the last number of years, and one’s been enjoying damaging one of our stands the past couple years. Dad had asked me why I was bringing my AR15 to the deer stand, I told him, “If that bear’s at the stand, there will be one less bear in the woods.” (Don’t worry PETA, no bear was there).
Though I may have been joking about shooting the bear who enjoys ripping our stand apart, in all seriousness, the black bears are getting to be so numerous in that state forest, I don’t go anywhere without a rifle. I know some will say carry a 10mm Glock or 1911 or a S&W 44mag. No thanks. I don’t view having an AR15 carbine slung across my chest, or leaning against a nearby tree as a burden. Besides, I’m better with a long gun than I am a pistol.
We did find fresh bear shit too, right where we park our truck, and have a fire pit. Then there’s wolves and coyotes, they take turns, as the packs refuse to co-exist, so nearly every year, the state forest goes from being infested with coyotes to wolves, then back to coyotes again.
The DNR says last year a lot of bear were shot. I hope so. There aren’t many deer there, and the bear will kill a young fawn. The wolves and coyotes, well, that goes without saying. We should know soon whether or not the idiots in St. Paul decide to hand out hundreds or maybe a few thousand doe permits for our area. There’s so few deer, it should be ONE buck only per hunter. Period.
Another observation, deer ticks, lots. Not a single wood tick. Deer ticks have for a long time been more numerous there than wood ticks. But, neither of us saw a single wood tick, all deer ticks. I wear old army pants, and an old army field jacket in the woods, even in summer, as I burn easy, plus, if you blouse your pants into your boots, it helps ward off the ticks. And tick juice, really does work. I sprayed it all over, and heavy, even on my boonie hat. Dad spayed just a little, didn’t blouse his pants and wore a t shirt, he was plucking ticks off all day long.
Since we had to work on the stands we brought the 4wheeler along. Polaris still hasn’t figured out how to make a smooth shifter on their Sportsman series. But the thought did occur to me, where’s the ATV registration money go? Each year, at least here, we have to get the equivalent of a car tab for ATV’s. In theory that money goes to trail and logging road maintenance… No sign of that.
The logging roads are so neglected, and have been for so long, it’s tough to drive, whether you have a 4wheel drive pickup, or a 4wheeler. Ruts, wash outs, fallen boulders and rocks along hillsides. Some stretches are simply impassable. So where’s our money go? We buy deer, and small game licenses, as well. That money’s supposed to go to preserve public lands and “conservation”- whatever that word means anymore. How are people supposed to enjoy public lands if they can’t get in them? And getting in is a big deal. This state forest is something like 10×15 miles.
Also, I’d recently bought a Glock 34 Gen. 5. Yeah, I know I said I wouldn’t in an earlier post, but, between my eyes getting better, and the G34 being on Glock’s recent discontinued list, and the gun store had a new one in stock, probably the last new one, and the fact I’d always wanted the gun Denzel Washington used in ‘Man On Fire’ (2004)… I couldn’t resist. https://waronguns.com/glockteasers/
I did learn a few things. First off, I can shoot a hand gun again. Second, the G34 is excellent, especially it’s balance, and I’d always thought the G17 balanced well, but no, the G34 is way better. So is the G34’s trigger. But, what I did notice was the overall length and size of the G34 was nearly identical to my Dad’s 1911. Even the balance was the same, oh sure the 1911’s heavier, but the balance point was the same. Third, Fiocchi 124gr FMJ 9mm… Yikes. That was the most inconsistent batch of ammo I’ve ever had. And it was the ammo, you could feel it in the recoil, the varying powder charges. Never going to do that again. At just 12 to 15 paces, some bullets hit well above a paper plate, others well below. Though periodically, we’d get a couple magazines that shot somewhat consistent and when they did, I got, by my standards, since for a couple of years I’d had to give up hand gun shooting, fair groups. Dad’s were tighter, but he doesn’t have the eye problems I’ve had.
And it wasn’t our aim which was off. As when we shot his 1911, using I think it was all Federal, 230gr FMJ .45ACP, shot fine, consistent. (Guess what I did? I ordered Federal 115gr FMJ 9mm after we got home).
But I can shoot a handgun again, thank God. And, bought and used a long time dream hand gun at that… Yes, the Glock. Not the 1911. Dad has long suffered from the delusion that the only handgun is a 1911 and the only hand gun caliber is .45ACP. After forcing him to shoot the G34 a few times, he admitted, it balanced just like his 1911 though the 1911 was of course heavier, and was the best handling Glock he’d ever held. He also liked the Glock’s sights, the rear sights are adjustable for windage and elevation.
Another thought that occured to me, was the freedom we had to shoot. Just the freedom to shoot however we wanted. Want to stand closer? Fine. Want to step back? Fine. Tired of punching paper, and want to shoot one of those rubber balls across the ground? Fine. Bored with the hand guns, want to switch to a rifle? No problem. Having trouble with the rifle scope at 100yards, and need to move in closer to figure out if your way high or low, or way left or right? Go ahead. Need to take a leak? Walk over to the edge of the clearing and go.
You can’t do that around here at gun ranges. They’ve got rules for everything. One range even has, 90minute time slots… For MEMBERS! Do you want to shoot both pistols and rifles? Nope, you’ve gotta pick one or the other. And don’t you even think about shooting prone! And if it’s an indoor range, no drawing from the holster and don’t you dare shoot too fast! On top of that the vast majority of gun ranges here are shot gun only, trap/skeet, etc.
Now that leads us to a Second Amendment question. If a gun range bars you from practicing with your arms, in the practical manners which you need to master if God forbid you ever NEED your arms, then what good is a gun range? After all, YOU ARE THE MILITIA.
Here, we can target shoot in a state forest, the only caveat is there’s a couple around the cities, where it’s illegal, but any out in the country, it’s legal. The state forest we go to, even says it’s legal on the DNR sign at the entrance, off the county road and onto the logging road. So do the the law books.
Yet, sometime back, at the gun store, one of the regular employees told me, he and a buddy were shooting in a state forest last year, and got kicked out by a game warden, since it was “hunting season”. Here if you hunt deer with a bow, you get four months to fill your tag(s) beginning in September. If you hunt with a rifle or slug gun, you get 9 days for nearly the whole state. The guys who hunt the Arrowhead, the DNR’s generous to them, they get an extra 7- or so days. And that’s all in the beginning/middle of November.
But the thing is the game warden was wrong. Again, with exception to the couple state forests around the cities, target shooting is legal, period. That’s according to the law books. And according to the signs upon entry. There’s no caveat which says, “Target shooting is allowed, but…” in the law books or signage.
I’ve only met a game warden once in the woods, and it was while I was target shooting. I’d stopped, just before he pulled up, the rifles were hot. And I was walking over to the truck for some water. He wanted to know if I’d been baiting bear. I thought I’d misheard him, and asked, what was that? He said it again, and I laughed at him. I said, “I’m target shooting.” He explained there’s a month long baiting season before the bear hunting season. I laughed again, and said, “Deer and grouse are my thing.” He quickly began to catch on, that I had no interest in bear. We talked about shooting, and it came up (this was about 3 years ago), that the MN DNR issues game wardens with MP15’s… Now that surprised me. I didn’t say this, but my first thought was I didn’t think they were considered duty AR15’s. I had one, a MP15-2, took a long time for it to die. Got a second one, an MP15-3, and it sure works. Not as refined as some, I changed the butt, and charging handle, but, as long as it’s Win. M855, it shoots well, and shoots ALOT.
Dad’s missed going to the gun ranges as they’re nearer to where we live compared to the state forest. But I think he’s finally seeing why I insist on driving the extra distance to the state forest and detest gun ranges.
Dad didn’t hear it, but I heard a grouse drum. They really are beautiful birds, and great eating. We never did see a pileated wood pecker, which is rare. Usually there’s a few, and they make their presence well known. We saw one pile of deer berries. That was it. This winter was a tough one on them, freezing, thawing, freezing again, and it got cold up north. We expect it’ll be a tough season this fall, especially given the numbers have been low there for a few years. And it’s been pretty dry up there too. The beaver must be down, which is too bad. Their trails to their ponds usually make for good places to set up for deer.
In the end, we saw no one. That’s always nice. We heard a few 4wheelers through out the day, but not nearly as many as we expected, those other logging roads must be in worse shape than we thought. It was a bit too cold to go swimming up there, and being Memorial Day weekend, no doubt everyone who owns a cabin up there, was up there.
To sum up this rambling post, remember, enjoy the woods.
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