Home Range Change For Hunting Prep - pics/vids hvy - added more pics 10/06

[Don Batten]

Lot of folks would say that shot on the turkey is too far back. After hunting with Joebuck, I'd say it's a perfect shot. straight up the leg , middle of the body. good shooting my friend. If you are serious about rebuilding your tower at some point, let me know. DB

[ber643]

Hmmm, that's interesting facts there, Don. I was thinking, "further back than I wanted it," also - I guess mostly from looking for the wing joint for 3D hits. I know for kill shots in front it's close to the beard junction, and in back end it's "in the back end" - LOL but I hadn't really known that about the side - thanks for adding that info here.

I would love to build another tower one of these days, if "time" (and money) permits. Just because they are so much easier/handier getting up and down, and to shoot from, that it encourages one to use them more. If I had a couple of nice little "gulleys" to set the targets in, like at Sissipaha, it would be easy to slap up a tower, as it wouldn't have to be very big or high, huh? LOL Thanks for offering to help, my friend.

[ber643]

Today, there might just be another "big change to the range" - we'll see.

[Pon]

Go Bernie!!

[tecum-tha]

Bernie, consider bending more in the waist for those downward shots. Most hits seem look to be high and i think this is the reason seeing the pics of you in the stand...

[ber643]

You may very well be right, tecum-tha. That is important and I pretty well had it nailed down at one time, from most stands, etc. I'll try to be more aware of it. However, this stand is higher than my tower was and a little smaller standing space, as yet, I am still not toooo overly comfortable in it, I must admit - LOL

[ber643]

This morning I hinted that there might be another big change to my home range. At about 8:30 or 9 AM, my friend Ruddy ("broketooth") descended on my old tower like a veritable one-man wrecking crew. So, for today (at least) he will be known as "Wrecking Ruddy".

"Let's start at the top, Bernie.":

   

With the Guard rails gone, Ruddy attacks the top floor boards, (while I did minor little things and handed tools back and forth):

 

In no time at all, the pile of wood on the ground was getting bigger:

 

and the Tower was getting smaller:

   

With a lot of the anchillary parts demolished, Ruddy took after the super structure, with my trusty ax, while I kept tension on a rope dallied around a tree - to ensure the remainder of the old tower fell where we wanted it to. I got the honor of leaning back into the final little tug that brought my "old shooting friend" down, while Ruddy dropped the ax and took a quick picture of the final topple:

   

When the dust cleared, the tower had crashed to the ground and wrecked more damage on itself - no longer a danger to anyone:

   

[ber643]

By 11 AM Ruddy was on his way back home to a well-earned shower and rest. Thank you so much Ruddy, my friend . The task would have taken me days, or perhaps weeks. As it is i can clean up the "wreckage", at my leisure, as the weather permits - and the view out the back door looks better already:

 

What would we do without the help of our "Trad Friends"?

[Chortdraw]

Well there old fellow it looks like you got things under control. I don't see the escalator to get you up and down.....oh ya now I see them, those appendages peering out of your pant leg's. Well they have done well for this many years I suppose they should do for a while longer     Take care and shoot good and be careful up there..............Chort

[broketooth]

glad i could help bernie! i really think thatwhen i used it this past january, i remember telling you that it was in disrepair. im glad  miss rose doesnt have to worry about you bein up there anymore. anytime you need some help bernie, you give me a holler. rv

[ber643]

Bless your hearts, Chort and Ruddy.

[GRINCH]

Bernie I always knew you were a killer,great shooting I hope to aspire to your level someday.

[ber643]

I just wish I could get more consistent, Larry (though that has improved some too, since my last visit with batman, I think).

I went out last evening, and didn't feel much like shooting but did get the bottom half of the fallen superstructure broken down. Just the top half left to be more or less flat -    

[broketooth]

let me know if you need som help haulin that stuff off to the dump bernie,i will be glad to help.rv

[ber643]

Thanks, Ruddy, it'll be a little while (depending on the heat) before I have it ready to haul away.

[Don Batten]

just burn it, everything else down there is on fire. DB

[ber643]

You have a point there, Don, but they do kind of frown on burning chemically treated wood - LOL. It was a little cooler (less hot) this PM, and overcast, so I went at it again. I took the top half apart and cut the pieces into easier to handle lengths. I pretty much am down to only about 1/2 or an hour left. Dismantling that one set of steps, cutting those two tree trunks down, and moving the cement blocks to my main pile of them. Looking almost decent, for a pile of trash, huh?  ' Course I'm too tired to go out and shoot tonight, or maybe not - at least a few from the ground        

   

[JohnnyWayne]

Looks pretty awesome  

[Doc Nock]

Bernie,

Nobody seemed to have mentioned this and I don't now how I missed my favorite Garden Gnome's thread, but here comes:  Why not take some of that treated lumber and slip it under your ladder stand for a solid base?

We had some ladders up local here and when it got soft from rains, it would do some interesting gymnastics on us as one leg or t'other would sink a few inches and create some rides to rally Disney World!

[ber643]

I'd be better off using the cement blocks, if I needed that, Dave. The ants/termites invaded my tower and have set up living spaces inside the wood, thus the dis-mantling of it. I wouldn't dare trust any of the wood, plus I need to get it all off the property before using any new lumber (or burn it as Don suggested - shhhh).