Scalloping

Every year during the weekend of Independence Day we go to our beach house at Keaton Beach, Florida. Since the fishing slows down there towards the beginning of July, we go scalloping. Scalloping is a tradition my family has carried on for 70 years. A scallop is a shellfish that ranges from two to four inches in diameter and its meat is to die for. Besides eating the shellfish, my favorite part is fishing for them.

It is rather easy to fish for scallops. First you look for patches of what we call "mushy grass" which is an orange color in about 4 to 5 feet of water. The scallops rest on these patches during the day. When you find a good spot, put on snorkeling gear and go get the scallops. Be sure to grab them when they close up so you do not get bit. That is not too fun at all. After your boat gets its limit which is a 5 gallon bucket then you go home and do the boring part, cleaning them. You must pry them open and separate the meat from the guts. Once you start to eat them, the cleaning does not seem bad at all.

Sighting In Your Deer Rifle

Deer season seems like a long way away, but it will be here before you know it. Around this time of the year I like to take my rifle out and site it in. Whenever I am sighting in a new rifle, scope, or old faithful I start out at 25 yards. I usually shoot three or four rounds from this distance or until i get a good tight pattern. Then I move out to 100 yards and do the same thing. I like to set my rifle about an inch high at a 100 yards since I mostly hunt in open fields, but that is up to you to decide.

My Trip To Colorado

Colorado
This summer my family and I went to the USA Shotgun National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colorado is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. The temperature was in the 70's the whole time we were there. There was no humidity, no gnats, and no mosquitoes. While we were there we went to Pike's Peak, Royal Gorge, Garden of the Gods, and the Cliff Dwellings. My favorite was probably Royal Gorge. We got to ride to the bottom of the gorge and we also got to cross the highest suspension bridge in the world.

The Tournament
The tournament started on Sunday and ended on Wednesday. On Monday I shot a 90 out of a possible 100 and was tied for first. On Monday I had a bad round that left me in fifth and frustrated. On Tuesday I was still a little upset about Monday and I shot a 16 That dropped me out of the whole thing. On Wednesday I came back with two good rounds that left me eight behind third. Whether your going to Colorado on vacation or for a shotgun tournament your sure to have a good time.

tag: Colorado, shooting, USA shooting, Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, Royal Gorge, olympic shooting

Fishing in Puerto Rico

This summer, our family took a trip to Puerto Rico. It is the most beautiful place I have ever visited in my life. The water was one of the prettiest things. It was a deep colored blue and was full of many different fish species. The day we got there we booked a trip with Captain Marcos Hanke. He was an experienced captain and knew the waters well. I knew we were going to have a great day.

The first thing we did was catch live bait. My dad drove the boat while Captain Marcos threw his cast net at the baitfish. We caught our bait and went to where the big fish were. The first thing we fished for were spanish mackeral and many different species of jacks. We fished for them with jigs, not live bait. The way we fished for them was by trolling and skip reeling. Skip reeling is when you cast a metal spoon that looks like bait into the bait circle and reel as soon as it hits the water so it skips.

The species we concentrated on the rest of the day was tarpon. These "silver kings" normally range anywhere from 30-70 pounds. The biggest one Captain Marcos caught was 180 pounds. The first place we fished for the fish was the sandy shorlines of the island. The fish were not there like they were supposed to be so we moved to the cliffs. The cliffs was the best spot we fished in all day. There were many jacks at first, then the tarpon came and chased them away. We started jigging and after about five minutes I hooked about a 50 pounder. i fought with him for about a minute and the third time he jumped he spit the hook out. I did not catch a tarpon the rest of the day but I will remember this experience for the rest of my life.

Deep Sea Fishing

This year while our family was on spring break, we decided to go on a deep sea fishing trip with our friends. We booked our trip with Charisma Charters. If you are looking for a quality deep sea fishing trip, I would recomend Charisma Charters every time. I like to get my beauty sleep and getting up at 4:30 did not help that cause, but it was worth it. The forty mile trip to get out to the fish took about two hours, during which i slept. We caught bait first and then about 7:30 we started fishing for the big boys.

Since we booked our fishing trip a week before snapper season, we had to throw back every red snapper we caught, but that was not the only fish we caught. We caught many different species of grouper ranging from 15 to 30 pounds. I was really hoping to catch an amberjack, but we did not see one all day.

My little brother Patrick fished mostly for trigger fish and red snapper. He had some trouble with the one grouper he caught. My mom caught a mammoth snapper but we had to throw it back. We had a friendly competition for who could catch the most fish and the biggest fish. Patrick whipped us in the most fish competition. My dad and I each caught a fish virtually the same size so we tied in that category. If hunting season is out and you are on vacation, a deep sea fishing trip would be a great way to enjoy your family, friends, and the outdoors.

Georgia State Trap Shoot

The 2008 Georgia State Trap tournament was a great success for me. Even though I didn't shoot as well as I would have liked I brought home three trophies. I won doubles and handicap in my age group and I also won high all around. The shoot was four days long. Preliminaries were on Thursday and Friday and the State Championships were on Saturday and Sunday. I would like to think South River Gun Club for hosting the tournament. It was well run and I will be attending next year. To see a complete list of results follow this link results.
tag: Georgia, trap, shooting, South River Gun Club, Championships, Georgia State Championships

The 4-H Shotgun Tournament

This year at the end of April, the 4-H club will host its annual shotgun tournament. This tournament is held on the outskirts of Madison, Georgia. There are a few things you need to know if you are interested in the tournament.

To be in the tournament, you must be in grades 7-12, a current member of the 4-H club, and have a certified coach. Most every team is a county team and almost every county in Georgia has a team so there are a good bit of people. At first, everyone shoots the first round. If you hit 25 out of 25 clay targets, you are guaranteed a spot in the second round. In the second round, you shoot doubles to determine the champion. There is a total of 10 pair thrown. You are placed on how well you do doubles. There is also a team competition. The best team gets trophies along with the best individual shooters. This year, Mitchell county should be up at the top.

Beretta Trap Guns

In the world of trap shooting there is a thin line between good and excellent. I know how some people say that it is not the gun it is the shooter. Well that is a load of crap. To shoot well and to shoot consistently you have to have a gun you can depend on. You also need a gun that fits you. There are a handful of brands out there some of them are good and some are not so good.

The Best?
Beretta is one of my favorite brands of shotguns. They make an affordable, dependable shotgun. Everybody in my family owns a Beretta and none of us have had a single problem. I personally own two. I have a Beretta 682 Gold E and a Beretta Xtrema 2. I previously did a blog post on the Xtrema 2. My goal is to own a Beretta DT10 their top of the line trap gun.

GO-DEVIL Is It Worth It

Let me put it this way if you don't have a Go-Devil you don't know what you’re missing. Last year our outboard slung a rod. We figure we could get a new motor for less than it would cost to fix the other. My dad talked to one of his friends who had wanted to get rid of his Go-Devil because he was getting out of duck hunting. My dad made him an offer and after some shucking and jiving we bought the motor. After we took the motor home and put it on our boat we went hunting. After we hunted for a couple of hours in the morning we decided to test out the motor. I don't know how we ever duck hunted without one. We used to look at water hyacinth as a road block when we had an outboard, but now it's like a piece of trash on the road we just run right over it. Remember that Go Devils are not made for speed so they are not going to be as fast as an outboard, but it is well worth the loss in speed.

tag: go devil, mud motors, duck hunting

Camping Trip

Last weekend, me, clay crusher, and two of our friends went camping in the woods near Cairo, GA. The weather was supposed to be 30 degrees in the morning and 70 degrees in the afternoon. So we brought clothes for warm and cold weather, all of our .22 rifles, and a bunch of food. The first thing we did was went squirrel hunting. We got out to the campsite a little bit late so we did not see any squirrels. We were walking back from squirrel hunting and we went by a cow field where my friend’s dog, Seven, tried to get into the field and heard the cows (he is an Australian Sheppard). It was really cool to watch.

That night, it got pretty cold. I was sleeping and when I woke up I could not feel the tip of my nose or toes. We got up and made these awesome crescent role things on a stick and ate bacon, sausage, and eggs with them. After that we packed up and left to go on the Lion’s Club Pheasant shoot. We got there around 12:30 and ate a really good lunch. Then we went into a field and shot some pheasants. The shoot was a blast and after the shoot they had drawings for door prizes. The two things I wanted were both won by the same person. We got our pheasants and left to have a fun time for the rest of the weekend.