NEW DEVOTIONAL BOOK RELEASED IN THE ADIRONDACK SERIES

Many today are integrating new technology into every aspect of their life. Some of it is good and some of it still has to be proven. The newest trend is the ebook and ebook readers that are thought by many to be revolutionizing the publishing world. Some love them and others hate them. Since you are reading this site and following it from time to time, you probably fall into the first category of people, or maybe you haven’t really made up your mind as yet. I have an ereader and enjoy it, to an extent! I am not about to completely give up paper books just yet, however. In light of this intro, let me get down to the subject at hand. I have self-published three volumes of Christian devotional readings in paper books on a small scale and they were well received by many. As I prepared the fourth volume, I decided to release this one in ebook format. It became available on line this past week.

It can be seen and purchased at www.booktango.com through their bookstore. The devotional is called Deeper Into the Packbasket! An Adirondack Devotional. I have kept the price low at $1.99, about the price of your average Sunday Newspaper, so there should be no obstacle there. It is offered in PDF, MOBI and EPUB formats, which covers just about any ereader (Kindle, Nook, etc.)or pc. I have already done a download of the volume and found it easy and successfully downloadable for my ereader. If you are interested in such a volume, go to the above site and click on their bookstore. Once the bookstore page comes up, then click on the search by subject and Christian/general will appear. Click on that and it should take you right to their selections. Scroll down till you find the book or search using title, Deeper Into the Packbasket!, and/or author, Robert R. Phillips, and you will be taken to it. I trust you enjoy the writings found in this volume. They are writings like the first volumes on lessons learned growing up in the North Country. Thank you for your support in this way.

Deer Hunting the Fall of 2012

It has been a year since I have been able to post. Many interruptions and conflicts have kept me from it. I do plan to continue on regular basis at this time. I apologize for the silence. This past fall was an excellent hunting season as many others also found it to be. I was able to spend a few more hours than usual in the deer woods. It seems to have paid off. First, I was called on to help a couple of young friends find deer that they shot at. One we were successful in trailing and tagging. The other must not have been hit as hard or well as first thought because it was never found. I was also with my son in Pennsylvania when he tagged a deer with one of his antlerless tags.

Second, my own hunting was exciting and productive. I saw more deer during this past season than in the previous three seasons combined. I got some nice photographs of deer on my trail cameras as well. To my knowledge the one eight point was never taken this year, so hopefully he is still out there. During muzzleloader season I saw a couple of young bucks but they offered no shot. I did try filling one of my antlerless tags but failed miserably in that. I missed not once but twice! Then with my rifle during regular season, I missed again using my scoped .30-06. Unfortunately this miss was while shooting at a big Pennsylvania buck with wide rack and tall tines! Earlier during the season I had slipped and fell, landing on my rifle in some rocks. I wasn’t hurt by the fall, but I can’t say the same for my scope and rifle. I re-sighted the rifle but apparently something is still off in either the scope or somewhere in the stock alignment. I know what you are thinking that it was just a case of buck fever. It wasn’t. Two days later, using my other rifle with open sights, I took a nice big seven pointer that looked every bit as big as the one I missed. I think my biggest problem is that I just lost confidence in my main rifle.

With only twenty minutes of shooting time left on my last day of hunting for the year, I was able to tag a nice mature seven point buck. This broke a long dry spell for me. I had not tagged a buck in the past three years. Last year I did not even tag a doe on an antlerless permit. So this was an excellent end to the season.

NEW CABIN AND LAND

It has been sometime since I have been able to add to this site. My wife and I have been having a very busy schedule of late and have been dealing with a number of family matters that needed our attention. Part of that was the sale of her childhood home and the buying a cabin and few acres of land up here in Northern New York. This has been a dream of ours for quite some time.
The cabin is just over 1000 sqft and there is about thirteen acres with it. We plan to eventually retire and live there in the future, but that is still a few years away.
We were walking the property the other day and I startled a snowshoe hare out from under a brush pile. He wasn't quite sure of what was going on so he only went a couple of steps and then stopped.

I was able to photograph him in the brush and it is remarkable how well he blended into the undergrowth. He went a few more hops and then sat and watched us from a distance of only about thirty-five feet or so. I took more photos of him and it was as if he was posing in the sunlight just for the photo. He was a mature and big snowshoe, one that will probably be able to make it through the winter in spite of the predators that will be after him.

I continued the walk and found no other tracks of any other snowshoe on the property, so apparently he has it pretty much to himself as far as the hare population is concerned. There were plenty of deer tracks however, and a number of squirrel tracks.
I am looking forward to further exploring the property and finding what other creatures may live there.

BLACK POWDER OPENER FOR 2011

We woke to wet conditions. It was not promising for a day in the deer stand. Some did make their way out and had some success.

            I was out during the afternoon session with my daughter, Ramona, accompanying me. We were greatly entertained by the local bird life but didn’t see any deer until just about 15-20 minutes before sunset.
            We had erected a ground blind at the end of one clearing and sat watching the changing weather as we waited for deer to appear. There was rain, wind, clouds and a dropping thermometer during the two and half hours we were there.



(view from our blind)

            As I said, we saw bluejays, robins, chickadees, crows and a ruffed grouse during the afternoon. We had chickadees about two feet outside the window of our blind.

            When the deer finally did appear, they came out about 125 yards distance and then like often happens, they turned and headed straight away from us. This was slightly farther than I wanted my daughter to shoot and so we watched three different deer as they made their way down an old grass filled road toward a distant apple tree.

            It was still a good time hunting and look forward to getting out again this week.

REPLACING OF AN OLD FAVORITE

Every once in awhile you make a mistake! It happens to the best of people. Some mistakes are devastating and others are just plain disappointments that stick with you for a time. I have made my share of mistakes just as you have.

            One mistake I have long regretted making is the sale of a particular rifle. Back a number of years I did not have much extra cash to buy a lot of hunting rifles or much else for that matter. At a gun show I picked up an old Swedish Mauser in 6.5 x 55 caliber. Having a father and grandfather that were both gunsmiths, I naturally had to customize it. But the end results was that it turned out to be a sweet shooting and accurate little rifle. I hunted with it for about six or seven years and took over a dozen deer with that rifle.



(the replacement for my original)

            As often happens, you get to the point where you think you have outgrown a particular item or just want to upgrade to something perceived as better. I too was guilty of that. I sold my Mauser to friend who was really interested in it, so that I could pick up a proper deer rifle. Well to make a long story shorter, that rifle I traded up for has been long gone, as well as a number of other rifles as well. All during that time I always regretted the sale of the 6.5 X 55. So I began looking for the replacement of it.

            The first thing I noticed was the rise of the sticker price. One of the reasons I had originally purchased that rifle was that it was well within my budget. I paid less than seventy-five dollars for the original one. Now they can’t be touched for much less than two hundred. Their popularity has grown tremendously, partly because it has been found that they can be easily customized to smaller hunters that might be sensitive to recoil of heavier calibers. They also are a very accurate gun and are a part of history as well. Besides, they are just plain fun to shoot.  

(top view of the rifle)

 

            So the last gun show I attended, I was pleasantly surprised to find a nicely worked over little Mauser on the end cap of one table. The sticker shock was still there, however, and I knew that there was going to have to be some dickering if I was to go home with it. That is just what happened. I paid about three times what I had initially paid for my first one, but the good part is that I wouldn’t have to do a thing to the rifle because it was well worked by the previous owner.

            Hopefully I won’t be foolish enough to make that mistake again. This is a nice rifle to take out on a rainy, snowy day. It has a receiver sight that can’t get fogged up because of wet weather. It is light to carry and I have never had a problem in the cartridge doing what it should when shot. The longest trailing job I ever had in over a dozen deer was bout fifty yards. I am looking forward to getting out with this rifle a couple of times this year.

PUTTING UP WINTER WOOD

During the past week I worked on a few chores trying to get them out of the way before the fall hunting seasons begin. One such chore was the splitting of some of the winter wood. 



(tools of the trade)

               I usually use a hydraulic splitter, but this year decided to split, at least some of the wood pile, using sledge hammer and wedges. It is not because I am particularly fond of physical torture, but thought this might be an alternate form of physical exercise. Since much of my work does not entail physical labor, it was a nice change in routine.

            Most of the wood pile is hardwood that has aged about a year now. Just right for splitting and ready for burning as fuel. There is a bit of softwood in the pile as well, but that burns too.



(block by block, the stack grows)

          Once you begin such a task, you often fall into a rhythm that allows for some philosophical thought. Unlike the hydraulic splitter, where you had better keep you full attention on the work at all times, with the wedge and hammer you are able to let your thoughts wander a bit while splitting.

            I don’t recall coming up with any earth shattering thoughts but it wasn’t long before I noticed that my pile of split wood was growing. All total, I think I split a little over a cord of wood in a very short period of time. The best part of the experience was that I didn’t have any aches and pains usually associated with such labor. I think I will finish up, this one wood pile anyway, with the hammer and wedges. It was actually fun and I got that much needed exercise.  

LOOKING FOR DEALS ON GEAR

During the yard sale season, many good finds can be picked up for a song and dance. I didn’t do much of that kind of thing this summer but I did come up with a few good pieces of equipment.

            First, I found a light weight tent that looked interesting. This was at a moving sale and it was marked ridiculously low to begin with so when I asked the condition of the tent, the owner immediately said “It should be alright, but I’ll make you a deal. Take it for a dollar.” What could I do? For a dollar I at least had another set of tent stakes, even if the tent was no good!

(tent picked up cheap, yet a good find)

            Once I got home with this find, I set the tent up in the front yard to check out its condition. Pleasantly, I found it to be in quite excellent shape as far as the fabric, zippers and netting goes. The only problems I see is that the collapsible poles are a bit worse for wear. Someone must have bent them a bit farther than was intended for them to go because two sections were split. But for just a few bucks, new poles can be had and it is certainly a roomy tent. Its light weight also makes it good for moderate weather backpacking.



(cook set picked up for one dollar)



           

Second, I also found another cook set that was in mint condition. If ever used it wasn’t used more than a single time. This excellent set consisted of a shallow cooking pot with a cover, a dish and a metal drinking cup. Although a little large to use backpacking, it will come in handy on any fishing and hunting camping trips in the near future. I believe I spent a total of one dollar for this as well.



(inside contents of the cook set)



            Not all items go for a dollar. The third item picked up was a rifle scope with a mil-dot reticle. This will work well on any number of rifles and although a bit more in money, it was still way less than shelling out for a new one. Of course it will mean making another trip to the shooting range to sight it in, but sacrifices must be made!

            Not only did I find these additions to my gear, but a couple of friends also found a number of useful items. Each one found a ground blind for less than half the price of new cost, and neither blind had been set up more than once or twice. The original blazing white tags were still on them. Add to that camo seats and stools, fishing equipment, plus a number of other items and you get the idea.

            Although I would not look in this direction for items that my life might depend upon, it still shows that some very useful camping and outdoor items can be found second hand. Don’t over look the opportunity next time your spouse suggests another yard sale trip.