A Father/Daughter Outing to be Remembered

                                       By Bob Smith

  I could see Orion the Hunter setting in the sky as we stepped out of the camp house on that cold Saturday morning. It was well into the Texas Whitetail season and so we were hoping that the corn spread we made the evening before would make the difference. As my daughter and I hopped on my Honda Foreman and headed toward our portable ground blind the cold wind cut just like a knife. I have been in several states and even lived outside of Chicago for several years and nothing is like a good old Texas "blue norther". I don’t care where you have been. It gets COLD in Texas.
  We arrived at the blind about an hour before daylight. A little fog had set in. I knew that when the sun came up it would quickly burn off. We set the blind up the night before and placed our chairs and shooting sticks inside. We settled in and got comfortable. I had a good hot cup of coffee to last through the early morning chill so I was alright. My daughter loaded her Remington BDL, chambered a round, and checked the safety. We were ready for Mr. Whitetail.
  This was the second season for my daughter. The year before she had asked about going hunting and I was eager to make her wish come true. She took her first deer that year, a nice doe. She was excited about her first harvest of venison and like her father, she caught the "bug". She was quick to ask about deer hunting this year.
  We sat in the blind until well after daylight. We watched four cows that were laying within our hunting zone. It seemed like they would never get up. I felt like the deer would not come around as quickly with them there. My experience tells me that deer don’t always like being around cattle or hogs. They tend to make too much noise. As we waited patiently, they wandered off to graze elsewhere.
  It didn’t take long afterwards for the does to start coming in. First one, then another. As we sat in the blind we watched those does move back and forth where we spread corn not paying us a bit of attention. It didn’t seem to matter what we did or what noise we made within reason. I had been on a trip to West Texas two weeks earlier where a misplaced sniffle emptied a feed pen in just half a second. We watch the does for half an hour waiting for the big boy. My daughter was very patient. I was getting nervous hoping the big one would show up.
  I started glassing the sendero. I caught some movement off to my left. It was a deer but I couldn’t tell what it was. It didn’t take long to discover a set of eight point displayed proudly on his low-hung head. I put my hand on her arm signaling her to stay still. If he stayed on his path, he would soon be close enough to get a good shot. She was starting to get excited at the prospect of such a nice animal.
  We studied him for what seemed to be an eternity to see if he was what we wanted. As we watched him graze on the bait we spread out he seemed to be a good buck. He wasn’t the biggest deer I had ever seen but he would make a fine first buck for my daughter. We decided that we should chance a shot at the buck. Life was getting busy back home and with Christmas approaching we might not get a chance at another one. This one was the one.
  She centered the Remington .243 on the bipod and settled it in. She gently let the safety off and within a few seconds sent the round down range. Oops! I saw the buck run about 10 yards then swap ends and head into the brush. He didn’t flinch and his tail was up. Looks like we were out of luck. We waited a bit and then went to see if we could find any blood just to make sure. On careful inspection and following his trail we saw nothing. I took a good walk around the mot of live oaks and saw nothing. We would have to try again.
  We returned to the camp house, collected my wife, and went into town where I treated them to breakfast. I usually cook at the camp but my wife loves to go out for breakfast. We did a little Christmas shopping and then headed back to camp. We went back out and spread the rest of our corn for the evening hunt. I made sure we took time to ride down to the river that runs through the land where we hunt. I have always loved that spot and my family loves to go down there.
  As the late afternoon sun started to shine in the camp house door, we readied ourselves and headed back to our blind. My daughter didn’t say much but I know she was a little nervous after missing that buck. When we sighted in before the hunt she hit well on the target. A deer should be no problem. As every seasoned deer hunter knows, you can’t ever depend on a sure thing. As my dad would say, "…that’s why they call it hunting!"
  It didn’t take long before hungry does lined up at the buffet set before them. They were hungry and didn’t care anything about the strange pile of green, black, and brown nylon just yards from them. This was a great learning opportunity for my daughter as she observed the actions of the deer. I was thinking about how many kids today don’t get to see what she is seeing. At that moment I was a little selfish. I can’t help those kids but I can make it happen for mine.
  As the sun started to touch the horizon, out of the brush came hair and antlers. It was another eight pointer. The body of this deer was bigger than the one from the morning with the rack about the same. We took time to let him settle down into the dinner set before him. This gave us time to see if we wanted him. It didn’t take long to decide that this was the one.
  My daughter once again settled into the bipod and anchored the forearm. She let off the safety, took a breath, and squeezed off a shot. I saw was the tell-tale "hump" from the eight pointer denoting a shot in the vital area. He darted off almost in the same direction as the other buck did, except that his tail was down and he was running low.
  We again waited a bit to allow him time to bleed out. It didn’t take us long to find a blood trail. We followed it as far as we could see and then as dusk settled in it became hard to find anything. We returned to the camp house to get some help from my wife. We grabbed extra lights and returned to the last trace of blood. My daughter circled the area on her ATV as we searched for a good trail. As my wife wandered off to the right, she stumbled right on the deer. A nice eight pointer and a trophy for my young daughter.
  We tagged the buck, loaded it, and headed back to camp to skin and quarter it. It was a great evening as we had a great meal of venison chili(from a previous hunt) and a great game of dominos in the camp house. Traditions to be passed on. This was a hunt as my father envisioned right down to the chili and dominos!
  There is a moral to this story. When you teach your son outdoor skills, don’t forget your daughter. She needs to know outdoor skills too. If you think kids only like video games, teach them to play cards or dominos. If you think they will only eat fast food, show them how to cook outdoors. Last but not least, take your kids hunting, and you won’t have to hunt for your kids.

                   Treading Lightly But Making A Big Difference

                          An Interview With Preston Mclain


1. What would you say is the biggest negative blow to Adventure Tourism, and the ATV groups? Lack of state, or private land to ride on, as we only need cross over trails on some, and not all of the land.
2. Who has done more to help you in development of the Harlan Ridge Runners? The club officers, board of directors, staff and members, all have helped in the every day development of our club.
3. How many members are in the Ridge Runners? Our dues are due every January, In 2008 we had 896 members nationwide to pay dues. 
4. Has any one politician made a big difference in the Ridge Runners? Lt. Daniel Mongairdo has played a very big part in getting all this together, first as a Senator, and now as our second in command for the state, and also thnaks has to go out to Senator Brandon Smith in getting some much needed legislation passed, along with Representative Rick Nelson for the big push in getting coal money to be used for Adventure Tourism, Fitz Steele is new to the job, but not our needs, and has the same fire in his eyes to see our pipe dream of Eastern Kentucky come true.
5. What projects would you like to see take flight in the coming year? I would love to see a state wide trail system take place in 2009, link all our Kentucky counties together not only for ATVs but for non motorized as well, horses, mtn bikers, hikers,etc. this is very doable, and will take some great leadership at the state level.
6. Does the future of the group look bright? The future of the club looks very good, our motto has been for 4 years of an event every month, a ride every weekend, and our members are still going strong to see this take place in 2009.
7. Who are some of your sponsors? A big Thanks needs to go out to our sponsors:
      a. ATV direct
      b. ATV illustrated Magazine
      c. Legend Motorsports
      d. Polaris Industries
      e. Yamaha Motors
      f. All the local rentals, and business people local in Harlan County.
8. What steps has the Ridge Runners taken to protect the enviroment? OUr club is blessed to have trails to ride that are EPA friendly, already built years ago by coal, and timber companies, now as the water shed, or trials start to have problems we fix them by hand or with HVY. equipment abd make it right. Tread lightly, and leave nothing but the foot prints is our goal.
9. What do you see is the best thing to ever happen to Ridge Runners? Having both local and long distance members that keep the fire in their eyes year in and year out is the best thing that has happened to our club.
10. Is there any topic that you would like to mention? One topic that we need to push, is that not only our club but many in our region are trying our best to get out is better perception of ATVs in our area, by ways of preaching and teaching ATV safety, EPA issues, and family type of events. Our name in the outdoors recreation world has not been the best... But four years later we have shown what a good thing it can be for all.
11.  What more could people like me do to help the ATV groups? People like this on-line magazine, and the media can do more to show the better side of our sport, we will always have those that want to do wrong as this is the nature of outdoor recreation. More positive exposure can do nothing but help if we want to make Kentucky a one stop destination for our sport.

                 Kimber Ultra Carry II:  A great CCDW weapon

                                       By:Benny Bailey

                     

  The Kinber line of pistol have evolved along the traditional 1911 model very well known to any modern hand gun enthusiast.   Kimber’s various models include many that are perfect for the person looking for a  good Carry Concealed 1911’s.  One such is the Ultra Carry II.
  My personal is a stainless, with night sights, adjustable trigger, and various other options.  But lets face it, the best gun in the world is usless if it is too big or heavy and just stays at home.  The Kimber Ultra Carry II weighs in at well under 2 lbs, about 25 oz to exact, the size is about 3 inches for the barrel, shorter than the regular 1911, and is perfectly balanced in most any sized hand. Add this to the flat profile and compact grips, this gun is very easy to carry and conceal on most any frame of person or body type.
  In my personal quest of a good, reliable, and easy to carry pistol, my quest started with the Kel Tec P11 9mm.  This was a great gun, but limited on options at the time I 1^st purchased the gun.  I kept that 9mm for about a year, and fell in love with a sleek Glock 26.  This 9mm was wonderful, it had options, was easy to carry and a great compact very accurate up to about 20 yards for a pretty tight group of shot placement to center or mass. 
  I really enjoyed the Glock 26 and still own the gun.  However, I wanted a bigger round with more stopping power, and this lead me to the .45 cal market.  I shot  many different pistols, until I held my 1^st Kinber Ultra II.  I was sold.
  The kick on the gun is very light for a .45 cal weapon or its size and weight.  It is  very well balanced, and lines up on target very easily upon multiple shot  target practice and group placement. 
  In my experience the Kimber performs very well at 5 yards, 10 yards, 15 yards, and reasonable at 20 yards.  However this may be subject to my less than practiced hand at the range over the past few years.  Still in my opinion for a CCDW class pistol, grouping within 2.5 inches of center of mass at 20 yards is pretty good, at least for this authors opinion.
  For its ease of carry and conceal-ability, I give the Kimber Ultra Carry II my highest marks.   Even as my own body has gain a few pounds over the years the Kimber still feel great  in most every Galco holster I have bought for this gun.  It is a shear blast to shoot and very accurate even distance up to 20 yards. 
  There are many customizable options for the Kimber, and that makes it even better as you can personalize the gun to your preference and really make it a one of a kind just for you gun.

http://www.kimberamerica.com/index.php