Toyomafia - The Clubhouse. 151.880

I work and used to hang with a lot of coworkers that hunted.
They had $5K plus a year deer leases and such, I always went as a guest.
I never got into the deer hunting, but loved to bird hunt.
Dove and quail for the most part, that was around the mid to late 1990s.

Best times bird hunting were with my good friend Joe B, his handle was/is Bird Dog.
We all used to run CBs at work and had handles back then, that all kinda fizzled when cell phones came about.
Of course my handle was Lowlife, that's where the name came from.

Anyway, the best times I had hunting were with Joe and his dogs.
We used to quail hunt before the fire ants took out most of the Texas quail hunting years ago.
I hear they are coming back the last few years..
Watching his dogs work to spot, flush, and retrieve quail was something I will never forget.

He also took me to Iowa (where he was from) to pheasant hunt one year.
It was the coldest and worse smelling time ever, we hunted around pig farms in 2 feet of snow at temps in the mid teens.
But it was truly one of the best experiences I've ever had in my lifetime..

 

Just getting home from work, and a beer or 2 in, that's probably what I'm having tonight before bed...

 

I grew up quail hunting and loved it. I once got a “trifecta”; 3 different quail species in my bag, one day. Game warden said he hadn’t ever seen that. More of a testament to my youth and energy than anything else, lol.
That was in southern Arizona on the eastern side of the Sanaritas.

 

Sky Islands has an incredible amount of biodiversity. They keep finding jaguars in that area despite all the mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats.

 

It’s right up your alley - trust me. The only beer on tap is Coors Original and their house liquor is Makers Mark. You go in on your birthday and you get a shot and a tall draft on the house.

ETA may be the last place in a major city with trough urinals.

 

Yep, mt graham has it’s own subspecies of gray squirrel. Amazing ecosystems!

 

Ended up being a toasted bread sandwich with a slice of colby jack, the rest of the jalapeno pimento cheese, with slice of Boar's Head peppered turkey.
Then snack bag of chips (Ruffles sour cream and cheddar), pickled okra, and a dill slice heavily sprinkled in Tony Chachere's.

Gotta make do with what you got..
A step down from Monday and Tuesday of having leftover crock pot roast and homemade pasta salad..

I should have taken a 'before' pic..

Time to take my BP meds, Aleve, and crash..




You guys are the best...
The weekend is a only a couple days away....

 

Thank you to all the veterans.

 

Thats a great pic! love the fact that your pup is out there with ya! Thanks for sharing, wish we had more pheasant here on the east coast.

 

Big Thanks to all those that served. Happy Veterans Day cru!

 

X2

 

So which of you all play on XBOX or PS?

Getting ready for Battlefield 2042 anyone?

https://youtu.be/iCSONJw72sE

 

Happy Veterans day folks. Thank you for your service!

 

I love our Veterans. Thank you all for the amazing gift and privilege of this free country. May God bless you and your families for all you have done in service to your fellow man.

 

I miss Battlefield 4.

 

Battlefield 2 is where it's at.

 

Xbox for me. I'm excited about this one.

 

Seems to be on the high end. I paid I think 20k for h the Celica.

 

You wouldn’t be the first.

 

No Tundras. I’m assuming it’s because the new ones were getting released about the same time as the game. Maybe they’ll add them later.

 

She got me a good bit of points that way for sure. She’s actually pretty excited about the game. Not only does it have her car, it has a vinyl decal creator.

 

It’s actually the first “new” game I’ve played in a while. I’ve been using my PS5 and Xbox Series X to play the same games I’ve been playing for years.

 

1976 is the year baby War Machine debuted.

 

Back when I was a morning DJ in the Army, it was my birthday and a listener called in to request I play a song from the month/year I was born. I did one better. I went back 9 months before and found my "conception song" and told them it was what was probably playing while magic was being made in the back of a VW Van in February of 1972. Looking back, it's a wonder they let me stay on the air. My mom hit me when I played her back the recording of what I said.

The song was "Without You" by Nilsson

 

That's awesome. I've never hunted pheasant, never actually eaten it either.

PS4 here. I'm stoked.

Ah, an OG battlefield veteran I see. LOL. Each of them brings a unique vibe I find. I started playing on Battlefield 3. Loved it for the close in CQB matches, running and gunning with a shotgun on Noshahr Canals. BF4 is tops for vehicle battles, tank on tank on Golmud Railway. BF1 is immersive as hell, brutal trench battles on Nivelle Heights. BFV is has good gun play and really rewards tactics, flanking and slaying on Fjell 652.

 

Just long walks with a shot gun. Pheasants are good. Many ways to cook them. Taste like chicken with a hint of gaminess. Gizzards are good too.

 

I won't be disappointed if you make fun of me for writing a novel... or for skipping it altogether.
Life lessons on a dove hunt:
I hunted dove every fall with a small group of friends when I was younger. One of the guys wanted to invite a friend of his cousin one time. It wasn't a heavy year in North Texas, and the field we'd be hunting in wasn't that big; so I knew I wasn't going to fill my bag, and I really wasn't high on the idea of sharing the field with someone I didn't know. The cousin wasn't even going with us that day; just his friend. I didn't say anything, but I sure wanted to.

This new guy had stayed the night with his cousin so it would be easier for us to drop by on our way to the field and pick him up, so that's what we did. First impressions of the guy weren't good at all. He was quiet and standoff-ish, and didn't look anyone in the eye for more than a split second. He was also way overweight, and there were already three of us riding in my friend's single-cab truck. I knew I'd be riding in the bed for 20 miles on a 50° morning. But I kept my good face on, shook hands and nodded. I didn't really even know the cousin, but he was affable and I didn't mind standing there in his living room as he and my friend chatted. I was glad the new guy didn't seem to want to chat much.

The little inconveniences I was about to suffer started to eat at me as we stood there, and my good face started to fail when the conversation started to run long. Just as I was about to say something about seating arrangements, the new guy grabs his rattly, worn out shotgun, two boxes of shells, and his keys. Okay, he's driving... But I'm not sharing ammo (I could go through half a box just tying my boots, so it seemed odd that he'd only picked up two). Also, I'm standing as far away as I can get from the guy - - he wasn't in camo. Then, the last straw...

This little mini-schnauzer mutt had been yipping at us since we came in. The new guy looked down at it and said "Let's go hunting." I knew the look on my face gave away the 'oh hell no' I was thinking. Everyone else kepth their mood steady. We fell outside, the guy opens the door to his filthy, late '70's powder blue Chevy Luv and let's the dog jump in. I don't remember what I said to my friends as we led him over to the field where we were hunting, but I do remember being just done with the day already, and the sun wasn't even up.

We hid the truck behind a clump of 70' tall pecan trees outside the east corner of the 40-acre field, and started plodding out to the far corners. The new guy just pulled his truck straight into the field... I just shook my head. Nothing was going to fly that direction, and they might not hit this field at all. It was going to be shit for a hunting day. Nose first into the clump of trees, and he sat on the tailgate with that yip-yip dog right next to him.

Birds did start to fly, though. The sun came up, and you could hardly see that filthy little truck in the shadow of the clump of trees. And the dog wasn't making a sound. As the next 90 minutes passed, the birds started to swirl around that field dodging me and my friends' frantic fire, and funneling right to this dude sitting on his tailgate. I don't know if he ever even stood up. He'd fire as he sat there; the little mutt diving off the tailgate to fetch them, and never making another sound. I know I saw him miss a bird once. Maybe twice. As I was stuffing my fourth bird in my vest, I noticed his gun had gotten quiet. I looked over about 10 minutes later, and the truck was completely gone...

About 11:00 my friend that drove started across the field and waved at us to come on. I still had less than 10 birds by then, but I was satisfied with the morning. I was surprised to see the new guy sitting in his truck, parked next to my friend's, as we came around the corner at the clump of trees. He smiled at us, smoking a cigarette, drinking coffee, and petting his dog. He'd hit his limit maybe two hours before, and waited for us. We laughed and chatted for maybe 30 minutes before hitting Whataburger for lunch, and laughing and chatting another hour. Never saw that guy again, but was much less inclined to judge books by their covers after that day; or judge people at all.