USA: AH At The Rockin G Ranch

Mekaniks

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Last week @Velo Dog , @1dirthawker , @BWH , and myself spent 3 days / 4 nights with @gizmo at his RockinG Ranch outside of Turkey, Texas.

Upland birds, waterfowl, and simply having a good time was the all on the menu for a few days before the DSC in Dallas....And boy did we!!

Pheasants, checkers, quail at the ranch over Gizmo's Drahthaar Pointers....

Ducks on the ponds at the Rocking G, and field hunting Sandhill Cranes outside of Amarillo all with Prairie Bomb Outfitters....

And of course Kelly, "THE GODESS OF ALL THAT IS GOOD" doing the cooking for us was nothing short of AMAZING...

The weather and airplane travel tried it's best to work us over,... us but at the end of the day it became "all part of the adventure"!
Good Times! I could not have asked for a better group of folks to spend a fews days with:D Beers:

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The last evening at last light I smacked a trash bandit with my 338wm at 70 yards . We had some discussion about proper calibers and shot placement :ROFLMAO:
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I have a bunch of video of the Drahthaars doing their thing, but having trouble uploading videos… Maybe @gizmo can you help??
 
to tack onto Mekaniks post:

first, the travel from alaska to texas and back was THE big adventure of the trip, unfortunately.

second, i think i can speak for the group that we had a blast! miss kelley fed us to the point of bursting with amazing food.

the weather was....inhospitable, even for an alaskan. shooting birds in gusts up to 64 mph, with snow in the wind, brrrrrr. Mechaniks however, shot pretty great, even in the wind. Velo dog also shot well. I however, settled on shooting between pitiful and mediocre. :(

Gizmo was a great host and tried to accommodate any wish or concern. he loaned me a couple of shotguns, unfortunately for me, the change of shotguns did not improve my shooting.:ROFLMAO:

Mechaniks did manage to shoot a marauding trash bandit. i learned that a 338 win was plenty of gun for a coon, who knew??

we then ended up at the DSC and wandered around for a couple of days, which culminated in Velo dog buying a double rifle, sxs, in 375 h&h. a beautiful gun, that i wont elaborate on, as i suspect he will give a full report at some point.

the trip was a raging success even tho Ol' mom nature did her best to muck with us. the guys in our group were outstanding guys, fun and thoughtful and ofttimes hilarious. that by itself was worth the price of admission.

thanks chuck for the invite and thanks eric for having us!
 
One of these days I need to pay gizmo a visit. Perhaps I could shoot some porkers with one of my squirrel guns.
 
Ragman would have liked to be there, @gizmo has done a pile of work since I was there 8 years ago. I’m not a bird hunter but I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to stay entertained! I have said before, if I ever go turkey hunting the Rockin G would be my first choice.
 
Thank y’all so very much. We had an amazing time with y’all and very much look forward to seeing everyone again.
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Fellow Hunters,

I second everything Mekaniks and 1dirthawker have already said.
Indeed Erik (Gizmo) was an outstanding host and likewise, Miss Kelly is a very fine cook for sure.
Even thought we walked our boots off every day, I still gained 4 pounds while at the Rocking G Ranch.

Seems like Gizmo said his ranch is something over 3,000 acres.
And I will say it is perfect habitat for game critters, large and small, Bison to Birds.
And 1dirthawker is understating his own shotgun skills, as I distinctly recall watching him crumple a decent pile of pheasant, chukar and quail.
This, in spite of the wind gusts.

I brought the little Beretta Model 409 SxS in 20 gauge, 2 & 3/4” that my wife had given to me for one Christmas awhile back.
It was made in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s,
But, by its lack of nicks and blemishes, it hasn’t been shot or even carried much.
It has 2 sets of barrels but, I only brought the 26” ones choke Improved Cylinder and Modified.
More than one quail and chukar I shot with high velocity #6 lead were badly mangled.
They looked like they had been run over by a car.

Next time I am blessed to hunt the Rocking G (and I do plan to return), I’m thinking perhaps I will by then have the chokes carefully sanded out to true cylinder on one or both sides of that little shotgun’s 26” barrels.
Either way, I might bring a supply of low velocity cartridges, to carry in one barrel for the first shot at rising birds.
That notion would both be to spare the excessive meat damage and to help me hit the ones I missed on this trip.:unsure:

Mekaniks loaned me his Beretta Model 686 in 12 gauge for waterfowl.
But, the quackers were not flying much,
due to the uncooperative weather I suppose.
I did manage to shoot two ducks though.
One I shot when it suddenly landed on the pond in front of our blind.
But it got back up and flew again.
At which time I promptly missed him with my 2nd barrel.
Oye vey.

Eventually a little flock of 3 or 4 ducks came whistling in and I stoned one with my first shot and he made a satisfying splash in our pond as he hit.
I didn’t fire another shot at the rest, as by then, I would’ve been shooting over 1dirthawker as well as our excellent guide and dog handler, “Vince”.
After that, we had no more action at the duck pond and returned to the lodge for yet another perfect meal and then some upland bird hunting, over the excellent Drahthaars.
Those dogs did excellent work finding plenty of birds to point for us, in spite of the wind.
And no surprise but, they likewise retrieved the downed birds with soft mouths and wagging tails.

Gizmos Rocking G Ranch is a great bird hunting destination and I highly recommend it.
Likewise, I saw plenty of mule deer and feral hogs.
I understand that there are other species there and we saw plenty of their tracks but, due to the wind they evidently stayed down in the canyons.
Said canyons are brushy and perfect to conceal plenty of game in.
He also offers hunting for the other species on his place, besides the excellent bird hunting.

Meanwhile yes, the DSC Convention was interesting, especially the large portion dedicated to firearms makers and dealers, including some of the biggest names in London Gun Makers.
Westley Richard’s is my favorite of those, due to their drop lock design in both double barrel rifles and double barrel shotguns as well.
Never mind that I cannot afford one.:confused:

That said, I did manage to find a double rifle that I couldn’t resist.
It was at the Foxtrot-Francis Lombardi booth.
I had been watching it in their web site for a good long while.
And I might not have bought it, but for the fact that it was suddenly and unexpectedly, right there in front of my nose.

I described this rifle’s details in the Thread posted by member james white, back on or around Jan 14, entitled:
What could you just not resist at DSC?

In brief, it is a SxS ejector double, caliber .375 H&H with 26” barrels and 2 triggers.
The maker was Franz Sodia of Ferlach Austria.
I think was made possibly in the 1950’s or 60’s.
There is what appears to be cosmoline turning to varnish, on the breech face and in the various nooks and crannies, down in the action.
Plus, the top lever is stiff and there is not one scratch, ding or handling mark on this rifle.
And so, although it was sold to me as used, it appears unfired.
Blah blah blah, whatever.

Anyway, I repeat that Gizmo’s place is tip top and I do plan to return some day.
His newly constructed lodge is designed well and built well.
The bird hunting was a heap of fun, the food just right and Gizmo himself kept us all laughing with his quick sense of humor.

Also worth mentioning is that Gizmo also does taxidermy to a level that I have to say, I’ve never seen better.
Besides being a very funny guy, he also is quite the artist.
The critters he has crafted into shoulder mounts look alive, even up close.

Anyway, I guess that’s about all the news from me that’s fit to print.
So I’ll close now.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

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I sorted uploading videos today:LOL:

So here are a couple from our Rockin G upland bird hunting....

@Velo Dog and @1dirthawker pummel a pheasant...

And I caught up to a chucker
 
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Great write up. I’ve never made it out there despite visiting daughter when she was going to Tech.
 

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