I also have pics of four different bucks that have been hitting it hard. They are all pretty good looking bucks.They are not monsters but they all look pretty healthy and are all rack bucks. The one in the pic is the biggest one I have got on cam yet.  I have seen the time where he would have looked big coming through the woods. Two of the other three bucks I have gotten on camera are gonna be solid 6 pointers. The other has damaged his left main beam somehow because it appears to turn and drop downward. If I keep getting pics of these guys then the one with the messed up main beam will be the one I try and target during the early bow season. Not because I think there is anything wrong with his genes or nothing, I just have never killed a buck with a messed up freaky looking rack.

I have gotten several more pics of single does with no fawns. I guess they were too young to get bred last season, but I hope they keep hanging around and bring me in lots of buck action this fall. The doe and fawn below are the ones that stay on the lick the most. All in all things are starting off right this year so far. I am already pumped even though it feels like it is 110 degrees outside. I just wish I owned about three more game cameras though. Them things can get addictive! 

Usually I am shredding and disking  preparing  for my fall food plots right after Sept 1st, but it has all been put on hold this year awaiting this stupid court date! I mean who wants to invest time and money into planting food plots and filling feeders when they could end up losing their lease or land?

 The court date has finally been set for Sept 11 and I am counting the days til it gets here. Win or lose it is gonna be a big load off of us. At least our hands won’t be tied anymore and if we lose we can start looking for another place to maybe buy or lease. Since I have been spoiled to hunting my own place for 23 years, from just looking around a little I am amazed at how much deer leases cost now!

So we are ready to go get this thing resolved, but our lawyer told my dad the other day that it is possible that it could be cancelled on the 11th due to other cases coming up. He said that since it is a civil case then they always are the first to get pushed back. Well that really chaps my behind but what can you do? Its all a bunch of BS if you ask me!

Well he told us we would know by Tuesday if it was gonna be cancelled or not, and just on my thinking I figure it will! My mom and Michele are very positive about the whole thing telling me to go ahead and plant and do everything I normally would because we are gonna win anyhow. I hope they are right. I know Michele is ready for it to all be over and get back to normal around here. We are getting married Dec 31st if I have not driven her insane by then with my worrying and negative attitude about this whole thing!

If the court does not get cancelled on Sept 11 guess we gonna finally find out. I will post how it all turns out in about a week. Wish us luck!

Even though I was not really looking to buy a new gun, my dad called me the other day and told me about a guy who had some Remington 788s for sale. We went over and looked at the rifles and I ended up buying a 788 he had in .243. I really like the .243 caliber because that is what I started out deer hunting with and also took my first buck with. It is a great caliber in my opinion, and will be good for Michele and the kids to use when they hunt.

The 788 was remingtons economy rifle back while they were being produced, and I have heard several different stories as to why they quit making them. One of the main ones I hear about why they stopped making them was because they were more accurate than their model 700, and it was cutting into the sales of their more expensive line of rifles. I do not have any idea if that is the reason or if there is any truth to that or not,  but I can say that the 788 is just as accurate as the couple of  700’s  I have owned.

The old 788 is not very pretty to some people I guess, but to me they just look like a rugged hunting rifle and thats beautiful to me! I have wanted one for a long time just to have since they do not make them anymore, and because thats the rifle that comes to mind when I recall my earliest memories of  beginning to notice and take an interest in guns and hunting.

My dad told me he bought his first Remington 788 chambered for .222 brand new for $89.00 years ago. He has traded, bought, and sold several over the years when I was just a kid, but still everytime we start a discussion about rifles he will say, ” I have never had a rifle that would shoot like that old Rem 788 6mm I had”. Well mine cost me $400.00 and that is pretty high since new they sold for $100.00 or less but I am glad to have it. 

I bought 2 boxes of Federal 100 grain factory ammo the day I got the 788  just to see how it shot. It grouped about an inch at 100 yards, not too bad and plenty good enough for hunting, but I know that I can get it to do better by handloading for it. I ordered some RCBS .243 Dies, and some85Grain Sierra hollowpoint boattail  bullets for it this week and I plan on working up a load for it soon. I hope to work up a load that will at least produce a three shot group I can cover with a quarter!  It might be impossible but the guy I bought it from said it will group about an inch with 100 grain bullets, but will put the lighter bullets all through the same hole. I know he was tellin the truth about the 100 grain bullets, now I hope the other part was true about the lighter bullets!  

I know my 788  is actually an old rifle, but it’s still new for me and I can’t think of any other specific rifle I really had longed for except a Rem 788. The one thing that really stood out to me on this rifle is that the stock trigger, with no modifications done, (according to the guy I bought it from), has a much cleaner, crisper, and lighter trigger pull than my Ruger M77, and I had a $60.00 trigger job done on my Ruger by a gunsmith!

Well I am excited about handloading for this rifle and finding out what it really likes best. If everything works out ok and I get a load I like,  I plan on leaving the 7 mag in the case this year and breaking the new old Remington 788 in right on some hogs and deer this year!

He is one of those old rich, out of town guys who is retired  from the big city and thinks he wants to try his hand at ranching,  something he really has no clue about!  But he has money so figures that will make him anything he wants to be.  He has already bought up over 600 acres around us!

My dad made the mistake of considering selling our land to him without thinking to talk  it over with me or my mom because he thought he was really getting an awesome price.  Dad signed a little agreement that the jerk made up on some notebook paper and then he gave a Dad a check for 10 percent of the total price  and said he would pay the rest the next day when they would go sign the deed and other legal papers and left.

Needless to say, I was pretty upset when I found out Dad had sold the family property that was my home away from home for the last 25 years.  I was in shock.  I didn’t know what I was gonna do if I didn’t have our place to go to anymore.  Also after reality hit my dad that he had actually sold our place, and the shock of what he thought was a good price wore off, he was already regretting it too!

Two hours later my mom drove down to our property to talk to Dad after I told her what he had done.  She  said she did not want to sell, and that my Dad couldn’t sell without her approval anyway because it is as much her land as it is my Dad’s land.  So Mom and Dad drove over to the jerk’s cabin and gave him back his check (which never left the property)  and told him that we decided not to sell. My dad told him, “I am sorry but my wife and son don’t wanna sell our land.  I didn’t figure they would mind selling it, but they do.

After they got back to our cabin my dad was relieved. He said he had already started feeling sick just looking at the check right after the jerk drove off. He said he just screwed up and did something without thinking about it.  Dad joked about how he has learned one thing – he won’t ever sell our place again because he didn’t realize how much he loved it til he sold it!

We pretty much thought everything was fine, until about a month later. My Dad gets served with papers saying the jerk has filed a lawsuit against my Dad! Mom and Dad had to hire a lawyer and this suit has been going on for almost a year now! It is just a case of someone who has lots of money and thinks they can get anything they want, and in this case he wants our land.  We really can’t believe it has even gotten to this point because the agreement my dad signed is not even a legal document and he gave the down payment back to the jerk two hours later!

Dad’s lawyer was hinting around about having a jury trial! A jury trial over a piece of notebook paper agreement! Dad told him no thanks, this thing has already cost him $2000.00 in lawyer fees and if a judge does not have enough integrity to rule for us in this case then he has been bought off! In the court deposition they had to attend when Dad’s lawyer questioned the jerk about why he wanted our land, and if it had hurt or cost him anything because we decided not to sell.  The jerk  simply answered, “No, I just wanted it to add to my other 600 acres, it’s my little heaven“. He also basically said he does not like my family being down there and wants it all for himself!

He has owned the land by our family’s land for about 4 years now and we actually thought he was a great guy until he pulled this stunt.  At least now I know how he feels about us being down at our own place and believe me, the feelings are now mutual!

We finally have a court date set to go before a judge in Sept, which will be exactly 1 year from the date this whole thing took place.  We find that incredibly ironic.  This thing has been a real nightmare for all of us,  but it has really taken it’s toll on my Dad.  Dad has worried about it and even talked about going ahead and selling and just finding another place somewhere else to buy, but Mom is determined now and says she would not sell to that man if he offered to double his price!  That’s the way I feel about it too.

I am not sure how this will all turn out yet and have started looking for a  hunting lease in the unfortunate event that we lose our land so I will have a place to hunt this year.  I hate thinking negative, but I’m trying to be realistic.  After all, this land has been my family’s “little heaven” for 25 years.