The Herald Bulletin

Evening Update

Sports

Discussion

December 3, 2008

RICK BRAMWELL: Holiday hunt chance for family fun

Jourdan and I finally made it back to our old deer hunting haunts in southern Indiana. We joined some of our cousins for dinner, then did a little shooting and some hunting.

Almost forgotten were the beautiful limestone bluffs along this pristine creek bottom. The rolling hills and continuous cover make this beautiful setting ideal deer habitat. I forgot how much this place means to me and may return for a muzzleloader hunt.

Cousin Tim, Mike, and Tim’s son-in-law Rob wanted Rob’s 1-year-old son Brice to shoot Jourdan’s youth model Remington 870, 20-gauge slug gun.

I put a scope on this gun and sighted it in before the deer gun opener. After getting the gun wet, I took it apart and cleaned it. Two days later, I missed a doe at 35 yards. She was standing broadside and let me empty the gun. I missed.

Returning to my backyard gun range, the first shot was almost two feet high. I couldn’t get the gun sighted in. It was all over the target. The only thing that had changed from the first sighting was me taking the gun apart. I disassembled the gun again and learned that the barrel wasn’t seated correctly.

With the gun re-sighted, I was confident the young man would do well with it. He used the seat of an ATV for a rest and was shooting at missed clay pigeons lying on a dirt bank 100 yards away.

Brice’s first shot was a foot low. That concerned me. I took the gun and put the crosshairs on the orange clay on the left. I asked the others to tell me where the slug hit. I squeezed the trigger and the little 20 discharged. “You busted it,” Tim said.

I thought that feat couldn’t be topped, but Mike did the same thing with his 870 and open sights. Once the young man got used to the kick, he began shooting well also. Shortly thereafter, mother and grandmother were on their way to purchase a like gun at Bass Pro Shop in Clarksville.

Rob suggested a creek bottom stand for Jourdan. I sat 300 yards downstream hoping to hear her shoot. At 30 minutes after sunset, I walked up a hill directly above her and called her cell phone.

“Time to go,” I whispered into the phone.

“Where are you?” my daughter asked.

“Look up the hill behind you.”

I waved and she saw me.

Jourdan stood and turned. As she did, a deer blew and ran across the creek.

We visited another cousin and his wife, Dave and Betty, then paid a visit to Randy and Lynette. They live across the creek from where Jourdan was hunting. We learned from them that another hunter had taken a buck on the adjacent property that afternoon. The place the eight-pointer dropped was no more than 200 yards from where Jourdan was sitting.

The guys were looking for a buck Brice shot when we headed for home.

Rick Bramwell’s column publishes Thursdays in The Herald Bulletin sports section. To contact him, e-mail rickbramwell@aol.com.

Text Only
Sports
  • 1216 sports swimming 022.jpg Anderson tankers ready for sectional

    It has been a long time since the Anderson High School boys’ swim team last dipped its toes into competitive waters. Nearly a month, in fact. That will change when the team travels to Hamilton Southeastern for sectional preliminaries this Thursday.

    February 12, 2012 1 Photo

  • George Bremer.jpg George Bremer: Dunham tied to Arabians

    Pendleton Heights senior Kellen Dunham is one of three players widely considered to be the front-runners for this season’s Indiana Mr. Basketball award. The other two — Hamilton Southeastern’s Gary Harris and Park Tudor’s Yogi Ferrell — were named last week as participants in this spring’s McDonald’s All-American Game. Dunham was left out. That doesn’t kill his chances to win the state’s most coveted individual honor, but it does inextricably tie those hopes to the Arabians’ postseason fortunes.

    February 12, 2012 1 Photo

  • 0213 Hummel.jpg Boilers get back on track with win

    Robbie Hummel scored a season-high 27 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds Sunday as Purdue snapped Northwestern’s three-game winning streak with an 87-77 victory.

    February 12, 2012 1 Photo

  • 0213 Phil web'.jpg Mickelson crushes Tiger

    He knew his game was getting close, and he broke through with flair Sunday in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. That turned out to be Phil Mickelson, not Tiger Woods. In a big, big way.

    February 12, 2012 1 Photo

  • 0213West Virginia Notre Dame web.jpg W. Virginia women upset No. 2 Irish

    Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said her team had it coming to them. “I thought we’ve been building up to this game now for a couple of weeks,” she said. “We just haven’t played well for a long time.” The second-ranked Irish almost played well enough Sunday, but West Virginia ended their 21-game winning streak with a 65-63 victory.

    February 12, 2012 1 Photo

  • 0213 Purdue Ohio St web.jpg Prahalis lifts No. 10 OSU women past No. 16 Purdue

    Samantha Prahalis, the only senior on Ohio State’s roster, has been through a lot of battles on the court. So it figured that when the No. 10 Buckeyes were badly in need of a bucket on Sunday against No. 16 Purdue, it was their most experienced player who supplied a dagger of a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to pave the way to an 80-71 victory.

    February 12, 2012 1 Photo

  • DSC_0010.JPG Two individuals, one team to bowling state finals

    The high school bowling semistate held Saturday at Cooper’s Sport Bowl narrowed down the field of local bowlers, advancing only two individuals and one team to the state finals next weekend.

    February 11, 2012 1 Photo

  • 0212 sports ahs vs phhs 043.jpg Rick Teverbaugh: Anderson's Carter small but her speed is deadly

    There are sometimes very big reasons for a team to win a basketball game.
    Sometimes, the reason is very small.
    In the case of the Anderson Lady Tribe, they won the Greenfield Sectional championship Saturday night for a very small reason — a 5-foot-4 reason, to be exact.

    February 11, 2012 1 Photo 1 Slideshow

  • DSC_3337.JPG Arabians' Todd fulfills promise on mat

    Pendleton Heights' Mason Todd improved his season record to 37-0 en route to winning the 120-pound title at the New Castle Fieldhouse. He will be one of four local wrestlers to participate in the Parade of Champions to kick off the 74th IHSAA Individual State Tournament on Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

    February 11, 2012 1 Photo

  • 1218 Hogan AU.JPG Ravens soar past Grizzlies

    The Anderson University men’s basketball team has been in tournament mode for the past three weeks.
    But the Ravens took a big step toward the actual postseason Saturday afternoon with a 79-65 victory against Franklin in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play.

    February 11, 2012 1 Photo