Nielsen's ra(n)tings

Politics, guns, homeschooling for the gifted, scuba, hunting, farming and somewhat coherent occasional ranting from your average Buckeye State journalist/dad/farmer/actor.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Welcome to Updatesville

Updatesville:

*The arrow which I shot at the buck earlier hit a rib, turned and went into the shoulder. I found the arrow a short distance from where he was shot, and the blood trail ended rather quickly. Net result: flesh wound for the big boy, but not terribly serious. Note to self: Use Different Broadheads!

*The entire Rantmeister clan will appear in “Evita” at the Ashtabula Arts Center Oct. 28-Nov. 11. We hadn’t auditioned for the show, but got an email last week from the director begging for our participation. End result: The Rantmeister, doc-wife, son, daughter and exchange student will all be warbling and dancing our way across the stage.

This will be my first appearance in a rock opera…I’ve not been pursuing singing and dancing parts, being convinced that no matter how well I know the steps to something, the resulting appearance is less graceful than a downhill skiing wipeout. But for this show, I’ll be onstage most of the time, playing multiple characters and singing in nearly all the musical numbers…ughhh! One thing to be said: I’m glad this show is in the fall rather than the summer – I couldn’t imagine doing two hours of frenzied singing, dancing and costume changes in 90-degree heat.

*We’ve also auditioned and been called back for “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” to be performed Dec. 1-19 at the Geauga Lyric Theater Guild. More updates to follow after tonight’s callbacks.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Bowhunting anxiety

This is the part I hate about bowhunting – particularly evening hunts.

I shot a nice, big bodied. mature buck last night after a beautiful afternoon in the woods. He was at least a heavy-racked 8-point (perhaps more…I didn’t get a great look at the rack through the brushy cover.) He looked like a cow coming through the woods. I was in a ladder stand about 20 feet up. He was somewhat sharply quartered away from me, about 10 yards, and I saw the crossbow arrow go into the ribs about a third of the way down his body and in a direct line with the off shoulder…the fletching was still visible as he ran off. No pass-through shot and a somewhat high hit usually means a scant blood trail and difficult recovery.

I found some blood about 50 yards away (it appeared to be slightly bright and bubbly, indicating a lung hit), but he went down a slight hill into an area with a mainly dirt forest floor…nothing to catch and show blood. I opted to wait until this morning to go look more thoroughly. So I tossed and turned all night…was it a good shot? My mind and memory tell me yes, but there are still those nagging doubts.

With a gun there would have been no doubt…the deer would probably have dropped on the spot. At most, he would have run 50 yards (I’ve heart shot deer with a shotgun and had the animal run that far.) There would have been none of this anxiety…will I find him?...was the shot good enough for a relatively quick kill?

I’m fidgeting, waiting for light now. The Rant-father plans to come over this morning and also do some walking to look for the deer.

Updates (and hopefully pics) to follow.