Digital home of Big K's Little Farm -
"For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." - 1 Peter 2:25
It occurred to me on a walk that I should start a reading list, well, at least an audiobook list. Over the last several deer seasons, I consistently have had an audiobook in my ear while hunting. Generally, I had a pair of simple Bluetooth earbuds but one year, my wife gifted me a set of Caldwell E-Max Shadow earbuds. These offer similar capabilities to my over-the-ear Howard Leight and Walkers with ambient amplification but integrate Bluetooth functionalities into an earbud type platform. I have had them for many years and they are my primary form of ear protection for farm work and hunting. I recommend picking up a pair or something similar.
While in the wetlands and deer stands of Georgia, I have listened to a variety of audiobooks. Most of the time, they are some genre of fiction. My previous deer seasons have had Jack Ryan/Jack Ryan Jr., the Witcher, Monster Hunters Inc, Expeditionary Force, Bobi-verse, James Bond and James Reece book series but this year, I have added a few others. My current audiobook count is around 140. Podcasts make for a good listen as well. Pints with Aquinas, Live Free and several hunting podcasts including Ron Spomer's work and Outdoor Life.
Tomorrow is opening day for rifle season and I'll be listening to the Lord of the Ring's books. I have the movies, including the extended editions, and would annually, have a weekend marathon watching the three extended editions back-to-back. One year, we turned it into a church group night with several folks from our group from Church of the Apostles. It's probably best to start with The Hobbit since it's been a while.
The prompting for Tolkien's works being included was a realization that I had never read beyond the The Hobbit but then also that during a recent interview between Matt Fradd and Malcolm Guite, there is an exceptional allegory between the series and the events of the bible. I should also add The Chronicles of Narnia. I suspect that should be next season.
The only thing missing is a pipe full of Old Toby or Sir Walter Raleigh.
Today, I learned that there is a court case moving through the federal courts to try to overturn a law from the 1860's that banned home distilling.
I'm not a drinker and I don't much like the tase of hard spirits to begin with. That said, I think we should be free to make our own whiskey and shine. I had been talking with a friend at work about brewing beer from homegrown ingredients and that turned to stills. I had thought you could distill if under a certain amount but apparently that isn't the case per a government website.
I found the Cato post in a search that came up. Additional research found an additional case from the Fifth Circuit saying the law was unconstitutional.
It's good to see that we are, at least to some extent, clawing back someone what freedoms we have lost over these 250 years.
In my journey as a hunter, it looks like I will finally be able to establish a more permanent hunting setup starting in the 2026 to 2027 season. In previous seasons, I had to rely on portable ground blinds or just not having anything at all such as taking a folding chair or sitting at the base of a tree (I actually like this option). A few stands exist on the Little Farm but they were there from previous hunters with at least one having been there so long the tree is swallowing up the blind. My previous setups worked well enough but I have been wanting to put up a stand that isn't tied to a tree.
The stand I chose is the Game Winner 10 foot tripod. At the time of purchase, they were on sale for $199. I've used just a handful of stands and towers before. During the 2025 deer season, I used one of these and found it to be decent. I am very uncomfortable with heights and many stands and towers haven't been great. This one was just fine; enough so that I scooped up one once the sale started.
The kit was very well packaged and weighed about 100 pounds. It was small enough to fit in the back of our little SUV. The box fit along with all the tools I needed for the day with plenty of room to spare for gas cans, a tractor wheel and a target stand. If you have at least a mid-sized truck with a 5ft bed, you'll be fine. Small trucks like the Maverick and Santa Cruz will need to angle the kit or lay down the tailgate. Larger SUV's like a Tahoe will eat up the box without issues as long as one rear seat is out and you have the captain's chairs for the middle row. That's how I did it when we picked it up from Academy.
I laid all the parts out then put all the hardware into one of the halves. As it were, they have all the nuts, bolts and washers individually packaged into bags with the Step number printed on it. Those bags correspond to the steps in the instructions book. Generally, the instructions were easy to follow but after baking in the 92 degree heat of mid-September, I started getting a little tired.
Ultimately, it took about 3 hours to get the stand vertical. I ended up building the seat part later on which took about 30 minutes. While not terrible, I do wish that I had brought a drill with a socket adapter which would have saved some time. That and a canopy for shade plus WAY more water than I did.
I was able to climb up and prune a tree branch back to clear out the view and take a good panoramic image. All in all, I'm very excited to use this stand. It'll be nice to not have to worry about the wind blowing over my blind or other issues I've run into before but the most exciting thing will be not getting winded. It happens every year. I have become very familiar with the sound of a doe snorting at me. The typical shots are expected to be around 50 yards.
Once the stand was up, I turned my focus to maintenance. Weeds are a, literally, huge problem. I have a lot to learn about agriculture, especially weed management. It's amazing how much knowledge you lose in a generation or two. Thankfully, I was able to mow the worse half of the field the day I put up the stand. We have Bradford pears that have huge spikes when they are saplings that destroy my front tubes. The 2026 year alone we ate through 3 inner tubes on the fronts. It cost a lot more than just a days efforts to mow.
That same day, I took a recently foam-filled wheel out. The process was completed by a local shop who did it while we were on vacation. About $154 later and we had a solid tire that now weighs 122 pounds. I only did the one wheel as the tire is fairly new on it and it was the one that got a puncture. I left the opposite side alone for now but I suspect that I will find a flat tire next time I go out.
The amount of Bradford pears in the wildflower field was terrible. I know the opposite side took a hit but I don't know if it will have survived. We've also had punctures on the rear which ended up being a $300+ repair. If the opposite side did take a hit, I will try to order a new tire and have that same shop do the same thing.
Once done, we will have added about 200 pounds to the front of the tractor but that's just ballast. That's a good thing as now I don't have to add a bracket to the front to add weight to counter the brush hog.
This is about as done as I can be for this year. Between the new job and a toddler, I just haven't been able to easily dedicate time to driving out like I used to when we first got the property. The best thing is to move out there. We have a floor plan and are sorting out the cost and logistics of building it but these interest rates are brutal.
Regardless, I am very excited to get our for deer season 2026. Rifle season opens 17 OCT and runs until 10 JAN. That should be enough time for me to confirm and adjust zero on the What Would Stoner Do AR-15 300 Blackout Hunter build and the Barnes VOR-TX 120 grain load I am trying this year.
In other news, our second baby is expected to arrive early NOV so those first two weeks will need to be the main times I get out. I might be able to run out in DEC and JAN.
You can find the Game Winner XLR Tripod at Academy Sports. No, I don't get any kickbacks and I'm not sponsored.
Apparently, the Fifth Circuit is continuing it's Second Amendment cases machine going. Don't get your hopes up just yet but the Elite Precision v. ATF case is targeting the ban on out of state sales.
For the most part, it's not a big deal for me since I usually live away from the border but for some people, the local gun shop is likely on the other side of the border. I have, however, ran into the issue that I was unable to purchase a pistol from a shop while visiting Florida while living in Georgia because of the law.
It won't end up being a big ruckus for the average very day American. That said, the Control Enthusiast states like Illinois and New Jersey will complain as it negatively impacts their ability control residents.
The DOJ can appeal this. Not sure if they will. Even if it goes into effect, it won't has widespread impacts as it will likely only benefit the named plaintiffs.
Some years ago, I stumbled across a list of firearms that the ATF had removed from the NFA list or something similar. It featured a Colt Single Action Army in .45 or .44. I went and dug up the file and it's the Curio and Relics list that you can read. I'm not versed in the topic.
What was interesting is that there several pistols on the list that say smooth bore or smoothbore. It got me wondering why they had smooth bores. One is listed as a factory mistake but the rest don't have details like that.
I had been wondering if they were exhibition guns for trick shooting or similar but I haven't found out why yet. Later I started thinking about having a pistol using shotshells for pest control, which I have started carrying with me when on the tractor when I mow. Mine is a High Standard Sentinel with CCI shotshells.
Where is really went was that the recent court case that said the NFA process for certain items is unconstitutional and that AOWs were on the primary case. Since smoothbore pistols are AOWs, if we get to a point where these items are sold as Title 1 guns, then maybe we can start getting back to garden guns but this time as revolvers.
Initially, I was thinking about reaming and polishing a Heritage Rough Rider with a 4 inch barrel but then I starting thinking about chokes. The Henry Garden Gun is a fixed choke but I assume it's cylinder bore. .22 LR shotshells aren't know for producing tight patterns at "longer" ranges. I'm thinking like 6 ft here for my needs so maybe things are fine. Regardless, since the Henry Garden Gun exists, why not have a revolver with a smooth bore dedicated to shotshells?
I would like to specify that I would prefer to have a fixed full choke for this project. I picked the Rough Rider since they are very inexpensive. I don't see much need for a more expensive gun for this roll unless it's double action like the Diamond Back Arms Sidekick. I would be good for one of those in smoothbore.
