OT---shooting hedge apples

[brucew44guns]

Throughout the greater Midwest there are countless farms that are bordered and framed in Hedge Trees, (Osage Orange). The Hedge tree is a tough, drought resistant tree that was planted on property lines decades ago to help stop erosion from wind. These trees develop seed in the fall of the year that hang from the limbs, about the size of an orange or grapefruit, known as Hedge Apples or Hedge Balls.
Tonight I went out with an old Win model 74 rim fire .22 I own, and had an absolute grand time blasting Hedge Apples into tiny pieces. Just about every shot produced a showery raining down of pulp and debris from these round green balls. Trust me, it was enjoyable, I must have shot over 250 rounds. But I wondered, what other pass times do my fellow lever gunners engage in with a rimfire, that are worth passing on to the forum?. You may not have any Hedge trees, so what do you enjoy blasting the most? I hadn't shot that 74 like this in ages, it was truly a fun evening.

[mescalero1]

In New Mexico we shoot dirt clods at stupidly ridiculous ranges, the guys who cheat and say 'Oh, I thought you meant that one' don't get invited back

[Rusty]

I used to shoot the very top oranges out of our trees when I was a kid. The trees don't do well when all the fruit is left on anyway and I didn't have a ladder or a fruit picker. I used a Mossberg .22 Lr and hollow points.

[deerwhacker444]

A few times I remember burning up quite a few dollars worth of shells in a Marlin 60 cutting down willow trees on the pond dam. Rattling off 18 shells in a few seconds sure did make the bark fly..!

[Slick]

I like using my 12ga shotgun to remove mistletoe baughs from the oak trees on my land.

[spaceman spiff]

We don't have any of the Osage orange here in Michigan that I'm aware of but do remember seeing them all over the place when I was stationed at Fort Riley Kansas. I used to camp at Milford reservoir with friends and burn that wood for our nightly campfires. Lacking the Osage Orange fruit, I like to blast puffball mushrooms when they're dry. A hit is very evident and a miss equally so.
I'd not thought about that part of my time in Kansas for quite some time, thanks for the string that rekindled that memory!

Regards,

Troy

[Ysabel Kid]

I used to use a .22 to "cut" wasp nests from trees. Lots of fun, but you better clear out when it drops!

[Ben_Rumson]

Walnuts!

[Mokwaw]

+1 Walnuts

[mescalero1]

Did you shoot the walnuts or shoot them out of trees to collect them?

[Hobie]

Throw walnuts in the pond for fun floating targets. Better if you can stand above them, better yet if you're somehow lacking a levergun you use a handgun...

[O.S.O.K.]

Red eared turtles. They multiply like rabbits in Texas stock tanks. Head shots are the goal.

[AJMD429]

As a kid, we always shot the 'Easter eggs' since the adults didn't eat them due to cholesterol fears, and the kids only wanted jellybeans. It gave the city kids a chance to shoot .22's, and was a 'green' biodegradable target .

As an adult, our car had to be parked under a black walnut tree, and the walnuts kept denting the car. I shot all couple hundred of them off the tree with a pellet gun one weekend (I didn't use a .22 since we didn't have a good backstop and I had to shoot almost straight up).

[stew71]

Oooooo blasting walnuts out of the local orchards was fun in the day. Now it's oranges and lemons from the neighbor's trees that hang over the fence. He doesn't care!! I also like plinking those golfball-sized thinga-ma-jigs that frequent our local oak trees...not sure what they are or are called, but they explode when you pop them with a .22 or a pellet rifle.

My wife has become very adept at dropping the squirrels and rats that try to invade the new garden beds....

[revolverjunkie]

bruce you fell the insatiable urge to cut one of those osage trees down and send me lagre pice of it i need to make a bow! lol

here in mo i learned how to shoot with a 22 a box of shells and a bunch of soda cans
ooo ketchup packets are always fun.

[octagon]

OSOK: the belly portion of the shell on a red ear turtle make the finest guitar picks - all my buddies want em.

[AndyM]

22LR shot shells (the ones with the crimped nose, not the CCI blue cups) and flying bumble bee's. It takes some practice with open peep sights to be able to hit them. It seems like mid to late summer those big Ol' bumble bee's are buzzing around everywhere

[Modoc ED]

For those guys that have access to large fields on farms or ranches, get one of those bright yellow/green tennis balls and throw it out in front of you as far as you can. Now, shoot the tennis ball and when you get it moving, try hitting it on the move. Works for all cartidges and is lots of fun.

[1886]

Cattails were always fun. One shot, one big puff. Hopefully. 1886.

[2ndovc]

+1 Walnuts

I love shooting them off the branch with my air rifle.

I can sit on the deck for hours picking them off.


jb

[Mike D.]

The roads around here are lined with Osages, but they are too near to traffic to try and shoot them. Maybe I could pluck a bunch of the "apples" and bring 'em home to shoot at.

[dennie]

Years ago my Sis lived on a farm. There was a creek bed that ran thru the back field. The creek must have been close to one hundred feet below the top of the hill above it. In the winter time water would ooze out of the sides of this ravine and make the longest, prettiest, and temptingous, ice cycles in the wintertime! My bro-on-law and brother, and myself, would each take a brick of .22s and shoot up every round knocking the ice cycles off the cliff about fifty yards away. When they fell into the water we had floating targets with shots almost straight down. If no ice we would throw in sticks, walnuts, shell boxes, whatever, and have a blast!!
Man, what days those were.
We would also go to the local dump and shoot rats at night. I fastened a 5 cell flashlight under the forearm of my Marlin 39A and could wear them rats out! We would kill a couple hundred rats at a time. We would also use pistols of any kind, .22, .38, .357, .44, .45ACP. Even tried shotguns, but not much fun hitting the target nearly every time. Then the authorities poisoned all the rats and the fun was gone for good.
Sure do miss those days tho!
Just remembered, my dad teaching my bro, sis, and I, to shoot pop bottle caps stuck in the bark of a tree using his brand new Ruger standard model .22.
Or the time I left my supply of 45 rpm records in the back window of mom's car. Talk about warping!! My brother and I would take turns throwing them into a field and the other would try to hit them with dad's single barrel 12 ga. Made shooting doves look easy!
A friend and I used to string rope or string between trees and hang all sorts of things on it and blast away. We used anything you could imagine, cans, car parts, plastic doodads, old pots, dishes, pictures, etc., and when you hit a target the whole line of things would dance and spin!
Oh yeah, I miss those days!

[J35]

I am from the S AZ and I have murdered a many Prickly pear with 22 and .357.

They have a real nice splat factor, and late summer thru early winter there millions of them, range cattle have spread them everywhere over the years.

They also make darn good wine, jelly and pancake syrup.

fun shooting

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/2735004962/

[horsesoldier03]

I took my 11 yr old daughter shooting hedge apples a 2 weeks ago. She loved it. I bet she shot 250-300 rounds. Almost killed my brick of .22 ammo. This past weekend she took the hunter safety course. I was in total shock when during the shotgun familarization she hit 3 out of 5 clay pigeons (on the fly). She had never attempted shooting moving targets before. Then at the end of course test, she only missed four questions out of 52. Needless to say I am proud!

[mescalero1]

You have every reason to be so!

[SmokeEater2]

I like using my 12ga shotgun to remove mistletoe baughs from the oak trees on my land.

That brings back memories! when I was a Kid my Dad would "gather" some Mistletoe with a rifle every year. Wish I could shoot half as good as he could.

[Hobie]

I took my 11 yr old daughter shooting hedge apples a 2 weeks ago. She loved it. I bet she shot 250-300 rounds. Almost killed my brick of .22 ammo. This past weekend she took the hunter safety course. I was in total shock when during the shotgun familiarization she hit 3 out of 5 clay pigeons (on the fly). She had never attempted shooting moving targets before. Then at the end of course test, she only missed four questions out of 52. Needless to say I am proud!

You should be proud!

[TNBigBore]

I remember sitting on a rafter in my granddad's corncrib with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun when I was 10 and shooting every mouse I could see. I once got 14 in an afternoon. It did not work so well on the one rat I shot.

Some of the most fun I ever had was shooting at thrown clay pigeons downward into a chirt pit with my Marlin 995 semi auto .22LR. We would take turns standing on a ledge about 20 feet below and throw the pigeons with a hand thrower. We would shoot down at them in the pit as they flew by. It is suprisingly easy to hit them with a .22 after a little practice.

[JReed]

Golf balls are fun and real cheap if you get practice balls from the local driving range.