Jay Casull
11-26-2003, 07:25 AM
I apologize, just realized this was a GALLERY. Unfortunatley I might not be able to get pics.
It's known around our Local as 'The Callahan Ranch'. 300+ acres of pure fun. Originally owned and operated by the late S. Callahan who was the buisiness agent of Local 349 in his time. He died in an unfortunate tractor accident in the 1960's. The ranch is still owned by his wife who rarely visits the place. Anyway, I am good friends with thier grandson, who has an all access pass to the place. He also happens to be a Union electrician.
The ranch remains unmaintained these days. There are some 400 head of cattle out there who run wild throughout the pastures. Although there are nieghboring properties, one can shoot unrestricted (within reason) anywhere on site. This includes shooting from the tractor (I like to call it "drive by on the tractor"), from the porch, out the window of a jeep, ect, ect. Last time we went out there my good friend brought a real treat: AR-15 bushmaster with the no-no parts to make it 3 round burst......or full auto. The first time he pulled the trigger, none of us knew about it nor were ready. It was cool but had to be controlled because even in a remote place on private land, the game wardens can still zero in on that!
Besides all that, the land is beautifull! There are ponds, old creek beds, woods, different land elevations, swamps, whatever Florida enviroment you can think of, its all here. Wildlife? Apart from cows, there are unbelieveable amounts of deer. Like it's no big deal for a herd of 5-8 deers to just walk out of the treeline 50 or so yards away. They act like this because no one shoots at them and never has. The Callahan's and thier nieghbors do not hunt the deer on the property, and they enforce this policy even among friends. I don't know why but that is how it is. We are aloud to shoot at hogs.....if we see them. On the 3 days I was there before, I never saw one hog-go figure. Hopefully this time we'll hunt beyond just walking around and get lucky.
Lastly I guess I'll mention the house. Like I said no one acctually lives there or maintains the ranch, but the house is still o.k. for a weekend stay. It sits way up about 18' on stilts. Underneath is where they stored all the farm equipment and tractor. All these things are just relics now and are rusted beyond use(Unless we decide to pull a huge tiller drunk at 3am for no reason!). Upstairs the house is pretty big. It is rectangle shaped and when you walk from one side to the other you must snake your way through rooms and hallways. It is this way because when 'they' (a bunch of electricians) built it they used alot of jobsite mat'ls ie: steel posts and big timbers, plus whatever they could find! So the house is a bit rough but it's fine for a bunch of dudes who survive mostly on beer anyways!
Overall the ranch is awesome. Besides shooting, we do alot of off-roading. The international tractor with water filled tires is king of the ranch. Chris has an 4wheel drive F-150, as do I. This other dude has a shortbed Chevy with a 383 stoker motor and one ton axles with 44" ground hogs and detroit lockers-that thing has no shame! It's just a constant party out there and for the most part a free for all gun fest.
So we're going out there Friday morning (about 3 hrs from Miami) and coming back on Sunday. I'll be sure and post the festivities on Monday. Like if we decide to shoot the .454 at more than 250 yards again......or if we get a hog. Whatever happens its a great place to go in My neck of the woods!!!
It's known around our Local as 'The Callahan Ranch'. 300+ acres of pure fun. Originally owned and operated by the late S. Callahan who was the buisiness agent of Local 349 in his time. He died in an unfortunate tractor accident in the 1960's. The ranch is still owned by his wife who rarely visits the place. Anyway, I am good friends with thier grandson, who has an all access pass to the place. He also happens to be a Union electrician.
The ranch remains unmaintained these days. There are some 400 head of cattle out there who run wild throughout the pastures. Although there are nieghboring properties, one can shoot unrestricted (within reason) anywhere on site. This includes shooting from the tractor (I like to call it "drive by on the tractor"), from the porch, out the window of a jeep, ect, ect. Last time we went out there my good friend brought a real treat: AR-15 bushmaster with the no-no parts to make it 3 round burst......or full auto. The first time he pulled the trigger, none of us knew about it nor were ready. It was cool but had to be controlled because even in a remote place on private land, the game wardens can still zero in on that!
Besides all that, the land is beautifull! There are ponds, old creek beds, woods, different land elevations, swamps, whatever Florida enviroment you can think of, its all here. Wildlife? Apart from cows, there are unbelieveable amounts of deer. Like it's no big deal for a herd of 5-8 deers to just walk out of the treeline 50 or so yards away. They act like this because no one shoots at them and never has. The Callahan's and thier nieghbors do not hunt the deer on the property, and they enforce this policy even among friends. I don't know why but that is how it is. We are aloud to shoot at hogs.....if we see them. On the 3 days I was there before, I never saw one hog-go figure. Hopefully this time we'll hunt beyond just walking around and get lucky.
Lastly I guess I'll mention the house. Like I said no one acctually lives there or maintains the ranch, but the house is still o.k. for a weekend stay. It sits way up about 18' on stilts. Underneath is where they stored all the farm equipment and tractor. All these things are just relics now and are rusted beyond use(Unless we decide to pull a huge tiller drunk at 3am for no reason!). Upstairs the house is pretty big. It is rectangle shaped and when you walk from one side to the other you must snake your way through rooms and hallways. It is this way because when 'they' (a bunch of electricians) built it they used alot of jobsite mat'ls ie: steel posts and big timbers, plus whatever they could find! So the house is a bit rough but it's fine for a bunch of dudes who survive mostly on beer anyways!
Overall the ranch is awesome. Besides shooting, we do alot of off-roading. The international tractor with water filled tires is king of the ranch. Chris has an 4wheel drive F-150, as do I. This other dude has a shortbed Chevy with a 383 stoker motor and one ton axles with 44" ground hogs and detroit lockers-that thing has no shame! It's just a constant party out there and for the most part a free for all gun fest.
So we're going out there Friday morning (about 3 hrs from Miami) and coming back on Sunday. I'll be sure and post the festivities on Monday. Like if we decide to shoot the .454 at more than 250 yards again......or if we get a hog. Whatever happens its a great place to go in My neck of the woods!!!