Obamaville

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Someone has put a lot of thought into a welcome sign that may surprise you, it's in front of a homeless camp off I-25 in Colorado Springs.

Its message, "Welcome to Obamaville, Colorado's fastest growing community." Despite repeated calls no one could answer the question, who put up the sign?

To some homeless the sign's message says enough. Mark Limonez, a homeless man living in "tent city", says the sign doesn't make him feel good about trying to get back on his feet. "Guys are trying to work but there's not enough work out there, so they go pan handling or flag a sign" Limonez says, "I've never seen so many camps since I've been out in the streets - there's no money."

There are no logos on the front of the sign and no clues to where it comes from.

An argument for gun control

Poor Home Invaders

San Marcos Police Investigate 2nd Home Invasion This Week

Last night’s disturbance, in the 700 block of Oscar Smith Dr., comes on the heels of another break-in Tuesday night at a San Marcos apartment complex. The San Marcos Police Department’s Commander Penny Dunn says this time, the 21-year-old intruder got a surprise. “When he came in through a back door, one of the residents shot the suspect who was armed with what we have recovered as a BB gun that resembles a real pistol.”

Commander Dunn says the intruder, whose name has not been released, was shot three times. She says he made his way to Central Texas Medical Center and was later transferred to University Medical Center at Brackenridge in Austin. She says he’s in stable condition, but so far, no charges or arrests have been made.

Tuesday night, two men from San Antonio broke into the apartment of a man living at University Heights Apartments on North I-35 in San Marcos. The resident was allegedly shot by one of the intruders and later hospitalized. The two men were arrested in the apartment complex.

Damn bugs!

Saturday night one of these guys was walking across the living room. I found the one in the pictures below outside 3 years ago. It's not a photoshop hack - they really are that big. The latest one was even bigger, so big I was afraid to pick him up with needle-nose pliers so I sucked him up with the vacuum. I've got one of those whole-house vacuum systems. I checked the canister the next morning and it wasn't in there so it's in the pipes in the walls ... somewhere.





Killed 2 scorpions in the house last night. Ugh!

Home at last

I just got this back from my taxidermist on Sunday. I think it was 4 years ago with my bow when I killed him. It was my first nice buck with a bow and I thought he was majestic enough to warrant preserving so I had him mounted.

Savannah Mugging

This ad was supposedly posted on Craig's List 05-27-09, 1:43 AM EST:

To the guy who tried to mug me in downtown Savannah night before last.

I was the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you demanded that I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on my girlfriend and me, threatening our lives. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings.

I can only hope that you somehow come across this rather important message.

First, I'd like to apologize for your embarrassment when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. The evening was not that cold, and I was wearing the jacket for a reason. My girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for my birthday and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that very evening.

Obviously you agree that it is a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, wasn't it?

I know it probably wasn't fun walking back to wherever you'd come from bare footed since I made you leave your shoes, cell phone, and wallet with me. After I called your mother or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, I explained the entire episode of what you'd done. Then I went and filled up my gas tank as well as four other peoples in the gas station on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all the cash in your wallet. (This made his day!)

I then threw your wallet into the big pink "pimp mobile" that was parked by the curb — after I broke the windshield and side window and keyed the entire driver's side of the car.

Later, I called a bunch of people from your cell phone. Ma Bell just now shut down the line, although I only used the phone for a little over a day now, so what's going on with that?

Earlier, I managed to get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI, while mentioning the president as my possible target. The FBI guy seemed really intense and we had a nice long chat (I guess it was long enough for them to have traced your number).

In a way, perhaps I should apologize for not killing you, but I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your crime. I wish you well as you try to sort through some of these rather immediate “pressing issues” and can only hope that you have the opportunity to reflect upon and perhaps reconsider the career path you've chosen to pursue in life.

Remember, next time you might not be so lucky.

Have a good day!

Thoughtfully yours,
Alex

P.S. Remember this motto — “An armed society makes for a more civil society!”

Bottle Openers

Made from gemsbok (aka oryx) horns we found while stalking same. Required because sometimes they really put the caps on tight & you need extra leverage...

Houston H3 30th Highlights

• Good times albeit I've never had a bad time with H4.
  
• ~50 hashers total, only 5 from Austin
• Great seeing folks again after many years.
• Funny seeing HooterBill get pissed cause he got there 5 minutes after Friday's trail started so he had to do it solo. Took him 1:15 to do a 1-mile trail, came back raising hell about how f'kd up it was so he did it again and it still took him over an hour. Gave the rest of us a good laugh.
• Drunken ranch hand at Fri campfire kept telling me to turn it up. Retard: It's an acoustic guitar!
• Good trail Sat but no BallBuster (wimps!) Welcome cold front during trail.
• I'm wondering how long it will take before someone shows up with a "tippy cup champion" tattoo (latest drinking-game fad.) Before that it was 3-man, then beer-pong, et al.
• Keg-stand is a bad way to cure hicups.
• Hog Stradler loves being reminded of...
  
• Perfect Sunday trail but that was the 1st time I was ever expected to shovel shit for the privlege of hashing. WTF?

Apples

The family apple orchard had always produced an abundance of super quality, firm, sweet, scrumptious apples due to the dedicated diligence, work ethic and attention to detail of the owner/operator Apple family. Of course, Mother Nature was helpful some years, and a real problem others. On bumper crop years, the Apple family could hire extra workers because the crop demanded so. Others, not so much.

At some point, a union organizer entered the scene, demanding a guaranteed wage for a guaranteed number of workers. Logic dictated that the fluctuation in productivity would ultimately determine profit and the capability to hire workers. But somehow, logic was abandoned by this new unionized workforce, and more horrifically, negotiations always seemed to insist on worker benefits but not quality, efficient productivity.

As fate would have it, following a particularly cold, dry spring, apple production fell off, but the workers insisted on being paid based on past, higher productivity. The Apple family simply couldn't pay what was not produced, and the union workers took over the orchard. Demanding more money than was coming in, and paying little heed to quality control, the bloodsucking whiners virtually guaranteed the ruination of the once great orchard, and ended up cutting down the trees to sell for firewood. Welcome to the Obama AF of L See I'm Sleeping America, or Zimbabwe, I can't tell.

Producers and parasites. Assets or liabilities. Can there really be a question?

Federal Deficit (Bush vs Obama)

There's approximately 300 US citizens of which only 60% pay taxes. For those that can apply 2nd-grade arithmetic that means there's 180 million taxpayers that must pay for this. This yields an average extra debt of $10,000 per taxpayer.

Since I don't want any of the extra crap B. Hussain Obama is blowing this on, can someone who does think this is a good idea send me a check to cover my share?

AM

Finished butchering the feral sow I arrowed on Saturday, chopped up some spuds and fried them in a little olive oil with mega garlic salt & pepper until they were sizzlin & browned, added sow's t-loins, more garlic, then 5 scrambled eggs, salsa, and enjoyed the breakfast of a king. Farted all day but blamed them on Shadow. Plan to bring one porky butt to TXIH again.

Dallas Trip

Wicked, Shadow, and I went to Dallas this past weekend. We left Shadow at Pussy Tail's Friday morning and did the Dallas Safari Club had their hunting convention. I was able to get through it in less than a day this time, even though it grew. The difference was I wasn't actively looking to book a hunt. Last year I was there 2 days and didn't see it all. Here's some pix of the taxidermy:

Another reason we went was to take my PH (Mare') and his wife Elma to the Medievil Times. (http://www.medievaltimes.com/) This place has an arena where they put on a medieval show where some prince is captured, a knight from another kingdom infiltrates their show, and they must sort it out. The cool thing is they have a jousting tournament and end up swordfighting to the death. The swordfights are about as real as pro wrestling but the jousting and horsemanship are impressive. They also give demonstations on the training of their horses and another part is on falconry. (Cursed bird swooped withing a couple feet of my head.) A wench also feeds you while this is going on; dragon blood soup, 1/2 a falcon, a dragon toe, and a dragon egg. (Veg soup, chicken, BBQ rib, & a spud) It's a bit expensive and they keep trying to wring more money out of you selling trinkets, but it's worth seeing once if you're in Dallas or one of the other cities they have these in. Mare' and Elma, being from the 3rd world nation of Namibia, were quite impressed. He videotaped everything and wanted pictures with everything - total tourist. He said he was acting like I did. I hope I wasn't THAT bad!

We stayed at Tail's place Friday night and hit the Big Town gun show in Mesquite on Saturday. It was the busiest I'd ever seen it. Wicked bought 500 rounds of ammo while Tail & I somehow managed not to buy a new gun or 10K rnds of ammo each. It's good to go to these and see how the threat of the incomming dems have adjusted prices on the EBRs and hi cap mags. I was surprised that even the high-end EBRs have gone up 30-50% in the last 6 months.

We stopped at George's in Waco on the way back. Their chicken fried steak dinner is the best for 100 miles.

Whitetail Season Ends

That's a view from one of trees I hunted out of. The season ended in Williamson county on Jan 4. I probably hunted 30 times and only killed one doe. So much for deer hunting being easy...

We've got antler restrictions that really worked against me. The restriction is deer are off limits if they've got a forked antler and a spread under 13". The intention was to allow younger bucks to grow before allowing them to be killed. However in this area that means big-antlered bucks (about 2% of our deer), spike bucks, and does are legal. Few of our deer don't have the genetics to grow bigger racks, so they'll get killed while the smaller-racked deer pass on their genetics. I DID go to the TX Parks & Wildlife meeting and spoke against this but my concerns fell on deaf ears.

There were two small 4-pointers who came around regularly. Neither was afraid of me and I knew they saw me. I shot one of them 3 different times in the butt with a judo point, just out of spite. Does however were on full alert. Didn't matter if I was 25 feet up in a tree 35 yards away, full cammo'd, and motionless as a hippy when you offer them work; they busted me very time.

I only saw one legal buck all season. He walked through the front yard while I wasn't hunting but was gone before I could sneak out there.

Deer hunting ain't fair. The deer cheat.

Buglary Commercial

Warning: Not for the faint of heart

Deer Season Status

I've only got one doe this year so far. It's my fault - I haven't been putting in enough tree-time. My bowsight was in pretty poor shape from crawling around through the hookthorns in Namibia but I got that replaced last week. It's shooting good again.

Last night I was getting cold from the wind so I made a quick dash to the house for more clothes. Of course when I reached the back door a buck and I made eye-contact. He had a really nice rack. Damn! After that I only saw one shit-buck. By that I mean he's got a small rack and isn't legal to shoot because of our antler restrictions. You basically can't kill anything with less than a 13" spread unless it's a spike. I think he winded me anyway as he was acting goofy and took off before he got close. There used to be a pair of them but I'm guessing the other one got poached.

The hashmas party was last night and I drank entirely too much. The flying saucer has great beer and I've got an achillies heal for good stouts. They sneeked one of my African hunt videos in with the hash photos. It was the one where I arrowed a warthog. I think most people were impressed by it but a couple harriets were offended. Their complaints were more than offset by those thanking me watching the demeanor of said harriets.

This was good education as far too many don't wish to believe that for every chicken mcnugget, hamburger, and fish fillet there is a gutpile.

Rules for Survival

Liberals:

1. Have no personal possessions, and for God's sake don't carry money or credit cards.
2. Whenever possible, stay locked at home, and never venture out.
3. When at home, have a can of hairspray, a whistle, and be ready to dial 911.
4. Appeasement has worked so well for Europe over the last 500 years, try preemptively giving them what they want before you are attacked.
5. During the attack, try and figure out what you have done wrong to deserve the attack, and try and avoid similar behavior in the future. Consider the first attack a polite reminder to help out the city's less fortunate.
6. If the punk starts shooting, try and get away from the bullets.
7. A few community pride projects, like a playground cleanup, will probably do more to protect you than any self-defense measure.
8. Suggest to the criminal that he participate in a gun buy-back program as a more legitimate source of revenue in the future.
9. Since these encounters are about control and ego, show that you are terrified and will submit meekly to the punk's every whim. If possible, try to urinate in your pants. Predators respect fear and weakness.

Alternate suggestions by Drill Sargent Joe B. Fricks:

1. Forget about knives, bats and fists. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Bring four times the ammunition you think you could ever need.
2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammunition is cheap - life is expensive. If you shoot inside, buckshot is your friend. A new wall is cheap - funerals are expensive.
3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.
4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.
5. Move away from your attacker and go to cover. Distance is your friend. (Bulletproof cover and diagonal or lateral movement are preferred.)
6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a semi or full-automatic long gun and a friend with a long gun.
7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.
9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun.
10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
11. Always cheat, always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. Have a plan.
13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work. "No battle plan ever survives 10 seconds past first contact with an enemy."
14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible, but remember, sheetrock walls and the like stop nothing but your pulse when bullets tear through them.
15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
16. Don't drop your guard.
17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees. Practice reloading one-handed and off-hand shooting. That's how you live if hit in your "good" side.
18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. Smiles, frowns and other facial expressions don't (In God we trust. Everyone else keep your hands where I can see them.)
19. Decide NOW to always be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet if necessary, because they may want to kill you.
22. Be courteous to everyone, overly friendly to no one.
23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than "4".
25. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. "All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket." At a practice session, throw you gun into the mud, then make sure it still works. You can clean it later.
26. Practice shooting in the dark, with someone shouting at you, when out of breath, etc. Regardless of whether justified of not, you will feel sad about killing another human being. It is better to be sad than to be room temperature.
27. The only thing you EVER say afterwards is, "He said he was going to kill me. I beleived him. I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm very upset now. I can't say anything more. Please speak with my attorney."
28. Rules for un-armed combat: Never be unarmed.

Old Tom Quotes

• When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
• The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
• It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
• I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
• My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
• The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
• The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
• To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
• I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

-Thomas Jefferson

Kalifornia

Work sent me to CA for 10 days, including Thanksgiving. I did get 3 invites for Thanksgiving day, but of course I'd much rather be home. Then yesterday (Tuesday before Thanksgiving) I find out they're not working Thurs & Fri. WTF? It's not that I'm not willing to work holidays but I don't expect to be the only one.

Flights are crowded today so I'm heading back Thanksgiving day. Guess I'll have Thanksgiving dinner in the Phoenix airport, although I'm not complaining. Many have it much worse. Take 2 seconds tomorrow before you choke down way too much food to give thanks for how good we have it.

I did manage to hash twice, in Cuppertino last Thursday night and Mountain View on Saturday. On the first hash the cool weather & low altitude made for great running. I had one of those runs you only have every few years where you're just flying and never get tired. 4m trail but I prolly did almost double that zenning and didn't come in last. The next day I was actually sore from going so hard. Need the exercise with all the shit food I'm eating...

Namibia Safari

Details with pix are here: https://sites.google.com/site/ahansennamibia2008/Home

Happy Ruttoween!

The bucks were horny & chasing the does this morning. This doe finally let down her guard and I was able to get an arrow into her. She was under 20 yards and I forgot to aim low with the 25yd pin so the shot went a lttle high. It got the spine going in, the top of one lung, and broke off in the far shoulder. She was still very alive when I got to her so I choked her out. Then I field-dressed, skinned, and butchered her before breakfast. To be honest, it was a late breakfast. This is actually the first time I've killed a whitetail in the morning; all the rest have been in the afternoon or evening.



I'm still working on everything I did in Namibia. There's so much that I think it's best that I put in on it's own web page. I'm a little over halfway done with the writeup; so much happened...

Chuck gets it

Morning hunt

This morning at first light I got my lazy ass up a tree. A doe almost came in but she was nervous (think she winded me). She was almost over it when a squirrel jumped from one tree to another and spooked her.

I had a couple of limb-rats entertain me. I thought one might climb right over me. He knew I was something but not sure what. He got close enough to sniff my boot before going back to acorn hunting.

Got down about 9, so I could fletch some arrows, and then about 10 I went to swap flash cards in the trailcam. Turned around and there were 2 bucks on the north side of the house eating acorns, and here I am without so much as a broomstick! I slowly sneaked behind a tree, waited for them to settle, and made my way back to the house w/o spooking them. I grabbed the bow, some head camo, got within 25yds, and had enough cover to draw. However both were shit 4-pointers, which aren't legal to kill. I hate these cursed antler restrictions!

Here's a 5AM trailcam pic which I call "Doe Eating & Crapping". Enjoy:

I found a bow appropriate for Brownie (click on to enlarge):

Popeye (1st shot at YouTube)

Gun Control

Finally a couple of factual documentaries that Brownie can rally behind:
Home Invasions
Carjacking

Democrats on an Escalator

Hands-on Grocery Shopping

Observations from the Dem & Rep conventions so far:

• I take the cheers of the crowd with a grain of salt as they're preaching to the choir. These are delegates and other wannabes who went to the trouble of getting elected/appointed so they could attend these conventions (at their own expense).
• Hillary's place taken by another woman -- again. Perhaps Ted Kennedy will give you a lift home?...
• To those soulless, masked pieces of shit who were looting, vandalizing, and attacking news reporters; What species are you from? Planet of the retarded apes? You're not protestors, you're criminals. If I'm attacked by anyone wearing a mask someone will be calling 911 afterwards to clean up the mess.
• Rudi was on a roll last night. Heard it caused Obama to start his period early again.
• MSDN reporter vs Newt - reporter quickly retreated like a frenchman
• I despise telepromptors. They tell me you don't know or don't give a shit in what you're talking about. Appropriate for evening news anchors who are reporting the news (as it happens) but for speaches it's basically "Let me read to you what someone else wrote". Ditch them for power-point and present your case like the rest of the working world.
• White folks can't dance
• Sarah Palin sounds like Ted Nugent with a uterus

Shall Not Be Infringed

Though I never needed confirmation of the self-evident truth and God given individual right to keep an bear arms, the US Supreme Court finally addressed and confirmed today that the 2nd Amendment means what it says. Our founding fathers were so certain that God gave each of us the individual gift of life and that we have the right and moral obligation to protect this precious gift from tyranny, that they found it prudent to put these truths to paper for future reference in the Bill of Rights. The bastardization of these truths by the cult of feel-good liberals in the form of anti-American, anti-Constitutional, "gun-free zones" was a violent criminal's dream environment where innocent, law-abiding citizens are forced into unarmed helplessness resulting in the highest body count stacked up by evil perpetrators on the helpless sheep to slaughter. For shame.

The result will not be widespread shootouts in the streets; we heard those fantasies about concealed carry laws and they never happened. Next...

The decision confirms that the right to own arms is an individual right. Furthermore it confirms the right to bear arms, that is, an individual may not be required to lock up their arms in safe or store them at a gun club. It also confirms the right of the state to regulate arms, which is keeping them from felons and mental patients. Basically in line with the NRA and opposite of the democratic party's position.

So I celebrate this gun victory by buying bow. Go figure...

Heatstroke

... almost killed Shadow on Sunday. He's hashed with me though 5 summers now on much longer runs than Sunday's w/o a problem. 2nd half of the hash was only about 3 miles but it was 100 degrees with no shade. He started the classic "drunken walk" and collapsed. I got him to shade and gave him what water I had. Then I carried him to a water hydrant & got his core temp down. Glad I remembered what I read in that old SOF article - it saved his life.

After about 20 minutes he quit panting but his hind legs were extended and stiff, and they hurt like hell if I touched them. We got him into some AC and he was coming around but couldn't use his back legs so we got him to the ER. They started some phys therapy on him and I know it hurt like hell cause we could hear him howling. He apparantly had enough of that shit & got up on his own; much to our relief. They kept him overnight. The vet bill was pretty steep; wiped out the donation I'd been saving for B. Hussain Obama.

In other news I got a new (old) bow, Mathews Switchback. Gotta get another cam for it because the draw length's too long but I shot it anyway last night. Quite a bit different feel from my Browning, not better or worse, just different. It's wicked accurate and quiet. I predict it will be involved in the deaths of many animals.

Normandy Invasion

64 years ago today was the start of "Operation Overload", now known as D-Day. In the preparation leading up to it in April & May, 12,000 men were lost. On June 6, 150,000 allied troops stormed the beaches, about 1/2 American and there were 10,000 casualties the first day. Freedom isn't free. Celebrate it.

San Antonio 21 and My 45

Good party this weekend at the dog pound. I prefer these low-key bring-yer-own-everything events to the "we'll pamper yer arse" ones. Highlights:

• 1st campout in a long time w/o loosers that everyone avoids.
• The hash sucked.
• Wicked calling me out for B-Day down-down. How the hell does one drink with that PVC pipe on your arm?
• Float trip down the Guadalupe was mostly uneventfull (relative to years with high-water), although many kept running into felled trees due to zero level-of-awarness. What were those all those turd-looking things in the water?
• Dinner was bring-yer-own dead animal carcass BBQ (burp).
• Jammed with with TiteBoxx by the bonfire. FUKnave thought he could out-redneck me - poser!
• Padre burned his flipper attempting to jump said bonfire.
• Annoying illegals blasting their Tejano/rave at us until wee hours of the morning. FknAnnoyin' correctly suggested a few homemade pyro devices tossed in the river would have corrected issue but I came ill-prepared. Need to add a couple items to my camping list.

Big thanx to SA hash!

Stud Test

http://www.oink.com/studtest/

Chuck Heston

I learned yesterday of his passing on Saturday at 84. Condolences to his wife Lydia of 64 years and son Fraser. The NRA show had a 3-hour tribute to him last night with many of those who knew him telling their personal experiences with this most honerable man. A bunch of his speaches are archived at http://www.nranews.com/ under "browse archives", then under the middle tab find "speaches".

Judge strikes down Texas strip club fee

"3/28/2008 - A state district judge has ruled that Texas may not collect a $5-per-customer strip club fee that went into effect in January. Judge Scott Jenkins wrote in an opinion Friday that the fee, while furthering laudable goals, violates First Amendment free speech rights so it's invalid. The Texas Legislature created the fee last year to pay for sexual assault prevention programs and health insurance for low-income Texans. The Texas Entertainment Association Inc., which is a group of topless clubs, and Karpod Inc., the owner of an Amarillo club, sued the state over the fee. Attorneys for the state could appeal the ruling."

Help the topless: report_on_discrimination_of_topless_women

Easter Supper

• Hone shooting and stalking skills
• Locate, stalk, miss, stalk again, kill, skin, gut, clean, and cut wild boar into meal-sized portions
• Clean & cube 1/2 backstrap; give scraps to spoiled dogs
• Thoroughly cook boar in olive or peanut oil with g-salt & g-pepper
• Add can Bush's beans, rotel tomatoes, hominy, more garlic, & simmer 1/2 hr
• Plop over biscuits or indian fry bread, eat like king, blame farts on dog

Black Hog Down

Here's Reap and I with our feral hogs. We bellycrawled to 30 yards from a group of them. He brainshot his with a 32-cal flintlock. They jumped up but were confused to what had just happened and were oblivious to where we were. One gave me a broadside and I put an arrow through her, and a huge crimson spot immediately appeared. Reap's hog was down but still kicking, so he reloaded and we approached it. Then it got back to it's feet & things got real exciting. He shoots from 5 feet away and misses it completely. The shot spooked a BIG hog that we didn't see about 10 feet away behind a log. It leaps to it's feet and took off before I could get an arrow off. We were now 10 feet from a mad, wounded hog w/o a loaded firearm ... Think Mark Sullivan w/o his double rifle. It takes a couple minutes for Reap to reload so I put an arrow through it's vitals. Blood & air gushed out like the aftermath of a good texican dinner and the boar quickly went down for good. Then we bloodtrailed mine about 50 yards to where she expired.

Robin Hood

Heard the 2nd arrow hit the first & thought I just nicked another one and broke the knock.

Ruined a perfectly good carbon arrow ($10-sniffle).

Going feral hawg-hunting this weekend, should be fun.

Troubles at Walmart

Good read reinforcing the importance of a heightened level of awareness. (link)

Plan B: Cower into the fetal position and hope for the best.

Salt Lake

Wicked and I were in Salt Lake City last week for some much needed R&R. I generally take about one weekend day off every other week so I got 9 consecutive days w/o any work contact. (Really needed that!) I got 6 days of boarding in at 5 resorts, she did 5 days. Show was better than average this year so boarding was very good. The Beams watched Shadow while I was gone and I'm sure they spoiled the crap out of him because he pouted after we left.

One day we hit the hunter's convention at the Salt Palace. I was somewhat concerned that Wicked would be bored to death but there enough stuffed kitties and guns to keep her attention. This convention was geared more towards N. America and taxidermy while the Dallas show was more for world-wide hunting. There was a cute pink gun that Brownie might like (to match his Wrangler).

There were a several furriers and one had a gorgeous men's coat that really cought my eye. It was made from about 5 different kinds of critters, maybe a little overboard there... They guy told me it was designed for Kid Rock (no I'm not a big fan) and they made several variations of it. $8K (yikes!). This are a couple of pix I found:




Before I left I talked to a couple of hearing aid vendors. If anyone has experience with these, I'd be interested in their thoughts. Need to know about things like feedback, reliability, comfort, battery life, maintenance, background noise, features you want/don't want, etc.

Safari

Hit the Hunter's Convention hosted by the Dallas Safari Club last weekend. My goal was to book a safari in S. Africa or Namibia. Spent Friday night jamming with an old bud, each showing the other different riffs.

The show was awesome. Craig Poddington was there but I didn't get the chance to vist with him. Fondled lotsa nice hunting-related equipment. Looked through some $1700 binoculars - you really DO get what you pay for. Many furriers had their gorgous garments - nothing man-made approaches real fur.

I met with a bunch of PHs and it was hard choosing which one to go with as they all lived to hunt and had great operations. There were a couple of times where I'd be walking around and someone would stop me and say they saw me talking to so-and-so and recommend them to me. Saturday afternoon I finally pulled the trigger & handed a check to an outfit in Namibia. I'll be there for 10 days in late October trying to poke critters that bite back with sharp sticks. Hope to return with a few trophies, many pictures, and a few lies about the ones that got away.

Another random public massacre

A mall in Omaha, NE. My condolences to the families of those he killed or injured.

Rick, a fellow bowhunter and BB from Nebraska, was talking to a group of well-doers about it yesterday. They were wondering why a good boy turned bad, blaming McDonalds for firing him, blaming guns, maybe if someone hadn't made fun of him back when he was 12, how could this happen in a gun-free zone, et al. Rick said, "My solution would have been to shoot the perp as soon as he started firing and make Christmas not suck for 5 families."

Late Thanksgiving double from Spike & Co.

We had a cold, windy snap around Thanksgiving. Deer were hunkered down for the most part. The day afterwards I went out about 4PM. The wind was down to a small breeze and it was from the right direction. Not 5 minutes after I was in stealth-mode Spike showed up. He was in a hurry and I was afraid he'd run right by me so I bleated, he stopped, and gave me the shot I was waiting for.

Since it was so early I tagged him & continued hunting. About 45 minutes later this other one came in from the opposite direction and gave me a broadside. He took off hard but made it only about 30 yards before expiring midstride.

Below are the two post-Thanksgiving gifts. Since it was so cool I left them hanging overnight after gutting & skinning; not often we can do that in TX. Spent another 7 hours Saturday processing both into meal-sized portions & I've still got another hour worth of work left tonight; gotta grind and wrap everything. I figure about 4 1/2 hours per animal from the time they're on the ground to the time they're in the freezer. That's about 1 1/2 football games each if you're into that sort of thing.

Spike

Tues AM I was in a tree again. Cold breeze, great hunting weather. The spike showed up on my lefthand side, which is the natural shooting side for a right-hander. I drew & let down 3 times without him giving me a ethical shot. On the 4th draw he was quartering away so I let the arrow loose from just under 25 yards. Damned if he didn't jump the string, again. Clean miss. Bowhunting is frustrating sometimes.

Good stuff: Got a cool package from RainBlow yesterday (thanks!), should have the new Glock this week, work project is looking good, NV stock is supposed to be mid-50's early 08, oil broke $95/bbl.

Archery Season Ends (almost)

Today was the 30th day and I haven't put a sharp stick through anything. One more week left and then I have to compete with the rifle hunters. This morning I actually came close, missed a spike at 25yds. I normally shoot baseball-size groups at that distance and I shot right over him. Buck fever sux but I hope it never goes away.

Wicked Itch turned 50 today. Here the home-defense tool I built for her B-day:


The specs are an 870 express mag, 12ga, 18.5" bbl, collapseable stock, 3-rail forearm with a light.

Almost got a buck last night...

A 1 1/2 year old 4-pt ran out in front of me about 5 miles from home. Someone else probably nailed him after me. Haven't even seen any deer yet from the stand. It's been so damn warm I'm sweating profusely and the rain and yotes have them scattered all over hell. Great sunset last night though.

Had brunch with Wicked's family Sunday at Green Pastures. It was her mom's b-day. They put on an awesome spread. Lotsa good deadstuff. Almost ate some snails by accident; it looked like spinach dip. The frog legs were good but they don't make you run trail any faster. A couple hours later at the hash my nose let me down. I righted when I should have lefted and went about a mile out of my way. The trail was short so I couldn't make up the time and was DFL for the first time in prolly a year yesterday.

New Rules:

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! Maybe here's a reason I don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them!? Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days--mowing my lawn.
New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain?? Trout?
New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.
New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.
New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one sweet-n'-Low, and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.
New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.
New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just stoned.
New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting??? Oh wait!? They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."
New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.
New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your web cam, dude. I just want to wash my hands.
New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.
New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, "Do you want fries with that?"

Another Hillary Story

Hillary Clinton, the lead Presidential Democratic Party candidate is for banning all guns in America. She is considered by those who have dealt with her as a little more than just a little self-righteous.

At a recent rural elementary school meeting in north Florida she asked the kids audience for total quiet. Then, in the silence, she started to slowly clap her hands, once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, she said into the microphone, "Every time I clap my hands, a child in America dies from gun violence."

A young voice with a proud southern accent from the front of the crowd pierced the quiet! .... "Well, just stop clappin, ya evil bitch!"

Irrefutable Facts

Blatently plagerized from http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/nugent/08262007_wac_nugent.html

• Water is wet. Venison is food. Tobacco use kills more Americans than anything. Drinking and driving is self-inflicted terrorism.
• God gave us life and the right to defend it from those who would take it from us.
• Tofu production kills more living things than any other activity on earth.
• Paul McCartney took too much acid.
• Trapping bans don't work. Hunting bans don't work. Gun bans don't work. Gun-free zones are a recipe for innocent slaughter.
• Guns are harmless, inanimate objects. Blaming guns for murders is like blaming a spoon for making Rosie Odonnel a bloated whale.
• Pathetic people not willing to defend themselves cannot dictate such soulless policy upon those of us who know we must.
• American education fails to teach many children to read, write, spell, balance a checkbook or talk.
• The Internal Revenue Service is horrendously wasteful, unaccountable and unconstitutional.
• Dope destroys lives. Meth users are American terrorists.
• The No. 1 threat to a black American's life is a black American.
• Kids that don't do chores are a liability to family and America.
• People who don't care about their health don't deserve health care.
• Good is superior to evil. Smart is better than dumb. Activism is the duty of anyone claiming to be part of an experiment in self-government. A work ethic is far superior to laziness.
• Barbecued dead animals are perfect, natural and delicious.
• Love conquers hate. Patience teaches much more than immediate gratification. Clean is better than dirty.
• War is the answer against terror and evil. In WWII, America was the good guy, the Japanese and Nazis were the bad guys. You cannot negotiate with evil.
• The war on poverty is a joke. Those who live in poverty in the US choose to do so.
• Trees produce wood for many quality and proper uses.
• There are more deer, bear, mountain lion, geese, wild hogs and wild turkey in North America than at any time in recorded history.
• Child molesters cannot be fixed.
• The government gets more profit from gasoline taxes than the oil corporations do per gallon.
• It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.
• People who can't speak clear English or mumble and carry themselves badly will have a hard time achieving the American Dream.
• Hippies stink.
• People who litter are rude pigs.

Sunday

Had tyrannosaurus dump (sorry no pix), went to a gun-show a week early (oops), FRB'd a 10-mile hash, dashed to my 6:30 softball game (we won), returned in time for circle, went to work and killed a water-moccasin w/bare hands. Does all this make it okay for me to whine about my big toe?

Bohemian Rhapsody revisited

I found another youtube video of a guy (Edgar Cruz) playing this here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHSmjrjpoaI. So I'm trying to learn it again. Last time around I was trying to compose it from the piano sheet music and there's some stuff that just ain't possible on a guitar. You can only hack so much stuff out until it sound like crap. I found his sheet music so I've got something more to start with this time.

He uses some unfamiliar chords, so if nothing else I'll know them afterwards. The other cool thing he does is use artificial harmonics to hit the high notes. I've seen a video of Freddie playing it on a piano and he does a crossover (left over right) to hit the high note. The harmonics Edgar uses is a variation on the 12th fret natural harmonic. You fret whatever note you want, touch the string lightly 12 frets up from where you're fretting it, and pluck it. The result is an octive higher than the fretted note.

Here's another video of him doing Dream On: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoQ8tdzJ_Y8. Impressive work but damn this guy needs to spend some practice time with a metronome.

More Backstraps!

I noticed a doe bed down behind the house this morning. She took off when we opened the door. After Cindy left I noticed the fawn about 10 yards from where mom was bedding. This is almost a month after we saw the first ones. Guess this was the 2nd rutt and mom didn't get any the first go-round. I was mowing later and jumped another one. He ran accross the driveway onto the neighbor's place, at least 50 yards away from where he was hiding. Hope it's maw finds it.

Fred's response to Michael Moore's debate challenge

Gotta love this guy: http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=611

Fresh Backstraps!

Found this little guy just north of the house this morning. They're actually fawning a little early this year, maybe they're dropping early because the abundant feed from all the rain we've had. I had to shrink the pics for blogger but if you click on them a little better version will open up.

BTW, if you ever find a newborn fawn and want to make sure it's mother will never take care of it so it slowly starves, here's what you do:

New Axe

It's a used Dean ZX. It's got Zebra humbucker pickups, tune o matic bridge, and grover tuners, and a busted selector switch tip. Whoever tuned this had no clue what they were doing; I fixed that and now it sounds pretty good.

Electrics are sure easier to play than acoustics, but the amp really amplifies mistakes. I've found that if you crank up the distortion enough (ala metal settings), the mistakes are almost undetectable.

Leg Cramp

Did zero running for 2 weeks. Then on Sunday did 6+ mile hash plus 2-mile hump back to the start so I could make my 7:30 softball game. On my 3rd at-bat I'm on first and our first baseman hit's a shot down the rightfield line. I jumped over it, took one step, and the calf said enough of this shit. I hopped to 2nd and almost got thrown out. Getting old sux.

Hitlerifick
After 4 years we finally got Shadow to bark on command. He rarely barks so this was quite a trick. Cindy accidently found out that word's with the 'ka' sound get him excited for some reason. It started with "Kitty Cat", then "Coo-Coo Clock". He gets riled up, starts whining, and will and eventually bark. "KKK" even works. Hitler wasn't such a bad name for him afterall.

Wild Boar Hunting

Went to Harper, TX this weekend to cull some ferral hogs. Here's my bloodbrother John & I with our pigs. I whacked the smaller one first with the bow. I was closer than I thought so the shot went high into the spine. Squeeeeellll!!! I stuck him through the heart and he shut up pretty quickly.

John's pig gave us a workout. His lever-action shoots a 45 Colt but the rounds he was using sucked; I think he said they were MagnaTech??? The didn't have enough velocity t0 expand properly so he ended up shooting it full of holes w/o killing it. One of the rounds went through the lungs and another hit the shoulder but it didn't really even slow down. After he'd shot it about 6 times and was down to his last round I took a couple of pot-shots at it with the bow. The first one he was running at about 75 yards and I aimed a little high - had to climb the tree to get my arrow back. The next time, with my last good arrow, was about 45 yards but I was guessing 35 so it went right under him and drilled a tree. (I had to saw my broadhead out with a multitool later...) That shot was enough to get him to move where John had a clean shot. With his last round he wacked him between the eyes & dropped him in his tracks.

Katemcy

Went rock crawling at Katemcy on Sat with the black CJ. My old 4x4 club, FWD-FWD (Ft Worth-Dallas 4WD) , had their annual run. It's 800 acres of nasty granite. There were probably a half-dozen rolloevers but I only saw two. No major carnage like last year so we moved along pretty well. I was really pleased with how well my CJ got around. It was definatly one of the lesser rigs there but I was able to follow them on all but the worst of obsticals. The biggest thing was my tire size; I've got 33" tires and most were running 37" or better. That equates to 2" of ground clearance at the diffs which is a huge difference. I took it pretty easy cause I didn't feel like fixin anything. Brought my digital camera and of course left it in the truck at camp. Shadow didn't like wheeling at all. There were about a half dozen kids there so he got to do some herding. He wore the kids so they went to bed early and the parents love us.

This morning I gave it the once over and the only real damage was the rear bumber which looks like it was made of sheet metal. The slave unit on the hydrolic clutch seems to have died so getting it off the trailer was "intersting" (no clutch). I think I've got a spare slave, somewhere...

The trailer really gave me fits though. I re-wired the whole thing, re-welded the fenders, and fixed the wheel bearing last week. I had 2 good tires and 4 dry-rotted ones for the 110 mile trip. 20 miles down the road I blew the first tire. I also aired everything up again until my tire pump quit. Ya just can't buy a good $5 airpump anymore... I found a tire store in Betram and bought a good used tire for $20. About 40 miles later another tire was getting warm so I swapped out the new (used) tire. When I was done wheeling for the day another tire was flat so I swapped it out. I left around 10PM and aired everything up in Mason, 100m from home. 20m later the new used) blows. I pulled into the ditch and the tire had trashed the fender & taillight. With a little muscle and a lot of foul language bent the fender back and put on the best dry-rot spare I had left. After it's on I see it's low, only 18lbs. The other one was at 28. They both had 35lbs only 20 minutes earlier. Uh-oh... So I swapped them again, all by moonlight. I'm getting pretty good at changing trailer tires now. Then I moved the jeep as far forward as possible so most of the weight was on the good tires (the front ones) and on the Zeburban. It was 40mph the rest of the way to Llano, stopping every 5m to check the tire wasn't getting hot. I found some stop-leak and put half in both spares that were left. I alway thought that shit was snake-oil at best and I know it ruins the inside of the tire but I was desparate. The rest of the way home I stopped every 10 miles & checked pressure & temp. No more blowouts. The tire-goo sealed it well enough for the last 60m.

I need better springs & axles anyway, guess this is a good excuse to rebuild the trailer right. Then everyone will want to barrow it. :( Lucky for me it's only got an 11' bed so nothin but a CJ5 will fit on it.

Explaination of Tax Cuts

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 "windfall" so that everyone would get his "fair share?" They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink
for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right", exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Another hunt story

We had over 3 inches of rain last night and for some reason the deer are getting active. I saw 15 in one pack last night, not a single one with horns. The "real hunters" are killing anything with a rack. (Don't get me started...)

I left work early because some corn that got spilled on the ground needed to be guarded. My post is in a tree about 25 yards from the yellow gold. I've got a bent nail tied to some twine that I use to pull my bow up once I get about 25 feet up. It's a helluvalot easier than climbing up & down with the bow. Well tonight when I started pulling the bow up the twine broke and the bow hit the ground - hard. BAD! Down I go, nothing broken or bent (I hope), so we try it again.

Since I got winded last time I doused in scent killer. The wind picked up and shifted to the SW and then to the south. The deer normally come in from the north so I figured they'll wind me again tonight, even with the scent killer. I stuck it out anyway. I brought my camera tonight - here's the sunset I enjoyed:



About 15 minutes after sunset a small doe appeared. I move ultra-slowly & quietly into shooting position and waited a good 5 minutes before she turned slightly away. She was about 25 yards and I've shot many, many arrows from this tree at targets right where she was standing. I drew and focused on the point right behind the shoulder. When she dropper her head I released and watched the arrow arc and hit the pumpstation. She jumped sideways, rolled, and took off hard. It looked like the arrow was stuck in the ground right behind where she was standing, but I couldn't tell for sure. An arrow can be hard to see from the end. I waited until after dark before climbing down and checking for the arrow, but it wasn't there. Since I was now less-sure about the shot I gave her time to expire before tracking. You don't want to push an animal if it's a paunch shot. Good excuse to cook dinner: wild boar combo w/hash browns, tomatoes, maga-garlic, & carrots.

After supper I found her about 75 yards away under a tree. When I last I saw her she was running full stride, which is how she died. Couldn't have been more than 10 seconds after I shot her. Is bowhunting cool or what?!?

Here's a pic of the arrow entrance wound and another with the entrance & exit. It would have passed through but it hit the bone far upper leg.




I tagged her, skinned & gutter her. Then I heard a pack of coyotes howling, which they do after a kill. I've seen what coyotes do to a deer - brutal. Anyway, here's the last pic, her heart. I used a 4-blade magnus stinger, which has the standard 2-bladed arrowhead plus a 2 bleeder blades. They're tough, fly true, and really do the job. This same broadhead has now been in 3 hogs and 2 whitetail, and will be ready to go again after re-sharpening.



My boner really got a workout tonight. The edible meat is in the fridge and all that's left of her is hide, bones, & a gutpile. Forgot to get a gutpile pic. Next time...

Defenseless Deer

We've got several days of rain on the way so I'm predicting the deer will be active today. I climbed a tree this morning about an hour before dawn in hopes of collecting backstrap. After about 15 minutes one walked right under me and another walked by just out of range, but it was still too dark. When shootable light arrived I saw three more but they stayed just behind the trees. I dropped my buttpad to the ground but surpisingly it didn't spook them. But then the wind shifted to the SW and when they got about 40 yards SW of my tree I heard snorting and stomping - they winded me. A spike came closest, about 5 more yards and he'd have got an arrow but he also smelt me. I'm not sure what they picked up on... I've left the buttpad and pullovers I wear hanging in the tree for several days and I was wearing activated charcole pants & jacket underneath. They're not scent-loks but I figured they'd help.

Whoever claims that deer are defenseless has never bowhunted. They get stupid sometimes and let their guard down and some yahoo collects and easy deer. But this is not the norm. Their sense of smell and level of awareness are incredible. On a positive note this was the most movement I've seen all year. Deer season ends on Sunday in Williamson county so hopefully the stars will align again and I'll get another one.

Here's a pic a fellow hunter sent. I saw a similar sunset last weekend albeit minus the snow and deer.