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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.