Doc

Now here is a guy that knows a bit of something about living life and getting the most out of it.

We have basically had drought conditions for quite a stretch now, and I believe it has kept those critters down quite a bit. However, now we have started to get some rain and we'll have to see how that effects the bug population. But so far - so good.

I have no idea how it would handle all the variables of negotiating the heavy snows (some of which should not be attempted by any kind of ground-traction vehicle). But I think it is a great idea. I spent a lot of decades commuting around 40 miles (each-way) in all kinds of weather, and in the company of all kinds of idiots stalking the roads, and the romantic aspects of driving left me a long time ago. I would have been very happy to have reliable technology take over that aspect of my life. I would have had a couple more hours of sleep every day so I could have stayed awake longer at home and actually got something useful done instead of babysitting and piloting a pile of steel-on-wheels through the countryside.

So what are the effects on the hunting when you have a fire like that go through? I would imagine that in the long run it would be super-beneficial because of additional sunlight for nutritious understory re-development, and the chemical benefits to the ground nutrients for plant-life growth. But how long does it take to get over the initial trauma to the local animal populations?

I'll try the matrix metering. I think I have tried everything that I can as far as post-processing with photo software. It's a tough deal because it is those intense contrasts that catches my eye in he first place. The super-shadowed forest with the rays of intense sunlight streaking through makes a pretty dramatic and powerful backdrop for a deer picture or something of that sort. Example taken years ago, with some pretty primitive equipment and then wrecked even further because it is a conversion from slide to digital ...... but shows the general idea of the kind of wrestling match I am frequently having with lighting:

One of the more challenging areas where I do some picture taking is in a huge ravine area of dense heavy old-growth style hemlock woods that is very dark and shaded with many spots of intense sunlight streaming down through, burning out the areas of the picture where the sun is hitting. Anybody find any cures for these violent contrasts in lighting? There is a lot of great landscape subjects and wild critters in that area.

Just set it out by the road. If your area is anything like mine, it will be gone in a couple hours.

So, what is a Snirt Run?

Actually, I would like to see a few pictures of the cabin/camp. I love seeing these places. Obviously the deer hunting is rather good. That is quite a long drive. What part of the state is your camp located at?

See, I knew you had a reading comprehension problem. There was nothing in my comment that said anything about crossbows was there? Oh, you wouldn't know because the reply was over 4 sentences long and you couldn't handle it. But at least now it comes out why you tried to fabricate controversy. You are carrying some grudge over my position on crossbows and decided to arbitrarily make up something....lol. At least have the honesty and courage to prepare something truthful rather than trying to hide your grudge in some bogus comment about something you wish that I had said. Oh and by the way, I really don't care whether you like my posts or not. They are not written for those that have reading difficulties. If you don't like them, don't read them. It really is that simple.

Yeah, at organized shoots you do have rules to deal with.

Or it might be indicative of a reading comprehension problem. Actually I think it has more to do with trying to create controversy where there clearly was none. A little bored are we? ....... lol.

Making more grass to mow:

Well, I guess I am left out of this part of the election process. Being registered Conservative, I am not eligible to participate.

Once a week, I get an opportunity to ride around in circles in total relaxation, relieving stress, all by myself solving all the worlds problems. It is a bit therapeutic ..... lol. Of course, on occasion, that zero-turn mower can be a bit of a carnival ride. The thing is actually fun to bomb around in, seeing how fast I can zip around the trees and other obstacles. I'm getting pretty good. I haven't taken out a shrub in a couple of years.....lol.

Isn't it amazing how people work so hard to establish controversy where there really is none. The fact is that I have been around a bit longer than most here, and I have pretty much lived in the same area for almost all of my life. So, I have seen changes to rural areas that may have flown over the top of the heads of many. I was part of the rural culture that experienced one room school houses, Grange Hall dances, and a time before posted signs. And I have watched the city dwellers move out into the country like locusts buying up parcels of hunting land and essentially locking it up with their 5 acre home sites. I have seen the improvements in roads and cars making commuting a natural and easy thing to do, and basically filling up the countryside and hunting lands with residences and recreation camps. So when I talk about excessive infesting by people, that comes from a unique viewpoint that you have never had the opportunity to experience. The point of all of that is that the impacts on hunting regards the "access problem" and the slicing and dicing of hunting lands. And when hunters talk about the population problems that is what they are talking about, and had you bothered to look at the context of the reply, it would have been obvious that that is what I was talking about.

Weather like this sends me into a "work frenzy". So, I had a tiny strip of land full of sumac, multi-flora rose, wild grape vine, wild berry bushes and other assorted crap in a 120' long by 20' wide nasty jungle between my Austrian Spruce plantation and the woods at the base of the hill. It sure looks a lot different now. After weeks of snipping and nipping and sawing and stump pulling and ripping up vines and rototilling and raking, etc., it's getting close to being done. I just put the grass seed down, and getting the area ready for some elderberry bushes and another row of black raspberries to be planted next week. I have huge brush piles to burn next winter.

I once saw a guy walking up the very steep and long hill next door dragging a fully assembled ladder stand, and a huge back-pack, and his bow, huffing and puffing like a steam engine and sweating all over himself. He walked by at 30 yards and I could hear his breathing loud and clear from that distance. I couldn't help it ..... I just started laughing. Just a guy out having a nice relaxing day of hunting.

While I was still working at Xerox, I was asked to fly over to Taiwan to export our technology to their engineers. I refused. And this was happening on a wholesale basis even back in the late 80's. It's not just labor that we are exporting, it is also our bread and butter ..... our own creativity and technical know-how. I refused to go along with that.

Use different target spots for each shot. It'll save you a ton of money. I have a 5-spot target on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper that I print up off my computer that I use and that works great. I have to really screw up ugly-bad in order to smash arrows.

Not really any surprises there. That pasty yellowish complexion generally tells the story .... lol.

Well, My first impression even before reading the question was that it looked like a rhinoceros with the top half of its horn cut off. But if you want to see a strange formation compliments of Ma Nature, how about this:

So are we entering into a legal atmosphere where the right to manufacture, and distribute for sale is determined by the perceived potential for mis-use is the criteria? Look out automotive industry .... lol. Or maybe potential body count is the criteria. The fertilizer industry may be in jeopardy. Those that produce lead pipes may want to be concerned too. There are so many enablers and compatible industries for those that want to do evil, where exactly do we draw the line.

I believe that my first hunting experience was at age 9 or 10 ..... somewhere in that area. I was hunting pigeons up in the hay loft of the barn with a homemade long-bow that I fashioned out of hickory with an old draw-knife that I found in Dad's shop. My Mother cooked up the harvest of three birds and I ate them.....lol. Legal small game and deer hunting was 16 years old I believe. I'm not sure because that was a pile of decades ago ..... lol. Actually, I don't remember any problems with that age. It was the law and simply accepted, and just like driving a car and voting, there was a certain age that you had to wait before you could do certain things. It was simply the accepted way of life. Things are a bit different today in that we find ourselves in competition for kids attention and incorporation into hunting. The future of hunting and game management population control seem to be at stake. When and where I grew up, hunting was just an assumed activity and it was just expected that you would be a deer hunter when you got old enough.

Well, first of all there is damn little that you can buy that is truly made completely, 100%, made in America. Second, we have adopted an attitude of profits first and quality second, where some foreign manufacturers have found that quality will eventually bring the profits. As far as cars go, I have always been a long distance commuter, living way out in the sticks. Being left along the side of the road at 4:00 am in a snowstorm got old in a hurry. So quality ranks right up high on the list of purchase criteria as far as cars are concerned. Electronics and other trinkets are generally built elsewhere or at least most of their components so "buying American" is not even an option. You can buy things with American brand names, but that does not mean that they have been built by American labor.