Doc

Some of these dogs are a lot like people in that there personality can range through all extremes. Some of these monsters are made by owners, and some just simply are high-strung and nasty for no apparent reason. there was a Border Collie (a well known sheep dog breed) that got involved in killing some of our sheep. Some of the misbehavior as far as sheep killers comes from the bad influences of free-running dogs. Not necessarily feral dogs, but simply family pets that were allowed to run-free and get into whatever trouble they could find. They seem to have bad influences on each other. Who knows what kinds of influences turn calm pets into uncontrolled hazards?

R&R Oldies from the late 50's and early 60's as well as country songs from the same era. Grew up with Elvis, Everly Bros., Roy Orbison, and a whole pile of one-hit wonders. Then on the country rock side of things, there's Southern Pacific, Kentucky headhunters, Prairie Oyster, tractors, and all kinds of country rock selections of a bunch of years ago. I even have some Hank Williams Sr., Webb pierce and guys of that era on CD too that has to be listened to at just under the volume that makes you ears bleed. And then there are some classical music selections that when I am in the right mood will have the car windows vibrating. More than likely it is all of those kinds of music, cranked up over the years, that has wrecked my hearing more than even unprotected rifle shooting.......but I loved every minute of it.

Swamps are great places to hunt, but not without their problems. I have found that whatever access trails that I have to cut, soon turn to deer trails. Also, the sounds as your boots pull out of the mud, put everything on alert....lol. However it is amazing how much daylight activity goes on in those dense swamp thickets. Swamps are just one of those quiet places where a lot of hunters will not venture into, and the deer know that.

Look FSW, why don't you just take the hints and give it a rest. It really is getting real old real fast.

No, my fitness program involves some pretty vigorous climbing all over these killer hills and working around the homestead here doing useful work. It has kept me successfully going for all these years, and we'll just see how far that way works out for the rest of it.

Just laying out the observations and conclusions. I'm basically pointing out that there is middle ground between the extremes which perhaps is the more practical and pleasant path to follow.

I found it. It is no wonder that they usually see us before we see them. chrisw- I have wondered the same thing. especially when just before my finger comes down on the delete button I spot something in the corner of the picture.

To me it just looks like malicious stalking and attack for no reason at all. If your only purpose here is to harass growalot, or anyone else, understand that it is neither necessary nor appreciated ..... by anybody!

I consider them a form of baiting if that is the motive for putting them in. No, it is not baiting as in defining a specific spot at a specific distance with a specific stand set-up to cover that specific spot. But it is usually used to attract and hold deer to an area. I believe that there are degrees to baiting. Food plots are way down the list in terms of defining exactly where the prey animal will be standing and bait piles or dispensers are at the top of the list. However, I guess what really counts is what the law defines as baiting, and food plots are not in that definition.

On a different aspect of the subject of licenses, I wanted to let all those who have Lifetime Licenses that I received mine in the mail a couple of days ago. So be on the lookout for them at any time now.

The guy I used offered a guarantee that if any pond that he built failed, he would fill it in for free. He first dug several test holes to see what the subsoil looked like. And then built a beautiful looking pond. The spring run-off came and filled the pond right up to the top. In fact I was a bit concerned that it might start overflowing and wash out the lower retaining wall. Well, it got close but didn't go over. Through the late spring and summer the water went down and down and became a 3' deep mud-hole. Kind of a frog-pond and mosquito nest. Three years went by, and the same cycle ....... close to overflowing as the torrents of snow melt roared off the hills, and then never holding water through the summer. Well, as it turned out we had him exercise that guarantee, and now it is exactly what we started out with......a flat grass field that the deer really appreciate. So, it cost me money for a failed pond, but at least I didn't have to pay anyone to fill it back in. His test-hole matrix didn't work, or he misread what he was seeing, so it doesn't always work out.

There is always a bit of a wrestling match going on in my mind when I consider extreme devotion to a fitness routine. I note the hours and hours of time that some people spend running down the side of the road with that anguished expression of suffering on their faces, huffing and puffing and deeply breathing in the toxins emitted by the passing cars, trucks and buses. And today we have the new fad of bicycling with all the herd of pretty spandex covered Lance Armstrong wannabes who spend hour after hour, covering mile after mile of simply pedaling away with their gaze glued to the few yards of pavement directly in front of them totally oblivious of all the great landscape that they are passing through. They are completely uncaring about the traffic hazards that they are creating, fir themselves and others. I watch some people who become slaves to a certain diet and spend entire lives in taste-deprivation chasing all the latest fad diets. And then there are those that practically live in the gym, running in place on a treadmill and any number of other machines of torture. All of these people apparently are convinced that they will somehow be able to live pretty much forever. And then I see the other extremes of those who simply indulge every temptation that comes along and watch themselves grow bigger and bigger without any semblance of control, voluntarily condemning themselves to a foreshortened life. That would be those that consider it a fitness program to simply be able to get into an upright position on the couch. We do seem to be a society of extremes. It seems to me that there has to be a middle path that kind of lets you actually enjoy the hours that you have on this earth without devoting yourself to a rigid Spartan lifestyle of complete denial. Isn't there some kind of active lifestyle that keeps you moving your body without becoming fanatical about it? .......Some style of eating where you balance out that healthy diet with an occasional dish of ice cream?

Typical media reporting. They start off with a headline: "Hunter commits suicide after animal rights activists cyberbully her" trying to indicate that it was caused by some form of cyber attacks. And as it turns out, they have absolutely no indication or evidence that there was any connection at all. For some reason, today's news has jumped from factual reporting to news creation which consists more of fantasy and imagination that any offering of actual fact. Journalism has lost all integrity, leaving the American public with no reliable connection to current events. And the internet is simply expanding on that lack of integrity.

Those multiflora rose bushes can be killers, but not completely invincible. I have cleared out a lot of them along our 1000' driveway. It's kind of like the old joke: How do you eat an elephant? .... Answer: "one bite at a time". Rose bushes are the same thing. Cut one branch at a time, and usually only a part of the one branch at a time. A good pair of heavy-duty lopping shears and some heavy hand pruning shears, heavy leather gloves, heavy long-sleeved shirts, and go slow and deliberate. Each one takes a long time, but they can be safely dealt with. If you only have one big one to deal with you are lucky. A bit of patience and you'll have a nice thorny pile of rose branches and be able to get the chainsaw in there safely and easily and get that dead tree down.

I always enjoy some of the more controversial threads that come up here. It helps take the pulse of hunting and hunters and how attitudes are evolving, both good and bad. Some of it gives you a heads up on where hunting as an activity is heading. Yeah it gets a little heated sometimes, but that only shows the dedication and passion toward the various concepts of hunting. Sometimes it is a bit concerning when things go a little too far, but in the end, we all survive and maybe some of the new ideas and opinions help form our own for the future. I am very thankful that we are not all a bunch of bobble-heads that just agree with everything and are afraid to speak our minds. These forums are good places to air out opinions and look at all sides of the various issues.

Check your yellow pages or the internet for a local equipment rental store.

It sounds like not very many people fell in love with the weapon itself as a hunting item, but were more interested in the additional hunting opportunities that a bow season provides. Is that a fair statement? As I recall, it wasn't that way when the bow season was originally conceived. The primary draw back then was the archery itself and the challenges that it provided.

Ha-ha-ha....... Somebody is shocked and surprised that something like a forum that is for the purpose of expressing opinions sometimes gets a bit spirited? Hunting is one of those things learned from and influenced by friends, relatives, and other close acquaintances as well as our own personal observations. When you start questioning methods, attitudes and beliefs, you are questioning those friends, relatives, and other close acquaintances, where they came from. So you all are surprised when that sort of thing gets a bit heated? You don't need a degree in human behavior to understand that that is going to happen from time to time. Relax, and try real hard not to take everything so serious and personal. Sometimes the disagreements get a bit harsh, and we do wish that they wouldn't, but understand that hunting can be a very personal thing to us, and once in a while things get a bit out of hand ...... so what? War zone??? That is overstating things considerably. Keep these internet forums in perspective and save your angst and distress for some real, in-life hardships and real life experiences and conflicts.

Sounds like you might be a good candidate for wildlife photography.

OK..... So where is the camo baby blanket? Lets get things started in the right direction right off! A little camo face paint and a camo hat, and away you go.

No pictures?

Do not overlook the .22 Hornet. It can be loaded up or down to accommodate any legal target you might encounter from a tractor-seat. Add to that some good optics and a bipod to stabilize the gun on the hood of the tractor, and pretty much any kind of legal varmint that you can see can be put down with that rig.

There was no external motivation to take up archery that I am aware of. Other than when I was about 11 years old, I found an old draw knife up in the shop over the garage. For some reason, I associated that tool with building a bow. So I took my trusty axe and went up on the hill and chopped down a hickory and set to work shaping a hickory longbow patterned after some pictures of Indian bows that I had seen somewhere. I made some arrows out of willow branches, and headed up to the hay loft in the barn and started knocking off some of the pigeons that roosted up there. Several squab meals later, I was sold on this archery thing and later got the whole family interested and involved. I bought my Dad a book on building bows, and next thing we knew he was busy building a glue lamination oven and clamping forms. Pretty soon we all had some pretty stylish custom made and fitted laminated recurves, some of which had some pretty exotic woods built into them. That was it. From then on the whole family was involved in archery. It all started with a hand fashioned hickory longbow and grew into a life-long activity that involved the love of perfect arrow flight. There is nothing in the gun world that can match the attraction (for me) of a well shot arrow. The hunting was a side effect of the lure of arrow flight powered only my own hand pulled and controlled bow.

I remember a time when I could go out rabbit hunting even without a dog and expect to come home with some great tasting supper. I haven't been able to do that at anytime during the last 2 or 3 decades. I'm not sure what is so different these days. Any guesses?

But perhaps the one being sued can take solace that they still have a face or a throat or a live functioning body. One's self defense and the defense of life and limb of those around them is priority number one. Legal ramifications come second.