Deer Hunting Newbie

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I, at the age of 49 and almost a half, finally went deer hunting.  I've wanted to for a long time, but circumstances, lack of knowledge, and lack of a place to hunt all conspired against me.  Having gotten lots of target practice and sighted in my cheap Tasco 2-9x40 scope on my inexpensive Savage Axis .308 at the range to which Billy Bob belongs, I was ready to try my skill against the giant forest rats that are the bane of my motorcycling existence.

A friend from my church took me hunting this past weekend at his 40-acre farm in Winston, MO.  We were in the tree stand by 5:30 a.m. Friday morning.  My friend Joe said that from his experience, the best circumstances for seeing deer are when the temperature is cold, the wind is calm or light, and the sky is overcast.  Well, the sky turned clear, the wind was blowing so hard (25-35 mph, with gusts to 45 mph), and the temperature eventually warmed up so much that we gave up after half a day, without ever seeing anything. 

We went back Saturday morning.  I took the tree stand, and the other Joe staked out a spot on the ground on the other end of the property.  A ridge runs through the middle of the property, so we couldn't see (or accidentally shoot) each other.  It started out a little warm and clear, but much calmer wind-wise, and I did see three deer that morning. They came from my left about 50 yards away, but my line of sight was blocked by some of the limbs from the tree that the stand was in, and they disappeared over the ridge that runs through the middle of the property before I could get a shot.  I spent the rest of the day in the stand, and the wind finally started to die down as the temperature plummeted that evening.  One certainly learns patience when hunting deer.

Just as it was getting almost too late, I saw what I thought was a deer on the ridge maybe 40 or 50 yards out, but without my glasses in the dim light, I couldn't really tell if it was a deer or not.  The LASIK I had on my right eye gives me great distance vision, but my left eye is uncorrected for reading.  That all works fine when there's plenty of light--the brain seems to know which eyeball is best for the circumstances--but once the lights get low, it all gets confused.  Normally, in those circumstances, I wear glasses that correct the left eye so all is equal.

I brought the rifle up to get a look through the scope from my good right eye, and the deer was gone.  I looked around without the scope, and saw it again, a pretty big doe, now standing only 30 or 40 feet away directly to my left, beside a cedar or juniper shrub.  I raised the rifle again, leaning around a big tree limb, got a good sight picture, and started to squeeze the trigger...but the safety was on.  I took the safety off, but it had moved again, and I couldn't see it anywhere! 

I suspected it had gone behind the bush, so I waiting with my eye on the scope and my finger on the trigger, and sure enough, it came about halfway out past the bush.  I adjusted my grip and it looked right up at me.  I was afraid it was going to bolt so I probably shot a bit prematurely.  I hit it a little too far forward, just ahead of the left front shoulder, and it went down.  I scrambled down the ladder and went over to the bush, and...no deer!  No blood, nothing!  The deer had been on the edge of a slope down into a draw, facing down slope, when I shot it, so I thought it might have fallen down into the draw.  I texted the other Joe and let him know, as I went searching.

He came over and we looked and looked.  By then it was dark, and getting damned cold, so he went and got his truck with a spotlight on it.  I was starting to believe I'd missed and what I thought was the deer falling, was really the deer scrambling down into the ravine, since we couldn't find any blood anywhere.  After despairing that I'd missed a shot of a stationary deer from only 30 feet away, my friend found it about 100 feet away on the other side of the draw, dead, by a fence.  I had hit it with a Hornady SST bullet just ahead of the left leg, and it went through and impacted against (and pretty much demolished) the right shoulder, without exiting. 

We field-dressed it and took it to my house, where I hung it from a tree in my back yard.  From the fuss and fury that my wife directed at me, you'd have thought it was her mother hanging back there!  The other Joe came back yesterday and took it to his house, where he does that kind of thing every year.  Tomorrow night, I'm going over there to help him process it and get some of the meat.  My wife doesn't even want it in the house!  She might have grown up on a farm, but she has become one of those people who think meat grows in little styrofoam packages at a grocery store.  That's okay, plenty of people I know want some venison, including Billy Bob, for whom I'm reserving some steaks.

So that was my first deer, on the second day of my first-ever deer hunting trip. I may go back Sunday.  I've already bought a nice set of knives for field-dressing a deer.  Now I want a meat grinder, sausage stuffer, jerky gun, and dehydrator.  And another deer--but I won't be bringing it home next time.

Music for your Saturday - Remake of "Oh, Donna"

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Rep. Allen West Spanks Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz

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From Townhall.com comes this great little article with a video of Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, and the text of the letter Rep. Allen West sent her in response to her dim-witted speech. Not only is Rep. W-S (I'm not typing that entire name more than once) as dumb as a bag of hammers, she has a face that would stop an eight-day clock, as my dad used to say.

Allen West vs. Wasserman-Schulz

Just to whet your appetite for the whole thing, here's an excerpt from his letter.

"You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives."

You couldn't be any plainer than that!

Obama's Balls

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So-Called "Art" Equates Republican Governors with Nazis

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A piece of taxpayer-funded "art" in the Marquette, Michigan Art and Cultural Center depicts four Republican governors as Nazis.  I found the article in The Blaze at http://www.theblaze.com/stories/art-taxpayer-funded-exhibit-equates-republican-govs-with-nazism/

I sent an e-mail to the city of Marquette's Arts and Cultural Center at arts@mqtcty.org.  Here's what I had to say:

Is the hateful, despicable piece of political propaganda associating Republicans with Nazis to be considered "art" or "culture"?  Just curious.  Maybe someone on your committee should remind the "artist" (to use the term VERY loosely) that the Nazi party was first a union, then a political party, and its goals were very much in line with the current administration's and labor unions--an all-controlling state that picked winners and losers among businesses, favoring friends and eliminating enemies.  Or perhaps the person (I hate to use the term "artist" again) who created the poster could create a similar one for Marxism, with pictures of Barack Obama, Andy Stern, Richard Trumka, Josef Stalin, and their ilk.  Including pictures of the many tens of millions of human corpses left behind by their policies, even stacks of human skulls from Pol Pot's regime, would be the icing on the cake.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that people in the U.P. don't know art from Shinola.

Liberals and "safety"

I was reading an article on RedState.com and followed a link to www.foodandwaterwatch.org.  It's a typical loonie liberal web site, but it discusses some matters that I know at least a little about.  As usual, it's full of crap.  I found the "Contact Us" link and left them this little missive:

"I somehow found myself on your web site, Food & Water Watch, and what I found is truly frightening.  It is apparently attempting to fight against pretty much every human technological advance, whether safe or not, in some lunatic neo-Luddite fashion.  Apparently, no one on your staff knows anything about fracking, or they learned everything they know from the movie Gasland, which was full of falsehoods and misrepresentations.  For instance, there are many places in this country (and others) where methane is found in the water table, so lighting a faucet has been around long before fracking.  Fracking takes place at depths far below the water table.  You seem to have no one on staff with a basic knowledge of physics either, hence F&WW's stance against irradiated food.  Fortunately, most people will appreciate the benefits of inexpensive, safe natural gas and the electricity it generates, and prefer uncontaminated food over FW&W's hysterical braying while people die from E.Coli.

F&WW, like so many other liberal organizations and their members, has as its true agenda reducing humans to living in grass huts, eating rabbit food, hunched over burning buffalo dung for warmth.  Sorry, but I, my children, and their descendants say NO!"

What's sad is that there are actually some people who believe what these idiots say, and walk around with protest signs, protesting against their own well-being!  Fight fracking, because we don't need clean energy here!  Fight irradiation of food, because it's better to have mass E. Coli outbreaks to rid the earth of those human vermin!

I wonder if liberals are allowed to choose WHICH half of their brain gets removed when they take up that philosophy?

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Oil "Subsidies" and Stupid Liberal Petitions

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I got this petition in my e-mail today:
End Big Oil Subsidies!

Some of the crap from the e-mail:

"Dear Friend,

As Americans continue to struggle with outrageous, unstable gas prices, big oil companies continue to benefit from them.

Exxon Mobil announced Thursday a first-quarter profit of $10.6 billion — a 69% increase from last year, and a number so astronomical, Exxon executives felt the need to issue defensive statements in advance.¹ Also unveiling massive earnings were Shell ($6.3 billion, up 30%), ConocoPhillips ($3 billion, up 44%), and of course, BP (7.1 Billion, up 16%). In all, the five largest oil companies have reaped nearly $1 trillion in profits in the last 10 years.

But more outrageous than jaw-dropping oil company profits, is the fact that our government actually rewards these companies with even more of our money for maintaining this disastrous system — to the tune of $4 billion a year in tax credits and subsidies. It's time for that to end." 

My response:

"Big oil, such as Exxon/Mobil, Royal Dutch-Shell, BP, etc. doesn't get these subsidies!  They are specifically excluded from receiving these tax deductions for depreciation (not subsidies, actually).  Only domestic producers, not the big multinationals, get them, so naming Exxon/Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP is either a deliberate attempt at misdirection or an indication that you don't know what you're talking about.  I don't oppose eliminating that $4 billion in tax deductions for depreciation as long as we also eliminate the $100 billion in subsidies the green energy scammers get. 

Also, in the world oil markets, the "Big Oil" companies are very small players compared to the nationalized oil companies of Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela, and have minimal influence on oil prices.  So you're barking up the wrong tree.

The current prices of oil are caused by the same thing that is causing the price of other commodities, such as gold, silver, and cotton, to skyrocket--the weak dollar caused by the economic policies of the Obama administration.  So why not create a petition to fix the REAL problem?"

What is the "Failsafe" Provision, Really?

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According to a news article quoted earlier by BillyBob:

"A White House aide suggested the president's plan would save more than the committee claims in part because of a "failsafe" provision that would trigger additional spending cuts if debt reduction goals are not met. "

What we have here is further proof that the lying bastard in the White House lies, lies, and lies some more. He is a big, stinking, lying, sack of shit. This particular lie incenses me to no end, and should do the same for all you readers once you understand what President Pinhead is saying.

One way to lie is to use a new label to refer to an old idea and hope nobody realizes you're talking about something else. In his recent speeches, Obama referred to "decreasing expenditures in the tax code" and finding ways to "reduce spending in the tax code." There are no such things as "expenditures in the tax code" or "spending in the tax code." What he is referring to is money that isn't being taken in taxes! Any money citizens don't pay in taxes is considered an "expenditure" now in Obamathink. If tax rates are increased, then to Obozo, that's a smaller "expenditure in the tax code." This is such an Orwellian concept that it frightens me to think people are actually falling for it.

What this means is that he truly believes that all income earned by everyone in the country belongs to the government, and any that the government doesn't take in taxes should be considered an expenditure by the government. This idea is so completely backwards that it would boggle the mind if it were anyone else but our Marxist Community Organizer-in-Chief.

The true meaning of this fail-safe provision is that if spending goes over a certain limit, taxes will increase AUTOMATICALLY, without our representatives voting on it. And since when has spending ever NOT increased, especially with the liberal wrecking crew that's in charge of the executive branch and the Senate? We had a revolution 235 years ago over this type of crap.

BUCK OFAMA!

Obamapocalypse Bug-Out Vehicle

I acquired a new (to me) pickup the other day.  The truck is a 1970 Chevy long bed.  It's direly in need of a paint job, but it's not rusted out anywhere that can't be easily replaced.  Some new hoses, fluids, wires, belts, filters, gaskets, brakes, tires, brake booster, bulbs, shocks, lowered coil springs, and battery, along with either a new carburetor or carb rebuild should make it reliable enough to get me anywhere I need to go.  A lot of elbow grease, some paint, new fenders, trim, bumpers, mirrors, windshield, seat, and weather stripping will make it presentable.  In other words, I'm going to be replacing a lot of stuff.  It has some butt-ugly 15" rims on it, but I've already picked up a set of really nice 17" alloy Chevy wheels that came off a 2002 Tahoe, dirt cheap on Craigslist.  Maybe I'll keep the old rims to use in the winter and put some snow tires on them.  I don't think this beast is going to be the best thing in the snow without all the help it can get.  If I put a tonneau cover on it, I can store a half-ton of wood pellets in it for my stove and keep the rear end weighted down in the winter, thus killing two birds with one stone.

Okay, it doesn't have four-wheel-drive, but it's got a big bed, a trailer hitch, a 350 V-8, and a TH350 tranny.  With those, I ought to be able to get me to my friend BillyBob's house, or to my in-laws, or to some of my other country kinfolks when the Obamapocalypse comes.  What it really needs is a pedestal-mounted Ma Deuce.

BillyBob has been so gracious to allow me to domicile it at his place while we work on it and get it up to snuff.  He has a nice collection of '67-'72 body style Chevies and has forgotten more about them than I'll ever know.

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My Day at the Range

I went to Omaha a couple of weekends ago and took my youngest son Jonathan to the Bullet Hole so we could try out my Kel-Tec PF9. I bought it new at a gun show in Kansas City back in January and hadn't had the opportunity to try it out. The PF9 is a hammer-fired, single-stack 9mm that holds 7+1 rounds. I bought it because it is flat and compact and fits neatly in an IWB holster at the 4 o'clock position.

Once at the range and ready to fire, I aimed and took my first shot. I pulled the trigger, and pulled, and pulled, and finally, BANG! The trigger on this thing isn't too heavy, probably about 5 or 6 pounds, but it has to travel a couple of miles, it seems like, between the time you start applying pressure and it finally fires. That's a safety feature, because the PF9 doesn't have a manual safety. When it does fire, it kicks pretty hard, because it's a polymer-framed, lightweight piece.

It ejected the old round and fed the new one in as expected, but when I pulled the trigger the second time, all I got was a click, and no BANG! I racked the slide to eject the round and load the next one. I inspected the ejected round, and there was no indicated the firing pin had hit the primer. I aimed and pulled the trigger again, and got the expected loud noise and hole in the target. It ejected the casing and fed the next round, but when I pulled the trigger for bullet #4, all I got was the click again. Again, no dimple in the primer. The next round was a "click" also, so I gave up on it. I rented one of the Bullet Hole's Ruger Mark III pistols and we had some fun wasting 100 rounds of .22LR.

My doctor, who, like Big Mullet, has forgotten more about firearms than I've ever known, suggested a broken firing pin. I checked out some web site information, and it seemed to be a common occurence from dry-firing--something Kel-Tec says is a no-no. However, I've never dry-fired mine without snap caps in it. I dismantled the pistol and removed the firing pin, which was still in one piece, so I reassembled everything. Further reading in the Kel-Tec manual said that failure to allow the trigger to return fully to its rest position after firing can cause failure to fire, because the hammer isn't in the fully cocked position. I'll have to go back to the range soon to see if this user error was the problem.

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New AFL-CIO logo

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Predictable Reaction from Media on Giffords Shooting

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Ah, once again we have the lame-brain media and their clueless sycophants pointing fingers at conservatives and Republicans without any evidence this nut-job was either. Remember, if it weren't for us conservatives, there'd be no money taken in from income taxes with which to pay Democrat voters' welfare payments.

Firstly, remember this country was CREATED by gun-toting individualists who feared and hated big government. Advocating kicking anyone out today who believes in those same principles is the same as advocating the destruction of the very basis of this country and Constitution. Calling those of us who still believe in those principles "un-American" is the same as calling our Founding Fathers "un-American," which can only be comprehensible to those who have no knowledge of the history of the founding of the United States of America.

Secondly, is there any indication that this individual had any Republican affiliation or even knew the difference between Republicans and Democrats, or had ever listened to any conservative broadcasters? The man was obviously deranged, and was known to be deranged for a long time. Why, then, was he allowed to buy a handgun? This was a failure in Arizona's or the county's system of reporting.

Thirdly, remember that almost every single act of domestic terrorism has been committed by left-wing criminals and nutjobs, some of which are good buddies with our President. Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn and their associates have killed more people than all my firearms and my friends' firearms combined. If Jared Lee Loughner goes in front of a judge and professes to be a Democrat, he'll be a tenured college professor in a few years. Every time an incident occurs, the mainstream, brain-free media find ways to report it as being done by a conservative angry at the government, yet they invariably turn out to be wrong--which they never acknowledge. The guy who flew the plane in to the IRS building was a left-wing nut. Eco-tard groups such as ELF account for much of the domestic terrorism, yet they are not identified as left-wing groups.

Finally, one might say the worst domestic terrorism being committed today is the destruction the current administration is wreaking on the economy and jobs. Once the economy is destroyed and everyone is in a panic, they can instate the socialist totalitarian state of which they dream.