Looking For A Gun Safe? Maybe You Should Sleep On It

I don’t know about anyone else but it seems like guns can be like rabbits and just multiply on you. So if your not careful you can out grow your gun safe capacity. I’ve been kind of looking at safes for the last few months thinking about adding one so this ad caught my eye. The Bed Bunker I know absolutely nothing about these folks and don’t have any idea how good their product might be I just found the concept a bit amazing.

Now he makes it look easy to slide that mattress over and retrieve his gun. I wonder how that would work at 2am when you hear a bump in the night and your wife is sound asleep on the other side of the bed. Some how I think it be a bit harder and not a mere 10 seconds.

I’m not so sure that the concealment feature will keep thieves from finding it because most look under mattress anyways. I think a bigger selling factor would be you can put a gun safe in the bedroom without taking up valuable space plus I hear that in general gun safes are ugly and don’t go with the decor…. whatever that means.

Big Buck Expo this Weekend

The Big Buck Expo returns to Greensboro this weekend, July 23-25. I believe this is the third year they have held this show in Greensboro in 2008 the turnout was dismal last year was a bit better but and that is a big but they had the Bone Collector Crew. Michael Waddle can draw a crowd so it will be interesting to see what happens this year without any big names in the hunting industry slated to be there.

Backwoods Life is who they have and once again it’s a hunting show that I’m not at all familiar with. I guess they are on the Pursuit Channel as well.

I did get an email today from the organizers saying that all the major crossbow manufactures will be there so people can get crossbows for the upcoming season. This is the first outdoor show in the state since the crossbow has been added as approved archery equipment for hunting by all hunters. If you plan to buy one make sure you have a pistol permit issued by your local sheriff in order to legally purchase one. ( A ridiculous law that needs to be overturned)

I got scheduling conflicts so I highly doubt I’ll make this year’s show. I’d be interested to hear any of my readers review of this show if they get out there this weekend.

Who Is Spook? and Why Would Stickem Archery Select Spook as Their Spookesman?

Some good questions… one would think I’ve been living in a cave seeing I’ve never even heard of Spook. You guys that get the Pursuit Channel maybe familiar with his show or will be shortly with his show on Mondays at 10pm.

Spook Spann is from neighboring Tennessee and it seems he has been making a name for himself in hunting circles. Here is some of the stuff he has done;

Spook’s success in the whitetail world has been phenomenal. To date, he has harvested 21 Pope & Young whitetails and 7 Boone & Crockett whitetails. His most published success came in 2007 when he harvested the largest whitetail ever shot on video by a bow hunter, a 230” Kansas Monster. Many of his hunting successes were accomplished on his own properties (Big Buck Properties®), including the Kansas Monster. He has harvested over 20 different big game animals around the world. Completing the grand slam of North American wild sheep and harvesting Pope and Young moose, elk, mule deer and bear and successfully harvesting many Boone and Crockett mule deer, desert sheep, marco polo sheep and black bear.

Spook Spann .com

Stickem Archery certainly seems to have made a good choice in who they selected because I suspect Spook will be a household name in the near future. I’ve watched a number of his videos tonight and found them to be pretty good. One of my favorite clips was from his polar bear hunt. Not sure if the current heat wave we are experiencing influenced my choice or if the polar bear seems like the ultimate top of the food chain prey to pursue.

Now for us that don’t have access to the Pursuit Channel Spooks show will be available on Stick’em Archery

Well it looks like it is going to be an exciting show as well as educational. Looks like Stickem Archery got a good spokesman for them as well. Looking for some good things out of Stickem Archery there website is pretty informative so check it out as well.

Ever Wonder Where All the Quail Have Gone?

The freaken deer are eating them!!!! Lol

So Who Is Going To Get A Crossbow?

With the recent legalization of crossbows as archery equipment in North Carolina I suspect there are a few folks besides me looking at them. Cabela’s has a basic buyers guide that is a good starting point to at least get your thinking about some of the options.

Now even though the crossbow is a legal weapon to hunt with the NC State Law requiring a pistol permit to purchase one is still in effect. That also means that you can’t order one on line so your only option is to purchase it from a bricks and mortar store. There is no restriction that I’m aware of to prevent you from purchasing it in another state and bringing it back to North Carolina. Matter of fact I’ve talked with a number of folks that plan to do exactly that.
This has got to be one of the oddest laws on the book because there is no way that a crossbow and a handgun are even closely related.

I’ve never even shot a crossbow so this is an entirely new thing for me. My plan at this point is to find a store that has a range that I can test fire the weapons. My concern from talking to a number of folks is the noise associated with shooting the bolt. Obviously much like a noisy bow a deer could jump the string on a loud crossbow. I hopefully will have the opportunity to shoot a couple of different brands to get a feel for them prior to purchasing one.
In a perfect world I’d get a couple to test out and see how they do in hunting conditions especially with the new market for them here in North Carolina. I guess I can dream.

Tred Barta Returns to North Carolina

This weekend was the annual Boys and Girls Club Billfish Tournament in Beaufort NC and after a year’s absence Tred Barta is back. Tred missed last year because of his spinal stroke and cancer but 14 months later he is well enough to return for the tournament that means so much to him and his wife.

This is the sixth year of the tournament. … I think we’ve raised some $560,000 in cash for the Boys & Girls Club of Coastal North Carolina. Both my wife, Annie, and myself are extremely passionate about the tournament. … One of the problems I have with big game fishing today is, and I have always spoken my mind, I’ve always stood my ground, is that you get a bunch of people together and you have a million dollar calcutta [a type of high-stakes tournament in which the big money payouts require the dead fish as proof] and we know that we should release our billfish. We know that it’s the right thing to do. We know that our billfish cannot be sold in restaurants. We know that they’re being killed all over the world. And yet, if there’s a million dollars in a brown paper bag, we’ve got no problem throwing three gaffs in them and saying, ‘Oh, by the way, we gave money to charity.’ … The unique thing about our tournament is that, No. 1, it’s honor-system scoring. No. 2, there is no calcutta. No. 3, there is no lie detector test. No. 4, your word is your bond.

N&O

Tred is an amazing guy and it’s great to see him persevering over the adversity he has recently faced. I suspect Tred’s action speak more loudly then the money he raised for the youth of coastal North Carolina.

Leader Board

Elk Poacher Sentenced to 150 Days and Forfeited His Rifle

Lowlife Bruce Wayne Cromer Jr. of Stovall NC pled guilty last month to the poaching of Bull elk 21 inside The Great Smoky National Park has been sentenced to 150 days in prison. Back in November 2009 he shot the dominant bull inside Cataloochee Valley.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis L. Howell also ordered to Cromer to forfeit his rifle, which was autographed by NASCAR legend Richard Petty. Cromer will also lose his hunting license for two years and has been banned from all national parks for the same time period.

Citizens Times

The killing of this elk robbed all of us who enjoy seeing the elk roaming the mountain meadows of Cataloochee. I don’t think the sentence is hard enough but then again I have zero tolerance for idiots like this. I always get a kick out of the “taking of hunting privileges”…. Hello he is a poacher a hunting license means nothing to him.

Remington Introduces New Waterfowl Load “Hypersonic Steel”

As a waterfowl hunter looking for a faster harder hitting non toxic shot is the never ending quest. So I’m excited to hear about Remington’s new Waterfowl Load “Hypersonic Steel”.

The 1,700-fps HyperSonic Steel™ from Remington ® Introducing the world’s fastest, hardest-hitting steel. With unprecedented velocity and the highest downrange pattern energies ever achieved, new Remington HyperSonic Steel takes lethality to new heights and lengths. To a level of terminal performance where more birds drop with fewer shots, at the farthest reaches of your abilities.

* Shortens lead by up to 11% – an 8” lead difference at 40 yards
* Puts more pellets in the head and neck for quicker kills and fewer misses
* Patented Xelerator™ Wad
* 2 Stage System
* New HOTTER primer ignites small powder charge in chamber, moving entire payload forward slightly to control pressure.

So I guess this is not really a product review as much as letting you know a new product is hitting the market. Remington Ammo is my number one choice when it comes to rifles so there is no reason to not expect this to be a quality product. Waterfowl season will be here soon so hopefully I can get my hands on some of these and give them a test run through my 12 gauge. Then I can give a real product review

They Adjourned… Left Town… and Hunters Cheer

At least many of us did as the North Carolina lawmakers failed to pass laws to overturn the addition of crossbows as archery equipment, the addition of a second week of muzzle loader season, opening up Sunday’s to hunting on private land and a number of other rules that were delayed. I think it was a good choice by our lawmakers to leave the rule making and wildlife management to the Wildlife Commission. I would also like to thank many of my readers who contacted law makers and urged them to let these bills die and not given into the special interest groups that hired lobbyists to get these rules blocked.
The new regulation digest will come out in August but NCWRC in anticipation of the interest in this did a press release listing all the delayed rules that will go into effect next month.

• Require persons harvesting deer through the Deer Management Assistance Program to use tags provided by the Commission and report their harvests, whether those deer are antlerless or antlered. Allow harvest of deer on DMAP areas under the big game harvest report card and the bonus antlerless deer harvest report card, where applicable.
• Change the description of where bonus antlerless deer harvest report cards may be used from “private lands” to “lands other than those enrolled in the Commission’s Game Land Program” in order to permit the use of these cards on military installations, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands that are NOT game lands.
• Remove the daily bag limit for deer.
• Allow hunters to use archery equipment to harvest deer during the muzzleloading firearms season on game lands.
• Shorten the bow season by one week and open the muzzleloader season one week earlier to create a two week muzzleloader season.
• Deer seasons in the Northwestern deer season will be changed so that the regular gun season is extended through January 1. Deer seasons in the Eastern, Central, and Western deer season structures will remain unchanged.
• Deer seasons on game lands in the Northwestern deer season will be changed so that the regular gun season is extended through January 1. Deer seasons on game lands in the Eastern, Central, and Western deer season structures will remain unchanged.
• Open all private lands in the Eastern, Central, and Northwestern deer seasons to the maximum either-sex deer season.
• Assign all of Moore County to the Eastern deer season.
• Allow falconry on Sundays, except for migratory game birds.
• Allow bow hunting on Sundays on private lands only, except for migratory game birds.
• Allow the use of crossbows anytime bow and arrows are legal weapons.
• Disallow the selling of live foxes and coyotes taken under a depredation permit to controlled hunting preserves.
• Allow a landowner with a valid depredation permit to give away the edible portions of deer to anyone. Require the recipient to retain a copy of the depredation permit.
• Eliminate the requirement that a landholder must get a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit for the taking of migratory birds before getting a Commission permit to do so.

This is great news for all of us who supported these changes but let’s remember there were a number of sportsmen for whatever reason opposed these rules. I hope that we can move on and find our common ground and mend fences because I’m sure there will be attacks on our traditions by anti hunting groups.

Elk Appear To Be Doing Well In Great Smoky Mountain National Park

The small herd of elk inside Great Smoky Mountain National Park seems to be doing well. We traveled to the mountains for the holiday weekend and it was exciting to see the elk. In the past I pretty much stuck with the Cataloochee Valley for observing elk where they were initially released but this time I checked out some additional areas. We located some near the Ocoaluftee Visitor Center outside of Cherokee NC as well as a nice bull off the park and in a private cornfield.
We went to the Cataloochee Valley on Sunday and it was spectacular. The cows are about done dropping calves and so far 15 of them have been captured and collared. The breakdown this year is 8 cows and 7 bulls and thus far they have not lost any to bears. In the past they have captured and moved the bears out of the valley but this is the second year they haven’t done that. The cows have adjusted to the bears and do a better job of hiding the calves.
So if you find yourself in Smoky Mountain National Park take some time to go see the elk.

We Have A Winner in “SmartShield Summer Contest”

The winner of the bottle of SmartShield Sunscreen is Tammy. I used Random.org to select the winner. Tammy just needs to email me her full name and her mailing address so we can get the prize off to her. moosesign@aol.com
SmartShield is a great product especially for folks that are active and out in the sun check out my full review for more detail information.
I want to thank everyone for participating and I hope to conduct more contest like this in the future. I also want to thank SmartShield for letting me test their product and providing a prize for one of my lucky readers.

Happy 4th of July Be Safe

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