Moose Droppings

When you think the anti gun nuts around here couldn’t get any wackier a proposal for a permitting system to purchase ammo is being floated.

DURHAM - Gun owners looking to reload would have to show a permit every time they buy ammunition, if a bill backed by Durham officials gains state approval.
The proposal championed by the Rev. Melvin Whitley, a local community activist, will face opposition from gun-rights groups.
Whitley told state lawmakers and Durham City Council members Monday that anyone over 18 can buy ammunition without being subject to any background check. That means felons, who aren’t allowed to own guns or ammo, can buy bullets unfettered.
Requiring a permit to buy bullets, just as the state does for firearms, is a “no-brainer,” he said.

N&O

Hello the “No Brainer” is you Rev Whitley. Do you really think that a felon who already posses a gun will be unable to obtain ammo for said gun by requiring an “ammo permit”? This is just another law to complicate the lives of law abiding citizens and it will do zilch to reduce or prevent crime. How about a tough stance with mandatory jail time for felons who use firearms? There are plenty of Federal Laws on the books that rarely get enforced against the felon with a gun.

Whitley said any inconveniences are trumped by the need to add another hurdle in the path of violent criminals.
“It’s the bullets that are hurting us,” he said.

Yup it’s the bullets fault not the thug who pulled the trigger.

For many of us the areas we hunt we know well or the area is small enough that getting lost is not a major concern. However rescue teams attempting to locate lost hunters and hikers use countless man hours to locate those who have gotten lost. Being lost for the most part is not that big an issue but it is a stepping-stone to many other potential problems. Often those who are lost become injured or suffer from exposure to harsh conditions leading to medical emergencies.

Pre planning will help you avoid some problems by studying maps, talking to folks who have knowledge of the area, and looking at aerial photographs of the area you plan to hunt to get a good understanding of the land. Even with pre planning you can still get yourself turned around.

You should have a map and compass and know how to use them. This is a dieing skill and I’m surprised at how many “outdoorsmen” can’t use them. I won’t claim to have great proficiency with them but I can use them to find my way around. If you need to learn this skill and/or brush up on it look for an orienteering club. I’ve gone to some orienteering events sponsored by the local parks department and brushed up on my map & compass work. Now if you think because you have a GPS unit you’ll never need this skill think again because trust me stuff breaks and dies at the most inopportune time.

GPS Unit is a great tool and if you know how to use it you can get places and for the most part avoid getting lost. There are some limitations, weather can effect them, tree canopy can block them, their electronic and countless things can go wrong, and they also have some accuracy issues. The longer they sit in one spot the more accurate they become as they hone in on the satellites. If you pull up at a spot jump out of your truck turn it on quickly mark the truck and then trek off for a day of hunting it may bring you back to within a 100 ft or so of your truck which may not be a big deal. However if you get caught in a snowstorm and it’s dark and you can’t see more then a few feet in front of you then that maybe a different issue. Just like the map and compass you got to get out and practice with them to be proficient for when the time really comes that you have to be.
Equipment you carry with you is very important you should always have some survival equipment with you. Water or way to make it safe to get your own, a knife, a compass, a first aid kit, a signaling device like a whistle, and some way to make a fire. Now depending on where I’m going and the level of risk I may carry additional items. Most of my hunts these days are less then a mile from the nearest road and there is always at least one person who knows the area I’m hunting and my expected return time. When I lived in Maine a lot of my hunts were back in the big woods and you could find yourself 10-15 maybe even 20 miles from the nearest paved road and you had to plan accordingly. If your in an area like that you have more of a potential for getting caught out over night and you may want to add items to aid in shelter construction as well as food. One other thing I do that has been very helpful over the years is I try to get all of my equipment I carry in my pack to run off the same size battery. My GPS works off AA so does the flashlight I carry, my camera, and occasionally I’ll carry a small walkman style radio to keep up on local weather reports.
If you get lost the most important thing is to recognize it admit it and start thinking. Now is not the time to panic most of us should be able to survive a few days on our own if we took some basic precautions before we set out. Staying put is usually the best option unless there is an overwhelming need to move from the location you’re currently in. Sit down and take stock and really think through your predicament if you relax and think about it the answer you need maybe right in front of you. If your confident that you know where you are and you can safely get un lost then go for it. But if you’re truthful with yourself and you can’t find a way out begin preparing for your rescue. You may also realize you know where you are but you can not safely make it out before dark then spending the night in the woods maybe a wise move so you don’t get hurt stumbling around in the dark.

You owe it to those who’ll come out looking for you to make it as easily and safely for them. Set up camp near an open area and try to find some way to signal rescuers. If safe to do so building a fire is a good thing it helps give you peace of mind, warms you and both smoke and flame are good signals. Prepare some form of shelter to protect you from the elements. Some of those elements are; rain, snow, sleet, wind, sun, cold, insects, etc.

I’ve never gotten caught out overnight while I’ve been hunting but I’m confident that I could hold my own. I took a hunter safety class when I lived in Maine a good portion of that class was about getting lost and what to do if it happened to you. Like the post from yesterday about falling with a little pre planning on your part you can reduce the likelihood of this happening to you.

The leading cause of death and injuries for hunters is falling out of treestands.Most of us who have hunted out of treestands for any amount of time has probably taken a spill or had a very close call. The advancements in safety features have come a long way since the Baker Tree Stand days. I guess that ages me some but I never had the guts to try to climb a tree with one.
The Treestand Manufactures Association ( TMA) have a good website with some great information that is worth checking out. If you can prevent the fall your much better off. Climbing in and out of the stand is still some of the most dangerous times but there have been advancements in full restraint systems that you can use that will protect you from the time you leave the ground till you return. I’ve never used one of these systems so I don’t know how well they work.
Besides using a good treestand with safety harness system having some important equipment with you and letting people know where you are is very important. In areas where cell phones work they are great and rather cheap to keep with you in case you need to summon help. Even if you fall there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to get to your phone, or you’ll be physically capable of using the phone or even if it will still be useable after the fall. This is why making sure someone knows where you are and when to expect your return is very important.
In posts latter this week I’ll cover what to do when facing trauma injuries such as the kind you would expect if someone fell out of a treestand. In general I would encourage people to take first aid and cpr training to be better prepared for any emergency.

As I sit here writing this post the forces of evil are conspiring to remove our second amendment rights. Let me link you to a post on another blog I’ve been reading;

With the results of the most recent election which gave the Democrats/Liberals control of Congress AGAIN, new severe anti-gun legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by none other than Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY.
Essentially, it is the same legislation that has been voted down for the last six years, and concentrates, but is not limited to, so called “assault” rifles. The newly proposed legislation wants to limit magazine capacities, again, and limit if not out right ban, the sale and possession of any “assault” type weapon irregardless of whether it is a fully automatic firearm, or merely a semi-automatic. Wording also includes “any rifle with pistol grip” which would automatically preclude ownership of any AR type rifle, not to mention AK’s, CETME’s, or almost any other “military” style based firearm.
Ms. McCarthy is almost obsessed with banning ALL firearms, whether they be used for target shooting, hunting, or self protection. Her husband was one of those killed by the crazy man on the Long Island (NY) Railroad while returning home from his job in Manhattan. While I have sympathy for her loss, I do not blame the gun used in this heinous act, but rather the individual who perpetrated it.

Read the rest of John’s Post at the Nutria News. This is a very serious issue and all of us are going to need to stand together to defeat this latest attempt to strip our rights from us.

I’m a sucker for a good survival story and I read a lot about situations that people face and how they got into them and hopefully out of them. In my earlier life I worked as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician and have learned a lot to help me be safe in the outdoors. This coming week I plan to write a series of posts on things we all can do to keep ourselves and those around us safe.
I was reading an article this past week by Joe Moerschbaecher in the Asheville paper about risks many of us take as we choose to participate in outdoor adventures.

Those of us who seek even moderate adventure, however, understand what drives humans to challenge themselves in the wilderness. We understand the void that is filled, the growth that happens and the satisfaction that is received from achieving an outdoor pursuit that challenges us both mentally through our judgment and physically through the natural environment.

There is inerrant risks we take with many of the outdoor sports we participate in and with a little of planning and a few extra steps we can do it safely and hopefully avoid calling out the cavalry to bail us out. There is a growing push among non participants to require those who engage in these sports to cover the expense of their own rescue. New Hampshire is the latest with a proposal to not allow rescuers to enter National Forest Land until the Federal Government agrees to cover the costs of the rescue. In case you don’t know a good chunk of the state is national forest land. Should taxpayers be on the line if you are ill prepared for the adventure you are under taking? I’m not sure but if the plan is to make a lost hunter who can’t use a compass, or a kayaker who underestimates the power of a whitewater run to pay for their own rescue what about the idiot that falls asleep with a cigarette and burns an apartment building down or the dummy that is talking on his cell phone and runs a red light?

No matter how this debate gets settled we all need to take steps to be safe in the outdoors and to know what to do if something bad happens to us. We owe it to our loved ones to be safe and to those who have to risk their lives to come get us when we do get into trouble.

The song of the beagles I can still hear if I close my eyes. What a day we had this last Saturday of rabbit season. The game vest wasn’t to full but it also wasn’t empty. Today like the last few days was very dry and it made it hard for the dogs to run a good trail. The dogs ran 6 bunnies for us today and we were able to bag 5 of them. The last two runs were the most exciting with lots of action and some long runs by the rabbits. There is nothing better then a good day of hunting with old friends and some new ones. Here is a collection of photos I took today I hope you enjoy.

Not Exactly a Shed

I Got One!!

End of the hunt

“I don’t believe you Rick”

“I smell rabbits in that truck”

Somebody is tired

Photo Courtesy of Mike Easley . Org

Today the Navy released their new report on the planned OLF project in Washington County and as expected it continues to proceed with this project. Shortly after this was released North Carolina Governor Mike Easley sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation in Washington asking them to take steps to stop the funding for this project at this site. An alternative site in Carteret County is where the Governor would like to see the Navy construct the OLF. Governor Easley is a hunter and should be commended for standing up to the Navy. I hope the Congressional Delegation will take action to slow this train wreck down. NO OLF

Early Posts on OLF
Navy and Marines Compromise with Environmental Groups
A Couple of News Articles Get Me Wondering
US Fish & Wildlife Employee’s Who have the Most Knowledge have been Gagged

” alt=”" />

Driving down the road I noticed a tree in full bloom that looked a lot like a red bud. The red bud blooming to me tells me it’s time for turkey season. Of course I’m sure that it wasn’t a red bud but then again with this crazy winter who knows. Needless to say time is getting short… well ok maybe not but it is only 7 weeks from Saturday.

It’s still a bit early to scout for them because they are still in their winter patterns but time walking around the woods is not wasted time. You can get any idea about the numbers of birds in your area as well as prime roosting spots. Seems to me that they roost in a few spots year round. I’ve been told and it seems to be true that gobblers like to find roost trees over water. This gives them some security from predators.
Check out field edges and places you may want to set up to ambush your Tom. By doing it now you’ll at least have some familiarity with the area prior to setting up in the dark. Look for obstacles that can cause a gobbler to hang up like fences and streams and have some idea how to neutralize them. I’ve taken a bottom wire off in places where it would not cause a problem with a landowner and the birds can more easily enter the field. Look to see what is growing in the field and if it will mainly be a place they’ll come to bug or if there is crops they’ll feed on.

I find that there is certain areas I hunt that are almost guaranteed to have a gobbler hanging around every year. Just like bass if the structure is right and you take one out of there chances are good that shortly there after another one will move into fill the void. I check these areas out and I make sure the trails I’ll use to get in there in the early morning hours are debris free so I can sneak through as silently as possible without wakening any sleeping gobblers.

Lastly the predator season is still on so now is a good time to wack a yote or two. This is mating season for them and with the population exploding around us taking a few out will help small game as well as the turkeys. Bobcats are in till the end of February so there is a little time to work on them still. Do they like turkey dinner? They sure do many of turkey hunters have been surprised by one coming into their turkey set up.

The weather for this weekend is suppose to be nice so get out and enjoy it.

There is lots of praise among the shooting fraternity for Remington’s quick response to the Zumbo Blog. Remington acted swiftly and decisively as it responded to the demands from the throngs of Second Amendment Defenders for action in response to Mr. Zumbo’s blog post referring to Assault Weapons as “Terrorist Weapons”. Some of his other sponsors have reacted in the same manner but others have the appearance of being slow to react. Outdoor Life has suspended his blog and Cabela’s is in conversations with lawyers about severing contracts if my fellow bloggers are to be believed. Once again I agree that the blog post was ill conceived and poorly thought out. I’m just not convinced that what has happened since then is right but as a friend told me today “that’s business”.

Well that has got me thinking and I’ve got some questions that I’d love to know the answers to and I hope others do too. Maybe Remington Arms will be quick to respond to these questions.

To refresh your memories incase you missed it here is an excerpt from the post.

As I write this, I’m hunting coyotes in southeastern Wyoming with Eddie Stevenson, PR Manager for Remington Arms, Greg Dennison, who is senior research engineer for Remington, and several writers. We’re testing Remington’s brand new .17 cal Spitfire bullet on coyotes.
I must be living in a vacuum. The guides on our hunt tell me that the use of AR and AK rifles have a rapidly growing following among hunters, especially prairie dog hunters. I had no clue. Only once in my life have I ever seen anyone using one of these firearms.
I call them “assault” rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I’m a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I’ll go so far as to call them “terrorist” rifles. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are “tackdrivers.”

What I find interesting is who he identifies as being on the hunt with him two of the big dogs from Remington Arms. Does anyone truly believe this blog post was formed in a vacuum? I don’t. I’d go as far to say that by this now infamous post it sounds like it was an item of discussion while on this hunt. For some reason I find it hard to believe that Mr. Zumbo kept his “anti second amendment views” to just himself. I’ve got to believe and I think it’s only reasonable to assume that he stated his views while on this hunt. Why then didn’t the PR Manager for Remington Arms say anything at that point? Where was Eddie Stevenson and Greg Dennison and did they stand up to Mr Zumbo’s “Anti Second Amendment views”? I can’t believe that if they had said anything to Mr. Zumbo that he would have posted what he did and risk his sponsorship with Remington.

Like I said in an earlier post what does this say about these companies and sponsors that have far more access to these celebrities to let someone with views that are so far off the reservation have such a long career in the shooting sports? I also can’t help but wonder how one of Remington Arms PR people is present on the hunt and a debacle like this can emerge and only Mr. Zumbo has the light of scrutiny shined on him. To my fellow firearm enthusiasts I’d be careful about singing the praises of Remington Arms for taken such swift action cause I got a feeling there are other rats on this ship.

We’ve all seen the shows where they go out on the street and show the “average” person a photo of someone famous and ask who is it? Most can’t identify Newt or Rummy if their life depended on. For some reason I believe that a couple of weeks ago if you stood inside a hunting show and asked folks who Jim Zumbo was that most couldn’t tell you a thing about him. One, or more accurately two blog posts and he is practically a household name as well as the most hated man in the outdoor industry.

What Mr. Zumbo posted certainly is not a position I would take nor care to have to defend. I believe we should vigorously defend our rights but what I’ve witnessed the last few days appears to be more of a lynching then a defending. If you believe that Mr. Zumbo is not a supporter of the second amendment one would need to question the leadership of these organizations as well as companies that have supported, hired, and associated with him over his long career. How come they didn’t know he opposed the Second Amendment?

I honestly believe the man misspoke like he said. What has happened since then is a firestorm among us gun owners and outdoor types. We made sure this man’s professional life was destroyed so he can no longer spew his anti second amendment rhetoric.

Seemed like just about everywhere gun owners gathered they were being urged to boycott his sponsors and to write in and email their displeasure for what this man said. We never gave his sponsors opportunity to wade through the issue and figure out what should be done. Over a couple of ill thought out posts we throw out all the good that Jim Zumbo has done over the years to better and improve the shooting sports.

But the Antis will use his words against us is the cry. They probably would have with limited success because most people would have no idea who Jim Zumbo is. There would of also been opportunity for a discussion around the whole topic because I’m certain that many hunters may have questions about why someone may choose to hunt with an assault rifle.

What we feared most we have now guaranteed will take place because we have educated not only those within our ranks to jump on the kick Zumbo while he is down bandwagon but also a lot more people now know about Zumbo. Unfortunately the only thing they know about him is that he is the Gun Writer that spoke out against people hunting with assault rifles.

A couple of blog posts this weekend by a man that should have known better certainly has hurt but the thousand upon thousands of emails and net posts highlighting his blunder for all the world to see will be even more costly on our second amendment rights.

Did you know that you are selling forest land in North Carolina? If you’re an American Citizen then your part of the ownership group that is selling chunks of national forest. President Bush attempted to sell off about 10,000 acres of NC Forest land last year that fell through after much opposition so this year they scaled it down and are trying it again. This years proposal calls for putting up 5,685 acres of National Forest Land in North Carolina as well as many acres of land across the country.

I see little reason for selling off land chance are this is land that will just be developed and lost forever. National Forests are renewable natural resources and in my opinion should be managed as such. As outdoors men this land provides access for us to hunt & fish private ownership will certainly eliminate those opportunities. Congressman Hayes led the opposition last year in Washington so please contact him and let him know what your thoughts are about selling off our national forestland.

Fellow outdoor blogger Jim Zumbo, of significant more fame then I, has set the outdoor blogging world a blaze this weekend with his views on assault weapons. Now in case you’ve been in a cave or out all weekend shooting prairie dogs here is what he said in a nutshell.

I call them “assault” rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I’m a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I’ll go so far as to call them “terrorist” rifles. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are “tackdrivers.”
Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in hunting. We don’t need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern.

I certainly do not support Jim’s view on these weapons but I’m also not willing to throw him under a bus like it seems many hunters and gun owners seem all quick to do. Jim has now posted an apology for his blog post and has backtracked on many of these words.
I guess my question is that in situations where a person doesn’t fully agree with a principle but over all supports it does that make them the enemy? I think not. If we need 100% support in all our views will alienate and divide us even quicker. Our world of hunting is littered with countless debates that well never all agree on; Crossbows, baiting, high fence hunting, what is a true muzzleloader, Sunday hunting, and dog hunting to name a few. I’m glad Jim has changed his mind on this issue but even if he hadn’t I still would consider him a friend and supporter to hunters and gun owners.