Growing Family
by dukkillrJuly 31, 2009
I became an uncle for the first time today:
William Tapply Outdoorsman and Writer Loses Battle With Leukemia
by MooseJuly 31, 2009
William Tapply a well know New England writer and son of H G “Tap” Tapply passed away Tuesday at his N H home after a 2 year battle with Leukemia. He wrote a number of books including many outdoor books mostly about fishing, compiled a book of “Tap’s Tips” his father’s famous column for Field & Stream.
I guess growing up in New England many of his articles and books were very familiar to me because of the geography and the people. I went on his website tonight and saw the extensive list of all the books and articles he has written and one in particular caught my attention “Why I Hunt”. Here is a line from that article that seems somewhat fitting at this time;
I hunt because it links me with the boy I used to be and with the young man my father was then.
I hunt because it keeps my passions alive and my memories fresh and my senses alert even as my beard grows gray, and because I fear that if I stopped hunting I would become an old man, and because I believe that as long as I hunt I will remain young.
We should all stay forever young. Mr. Tapply was 69. RIP
Obituaries
Boston Globe
Midcurrent
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Quarterly Firearm and Ammunition Excise Taxes Up 43%
by Mike BellJuly 31, 2009
NEWTOWN, Conn., July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — During a time period of great economic uncertainty, firearm and ammunition sales have continued to increase throughout the country.
According to the most recent Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax Collection Report, released earlier today by the Department of the Treasury, firearm and ammunition manufacturers paid more than $109.8 million in the first calendar quarter of 2009; up 43% over the same time period reported in 2008.
This dramatic increase follows a 31.3 percent increase in excise taxes from the previous quarter (4Q, 2008) and eight straight months of increased FBI background checks - another strong indicator of firearm sales.
A third reliable source, the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), reported that in 2008, “Hunting and Firearms” equipment was the only category to grow double digits and only one of seven categories that exhibited growth. NSGA’s forecast for 2009 shows “Hunting and Firearms” as one of only two categories to exhibit growth.
Manufacturers of firearms and ammunition pay a federal excise tax — a major source of wildlife conservation funding — on all firearms and ammunition manufactured (11% on long guns and ammunition and 10% on handguns).
This latest excise tax report, which covers the time period of January 1, 2009 through March 31, 2009, shows that $33.0 million was collected in taxes for pistols and revolvers, $38.9 million for long guns and $37.8 million for ammunition. Compared to the same quarter in 2008, collections were up 65.5% for handguns, 42.9% for ammunition and 28.3% for long guns.
Translation to sales:
Using the latest collections as an indicator of sales, a projection of $1.03 billion was generated in the first quarter (calendar year) of 2009. Please keep in mind that although excise taxes are one of the best indicators of industry performance, they only report what the manufacturers paid in taxes and do NOT reflect retail mark-up and final retail sales.
Pistols and revolvers: $33,043,554.83 / .10 = $330,435,548.30 = $330.4 million for handguns
Long guns: $38,979,972.16 / .11 = $354,363,383.27 = $354.3 million for long guns
Ammunition: $37,846,038.52 / .11 = $344,054,895.64 = $344.0 million for ammunition
Total estimation for the quarter: $1.028 billion
| SOURCE National Shooting Sports Foundation |
What The Heck Is The Harvest ID #?
by MooseJuly 31, 2009
Photo Courtesy of NCWRC
North Carolina utilizes a report card system rather than a tag system for successful hunters to remove big game animals from the kill site. The report card has the different species listed and a punch out area next to each one to be removed upon killing the animal. To complete the process the hunter must obtain a possession number from NCWRC prior to doing anything more than gutting the animal.
A new feature this season is the harvest id # that is listed on each report line here is what NCWRC says about this;
This year’s big game harvest report card contains a Harvest ID number located beside the name of each big game species. The purpose of this number is to streamline the telephone and online reporting processes. Hunters will be required to enter the appropriate Harvest ID number for the animal harvested. This number will validate the customer’s information and go straight to the questions specific to the species harvested.
I guess that means that they will no longer ask you what kind of animal you killed but will know by the number you enter. How this will streamline the process is a mystery to me. I don’t know about anyone else but some of the places I hunt there is not the greatest cell coverage. Punching in a bunch of numbers sounds complicated in the sense that it will be easy for something to get messed up. If the process messes up the only option is then for you to enter it on the computer. I certainly don’t have a computer with me so I’ll have to head home without the option of breaking a deer down to put on ice. We’ll see how this goes but I have my doubts.
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Beer Summit Second Only To Oral Sex In White House
by Tom RemingtonJuly 31, 2009
I remember after 8 years of the Clinton administration, Americans were clamoring to “bring back some dignity” to the Oval Office. This of course after scores of classless acts by Clinton and his children running his offices and topping that off with a rendezvous in the Oval Office with Monica Lewinsky, complete with cigars and oral sex while chatting it up with foreign dignitaries on the Oval Office phone.
How soon I guess we have forgotten about the importance of class and dignity in the White House. Among all the other things President Obama has done, and I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing time and again about them all, we now have the “Beer Summit”.
The president invited Professor Gates, the man who cried racism because a cop was doing his job, and the cop to come to the White House and talk this out over a beer. Yeah, that’s right! A beer. A totally classless act that adds to the misery of this administration and reaffirms his freshman ignorance and proves the job is way over his head. This was all mostly because our president called the cop stupid.
But get this. Robert Gates, the arrogant Obama clone who is Obama’s press secretary, attempts to chide the press for its ridiculous coverage of the Beer Summit.
We have a bunch of classless and ignorant kids, Robert Gates included, attempting to laugh and ridicule the press in how it handled the Beer Summit. It must be obvious that Gates, and his boss the President of the United States, actually think his calling a Beer Summit is a serious event, one that deserves completely serious coverage.
All this ended up being was a terrible publicity stunt in hopes of Obama saving face. Well, he didn’t, at least to anyone willing to be honest about the make up of this guy.
Isn’t it bizzare? Here’s our press, totally in bed with Obama and all that he does. They see him and report in a way that “The One” can do no wrong and think they are playing along with Obama’s little games of playing golf, having pizza parties and throwing beer summits, mixed in with apologizing for bad America and the kids of the media almost got detention.
What’s next to come from the White House? Maybe invite Rev. Wright and the Pope over for a good old fashioned tent revival.
Tom Remington
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Beer Summit Second Only To Oral Sex In White House
by Tom RemingtonJuly 31, 2009
I remember after 8 years of the Clinton administration, Americans were clamoring to “bring back some dignity” to the Oval Office. This of course after scores of classless acts by Clinton and his children running his offices and topping that off with a rendezvous in the Oval Office with Monica Lewinsky, complete with cigars and oral sex while chatting it up with foreign dignitaries on the Oval Office phone.
How soon I guess we have forgotten about the importance of class and dignity in the White House. Among all the other things President Obama has done, and I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing time and again about them all, we now have the “Beer Summit”.
The president invited Professor Gates, the man who cried racism because a cop was doing his job, and the cop to come to the White House and talk this out over a beer. Yeah, that’s right! A beer. A totally classless act that adds to the misery of this administration and reaffirms his freshman ignorance and proves the job is way over his head. This was all mostly because our president called the cop stupid.
But get this. Robert Gates, the arrogant Obama clone who is Obama’s press secretary, attempts to chide the press for its ridiculous coverage of the Beer Summit.
We have a bunch of classless and ignorant kids, Robert Gates included, attempting to laugh and ridicule the press in how it handled the Beer Summit. It must be obvious that Gates, and his boss the President of the United States, actually think his calling a Beer Summit is a serious event, one that deserves completely serious coverage.
All this ended up being was a terrible publicity stunt in hopes of Obama saving face. Well, he didn’t, at least to anyone willing to be honest about the make up of this guy.
Isn’t it bizzare? Here’s our press, totally in bed with Obama and all that he does. They see him and report in a way that “The One” can do no wrong and think they are playing along with Obama’s little games of playing golf, having pizza parties and throwing beer summits, mixed in with apologizing for bad America and the kids of the media almost got detention.
What’s next to come from the White House? Maybe invite Rev. Wright and the Pope over for a good old fashioned tent revival.
Tom Remington
Cabela?s profit tops expectations
by Mike BellJuly 31, 2009
CHICAGO, July 30 (Reuters) - Outdoor gear retailer Cabela’s Inc (CAB.N) posted a bigger-than-expected 25 percent increase in quarterly profit, helped by cost-cuts and demand for hunting equipment, sending its shares to their highest in almost two years.
The company also raised its 2009 revenue outlook and said earnings for the year could top last year’s earnings.
“These guys had what appears to be a fantastic quarter,” Feltl and Co analyst Mark Smith said, citing strength across all segments, especially the hunting equipment category, and better-than-expected results within the credit card business.
“The fact that they’re talking about ‘if this momentum continues we’ll see earnings growth’ is very good news for investors,” added Smith, who has a “buy” rating on the stock.
Cabela’s sells gear and apparel for fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities in stores, through its catalog and on the Web. In recent quarters, sales of firearms and ammunition have given results a boost, but charge-offs at its financial services arm have cut into profit.
Alone In The Wild With Ed Wardle – Trekking Across The Yukon
by Tom RemingtonJuly 31, 2009
Many readers may find this adventure something they would be interested in following. National Geographic Channel is following the 30-day trek of documentary filmmaker and outdoors enthusiasts Ed Wardle across the Canadian Yukon.
While following his adventure, with the ultimate goal of creating a full feature documentary, National Geographic Channel will follow Ed in nearly real time. His journey will be plotted with Google Map Locator. Ed will be Twittering his journey as well. We also will have the entertainment of several videos of Ed’s adventures.
I intend to follow Ed’s progress as best I can and receive periodic updates of his journey. I will also post up some of the more interesting videos and you can visit Ed Wardle’s web site and view them all.
Tom Remington
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Back to the Field- Deer hunting time!
by Phillip LoughlinJuly 31, 2009
Time to dodge the traffic and get the hell out of the city again… and this time I’m hunting for myself!
Heading back up to Sonoma County, the Hedgepeth Ranch, in hopes of putting an arrow into a good blacktail buck… although I’ll take a hog, if the opportunity presents itself. I’ve had pretty decent luck up there with the hogs, and managed a deer a couple years back, so I have pretty high hopes for this trip. We’re also taking a friend and her son out, and I hope to let him see what a hunt can be all about. It’d be awesome to put something in the freezer, but it’ll be pretty cool just to get out there and enjoy the Sonoma county hill country.
My friend Matt, who some of you may remember as the “Hog Shootinest Gent’man“, has already filled his A zone tag. Check out his buck… gives me something to aspire to!
I’ll be back on Sunday night, and hope to have some tales to tell and pictures to show!
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Jefferson And Madison Battle It Out Over U.S. Constitution And Bill Of Rights
by Tom RemingtonJuly 31, 2009
At the end of Thomas Jefferson’s five years he spent in Paris, France working for the United States to open treaties and agreements of commerce and trade, back in the States work was being done in drafting the Constitution.
Jefferson was always adamant that the Constitution should contain a guarantee of rights to the citizens of America, that it should be spelled out clearly the freedoms guaranteed to each person. The debate on such ranged from it not being at all necessary and whether or not any “guaranteed” rights be done as amendments to the ratified Constitution or a stand alone document.
If Jefferson were alive today, he could make a fortune in consulting fees. He was the go-to guy for many when seeking advice on an array of topics. It seemed that while he was in the middle of receiving mailings from across the ocean about the drafting of a constitution, he was also consulting with many concerning the French Revolution and helping the French people to regain some of their lost freedoms.
James Madison was a protege of Jefferson’s. Jefferson thought highly of him and mentored him on many occasions throughout his life. The drafting of the Constitution was no different. But it should be said that even as close as Jefferson and Madison were, they didn’t always see eye to eye on issues, the Bill of Rights being one of them.
Don’t be confused, Madison was a firm believer in the rights of American citizens. The difference came in whether it was necessary to actually have those rights spelled out in a separate document or through amendments to the Constitution.
In March of 1789, Thomas Jefferson answered a letter sent him by James Madison about whether or not it was necessary to include a bill of rights and other concerns of the drafting of the Constitution. Some believe that in the following text of his answers, shows us some of the greatest thoughts that Jefferson had and why he felt compelled to create a Bill of Rights.
I cannot refrain from making short answers to the objections which your letter states to have been raised.
1. That the rights in question are reserved by the manner in which the federal powers are granted.
Answer. A constitutive act may certainly be so formed as to need no declaration of rights. The act itself has the force of a declaration as far as it goes: and if it goes to all material points nothing more is wanting. In the draft of a constitution which I had once a thought of proposing in Virginia, and printed afterwards, I endeavored to reach all the great objects of public liberty, and did not mean to add a declaration of rights. Probably the object was imperfectly executed: but the deficiencies would have been supplied by others in the course of discussion. But in a constitutive act which leaves some precious articles unnoticed, and raises implications against others, a declaration of rights becomes necessary by way of supplement. This is the case of our new federal constitution. This instrument forms us into one state as to certain objects, and gives us a legislative and executive body for these objects. It should therefore guard us against their abuses of power within the field submitted to them.
2. A positive declaration of some essential rights could not be obtained in the requisite latitude.
Answer. Half a loaf is better than no bread. If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.
3. The limited powers of the federal government and jealousy of the subordinate governments afford a security which exists in no other instance.
Answer. The first member of this seems resolvable into the 1st. objection before stated. The jealousy of the subordinate governments is a precious reliance. But observe that those governments are only agents. They must have principles furnished them whereon to found their opposition. The declaration of rights will be the text whereby they will try all the acts of the federal government. In this view it is necessary to the federal government also: as by the same text they may try the opposition of the subordinate governments.
4. Experience proves the inefficacy of a bill of rights.
True. But though it is not absolutely efficacious under all circumstances, it is of great potency always, and rarely inefficacious. A brace the more will often keep up the building which would have fallen with that brace the less. There is a remarkable difference between the characters of the Inconveniences which attend a Declaration of rights, and those which attend the want of it. The inconveniences of the Declaration are that it may cramp government in it’s useful exertions. But the evil of this is short-lived, moderate, and reparable. The inconveniences of the want of a Declaration are permanent, afflicting and irreparable: they are in constant progression from bad to worse. The executive in our governments is not the sole, it is scarcely the principal object of my jealousy. The tyranny of the legislatures is the most formidable dread at present, and will be for long years. That of the executive will come in it’s turn, but it will be at a remote period.
Jefferson had witnessed first hand how without any charter or declaration of rights, the people of France had their liberties yanked out from underneath them. He feared the same for America and therefore spent a great deal of time and effort in convincing many others that the United States Bill of Rights was a necessary document.
His influence on Madison was great enough and over time it was James Madison who introduced the Bill of Rights (the first ten) into Congress as amendments to the Constitution.
Tom Remington
