[quote=maddawg

never try to use a self climber on a shag bark hickory

So true.

If you are climbing this year don’t ever forget your safety harness. There are guys out there that will tell us we don’t want to learn that lesson the hard way. I shudder now to think of all the hunts with little or no fall protection in my past. I guess I was just lucky. Today I would not go up without one.

maddawg wrote: change all batteries before the season starts (flashlights’)

And bring waterproofed spares 😀

Enjoy the moment you are in out there, it will never happen again!

Extra batteries are silly. How are you going to change them in the dark? You need at least 2 flashlights. A head lamp, a small lamp to see to change the batteries in the head lamp. And a third to pound the crap out of the other two when they don’t work.

grumpy wrote: Extra batteries are silly. How are you going to change them in the dark? You need at least 2 flashlights. A head lamp, a small lamp to see to change the batteries in the head lamp. And a third to pound the crap out of the other two when they don’t work.

Oh…and glasses to see to change the Mini-Mag bulbs that you drop in the leaf litter trying to get that wee thing outa the base of the flashlight…

As for one to pound, Grumpy, hell, I have enough ready rocks for that! My MiniMag burned a bulb… dang. It was blacker than the inside of a sack of black cats. I had #2 in my pocket!

That would be #2 FLASHLIGHT in me pocket!:shock:

ROFL

But how do you find the rock???

grumpy wrote: ROFL

But how do you find the rock???

Same way I find bedposts, doorjambs and other things under foot in the dark…take off your boots and stub your toe on one… there it is!:roll:

grumpy wrote: Extra batteries are silly. How are you going to change them in the dark?

Haha, that’s why the gods gave us moonlight and starlight, to change batteries with. Anyway, if a clutz like me can strip and assemble a machine gun blindfolded, a normal, fully functional man can surely pop a battery cap and fit a couple of batteries 😉

Back before GPS I got all screwed around in northern Maine. Took out the compass and decided the compass was drunk. After passing the same moose track after a couple hrs of corkscrewing around, I said maybe that thing knows something! By God it was smarter than me:wink: A good humbling I’d good now and then.

I bought one of those GPS things once…a Garmin E-trex.

Read, studied, practiced. Once in our river hills, I was at a place I knew well… I did the waypoint for the truck before leaving. I knew where I was, but it kept telling me to go in a direction I knew was a sheer drop 400′ down to the river.

I gave it away! Had I been somewhere I wasn’t familiar, and followed that thing… the last thing I’d have said would have been similar to Sundance’s commentary jumping off the ledge into the river in Butch Cassidy movie

You want to be very cautious when using gps in mountains and lots of trees. As the one time head of the Space Command command center—this reluctant grunt had to learn some things–not trad. but could keep you safe. Those devices in cars and used in cities are ground augmented. Sat. talks to a ground station and walla you have 3 meter accuracy. Out in the boonies–unless your with a military operation–your receiver is just getting that 2 watt signal from you hope–at least 3 sats. with the right geometry. Well then we have to talk about PDOP which is more then I will go into here–if really interested pm me. Bottom line–in the wild- map and compass skills will be my choice. My humble opinion.

And Ausjim is not a clutz he just learned how to do that in the standard military way —mindless repetition–followed by blunt trauma.:D

Mike

Mike– your last line sure sums up my time in the Corps! 😯

paleoman wrote: Back before GPS I got all screwed around in northern Maine. Took out the compass and decided the compass was drunk. After passing the same moose track after a couple hrs of corkscrewing around, I said maybe that thing knows something! By God it was smarter than me:wink: A good humbling I’d good now and then.

This is the story of my life…lol

If i had a nickel for every time i argued with my compass id be a rich man!

So far though, the compass has proved to be right everytime.

I will add a lesson learned.

sunrise does not have a snooze button! nothing better than hitting the snooze one more time, but nothing worse that rushing to get on stand because you slept in.

If you think you will be warm enough add one more layer.

Pee BEFORE you get all dressed up, nothing worse than having to pee bad and then having to fish thru 11 layers of clothing to get a handle on the situation.

jasonsamko wrote:

Pee BEFORE you get all dressed up, nothing worse than having to pee bad and then having to fish thru 11 layers of clothing to get a handle on the situation.

Jason, I read a great quote from Shackleton that from memory went: “One of the greatest challenges of Antarctic exploration is getting 2 inches of manhood past 4 inches of wool every morning.”

You reminded me of that 😉

Batteries, batteries! That “them things I wish I’d brung some of’em”?:D When I was in the corps we couldn’t interpret the signal from Sputnik. :D, so kindly persuasion from wanna be DI’s in ITR taught me the value of compass and map. Camp Horno at Camp Pendleton had way too many rattlers in the area to go roaming around in the dark without a return guide plus the ice cream and cookies given upon a proper and timely return to point “A” were an incentive:P. Maybe not those. Ever been “swimming in the sand”? Bet a few of you know about that. 😉 Don’t miss point “B” or “C”!

“get a handle on the situation

That, Jason, is the most polite way I ever heard a very masculine dilemma ever put!!!:lol:

R2, I love your tag line!!! Excellent! World would be a better place if we all subscribed to that simple ditty!

colmike wrote: And Ausjim is not a clutz he just learned how to do that in the standard military way —mindless repetition–followed by blunt trauma.:D

Mike

My Dad used to call that “the military way of teaching ya” Yes, colmike he repeated it mindlessly, and frequently threatened blunt trama.

Laughed so load at this thread that it woke the kid up @#$%^&*

Doc Nock wrote:

Oh…and glasses to see to change the Mini-Mag bulbs that you drop in the leaf litter trying to get that wee thing outa the base of the flashlight..

Which glasses?

ausjim wrote: [quote=grumpy]

Haha, that’s why the gods gave us moonlight and starlight, to change batteries with. Anyway, if a clutz like me can strip and assemble a machine gun blindfolded, a normal, fully functional man can surely pop a battery cap and fit a couple of batteries 😉

I’ve never been called normal, and fully functional is juat a memory. On the other hand I can cast a fly dead on in the dark. But then I’ve been told that isn’t normal.

grumpy wrote:

On the other hand I can cast a fly dead on in the dark. But then I’ve been told that isn’t normal.

I need to get you down here on the Yellow Breeches for the dead dark of night white fly hatch in August!:roll:8)

Actually I was on my way about 10 years ago when Arwen arrived.

Life is what happens while we are making other plans.

grumpy wrote: Actually I was on my way about 10 years ago when Arwen arrived.

Life is what happens while we are making other plans.

Ah, yes… Well, it petered out pretty badly for a few years, but I’m told that it’s coming back. I’ve not been there in years…standing in the water to “reserve” a spot from 3pm till dark about 7:30pm is not my idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Neither is casting flies in the dark. Turn on a light and you’re immediately engulfed in bugs and can’t untangle a mess!

Archery, while at times frustrating, is way simpler!

Daylight is always simpler.