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in reply to: Signs of Spring #14752
Boreas reached out an icy hand today and grabbed us again by the throat. Four more inches of snow, plus wind, to be followed this week by temps about ten degrees below normal. At the rate things are going, the snowshoe hare will be brown before the ground is!
I saw my first wolf in the mid-1960s, lying dead in a farmer’s yard when MN still had a bounty. I had to move to AK to see them in the wild. I’ve been privileged to see them on a few very special occasions. And they have come back in a big way in MN and WI.
Yes, they’re a threat to dogs and livestock, something that needs to be kept in mind. But I’d give my eye teeth to live among them again. Meanwhile, I enjoy watching the Eastern coyote/wolf hybrids filling the vacated niche here in New England. They all get a pass from me, so long as they stay a respectful distance from the dogs. (One of them got the surprise of its life from my wife’s late Malinois – the Mal had covered a big chunk of a meadow before the coyote’s brain registered what was happening. 😯 😀
Hold up your hand. Fold down your thumb and all but your forefinger. That remaining digit represents the actual number of adult humans proven to have been killed by wolves in North America in the last one hundred years: Wolves killed Alaska teacher in 2010, state says
Now uncurl your middle finger as well. The sum of those two digits represents the proven plus the suspected number of adult humans killed by wolves in North America in the last one hundred years: Kenton Joel Carnegie wolf attack
in reply to: Emergency Gear #7779TMS wrote: It is almost certain that when we turn out to look for a lost hunter, the only gear they have is weapon, ammo, license, and cell phone. Even when lost, a small amount of gear can make all the difference in getting found again.
I used to say in WA that “there oughta be a law” that elk hunters be required to post a bond as a condition of getting a license. If you’re found wearing blue jeans when you’re overdue and we come looking for you, you forfeit the bond. 🙄
in reply to: Signs of Spring #7772We still have waist-deep snow in the woods here in NH, and we’ve had subzero readings even this past weekend.
But it hit 44 ºF today, and I took the 72-year-old Hill-style selfbow out for the first time in many, many weeks. Things went a little better when I woke up and adjusted my recurve-accustomed grip …
Saw a crow pair recently, and some adventurous robins have appeared from time to time.
in reply to: Emergency Gear #62329Two things drive the choice of items on my list above – a lifetime of spending days and nights alone in the woods in climates where Ma Nature does her best to do you in during the months with an “r” in them, and a somewhat shorter period looking for folks in those same places who were overdue for some reason.
Having someone waiting for your return does influence your thinking about this. I wouldn’t give the notion of a PLB a second thought but for that.
in reply to: We don't need no stinkin' N.A. Model! #59656Geez, Dave. I thought you were capable of expressing yourself more clearly. What did you actually mean to say? 😉
Bravo!
in reply to: Flying Geese Tips #50577I have fifteen Bear Razorheads in rough to good condition and two blunted but possibly fixable M–A3-L broadheads that I’ve stripped off old arrows I bought for the shafts. Some or all are free for the asking. Send me a PM here.
UPDATE: They’re packed for the trip north – and I mean NORTH 🙂 – in front of the geese.
in reply to: Add weight to a Judo?? #50038First, check the actual weight on your Judos. Last batch here of the nominally 135 grain glue-ons ranged from 140 to 148. At 148 that’s nearly a ten percent variance.
I’ve experimented with melting lead shot into the glue-on Judos, but it oozes out sometimes. When it works you can get to around 160 fairly easily, but much beyond that would be tough I think – you run out of room for the shaft.
I’ve just mounted some of the 175 grain glue-on Hammers, which I’ve only shot at a Rinehart 18-1 target backed by a horse stall mat. (They bounce off the target sometimes and they stick slightly sometimes.) I’m waiting for the right circumstance to do some stumping with them, which by the looks of things around here will be sometime in July or August …
in reply to: Emergency Gear #40539Wose wrote: … I’ve become a “more I know the more I want to carry kind of guy,” when I consider the fact that one of the things that is liable to put me out in the woods longer than I intended is a lower extremity injury, which makes things like debris shelters much more difficult to build.
This is the scenario that first got me involved in SAR, when I contemplated lying on the ground in the winter in MInnesota. I trained my Newfoundland dog to find me and lie down alongside me. Started thinking about how to put that to use and started a SAR dog unit.
I’d carry a PLB if we were back in the Pacific Northwest or AK. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’m alone in the woods. (There’s a search underway right now here in NH for a woman who activated a PLB yesterday in the White Mountains. Windchill in the mountains has been running well below -50 ºF for the last couple of days …)
in reply to: Emergency Gear #39664grumpy wrote: Does anybody EVER remember the TP, and a spare diaper.
The TP is in the unenumerated first aid stuff. Don’t know nuthin’ ’bout no diapers …
in reply to: Emergency Gear #39323Since it’s winter, I’ll list the cold weather kit items, which are packed in a red nylon stuff sack to remind me to bring it:
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‘, ”, ‘Esbit tablet stove and four tablets (like the ‘Hammer’s Emberlit, but not nearly as thin and efficient)
(Allegedly wind proof) matches
Bic lighter
Two PowerBars
Two packets of cider mix
Titanium spork (not for survival, but just in case I bring some food that needs it)
MSR Titanium pot, 1 liter
First aid stuff not worth enumerating here, except to highlight the Combat Application Tourniquet (which actually goes in a pack waistbelt pocket) – http://tinyurl.com/mg6qof9
Something I consider vastly superior to every alternative in the event I’m on the ground waiting for a while, the Blizzard Survival Bag
An extremely loud Storm Whistle – http://www.stormwhistles.com
Backup LED flashlight
Backup compass
Backup cellphone battery
‘).'”).”n
“‘
Wose wrote:
HA!
My SAR experience was a little wetter (Coast Guard) but I found myself crawling through puckerbrush looking for people more than I would have expected.
GSD or Belgian? I’ve never been a professional dog handler, but do love a good GSD. We had to put one down (lymphoma) a year ago almost exactly. We’re gonna get a puppy next year when the baby is a little older.
You couldn’t get me out of the Northwest with dynamite. We really love it here. We’re out past Yacolt, if you know where that is.
Am I gonna find Youtube video of you rolling an MLB as you cross the Bar?
At age 19, I was thirty minutes from signing my enlistment papers for the Coast Guard when my parents talked me out of it. About thirty years later, my wife (not knowing the history) looks at me and says, “You know what, you would have been good in the Coast Guard.”
I worked two GSDs as SAR dogs and started a Malinois as my third, but he’d been abused before I adopted him and he ended up being my companion dog. My wife prefers the Malinuts and now has a five month-old puppy. There is nothing like a GSD for temperament (and nothing like that statement to get the debate roiling here …)
“out past Yacolt” = “we really dislike crowds”, for those who don’t know. You’d need a SAR team just to find that town. +1
Wose wrote: I have a Search and Rescue background, but you are a little out of my bailiwick.
Well, this is going to have to stop right now, or I’ll have to start worrying that I’ve been cloned:
I work from home.
I have a practice range a short walk from my garage door and can shoot several times a week, sometimes twice a day. (But something less than 1000 arrows are being launched biweekly here right now, what with the 2.5 feet of snow and temps near zero.)
We lived in western Washington for six years, and we’re planning on moving back and residing in Poulsbo or thereabouts within the next couple of years.
I was a SAR dog handler for many years, including three in WA.
So, welcome, but fuhgeddaboud hijacking the Enterprise! 😀
in reply to: Wood vs. Propane in Tent #26788For the absolute best advice on picking a backpacking stove, turn to Zen Stoves – How to Choose a Backpacking Stove. Among other things, the Zen Stoves site has the facts, not fiction, about Cold Weather Operation of canister stoves.
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