Room with a view

This young whitetail stepped out to entertain us durin' Sunday breakfast last weekend, on our forth day in the new place. I like our new home already...

PA Deer Season

After spendin' all of last week shufflin' around boxes from the old place to the new place, between shovelin' piles of turkey and fillin' down my gullet, it was time again to hit the woods.

The PA buck opener is, in my biased opinion, one of the finest traditions our state holds. On the first Monday followin' Thanksgiving, schools and businesses around the state are shut down, realizin' the futility of dealin' with masses of "ill" students and employees. Small rural towns turn into bustlin' metropolises for a few days as the Orange Army arrives in droves. The shotgun shacks, trailers and campers that dot the roadways, that most mistake for abandoned dwellin's, come to life once again as they fill to the brim with cigar smoke, Busch cans, Crock Pots and Remington 760's. It is truly a magical time in our state.

Monday mornin' found Dad, Jess and I at our latest Openin' Day property, just down the road from camp. Joe, havin' gotten his buck in bow season, opted to stay home to take a young friend of his out to try to get his first buck.

Only two years removed from havin' a 60 degree openin' day, we were treated to an inch of snow on the ground this year. I admittedly don't get into the gun huntin' quite as much as I do with archery and muzzleloader, so I spent most of the day wanderin' around, explorin' the corners of the property for future reference. As the day wound down to a close, a shot rang out from up the hill, and a minute later, Jesse called. He had made what he thought was a good shot on a buck, but he didn't see it go down. With daylight fadin' fast, I hoofed my fat ass back up the hill and found Dad and Jess tryin' to pick up a blood trail. We were beginnin' to give up hope when Dad found a drop of blood, then a splash, then a puddle. A few yards later, I saw the white belly ahead in the twilight, and the celebration was on.

I've enjoyed a good bit of success over my huntin' career, and these days, it means the world to me to watch my family and friends have success. Jesse has two youngn's and a million obligations, and he just doesn't get the time in the woods like the rest of us do. That said, I'd have passed up a dozen world-class bucks for Jesse to get the shot that he did.

Jesse wasn't the only one to score durin' the openin' couple of days...

Schlongie's Uncle Tony got this nice Fulton
County six-point openin' mornin'.

Our buddy Robert, who takes us fishin' on the
Bay, whacked this stud in Kent County, MD.

My cousin Nate currently leads the buck pool with this
Day 2 brute, with over 20" outside spread.

Cousin Danny got some lead in this beautiful
Adams County brute, but another hunter in his
group finished the deed and got the tag.

I should have been headin' back up to camp tonight instead of typin' this, but after the move last week, and up early for huntin' and work every day this week, I decided to relax tonight and get a good night's sleep for once, then head up tomorrow. We can start to shoot doe up there on Saturday, so I anticipate a heavily-laden meat pole on Saturday night at the Full Rut camp. Maybe we'll get lucky and stumble upon a buck or two as well.

Retailer rant

Dear Walmart, KMart, Sears, Target, Old Navy, OfficeMax, Staples, Medieval Times, Toys "R" Us, Michaels, Macy's, J.C. Penney, Kohl's, Dollar General, Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy, and countless other scumfuck retailers that'll be open on Thanksgiving this year,

Fuck you all.

To all the retailers that are resistin' the urge to be a bunch of soulless money-grabbin' fucks, kudos. And extra kudos if you're givin' your employees the day off paid.

For all you people that decide to shop on Thanksgiving, fuck you too. I don't ever want to hear you twat waffles bitchin' about society. YOU are the problem.

Regards,
Bear

Movin' up

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we've been pretty busy, and y'all have probably noticed the general lack of postin' as of late.

Well, my girl and I are now the proud owners of a home.

She showed it to me back in the end of August. It's a helluva nice place, with a few acres of land (littered with deer trails), a few outbuildings and a big enough house to grow into. After goin' and lookin' at the place, we decided to take the next step (nobody told me there'd be about 4,297 steps after that, all of which required a dozen signatures). So, now that we've gone though all the bullshit and gyrations, we're finally gonna move in this week. The best part is, the sellers are pretty much older versions of us, so we ain't gonna have to change the space too much to suit our needs.

It's gonna be a long week, and the uncooperative weather they're callin' for ain't gonna help much. Luckily though, we have the Thanksgiving holiday, so we have a few extra days offa work, and there'll be plenty of family in town to give us a hand.

The next few months are sure to be interestin' as we get ourselves settled, and I'm sure I'll miss livin' up here on the farm, but I'm definitely lookin' forward to takin' on a new place.

Bear Camp '13

Saturday mornin', the ol' man and I loaded up the truck and headed for the mid-state. Another day of chasin' the bear awaited us. We only get to do it one or two days a year, so we try like hell to make the most of it.

Last year, I was lucky enough to be a part of a successful hunt, when Smally killed his first bear. This year, I got lucky again and was able to see Colonel get his first bear on our third drive of the day. I spent all day drivin', so I was pretty tuckered out. When those shots rang out in front of us though, all of that was forgotten as we beat the brush to finish out the drive, then get back into the thick shit to see the bear. I tell ya, nothin' makes me happier than to have some good hound-doggin' pay off.

The bear went out in front of the two drivers to my right and ran headlong into Gene, one of our standers. His first shot dropped the bear in his tracks, but as he walked toward him, the bear jumped up and ran back into the drive. He wound up in front of Colonel, who was drivin' to my left. Three shots from Colonel put him down for good, and the whoopin' commenced.  I never saw the bear until he was down, but I was definitely in the middle of all the action.

Gene and Colonel, shortly after
the drive finished.

Both Gene and the Colonel are former Marines, so there was a lotta braggin' directed at the other "inferior" service members in the group.

The obligatory group shot, after the drag out.

At the check station, it was determined to be a young boar, with an estimated live weight of 212 pounds.

Upon return from the check station, it was time to get it skun out. Colonel and Rat, an experienced bear slayer, did some quick knife work as the daylight faded and a snow squall moved though. I took the liberty of bein' the designated flashlight holder and picture taker.

I did take a few pictures as we drove that day, so I'll post them, just so y'all have an idea of the hell we go through to try and get these bears...

It starts out innocently enough....

And then the mountain laurel rises up like a wall in front of you.

And once you're in, you're either slitherin' like a snake along
the ground, or you're six feet off the ground, climbin' around
like a monkey. This particular patch was about 300 yards long,
and has yielded many bears over the years.

This is what we call the slashin's, a mile-long section of
mountainside that was logged off a few years back. It's a lot
tougher to get through that junk than it looks, but it's great
cover. Dad got his only bear on this drive, and the only bear I've
ever seen while bear huntin' came out of it, which I promtply missed.
The bear we got this year came outta here.

It is definitely a team effort to get a bear, and I really enjoy huntin' with that gang. It's somethin' the ol' man and I can do together, and I look forward to it every year.

The Case for Constitutional Carry

One of my primary time-wasters on the interwebs these days is The Truth About Guns. I stumbled upon it while searchin' up some information on my Mosin Nagant last fall, and just find more and more gems on there. They have tons of unbiased, honest reviews of a plethora of guns, gear reviews, industry and political news in relation to the Second Amendment, and a bunch of other good readin'. You can usually find some pretty spirited debates in the comments followin' the article as well. If you have a few minutes, check it out. You won't be disappointed.

But, to wit... They posted this gem the other day on the history and merits of Constitutional Carry. There's a lot of very good points made within... what's your thoughts?

*********************************************************

By Clifford Heseltine

There is a lot of interest in and discussion of the concept of Constitutional Carry these days, but what exactly are we talking about? The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says, exactly and succinctly: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This doesn’t give you or me or “the people” the right to keep and bear arms. This amendment was simply an affirmation that the people already have the right to keep and bear arms and that the new federal government had no authority to infringe upon that. That’s not a Constitutional right; it is a natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right, one of 28 such rights listed in the first seven amendments . . .

Historically it was felt that the Bill of Rights was only applicable as a prohibition against the federal government. The 14^th Amendment, however, changed that. The Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) began “incorporating” the Bill of Rights, which meant these rights belonged to all of the people and all of the states were also enjoined from inhibiting these natural rights. It was not until the Heller decision (District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008) that SCOTUS, with a bare majority (5 to 4) determined that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to keep and bear arms and that this right was finally “incorporated” against infringement by the states.

In my opinion the only reason the Founding Fathers did not make this idea of “incorporation” clear at the outset was that the issue did not seem in need of clarification. As a natural and fundamental human right listed as such in the Constitution it seemed only reasonable that the state governments would recognize this as well. Some did, some didn’t, and only one of the 50 states includes the verbatim text of the Second Amendment in their constitution.

So, what is “Constitutional Carry”? There are essentially two schools of thought: 1. The right to keep and bear arms is a natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right that is absolute and literal (mine), and 2. Despite what the actual text of the amendment says, government(s) can and should infringe on the RKBA in matters they deem important for public safety. (Wrong.)

Here is the historical evolution of the Second Amendment:

As originally proposed by James Madison in June, 1789: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country, but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.”

A House committee reworded this in August and submitted: “A well regulated militia composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no person religiously scrupulous shall be compelled to bear arms.

In late August the House again modified the amendment and sent the following version to the Senate:
“A well regulated militia composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.”

The Senate scribe made some punctuation “corrections”: “A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.”
 
On September 4, the Senate changed the language again: “A well regulated militia, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

On September 9 it was proposed to insert “for the common defence” next to “bear arms”, but this was defeated. The Senate passed: “A well regulated militia being the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

And on September 21, 1789 the amendment was accepted by the House containing the additional words “necessary to”: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

The additional wording about who was the militia and that the government could not require you to serve in a militia if it violated your religious principles was not in keeping with the intent of describing an existing human right. To have included that language would have implied that the militia was an organization created, answerable to and “well regulated” by government itself, which was not the intent, a freedom of religious practice is covered by the First Amendment. But notice what wording remained absolutely consistent from the first submission to the final approval: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” On this particular point there does not seem to have been any controversy.

***

Given the amount of debate and discussion and back and forth over more than three months is it not reasonable to assume that these learned men ended with EXACTLY the meaning they intended? If they had considered any limitations to this right being the role of government wouldn’t they have enumerated those exceptions? But these men had just endured a long and costly war against a tyrannical state and this was what they were attempting to prevent in the future. To give the government ANY authority to determine who could and who could not exercise a natural right was to change that right into a privilege administered and licensed by the very government that the amendment was intended to provide protection against. It must be kept in mind that not everyone was keen on the idea of a powerful central, federal government and in fact many of the delegates were concerned about the over-reach of this government if it had too much power. (Turns out they may have been right.) If they included in the text exceptions such as “convicted criminals (or convicted felons) or “persons with mental disorders” they would have allowed the government to pass any law making political enemies into criminals who could not exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Therefore, the Second Amendment, regardless of the opinion of SCOTUS, is and was always intended to be an absolute and unlimited right of the people. The purpose of the Second Amendment is to prohibit the government from infringing on the natural and civil right of the people to keep and bear arms to protect themselves, their family, their community, and their property. It was intended that the people should have the ability to raise and form militias to deal with larger threats, either criminal elements or against the rise of a tyrannical state. It was presumed that individuals or communities could adequately deal with the occasional madman in their midst.

It is the ABSOLUTE right of EVERY person to keep and bear arms in defense of him/herself, their property, their community, and their country. This right cannot be denied to you just because you are a criminal or are insane. The answer is not to surrender YOUR rights to the government, but to exercise those rights as intended. Even a criminal has the right to protect his own life and to bear arms for that purpose. A felon just released from prison still retains that right and WILL obtain arms for that purpose if he so desires. Unconstitutional laws will not prevent that from happening and is only relinquishes OUR rights to government control while it affects the criminal not one whit.

The answer to bad guys with guns is fortunately simple: Good guys with guns. (Where have I heard that before?) Gangs in your neighborhood? Make sure your neighbors have and know how and when to use guns. Problem solved. A psychopath bursts into your school or restaurant (or Navy Yard) intent on mayhem? Shoot the bastard. Problem solved. If this solution bothers the bleeding heart touchy-feelies, perhaps they will find more effective ways to control or care for persons with known mental issues. Crazy people cannot be expected to make good or sane decisions, but those who know people who are dangerous crazy need the incentive of knowing they will be shot dead immediately if they get out of line Perhaps then they will have the incentive to restrain them that seems to be missing today.

By Constitutional Carry we mean exactly this: No government agent or agency has the authority to determine what arms you may keep or bear, where or when you keep or bear them, nor how. They may not determine how, when, where or how often you may purchase arms. The only restraint on this right whatsoever is that if you attempt to use your arms to violate another person’s right to life, liberty or property they, their neighbors, and law enforcement agencies authorized by the community to enforce those individual rights may immediately revoke your natural, civil and Constitutionally protected Second Amendment right by making you dead.

More last-day magic

Jesse's buddy Dave, who has been known pull up a bunk at camp from time to time, got hisself a helluva nice buck this mornin' on his property in Perry County. It's been a few years since he's made it to camp, and with bruisers like this runnin' outside his back door, I can't say I blame him for huntin' at home.