Body Count '16 - #2

Good luck favored me the other day, and I was able to add another 50 yards onto my Longest Critter Kill record. This chunker made the mistake of showin' himself across the neighbor's field while I was showin' off my groundhog gun to my cousin at the family Easter gatherin'. I was unsure of the distance, so a warm-up shot was in order, but I domed him on the second shot at a GPS-measured 353 yards. Not far by some folk's standards, but that's not a shot I'm able to practice, and I only get a few 300+ yard opportunities a year. I'll take it.

Roughin' it

My travels take me to Gettysburg fairly often, which is over 20 miles from the home fires. Alas, this weekend has me needin' to be in Gettysburg a lot, so instead of runnin' back and forth and burnin' a bunch of gas, I just packed up some gear and headed for the "campsite" at the farm (otherwise known as the location of several fine parties over the years). In this case, it'll serve just fine for modest accommodations.

Best breakfast sandwich ever

Tack this on the the many reasons I will never be skinny.

A few weeks ago, my coworker brought in a bag of Thomas Maple French Toast bagels. Once I caught a whiff, I knew I had to try this phenomenon for myself. While discussing with him how goddammed delicious they were, we brainstormed up the brilliant idea of whippin' up some breakfast sandwiches with 'em.

So, I assembled the basic ingredients...

...and proceeded to marvel in the culinary bliss. Washin' it down with delicious, pulpy orange juice made it all the better.

Unfortunately, they're a limited edition flavor, so I don't have long to get my fix. So, you best run to the store and grab 'em soon and give it a try. You can thank me later.

Findin' some geese

The late goose season recently ended here in Pennsyltucky. I managed to get out a fair amount of times, which was great since I really hadn't spent much time gettin' after 'em the last few years. I hadn't done much durin' the late season, but with the final few days loomin', I made some time to go.

The ol' man and I checked out a local pond, and we had geese from start to finish. Our setup wasn't exactly optimal though, and after an abysmal display of marksmanship, we had shot almost a box of shells and had two birds to show for our efforts.

A couple days later, the last day, Dad and I went to the same pond in the mornin'. As a family, we were sittin' at 47 birds on the year, and Joe was all gung-ho about makin' it to 50. Thankfully, Dad and I found our mojo again that mornin' and walked out with four birds, puttin' us at 51 with the afternoon shoot left.

That afternoon, Dad went to check out another spot while Joe and I set up another pond that had birds on it that mornin'. I shot my first goose on that pond twenty years ago, and it has continued to produce many memorable hunts since then. That day was no exception, as Joe pulled in a nice group of birds that gave us the purtiest toll I've seen for awhile. We swept a pair that came in a little while later to finish out the season on a high note.

And so another goose season came to a close, with our family havin' bagged 58 birds. Not our best year, but most certainly not our worst. Best of all, I got to spend plenty of quality time with my favorite huntin' buddies.

Fans from last season

I finally got around to knockin' out a couple of gobbler fan mounts that I had piled up from last spring. I have mine and the ol' man's sittin' around waitin' to be done, but I ain't quite sure what I want to do with them yet so they can wait a bit longer. In the meantime, the slayers of these particular longbeards will be happy to finally have their hands on these.

Body Count '16 - #1

And so it begins....

Found this dummy this mornin' while followin' up on a goose that I knocked down. It's all of 25° out, but this'n didn't get the memo.

I said last week when it got warm for a few days that I'd have one killed within a week. Took eight days, but oh well.

Pennsyltucky's dumbest politicians

The NRA's Great American Outdoor Show recently wrapped up just a few miles to our north in Harrisburg, PA. In its third year bein' run by the NRA, it has increased both vendor and consumer participation after Reed Exhibitions screwed the pooch, got the show shut down and lost the bid to host the show again. Long story short, it's a great show that brings a boon to the local economy (to the tune of 200,000 attendees and bringin' in over $73 million this year, accordin' to preliminary guestimates), and the NRA Foundation also pledges $50,000 each year to be used within the local community (last year, the H'burg PD received a brand new, fully-equipped police car). Needless to say, the show has a significant and positive impact on the area.

Well, enter H'burg's brilliant mayor, kickin' the gift horse right in the shins like a petulant child.

Harrisburg officials have pulled city police officers from the Great American Outdoor Show this year after negotiations collapsed over an NRA donation.

Although Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse cited the donation as one of several reasons the city is "not supporting the show," he admits he's "no fan of the NRA." He noted the National Rifle Association had "explicitly worked against the city's interest" in promoting a Pennsylvania law that opened the city up to expensive lawsuits.

To be clear, the city doesn't specifically assign officers to the show. However, many officers will work the show off-duty, often takin' vacation to do so. Unfortunately, the mayor and his cronies have the authority to tell the officers what they can and can't do durin' their time off. Furthermore, I suspect that Little Liberal Papenfuse is prolly less concerned about the NRA's choice of donation than he is with his hatred of the NRA and the Second Amendment in general. Thankfully, the local commissioners get a boner by thumbin' their nose at their fearless mayor, and did their part to uphold relations with the local PD.

Two Dauphin County commissioners plan to give 300 tickets for the Great American Outdoor Show to Harrisburg police officers who were forbidden to work at this year's show.

Commissioners Jeff Haste and Mike Pries plan to present the tickets Friday night to the police union president at a reception at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel. They used campaign contributions to pay half of the cost of the tickets, according to Jack Sherzer, county spokesman. The National Rifle Association, which is sponsoring the outdoor show, covered the other half of the $10 group tickets, Sherzer said.

You'll have to read both the articles to get the full gist of all the bullshit politicin' goin' on, but suffice it to say, the Stupidbomb that is omnipresent in the Harrisburg mayor's office certainly went off again. While I love havin' such a neat show right in my backyard, I would certainly understand if the NRA packed up and headed to a friendlier locale after their five-year contract is up.