mattys281

Don't know, got to get a couple more cameras in that canyon closer to season. I'll be in Ca for two weeks in August and if things go like last year, that unit will probably shut down after the first week, so I'll likely miss it this year. Hopefully that hog in the second pic will still be hanging around in the spring....

Hope you guys don't think less of me for it. Guess I'm just naive, but I really fell for all the global warming propaganda. I fell for it so hard, that I went out and bought one of those "green" vehicles that are supposed to save the world. . . . . . . Just doing my part.

ttt

Our club is organizing its first 3D shoot. See the flyer below for details. Hope to see some of you guys there. Matt S.

It's right over that mountain, in the canyon with the trees. GPS cords?

Directions on the bottom of the flyer. It's easy to find. If you get lost you can call my cell 602-908-2931. Matt S.

I carry unscented babywipes to clean up w/ & a 12 oz. bottle of Scent Killer spray (which is usually filled w/ home-brew spray instead of the actual Scent Killer brand). Also, in warm weather I keep my camo top in my pack & hike in a t-shirt. If you spray your clothes down at night & lay them flat between your sleeping bag & your sleeping pad, they'll be dry in the morning, even in December when it gets down to the teens over night. Ultimately, as stated, you're never going to be completely scent free especially when backpacking, but I feel more confident knowing that when the wind swirls I've done what I can to possibly get that animal to hesitate for a second or two. Matt S.

Got this note from my little brother today. He's a combat engineer in the army & is now doing his second tour in Iraq on a route-clearing assignment. I don't believe anything he woud send to us is classified, but just in case I blanked out all the location names. The rest is as reported from the kitty-box: Well I have finally arrived at FOB xxxx about 5 days ago, and this will be my final destination for the immediate future. Because of the maintance requirements of route clearance vehicle we have to stay at a FOB where we have the proper logistical support as oppose to the rest of the task force that is living out of COP's in xxxxxx. We still will be clearing routes through xxxxxx but will stay libing here and just drive down, it is about 30 miles or so. It does mean that we have to clear all the way down there though and it makes our routes rather long and on average it takes anywhere from 8 to 20 hours to do a route depending on how much stuff we find. The up side though is this is huge FOB with a bigger PX then Baumholder, a pizza hut, subway, Greenbeans coffe, cinabun, a whole haji flea market, a pool, 3 DFAC's, and about the same amount of gyms. Internet cafe's are everywhere but we can have it hooked up to our rooms once we move into our permanent barracks which we are still building. As for xxxxxx itself it is a (poo) hole! We have started our right seat rides as soon as we arrived and were attacked the second day out. An EFP was fired through the wall they are building and shot right over the vehicle in front of my vehicle hood. We then found a second that we shot apart with a 50 cal. After destroyinng their second EFP they decided to shoot a couple RPG's and AK's at us from some bombed out buildings. We returned fire with our 50's and out tank support leveled like three buildings with their 120mm's. I do not know if we got them but they stopped shooting! We got hit again today with 2 more EFP's and they damaged 2 huskies but in bothe incidences no one was hurt. We have all been put in for Combat Action Badges already and only been here less then a week! IMy time is up and I have to go but I will keep you all informed!

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I've had a real bad feeling in my gut since I found out he was headin back over & getting this in my in-box didn't help any. I've never served myself, but my little bro here is a lifer in the Army & my older bro is a lifer in the Corp. The older has been to Kuwait & Afghanistan already, & this is the youngers second trip to Iraq, plus he did a stint in Kuwait. I believe in starting what you finish and think it would be irresponsible to withdraw all our troops when the Iraqi gov. & military are still too unstable to deal with their own problems, but on the other hand I feel like my brothers have already done their share & want them home. Conflicted. I've always found it amazing how you can take U.S. soldiers & dump them in the worst places on the planet, yet when you read their letters & see the pics, you still see smiles & read up-beat words. My older bro came back with a truckload of funny stories from Afghanistan, including pictures of a bunch of Marines out golfing on their "course" they built in the bomb-dump. Standing on the rim of an impact crater (or the tee-box, as they called it) & driving for the the hole, which was really an empty oil can they burried in the sand a couple hundred yards away. Guess at least they didn't have to worry about the greens being too choppy, since there wasn't any greens anyway. Carrying on like that when just a day or two before they were hunkered down in bunkers while they took mortar fire.... amazing. Of course, my older bro is one of those types that can find a way too have fun no matter where he is, & based on the collection of jarheads he's brought home over the years, it's safe to assume he's not the only Marine with that personality.

Yes, in Ca pigs are considered game animals, not vermin, so they are managed by the G&F dept, not the private land-owners. You have to have a valid license & tag(s). Matt S.

Probably seemed like a good idea, at the time.....

YEAH!!! Let me know when you get on the ballot, I'll vote for that.

LOL! NICE!

I don't know what minimum wage is at now, but I do know that it's gone up at least 3 times over the last 15 years & never once did I get a raise to compensate for it. Nobody makes those people come here & nobody makes them take a low-paying job. As a guy that is definetely not independently wealthy, I don't feel bad for a minute over saving money because someone else is willing to do a crap job for low pay. If they feel they're being exploited, they can always make a 180° turn & start walking.

You have to keep in mind too, that in our state, illegal immigration from Mexico gets all the press because it's local. They're not the only people sneaking over here. My little bro. spent the last two years in Boston on recruiting duty for the Army & according to him there's a huge problem with illegal Irish. In San Diego, there's the mexicans plus the phillipinos & the vietanese. God only knows how many different nationalities are present illegally in NY city. I'm sure there's more mexicans than any others, as their right next door, but immigration as a whole is a complicated issue with a real simple solution. Just enforce the laws that are already in place. Hey, Sheriff Joe might be on to something with that line of thought.

I've always found Sheriff Joe to be a really amusing guy, but his latest exploits don't really strike me as coming from a guy who's fed-up. They strike me as coming from someone who want's to be know as "the only one who did something about it", probably to further a political agenda. If they want to round-up & deport every mexican drug-dealer, car-thief, gang-banger, murderer & rapist they can find & send them all back to mexico, that's fine with me. While they're at it, I hope they "accidently" send some others of the same caliber, but of different ethnicity/nationality, too. Get all the thugs out of here. I don't, however, see the benefit of getting rid of a bunch of cheap labor, especially when the headlines on all the news programs are crying about the economy. Personally, I travel quite a bit & I don't want to end up spending $150 a night at the Motel 6, because Tom Bodet's maids all got netted & now he's paying some white gal $20/hr w/ benefits to change the sheets & leave the light on for me. I know, crying liberal.......

He is closing down after the spring hunts. I believe that Memorial day weekend is his last hunt, but not sure. There's a thread on Jesse's about it. We're going on the Mother's day weekend hunt (the GF & I).

So what do you say DB, want to carpool? I wish I could, but I'm going to Alaska in July. Need to save my pennies. I hear ya. I've already got a hog hunt at chopper's place in May, a blacktail hunt in Aug & a bear hunt in Oct. I don't think my work or my 'boss' would tolerate me trying to sqeeze in another one. At least not until Jan, when I go after my coues deer.

So what do you say DB, want to carpool?

What do you expect? They don't make blow-up dolls in his size. Hello!

I know some guys that have hunted it & haven't heard a bad word about it.

One of my buddies in our local archery club & I are settin up a 3-d course at our range right now. Swing by & we'll fling some arrows.

Congrats Lark! I bet there's a spot under a refrigerator magnet somewhere just waiting for the dictionary page with your name on it.

Don't forget the Acronyms: GF= Short for girlfriend. Noun, humanoid in form, but much louder. Known to cause financial difficulty & can be verbally abusive, often without provocation. WTH= What The Heck was that!? FNG= Friggin New Guy BYOB= Just show up, Christian will provide refreshments.

Good luck up there! The hardest part will be leaving the mountains behind & headin home to the desert. I've often day-dreamed about doing something like that, so you know that you're making at least one of us jealous! Matt S.