billrquimby

On my first trip to Zambia, where I shot the lion that appears with my posts, I asked the outfitter about the strange-looking paths that seemed to cut across every dambo (clearing) on his concession. Each path actually was two parallel trails, one about 12 inches wide, the other about three inches wide, and they stayed a consistent 12-14 inches or so apart. He said they were made by poachers walking "bushmeat" out of the bush on their bicycles. The wider paths were made by human feet, the narrow ones were made by bikes loaded with meat from warthogs, zebras and antelopes they had caught in wire snares. Bill Quimby

http://www.negotiationisover.net/2011/11/11/the-degenerate-judge-jay-c-sheffield-presides-over-animal-abuse-cases/ The people on the above site's forums are like those who used to send letters or call me with death threats whenever I wrote a pro-hunting column or published a photo of a hunter-killed animal in the Tucson Citizen. All were hateful, and some were downright scary. They never used their own names, of course. The first such threat I got was in about 1969 or 1970, and it sent me to the sheriff, who said there was nothing his office could do to protect me or my family if someone really wanted to kill us. By the early 1990s, after PETA launched its anti-fishing campaign, I began getting a few calls and letters about my fishing columns and photos. Fortunately, none of the kooks ever tried to make good on his or her threat. Check out their "tools for activists" section, as well as the forum threads on hunting on another page of that site. These people are real, and their agenda is to eliminate what we do. Bill Quimby

Not all are tree huggers. Many of them don't care about the important environmental issues, but they are convinced that animals have the same rights as humans and that anyone who kills (or eats) any animal is a murderer. Bill Quimby

Your observation apparently is based on the comments posted by two or three hunters who visited the home page. Open the forums pages, especially the forum on hunting, to see how the real members of that site think. Bill Quimby

Agree on the Crock Pot for the neck and hocks. About eight hours at low heat or six hours at high. We line the bottom with onions, carrots, and potato quarters. The au jus makes great gravy. Separate it from the grease, and saute in a separate pan with flour, corn starch, milk and lots of pepper. Bill Quimby

C.J. McElroy, the founder of Safari Club International and the originator of SCI's measuring systems, believed every animal should be credited for every bit of antlers/horns it grew. He also believed that a measuring system should be simple and have the ability to be used on all similar animals. His original method for the 40 deer species (except moose and caribou), had no deductions for non-symmetry, and recorded no measurement for width (he called this "air.") He also measured only the burr of antlers, and not the diameter of antlers between each tine, to award points for mass. After Mac was fired from his CEO post, the club changed its antlered game measuring method to mirror the Boone & Crockett Club's method, but without deducting for non-symmetry. The members who pushed for the change said SCI needed to "speak a common language." In Europe, the CIC measures antlered game by submerging antlers in water to measure displacement, then adds points for such things as "beauty." The Rowland Ward system based in Africa has its own unique system, as does Thompson Temple's exotic book in Texas, and a record book in Australia/New Zealand. Incidentally, not all clubs with record books are actively involved in protecting our hunting rights. Their members may be, but most of the clubs with record books do not get involved in political issues to protect hunters' rights. Only SCI proclaims that its mission is "conservation of wildlife, protection of the hunter, and education of the public." Bill Quimby

"Again - my only complaint (and I think it was shared by many archery hunters) that allowing anyone and all use of crossbows during already very limited 5-10 year waits for decent archery hunts would reduce opportunity for all bowhunters." Please note that I have nothing against bowhunting and definitely would NOT share the opinion I am about to mention. However, just imagine the much larger number of hunters who might say the following: "My only complaint (and I think it is shared by many rifle hunters) is that the long archery seasons and in-the-rut bowhunting are the reasons we have 5-10 year waits for decent rifle hunts and reduced opportunity for all rifle hunters." Hunting is hunting, whether it is with bow, rifle, handgun, or crossbow. Accept it. The percentage of hunters among our country's population is shrinking and within your lifetimes whether or not you will be allowed to hunt will be put to a vote of the public. If we are to preserve our tradition, we need to recruit and find room for more participants. It's as simple as that. Bill Quimby

I really don't care if crossbows are authorized for use by everyone during archery seasons. I'm convinced that someone who knows how to shoot a modern compound bow will be better equipped and kill more game. In the early 1980s, right after I began editing Safari Magazine, I contacted all known manufacturers of crossbows and asked to borrow their best hunting crossbows for use in an article I eventually wrote. I got eight or nine bows, and fired all of them through a chronograph and at targets ranging from five to 75 yards away. I also did some penetration tests. What I found surprised me: the compound bows of the time were far superior to every crossbow I tested. The only advantage I could find was that all of the crossbows had scopes mounted on them, which made seeing the target easier. They did not make the crossbow more accurate or shoot farther than a compound bow. In fact, arrows fired from compound bows with lighter draw weights flew flatter, farther and faster, and penetrated deeper into the wet telephone books I used. I needed to nearly double the draw weight of a crossbow to reach the velocities of arrows shot from a compound. It was my opinion after shooting hundreds of those short crossbow bolts with broadhead and target points that cow chips would have better trajectories. This was before hunters had range finders, and misjudging distance by even three or four yards would have resulted in a total miss on a deer with every one of the scope-mounted crossbows I tested. As for hunting with a crossbow, a crossbow truly is a single-shot weapon. No self-respecting deer would wait around while someone cocks and loads one for a second shot. If a buck or a bull didn't know you were there after your first shot, the amount of movement it takes to cock and load would instantly give you away. Granted, crossbow makers have made a lot of improvements to their products in the thirty years since I published that article, but compound bow makers haven't been sitting on their hands, either. If crossbows were indeed so much better for hunting than compounds, then hunters using crossbows would vastly outnumber hunters with compound bows in the states that allow crossbow use during archery seasons, and they simply do not. Bill Quimby Incidentally, I have a crossbow from that era that I wouldn't mind selling if someone is interested in playing with one. I had planned to kill a javelina with it, but never got around to taking it hunting. With its scope, it ought to be worth $75.

Thanks, Stanley. You sent me to Wikipedia where both phrases are mentioned in a report on those Mel Gibson movies. I also hold no ill will toward those who say they have "harvested" an animal, but I do have trouble suppressing a snicker or two. Bill Quimby

"Sorry Bill, I had to." A good one, too. Bill Quimby

Mr. Quimby, You are a man of letters and have made a living as such. You are also a gentleman of the highest order; always patient, dignified and kind. Coming from you, this is the highest of compliments. It may be against some Internet norm or protocol to acknowledge your kindness but I don’t care. Thank you. -Jim I thank YOU, Jim, for your kind words. You have a genuine and natural talent as a wordsmith, and it would be a shame if you did not pursue it. As for "We slaughter the pig's (?) in Barter Town... Masta Blasta! LOL" and "Break the deal, face the wheel......" I have absolutely no idea what you guys said. I obviously am several generations behind the times and need to get my grandkids to translate. Bill Quimby

My old 7 mm Remington Magnum probably shoots tighter groups with bullets from other makers, faster and slower speeds, and lighter weights, but I handload for it with 175-grain Nosler Partitions moving at about 2,850 fps. Bench-rest accuracy is not needed for hunting, and I like the way this bullet performs on game at all ranges. My 175-grain reloads have taken everything from 15-pound grysbok to elk, eland and moose, and a whole bunch of critters between those extremes. I tried Nosler ballistic tips on my desert sheep hunt, but wasn't pleased with the way they blew up inside the animal, destroying way too much meat. If sheep meat tasted better, I still would be bad-mouthing those bullets. As it was, they saved me from having to force down a couple of meals of it. Bill Quimby

"The nut that holds the trigger is the most important part of the equation. Lark" Amen. Bill Quimby

"just wondering if this set up would be in the realm of some of the shots I hear about on this site,5 6 700 yards." You should have no trouble with 5 or 6 yards. For a 700-yard shot with any rifle you will need to practice or be extremely lucky. Bill Quimby

"I don’t use the word “harvest” to refer to an individual animal. But I may call the X number of deer killed in a particular season a harvest." You use the word correctly. However, not all euphemisms are gentler, nicer, wimpier. Take "friendly fire," for example. It fits none of these three categories. Incidentally, your "words are just the clothes that our ideas wear" is a wonderful phrase. I've spent more than half a century working with and selling words, and I wish I'd said it. Bill Quimby

"You have to have 'killed' to have harvested but you dont have to have harvested to have 'killed' A poacher could have made a kill for the sport of it and leave the animal lay to rot. This is one of the reasons I use the term 'harvest' much of the time. And yes, it involves a 'kill' of which I am not ashamed of. It conjours up in the mind of a broader picture than just a 'kill'. I cant say I do it to be politically correct either. It is just a descriptive term. The very nature of any language is constantly changing. " ------ Yes, 308nut, our language is constantly evolving, but not always for the better. For example, I have a 100-year-old dictionary that defines "sport" as "hunting, fishing and games." In this case, our language has evolved to exclude or lessen the importance of the two things I cherish. I had promised myself that I would walk away from this thread knowing that those on this forum who believe “harvest” is an acceptable way to describe the hunting and killing of a game animal outnumber those who agree with me nearly five to one. However, I can’t help myself. I need to point out that a euphemism not only is an attempt to deceive, evade and obfuscate by substituting a less-offensive word, but its use also can be pretentious, pompous and sophomoric. I believe that using “harvest” as a hunting term is all of that. It came about in this usage in the early 1960s at about the same time antihunting fanatics joined the growing environmental movement. To defend their base from increasing attacks, pro-hunting wildlife managers and national sportsmen's organizations began referring to wildlife as “crops” that could be safely “harvested” by the “management tool” we call hunting. The fact that "harvest" as a hunting term can be found in modern dictionaries does not lessen the fact that the original intent was to deceive or at least soften the fact that hunters kill animals. Funny thing, though. Its use has fooled no one, and especially not the people for whom the term was first coined. Until a few years ago, a hunter would be laughed out of his camp if he talked about the deer he had “harvested.” If the truth were known, he still would be viewed as a bit goofy in the camps I frequent. At any rate, below are a few ordinary and perfectly good words and the euphemisms that are replacing them that I borrowed from the internet. Judging by the results of the poll on this thread, there is no hope for our language. It is increasingly obvious that George Orwell, who accurately predicted the coming of doublespeak in his "1984," was a clairvoyant prophet. Bill Quimby EUPHEMISMS IN EVERYDAY LIFE Bastard -- Illegitimate child, love child, Bribe -- Coerce, financially reward Cheat -- Compare answers, collaborate Christmas tree -- Holiday tree, winter tree, tree Desert -- Arid lands Die -- Deceased, passed away, gone to a better place, checked out Dump -- Landfill, sanitary landfill Obese -- Fat, heavy set, voluptuous, full-figured Garbage man -- Sanitation worker, sanitation engineer Grave digger -- Cemetery operative Janitor -- Custodian Jungle -- Tropical forest, rain forest Junkyard -- Recycling center Lame -- Crippled, handicapped, disabled, physically challenged, differently abled Lie -- Bend the truth, misspeak Old -- Mature, senior, past his prime Prairie -- Grasslands Secretary -- Administrative assistant Spastic -- Muscular hypertonicity Strip bar -- Gentleman’s club, adult entertainment center Stripper -- Adult dancer, exotic dancer, dancer Swamp -- Wetlands, riparian area Stupid -- Subnormal intelligence, mentally challenged, intellectually challenged Toilet -- Water closet, bathroom, powder room, restroom Trash -- Recylables Window cleaner -- transparent-wall maintenance officer EUPHEMISMS IN THE MILITARY Assassinate -- Destroy, take out, wet work, neutralize, target of opportunity Bombing -- Air campaign Genocide -- Ethnic cleansing Killing civilians -- Caught in cross-fire, collateral damage Killing the enemy -- Pacification, neutralizing the target, employing kinetic effects Killing our own soldiers -- Frag, friendly fire Hiring mercenaries -- Greenbacking Humans -- Soft targets Land mines -- Area denial munitions Mercenary -- Contractor Nuclear War -- All-out strategic exchange Overthrow a government -- Regime change Poison gas -- Nerve agent Retreat -- Strategic movement to the rear, adjustment of the front, retrograde maneuvers, redeploy the force Spy -- Evesdrop, monitor Surprise attack -- Pre-emptive strike Torturing -- Persuading, physically persuading, tough questioning, enhanced interrogating War -- Peace action, security action, humanitarian intervention, limited kinetic action, pacification EUPHEMISMS IN BUSINESS Fire -- Cut excesses, let go, terminate, downsize, rightsize Oil drilling -- Organic phase drilling Pollution -- Effluent, wastewater, byproduct, runoff Sue -- Take legal action Used -- Second hand, pre-owned EUPHEMISMS IN POLITICS Bailout -- Stimulus Border-crossing criminal -- Wetback, undocumented worker, illegal immigrant, immigrant Favoritism -- Equal opportunity Lies -- Inoperative statements Poisoning a convicted murderer -- lethal injection Poor -- Underprivileged, economically challenged, economically deprived Tear down slums -- Urban development, urban renewal Slum -- Ghetto, economically depressed neighborhood, culturally-deprived environment, inner city Wasteful spending -- pork, legislatively directed spending, earmark, set-aside

I don't believe Remington made a Model 35. I do know it offered its .35 Remington caliber in several other model numbers. If yours is a pump, it probably is a Model 14 or 141. If it's a semi-auto, it probably is a Model 8. Marlin also still makes a lever-action in .35 Remington, as far as I know. Incidentally, the .35 Remington is a fine old, medium-power caliber cartridge and has accounted for a great many deer and black bear since its introduction in 1906. Back when my entire collection consisted of a .303 Savage Model 99 and a 16-gauge single shot Winchester, I envied a friend who shot everything including elk with his only rifle, a slide-action Remington Model 14 in .35 Remington -- his heavy, rimless cartridges simply LOOKED more deadly than my puny .303s. But that was before he let me shoot his his rifle. It is supposed to be a mild-recoiling round, but the rifle didn't fit my skinny 12-year-old frame and it kicked me sideways into Sunday. Bill Quimby

I wanted to write a rebuttal that would make everyone agree with my thesis that "harvest" is a politically correct word foisted upon us by late 20th-century wildlife managers who viewed us as mere "tools" of their profession (Well, I refuse to be anyone's tool. I hunt because I must, and not because I want to be part of some bureaucracy's grand management scheme.) Then I realized I'd already lost the debate. Only four others who took the poll at the top of this thread agreed with me. Before I slink away in defeat, though, I urge all of you who see nothing wrong with hunters saying they "harvest" animals to read this excerpt from George Carlin’s "Explicit Language" CD: Bill Quimby "I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. 'Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation. For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. "I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to its absolute peak and maximum. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. "That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue. Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car. "Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder. I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I'll betcha. I'll betcha. "But. But, it didn't happen, and one of the reasons. One of the reasons is because we were using that soft language. That language that takes the life out of life. And it is a function of time. It does keep getting worse. "I'll give you another example. Sometime during my life. Sometime during my life, toilet paper became bathroom tissue. I wasn't notified of this. No one asked me if I agreed with it. It just happened. Toilet paper became bathroom tissue. Sneakers became running shoes. False teeth became dental appliances. Medicine became medication. Information became directory assistance. The dump became the landfill. Car crashes became automobile accidents. Partly cloudy bacame partly sunny. Motels became motor lodges. House trailers became mobile homes. Used cars became previously owned transportation. Room service became guest-room dining. And constipation became occasional irregularity. "When I was a little kid, if I got sick they wanted me to go to the hospital and see a doctor. Now they want me to go to a health maintenance organization...or a wellness center to consult a healthcare delivery professional. Poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities. And they're broke! They're broke! They don't have a negative cash-flow position. They're f###ing broke! Cause a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the workforce. "Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people...or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos. Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? "They never mention that part of it to us, do they? Never mention that part of it. "And...and some of this stuff is just silly, we all know that, like on the airlines, they say want to pre-board? Well, what the heck is pre-board, what does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance. Cripples! Simple honest direct language. "There is no shame attached to the word cripple that I can find in any dictionary. No shame attached to it, in fact it's a word used in bible translations. Jesus healed the cripples. Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have any cripples in this country anymore. We have The physically challenged. Is that a grotesque enough evasion for you? How about differently abled. I've heard them called that. "Differently abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore. They'll say, "Were not handicapped. Were handicapable!" These poor people have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. Well, hey cousin, ppsssspptttttt. Doesn't happen. Doesn't happen. "We have no more deaf people in this country, hearing impaired. No one is blind anymore, partially sighted or visually impaired. We have no more stupid people. Everyone has a learning disorder...or he's minimally exceptional. How would you like to be told that about your child? "He's minimally exceptional." "Oohh, thank God for that." Psychologists actually have started calling ugly people, those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad, that any day now I expect to hear a rape victim referred to as an unwilling sperm recipient. "And we have no more old people in this country. No more old people. We shipped them all away, and we brought in these senior citizens. Isn't that a typically American twentieth century phrase? Bloodless, lifeless, no pulse in one of them. A senior citizen. But I've accepted that one, I've come to terms with it. I know it's to stay. We'll never get rid of it. That's what they're going to be called, so I'll relax on that, but the one I do resist. The one I keep resisting is when they look at an old guy and they'll say, "Look at him Dan! He's ninety years young." "Imagine the fear of aging that reveals. To not even be able to use the word "old" to describe somebody. To have to use an antonym. And fear of aging is natural. It's universal. Isn't it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die, but we do! So we bullshit ourselves. I started bullshitting myself when I got to my forties. As soon as I got into my forties I'd look in the mirror and I'd say, "well, I...I guess I'm getting...older." Older sounds a little better than old doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. "Bullshit, I'm getting old! And it's okay, because thanks to our fear of death in this country, I won't have to die...I'll pass away. Or I'll expire like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital, they'll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient-care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice, they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure. "I'm telling you, some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not vomit. Makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill." -- George Carlin

"The draw. How does it work" It isn't very complicated. It works much like any other lottery. You send them money and hope for some luck. The difference, at least for me, is that they send most of my money back. Bill Quimby

Yes, Amanda. "Batty" is a word. It won't be long, though, before someone replaces it with "bty." Bill Quimby

All my journalism and English professors, as well as every good editor I ever worked for, would beat me soundly over my head and shoulders if he or she ever found me using a euphemism -- and that's what "harvest" is. If you don't like to say "kill" or "shot," you could say "take" because it is the legal term describing what we do. "Harvest" could be used by the owner of a closely managed, high-fenced deer farm of limited acreage when talking about all the deer his clients killed that year, but it is not an appropriate use of the word when an individual kills one free-ranging animal. For what it's worth, the bastardization of words that are part of our heritage make me want to cry -- after I stop puking. I'm talking about "taxi" for taxidermist, "javi" for javelina, "spotter" for spotting scope, "speed goat" and "lope" for antelope, "yote" for coyote, "arrowed" for shot an arrow, etc. "Whitey" for whitetail is especially offensive. I've also never been able to understand why virtually all bowhunters call rifle/firearms hunters "gun hunters." Although "gun" can be used to describe any firearm, I know very few people who hunt big game only with rifles who would call themselves a "gun hunter." Bill Quimby

SCI, Boone & Crockett and the Arizona Wildlife Federation record books accept "picked up" entries if they exceed their minimum measurements. Bill Quimby

What do you do about the Boone & Crockett Club's rules against accepting entries for game taken with the use of radios? Do you really turn your sets off when you glass up an animal you feel might be a record book head? Bill Quimby

Most makers offer 6.5 mm bullets in 120 and 140 grains. Either weight when pushed 2700-3300 fps into the kill zone from any 6.5mm cartridge will kill cleanly any elk on this planet, including the large subspecies in China's Tian Shan Mountains. Don't know why we Americans have mostly ignored this caliber. The Europeans love it, especially in Scandinavia, where the 6.5x57 is the standard for killing that region's moose (they call them "elk"). I have a Remington 700 BDL in 6.5 Remington Magnum and shot my last two mule deer with it. Both dropped in their tracks. Bill Quimby

I'm slowly reducing my library of big game hunting books. The problem with setting a price for the Gilchrist book is that there are only nine others from this very special edition anywhere in the world, and not one of those nine is offered for sale anywhere that I can find. The regular deluxe edition sold for $150.00 each in 1989, I've learned. Hard telling what my book's price was, but I know it's worth at least what I'm asking, maybe more. Shipping included to CONUS. MONTANA LAND OF GIANT RAMS by Duncan Gilchrist. As new copy of the very rare and very collectible Outdoor Expeditions and Books’ 1989 Collectors’ Edition with deluxe covers and slipcase. 208 pages, 90 photos, 20 drawings. Limitation page is signed by the author and marked “CE 5 of 10.” $300.00 GREAT RAMS and Great Ram Hunters by Robert M. Anderson. Collectors Covey 1994. 248 pages. As new large format book with fine dust jacket. Lots of photos of record-class North American rams and their hunters. $125.00 SOLD PENDING FUNDS Bill Quimby