Leaderboard

But I did buy this! This picture is just a teaser until it comes in

Okay, my "care package" trip is officially on now. Truck is rented (Thanks for the hook up, Penske and Mike's Tire in Tullahoma), heading up to Knoxville on Saturday morning. Donation drop-off points have been established at Bacchus Fine Wines (my place) and Templar Shooting Sports (the new inddor shooting range) in Tullahoma. Bottled water, sports drinks, non-perishable food, blankets, pet food, pet crates, batteries, toiletry items... basically anything you'd need if your house burned down, or if you had just spent 18 hours keeping peoples' houses from burning down (lots of tired first responders up there working hard). Shoot me a private message or just ask here if you have any questions or want to donate but can't make it to Tullahoma.

I believe the government is already way bigger than it needs to be. So, dumbasses and gun safety aside, I'm not going to waste my time trying to come up with more #### for them to ruin. I just had to buy a couple of shower heads. Do you know they are regulated by the friggin' government? Toilets too. Drain the damn swamp already.

The firefighters & emergency responders did an amazing job in saving lives last night, under impossible circumstances. The wind here in Clinton was 30 MPH, I can only imagine what it was like up there. There may be some navel-gazing coming up, but damn, those guys were good.

I don't think you really mean this. What a tragedy for the entire state. Christmas time when many families visit this area, from near and far. Tremendous loss of jobs at the Holiday Season. My prayers for all concerned. Will be truly amazing if there is not loss of life discovered. I have friends who have a large cabin behind Ripleys. Many homes/cabins in that area and I have heard only terrible news in that regard.

Well fellas and gals, I'm tagged out for bucks this year. Hope y'all don't mind my short stories, I enjoy telling them even if it's one that makes me tell on myself for doing something stupid or give you something to laugh at (by the way, there is one of those stories I'll add at the end). So the big 12 that I've been waiting on....is NOT the one I got. Otherwise the first paragraph would not be legible. However, I've been letting every small buck walk that I've seen since I got the 6 a few weeks ago. Now he wasn't big by many people's standards but I'm dang thankful to have been able to harvest him. Everything I'd seen up to that point this year had been spikes, button bucks, or does with fawns. I was sitting in my blind yesterday at 5am thinking about how the 28 degree weather should be good for deer movement. It turned out it wasn't, at least where I was hunting. I didn't see a thing all morning. At about noon I'd decided I was going to head home and spend the rest of the day with my wife and daughter. I was staring across the sugar bowl I was hunting the ridge of and saw legs walking and that's all I could see. As this creature walked towards my side of the bowl, I was hoping it wasn't one of the big rottweiler's that the neighbor owns. They never bother me, bark and move on, but I was hoping it was a deer instead. I was looking everywhere for movement because the deer can walk down in the bottom and pop up right in front of you with no way to tell until they're looking at you. He ends up walking around to my left where I can see part of a rack sticking up. Well my heart stopped for a minute and thought "That's him, he's back!". As he's moving I can see part of the body through the brush but nothing else. I could have shot but I didn't and waited to see more as my heart raced. BAM! Out in a clearing steps a HUGE 1.5 year old basket rack 4 pointer LMAO Man I don't know which emotion was stronger, the thought of it being the biggin or the let down from seeing it wasn't him. I did have a little chuckle about it though as I watched him ease on across the property line. I then made the decision that I'd stay a while longer since deer may have been moving later. My buddy had also just sent me a text saying "Just had a spike come through the back yard, maybe this evening will be a good time to hunt. The 4 pointer and his text were enough to convince me to hang out. About 45 minutes later I was watching that far side where I'd noticed the legs earlier watching for any movement. All of a sudden from my right smaller window of the blind I see movement on my side of the bowl around 20 yards from me. I saw a nice rack easing down in to the bowl. I thought "Oh my gosh, he really did show up!!!" as I raised my .308 up and shouldered it. I put the cross hairs on him and then realized I didn't see the kickers on the back of his G2's. The next few seconds felt like years as I tried to decide what to do and scanned behind him to see if the 12 was around. While I'm deciding , he's steadily moving down and farther away and I decide that he's bigger than any buck I've killed and he looked pretty tall and wide. I shoot and he hunches up and stumbles forward but is still standing and looks back towards me from behind a tree. I thought what the heck is he doing? He eases forward in a non familiar fashion. I'd immediately chambered another round after firing so I decided to shoot again just to be sure. Never seen it happen and would have loved to had it on film but he did a forward flip and dropped straight to the ground and didn't even kick! Then my adrenaline went to 8 million miles per hour! I sat there for a few minutes thinking "Was that him and I just couldn't see the kickers? Oh well, if not I'm still extremely proud of him and thankful for the harvest". I text my wife while waiting and she got all tore up thinking it was the 12 also. I told her I wasn't sure but pretty sure it wasn't but that he was a very nice looking buck for sure. She was still excited for me and knew that I was sitting in my blind unable to make words sound correctly as usual. I waited for a while and eased out of my blind to look at him through the scope. He was still laying in the exact same position he was when I watched him do the flip. I walked slowly up to him and as I got closer said a prayer thanking God for this beautiful animal that I'd just harvested. My heart is racing like crazy as I walk up to him and check to make sure he's done even though I knew he was. He definitely was not the 12 but an 8 pointer I'd seen on camera a few times at night and thought he was a 10 from the pictures. I call my wife and let her know and of course she says "Don't do a thing until you send me a picture!". I love that she's excited for me. She answered "OH he's beautiful!" and I agreed. I struggled trying to get selfies with him so most of the pictures are of him by himself. It really is a new thought process to let the small bucks walk for me as I've just started trying to do that over the past couple years. It may be years before I kill a buck like I see on many of the Facebook TN deer hunting pages. But I'm working towards it and enjoying each buck that I get that is bigger than the last years harvest. Now it's gonna be letting my niece and my daughter's friends hunt with me to get their first deer. My daughter is still iffy about it and I don't want to push it and turn her away from it being fun so I'll wait patiently even though it's hard. I need to get a couple does for the freezer as well but hope to get these girls their first deer. Anyway here's the pictures, I hope you enjoy as I sure have enjoyed the season even though many hours were just watching nature and no deer. I love every minute of being in the woods! And now for the Paul Harvey rest of the story. The funny story that happened earlier that morning is as follows: The morning had been eerily quiet as the sun brought the the woods to life. I kept waiting for squirrels to start their morning ritual of sounding like deer. Then I saw a huge hawk barreling through the woods. It amazes me every time I see him that he moves so dang fast through even the thick part of the woods. It really is amazing to watch. I never heard a bark from a squirrel for an hour and attributed this to the fact that Mr Hawk made about one trip through ever 20 minutes or so. Then they started moving around though cautiously. Well here he comes again and the typical freak out barks began as he landed and sat in a tree 40 yards from me. I was staring at him and since I was tired I kind of fell into an dream mode although my eyes were open. I was imaging for some reason that the hawk had flown into the blind with me. I'd looked up as it began to attack me and I grabbed onto it and through it to the ground and had my foot on top of it as it screamed and flopped. I was trying to figure out my next move as I "came to" from this dream that I was having and immediately had a dang starling barrel right to the window of my blind landing on it sounding like a full grown man had slapped the top of the blind! I jumped back and hollered out loud! It scared the &#(@! out of me, I just knew that hawk was about to hammer my head! Instantly I busted out laughing at how bad I'd jumped. I imagine being half out of it had a lot to do with it, but it didn't matter because I knew my daughter was going to laugh her rear end off. She did and so did my wife Anyway, there's my funny story for y'all to enjoy. Also happy hunting to the rest of you and many congratulations to all who have been successful so far!

I hit the woods this morning with the last drops of rain hitting the dirt road into my lease. Unloaded the 4 wheeler and drove to the first ledge below the top of the mountain. I saw nary a deer. About 11:30 I headed back to the truck for some lunch. I drove the 4 wheeler about 100 yards and saw 2 sets of tracks that were in the tracks of my ride in this morning ....I saw a few other tracks crossing the road on the 2 mile trek back to the truck. THEN, about 150 yards from where I parked the truck, and again in the tracks I made going IN....was 2 sets of doe tracks and 1 set of what I've always considered buck tracks. You know, spread wide at the front with dew claw marks at the back. ...!!! They wuz really moving around this morning but I was sitting in the wrong place I reckon. I'm taking tomorrow off since it's suppose to storm most of the day, but will be back at it Thursday!! It seems the deer are running from thicket to thicket on top. I guess I'll just have to set up in the thickets and hope one comes by.

I may break my rule about going to see movies AT the movie theater, to go see "Office Christmas Party" because it looks like it covers all of the bases without the awkwardness of facing co-workers the following Monday.

We got reports yesterday the the Chimney Tops fire in the GSMNP was growing into a Monster. We staged crews around the Mynatt Park area and put dozer lines in to help. The problem was there were already spot fires just south of Gatlinburg that we could not see or assess because the wind was smoking in the whole valley. Crews did the best the could be around 6pm the winds started spiking and the fires became erratic and fast moving. This wasn't one huge wave but sparks flying starting many fires, some that grew together and made big fronts. Trees were downing power lines and starting new fires. This was an event unlike any others we've seen in the state. Today will reveal a lot about what actually happened last night. Lots of false reports but there is no doubt that a lot of people lost homes

Permittless carry would allow the single mother, who works for a living and is trying to drag herself up to not have to pay the vig to enjoy a Right already hers. I am going to keep my permit as I travel it will not make much difference in the total permit numbers, and I believe the State is violating the Constitution by charging me a tax on a Right. As far as those who harp about training and driver's license, ever spent a day in traffic court, and see all those who drive without a license who get $10.00 fine and nothing else? Ever think about illegal aliens who drive without license? they are criminals and criminals do not obey the law, and criminals will carry gun without a permit.

Or subscribe to or partake in the opium of the masses, I ask you pray for God's mercy, blessings and peace for those affected by the fires in Sevier County. I just saw an evacuee interviewed, his wife and daughters were trapped at home with no car, lost contact during the 911 call. Thanks!

Then we keep the permit system for those who want to carry nationally, and allow unlicensed carry for those who don't. Problem solved.

Probably...but nationwide permitless carry happening is probably about as likely as the democratic party adopting a militant PRO 2nd amendment stance as a party platform....... After giving this some thought I may have a solution (though some will still hate it ). Adopt constitutional carry AND still have a permit, but an "enhanced" permit like Mississippi. That way EVERYONE can carry without a permit inside TN and if that is all they want to do - the bare minimum - then they can do that. But then also offer a permit that would cost money and require training that would then allow you to carry in places in TN that you presently cannot carry and allow you to carry in other states that offer reciprocity.

Had to wear clothes...that's just not right.

This is a tragedy all around. So much cultural and economic property damaged to put into perspective at the moment. Like others probably have, there are some great memories of time spent in the area in my mind. I was even considering a trip up there in December if I don't have a job lined up early enough after graduation. I hope that anyone affected by all this is okay after. Rebuilding will be a chore for sure, and too often, people never get all the recompense they thought they were supposed to from insurance companies. Also, I can't say enough about those putting themselves in harms way to fight the fires, or help evacuate people in the danger zones. Suiting up and heading into those blazes is work done by men who have balls that clank.

Picked these two up yesterday. I've read good things about both of them this year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The problem with some of these is that they have a very hard surface or case. most drills and Mills won't touch the case. the trick is to use a small grinding stone to break through the first few thousandths of an inch. then they drill and tap no problem. A competent gunsmith should be able to do this and understand the process.

9

Yep. That's true for buying from a licensee, but a non-licensee private sale is 18+ for handguns too.

I'm trying to get some donated stuff together and up to Knoxville, where they have "staging areas" to get the stuff up into the mountains where it's needs. Done with work in a couple of hours and going to see how much it would cost to rent a box truck. I'll drive it up myself. I'm thinking bottled water, Gatorade, non-perishable food, blankets, pet food, pet crates.... Anyone in the Tullahoma area wants to help, just let me know.

http://www.opencarry.org/maps/map-open-carry-of-a-properly-holstered-loaded-handgun/ There are some restrictions in place, but even with the permit system we still have restrictions in place in TN.

Sorry no pics but, 1982 Gibson Challenger II natural maple finish. Beautiful playing instrument. 1983 Epiphone Strat style with tremolo, black body with maple neck. Original owner of both and love playing them. Peavy Studio pro 50 amp. My garage sale find last summer that I could not believe, a 1977 Starfield Les Paul type and original Tronix amp. Needed some work but had it fixed. Its black body with the gold pickups and mother of pearl inlay on the neck. Its Japanese made by Hoshino corp. It got them sued by Gibson because it was so close to the real thing. It plays and sounds great. The only difference I can see is the body is laminated wood, about 4-5 3/4 inch thick slabs of wood. I love it and am glad I could save it and give it a new life.

Fry it then bake it when covered with gravy. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

It's bad. I've not heard of any serious injuries, but lots of stuff is burning. I did see reports of wind gusts up to 74mph. I believe the rain has slowed it down a bit, but it's not going to do much for the structure fires, and the wind is supposed to pick back up this afternoon. I won't lose any sleep over the businesses on the strip and all the crappy chalets, best thing that could happen is burning some of them to the ground. But there's a ton of very old and very beautiful houses hidden in the hollers all around there, losing them would be very unfortunate.

Dang neighbor

Do you believe we get our rights from the Constitution??? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FFL can sell long guns to 18+, Handguns to 21+ Private sale can be either long gun or handgun at 18+. The law is not ambiguous in this matter.

Found a video of Raoul at last year's party:

Thank you. Very smooth firing rifle with the Browning BXR 155gr ammunition. Tested out 2 other brands (Federal Trophy Tip & Hornady SST) and it had the least recoil and best groupings. Just purchased this past year and first season with it.

Good discussion and many valid points have been voiced. I am all for training too but that costs money that some people do not have extra to expend on a firearm or training or getting a permit. I take exception to the government requiring me to go defenseless if I can't meet their demands of getting a license. Its like a poll tax or literacy test to vote. Regulation of arms was more related to keeping guns out of the hands of minorities way back when. I have seen plenty of stupid at the range when I go too so, that training some people think they are doing is to me just them making noise and wasting ammo. Training needs an end goal and just popping off shells making noise is minimally helpful. I have never witnessed any stupid displayed out in public in my presence among my fellow gun owners though. If TN should ever implement constitutional carry I doubt that we would not have some type of permit system, if not the same one we have now. Even the states that have it now have some type of permit system. That Would still allow us to travel to other states. I still think there needs to be some type of universal acceptance nationally like our drivers licenses. We have that to a point now, I know.

Well, since I'm the boss and the workforce, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Assuming Vegas is actually Bristol.....!

And when you're out of the tender stuff, braise a whole shoulder in beef stock and red wine, with garlic, onions, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, salt, and pepper till it falls off the bone.

Just got an electric smoker, sorry everyone, don't hate me too much. This weekend, I smoked 2 backstraps from A deer my brother killed last week, they never got frozen, were in the fridge a couple days. I coated them both in a light layer of mustard so the dry rub will stick and then smothered them in some Dillow Dust from Larue Tactical. I put 2 bottles of Sam Adams in the liquid tray to keep them moist and used mesquite chips, some at the beginning and some more about half way through. I cooked them at 200 for 4 hours and they were great! I am trying to experiment with venison and I am trying to like it. Hopefully this is the start of more good things to come, because it really was good!

30 states allow for unlicensed carry, none of those states require training to carry. So, most states don't require a permit, and most don't require training. TN is in the minority compared to other states.

Unit ball in Germany... I was so jacked up I don't remember even leaving to go there, where it was at, or what it was like. My friends tell me I had a great time though, and the only reason I knew I was there is because I took a bunch of the champagne glasses home. This was before everyone wanted to post videos of everything online - thank god.

"Knows or has reasonable cause to believe".... is the only requirement as per federal law. That's why successful stings are always, "hey I live in the next state, but...", or "hey I can't buy a gun from a dealer, but..", etc. - OS

That is an interesting phenomenon......people grow tired of the yoke of oppressive government in liberal states and then move to more conservative states to enjoy the lower cost of living, more family friendly culture and more freedom....then they promptly get to the new state and start voting for the same kind of liberal candidates they voted for back in NJ, NY, CA, IL, MA, etc because that is who their families have always voted for and soon the new place starts to look just like the $hithole they left before.....

Of course you do, bringing you liberal big government dribble from NY down here Why not have an 8 hour safety course when buying a 5 gallon bucket? More children drown in a 5 gallon bucket every year than children (under the age of 12) die from gun violence from themselves or the hands of another child. I believe firearms training is a good thing, but the government requiring it to own and/or carry a gun is a waste of time and money. Remember that police officers with all of their training are 5 times more likely than an average citizen to kill an innocent person in a self defense shooting. Many of them receiving little or no training. It's a constitutional right to bear arms, and there should be no litmus test on exercising that right.

Just picked this up today. Always wanted a PRS and I got a great deal on this one. It's not American made, but it wasn't $4k either![emoji6] Wish I had the Epiphone Sheraton II and the '86 Les Paul I had when I thought I was a musician. Sold them 18 years ago to fund my wife's wedding ring. Don't regret it one bit, but I sure liked those guitars. Now I play in church on Sunday's and that's about it.

Much much much less. I've got one and three halves.

Here's the b.s. part of your argument. Do you seriously think these people give a damn whether or not they have a "right" to do something? If government is the answer, I don't like the question.

Well folks, i decided a few weeks ago to upgrade from my sks to a AR 15 platform gun...But didn't want to spend for the higher end models...So i went with the Smith and Wesson M&P 15 sport... :) Got it new at a local gun shop for $632 ( $701 out the door) So far i am very impressed with the guns accuracy...some pics of my first shots at the range today, all with stock iron sights... Pic of the M&P gang together :) the very first shot with the gun at 50 yards... Second shot @ 50... First shot @ 100 yards... Second shot @ 100 yards... rapid fire @ 100 yards..All on target :)

Completely unexpected, ran into this thing today. viola.

Dillion had an article in this months Blue Press about the C308.Haven't had a chance to read it yet though.

YES!! Dibs on the first attempt to buy from you. lol

Harwell is a simple problem to fix... just need to find somebody in her district with a last name that comes before H and primary her out... then let the democrats pickup that seat.

No, I did a search for TN gun forums and the first that came up was TGO. But I saw you over there in that thread John. I actually started that topic. Haha. I use the same username over there too. Alot of Californians seem to be going northwest. But it's going to be the same fate one day in those blue states as well. I need to be down south where the culture is more rooted and relatable (at least to me) and where people aren't ready to give up their ideals. What works needs to stay that way!

just a little update on how the gun looks now.. :) [URL=http://s82.photobucket.com/user/wayne121170/media/IMG_20150312_140545311_HDR_zpsn4sa1ppv.jpg.html][/URL]

The old rifle looks pretty darn cool too

Nice, that'll do exactly what you want it to and a lot more. Exactly what most people should get for their first AR. <---Yes, this is your FIRST evil black rifle, if you don't believe us, come back to this post a year from now and let us know how that worked out for you :up:   Nice rifle and nice shooting, enjoy it!