Timestepper

Because they're stupid.

Not disagreeing with you, but it didn't mention the make or model of the gun and I know the "push button" safety on my dad's old pump 20ga could be disengaged pretty easily. Probably would have been better just not to leave a shell in the chamber when he got out of the boat.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I didn't know that (or if I did, I'd forgotten), but I'm not surprised. Man, that'd be alot of gun in two barrels! lol I reckon if they don't then it's just 'cause you ain't pullin' the trigger. Man, I just thought back to a time when my dad and I were hunting a dry creek bed in West central Kansas: Pop was up on the bank, busting through rabbit brush with his old 20ga. pump and I was walking the creek bottom with the 24 with both barrels loaded - 6 shot in the 20 and (because it was all I had) 158gr jhp in the .357. It was a frosty morning and I was wearing an old pair of cheap jersey gloves with a raggedy right thumb. Pop kicked out a cottontail which came out in front of me and started running straight down the middle of the creek bed. Well, I threw the 24 to my shoulder, cocking it on the way up, and pulled the trigger just as it settled into line with the rabbit. Thing is, the raggedy part of the thumb on my glove hung on the barrel selector and, as the hammer fell, the selector flipped up to the rifle barrel. So instead of nailing the rabbit with a load of six-shot, I hit him dead in the @ss with a .357mag158gr jhp at a distance of about 60 feet. I heard the CRACK of the rifle and saw a "PLOOF!" of rabbit fur and for a split second I found myself wondering WTF?!! Then I looked down at the hammer of the 24 and saw the raggedy part of the thumb still hung on the selector. Wasn't enough left of the rabbit to pick up, although his ears were still intact and connected by a strip of skin. I told Pop what had happened and we shared a slightly guilty chuckle at the expense of the rabbit, then I took out my belt knife and cut the thumb completely off my right glove. We got five or six more rabbits and a couple of pheasants that morning and in the 25 or so years since then, I have never again worn raggedy gloves while hunting with the 24. ...TS... Apologies for the hijack, but the memory is a good one. (For me if not the rabbit.) ...TS....

My apologies. My sense of humor went missing about the same time the furnace went out at home and I realized I wasn't going to be able to make it. I was and still am quite bummed about not being there, especially after having given my word that I would be. My earlier offer still stands, whether for a morning outing or a camp out. As I mentioned before, while we are in no way remote, we do have almost 5 acres of timbered property (even if most of it is up and down) and the means to practice everything from field expedient shelters to water survival if anyone is available to teach. Again, my apologies for not doubling over in a paroxysm of mirth. If it's any consolation, the furnace is still out and I'm still not laughing... ...TS...

I am NOT stealing the event. Furthest thing in the world from it, simply offering an alternative because we hadn't heard from you in several days (not ONE, SEVERAL). It's your baby - you raise it the way you see fit.

Comes down to it, I'm just off the Clinton highway above Bull Run Creek (between Powell and Clinton, in Claxton Community). I know the owner quite well because I married her. I guess actually we could do as much shooting as we wanted, although the terrain where we'd be shooting is very uneven (basically, we'd be shooting from one slope of the front holler into the other slope). I'm not trying to steal Mr. Sweet's event(s) - this weekend probably wouldn't be the best timing anyway, but there's nothing in the rules that says we couldn't do it some other time - I already mentioned what jwolf4 and I are planning for next weekend. And it sounds like our place is probably considerably closer than Sevierville, at least for a few of us (it'd be a 34 mile drive for me). True, we're not very remote. True, you can hear the cars from the Clinton hwy, but we can do anything there that we can do anywhere else including survival classes, camping out or sleeping in the shtf van. And like I said, I KNOW the owner(s) quite well. Oh, and if someone wanted to do something on water survival, Bull Run Creek is only a quarter mile or so from the bottom of our driveway and easily accessed. Just a thought... ...TS...

Problem is, this fly won't be getting back up any time soon... :-\

Yeah, well... Okay, so much for that! :-\ Looks like I will indeed be home in time to get a little stuff together and make it out Friday EXCEPT that lady luck has once again hoisted her skirts, dropped her bloomers and pissed all over me. This time in the form of the furnace shooting craps this week. Since I admittedly don't know a damn thing about electric furnaces, I figured it probably wouldn't affect my coming out... until I talked about the cost of repairs with my wife and found out just how far in the toilet we actually are financially. Long and short of it is that, rather than use gas I suddenly can't afford to replace, I'll be staying home trying to figure out what, if anything, I can sell to at least make a down payment on a new heating system. Sorry guys. I was really, REALLY looking forward to this! In fact, I think I kinda' needed it - just to get away for a bit. (And please excuse the whining - I'm pretty bummed out right about now.) On the other hand, as I mentioned in a pm to JohnnyFox the other night, another member (jwolf4) and I are planning on getting together at my place on Saturday the 10th to basically walk up the ridge or down on the creek or somewhere so I can show him pretty much the same stuff I was going to do tomorrow night and Saturday. If anyone else is interested in tagging along, you're more than welcome to show up. Won't be much in the way of shooting opportunities, but I don't reckon it'll be a total bust. Again, my apologies for cancelling, but sometimes life just sucks. ...TS...

Yeah, me too what you said. I bought mine originally because I couldn't count the number of times I'd jumped a coyote while pheasant hunting and I didn't shoot because either he got out of range too quickly or I just didn't want to ruin the hide. The .357mag/20ga was pretty much a perfect combo for that. There were other times when I'd go deer hunting in the morning and kick out a pheasant or a rabbit on the way back to the truck and my trusty ol' 24 was the perfect answer. ...TS...

Consider them on the way. Condolences on your loss.

Might not be a bad idea! LOL My best friend has a .223/.410 that he loves. And I've been offered more than ten times what I originally paid for mine back in the mid-80's, but they didn't make many .357mag/20ga's and I ain't givin' it up for love nor money! As I've said before, it's my absolute favorite "modern" firearm. ...TS...

Pretty much... Oh, and as I've mentioned ad infinitum, ad nauseum: Don't know yet how it'll work for me, but I'm going to do my darnedest to be out there Friday just so's you fellers won't get all lonely and stuff... ('Sides, you might need someone to laugh at and I'm pretty damn laughable sometimes.) ...TS...

There's a thought running through my mind about "I ain't ever shot anyone, but it's prob'ly just 'cause they never made it past the dogs!" but I'm not sure if I really want to go there. :)

Oh God! LMAO! Remind me to tell you some time how I damn near lost my new Sergeant stripes back in '83 because I told an "evaluator" during a field exercise at Fort Sill, Ok. exactly what I, personally, would do in the event of a nuclear attack.

"Teach" might be a little too strong a word for what I'm willing to do - I don't expect anybody to take notes and there won't be a test afterwords unless someone wants to try for themselves what I've shown them - maybe "show and tell" or "demonstrate" would fit better. And the classification would probably fall under the category of "primitive skills" although when I use to do this on a regular basis out West, we called it "Frontier Survival Skills." So, yeah... If anyone wants to listen to me flap my lips for a bit and watch me do some real basic & mundane stuff like flint & steel fire starting, making ash cakes and/or stick bread and just generally getting by on very little, then I reckon I'm up for it. Still don't know about Friday, but will definitely be out Saturday morning as early as possible if nothing else. Will probably have to take off about noon-ish just to have time for honey-do's before I hit the road again Sunday. ...TS... P.S. If the driveway turns out to less than suitable for someone's car, I'll be happy to give them a ride if we can settle on the times in advance.

Fixed that one for ya', too.

There are several good "dehydrating groups" on Facebook with a lot of really good info. I'm not on FB anymore, but my wife is and even as long as we've dehydrating and preserving we continue to learn new things. Oh, and recently I was going through some stuff in our storage shed that I hadn't touched since I moved from Kansas (4 1/2 years ago) and found some jerky, dried pears and homemade fruit leather wrapped (separately, of course) in wax paper envelopes and stored in a canvas bag. I'm thinking that it has to be at least 5 years old, since I remember it as part of a batch of stuff I made up for primitive fall & winter trekking but never got around to using. The fruit leather strips had kind of fused together, but everything was still good and tasted great. (I guess the fact that I'm still alive to type this should be evidence that none of it went bad.) ...TS...

Fixed that for ya'! (I hope!)

Just installed our new Redneck Home Security System and can't wait to see how well it works! First, I bought a pair of size 16 work boots, then I put them on the front porch with a copy of Guns and Ammo. Next, I got some giant-sized dog dishes to set on the porch next to the boots. Last, but not least, I taped the following note to the front door: Bubba: Me & Bertha went fer more ammo and beer. Back soon. Don't mess with the pit bulls; they messed the mailman up real bad this morning. I don't think Killer took part, but it was hard to tell from all the blood. I locked all four of ‘em in the house. Better wait outside. Be right back. Cooter ...TS...

Love rabbit hunting! It was a staple growing up on the high plains of Western Kansas. Unfortunately, we don't have much in the way of good rabbit hunting here on the ridge and I'm too darn stubborn to drive half-way across the state just to pop a bunny. (BTW, I get through your neck of the woods on a reasonably regular basis, either delivering, passing through with a load or on the way to load sheet rock at Temple Inland in Cumberland City.) ...TS...

Well, since you put it that way, I guess I'll see what I do. Still prob'ly won't know until the last minute if I'll be out Friday evening or early Saturday morning, but I reckon I'll be there eventually just the same. (That is if the first week back after vacation don't kill me.) ...TS...

Look like magpies to me.

I'm thinking that's where I'd put my shot... Kinda' jumped right out at me for some reason.

Pretty sure I found him right off - without zooming - 'course once you reveal his location I might find out that I'm full of . (If I am, I promise not to be too proud to admit it!) Great pic, regardless! ...TS...

Wow. Well, I'll admit that I'm beginning to have second thoughts about what I could actually contribute, if anything at all - most of of what you're talking about sounds pretty high-tech to me and I'm admittedly a pretty low-tech kind of guy. I mean, I guess I could demonstrate/teach flint & steel fire starting or making ash cakes and stick bread, maybe some other really basic and exceedingly mundane stuff, but otherwise I'd probably feel like tomato cans & string at a smart-phone convention. Just wouldn't fit in at all... Guess I'll have to ponder things further and try to decide for myself whether I'd actually be a help, hindrance or a just a mild curiosity. I dunno...