Slappy

Man I hate to hear that! Prayers sent for a rapid recovery! I am a huge outdoorsman and have had my fair share of tick run ins! The worst experience i ever had with them was on a pine tree farm in Mississippi. I was a kid and my buddy and I were making a lean-to fort. Well when I got home and tried to dust off the dirt on my legs, the dirt did not come off. It was literally thousands of ticks. Thousands of them covered every part of my body from head to toe. All of them burried in my skin and all of theme were those seed ticks that are the size of small freckles. This also happened the same night that my parents were having an important dinner party for out of town guests! My mom and dad rotated with tweezers to pick these guys off of me but there were simply too many! Then my dad comes upstairs, not with tweezers, but with a bottle of dog flea and tick shampoo. I scrubbed my body head to toe, let it sit for 5 minutes and then rinsed off. Now they still had the marathon tick pulling disaster but all the ones they pulled were dead. To this day, if I find 1 tick, I use flea and tick shampoo. Works great!! Now to prevent ticks. The BEST thing you can do is spray your clothing with a permethrin solution. Sawyers makes some premade stuff at Walmart and bass pro but you will save yourself a lot of money by buying a permethrin consentrate from amazon or a tractor supply/co-op store. After you spray your clothes, use DEET on your skin. Dressing for the outdoors helps a lot to. Tucking your pants into your shoes or using duct tape. Tuck your shirt in and wear a hat. With that system, I have never had another tick.

I would put Big Hill Pond State Park high up on your priority list if you have not been there already! I go there every year in February for an annual backpacking trip with my fraternity brothers and it is always a blast!

It has taken a lot of convincing to try and get my wife to go camping with me! Congrats! I offer this....if you want her to go back with you, its not about your idea of fun but hers. Focus on her and making her happy and comfortable. I will neither confirm nor deny that I have taken favorite alcoholic beverages while camping but if it makes it feel more like home it is more likely that she will enjoy it. Also, take some awesome food. I'm talking a cooler full of breakfast burritos, OJ, sandwiches, mac and cheese, hot dogs, anything that is tasty! Take plenty of water, camp furniture, a radio, comfy cots or sleeping pads, pillow, lanterns, firewood, smores....make it like the Ritz Carlton and she will likely want to go back. Since you are car camping, weight is not an issue so take as much as you want! Probably the biggest thing that can ruin a great camping trip is the weather! So make sure the weather is nice and comfy. Good luck!

All of my favorite ingredients! Thanks for this. I will try it this fall.

My LCP has been my faithful companion for several years now. I always have a round in the chamber and use a Desantis Nemisis holster. The other day I threw a pair of pants on the bed forgetting I had my gun in them (doh!), the gun went flying and hit the carpet with no issues.

Will do guys! Thanks for the interest. Our next event looks like it will be held at Ames Plantation and it will primarily be an educational event. We still may raffle off a rifle though and we are working on those details. Follow us on Twitter @WolfRiverQDMA for the latest information and various other bits of information.

I have shot plenty while hunting with my .270 No reason to think that it wouldn't work! Leaves a nice wound path too.

Oh I am right there with you! Finally have access to land (my own) and can't wait to climb some trees. Really wished I had done some scouting at the end of the previous season..doh! I have a good idea of where they are traveling though. Do you adjust your draw weight throughout the year?

I have been involved over the past several months in helping to start up a Quality Deer Management Association branch in Memphis. The QDMA is a nationwide non-profit organization that helps promote the best land and herd practices to ensure abundant resources for years to come. Anyways, its been good fun putting it together and I figured this would be one of the better places to tell Memphis area hunters about it. We had our first event at the Agricenter last week and we had 88 people sign up and join us at our dinner. Unfortunately, the next event wont involved raffles and auctions like this first one did (we gave away awesome stuff!) but and educational event should be within the next few months. Of course we would love to have more members and we need more! So, if you are interested in finding out more about it feel free to send me a message. I was however, able to snag a few CVA 30% coupon codes for anyone that has been wanting to purchase a CVA Muzzleloader...here is your excuse! They can be used on one purchase of CVA muzzleloading guns, accessories and other BPI Brands products. I only have 2 of them so please message me if you will use one! I hope I am not breaking forum rules by promoting this (I have zero financial interest in this) but just wanted to share with other hunters/land owners who are passionate about quality deer/property management and may be interested in participating in the events! If its ok, I will let the forum know about any upcoming events but for the latest on whats happening and other musings, you can follow our Twitter account at: @wolfriverqdma Thanks and bow season is only 88 days away!

I dont know if I qualify as the "archer" you speak of, but I have a hunting setup that I break out and practice with every fall. I have a target that I set up in my backyard and shoot there. Also, if you are a member of MSSA, they have an archery range that is pretty sweet. Are you talking about a compound bow or traditional?

The man cave looks good! Good luck with the rest!

Thanks.

Is there a way to edit a thread title once posted?

We are actually dealing with a beaver problem on our land as well. When we had our timber cruise done, they guy counted 3 families of beavers. We heard from him as well as our Wildlife and Fisheries guy that trapping beavers is the way to go. Hire someone to come and do it professionally and you will get rid of all of them. If you start shooting them you will never get rid of them. Good luck!

I am glad your pack sold! What have you purchased to replace it? REI makes some good 30L packs that are lightweight and very reasonable. I just bought a new sleeping bag last night saving me 1.6lbs.

What is your new shotgun?

I would buy more Glocks but I love my G19 so much I cant justify spending the money on any others.

You got it. You have to carry certain things but you can always shed weight on what you carry. The "gram weenies" cut the corners off their maps and their shoelaces in half. Crazy! You do have a pack much larger than you need (especially for a weekend). When it comes to water, I carry enough to get me to the next hydration point. Water is one of the heaviest things you can carry. I always factor in an extra pound to pack in my whiskey.

No problem. Hopefully I can remember everything. I am still in my pursuit of shedding weight and oftentimes that means spending money which I don't have. Ultralight hiking is a mindset and you should figure out what will work for you. For me, I always hike with other people. We split up certain items such as a shelter, water filter or stove. There is no need for every one of us carry a water filter for our hike (this was hard for me to get over). Here is what I got so far. When you start looking at shedding BPW weight you start with the big 3. Pack, bag and shelter. Cutting weight in these areas reduced the most amount of oz. per item comparatively speaking. I use a Mountain Hardware Fluid 32 pack which is 2.9lbs. I was looking for a pack under 3lbs AND best value for my money. I actually made and Excel spreadsheet to help me figure that out! I paid like $65 for it. My bag is also a Mountain Hardware 2nd dimension and the next thing I will be upgrading. Its old, synthetic and heavy. My goal here is to get a bag under 2lbs which means a down bag. As far as shelter goes, I share one. Most of the places I hike will have some sort of shelter, or I will split a tent up wit someone. Clothing: I go for as little and lightweight clothing as possible that will allow me to be comfortable for the given weather. I purchased a pair of synthetic zip off pants, bring 1 pair of good underwear, athletic socks, a fleece jacket/shell if its cold and a quick dry shirt. The more worse the weather, the more stuff. I use tennis shoes for hiking instead of hiking boots. Hiking boots are heavy and with the decreased pack weight that i have, wearing tennis shoes allows me to be more comfortable and less prone to rolling an ankle! As I mentioned before, I share the shelter, stove and water filter. You can save ALOT of weight in what you carry toiletries wise. I repackaged some of my items such as contact solution. I dont carry bottles of anything if I can help it and use a few sandwich bags to carry my medicine. I carry a cheap toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste. I used to carry a huge flashlight with extra batteries, now I carry a small AAA fenix flashlight that weighs nothing. IF it goes out, someone in my group will have a flashlight so no need to carry a spare. There are plenty of websites out there that explain this in more detail. I am still learning myself. The things I have learned though (and learned quickly) is that by carrying less weight, you hurt less, can see more and can still remain comfortable and safe. Basically, I dont carry 2 flashlights with an extra set of batteries, 8oz of contact solution, 3 pairs of socks, a pair of pants and a pair of shorts, 2 shirts... You get the idea. THe thing that was most important to me was safety on the trail. I can carry a massive first aid kit prepared to stabilize a compound fracture (assuming we knew how to use it properly), but honestly if it got to that point, my buddies could go get help. Anyways, I feel like I was probably all over the place with that but hopefully it helps.

I think you would be surprised how much more you would like backpacking (even for 2 days) if you shed some weight. I used to be the WORST when it came to taking everything and then backups of everything. It just made my trips more painful, cover less ground and I didnt use half the stuff I was taking. It really took someone to mentor me on it to realize that I don't have to prepare for the worst and I can still be safe. Its nice not waking up the next morning feeling like I got hit by a Mack truck.

Man I hate I am not on that part of the state. I would be all over this. Just went ultralight myself. I dont have everything yet but my I have a BPW of about 13lbs now. It really made a big difference in how I felt and the distance I am able to travel. I do an annual Big Hill Pond weekend hike with some fraternity brothers every year in February. Good times!

Thanks for the reminder! Can't wait to bag some thunder chickens.

Have they opened Shelby Farm's rifle range again yet? I heard shooting over there recently and I know it wasnt the Sheriff's department's range.

I completely agree. There is something that just dosent seem right and is lacking in this game...besides defense.

Congrats to your son! He shot about 5 minutes before I shot my deer this morning. I have access to property close to Chickasaw State Park so I am sure I heard him shoot.