Monday, December 13, 2010

Predicting Winter

The folks back home in MO predict the winter by looking at the wooly catepillars and persimmon seeds.

 
Upon cracking the persimmon seeds open, you will find one of the three pieces of "silverware" shapes.

KNIFE: means you'll have a cold icy winter (where wind will slice through you like a knife winter).

SPOON: means you'll need to shovel out of snow.

FORK: means you'll have mild winter.

Here's an example of a spoon and knife seed:

Pic from http://www.lauderdaleschools.net

So whatever you find the most shape of in the seeds, is the winter prediction. Most say you have to sample 10 seeds to get an accurate reading on how harsh the coming winter will be.

What's your winter prediction in your neck of the woods? My friends in MO say it's a "spoon" winter coming. They've already had one blizzard last week. We don't have persimmon trees here in SoCal so I can't do any predicting. Next year I'll be sure and grab some persimmon seeds in MO to check.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Bionic Apples, The True Reason Snow White Fell To The Dark Side.

Every once in a great while you stumble upon an awesome treat and wonder why it took so long to find out. Thanks to my friend Kellie in St. Louis for turning me on to Bionic Apples. Bionic Apples are a green caramel apple rolled in walnuts. The first store to sell Bionic Apples is  Merb's Candies in St. Louis way back in 1945. Everyone has tasted a caramel apple rolled in peanuts but woo wee them walnuts are even better.

Thanks to Mom at Mom's Country Orchard for taking the request. Om, nom, nom. My apple didn't survive the drive down from the mountains.


Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Quail Calls I Have Known

It's that time of year and some hunters without dogs are asking about quail calls to help locate coveys to save some boot leather. I've used the Lohman's, Primos and Iversons quail calls over the years. The wooden calls sounds the best to me but you have to keep them dry or the wood warps, ruining the call most times. When it's wet I use the plastic Primos call. I don't think Iverson is still making their quail call, I had to talk the dad into making me one one years back and I believe the son now runs the business. You might call and ask. Iversons.

I like Jim Matthews' quail calls the best, they're a lot louder than the others so in the windy west the call carries the best. Many times I've stood on a small hill and hit the call and the birds told me right where they were across the valley. I don't have a dog either and this saves a lot of walking sometimes. Jim has a production version and a higher priced custom signature version made from selected woods. You can see the special sound chamber in the 2nd pic that gives the Matthews call the extra umph for longer range.











Prices and more info on Jim's calls here. Jim's PH# 909-887-3444. e-mail odwriter@aol.com or P.O. Box 9007, San Bernardino, CA 92427-0007. http://www.outdoornewsservice.com/.

If you're handy with the wood you can make your own quail call. Primitive Hand Made Quail Call.

Another quail call to carry is a hawk screamer for when the lil buggers are running on you. Lohman makes a nice loud wooden hawk screamer.

What kind of quail call do you like? Do you make your own? If so let's see some pics.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Smiling Like A Butcher's Dog

I lit the first fire of the season tonight after scoring some seasoned oak from a friend. Feels good on these old bones after 10 days of rain and cold here on SoCal. I'm tempted to curl up on the hearth like a good dog and enjoy the new found warmth. I missed the loud wood crackling and burning wood smell from the chimney when outside. The fireplace smell takes me back to the Ozark hills where I deer hunt, every cabin has a fire lit 24 hours. It's their source of heat and cooking and where everyone gathers each night to share their tales from the day. Some whittle, others chew and spit their tabaccky.



The seasoned oak below in the pic was even split when I picked it up. Can't beat that with a stick. Chopping and splitting wood is one chore I do enjoy. Nothing more manly than that and it's great exercise. There was a time when I was younger and helped a friend run his wood for sale business and I'd knock out 20 to 30 cords of wood a year. Now I'm lucky to cut 1 to 2 cords a year. The wood usage here in the warmer valley of Redlands isn't nothing compared to the mountains above me or back home in Missouri where temps dip down to 0F almost every year.



I don't know if it's me getting old or it was the move to sunny southern California but I used to be able to tolerate the cold better. I'd even take out the trash in the snow in my bare feet in Missouri with my mom hollering at me that I would catch my death of cold the whole time. Now I'm like the rest of of the native Kali-Fornyans, I'm lighting a fire when it hits 60F. 

At 50F the rabbit fur muff is coming out of the back of the closet. 

At 40F I'm stove up. 

At 30F I think we die out here. 

Trying to find a windshield ice scraper in SoCal is like looking for Bigfoot, the trusty old credit card is what I usually end up using when heading into the higher elevations.

The coming of fall also means a wardrobe change around the house when lounging. Gone are the flip flops, t-shirt and fishing shorts worn during the hot summer here. Now it's the fleece lined shoes from Weber's Camo Leather Goods and camo sweatpants from Mossy Oak. When it gets real cold I break out an old Woolrich wool long sleeve shirt I've had forever. I've worn that wool shirt in some nasty weather and never been cold in it. It's my blankie.

Now to finish the mood I need some bourbon or hot hard apple cider with a cinnamon stick in it. Here's Mom from Mom's Country Orchards stand in Oak Glen CA showing how to swig the hard stuff. Mom reminds me of Granny Clampett, they both are firecrackers and fun to talk to.



Who's burning wood already? Who'd doing the bonfires out back in the yard? Who's got their cider and is sitting by a glowing fire tonight? 

P.S. Chimney Safety. Make sure you or a hired Chimney Sweep check and clean your chimney every fall before you light your first fire. Climb up in your attic and roof to look for signs of vapor leakage where chimney sections join, signs of heat damage to the chimney itself, and signs of heat damage to any trusses, sheeting, or other wood anywhere near the chimney.  If you're pretty handy you can buy a chimney brush at the hardware store and make a pole for it out of two10 foot pieces of 3 quarter inch schedule 40 PVC. Put it together to do the job, take it apart to store it. Takes about 30 minutes start to finish to clean out a 20 foot chimney.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sniping Tree Rats

I guess most country boy learn to shoot from hunting rabbits and squirrels as a child, I know I did. Dad liked to hunt them with a shotgun but I learned real fast that can cause some problems when you bust up the smelly guts with the shotgun pellets. Pop had me stand downwind while we field dressed my first gut shot squirrel and I about blew lunch when I pulled his jammies off.

Our neighbor Thadell used a bolt action .22 and shot every one of his squirrels in the head. This caught my attention and turned me into a rimfire fan for taking sneaky tree rats. To me there's nothing more fun they doing the Mohican Sneak up on a wary squirrel. Once in range you still have to get a clear sight picture to snipe the head and drop it clean to the forest floor without hanging up in a tree canopy or fork in the trunk. Precison work for sure along with a heck of a lot of patience. Some of these dedicated squirrel assassins are known to gather each October near Plato Mo. This is their mark.


The first trick to finding squirrels is to find places where they hang out, den trees are the easiest to spot. The dark circles in oak tree trunks are signs that Mr. Squirrel is close by. Your biggest heartbreak will come if they spot you first as you ease into their back yard and race to their safe hole, leaving you with no easy shot.


This year I was able to enjoy a warm evening hunt with Doc and his young son T-Bone. T-Bone has the eyes of an eagle so us old dudes let him find the grays and reds for us. Doc was using a H&R 12 gauge signel shot shotgun and I had my trusty Marlin 25MN .22 WMR bolt rifle out for a walk in the timber. The leaves were late in turning colors and dropping so it was tough to see anything low in the dense ground cover. The evil wind also fought against us, blowing the huge oak and hickory treetops around all afternoon. I've found on windy noisy days like this that most animals lay up, they just don't like keeping track of all the motion and commotion.


The population also seemed a bit low in the area where we normally hunt around Plato MO with Doc ending up with one gray for the pot at camp.Try as I might with den trees all around me I never even saw a squirrel.



Here in SoCal we're not allowed to hunt tree squirrels, something that just made me scratch my head when I moved here. Some "Save The Squirrel Society" always blocks any attempt to start a season for them here. I could travel a few hours north to be able to hunt them in the next county and I may do so again this year, it would just be so much more convenient to hunt them here. I can't imagine being a kid here in this county and not being able to get home from school and head out for an evening squirrel hunt.

How's your squirrel season going so far?

Friday, September 24, 2010

Well Hello Harvest Moon

Yesterday was the first day of fall and the the first Harvest Moon in 20 years. Neil Young sang a song about the Harvest Moon way back when. I knew it was time when my friend Kellie from MO posted on her Facebook wall that the morning smelled of damp oak trees and smokey chimneys in the Ozarks Mtns where she was working. My mind shot back to near Cherokee Pass Mo where I grew up hunting. Those early fall mornings with the thick fog rising off the pastures and the fireplace smoke curling up from the old cabins along the hollers.

The harvest moon from last night, I missed it rising from the horizon where it's at it's best.

 To me the fall season is the best one of the four. How can you beat apple cider, pumpkin pie, bonfires, ripe persimmons and Halloween? Hockey also starts up and this Blues fan is always glued to the radio or TV watching the coolest game in the world. And we can't forget the hunting season either. Our annual ADSH squirrel hunt is always the first weekend in Oct. It will be 33 years and counting for our gathering near Plato MO this year.

The last harvest moon I can remember I was bowhunting deer near Swan Lake NWR in MO. I had stopped by the refuge to film some big bucks one evening. The local farm boys where running combines all day and night trying to get the corn in on the refuge land. I came out of the marsh along Yellow Creek after dark had fallen and there across the moonlit cornfield was the harvest moon, perched perfectly on the horizon. The big lunar orb was so large it felt like I could reach out and touch it. I paused to take in what I was seeing, the combines running in the foreground against the moonlit timber in the background.

So what are your fall memories and fall traditions?

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Dove Opener 2010, Cibola AZ & Blythe CA

I spent 6 days in some of the hottest dove hunting areas along the Colorado River in Southern CA. Here's some video of the fun and sights.

Part 1



Part 2

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Hello Tokyo, Is This Thang On? New HTC EVO Phone

Got my grubby hands on a new HTC EVO smart phone last week. In and out in 30 minutes at the Sprint Store. Took my old cell company AT&T about 30 minutes to activate the new Sprint account. Pretty easy to figure out the functions, the battery life seems a bit weak at first look. Audio does have that underwater sound to it on calls sometimes. Surfing the Interwebz, sending messages, posting pics from the camera to Facebook all worked perfect.

The best part of the whole deal was working with Clarisse. She was 3x hotter in person than in this pic. Lord have mercy.


First week with the HTC EVO smart phone. The GPS app with say location and go is slick, only screwed me once out of maybe 20 trips (bout 1/2 mile off).

The 2.2 Android OS has a root hack finally posted over on xda-developers.com but sweet jeebus it's 3 pages of DOS commands. WTH? I need that WiFi hotspot tether bad for the laptop. Not to fret, a one click root process is about done.

The flashlight app is the shizzle in rattlesnake and scorpion country. Email, Twitter and Facebook was easy to set up. This is my first touch screen phone, it does take some getting used to for typing and not hitting the wrong link or icon on a screen. Size and weight are good for my tee shirt or surf shorts pockets.

The 3G WiFi screams in town, out in the boonies not so much. It's workable for the Internetz and email. YouTube videos are a joy to watch on the big screen with no stoppages to buffer or herky jerky playback. The EVO has 4G  (4rth generation) capability which rolls out here in SoCal in the fall of 2010.

The Friends Stream is nice to combine Facebook and Twitter feeds into one screen to ease the boredom in the airport.

So far Sprint's coverage has been good, even out in the empty desert south of Cibola AZ.

I went with the Aliph Jawbone Icon ear bud, The $39 hardwired ear bud the Sprint Store had sucked and the salesman warned me not to even try it. If that is so why even have the crappy non functional one on the rack to tempt suckers like me?

The one big beef I have is the lame AC/DC micro USB charger plug that plugs into the bottom of the phone. It doesn't lock into the phone so it's constantly having to be plugged back into the phone when you move the phone around in the car or on the table. I guess many of the new phones are using this type connection for power and data but some engineer needs to rethink this weak link FAIL.

One other minor bitch is my older IBM laptop doesn't have USB 2.0 so I can't sync the phone to that older laptop.

The camera is pretty good, I'm shooting 1 meg high quality pics that are stored as .bmps. Video worked fine to record the neighbor's drunken wife swerving all over the road on labor day weekend. The one small nag is close up pics sometimes are not in sharp focus, not sure if that's me or there is no macro mode or what.

Low light pic wasn't too bad on auto setting.



Fast action (30 mph) pic was okay, some overexposure in upper right.


I know, you're wondering "Why not an iPhone"? Well, to be brutally honest I'm tired of all the "Network Busy" errors from AT&T's overloaded network. The iPhone is just too popular right now. I like the bigger display of the EVO and the fact their apps are catching up to all the iPhone apps. Add in that Sprint has built their network out a lot better than AT&T and you have my vote. The Sprint phone bill is also cheaper, $69, if you need unlimited data and messages. I made my new phone decision after putting a Droid X, Samsung Captivate and iPhone through some testing. The one biggie I wanted but didn't get was the Super AMOLED screen which works better in bright sunlight.

Bottom line, if you need to take your office on the road so you can read email, share pics and video on Facebook and Twitter, surf the wild wild Interwebz, find addresses in the dark, this is a must have tool. 

Oh yeah, almost forgot, you can also make phone calls with it since it's also a cellphone. I almost forgot to add that part in from all the fun I'm having using the other features.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Blogger & Forum Ripoffs You Should Know About

If you write a blog or run a forum you need to know about the corporate snoop/spy bots that crawl your website or blog. These bots scrape your information then strip off your link and any info that is not relevant and sell the pertinent info to companies tracking their key words using social CRM platforms. According to the sellers of these platforms they allow companies to listen, engage, and act on their customers’ conversations across the entire social web.

This stripped and packaged info IS NOT available to the public unless they pay to get it. This unauthorized use of your website content also violates your copyright since they are using your work product without your permission. These bots also suck huge amounts of your bandwidth on your server as they crawl your site night after night looking for changes or new content.

Two of the bigger snoop bots are Radian 6 out of Canada www.radian6.com/crawler and Scout Lab. Using robot.txt to block the Radian 6 bot DOES NOT work, you have to email them to be taken off their crawl list. You can block the IPs Radian 6 bots use. Radian 6 uses the IPs 142.166.0.0/16  and 207.179.0.0/16.  You can block them using your IP block on your server admin panel or htaccess. If you're not sure how to block IPs contact your website host and they can do it for you in most cases. If you pen a blog you may not have control over this. I believe Word Press has a plug in for blocking IPs and stopping scraping.

More and more of these scraper sites are popping up around the world. Google is reportedly penalizing these public scraper sites in their search index ranking for having duplicate content but I wouldn't leave it to Google to watch my back. The sites like Radian 6 that charge for your content should also not be allowed to make money off your hard work.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Yo-Yos For The Troops

My friend Albert over at The Rasch Chronicles is in the sand box and he's found the perfect item to alleviate some of the boredom among the troops. Yo-yos. In my day it was Frogger, the hand held electronic game, where you had to jump the frog from pad to pad to keep him alive. That game kept us from going insane on many DZs and airport ramps.



Take a peek at Albert's call for yo-yos and see if you can help out. If you can't afford to mail them overseas just holler at me here and you can send them here and I'll ship them over for you.

http://trochronicles.blogspot.com/2010/07/yo-yos-for-troops.html

1st yo-yos arrive.

http://trochronicles.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-yo-yos-arrive.html

Thank you Albert.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

But Momma. More Baby Bears Gettin' In Trouble

Nice save for this Alaska fisherman, that's some delicate work with momma bear close by. The brother bear looks like he's saying, "I'm glad it's not my azz in trouble this time". Momma grabs junior by the scruff of the neck and drags him off for some scolding. Reminds me of myself at the store with my mom one time.
 
 

Friday, July 16, 2010

Somebody's Gonna Get A Butt Whoopin'

I can just imagine the conversation in this video.

Momma bear: Git your sorry azz back down here before you get hurt.

Lil baby bear: I won't get hurt momma.

Momma bear: Don't make me come up there and get you!!

Lil baby bear: I'll come down when I ready.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Father's Day Hog Hunt at Cedar Canyon Ranch

Here's the video from our Father's Day hog hunt at Cedar Canyon Ranch near Tehachapi CA. Chris is the son and the dad is Eric (caninelaw on the forums).

On the first shot Friday night it appears to be high. I didn't see the pig Chris was shooting at leave the frame on the camera and thought he had been hit but you see the pig veers high in the frame and runs off. The shot was lasered at 221 yards and Chris had a little of an angle, 8 degrees maybe, uphill. 7mm Mag with Barnes GMX 139 grain I think they said.

On the 2nd shots Chris and Eric took Saturday night I was setting up the camera when that hog popped out and never got any video of that Chinese fire drill. It was an oh crap moment. It was almost the same setup as Ron's shot from last year, same hill except this pig was closer where Ron ended up shooting his 3rd and 4rth shots. This hog turned after being shot at and his back end seemed to buckle but no blood was ever found. Without video to review all I can think of is with the high sage he just made a clean get away without us seeing him go up the ridge.

The weather was almost perfect, staying in the low 70s and kind of cold sometimes in the shade. No snakes but the bugs were the usual pests.

Thanks to Eric and Chris, it was fun to see them work hard to get two hogs. This was Chris' first big game animal. Also huge thanks to Bill, Paul, Ryan and the rest of the crew at Cedar Canyon Ranch for taking care of us and searching for blood on those two shots.

P.S. Cedar Canyon is losing their lease at the end of 2010 so if you'd like to hunt this beautiful area call them now as they are booking for the fall hunts

Friday, June 11, 2010

One Lucky Cat & One Unlucky Cat

Some of us were just discussing bowhunters not being able to carry a pistola (CCW) while bowhunting in CA per DFG Code. One of the reasons many of us want to be able to carry a pistol is the chance of an attack by a bear or cougar. While the chances of one being jumped by these critters is remote you're much better off with a gun than a bow. The dude in the story below is lucky to be alive, he broke and tried to out run the cat. Major no no, running just triggers a cat's predatory response. It's one reason some call mountains bikers "Meals on wheels".

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=81991&TM=10497.15

What really made me a believer in letting bowhunters be armed was my buddy Pete getting stalked and almost et by a cougar at Fort Hunter Liggett (FHL) a couple years back. He was able to knock an arrow but who knows if he would have even got that shot off had the cat not broke off the attack. The other problem Pete had was his jacket was stuffed in his quiver when he encountered the cat and reloading would have been tough. I'll take my chances with a pistol over a bow any day.

Pete near FHL the day before the cat encounter.


Another close encounter I've had with a big cat was 3 of us bumped into a cougar near Lake Henshaw CA a year ago while turkey hunting. That cat started to stalk the father I was with and finally broke off that attack when the father broke off a large tree limb and threw it at the cat. The father was also unarmed and regretted that decision later.



DFG should amend that reg to let bowhunters carry pistols for self protection.

We can't all have a miracle bumper slide up our sleeves.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Raahauges's Shooting Sport Fair

The Raahuage's Shooting Sports Fair,  held June 4-6 2010 in Corona CA, is a 3 days hands on event where you can handle and shoot rifles, pistols, shotguns, Gatling guns and more. There are plenty of vendor booths to check out new hunting and gun gear along with great gun groups like CRPA, NRA, Cal-Guns and more. FN and Sig-Sauer were no shows this year and hopefully they will be at the Shooting  Sports Fair next year. There are also hunting and gun seminars by seasoned pros plus great food.

JHO dropped by Friday to films some of the action.

More info at http://www.raahauges.com/


Video part 1




Video part 2


Sunday, May 30, 2010

We Will Remember Them...

"Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them."

I've always liked this line from the "Ode of Remembrance". The "Ode of Remembrance" is an ode taken from Laurence Binyon's "For the Fallen", which was first published in The Times in September 1914. The poet wrote "For the Fallen" while sitting on the cliffs between Pentire Point and The Rumps in north Cornwall, UK.

On Memorial Day this year I would like to remember my friends and roomie Emilio (Marty) who died on 28 February 1984. Steve Ray, Eddy Clark, Larry Rainey, Jonathon Goerling, Roderick Gress, Emilio Martinez, and Victor Valle were killed during a parachute training mission when a U.S. Air Force C-130 transport plane, while attempting an emergency landing, crashed into a snow swept mountain in Spain about two miles northwest of the village of Borja.

Blue skies Steve, Eddy, Larry, Victor, Marty, Roderick and Jonathon. Pic is Steve Ray, we were so young then. Steve was one of our greyhounds, he could run forever at a pace you wouldn't believe.




FYI about Memorial Day: There seems to be some confusion out there about Memorial Day and it's meaning. Memorial Day IS NOT another Veteran's Day. Memorial Day commemorates the men and women who died while in the military service. We honor those who are currently serving or have served on Veteran's Day in November. This Memorial Day issue was brought up on several veteran boards this week. Some vets mentioned cringing when folks wish them a "Happy Memorial Day". We know they mean well but Memorial Day is a somber day when we remember friends and buddies who died while serving. It's a day of retrospection and mourning for us. Many vets head to the cemeteries to pay their respects to the fallen, that's where you'll find me on Memorial Day.

Monday, May 17, 2010

JHO At Fort Hunter Liggett Tule Elk Hunt 31 Dec 2009

This video is of our trip to Fort Hunter Liggett last New Year's Eve. I went to hog hunt but the hogs had other plans that didn't include me. This also was the weekend the lucky CA Tule elk tag holders were chasing the elk around the fort.

At the end of this video is an amazing find in one elk, a complete, almost perfect copper slug lodged up against the spine. The skinners found the Federal Premium Barnes Expander Tipped copper slug as they were sawing the the main elk body in half. The slug was complete with even the little blue plastic tip still on the nose of the slug.



If you'd like more info on elk hunting: http://www.rmef.org/


For elk hunting books please click on the books below.

Bowhunting Modern ElkElk Hunting Guide: Skills, Gear, And InsightThe Complete Book of Elk Hunting: Tips and Tactics for All Weather and Habitat Conditions (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)Elk Hunting SecretsThe Ultimate Guide to Elk Hunting

Monday, May 10, 2010

First Look At The Konus Sight-Pro Atomic Red/Green Dot Sight

JHO takes a look at the new Konus SightPro Atomic Electronic Red/Green Dot Sight

Features:

1X magnification
Weight: 3.8 ounces/110 grams
Rugged enough for shotgun or magnum revolvers
Weaver-style 7/8" mount & 3/8" rimfire adapter
5 intensity settings for both green and red
Perfect for handguns, bows, shotguns and rifles
Battery: 1 each 3V/ CR2032
Great co-witness sight
Length: 63mm/2.4"
Color: Matte black
Unlimited eye relief
20mm/0.7" objective lens
4 MOA
Made in China
Manufacturer: Konus 7247

http://www.konususa.com

Discuss this gun sight on the JHO Gun Optics forum here

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Crossbow Used To Free Entangled Whale

This is so kewl. Some good press for archery and crossbows. Lord knows crossbows take the heat as being too easy for some in the bowhunting community.

Good save!

The full scoop at the link below.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/05/crossbow_the_right_solution_to_free_entangled_whale/



Photo Northeast Fisheries Science Center

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Done Got Turkey Slobbered

I finally got some free time so I went out on some public land Sunday morning for some turkey bird hunting. Birds were tearing it up but since I saw another hunter's truck nearby and didn't know where he was at I decided to go out on the pond levee where I had a good view of the hillside and let him have the honey hole.



Well anyways I went out and set up next to the levee and was listening to a bird and figured the other hunter was on it so I just sat back and listened to the show. The bird flew down and started coming my way and no boom.

Huh?

Pretty soon he was triple gobbling and walking my direction. He got about 100 yards out and was coming straight at me and I'm thinking this bird is going to commit hari kari. Then at 75 yards that darn little light bulb went off inside my head and said if he keeps coming the same way he is gonna be right on top of me.

I tried to ignore it but at 50 yards I laid my shotgun off to the side and a hasty ambush plan was in the works. I started hunkering down, the closer he got to the levee the more I just inched backwards on my side of the levee toward some cover. When I couldn't see him any more but could hear him walking in the leaves I got in my crouched position, pulled my hat down and got ready for the fun.

When his head popped into view about twelve inches away I made my leap from my hide.



It's just a blur now, but remember thinking "I got him" as we rolled down the other side of the levee as we were having some fun. Sometimes he was on top, sometimes I was. There was lot of squawking and wing flopping on his end and some some grunting and cussin' on my end. As we rolled to a stop in the grass he ended up on top and I lost my grip and he was gone.

I swear I watched him run at least a quarter of a mile and he was looking back at me the whole time laughing.



That's why I turkey hunt, for excitement and because if you ain't never been turkey slobbered you don't know what your missing.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Last Call For Our 7th Annual Game Cam Pic Contest

All aboard!!! Last Call For Our 7th Annual Game Cam Pic Contest.

If you have pics you want to enter into the contest you need to do it ASAP, the contest will close Monday April 18th.

Here are some of the pics so far.

Best Bird category, a ruffed grouse from Willy4003.



Best Buck category, buck from goatman.



This one in the Funny Pic category from Terrific Tom cracked me up. Dang young bears always getting into trouble.



Plenty more pics in the contest to admire so head on over to 7th Annual Game Cam Pic Contest.

P.S. We're always looking for sponsors for the contest. If you'd like to become a sponsor and donate a prize for the contest please send me an email or call 951-314-5837. Thank you.

Friday, April 9, 2010

YouTube/Google & Their Family Safe Content BS

YouTube, which is now owned by Google, allows you to run ads now on your videos, something that helps pay for the cameras and other recording gear used by JHO. Google recently rejected two JHO videos from their ad program. One is a ground squirrel shooting video which I admit can get a bit gory. This latest rejection of our turkey skinning video has me scratching my head. Google/YouTube is known as anti hunter leaning and this video rejection supports that notion.

Imagine a child or non hunter being subjected to actually learning how to clean and prepare their own food? The horror. Here's the YouTube rejection email.

Thanks for submitting your video How To Skin A Turkey (Breasts & Legs) for revenue sharing. We have disabled revenue sharing on this video for one of the following reasons:

* You have not provided adequate documentation that you have the necessary rights to commercially use all the video material and music
* Advertisers on YouTube are currently looking to advertise next to family safe content

Please note that we reserve the right to make the final determination on whether to enable revenue sharing for a video.

Thanks for your understanding,

The YouTube Team




What's also indicative of how this company operates is you cannot reply to the rejection email, it has one of those "noreply" email addresses. If you want to really waste some precious time I guess you could wade through YouTube's Help menus trying to find out who to appeal to, if they even allow that.

Thanks for your understanding? Ha! What kind of mamby pambies do they have running this company? Looks like the time has come to shift off Google, there are other video hosts to use like Vimeo, BrightCove and our own JHO Photo/Video Gallery . I'm also looking for another way to lose the Google ads on our website. Enough is enough. Heck, even this blog is run on Google's Blogger which means I need to find a new blog host. Feel free to let me know any blog alternatives that are gun and turkey skinning friendly.

As one of our forum members pointed out recently, how can we be in bed with Google by running their Google Ads on our forum when Google is a well known anti gun company? Looking around the other hunting and fishing websites I see Google Ads on many of them, it's hard not to jump on their gravy train. Google is the shizzle if you want higher search engine ranking and to make money off ads, no one is even close to them. Yahoo just shut down their Publisher Network web ad program that was comparable to Google's AdSense because Google kicked their tail.

Google also gave us crap over submitting feeds from our store for their Froogle listing because we sold ammo and knives, oh my! We finally pulled those items from sale to get the feed working but I really regret caving in to the PC crowd BS.

What are your experiences with YouTube/Google? Any nightmares or PC tales to relate? Hopefully this huge 100 ton gorilla will collapse from their own weight and someone with some common sense will take over. In the meantime I'm hoping the Chinese wreak havoc on them, Google needs a wake up call.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A Turkey Tale That'll Make You Smile

Every once in awhile you come across a hunting tale that makes you break out into a wide grin. This here is one of them misty eyed, glad they took the time to tell it stories.

Norm and Sonshine's first turkey



Got any good turkey tales to share?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Honest Officer, It's Legal to Hunt and Shoot Here

The last thing I need is to stop a hunt or target shoot to haggle with the gendarmes over the tangled morass we know as the county shooting regulations in SoCal. We have NF, BLM, DFG, county, city and private land that have different regulations covering target shooting and hunting. San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties both published an official county shoot map years ago but they are so outdated they are useless today. The only way to stay legal is to have current maps at your fingertips and http://www.firearmsmaps.com/ has filled that huge void.



Netcomp, the company that makes the maps, is based out of Colton CA and owned by Ken who's a hunter. Ken had the same desire as most of us who wanted to stay legal when hunting or shooting. These maps are a godsend since may sheriffs and law enforcement personnel do not know the boundaries or regulations.

I recently stopped by for a peek at the latest editions of the maps. That's what really cook about these maps, Ken is constantly updating the maps when new regulations or boundaries are announced by government departments. The BLM just recently had some major changes in their land boundaries and the new Netcomp map edition has those changes already. What timely service.

I also got a peek at a Verizon Smart Phone running the maps on it. Too slick. You just start the application, the map overview comes up and you tap the screen to zoom into where you want. The regs for the area you are looking at pop up on the screen for instant knowledge of what is legal to shoot, say a rifle & shotgun zone or a no shoot zone. Netcomp also has CD software so you can run the maps on your computer.




The maps are so popular they were swiping them off our table at our booth at the recent Fred Hall Show in Long Beach.

Run, don't walk to Netcomp http://www.firearmsmaps.com/ now and get your maps ordered. A trespassing ticket, even if you're found innocent, is going to cost you a day off from work to fight and win. You also don't have to stop your hunt and leave, just show the cop where you are and you should be left alone to finish your hunt or target shooting. I recently had Riverside Sheriff contact me while crow hunting and my map allowed me to show them I was perfectly legal doing what I was there. I also recommend you carry the DFG regs if any questions arise about hunting regulations.

I can't thank Ken and Netcomp enough.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Far Out, Heimo's Artic Refuge

Every once in awhile I stumble on to a good video and this one put the grip on me today. We've all read about ANWR (Artic National Wildlife Refuge) and how the government wants to drill for oil there but no one I know has ever been there. I know it's way the hell out in the boonies in northern Alaska,I mean way out too. This is Heimo's story about his life living in ANWR.

From the intro:

In 1980, Jimmy Carter established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Alaskan Interior, cutting off 19 million acres of prime boreal wilderness from the mitts of fur trappers, oil tycoons, and would-be lodge owners alike. Only six families of white settlers were grandfathered in and allowed to keep cabins in the refuge—of them, only one still stays there year-round living off the land. His name is Heimo Korth, and he is basically the Omega Man of America’s Final Frontier.

Raised in suburban Wisconsin, Heimo set off in his teens to the Alaskan Bush to pursue the Davy Crockett lifestyle in more or less the only place it was still possible. Amid numerous setbacks and misadventures, Heimo gradually learned how to master his terrain, provide for his Eskimo wife, and rear children in one of the most inhospitable environments in North America.

In this premiere edition of Far Out, we take a bush plane to the middle of nowhere, Alaska, to catch up with Heimo and his wife, Edna—now reaching their golden years. Over the course of our ten-day stay, the Korths show us everything you need to know about fur-trapping, caribou-hunting, caribou-eating, river-crossing, boredom-staving, bear-avoidance, and bear-defense to live happily over 100 miles from the nearest neighbors. Vegans, you have been warned.


Far Out video

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Trophy Mule Deer Hunt Raffle For Oregon

Trophy Mule Deer Hunt raffle for charity for Zumwalt Prairie in NE OR. $99 per ticket. Mar 31 deadline. More info at link.

Trophy Mule Deer Hunt raffle

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

SHOT Show Video Report From Zenhunter

Neil (Zenhunter) was up in Las Vegas last week to take in the SHOT Show. He filed this video report for JHO. Great job Neil.

Enjoy,

Friday, January 15, 2010

Hollywood Calling? New Outdoor TV Show Host Wanted

Hey, who doesn't want to be a movie star right? A new outdoor TV show is looking for someone who can hunt, fish & knows survival skills. Looks like they are wanting someone with a face that doesn't scare small dogs so that rules most of my hunting buddies and me out.

If interested, contact Mike at OutdoorTV@live.com

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

SHOT Show Teaser. Remington ACR RIfle Video

From the rumor mill:

"Found this video on a disk at the airport. Looks like a promotional video of their ACR to be used at SHOT show."

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Lil Help Please. SHOT Show "Must See" List


Need a lil help here. The SHOT Show kicks off January 18th in Las Vegas with the media day at the ranges. There is so much new gear and guns to see every year I'd like to ask for some suggestions on what to whittle the "Must See List" down to. Do you know about any new guns or ammo you'd like to read about? New clothing line or game camera coming out? Please let me know here in the comments or by email what's you'd like to see covered. I'll do my best to get some info and take some pics.

Also, if you're attending the show and would like to have lunch or supper one day feel free to contact us at 951-314-5837. If you are a vendor or and would like us to shoot some video of your gear or operation please contact us at the same number.

Some video from the 2008 SHOT Show.