The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: 8/1/10

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Saturday Blog Rodeo 8/7/10

Saturday Blog Rodeo 08/7/10

And here we are again, another week has come and gone and I am still unscathed and unrepentant! Its not everyday that you wake up to the screaming whistle of a 107 rocket, but if that doesn't put gray in my beard then nothing else will. Does anyone know if Al Gore has come around here and checked on the whole global warming thing? Those rockets really put out a lot of hot air!

I don't want to get to emotional here, but once again I bring to you the posts and commentaries that I found most entertaining and informative this week! And believe it or not, none of it has anything to do with the Chinese penetration of cyberspace, Milli Vanilli, or anyone's lower colon!

Ladies are front and center this week!

The lovely and very talented Brigid, writer extraordinaire of Home on the Range, has shared some childhood memories with us, brought to mind by the Yo-To's for Troops campaign! A Yo-Yo of a Story introduces her readers to our campaign and then delves into what it was to be a child with an imagination. "Our imaginations were not provoked by PlayStations or GameBoys. Our play burst out of something within our own minds, shouting forth as we charged the next hill..."

As usual, NorCal Cazadora never disappoints! A fascinating post, Killing the barn rabbit: Unsporting, unethical or highly moral?, delivers the kind of intellectual stimulation and fun that we have come to expect from Holly's prolific pen! "Hunting helps connect me to what I am, free of the adornments of civilization. One of the adornments of civilization is doing just the kind of overthinking I've done here - it's the luxury of a mind "liberated" from the realities of life." And that's just from the comments!!!

Deer Passion is busy being a mom, but she finds the time to write about the kinds of things that are important to us both as sportsman and ethical hunters. Finding a Quality Outfitter touches on several subjects that would trouble me if I was trying to find a guide or outfitter. It seems that a group of never-do-wells have started an "outfitter's" outfit in her neck of the woods. Imagine spending a whole bunch of money on a hunt, and getting arrested for trespassing!

New to me is I Don't Wear Pink Camo to the Woods by Kari Murray. She's practical, down to earth, and loads of fun to read. She's working on getting a big ol' bear, and has documented the process on her post Baiting for Bear 101. She has a trail cam all set up so she has lots of great pictures to share.

You know who I have not heard from in a long time? Borderland Adventures: Her Perspective I went to check on her blog, but she hasn't posted in almost a year. I've emailed her just to check and see if she's ok. I'm sure that she is, and raising kids is tough business too!

I mentioned Midge Man's Fly Box last week, and I will do it again! His post Trip Notes, has convinced me that Colorado is where I need to be! That's it. Decided. As long as the gun laws are liberal, (Ummm conservative? Y'all know what I mean!) I will be a happy camper! I'm sending the Mrs the link and starting operation... "Onward, Westward!" Ummm, I'll let you all know how that works out for me...

Wild Ed has been building a boat, and it looks like he will be building the accesories too. Turning Canoe Paddles into a Double Blade Kayak Paddle is another great do it yourself project that I am pleased to have read. I need something like that for my next Pirogue! Normally I don't usually highlight two posts, but this one is also very important and educational. Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors: Texas Alligator Gar Deserve Better Protection covers these beautiful saurian fish and the importance of protecting and conserving them for future generations. Believe you me, this post will be highlighted in the "Best of the Outdoor Bloggers" series.

I don't quite remember how I bumped into Fall Roads Archer, but it is certainly worth the time to look his blog over. Really nice story lines, beautiful, real pictures, and just a great outdoorsy feel!

Remember, if you happen to bump into a post or blog you really like, let me know and I'll include it in my next Blog Rodeo!

Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member: Bagram Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Nebraska Hunting Company, Scott Croner

Friday, August 6, 2010

Break Out the Clubs and Sap Gloves!

A real discussion ensues!!!
See the comments!

Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors:
Texas Alligator Gar Deserve Better Protection

Wid Ed busts out a thought provoking post on added protection for the Texas Alligator Gar! Battlelines are being drawn, and good fun will be had by all!

And I might go and get myself blown up before it's all over... @#$%^! Tell me life doesn't suck.

UPDATE: I can't get on the Aim Low Productions website. Would someone please get me their email address and send it to me or comment with it.

Thanks,
Albert "Still in Afghanistan..." Rasch

I'll be Indisposed...

Let me get this straight, you want me to go where???

Hello friends,

I will be, as I said, indisposed for the next couple of weeks. I am heading out to an outlying province to cover for another associate. Access to anything but email will be probably impossible. I have scheduled quite a bit of stuff through the end of the month though, and there might be a nugget or two in there. This assignment came out of the blue, as it were.

I million apologies to the Mighty and Wise Hippo. I know, I know, I promised to finish the post on youth and hunting, (See the comments on Win a Safari for 2 with Africa Hunting.Com) but duty calls.

Best regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member: Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Maintaining your Ruger 10/22 on PDFs

Ruger 10/22 Maintenance on Printable PDFs

Just a friendly reminder!

My buddy, "Bear" Luallen of Tactical Image Guys, specializes in the creation, design, and production of the M249 SAW Conversion Kit for the Ruger 10/22. He thought that it would be a great asset to his customers to have the 10/22 maintenance series in PDF files. I was more than happy to oblige!

I would like to thank Bear and his team at Tactical Image Guys for thinking enough about my work to want to share it with their customers.

You can find all the tutorials in printable PDF form, Disassembling the Ruger 10/22, Cleaning the Ruger 10/22, Assembling the Ruger 10/22, and Disassembling and Cleaning the Ruger 10/22 Rotary Magazine, at Tactical Image Guys Hints and Tips.

Here are the original posts on maintaining your Ruger 10/22 and magazine:

Disassembling, Cleaning, and Reassembling the Ruger 10/22 Rotary Magazine.
Disassemble the Ruger 10/22
Clean the Ruger 10/22
Assemble the Ruger 10/22

Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member: Bagram Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles, Albert A Rasch

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The History of Yo-Yos

The History of Yo-Yo-s,...or at least a guide!

First, I want to thank all the folks that helped get the Yo-Yo's for Troops project off to a good start. Fellows that have heard of the YYfT campaign are anxiously awaiting Yo-Yo's in their care packages, and I have been busy doing a little research on the history of Yo-Yos.

The National Yo-Yo Museum is located in Northern California, in the historic downtown of Chico. The museum boasts the world's largest public display of yo-yo's and contest history. The museum is open year round, and admission is free! There are regular tours every day.

The History of the Yo-Yo page at the National Yo-Yo Museum is simply fascinating! Little did I know that the use of Yo-Yos to pass the time when at war was not without precedence. On the morning of June 18, 1815, just before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte himself and his army were seen taking their leisure with their "joujou de Normandie." By the way, that may be where the term Yo-Yo may have come from.

The reference is only a page long, but there are a whole bunch of interesting bits of Yo-Yo facts and trivia with which you may dazzle and mystify your friends, neighbors, and relatives!

Not to be outdone, Duncan Yo-Yo has a timeline of the Yo-Yo. It covers five distinct periods in the history of mankind and how Yo-Yos have evolved along with society.

As archeology has borne out, the yo-yo as we know it has been traced back to 500BC and the Greeks. Can anyone tell me if there is anything we don't owe to the ancient Greeks? Someone found a platter with a depiction of a boy using a yo-yo, and terra cota yo-yo discs have been unearthed, many with mythological creatures depicted on them.

There have been several personages that have used the Yo-Yo at different times. Lafayette, President Nixon, and Abbie Hoffman, all have used the Yo-Yo for a variety of entertainment and political reasons.

It's interesting to note that while the vast majority of comments coming in are positive and encouraging, there have been a couple that were... how shall I put it? Less than enthusiastic. One was from a person in the United States, while the other was from Europe. Both thought that it was a terrible waste of time and resources. I forward them the links to the History of the Yo-Yo, and added my own perspective on why a child's toy would be a welcome distraction. In the end, neither disagreed with the idea and though they didn't volunteer to send a Yo-Yo, I still have hopes!

Now we have a new Banner Flyer! Mike S of Mike's Travels and Travails is flying the Yo-Yo's for Troops banner, and I can't thank him enough. Mike is a great linker, and links to a myriad of outdoor posts, many of them from our very own OBS group.

Brigid has written, what else, another "Best of: Home on the Range" piece on the Yo-Yo's for Troops. I am always amazed by her writing ability, and if you go up to my "This is How We Roll" page you'll see her in several catagories, including the "Women I Would Like to Meet"catagory and "Real Writers." Brigid has a way of drawing you in with oatmeal raisin cookies, toy soldiers, or snow flakes, and then taking you on a stroll through memory lane. Her command of the nuances of the English language and her prose leave me always wanting more, and embarrased by my meager abilities. Brigid too is flying the banner!

And not to be outdone, Kari, my favorite bear hunting lady, is also flying the banner on her hunting and outdoor (mis)adventure blog I Don't Wear Pink Camo to the Woods. I can't thank her enough for taking the time to help bring some cheer to the fellows out her!

Marian dropped me a note yesterday and said, "I think it is a marvelous idea you have and I know it will keep their minds off of everything thats going on over there and have a little fun." Not only that, but she has offered to blog about the Yo-Yo's for Troops, and fly the banner on her blog, Marian's Hunting Stories!

Again I would like to thank all the folks that have promised to send yo-yo's, and I assure you that there will be plenty of pictures as they start to arrive!

Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Though he spends most of his time writing and keeping the world safe for democracy, Albert was actually a student of biology. Really. But after a stint as a lab tech performing repetitious and mind-numbing processes that a trained capuchin monkey could do better, he never returned to the field. Rather he became a bartender. As he once said, "Hell, I was feeding mice all sorts of concoctions. At the club I did the same thing; except I got paid a lot better, and the rats where bigger." He has followed the science of QDM for many years, and fancies himself an aficionado. If you have any questions, or just want to get more information, reach him via TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)MSN(dot)com.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Best of the Outdoor Bloggers: Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors: Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death

Best of the Outdoor Bloggers

Remember I mentioned a week or so ago I would be going through everyones archives and finding those posts that I thought were interesting and worth revisiting? Well, I found the following post, Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death, on Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors, dusted it off, and am presenting it here for everyone to view again!

Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death

Wild Ed, Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors

Picture Credit: Wild Ed

When I was a small child I spent many holidays with my grandparents. They owned a ranch near Round Mountain, Texas a small community southwest of Marble Falls, Texas. Sometimes my grandfather would go to Marble Falls for cattle feed and supplies and I got to ride along. It was always a special trip to town for we would stop at the Blue Bonnet Cafe, a Texas tradition, for granddad's coffee and pie. I would get a soft drink which I drank as fast a possible so I could ask to go across the street. Permission granted I headed to my favorite shop in the whole world. It was Burnham Brothers Sporting Goods and for a youngster eat up with hunting this place was heaven on earth. They used to have a window full of live rattlesnakes and all the latest hunting gear, but better than that it had Murry and Winston Burnham. They would sit in the shop and tell stories about calling in predators with calls and many times with sounds they made themselves. I considered these two men the superstars of predator calling. I would sit and listen to whatever golden words of advice they would give me and go back to the ranch and practice varmint calling for hours. Two of my most prized possessions were Burnham Brother Predator calls. One day when the Burnham’s were passing out the gospel of varmint calling the subject of lip squeaking came up. I do not remember if it was Murry or Winston that helped show me how to suck on the back of my middle finger and make this wonderful squeak that sounds something like a young squirrel, rodent or even rabbit in distress. Learning to make this magical sound was the beginning of a lifetime of calling animals.

The sound is simply made by making a kissing sound with your lips while pressing them against the palm-side of the middle finger. You can play with the way you do it until you get the best sound and volume. Most people would call me a liar if I told them about the hundreds of animals that have come to this sound.

Picture Credit: Wild Ed

I will never forget one icy cold morning when my uncle and I were going to break ice on the stock pond so the cattle could get water. As we drove through the pasture a grey fox ran across the road. At that time grey fox furs were worth about $30.00 which was a lot of money back then. We cut the truck off and set for a couple of minutes. I then began to squeak on the back of finger and here came the fox running to capture what thing was making such a frantic scream. This was the first time I had a witness to what I could do with this sound.

PictureCredit: Wild Ed

I became a success at squirrel hunting overnight. Squirrels that hear the sound may come running or move from cover. Many squirrels will start barking and chattering upon hearing the squeak. I have called numerous hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes, coons, ringtails, bobcats, feral cats, ground squirrels, rock squirrels, wild dogs and I am sure others I can’t remember. I have had even deer, javelina and feral hogs come to the sound, maybe out of curiosity, but they came. This is one call I always have with me and do not have to remember where I put it. To the Burnham’s wherever you now are I want to say thank you for a lifetime of making memories and instilling the flame of predator calling in my heart. Even 45 years later it still burns. Good calling, Wild Ed

Wild Ed also has a follow up post on the "Kiss of Death." It's a demonstration and you can find it at: Kiss of Death Demo.

My friends, that is the first installment of "Best of the Outdoor Bloggers," which I hope to make a weekly series. I want to thank Wild Ed of Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors for allowing me to share his Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death, with everyone. If you have a post that you are particularly proud of, or if you want to look at your Analytics and check out what your # 1 post is, please feel free to forward it to me and I will gladly post it and link the snot out of it to your blog!

Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member:Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Keywords: Predator hunting, predator, predators, predator calls, making a predator call, fox hunting, jackel hunting, bobcat hunting, predator shooting, calls for predators

Scott Croner Albert A Rasch Albert “Afghanus” Rasch Albert A Rasch Scott Croner Nebraska Hunting Scott Croner, Merriam's Turkey Hunting Albert A Rasch Scott Croner Albert A Rasch Albert “Afghanus” Rasch Albert A Rasch Scott Croner Nebraska Hunting Scott Croner Merriam's Turkey Hunting Albert A Rasch Albert A Rasch So, you want to be a contractor. Handfeeding a Baby Mockingbird Clean and Repair your Ruger 10 22 Magazine

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Time to Tune Your Bow for Bowhunting Season

It's Time to Tune Up your Bow

In some places, deer season is about a month away! For most though, there are still another couple of months or so to go. Usually that's the time of year when I see most folks starting to rifle through their closets and garages looking for their bowhunting gear. Labor Day weekend: Boating and fishing gear go up, bows and camouflage come down. End of bow season, bows go up and rifles come out. Lots of people I know do it just like that every year.

I sometimes wonder how they connect with their deer...

For those of you that tend to procrastinate and don't pull that bow down until your friends remind you that deer season starts in a couple of weeks, I have a few tuning tips I picked up over the years.

Since most everybody uses a compound bow, let's start with them and then look over the traditional bows.

First take a good look at the bow. Depending on how and were you store your bow, it could affect many points on your bow. A garage with high heat in the summer can cause the cables or the strings to stretch, or bolts and screws to loosen, thereby changing many of the parameters of your bow. Look for anything that may be loose, including the screws on your bow's accessories. Check your stabilizer and make sure it is secure. Look over your sights, are the pins locked down? Check for nicks or splinters in your bow limbs, they may need to be touched up. Double check the arrow rest, anything loose or out of line?

Next we check the bowstring and cables. If you have a bow square, now would be a good time to check your string's nocking point. If it has moved, the cable and string may have stretched.

I would definitely look at your bow string carefully. Do you replace it regularly? I read that a bow string should be replaced every three years. I have one on a bow that's got to be at least a dozen or so years old... Check the string carefully. Is it frayed? How about wear at the nocking point? Is the serving still intact? Are there any loose or frayed strands. You have to be thorough! If you find any of these conditions, it is time to get a new string on your bow! If you don't have a bow press... (umm, does anyone actually have one at home?) you might be better off stopping by your local bow shop and having them replace it for you. Since you're there already, have them give your bow a once over. A fresh set of eyes might see something you missed!

With today's bows, you can actually lower the weight of the bow substantially. Probably a good idea if you are going to stow it away for an extended period of time. I don't know, but it seems like a good idea. My Browning Compound Cobra is about thirty years old, and I never let it relax. Don't even know how! But it has lost six or so pounds of draw weight in that time. Maybe if there had been a way to release the tension it wouldn't have lost that weight.

Traditional bows are always unstrung at the end of the shooting session or hunting day, so limb fatigue is different. But none the less, storage can have a deleterious effect on your bow. Traditional bows should be stowed flat on two wooden pegs in a horizontal position. All the other caveats like checking your string, nocking point, and the condition of your bow still apply.

Once your bow is back in tip top shape, it's time to start practicing!

I know it takes me about a month of regular shooting, before my muscles are conditioned sufficiently, and my form is proper again. Take it easy the first couple of weeks! You don't want to get hurt. That's why it is important to get started now. Put your bow up for the session while you are doing well, and before you are tired.

Practicing now will asure you that when the shot presents itself, you'll be ready!

Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member:Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

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