Go Red For Women

Go Red For Women

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Cooler Weather, Envokes Memories From My Childhood

I am an early riser, I usually wake up sometime between four and five in the morning. This is when I do my most productive writing. It's been the last two to three mornings I have stepped out the door and felt the chill in the air. My mind fixes on the upcoming deer season and camping out with my husband Gary Benton. I love this time of the year most, because I commune with nature, deer hunt and do a good bit of photography for my husband's outdoor articles. As I write this, the smell of a campfire fills my mind, I can see the flames flickering and I can recall that last winter, we both sat around a smoky fire sipping on camp coffee made from an old sock. Coffee made like this is not really tasty, but who's complaining at five-thrity or six in the morning? I thought I would almost kill for a decent cup of coffee, but we're roughing it.

Cooler weather sends all sorts of emotions through me. The smell of pine,cedar and acorns on the ground is a comfort to me. I am reminded of all the times I rabbit hunted with my patenal grandfather as a child. I can remember going with him like it was yesterday, walking behind my "Grandpa" picking up a cane cutter rabbit and stuffing it in a sack. Later, we would skin and clean the rabbits for my grandmother to cook with gravy and her cathead biscuits. Boy, that was good too!

Cooler weather reminds me of all the times I had to get up and go down to the barn to milk a Jersey cow and a white faced Hereford, I can smell the fresh milk as it steamed up out the bucket. The milk was so white, frothy and had an inch of cream on the top. I have had my arm ache to the point that I thought it would fall off, from churning the milk into butter. There is nothing finer than fresh cow butter, sorgum molasses and biscuits on a cold morning. This time of year, floods me with pleasant memories and I look forward to getting out in it soon.

Do Your Deer Homework First

Do you honestly want to get a deer this coming season? Well, I have been hunting deer for over twenty-eight years and I am still surprised by the lack of preparation most hunters take before the season starts. Most of my buddies simply throw some gear in the back of a truck on opening day and head for the woods. By the way, most of my friends are not very successful deer hunters either, because they don't do their homework or fieldwork. See, some serious planning is needed to insure your hunting efforts pay off and you get that big buck you've been after. Well, I suggest we prepare for our deer hunt both at home and in the field, and perhaps for months in advance.

• Determine where you will be hunting and who you'll be hunting with. If you drive, you can bring more equipment and if an experienced hunter is along you don't have to worry as much about them getting lost or hurt. It can still happen, but the odds go down with experience.

• Decide if special permission is required where you'll be hunting. If the area is on private property or posted you should get permission before you hunt. Besides being illegal, it is plain common courtesy to ask permission before you enter someone else's property.

• Home preparation is the easiest task to accomplish, but often done incorrectly or at all. Besides checking your guns and ammo, also check all of your gear. Nothing is more frustrating than getting in the field and finding out you have a piece of gear that no longer works.

• Item four is very important, though often forgotten, and it is getting your hands on a map of the area you'll be hunting in. Deer will need food, water, shelter, and a good detailed topographical map will should you where all three areas may be located.

• Another important consideration is scouting the area you'll be hunting. If there are homes, domestic animals, or roads nearby you need to know this to shoot at your deer safely. I have seen arrows go right through a deer and of course, bullets will do the same, so make sure the area behind your target is clear and not endangering property or life.

• Once you've done your work at home and in the field, you can decide what type of hunting technique you want to use. Some folks like to sit and wait, others prefer to stalk, and many more prefer a tree stand. There is something about being at ground level, when the bullets and arrows start to fly from other hunters, which makes some of us very uncomfortable.

• Agree with your hunting partners to meet back at your base camp at a certain time of the day (lunch for example) for safety reasons mainly, though it can be used as a time to discuss what deer have been seen or heard during the hunt.

• One area most hunters never consider is the campsite. I always will find a spot away from the animal's food, water, and shelter sources to make my camp. I have found it to my advantage not to stress the deer in the area by making my camp to close to where they move and bed down.

• Once your animal is down for good you should tag your deer. Failure to tag your deer violates game laws and can cause you big legal problems. As quickly as I discover my animal is dead, I tag it before I do anything else.

• Once your deer is back at camp, consider the way to get your game from the field to waiting transportation. While it is the individual hunter's choice, I always put some international orange on the deer's horns and on the game bag for safety reasons.

As you can see, there are many things you can do before the hunt that can assist in making your trip a successful one. Rare is their a hunter who goes to a new area, climbs just any tree and bags a huge buck on the first day, though I have seen it done. Most good deer hunters start to work well before the season starts and they stay busy up until they down the big one. Remember to do both your homework and your fieldwork and I am confident you'll down a big one on opening day.


( permission to post from: Gary Benton)

How to Prepare for the Coming Depression

I'm no financial expert, anyone with access to my bank statements would quickly
agree, but I see rough times ahead for all Americans. With the uncertainty of
the stock market, home foreclosures, and with most food, along with gasoline, prices
rising, it's time for us to take steps to assure our survival during the uncertain
times ahead.

In event of the total collapse of our economy, which I pray will not
happen, things will turn rough as the "have nots" search for those that
"have." Law and order may no longer exist and crime will skyrocket in
just hours of the announcement. I think mankind will revert back thousands of years,
with only the strongest surviving. Now, it's no longer just physical strength
that counts, so use your mind too. Plan ahead, accept the fact it could happen,
and be prepared on all counts.

One aspect of surviving rough times to consider is food. I know, I
usually bring water up first, except it may not be as much a problem as eating.
If prices for groceries continue to go up, there may come a time when we can no
longer afford to eat or stores could close and then will we do? I suggest we prepare
now, not tomorrow.

When you think about food, there are a number of things we can do to insure our
survival right now.

· Plant a garden during the spring and learn to "can" your own
vegetables.

· Buy dry foods in bulk, such as beans, pasta, flour, corn meal,coffee and
any favorites you might have.

· Purchase canned goods, but keep in mind the number of folks you have to
feed and how the foods will be prepared. If gas or electricity is no longer affordable,
how will you cook?

· Dry meats and fruit, then store them in a sealable jar. You can dry them
with a low setting on your oven, in a commercial dehydrator, use the sun (a very
slow process), or a smoker.

· Or, if you have the funds, dehydrated meals and MRE copies are just fine
and have about a 5 year storage life. Most have high calorie content and are designed
to keep soldiers fit while in the field.

· Keep a large supply of multi-vitamins on hand as well.

When it's time to cook your foods and if the usual source for cooking is no
longer available, remember to have no open flames in the house. For safety reasons
(keep in mind carbon monoxide kills) do your cooking outside and it's almost
as easy as using your stove. The key to campfire cooking is to control the heat
and that's easiest done with a small fire.

Most campfires I've seen are way to large to cook on and controlling the heat
is impossible. Besides, a small fire will consume less wood and will take less
time to be ready to cook on. I've found once the wood has turned to glowing
red coals, it's time to cook. Unlike cooking on top of your stove, campfire
cooking takes your full attention if you want a meal worth eating. Even with a
controlled source, the heat will be uneven, which means you'll have to check
and move your food more often. If you don't keep an eye on what's cooking
it will eventually burn or stick to the bottom of your pan.

There are a few different ways to cook foods and here are a few I've seen,

· Solar cooking, using the sun to cook your meal. It works and it's
absolutely amazing to eat roasted chicken cooked by the sun. You can find different
ways to cook using solar power by doing a web search.

· Simple cooking can be done using your engine block, heavy aluminum foil
(double wrap the foods), and placing the meal toward the rear of the engine. I
would not suggest you drive while doing this and remember you're burning fuel,
which may not be easy to replace.

· Don't forget the family barbeque grill if you have one. Don't
laugh, I once knew a man without any power and he did without hot food for three
days, while his grill collected dust, he had forgotten it.

I'm sure during a long emergency there will come a time when a gun will be needed,
either for hunting or protection. My favorite survival weapon is a shotgun, because
with the right load it can kill just about everything in North America. A shotgun
is my pick because almost anyone can use it and usually hit what they point at.
There are exceptions to any statement, but most folks who've used guns before
will find with the right load, a shotgun is hard to beat.

But a weapon is not just guns. A knife, bottle, steel rod, or almost anything can
become a tool to use during survival. Wood can be sharpened to a point and then
used as a spear, broken glass or shaped metal can become a knife (just be sure to
make a good handle), and even a rock can be used for protection or to gather wild
game. I once killed a sitting rabbit with a rock, so it can be done. All the game
I'd taken before had been with a gun.

But, if you're like most folks who hunt, it's possible a rifle, or rifles,
muzzle loader, bows, pistols, and other weapons are already in the home. Make sure
you have a good supply of ammunition on hand, or learn to reload your own. The
idea of a weapon is it's an extension of your hand, so a nail file, key, pencil,
fork, frying pan, and many other things can do the job if need be. Remember, in
some cases your weapon may require close contact with the game or assailant, so
time your actions properly.

Now, let's take a look at transportation and how we can get around. Gasoline
may become difficult to attain and the price may be out of your reach, so what then?
My brother recommends a horse, mule or donkey, which are all good, except most of
us don't live where they are allowed. So, a small moped, scooter, or bicycle
may be just what you need. Of the three, only the last does not require any fuel
and most of use have one or two in the garage right now.

While all three of my suggested transportation methods are cheap and easy to use,
they cannot carry many people, may be hard on your rump and back, and the top speeds
leave a lot to desire. Asians are famous, especially the Vietnamese during the
war, for carrying unreal loads on bicycles, so it can be done, only you need to
know what you're doing. If it comes to a chase, I'd feel better on foot,
escaping and evading, than driving a slow moped or bicycle down the street in front
of my house. However, they are transportation and could be used to recover downed
game, procure wild foods, gather firewood, along with countless other chores. Just
keep in mind its basic transportation, not a thing more.

Last, lets look at two of the tools that are good ideas to have. A chainsaw would
be one of my first choices for tools, along with an ax. With those two tools you
could, and it's been done, make a home along with the furniture, if the job
needed doing. But, they can also be used as both weapons and tools, and any item
that has more than one use is immediately considered by me as possibly important.

With an ax and chainsaw keeping firewood stacked beside the house would be easy,
but always split your wood as soon as possible so it dries faster. Splitting the
wood exposes the inside of the wood to the air, which will allow the moisture to
dry. Keep your ax sharp and in good shape, stored out of the weather.

Other items tools and survival gear will be need, of course, but at least now you're
thinking about the subject of survival during rough times. Always have a survival
kit, first aid kit and other survival gear packed and ready to leave in a hurry,
or you can use them at home if the area is safe. If nothing else, plan, procure
and prepare what will be need, because once the demand goes up some of the items
needed may not be available. I hope our economy improves with government assistance,
but if it doesn't, are you ready?