Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[501Maico]

Speaking of cats, years back I saw twin cougars in my backyard. The weird part is I live about 10 miles from the District of Corruption in a populated area.
I was awoken in the middle of the night by what I thought was a big cat fight. Turned on the floods and saw a large house cat backed up against the fence by two medium sized cougars. Both always advanced in unison but the cat held them off with screams and standing up on its hind legs pawing at them. My camera was downstairs and stupid me wanted to get a closer picture so I went to the basement door, but the screen door rattled. The cougars looked in my direction and the cat ran off with them following.
With my location, I wondered if they were pets that got too big and were released or maybe escaped. A few days later I saw a news blurb about a cougar sighting by a groundskeeper at a campus a fair distance away. Wondering how they could have traveled so far in a populated area, I looked at a satellite view map and found a small waterway running all the way to the campus with brush or woods along the banks in many areas.

 

[Lionsfan]

Iron Mountain??? That's my neck of the woods!!! I was just at the Home Depot there today, In the above post that I was just talking about. I'm in Iron River, about 45 minutes West of Iron mountain.

I was there yesterday too!

 

[North by Northwest]

Thanks Mike. I hope I made the right choice if/when it matters. The 10mm just felt better to me when shooting. The 44 was "over the top" to me. And if I'm ever in the situation where placement counts, I don't want my accuracy to be off because I'm concerned about the recoil. I don't post too much when all of the guys are talking firearms etc. because I'm afraid that if I do, my lack of knowledge will be exposed!!! But I'm learning.

Yeah the .41 & .44 mags have definate recoil . Actually even the .357 in anything less than 8" barrel does also , with its respected bark . Not for the faint of heart or weak of wrist or forearm brother !

 

[JimR]

This one broke off at ground level when pulled on, so I dug with a shovel and got a choker around it.

Now that is a nice machine to have around.

 

[JimR]

I've just been going through this once I started seeing all of the black bear images show up on my trail cams. Up until recently, my largest handgun was a .357. After seeing the bear numerous times, I decided that I wanted something in a larger caliber than the .357 and 9mil I have. I debated on going 44 for a minute just due to caliber, but ended up settling on a Kimber 10mil. I figure the difference from a 43 cal to a 40 cal is negligible to the bear, and both should get the job done, but I'm just not comfortable shooting a 44 anymore. After losing a lot of weight, I'm down to about 160lbs. and I just don't like the recoil of the 44 anymore. I don't know if my decision was right or not, but either way, I got a larger caliber in a semi-auto platform, so I feel a little more secure.

In all reality, a .38 or 9mil should be plenty for a black bear as well, because around here, a good sized black bear is about 300lbs. But, depending on what time of year it is, and how much fat the bear has put on, there are times where a head or chest cavity shot would be required to bring it down with the smaller caliber, and depending on the situation, and how much time you have, shot placement may not be perfect. Hence the wanting something a little larger for me.

I carry a .45 with Hydra Shocks when I'm in the woods due to our current bear population. First year in 45 years of being in the woods armed while working.

 

[JimR]

from here, too GX

View attachment 1014368

Here kitty kitty

 

[Vtrombly]

A lot of areas have changed. Many houses have been torn down and many brought back to life. Still room for progress though. @Aknutter
Yeah, I still don't believe overall it could be much better. I know there are many nice areas down that way, but much like many larger cities I find the best thing about them is putting them in the rearview mirror .

It was very cool, both the cat, and the experience .
I used to run off 8 mile a good bit, beautiful area lol. I cut thru there to get back to the mill to reload for a trip back to GR, I could beat the traffic on the expressway when it was backed up.
Don't worry, some new criminals are coming to town now, so there will be many "improvements", and since there are great friends with woman "of the state" and the great Canadian actor to the north, I'm sure all will be well in Detroit/Mi.
Good read, not sure where you're at on these things, but I think theres something everyone can learn here.
https://sociable.co/technology/grea...ban-transformation-hq-cornerstone-in-detroit/

No that's definitely a good read. The ones of us that can fix and do things on their own are going to be in short supply soon enough. Both sides of my FIL have and are not capable of doing any cleanup. Not from a physical aspect just men that didn't grow up as men and now are incapable. My wife has long told me that part of her enjoying my company is that I'm like her father in that I do everything myself. she has said she couldn't have married a man that wasn't capable of changing a car tire. I wish I could go help those families and scrounge the wood, but the state of the world nowadays I have to watch my back from people trying to make a buck and a potential lawsuit because I'm not bonded and insured. So in this case I offered to take the wood if it saves them money if its cheaper price from a professional but at that point that's as far as ill go. 10 years ago it might have been different, but I don't personally know these people.

 

[North by Northwest]

I carry a .45 with Hydra Shocks when I'm in the woods due to our current bear population. First year in 45 years of being in the woods armed while working.

I load 258 gr. Hornaday XTP in my Colt Mark IV Gold Medal .45 ACP . very similiar to the Hydro Shocks . Never leave home for the bush without it !

 

[morewood]

Thanks Mike. I hope I made the right choice if/when it matters. The 10mm just felt better to me when shooting. The 44 was "over the top" to me. And if I'm ever in the situation where placement counts, I don't want my accuracy to be off because I'm concerned about the recoil. I don't post too much when all of the guys are talking firearms etc. because I'm afraid that if I do, my lack of knowledge will be exposed!!! But I'm learning.

Most people can't make the intelligent decision that you did. Bigger is better seems to be the motto. I wanted something fun to shoot and great for home defense. I chose a HK USC that comes in 45acp. Very low recoil, accurate, and anybody in my house can pick it up and shoot it. Being a primarily handgun caliber it's not going to generally travel the distance of a centerfire cartridge such as 5.56 in an AR platform. It's quieter and in the given requirements of defense is just as effective. A 230gr. hollow point can do lots of bad things at home defense ranges.

Shea

Also, the eotech makes it a breeze to get on target.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I will be leaving in the morning for 4 days at the cabin. If Backyard Lumberjack doesn't post while I'm gone I may be able to catch up after I get back.

you can always pray they remove the Reply button....

it's like cold beer, why buy it if u dont intend to drink it... ?


ps: perhaps just PM a mod... and suggest the site adds a: Do Not Reply button...

 

[svk]

Good morning guys.

I see I missed about 25 pages in the last week. If anyone quoted me and I didn’t answer please give it a bump and I’ll try to respond.

Took all 5 kids and a dog into the Boundary Waters for 5 days. Had a good time but the weather kept us on shore for most of the trip. Wanted to target lake trout which didn’t happen.

The kids (who have spent most of the summer with me) go to their moms for 3 weeks starting later today. I traded her one of my weeks in September for one of her weeks in October so I’d have them for more hunting weekends.

Need some respite this weekend, and then get my son’s truck back together.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Ya or bk might " ignore " you!!! Lol
Still don't know how I managed that!

at least u were spared those pages i got behind on and din't even post...

I like the ignore button... works for me!!

some posters here, gets Likes from me no matter what they say!

visa versa, too!

but enuff on the subject, getting too personal, and that is likely to create a p/r... and, well u know....

 

[svk]

I will be leaving in the morning for 4 days at the cabin. If Backyard Lumberjack doesn't post while I'm gone I may be able to catch up after I get back.

He must have an older browser that doesn’t offer multi quote

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

With my loader, it pushes pretty good. A lot of rock will slow it down, so will uphill. I just take smaller bites. I only wanted one machine, and need to carry dirt/rock/wood, and go on roads. So,I tried to pick a somewhat universal machine.

imo, nice mountain deer hunting road!

reminds me of treks some years back in the hunting hills down in Oregon...

 

[JustPlainJeff]

I was there yesterday too!

Meaning that you were in Iron River, not specifically the HD, right? It would have been really ironic if we had both been at the Home Depot.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Thanks hope it doesn’t get worse I’m in day two of symptoms.

slick paint job, dint see no dirt and no runs, neither...

 

[JustPlainJeff]

I carry a .45 with Hydra Shocks when I'm in the woods due to our current bear population. First year in 45 years of being in the woods armed while working.

Just curious. Why is this the first year of you carrying while being in the woods? Does it appear that you have more bear now than you did in years past?

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Tex , he said a tale of intrigue not a National Geographic Pictorial ..brother

i am just here for the pix! well, some... not all... some are outside the Rules lines anyways...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Almost hit a few Black bear Cubs last month just North of Hessel , the mother was tardy & dragging the runt by the scruff of the neck , when the two larger cubs ran out from the bush in front of her & the wifey & I in the Diesel . It was close but managed to get slowed down . I was more a custom to deer road kills heading West to Iron Mountain or Kalamazoo back in the day playing semi pro hockey lol.

see 'em all the time on the way up to the county line. even had a momma one time upon arrival just to the side of my front gate. a call soon had it removed. not good for the kids on the 2:30 pm school bus to see such on way to home....

....

 

[svk]

A few thoughts in regards to pistols….

My dad and I were always big fans of 357’s so I’ve owned many of them over the years. They pack a wallop on the receiving end but don’t recoil too badly-especially the ones with larger grips. I’ve never had a problem with ears ringing like I do on a 44 magnum if barrel length is greater than 2”.

Secondly, most roller guns have adjustable sights and most value price to mid priced autos do not. Nothing pisses me off more than getting a pistol with nonadjustable sights that can’t hit the broadside of a barn at 5 yards.

The funny thing is now used roller guns are way more expensive even though everybody seems to want autos.

Lately I’ve bought a lot more auto pistols because of their availability and price. And I like to have a few extras around so I can keep one in the house, one locked in the car, and so on. I also bought one with the lower rail so I can put a flashlight/laser on it for walking the dogs as large canine predators are an issue up here. I don’t have much use for 9 MM as a defense round however they are nice for plinking due to cost of ammo.

If I was in big bear country I would carry a .44 at minimum. I see a lot of articles about guys justifying 10 mm, etc as being “better” guns for big bear and they’ll never convince me. All those extra rounds at half the muzzle energy mean absolutely nothing if you only can get off 1 to 3 shots before the bear gets to you.