Comments

Episode-2393- Listener Feedback for 3-4-19 — 26 Comments

  1. I didn’t respond to the 2010 census, not because I had some moral objection, but simply because I didn’t notice the stuff in the mail.  (I’m blind, remember.) In the end, all that happened was a guy came to my house while we were gone and thought that my German Shepherd was going to eat him through the window.  He ended up calling me, and I answered his abbreviated questions, and that was that.  No threats, no drama.  Just an older dude trying to get answers to his questions.

  2. I own a Craft Beer Pub/Hiker Hostel/music hall on the Appalachian trail.  I enjoyed the comments on a pistol while hiking the trail.  These hikers now are going ultra weight.  Guy last week going north in the winter had a 12 pound pack.  No extra for a gun. We have rare instances with bears on the trail except when the hiker doesn’t something stupid like put coconut oil on his legs and wonders why a bear bites him through his tent.

    Anybody that wants to provide trail magic for thru hikers we have a program called trail magic from your desk.  purchase a beer, bunk or food and a random hiker will claim it when they come through and we send you a picture.  http://www.squareup.com/store/thestationat19e

    • Yea thing is you guys only have blackies. Black bears are generally not aggressive, unless some dip shit tries to pet a cub or something. I was more worried about two legged rats during my hike many years ago, though from all the conversations I had the two legged rats were more likely to steal from cars parked at trail heads of day hikers. Never met a person that wasn’t awesome. You occasionally meet the person who has not talked to anyone in weeks and they can’t shut up. LOL but they were all really awesome.

      Anyway the guy with the gun question lives in MT, they have grizz out there. While not common occasionally a grizzly just decides it wants to eat a person, solely for the purpose of eating him.

      Seen a lot of black bear and was only a little scared one time. I was archery hunting deer, and a black bear say 250ish came though. Wonderful experience until he stood up and dug his claws into the tree my stand was in. A bit unnerving! But he just went on his way. I’m pretty sure if it had been an 800 lb griz I would have crapped in my pants.

  3. Also, regarding glyphosate in beer, I did a blog post a while back about some data released showing glyphosate levels in various oat products.  Oats and wheat are spreayed with glyphosate at the time of harvest so that the plants all die at the same time and harvesting is easier.  The fact that glyphosate was something like 500ppb in Quaker Oats didn’t surprise me.  What DID surprise me was the glyphosate in the various organic varieties.  I guessed that it got there by being processed on the same equipment as traditional oats, but that was just a guess.

    Here’s a link with some samples and glyphosate amounts.  Soy wouldn’t be an issue in the exclusive oat products, I wouldn’t imagine.

    https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/#.W3WNNRxG0d6

  4. Jack,

    Thanks for answering my question about guns. A few things to follow up with….

    When I carried my 45 on my hip, it just wasn’t comfortable. My belt was digging in and it was just too much I guess. I’ve traded my 45 recently for some work on my new house, so I don’t even have it anymore.

    Does bullet type even matter in an animal attack situation, like a mountain lion? Would hollow point be that much better than regular FMJ?

    • Cats are actually really thin skinned and easy to kill, hitting them before they get to you is the hard part.

  5. Re: Glyphosate in beer

    I moved my family to a grain growing region in Australia almost two years ago. We knew the farmers used herbicides but we were shocked at how many times each paddock is sprayed per year.

    This is a windy area and there are many days were we avoid going outside at all as we can smell the poison in the air.

    Spray drift has killed or almost killed young Tree Lucerne trees that we planted as a protective barrier around the house and the hay we got from a farmer for our vegetable garden set back or killed seedling as well. The practice here is to spray the hay crop the day it is cut and wind rowed.

    Wheat and barley ripen well here so dessicants arent commonly on them but they are used on lentils. This happens about two weeks before harvest and it usually does not rain in that period either.

    Sorry if this is a bit ranty but the lesson here is that these farmers are completely out of control. They are sending off food products for people and animals that absolutely have poison on them. They are also poisoning their communities with spray drift and the dust storms their farms help to create. The dust is no doubt also full of herbicides.

    I have also read that glyphosate is now being detected in rainwater. The implications are staggering.

  6. About the census. In the 2010 census a lady came by my home with a clipboard and a million questions. I answered one. The household head count. That’s what the census is for. That’s why the Act calls for ‘Enumeration’, that means to count for redistricting purposes in Congress. The other questions went unanswered and she left.

    On the other side, I was a victim of the ACS (American Community Survey) which the census does from time to time. It was a 24 page booklet, asking everything from what political party you belong to, to how many times a month you go out to eat, to how many toilets you have in your home. I threw the thing in the trash. Weeks later the phone calls started. We went round and round and I was threatened with everything but a firing squad. After some research, turns out the census issues are handled by the Justice Department, and they rarely, and mean RARELY deal with violations. Under the law I think a violation conviction can amount to about $500 in fines. Since it would cost thousands of dollars per conviction, and there would be many court-swamping cases if they went after violators… so they don’t. As the old saying goes, ‘the dog that barks the loudest usually has the weakest bite’, same goes for the census. They’ll scorn and scold and threaten to throw the book at you, but they’re a paper tiger… one that is based solely on fear and intimidation. Reasons enough to get rid of the whole agency, as far as I’m concerned.

    • I have a solution for unwanted phone calls. Say now listen to me very carefully, are you listening very carefully? When they say yes, say are you sure? Then say okay every time you call me again, this is what you are going to hear, then stick this in the mic on the phone and give it a blow. https://amzn.to/2SKgs74

      Full credit to Dave Ramsey on the idea for relentless debt collectors but should work on census types as well.

    • Well they had to do that too huh? Atrizine wasn’t toxic enough. Bet they did the gene stacking thing so they can now spray both.

  7. Any thoughts on firing a warning shot for a bear that is too close or charging ? On the one hand it’s possibly a bullet you wasted that you might have needed. On the other hand if you shoot the bear maybe it makes him more angry and possibly a warning shot could have scared him off. Not sure on that one

    I like the idea of pepper spray which they make for bear protection but it’s illegal in Canada. Otherwise maybe both a gun and pepper spray together might be my consideration. I might be hesitant to shoot a gun but less so the pepper spray but I might still want to have the gun too ideally

    • So I just want to point out that the bears in that spray video are black bears. Yea I know one was brown but “Black Bear” is a species not a color, just so happens most are black but some are brown and some are even blonde. It may not have been as effective with a grizzly. They were likely pushing those bears away because it was a sow with cubs, older cubs but still cubs. I also highly doubt scooter in the vest would have approached grizzly bears that way, if so he may have gotten the chomp even with spray.

      They did know their shit, that is exactly how to use spray, before the problem creating a mist wall not spraying it right on the bear. That might enrage it and make it eat you faster, no I am not kidding. Spray is a deterrent, “oh this shit sucks, I think I will go over here instead”. In time it also says to bears, humans should be avoided. So that is good.

      On your other question about “warning shots”, generally a bad idea. Animals are not people. Either the bear is coming for you or it isn’t. If it isn’t let it go on its way, once it is coming a shot, hit or miss is likely to make it come at you faster.

      Thing is there are a lot of bears out there, there are very few attacks and likely 75-85% of attacks are on stupid people. Still leaves 15-25% where a person was just food. I have a friend that has been guiding in Alaska for 30 years now, he said he has absolutely found bear shit with clothing, buttons, etc. in it. It happens, it is their world. As I tell my grandson in a parking lot at a store, “head up, eyes out, pay attention, the responsibility for being safe is yours”.

      Do that and your odds of getting the chomp are not zero but they are still lower then getting the chomp by a shark in the ocean, and you still have more options. Last I checked shark spray was not a thing.

  8. Oops, the previous post was handgun versus bear spray. Bear spray generally considered better but each has its place and bear spray can have problems in a strong wind

    Charging grizzly story with bear spray:

     

    https://youtu.be/WGtrhatX8LA

  9. Regarding sharks, I guess a glock can fire underwater but I would tend to avoid surfing anyplace where there is a serious shark factor. They seem to be showing up in high numbers on Cape Cod and I would never surf there until something is done about it

    https://www.range365.com/how-to-shoot-glock-underwater

    I always thought enough pepper spray might temporarily blind a bear so he couldn’t see. Then if you ran sideways maybe he would not know where you are. Some bear spray shoots a heavy stream 20+ feet rather than a mist. I used to have some

    Griz is one reason I would consider in not living in Alaska or the Canadian Rockies as well as how long the winters seem to be there

  10. Ahh the age old debate on what to carry in bear country. As a regular visitor to the bear woods in the Great Land, Alsaka, I’ll share what I ACTUALLY carry and what have and not done with it.

    So, I carry a Glock 20 10mm when I’m hiking around the bush or serving on “wildlife security” for guests at our camp. I regularly train with it, various scenarios, and feel perfectly comfortable with it. I can get more shots on target with it at closing ranges than I can with a revolver. I don’t carry it into the rural villages or in my airplane. (Be prepared to have native guys making fun of the white guy with a gun if you do. lol) Plenty of useful gear in the plane AND on my person for survival purposes. (The camp director carries a version of a S&W 29 44 mag for the same purpose + wolves during certain times of the year)

    I carry the 10mm in a custom chest holder hand made by Survival Sheath Systems. Underwood 220gr hardcast. Seen plenty of bears (black & grizz) up there at various times and situations, have yet to feel threatened enough to use it though. They typically turn tail and run when seeing a human. Typically. Although, one time I did have to chase a black bear away from the runway with my ATV.

    Personally, I’d be more worried about being charged by a moose than a bear, anytime. Moose are stupid, where a bear will run, if a moose is on a converging path with you, it will keep coming. More stories on moose run ins, but for now I’ll just say that the most scared Survivorman Les Stroud has ever been in the woods was while being treed by a big rutting bull moose…

    Only a beaver (or few) has ever seen what it can do though…delicious!

    Then there’s always the 2 legged rats on the road system…

    @surfivor, a warning shot could actually cause another bear to charge, I’ve heard this from multiple hunting guides and have seen one video. bear spray? maybe maybe not, heard plenty of stories up there supporting both.

  11. O forgot to mention, one of the best tools for bear defense up there is actually a good DOG. Many bears will turn tail and run at the smell or noise of a dog, before you ever see it. Many Alaskans take dogs with them on hikes, have done so myself.

    One particular hike was with an exceptional Australian Shepherd that would scout ahead, wait for everyone to catch up, then scout ahead again. Ironically named “Bear” lol, beautiful dog.

    So then, maybe the gun is just to protect Man’s best friend?

  12. The only time I have ever been to Alaska was around 1992. I was salmon fishing on the kenai peninsula. While I was there, a woman around Fairbanks was killed and eaten by a black bear. Black bears seem more aggressive out there possibly from being around griz. Anyway her husband went to get help and he left her up on the roof of their cabin but she didn’t make it

    Maine has very liberal bear hunting rules allowing baiting, trapping, and hunting with dogs. As a result the bears are under control and there are less problems. NY doesn’t allow any of that and there are more incidents and I heard of a baby attacked by a bear in NY. Other states don’t allow all 3 methods. My cousin in VT has had the chickens raided by bears. There are bears around my camp in Maine and people have seen them but in 9 years I have never seen one

  13.  

    My sister rides horseback in the backcountry around the Tetons by herself along with her 3 or 4 dogs camping out for several nights. She now has a 12 gauge pump action Remington but she told me it’s more for putting down a horse and the like than for bears. Her husband has been a bit put off by her going on these trips by herself which was also one reason I think why she got the gun. She says it has the shortest barrel allowed so she thinks it may be 28 inches. There have been more griz seen in the areas she frequents in the last few years

    I got these articles from her facebook. The first one is about a woman who chased off a griz on horseback. The other one is an article on bear spray. My sister believes the claims that bear spray is the most effective and I think she carries that and she also keeps it in her car for protection

    http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/18/gutsy-wrangler-huge-horse-save-boy-from-charging/?fbclid=IwAR3WqyUtHs4qhJQPfiEXsflh43b6ah4PyWFHH38JLxbfeCyqYPvKMWhGsJE

    Gutsy wrangler, huge horse save boy from charging grizzly

     

    https://mountainjournal.org/to-live-and-die-in-grizzly-country?fbclid=IwAR3eiNlG7oP50uB03LS__jM0qYL2YRJW2vlmS7TRZfjka06AEGHvbbvLTkU

     

  14. I’m kind of like you Jack, in that I have trouble keeping my gaskets from  blowing when the glyphosate topic comes up.  For many years I’ve been predicting that lawsuits over this will lead to the next “big tobacco” settlement.  Guess time will tell on that.

    I’m a life long resident of the “tall corn state” (Iowa), grew up on a farm, sprayed thousands of gallons of the stuff, and have a lot of family farming (row crops and dairy), so I’m quite familiar with the situation.  It shows up in about everything they’ve been testing for it – baby formula, cereal, chips, crackers, granola bars, urine, tampons, meat, organic food, rainwater, …

    I recently heard a DNR forester talking about an issue they’ve been noticing with oak trees called oak tatters.  The DNR and state universities are starting to make a correlation between big G being present in rainfall and occurrences of the condition in oaks.

    This isn’t wheat country around here, but I’ve driven through wheat producing states shortly before harvest and you can see the sprayer tracks through the “ripe” (dead plants) fields.  They’re not just driving through the fields ’cause they don’t have anything better to do.

    We think we’re so smart, but time will tell how dumb we really are…

    Light reading:

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf

    https://www.iowapublicradio.org/post/oak-tatters-iowa-what-blame#stream/0

    https://res.mdpi.com/sustainability/sustainability-10-00950/article_deploy/sustainability-10-00950.pdf?filename=&attachment=1

    https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/#.W7S-nmaUVE4

  15. For the listener from Maine who wants to grow grapes I recommend he contact David Handley at the U Maine Cooperative Extension. Dr. Handley is the small fruit specialist at the Highmoor Farm, the university’s research farm. He also grows grapes in his personal garden. For any listeners, your state’s USDA Cooperative Extension can be a valuable resource. You’re paying for it with your taxes, you might as well use it.