I don’t pretend to be an expert on economics, foreign policy, mideast diplomacy or military strategy but I must say that following all the news these days certainly makes one feel a little nervous about the future. Am I the only person who reads the newswires these days and feel like I’m waiting for a shoe to drop?
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So…hunting trips are always excellent opportunities to field test gear in some real world conditions. Lets see whats what.
CamelBack – as usual, these things are wonderful. After dragging dead weight through the woods its nice to be able to gulp down as much water as you want knowing you’ve got a 70 oz. Reservoir of water in your bag. Drawback: that’s 70 oz in your bag.
Knives – Interestingly, my Anza hunting knife didn’t seem to do nearly as good a job as my Glock field knife. I’ll get the Anza sharpened this week but the Glock just seems to keep going…esp. after I Used it in conjuction with a rock to hammer open the pelvic bone and rip my way through the sternum. A small hunting hatchet would be nice but its more weight to haul around. The Glock, by the way, can be had for about $35 from most vendors and it is mucho knife for the money.
Game hoist – yes, you can improvise with paracord and carabiners but it wont be as convenient, lightweight or efficient.
Bleach wipes – The pocket pack of Clorox bleach wipes were great for washing up after playing Dr Killdeer. All the refuse went into a gallon-sized Ziploc baggie and was packed out. (Im live and let live but I get pretty pissed when people litter while out hunting..candy wrappers, cigarette butts, whatever…stick it in your pocket and take it home or find someone else to hunt with.)
Unfortunately, since the whole episode (this particular one, anyway) was so darn short there wasn’t the opportunity to try out other things like the GPS, 2-way radios, etc, etc. However, hunting season is still underway so there will be opportunities. After a careful reading of the regs it looks like the girlfriend and I can get a bull elk, buck whitetail or buck muley, and doe whitetail each. So, in a perfect world that’d be 4 deer and 2 elk for the freezer which would easily carry us for a couple years. Realistically, though, I could see us with two or three deer. Enough to carry us through to about this time next year.
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What to say about the fires in California? Well, obviously if you live in a place that’s prone to self-immolation you might be well served to have a bit of firefighting gear on your property. I recall after the last big conflagration seeing a fella on the news who rebuilt his house with a very nice and very large inground swimming pool. The interesting feature was how the pool was designed to feed the four strategically placed water cannons he had installed around the house. And..he bought his own fire truck. It’s the folks who have been robbed who buy the best safes.
I like to think that someday I’ll have a nice, quiet little place out in the middle of nowhere and if that comes to pass you can be pretty assured its going to have some sort of provision for keeping it from burning down like a three-week old Christmas tree.
Its also interesting to note that the evacuees (or refugees) who wound up in the stadium in California seem to be exhibiting far better socialization skills than the crowds that packed the KatrinaDome. Almost everyone has been dancing around the reason for that but I’ll make no such pretensions – the crowd in California is, by and large, not a crowd of lower-class poor people raised on government handouts and entitlements. Of course, some politicians have trotted out the race card saying that the .gov was much more responsive in getting things ready for this situation because the affected people were mostly white. Seems to me its more likey that after the Katrina debacle .gov (state or fed) realized they needed to get their crap together or the next disaster would have some heads rolling in Washington. Plus, its California – they’ve been waiting for The Big One for so long now so they might know a little something about disaster management. It probably helps that the local governments aren’t as corrupt as the ones in Louisiana.
Theres still plenty of lessons to be learned here though. Most of them involving having a) a place to go or at least having your gear ready b) a way to get out and c) several layers of avenue of escape.
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,Rawles pointed out that the friendly fedgov is leaning on lightstick makers to withdraw infrared lightsticks from the market. WTF? Anyone see anything posted anywhere about this policy? Im curious for the reasoning behind this.
Lightsticks???? WTF? They probably don’t want us signaling flying saucers or something.
I think another thing California had going for it is that the refugees weren’t immersed in a sea of isolation and desolation. They’re accessible to services and to so many volunteers that they’re turning them away. And, of course, there’s definitely a cultural thing going there. (I imagine there are segments of the CA population that wouldn’t fare nearly as well packed in a stadium.)
About the water cannons, see my post on a water wash down system. Someone with some venture money could start a consulting gig on this.
I’m in San Diego. I didn’t have to evacuate, but I’ve been paying close attention.
Something interesting to note…while 750,000 or so people in San Diego had to be evacuated, the shelters only accepted 10,000-20,000 refugees. That means the rest took care of themselves, either at a hotel, or with the help of family and friends.
The general feeling of people I’ve spoken to seems to be “Government, go home. We’re fine, we don’t need your help.”
clandestine markings ??
Cache. LZ marking. Drug delivery site?
Uses are endless… for the 6-8 hours that the chemicals stay ‘active’… they are temperature-sensitive also.
Can think of a few more uses. You would have to come up with a way to remotely activate the lightstick too.
The basic ‘glass vial inside a plastic tube’ Cruch, shake and voila! IR beacon or and it really doesn’t work all that well unless you have a way of ‘seeing’ that part of the spectrum. IR camera, 2GEN Russian NVGs, etc.
V/r,
Rich Johns