Hevi-Shot: old vs. new

[skeet]

Fabs..not dissing you..but all the "reasons" you enumerated aren't really reasons..they are excuses. Ask me how I know it. I used 'em all myself. when I wanted to do something else with my life. I "convinced" myself the same way you are doing. To give you an idea..You can make a pretty fair living anywhere. You can do so much of the work you do at home. All schoold seem to have some good classes. My grandkids are both in gifted programs as they should be. Grandson is finishing up calculus now and has a class in an advanced physics coming up soon. In the Queen Annes county system. If the kids are smart they will learn well anywhere. That is your responsibility though. Heck even here the attorneys make really good money. as could you. When the kids get to be in school they won't want to leave their school. Find a nice place now while the costs per acre are down and there are some foreclosures even available. Don't make excuses..make hay while the sun is shining. I still have a couple hundred acres on the shore..can't sell it now for it's true value but I only paid 125 Thousand all those years ago. Didn't think I would ever get it paid for..and it took me a whole 4 yrs. Be creative and be bold. You won't be sorry in the future. Buying another place out here myself..and i don't have a big income. If I can you can too. No excuses..As Yoda said..don't try..just do. Now all we have to do is get rid of the wolves and the elk herd can come back again..

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Not only does Rapier make me look like an irresponsible idiot on another thread this week for not cleaning my guns, but now you guys are making it look like I cannot call or shoot geese and that I am some rookie hunter out there.

Sorry Fabs, but that was not my intention......this is just something that I have noticed over the last several years of hunting the managed areas. I don't care how you spend your money; if you wish to use gold shot, be my guest.
The point I'm trying to make is that a lot of people (I wont call them hunters) are trying to make up with technology with what they lack in skill. They can't call, so they put out a spinner....or a dozen. They can't (or won't) work birds, so they shoot at long range, and if something is advertised that will allow them to kill 'farther", then they try it......even though they don't have the skill.
Not trying to infer that you're a rookie or irresponsible, and I'm sorry if you took that from my post.

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by Mr. 16 gauge

Sorry Fabs, but that was not my intention......this is just something that I have noticed over the last several years of hunting the managed areas. I don't care how you spend your money; if you wish to use gold shot, be my guest.
The point I'm trying to make is that a lot of people (I wont call them hunters) are trying to make up with technology with what they lack in skill. They can't call, so they put out a spinner....or a dozen. They can't (or won't) work birds, so they shoot at long range, and if something is advertised that will allow them to kill 'farther", then they try it......even though they don't have the skill.
Not trying to infer that you're a rookie or irresponsible, and I'm sorry if you took that from my post.

Yeah, I think it all comes down to skill regardless of what you are using. However, the technology does give us an edge. Me, I still use a $20 Primos goose flute to call and I kill plenty of birds with it. I also have a Tim Grounds Magnum call, but it just doesn't seem to work as well. I have a mojo goose, mojo duck, and mojo dove. Haven't hunted with the mojos at all this year but have personally killed 6 geese on 3 days of hunting so far this year (i.e., I have limited out every time). My take is that sometimes those mojos work and sometimes they don't. I think the most important thing is being able to read the birds and listen to the birds, and then the next most important thing is putting out a realistic spread. One of the guys I was hunting with told me that it doesn't matter whether the birds are pointed into the wind. However, whenever I study birds on the ground, they are almost always headed into the wind.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to whether people are sportsmen or not. Whether they realize their limitations with a firearm. For instance, I am pretty confident up to 60 yards on doves, ducks, and geese and will go out to 250 on a deer with a rifle, 125 on a deer with a shotgun. After those yardages, everything needs to be right (e.g., wind, stance of the deer) for me to even try to take a longer shot.

I just think we are lacking sportsmen nowadays, and therein lies the problem. We are lacking the type of people that can go out hunting, get nothing, and still come home thinking it was a great day. That is what the marketing is promoting. Just like I think marketing has screwed up the American people and made us buy a lot of crap we don't need (e.g., mojo decoys, Hevi-Shot, patternmaster chokes, $150 calls, $150 for 4 or 6 decoys). Hunting is both a business and a sport. The same thing holds true for cycling. There is so much stuff out there (e.g., ceramic bearings at $150 to $200 a set) that people think will give them the edge. In the end, it comes down to practice/training for the most part.

Too much marketing and people have too little time on their hands because they want to do too much during their lifetime.

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by skeet

Fabs..not dissing you..but all the "reasons" you enumerated aren't really reasons..they are excuses. Ask me how I know it. I used 'em all myself. when I wanted to do something else with my life. I "convinced" myself the same way you are doing. To give you an idea..You can make a pretty fair living anywhere. You can do so much of the work you do at home. All schoold seem to have some good classes. My grandkids are both in gifted programs as they should be. Grandson is finishing up calculus now and has a class in an advanced physics coming up soon. In the Queen Annes county system. If the kids are smart they will learn well anywhere. That is your responsibility though. Heck even here the attorneys make really good money. as could you. When the kids get to be in school they won't want to leave their school. Find a nice place now while the costs per acre are down and there are some foreclosures even available. Don't make excuses..make hay while the sun is shining. I still have a couple hundred acres on the shore..can't sell it now for it's true value but I only paid 125 Thousand all those years ago. Didn't think I would ever get it paid for..and it took me a whole 4 yrs. Be creative and be bold. You won't be sorry in the future. Buying another place out here myself..and i don't have a big income. If I can you can too. No excuses..As Yoda said..don't try..just do. Now all we have to do is get rid of the wolves and the elk herd can come back again..

We can argue this until the cows come in as far as the schools go and where it is best to live. Just as I am sure you have "reasons" for living in the country and "excuses" for living in the city or suburbs, I have my "reasons" for living in the suburbs and "excuses" for living in the country. One of the big reasons for me to stay around here is that my parents watch our kids 2 days out of the week during tax time when I am extremely busy. The rest of the time, I take care of the kids while my wife works and vice versa. The next most important reason is that I get along pretty well with my siblings and don't want to be that far from them. Like I said, the list goes on and on.

Regarding the public school systems, I am sure you can find plenty of exceptions to the rule and/or personal experiences that support your position. The question is about the data. The Howard County school system has pretty high standardized test scores. Granted, those test scores aren't the be all end all regarding how far a child will end up going, but they are a good indicator of the education the child is receiving. Real estate is also a lot higher in areas with really good school districts. Just look at the difference between Montgomery County and Howard County versus Prince George's County as far as house prices are concerned. Give me the names of some of the public schools in Queen Anne's County and I will look them up on great schools to see how they compare. Even if they got 10's, it probably wouldn't change our decision because of all the other factors.

By the way, I was out that way toward the end of October, maybe beginning of November. I have a matter in District Court in Centreville. It was really nice once I got to the 301/50 split, but then I noticed what looked like a little "development" coming into Centreville where the little strip mall with the McDonalds is. Pretty soon, it is going to be built up even over there.

Now, just because I don't want to live over there doesn't mean I am not going to buy land over there. I was just looking at an 80 acre piece of property on the southern part of the Eastern Shore. If we had the house thing figured out, I would be buying that, but we have another 19 months until our daughter starts kindergarten and we will be moving to Howard County. After that, the search for rental property and farm land begins.