My bear encounter (not for the weak)

[chickwhorips]

so my tuesday afternoon started off like any normal afternoon. ok not that normal, there was no wind and sunshine. had the urge to go for a run. R said that he wanted to go hunting, i said if it was a quick venture i would go with him. so the dogs and i went for a 2 mile run quick, and i mean quick! i ran it in about a 10 minute mile the whole way! so excited about that. so put the dogs in the house, changed into the waders and off we went.

hiked out to the little island that was about 30 ft wide in the lagoon and set out the decoys. sat down and the brant came in. of course i still can't it the broad side of a barn, so i didn't get anything. i was super frustrated, and never wanting to hunt again! we had a total of 3 birds and the tide moved out so we decided to pack it up.

(now before i go on let me say this: no hate mails please because i'm a hunter. i understand there are people out there that don't belive in killing animals. i am not out there trying to kill everything in sight, i don't believe in that or killing for a hide or rack. i also work for fish and wildlife which is about conserving land and animals. i am a hunter here because it is the main way to get fresh meat. i can't run to the store like anyone else and buy it. also, here being a vegetarian is not practical here either. we don't get fresh fruits and veggies often. i live in a very isolated community where we live a subsitence lifestyle. if this offends anyone, i am sorry.)

bf stood up and looked out at the birds and said "whoa! big bear!" i just looked at him like ha ha funny because he's joked about that before. i grabbed my shotgun and stood up and turned around and said "holy sh!t! BIG bear!" (so now when i say BIG bear, bubba was about 12+ feet, he was an old ornery guy who was a dark brown with a huge hump on his back) i backed away towards ron who was already trying to give him space. i don't remember how quick he came across the island, but i'm thinking pretty quick and he was on our side. he pushed us back into the water. while bf was shooting over his shoulder, both of us yelling at him. we were finally half way out between the island and the shore when we both shot at him from about 15 ft away (that's how close he was). me with the 20g at his face and ron with the 12g over his shoulder. i remember seeing the wad fly out at his nose and thought, wow that almost hit his nose. he after that he stopped pushing us away. scoffed at us and turned to the decoys. he started playing/eating with one of the brant decoys.

we just left everything there and headed back to the truck. and the easiest way to get to the truck is by a bear trail and guess who probably used it recently. we hauled a$$ as quick as we could. we got to the truck ok and drove home. happy to be alive. came home and had a drink. i was surprisingly calm through the whole deal. i was thinking very logically. all my bear safety training going through my head. i remember the bear quite well. i know how wide he was, color, hump on his back and how big his nose was. scary! after the drinks and still being dazed, BF said to me "thanks for keeping it together." it was a good thing we both did keep it together. could've been really bad. good thing we got up when we did. neither of us hear the bear coming with ear plugs in and if we would've waited 30 seconds longer we would've had a bear on top of us. definitely on me, i was sitting between 3 birds! scary. we did have slugs with us, but when we got up so quick they were still in the bag that stayed behind.

the whole situation hit me at about midnight. i was dead asleep when i woke up terrified of what happened. scared to death. so needless to say i didn't sleep much that night. kept having bad dreams, even woke up once and swore i could smell the bear in the house. had dreams of the food chain and many of the landlord of grant point. amazing how insignificant your life is when you realize you are NOT the top of the food chain.

went into work yesterday for an hour and took the rest of the day off. between not sleeping well and just being mentally... bla, i wasn't up for working. i did get BF convinced to take me with him for the recon mission. we went out full armor this time. i had the other 12g with cracker shells (fun but not super effective if the bear doesn't mind bird shot in the face.) and BF had his 12g with 3 in slugs in it. our recon mission turned out successful and no bear to be seen. recovered all pintail decoys, but the brant we chewed and taken out by the tide. all bags were fine, but the brant weren't. only thing left of them was a set of wings.

conclusions on the bear: Very Big, knows what he's doing, doesn't like pink (left my pink water bottle alone), doesn't like chocolate (left the candy bars that i had in my bag alone), likes brant but not pintail decoys.

after the recon mission i just took it easy. cleaned up the house, did laundry and did what any girl would do in my situation after a near death experience: made chocolate cake.

i'm just happy to be alive.

[mimitabby]

wow, Chick
i would not have been able to go to sleep last night in the first place!

poor bear probably didn't like the taste of your decoys either.
now where was your video camera (hhahahaha)


So you really really live somewhere where you can't get fresh fruit and veggies?
what do you do for roughage?

[Lise]

OMG. :eek: What an amazing life you get to live--and I'm so glad you get to keep on living it. Scary, scary, scary. Sounds like you and BF have your heads on straight. Good thing.

[Bikingmomof3]

What a frightening ordeal to go through! I am quite relieved to hear you and your boyfriend came away unharmed.

[slinkedog]

Darn right, Team Danger! Wow! I have had one encounter with a bear in my life and he ran away as soon as we started making noises. I can't imagine how you held it together. You Alaskans gotta be brave to live up there in the bush! Do you live near Chicken, by any chance?

[DebW]

Wow, glad the bear only got to eat duck. Take care. Stay safe.

[mimitabby]

Wow, glad the bear only got to eat duck. Take care. Stay safe.

er.. fake duck that is..

[Brandy]

http://server12.ipslink.com/~wwwmamad/forums/style_emoticons/default/HolySheep.gif

[chickwhorips]

it was super scary. still makes me weak in the knees when i think about it all. i don't look out the window the same way i use to, thats for sure.

bubba got fake duck and fake brant (actually fake duck that was painted to look like fake brant) and also real brant. he was fat and happy.

it is really hard to get veggies here. we have new owners at the store and the veggie supply isn't there. we get good veggies when someone from town comes in and hand carries it. veggies here are worth more than gold. i scrounge around for roughage. found some high fiber bars that help.

we didn't have a camera (if we did it would've been left behind in the bags) but i did have someone at work ask me if i got pictures. i definatly wouldn't have had to use the zoom feature!

slinkedog no chickens here. bears would probably get them. though we are testing other birds (brant and pintails and steller's eiders) for the avian flu. so if the bears and the avian flu don't get me, who knows what will.

[mimitabby]

you might try sprouting beans for bean sprouts?
I can't imagine living without fresh veggies!

sorry you lost your duck dinner.

[horsemom]

Holy Batpoop!!! That is an amazing story--a grizzly, I presume? I raised an 18 month old 'hit by car' black bear for 10 months before he was released, but they are nowhere near the size or danger of the grizzlies.

Have you seen the docu of the guy and his GF who were eaten by bears up there? Timothy Treadwell, I believe. I have not seen the film, but have read several articles about him. He actually lived out there in the bear fields 'studying' the bears and thought that they wouldn't hurt him....nuts. There is an actual voice recording of him getting eaten--gross.

Anyway, I love the stories of your life...

Laura

[latelatebloomer]

More proof that TE women are tough as nails. That "cool head in emergency, fall apart later" can really pack a wallop, but I'm so glad you held it together when Bubba came a-calling.

[Kitsune06]

oh my god. *hug* CWR- that's scary! I'm so glad you're okay! I can't imagine two loads of bird shot and he wasn't even fazed. Scary, SO scary.

[Cassandra_Cain]

OMG - wow, how scary is that!

I'm glad you made it ok and even had the wherewithal to make chocolate cake. Good idea.

Stay safe ;)

[Denise223]

That's just too scary for me -- I'm happy to hear that you & your BF kept it together!

Stay safe.

Peace & Love,

Denise

[Duck on Wheels]

Guess the bears don't get to the corner store all that often either. Worked out how to use you guys as the duck delivery wagon. I'm glad you handed over the birds and didn't wait for a tip.

[Thistle]

omg :eek: you are amazing!!!!

[snapdragen]

See CWR? You are the president of Team Danger! Amazing and scary story, so glad you kept it together and got away safely.

[Fledgling]

Sheesh! That's extreme! Way to keep collected. Glad you both walked away unharmed.
Hope that the cake made you feel better.

[caligurl]

HOLY SH!T!!!!!!!!!

glad you are OK!

[chickwhorips]

yup very large grizzly. they are mean buggers.

i have heard of the story of treadwell. BF said that's all he could think of with that bear coming at us.

snap you had to wait a bit but you did get your bear story. at least it was a good one with a happy ending. http://www.smileypad.com/v224/Happy/Big-Thumbs-Up.gif

[Kitsune06]

Treadwell WAS nuts. DGF and I watched 'Grizzly Man' and the whole time she was shaking her head, saying "He's gotta be bi-polar. He must be. Oh my god."

Anyone willing to get that close to grizzlies *on purpose* has to be on the shallow end of the sanity pool.

... and yeah, there is that audio. it's actually more sad and scary than gross.

Chick Who Rips: a woman who can make the effort to scare a huge grizzly bear off with a shot gun, then go home and make chocolate cake to calm down.

I *told* you you were my hero. You don't *have* to prove it!

[chickwhorips]

I *told* you you were my hero. You don't *have* to prove it!

oh so now you tell me that. could've told me that before.

[Xrayted]

:eek: :eek: :eek: and... :eek:!!! You WOMAN you! And I thought it was rough getting chased by a dog! So glad you are both o.k. I totally understand the cake baking thing. Total comfort food, divert the mind for a while... (It's got it's own food group and healing powers in my life. :D)


Treadwell WAS nuts. DGF and I watched 'Grizzly Man' and the whole time she was shaking her head, saying "He's gotta be bi-polar. He must be. Oh my god."

Exactly what I was thinking when watching it. The dude was a ka-razy SOB! I've never quite decided in my own mind if he was truly out there for the bears or for celebrity/shock value. SAD that his GF paid the price too. :(

[TrekJeni]

Glad you two got out of that one alive.

Tell me a little more about your 20g. I'm shooting a cheapie break action that needs to be retired. One of my girlfriends, just bought this sweet Binelli 20g semi auto that handles like a dream. I always wanted a Ruger Red Label in 20g or 28g for quail hunting.

Whenn I'm not riding my bike, I can be found hanging with my hunting dawgs or judging pointing breed field trials and hunt tests.

Jeni

[snapdragen]

Gee CWR, I didn't mean an up close and personal story....:cool:

I understand the cake baking thing too. When my Dad ended up in the hospital for an emergency double bypass, I went home and made dinner for mom, brother and sister-in-law, a huge stew. Poor SIL thought I was nuts, I think she finally understood it was my coping mechanism. (Dad is fine btw)

[margo49]

Yeeowwww!!!!
You gotta have kids and then tell *their* kids that story!
Start tonight!

[KnottedYet]

Whoa. Wow. Whoa.

<dang, girl, that's quite the story!>

[short cut sally]

oh my god, i was sitting on the edge of the chair as i was reading that, and to be here to tell us that is just amazing..hope you never encounter that again..

[bcipam]

Chick after reading your story looked to see where you lived and saw Alaska and realize you meant the bear was a brownie... thank goodness you guys are OK.

Had a friend who lived in Anchorage. Would visit each summer. We both loved to hike and mountain bike but I never got over my fear of running across a brown bear or a moose. Both very big, very scary animals. I dream of living in Alaska but know it can be dangerous. You guys stay safe.

And don't apologize for hunting. Most folks in Alaska do and I know its for meat not sport. I've never condemn the act of hunting but will condemn the sport and methods of some. If the animal is killed humanely no complaints. If torture is involved, then its wrong. Good hunters never torture their animals.

[7rider]

Oh. My. Freakin'. Lord!!!
I am so glad you both held it together. I suppose a little bird shot in the face of a 12 foot grizzly is no more annoying than a few mosquitos. The loss of a couple of brants was a small price to pay, and I wonder if that cake lasted more than the amount of time it took to cool. Can you say "nervous nibbling"?
Man!
That is one for the records.
(and folks wonder why I don't want to move up to our regional office in Juneau - sheesh!)

[mtbdarby]

Amber YOU ROCK! Way to keep your cool girl. Sure makes my black bear in the back yard seem like childs play, geezh.

I saw the Treadwill bit as well. Dude wasn't right. Although he was an expert on the bears, he lived dangerously around them. From what I've read, this would NOT be the time of year to be purposely getting close to them.

Thread hijack - anyone see Men in Trees this week? I thought of you up there Amber. Maybe I need to come visit:p

[Kitsune06]

oh so now you tell me that. could've told me that before.

Pff. I did tell you, but I forget what it was in reference (reverence) to. I think it was when you were telling me about work. ;)

[mary9761]

:eek: :eek: :eek: I am so glad you two made it back alive to tell the tale :eek: :eek: I'm not sure how I would have handled the same situation. I'm so glad I don't live anywhere with dangerous wildlife. Dangerous Wild LIFE is bad enough around here..
And I also say no worries about the hunting. I know that living up there in the wilds you aren't hunting for trophies. You have to eat and if you can get your own food, you save money.

[slinkedog]

it was super scary. still makes me weak in the knees when i think about it all. i don't look out the window the same way i use to, thats for sure.

bubba got fake duck and fake brant (actually fake duck that was painted to look like fake brant) and also real brant. he was fat and happy.

it is really hard to get veggies here. we have new owners at the store and the veggie supply isn't there. we get good veggies when someone from town comes in and hand carries it. veggies here are worth more than gold. i scrounge around for roughage. found some high fiber bars that help.

we didn't have a camera (if we did it would've been left behind in the bags) but i did have someone at work ask me if i got pictures. i definatly wouldn't have had to use the zoom feature!

slinkedog no chickens here. bears would probably get them. though we are testing other birds (brant and pintails and steller's eiders) for the avian flu. so if the bears and the avian flu don't get me, who knows what will.

Oh, I meant do you live near Chicken, Alaska. :)

[SouthernBelle]

& I thought the possums and skunks at my house were exciting. But no big bubba bears here!

Glad you are safe, sound, and full of chocolate.

[chickwhorips]

And don't apologize for hunting. Most folks in Alaska do and I know its for meat not sport. I've never condemn the act of hunting but will condemn the sport and methods of some. If the animal is killed humanely no complaints. If torture is involved, then its wrong. Good hunters never torture their animals.

thank you. there are some people that i've come across that don't understand hunting and get offended and think i'm trying to do bad things or i'm a bad person. we have a bunch of "sport hunters" in town right now. now them i would love to personally give a lecture to and a good swift kick in the shin.


Oh, I meant do you live near Chicken, Alaska.:)

didn't even know of the place till now. they are in the interior part of alaska. you can actually drive there by car, here you can't drive anywhere except to nowhere. we are the last city on the peninsula before the aleutian islands start. we are waaaaaaaaaay out here.

anyone is more than welcome to come visit. i'll show you a "real alaskan experience". ;)

[chickwhorips]

Amber YOU ROCK! Way to keep your cool girl. Sure makes my black bear in the back yard seem like childs play, geezh.

I saw the Treadwill bit as well. Dude wasn't right. Although he was an expert on the bears, he lived dangerously around them. From what I've read, this would NOT be the time of year to be purposely getting close to them.

Thread hijack - anyone see Men in Trees this week? I thought of you up there Amber. Maybe I need to come visit:p

didjaknow that brown bears will kill a black bear. thats why you never see them together.

what is "Men in Trees" about? haven't even heard of it.

[mtbdarby]

Men in Trees - a new show about Alaska (CBS or ABC, regular night will be Fridays). A female "relationship expert" goes there to give a lecture and on the flight out there discovers she has taken her fiance's laptop instead of hers. As she looks through the pictures of them on the computer she comes across him smooching another woman - someone she knows! So when she gets to Alaska (don't remember the city), she gets licquored up before her talk, blows the talk, goes back and gets liquored up, tells the bar folk about her life, discovers she's surrounded by men, and decides to stay to write the third book she was gonna call "I'm getting married and so can you". My guess is, it will now be called "Men in Trees". As she was walking down the sidewalk she almost gets hit with a pine tree branch. She looks up and sees two guys trimming said tree and looks back to the sidewalk to see a sign "Men in Trees"..

Within her first few days, she discovers a racoon in her room eating her designer shoes, then her expensive wedding dress, borrows a "ride" (an old bike!) and rides around the gorgeous countryside, takes off in search of a pack of cigs and ends up falling through the ice (rescued by some ruggedly handsome guy who warms her up for the night). I'm getting it's about getting back to being happy with who you are, simplifying your life, and enjoying the beauty in this world, which really appealed to me. Of course, being in a town with a bunch of cute guys would be ok too! Check it out if you get a minute and tell us how accurate it really is.

All I could think about after the show (I was trying on my new leg warmers I had just got:p ) was if I went to Alaska what would I pack? What cycling clothes (layers), which bike (Baloo, the mtb), jeans, sweaters, take the dogs or not, etc. Guess I could be ready to visit you on short notice!!

[ladyfish]

CWR--glad to hear you both are OK. We have a friend who lives in Alaska and when he was down here for a school, he and my DH went to the shooting range. My husband told Dave "you are the only guy I know who actually NEEDS a 457 magnum!". (Because of the bears).

Stay safe, and good luck with the hunt for fresh veggies!

[maillotpois]

WOW! Amazing story. Glad you are both okay. Those animals are so fast and powerful and - yikes!!

On the hunting thing: My paralegal's BF lives in Alaska (she used to live there and is desperate to move back). Anyway, he also hunts for food - everyone does there, as you know. So no biggie.

[chickwhorips]

i'm gonna have to check out this "men in trees" show. sounds interesting.

i hate to burst anyone's bubble about the men here. they aren't all that cute (a few far and between). its actually hard for gals in anchorage to get a date. i know my friend karie has been trying for a while, and you thought lise's experiences were interesting. sheesh!

[slinkedog]

I loved the quote, referring to men outnumbering women, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd." :D

[snapdragen]

I loved the quote, referring to men outnumbering women, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd." :D

You beat me to it! Yup, I heard that a few times when I was up there.:p

[cherinyc]

whoa chickie!!! I've always played things like that out in my mind, but I have no idea how I would react if it actually happened. BF and I went for a hike on the Appalachian trail back in May, and some hikers while passing, told us there was a bear up ahead. (In the NE we have black bears, not as big as Grizzlies). I couldn't wait to see it, but was of course a little afraid.
and...then I was disappointed when we never saw it. I was looking over my shoulder the whole rest of the time - thinking that maybe it was stalking us.
Sheesh.....

In my trully honest opinion, you should tweek your story a bit - and send it to Backpacker Mag or Adventure or something. I LOVE that part of the magazine where people tell there adventure stories, and the fact that you are a woman makes it even better. The stories that are in there most of the time are from men. Let me know if you want any help finding a magazine's contact name or anything (if you decide to submit it).

SOOOO glad you are both ok!!!!!! I am raising my glass of Merlot..to you.
BTW - maybe there are ways to ship veggies to you?:confused:

[Lise]

Come to think of it, I'm really impressed that the cake even made it to the oven. I probably would've eaten the whole thing in batter form at that point! How're you feeling now that a few days have passed?

[donnambr]

Have you seen the docu of the guy and his GF who were eaten by bears up there? Timothy Treadwell, I believe. I have not seen the film, but have read several articles about him. He actually lived out there in the bear fields 'studying' the bears and thought that they wouldn't hurt him....nuts. There is an actual voice recording of him getting eaten--gross.
The coroner in that docu is my coworker's dad.

CWR - so glad you lived to tell the tale. On another note, the only thing that offends me about your hunting is that you don't live close enough for me to trade you some great vegetables for some venison. :D Yum, venison.

[RoadRaven]

Saw that Timothy Treadwill - the doco that was released as a feature in the cinema and the 1 hour one made afterwards. That guy certainly loved animals, but he had no respect for them and seemed to lose his grip on reality the further in the filming/time frame (ie, the closer he got to being dead).

DonnaMBR, that coroner acquiited himself well and made sense as he spoke. it was good to have a few people like that in the progs that had their heads screwed on sensibly!

And Chick... how come you were in the woods with a shotgun? Or did you have solids loaded? I would not go somewhere like that without a high calibre rifle... yup, I hunt too, though only deer, possums and rabbits - hunting is about conservation in this little country.

Besides, nothing big and dangerous to be worried about here. The most dangerous thing you'd find in our bush and forests are stags or wild pigs!

[lph]

The most dangerous thing you'd find in our bush and forests are stags or wild pigs!

Read the whole amazing :eek: story above but just had to add, when I saw wild pigs mentioned... I don't know if these are the same as your wild pigs, but anywhoo:

Every once in a while conversation at work gets around to animals in the road, more specifically hitting animals, usually moose in this part of the world. And when it does a cycling buddy of mine has the ultimate Animal Hit by Car story. When she was a student in Belgium, a couple she knew sneak-borrowed his parents car one evening while parents were away. They were driving on a dark road through some thick forest when they hit, and killed a large wild pig, making a sizeable dent in the car. They knew parents would be furious, and probably wouldn't even believe that the pig caused the dent, so they decided to put the dead pig in the trunk and take it back as evidence.

Ten minutes later a steady thumping starts from the trunk. Sure enough, pig isn't dead, but alive, injured and pissed off. They stop the car, too scared to carry on, and call a ranger/wildlife guy. As they stand and watch, pig bursts *through* the back seat and starts tearing around the inside of the car. Ranger guy arrives, and decides that the best way to solve the situation is to shoot the pig. From the outside.

The story doesn't tell exactly how the parents reacted when they got their car back. :D

[chickwhorips]

cheri never thought about submitting the story. maybe i should. woudn't that be great. but the ending should be "i had to survive for all the girls at TE!"

donnambr no deer here, but we do have caribou. even better, but definatly not as smart. they run twards the sound of a gun, not away.

lise i'm doing ok. thanks for asking. i've had to drive out that way a few times for work and i always look at the island to see if the land lord is home. and besides from my (almost) hypothermia incident today where i had to crawl into a gumby suite, life seems good. i'm going back out tomorrow to conquer the bering sea so that doesn't beat me either.

roadraven we weren't in the woods (no trees here, just tundra) but we did have slugs (3 inch 1 3/8 oz), they were in the bag. didn't expect to stand up and see a bear, no time to grab bags because he was headed right for us. just had bird shot on us at that point in time. usually when we are hiking in anywhere we have 3 slugs loaded and 2 more back up.

little tid bit (not to scare just to inform) black bears stalk their prey (including humans) so if ever attacked by a black bear fight like h*ll. grizzly bears don't stalk, so play dead.

[latelatebloomer]

You're standing up to 12-foot grizzlies and conquering the Bering Sea.... Time to re-evaluate my life goals :p! (The closest I've gotten to Alaska is bearing a resemblance to Elaine Miles -Marilyn in Northern Exposure.) Chickwhorips, since I don't have a tv, you can be my adventure channel, ok?

[Kitsune06]

OK, Seriously, woman, you HAVE to admit that 3" magnum slugs out of a 20g are close to a 12g with bird shot. The fact that Ron was shooting that over his shoulder FLOORS me. He must have arms of steel.

I think you're putting us on. You *must* be made of steel or something like that. One tough cookie. Geez.

Can I help co-write your biography? :D

[chickwhorips]

since I don't have a tv, you can be my adventure channel, ok?

as long as you don't mind not seeing any pictures. the camra never seems to be around in this situation. though everyone today had to get a picture of me in a gumby suit so i'm sure i'll get one of those eventually. i must've looked pretty pathetic for everyone to want a picture.

[RoadRaven]

so you were prepared to face the bear with bird shot...

damn glad you got away ok!

lph - that is one funny story - I'd love to know what the parents said when the car was returned!!!

[Bad JuJu]

as long as you don't mind not seeing any pictures. the camra never seems to be around in this situation. though everyone today had to get a picture of me in a gumby suit so i'm sure i'll get one of those eventually. i must've looked pretty pathetic for everyone to want a picture.
Though I haven't commented yet, I found your story riveting, CWR! So glad to hear that you were able to save yourselves, and not have a total meltdown afterwards. But now I have a question--what in the world is a Gumby suit?

[Lise]

Great story, lph. Have you ever seen Tommy Boy? Similar, though less exciting scene! Very funny movie with Chris Farley and David Spade.

CWR, I love that you call the bear the "landlord". Man. Now I'm sitting here at my computer in Chicago, memorizing, "Fight a black bear. Play dead with a grizzley. Fight a black bear..." If this situation comes up anytime in my near future, we'll know the apocalypse is at hand. :rolleyes: But you never know! Thank you for that info.

You really do have a most remarkable life. When I pick up your autobiography, years from now, and am reading this story that seems sort of familiar, and you mention TE, I'll cry out, "OMG! It's CWR!" :D

[weathergal]

Wow, CWR, glad you're okay. Hopefully you're sleeping better by now. I don't think I would have been able to get through an experience like that without having to change my underwear.

[DrBee]

Catching up from a long weekend away from TE...

Wow CWR! That's quite a little adventure you had there! I'm glad to hear you came out of it unscathed.

[chickwhorips]

OK, Seriously, woman, you HAVE to admit that 3" magnum slugs out of a 20g are close to a 12g with bird shot. The fact that Ron was shooting that over his shoulder FLOORS me. He must have arms of steel.

I think you're putting us on. You *must* be made of steel or something like that. One tough cookie. Geez.

Can I help co-write your biography? :D

actually the 3" slugs are for the 12g they do make 20g slugs, but don't have any. think i'll be investing in some though. ron wasn't shooting over his shoulder. we were both staring right into his BIG fuzzy face, but he still does have arms of steel.

na i'm not made of steel, just hard headed.

your more than welcome to help with the biography. i like the way you write. http://www.smileypad.com/v224/Happy/Big-Thumbs-Up.gif

[chickwhorips]

a gumby suite is an immersion suit that you can be in the freezing water and still have a chance at surviving. usually carried on ships and us coast guard have them also.

here is my friend ty in the gumby suite he found washed up on the beach. he had a little bit of fun with it that day.