5 things about you.

2) Got into hunting 100% entirely on my own at a very young age. My parents made the mistake of turning me loose with a Crossman 760.
I can relate to that on a deep level.

I grew up going hunting with my dad, deer, pheasants, and sometimes ducks. Once I turned 8 or maybe 9, I got my first BB gun, Crossman 760 Pumpmaster. BB or pellets. There wasn't a chipmunk, squirrel, or rabbit that was safe. We had probably 40 acres of woods behind my parents house and I tromped around those woods every day. The farmer that owned the land didn't care if we played back there. He only cared about the big field he had next to the woods.

That spiraled into starting deer hunting with a bow at 11, got my first deer w/ a bow at 12.
 
The Bad news for my video rental company is that the cops made me destroy every copy of Secrets in Jamaica ‘98 to stay out of trouble.
I'm sure you still have the secret copy tucked away in a very hidden spot!
 
The Forest Service and the BLM share a building here, so my cubicle shared a wall with the lead surveyor for the BLM. One day Kirstie Alley came into the office to express her displeasure with how they had marked the property line between her ranch and the BLM. As she talked, or should I say screamed, her face got redder and redder and looked like she was going to burst a vein. The most common word out of her mouth was one form or another of the "F" word, as she blamed poor Larry for every evil in the world, especially the horrible way in which the BLM was destroying the land. Larry then handed her the returned certified letter with her signature on it, that explaining exactly what they were going to do and when they were going to do it. He even highlighted the part that said that if she had any concerns or questions to please contact him before the job was started. That really pissed her off.
 
A few oddities ive done most of my friends probably havent:

1. Was shocked to be struck by lightning in high school

2. Tubed in an underground river

3. Traveled via private jet (not mine, and it totally ruins the commercial air travel experience)

4. "Played" D1 basketball (ACC)

5. Almost killed by a caterpillar while deer hunting...would have been an embarrassing way to go.


Considered a 6th...having harvested a big game animal and prepared it all the way from field to table is something the vast majority of my friends have not done. (Not including HT interweb friends, of course)

Edited: reworded to clarify the 6th bc i wrote it confusing as hell the first time
 
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1. Led an operation to retake one of Alexander the Great's Citadels from a large group of modern days jihadists, that were probably the descendants of the same people Alex fought on his way through AFG. It was crazy to think about how many times blood had been shed in that place the previous 2335 years... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herat_Citadel
2. Ate dinner in one of Bin Laden's Houses.
3. Bought the MT Governor's Mountain Goat Tag, and hunted it completely DIY.
4. Through work have met a lot of famous people and some really bad people.
5. Used to shoot archery competitively, and when I was 14, I beat every pro at a leg of the IBO triple in a side competition that was the test bed for what became the Buckmaster's (head to head popup 3d bracket tournament).
 
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Philmont Scout Ranch trek age 12.

Graduate Montana State University, two degrees.

Flew Huey helicopters twenty yrs, wore Army uniform 33 yrs, with two tours Vietnam.

Bob Marshall trek with wife, 76 miles 76 years after her mother completed same route on horse 1941, through then "primitive" area.

Thorofare trek at age 76 with wife 80 miles 7 days, logged into the Thorofare Ranger Cabin journal, the holy grail of backpacking.
How can I say Thank You ????
 
I was scraping & caulking a hull on a WWII subchaser my HS principal had bought on Terminal Island. John Wayne came down the gangway to the dock with a case of Coors and past me on the way to his boat being worked on in the marina. Baking hot ,bright sun.
15 min. later he came back with 2 cans and handed me one. Told me I did good work. Asked me about myself and if I wanted a job. I was speechless. I drained half the beer and said thank you, no. I'm heading to Navy Basic next week.
He nodded and walked off.
A few minutes later he came back with another beer and said," Good Luck to you son" and walked off.
This is legendary stuff.
 
My life seems so lame after reading some of these, but things MY friends haven't done.....

1. worked nights on the flight deck of USS Eisenhower without getting sucked into an intake or blown over the side of the ship
2. mentally made it through a miserable 17 year marriage and raised two healthy & happy kids to finally meet my dream wife for marriage #2
3. charged by a sow Grizzly 3 times without anyone getting mauled
4. started training jiu jitsu at age 52 & now hopelessly addicted to it
5. have lived in three regions of the US over the course of my life (Midwest, East Coast, Rocky Mountains)
 
I was scraping & caulking a hull on a WWII subchaser my HS principal had bought on Terminal Island. John Wayne came down the gangway to the dock with a case of Coors and past me on the way to his boat being worked on in the marina. Baking hot ,bright sun.
15 min. later he came back with 2 cans and handed me one. Told me I did good work. Asked me about myself and if I wanted a job. I was speechless. I drained half the beer and said thank you, no. I'm heading to Navy Basic next week.
He nodded and walked off.
A few minutes later he came back with another beer and said," Good Luck to you son" and walked off.
wow, imagine if you said Yes and told the USN to stuff it? Decisions we make in life huh....
 
This is legendary stuff.
If my dad had met John Wayne, he probably would have spit on him. Hated the guy. Dad was a disabled vet who served in the South Pacific theater as a surgical tech piecing together wounded. His brother Uncle Bob was an artillery officer also South Pacific. Other brother Frank was in Europe retaking Italy and France. Meanwhile John Wayne was busy using his connections to dodge the draft. Disgusting how that clown wrapped himself in patriotism. Took some balls for him to take that role in Green Berets. He freely admitted he stole his signature gait from Tom Mix. Laughed about it. A phony through and through.
 
1. Honorably discharged from the Marine Corps
2. Lived in the UK
3. Travelled to 48 states so far (#49 will be this fall)
4. Met Lefty Kreh who flirted with my wife and taught her to fly cast whilst busting my chops (good naturedly)
5. 22+ trips to Alaska including Kodiak and the north slope and have yet to see a grizzly.
 
If my dad had met John Wayne, he probably would have spit on him. Hated the guy. Dad was a disabled vet who served in the South Pacific theater as a surgical tech piecing together wounded. His brother Uncle Bob was an artillery officer also South Pacific. Other brother Frank was in Europe retaking Italy and France. Meanwhile John Wayne was busy using his connections to dodge the draft. Disgusting how that clown wrapped himself in patriotism. Took some balls for him to take that role in Green Berets. He freely admitted he stole his signature gait from Tom Mix. Laughed about it. A phony through and through.
This thread isn’t about your negative feelings about John Wayne. I’m not a big fan of his movies myself but I can appreciate the fact that he took the time to hand the young man a second beer and wish him well when he realized he was going into the Navy. I don’t know why you feel the need to take a contrarian stance on nearly everything.
 
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