...in the form of a response-email from my sister who now lives in, and fits in, Berkeley.
I didn't get drawn for deer this year but went with a hunting crew for the camping experience. I also brought along my varmint calls (no special tag for coyote required in Arizona), and a special rifle for the terrain, a Romanian AK-47 with five-round hunting mag. As others went for deer, I went for dog.
As a gag, I posed in front of the deer with my AK (with the 30-rounder in place) and sent it to my sister and varminter brother.
Thusly:
----
Subject: No state or federal laws were violated in the taking of this photo.
Body: Senator Boxer is fond of saying, "Nobody needs an AK-47 to hunt deer."
Need? It's what I had with me at the time.
Somewhere near the southern Arizona-New Mexico boarder
--snip--
This prompted my sister to write the following which is only partially tongue-in-cheek:
My response as follows:
Figure 1. Four-year-old Lauren Bridges suffered multiple wounds to her face, of which 16 required stitches, when attacked by a coyote in the yard of a South Lake Tahoe, California residence in February 1997.
I didn't get drawn for deer this year but went with a hunting crew for the camping experience. I also brought along my varmint calls (no special tag for coyote required in Arizona), and a special rifle for the terrain, a Romanian AK-47 with five-round hunting mag. As others went for deer, I went for dog.
As a gag, I posed in front of the deer with my AK (with the 30-rounder in place) and sent it to my sister and varminter brother.
Thusly:
----
Subject: No state or federal laws were violated in the taking of this photo.
Body: Senator Boxer is fond of saying, "Nobody needs an AK-47 to hunt deer."
Need? It's what I had with me at the time.
Somewhere near the southern Arizona-New Mexico boarder
--snip--
This prompted my sister to write the following which is only partially tongue-in-cheek:
My response as follows:
Sissy,
For me (and My People), there is nothing particularly special about an AK, although "hunting purists" might frown... screw 'em. Mine is semi-automatic, as the full-auto ones in this country are rare and cost many thousands of dollars. The AK's 7.62x39mm cartridge has similar muzzle energy to the venerable .30-30 Winchester (which Dad used on his hunt with Cliff). It is also very light, and nearly malfunction proof. It's accuracy is suitable for shots up to 100 yards or so (3-inch, three-shot groups at 100 yards). I could have posed with my Romanian SKS, which is also semi-auto and fires the same cartridge, cheaper, but it's looks are not quite so "menacing" to those not in the know, and what kind of a fun picture would *that* make?
My .308 Winchester Savage 10FP is capable of 1/3rd-inch groups (or better) at that distance but it weighs 13 pounds and costs $1,500, all tricked out (sans sound suppressor). The AK is $200, and light. Using the AK for hunting also pisses off the gun-grabbers who say, "You don't need an AK, yadda, yadda). How can they expect fed.gov to stay out of their bedrooms when they want fed.gov in my gun safe?
As for the "sport" of hunting, I don't call it a "sport." Wrestling was a sport. Football. Fencing. Hunting is an activity ... which happens to involve actions that tend to piss some people off... often the same people who want privacy in their bedrooms yet want the 4th and 5th Amendments be voided when it involves evil firearms.
For example, on this hunting trip, I camped with friends and friends of friends (strangers to me). Some were native spanish speakers so I got a chance to work on my rusty second tongue as we cooked tortillas on the campfire, talked about random topics, and listened to various music from rock to Motown to reggae, to country, to mexican folk music (I drew the line at German goth-metal).
Truth be told, I wasn't there to hunt deer (it was another's kill in the photo). We didn't get drawn for a tag. We were hunting coyote (no tag required) and my buddy purchased a mountain lion tag and was hunting with a standard scoped bolt gun in .30-06 (thirty-ought-six) although he had his semi-auto FN-FAL battle rifle back in the truck in case his sniper rifle -- er-- hunting rifle went tits-up. And while I posed with my AK with the 30-round magazine, I actually brought along a legal 5-round mag. As we hiked with our 25-pound back packs we followed a three-mile path that wrapped around a small mountain. The path was strewn with bear poo, perhaps 100 piles, as well as two mountain lion piles. A rifle seems to make sense to me in that situation. I wasn't able to call in any coyotes or bobcats or lions, but I was able to help out the deer hunters by pushing deer their way. We took no shots with our rifles, but quite a few with our cameras. Such is hunting.
So, as you can see, the animals competed very well, with their stealth and cunning. We were no match for them, this weekend. On the other hand, cattle in a feed lot or chickens in a coup stand much less chance -- no sport in that. They are fatty, loaded with hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals. Like Ted Nugent, I prefer meat my way. And Game & Fish departments across the country literally beg hunters to harvest the limit each year to avoid sickness and starvation. A G&F ranger stopped by the camp and asked us to make sure and stop by one of their stations so they could take a sample to check for chronic wasting disease. "Happy to oblige, Officer."
Coyote meat? I don't eat it. Varmint hunters (and deer hunters) around here send the products of their kill to a raptor recovery clinic in Phoenix. She takes the meat and feeds injured hawks, falcons, eagles and owls, many of which she releases back into the wild.
Here's another reason I hunt coyotes:
Figure 1. Four-year-old Lauren Bridges suffered multiple wounds to her face, of which 16 required stitches, when attacked by a coyote in the yard of a South Lake Tahoe, California residence in February 1997.
