Appalachian Patria

Appalachian Intellectual. To me that means plain thinking. I am A Non Commissioned Officer in the Army Reserves. Let me say...My views expressed here are mine and not those of The U.S. Army, Army Reserve or my fellow brethren in The National Guard. This is entirely Sua Sponte. This is My Thinking. I'm single and in my mid 30's. Politicaly, I'm a Libertarian. (Again, Sua Sponte.I do not represent the Libertarian Party.)I love my native Appalachia, Rock n Roll and...I love God.

Name:
Location: Brevard, North Caroilina

I started blogging for two reasons. I was concerned about the changes to the area I live in, Southern Appalachia and I was about to go to the war. I was in Iraq in 06 and 07 and now Kuwait in 11 and 12. Blogging was a means of documenting my experiences and hoping it would help gain clarity. I don't feel that way about it any more. It's said people write blogs because they are frustrated, that's why people read them too. That makes us sound apocalyptic. Are we? Let it be said, what I say here is of my own thinking. This is entirely Sua Sponte and not an official representation of the U.S. Military or the U.S. Government as a whole.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Bear Hunting is Gung Ho, Part II

"To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder"
The charector, Barnabas Sackett, To The Far Blue Mountains by Lois L'amour.

I'm not a big Lois L'amour fan. I picked up the novel mentioned because I was told it spoke of places like Chunky Gal Mountain over in the Nantahalas. Lois L'amour was known for accurate settings, and that has been a big influence in my writing. This novel takes part as Sackett escapes imprisonment in England. L'amour was not a one trick pony.

My weird and out there horoscope for the week.
Wealthy playboy Lapo Elkann is one of Italy's most eligible bachelors. But he told W magazine that if he ever decides to tie the knot, he would choose an Israeli woman. "For them, every day is a beautiful day," he said. "Because when you are in a climate of war, you take nothing for granted." Your next assignment, Cancerian, is not to put yourself in a battle zone, but rather to cultivate love with the same intense ingenuity and inexhaustible resourcefulness you might if you were living in a battle zone.
I got a kick out of it.

As it was neither me or Twister (The Militant Mulungeon, Amish Bohemian)got a hundred yards from the truck. Neither of us got to break into a sweat. But, I got a dog out of the box and off the lead. Right as I was letting him off the lead a dog from the Twelve Peice Box ran into the muzzle of the Socom 16 nearly spinning me around. I heard the barrel of the rifle crack the dogs head as it raced by me not slowing down, tearing through the leaves. Twister let Bell loose and she was a little behind the pack, a Blue Tic was let loose by her and the two only wanted to sniff each others ass. They looked like Ying and Yang. I snapped the two to my lead and ran them up the trail a piece and let them off. They smelled each others ass again and wouldn't get out of my sight. She's young, I'm going to have to work with her some.

Me and Twister went in on a slightly used Tracker Maxima together. I had left it over at Twisted Palace weekend before last so that he could use it while I was at Drill. He came over Friday night about 2300 and...ooops, forgot it. So, he ran back to Franklinstein Saturday morning and got back as I had the dogs loaded. It was a long day for him.

From where we were on the race we could not get a reading on the Dogs (We had programmed three of the other Dogs frequencies). We were in a common Bear Crossing..Traditional even...yet, not a place to read radio frequencies. I was told that a reading was taken on Squeaky's collar up the creek, so we headed that way when dark was getting ready to set in. The thing is there are some private in holdings withen that section of the Pisgah National Forest. It was said over the radio that one of the land owners had threatened to shoot Dogs recently. There's laws about messing with Hunting Dogs. The man lives on land surounded by National Forest, that is NC Game Lands and non Bear sanctuary..."Everybody knows the world is full of stupid people"...A man that will knowingly hurt someones Dog, what else will he do? We couldn't get a reading on Squeaky up on the top of the creek. We ran up onto a particular mountain. It's an odd mountain. My Dad has noted odd things about it to me, some other relations have as well (of a different nature) and it has a prominent place in Cherokee Lore. We were getting false readings off of the mountain. I remembered all of the oddity about it, was it a magnetic pull? Back down the creek to link up with the others...

We passed by three vehicles coming off of Davidson River, Deputies and Cadaver Dogs Handlers...A sad story. Twister said he would stay with me until we got Squeaky back. I began to wonder...Why was Squeaky away from the rest of the Dogs? Someone had said over the radio that they had seen a Plott (he was the only full and obviously Plott among them) running with a bitch. It was also said the Dogs were doing a circle...Had he struck a colder track that the others were not on? To my pleasant surprise, Squeaky had come back out where he had been let loose, like a good bear Dog does.

I snapped the dogs back to their chain that night and looked up at the Milky Way as pretty as all get out. The sky was still, no planes... No shooting stars..."It's great to be alive".

Speaking of The Refreshments...


I'm Hunting in the morning...As many of you read this...It's going to be a cold one. Especially where we will be. Earlier I cleaned leaves out of the Dogs water and could feel ice chunks forming.

Aut Pax, Aut Bellum
The Appalachianist

9 Comments:

Blogger Gun Trash said...

Perhaps Lapo ran into one of these young ladies of the IDF Reserves.

:-)

11:12 PM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Ooh La la...)

7:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, you know what one dog said to another dog, "Here comes that cold nosed Jones dog." I have observed similiar behavior among humans most notably at Poor Boys Bar and Grill on Saturday, but that was a long time ago in my youth. I heard on the radio Friday that around 500 bears had been killed in three counties, Oconee, Greenville, and one other in South Carolina. Eight of the killed bears were over 400 pounds and one was over 500 I think they said. I didn't know there were that many bears in all of South Carolina.

12:34 PM  
Blogger aheartfromtheblueridge said...

Hey! The dogs can join the Hillbilly Blogger Association of Healthy Rectums. Dogs are smart and are a good judge of character ya know...and they go right to the source. Something to be said for that.

"To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder"....Good one, I like it.

Also something to be said for the stars....
My horoscope told me it was a bad day for travel and I missed my flight due to the airline's incompentency....so I pay attention to what they have to say. The Stars have vision. So go cultivate you some love w/intense ingenuity and inexhaustible resourcefulness APP.

And let those dogs frolic, sniff, and play. My dog is on strict bed rest and it's no fun for either of us.

A while back someone mentioned John Prine, I love John Prine, I have seen him live a few times and he puts on a good show. Interesting I have never thought of him as anti-war but more like Pro-Veteran. He has one of the best Christmas CD's ever, I never tire of listening to it.

Mew

10:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well Mew, more interesting heartfelt wisdom from the souce of all things . . . nature itself. I can't find any fault with it myself. It is why I like this blog . . . it reminds me . . . and often I catch myself laughing or smiling in agreement or nodding my head at the computer or saying something like "Hell yeah!" or "Right on!" Mostly I remember things from my past and experiences and trips to the mountains I haave made . . . yeah, let the dogs frolic . . . its the right thing for all of us to do while we can . . . and howl at the moon too 'cause all of us are . . . part coyote at heart . . . er, wild things.

12:35 PM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Bill, I think that would be Pickens County. The SC season runs one week. 500 bears really really really surprises me. Bears will run across state lines. I know of a Bear being struck(scent wise) and running across Transylvania and into Haywood County NC. Oh yeah.
The moon is full Saturday...Let's howl at the moon!

Mew, Squeaky was all business the last two days, and Bell, the young lady would go up to him smack her teeth and lick at his face.
As for Horoscopes, I don't think they are that exact. I don't think they are all to accurate at all. But then, there are some things that hold in my eyes. Like the signs and personalities. As well, it affects moods. Like the moon controls water, and we are made of water. It's really plain and simple if you think about it and then it's amazing.
However; I went out with a girl that had the same birthday as someone I had before. They were nothing alike.

Bear season closed yesterday to re open in three weeks. Rifle season on Deer opens in the morning. I'm not sure if I will get into the woods or not.
Had an OK Friday, and a Great (yes capital G) Saturday.

4:58 PM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Oh, Bill struck on Hwy 11 in Pickens County and ran into Haywood.

4:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I tend to agree with you about the number of bears. I may not have heard it correctly. I was driving to work (substitute teach) and wondered if I had heard it correctly. The weights mentioned are close. The one "heavy" bear went well over 500 somewhere around 550 or better.

5:12 PM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Bill,I wouldn't doubt 550. One as big was killed on Davidson River this year.

Macon County NC had 89 Bear killed last year, Where only 12 were reported in Transylvania. It will be interesting to see how this year works out.

7:48 AM  

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