Another Shabby, Money-Grubbing Scheme I am Obliged to Support

My sister-in-law, who was for many years a successful literary agent, finally got out of the business because it was too sordid and depressing, and she wearied of the money-making schemes dreamed up by brain-damaged publishers and writers. She said she would rather teach cosmetology at a leper colony. 

Her wisdom is proven correct by Mr. Bill Heavey of Virginia.  Someone (who is presumably loose in public with no one in charge of him) has paid Bill to live off the land for a year and write a book about it. I don't know whether this involves eating grubs, snails, and cockleburs or fighting the local stray cats for dumpster-diving rights, but I do know that Bill will be foraging where the Confederate Army tried to live off the land and nearly starved to death.

Presumably, you will be interested in reading about Mr. Heavey's gradual descent into hunger and madness, with side trips to scurvy and pellagra. If so, he is right here on our website in a new blog called A Sportsman's Life. And if you live in Virginia and should happen to see a ragged, skeletal figure rummaging through your garbage, give it a kick for me.

Comments

[dartwick]

It really shouldnt be too hard if you know how to plant a good garden.

If hes allowed to go fishing it really sounds like fun.

[david]

sounds better than office work any day.

[jstreet]

I would say it beat's hell out of a real job!

Jim

[concerned_soldier]

Well, It is a great weight loss program, maybe his hair will grow back.

Really Dave, Bill isn't all that bad a guy.. is he??

Dave, you and Bill should get the last two pages of Field & Stream, just like Cooper and Skelton use to have in Guns & Ammo.

Two different view points and stories. I think it would make for great reading. I used to love saving the best for last when I finished reading Skelton and Cooper, I know I had finished a good of issue of Guns and Ammo, even if the rest of it was not interesting.

Just a thought, do any of the editors read these posts?

Take a poll and see what other people think!!

Should Dave and Bill have the last two pages of Field and Stream to comment on everything from Hunting, Guns and well, whatever Bill says.. No really I like what Bill has to say, even if he is kind of goofy looking in those caricatures.

Take care and keep up the good work Dave,

Have a good Memorial Day Dave.

Have you ever seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbOcJ6kqJAA

V/R

C_S

[Jim in Mo.]

Concerned Soldier,
I don't think thats a caricature of Bill.
Dave, so your sister has a sense of humor as yours or did the literary business cause her to become so depraved?

[Dave Petzal]

To Çoncerned Soldier: Good speech, and thanks. That is some big LTC. And a good Memorial Day to you.

To Jim in Mo. My sister in law, not sister. And she is very genteel, not at all like me.

[Mike Diehl]

Why does the artwork in Heavey's column in F&S always make him look, not to put too fine a point on it, "already dead?" Is he really an extra from a George Romero flick who has escaped from some undead storage compound?

[Matt]

I just so happen to live in Virginia, Dave. I'll be sure to wear my steel-toed boots when I take out the trash!

[Clay Cooper]

Lets hope Mr. Heavey doesn't choke on a "WILD HICKORY NUT!"

Reminds me of another Alska story coming on, stay tuned!

[Del in KS]

Concerned Soldier,

The LTC was right on. Ft Benning was my old stomping (and hunting) grounds. Trained Inf. soldiers there for 3 years in the early 80's. Nowdays I'm a cranky old retired SFC that can't tolerate liberals. For those that don't know Ft. Benning is the home of the INFANTRY including RANGER and Airborne Paratroop jump school.

[Del in KS]

I suspect Mr. Heavy won't be very heavy by next year.

[JMH]

If the soldiers of the CSA nearly starved to death trying to live off that country, and one-third of what Heavey writes is true, then a snowball has a better chance sitting on the gates of Hades itself than Heavey has of surviving without resorting to extracurricular food provision. Perhaps his next caricature should show him pushing a racoon aside with one hand while opening a trash can with the other. Good luck Bill, I sure Dave is thoroughly enjoying this exercise.
JMH

[JMH]

My apologies for my mis-spelling, 'I'm sure Dave is thoroughly enjoying this exercise'.
JMH

[Del in KS]

Dave,

I read your article about recoil in the hospital this mornin' as the Nurse was getting me ready for the scope. You are right on off course. BTW while I was on that gurney highly sedated I had an idea. I couldn't find any phonograph needles to use for bullets with that other wildcat round, but hey if you use a larger case you can use a fatter bullet and get the same velocity right? There are plenty of 17 caliber bullets out there and we could neck down a 105 mm howitzer case to .17 cal. Yeah I know we would have to do some reaming and annealing but heck it could be done. We would need RCBS to make a really BIG Rockchucker and dies. Man can you think of the velocity you could get with a couple pounds of Bullseye in that round? I'm sure you and Clay, with all the shooting you do could handle the recoil. Next I'm thinking about necking the .22 short up to .45 for a plinking round. I already have a good supply of 520 grain cast bullets. Is there a way to re-prime a .22 case? Oh, BTW the Doc said no ulcers the stomach is fine. Gotta go now to send my friend Jim in Mo an E-mail. Let me know what you think.

[Clay Cooper]

Back in 88, one of the shooters at the range invited me to go to an old friend’s house south of Fairbanks Alaska that was obtained thru homesteading to go Moose hunting. So I went unknowing what to expect and as we drove up, a elderly Black Man stepped out of the cabin and greeted us. Inside were lots of aviation war pictures of him and other fellow members commonly known as the Tuskegee Airmen Squadron! A fine Gentleman and Sportsman he is. Never know who you will meet when you least expect it and what a learning experience it was and yes, he had outdoor plumbing with a outhouse outback with a heated seat!

[Thomas]

I sure he will come back very thin. If the worms from the fish don't get him then the scurvy from lack of Vitamin C will. But then again no one said that he could get help planting a garden with ton's of tomatoes. Easy to grow and they produce very well. But then again Green Beans, shell beans, and pinto beans grow well also.

Tom the Troll

[Thomas]

Del in KS,
Why not just neck down a .300 win mag or 30-06 to except saboted flechette rounds. You can buy the flechettes from cheaperthendirt.com by the pound. But then you would have to find a way to wrap a sabot around one. Or stuff then in to a shotgun round.

Tom the Troll

[Carney]

For Bill Heavey, living off the land means sleeping in the car in a laundromat parking lot and eating at 7-11 == didn't anyone read his "Adventures of a Deer Bum" last year?

[Zermoid]

Quote from Heavey's blog:
"Right now, I’m hitting the foraging books pretty hard. And finding out that Mother Nature can be less than maternal. One of the first plants I came across in my nearest woods at first looked like Queen Anne’s Lace, Daucus carota, aka wild carrot, an eminently edible root vegetable. I looked it up in my Peterson’s “Edible Wild Plants” and found that I was looking at Conium maculatum, aka poison hemlock. Both have lacy, delicate leaves, a white flower that typically blooms starting in May, and a white, carrot-like root.

The only problem is that even small amounts of poison hemlock can cause “paralysis and death.”

I’ve invited Dave Petzal to come over for stir-fry."

Gonna take him up on his offer?
Could turn it into a real manly contest, kind of like doing shots to see who passes out first, only of a more permanent nature.
Ya Game?
;~)

[Michael]

Dave,
I think halfway through Heavey's ordeal you (being the questionable gentleman you are) should drive by Heavey while eating a large slice of pepperoni pizza with extra cheese.

[Michael]

PS
Having a sister in law means you have siblings. I always thought gun writers simply hatched out of the ground like mushrooms.

[Bubba]

My, my. Where will it all end?
I tried this for a short time once! I think I lasted, unharmed, for at least eight hours!
My dad could walk through the woods, and be full by the time we got back to camp. I tried the huckleberries, bleh! The persimmons were more acceptable but I had a hard time finding the "ripe" ones!
If I can't shoot it, I ain't eatin' it! Unless it's blackberries or pecans!

Bubba

[Clay Cooper]

Del in KS
Loaded up 50 rounds of 300 Win Mag with 100 grain Speer bullets with maximun 110 grain loadings and couldn’t hit the side of a barn. They were blowing up in mid air!

[Trae B.]

Bubba. People in my last year class thought I was weird when I started eatin peacans off the ground. And btw peacans is pronounced "p-cans" not "pa-cons".

[BA]

Good Luck Bill Heavey. I know people who can't survive on $20.00 per day within walking distance to Burger King. What a world we live in.

How about smoked (dried) fish, venison, moose, elk, rabbit,quail, or whatever. Growing a garden is great if you don't starve to death waiting for it to start to produce. Depending on the weather, it takes my tomato plants 90 to 120 days to the first fruit. Then that's if nothing comes along and spoils it like hail, frost, wind, hurricane, tornado, etc. Like I said, Good Luck Bill.

[Bubba]

Trae B.

They may be "p-cans" in your world, but where I live, we urinate in "p-cans" and thrash "pah-cons"! Where I live, any soft drink is a "Coke"!
The conversation goes:
"Want a Coke!"
"Sure, bring me a Dr. Pepper!" (No Dr. Pepper is "real" unless made and bottled in Dublin, Texas! In Dublin, they still use sugar instead of artificial sweeteners. Talk about a "sugar rush"!)
Pop is the old man or a type of corn!
We hunt with bird dawgs and trap wild hawgs down by that holler lawg!
Why else would I sign.....

Bubba?

[Jim in Mo.]

Bubba,
Boy you just brought up a topic totally off guns. Soda! Pure cane sugar stills the best. The corn fructose crap made today ain't soda or pop, whichever. During a jewish holiday I think passover, but I very well may be wrong, Coka-Cola makes a special run of soda to abide by the strict diet the Jewish faith must observe, and they bottle it with the more expensive cane sugar. It is bottled (and I mean bottle) with a green cap. Buy it. Tastes like when we were kids, lots of fizz.

[Bubba]

Thought this blog was about Heavey's survival rather than guns!? LOL!!!
Was trying to give him (Heavey) some hints about what he could eat out there!
Speaking of survival, I still laugh when I think of the raid of the Republic of Texas compound.
It was somewhere out in the God-forsaken, game rich, waste land of West Texas! One of the "leaders" evaded capture and made it into the "wasteland"!
A DPS (Texas Dept of Public Safety, or state trooper) was on a nationally televised news program and stated flatly, "If the coyotes and javelinas don't get him, the heat will! We'll find his remains!"
The man "was" located. About six months later living under an alias in San Francisco!

Bubba

[007]

Heavey may be descending into hunger but from some of writings I'd venuture that he's already halfway to madness. Maybe that's why so many of us understand and relate to his work so well. Take heart, Bill, mushroom season is upon us.

[Jim in Mo.]

Bubba,
You can give Bill all the grief you like.

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/sportsmanslife/

[SilverArrow]

First I wish Bill Heavey all the best! Not an easy year ahead of him!

Unless... he has somehow squirreled that MasterCard into the glove box of the '93 Taurus! Motel 6 beware! Next morning he's in line at the bagel bar swiping extra peanut butter and cream cheese packets when he thinks no one is looking! Next up Mickey Dees for ketchup packets and a cup of hot water, please. (Closed circuit to Bill -- 1. Don't use Heinz Ketchup! 2. Hot sauce perks up the resultant soup!)
SA

[Bubba]

Jim in Mo.

Not really trying to give Heavey grief, though he may deserve it, but to let him know that there are folks out there that can and have done what he thinks is unique.

How do you catch a special rabbit?
U-nique up on him!

Bubba

[Rocky Mtn Hunter]

To you guys who love old books for good reading, give this one a try. Thundering Herd by Zane Gray. It surly opens your eyes to the demise of the Bison. A great book and facts I never dreamed of. Book may be hard to find, I got mine at a Yard Sale for 2 bits, to me worth a MINT.

[Rocky Mtn Hunter]

Also on Bison: Any of you guys hunted the Bison on the Crow Indian Reservation near Hardin WY? if so how was your hunt and cost wise?

[Del in KS]

Rocky mtn Hunter,

I have a neice that lives in Big Sky Montana. Her husband told me you can hunt Bison on Ted Turner's ranch near there for a fee. Not too expensive either according to him.

[Rocky Mtn Hunter]

Del: Thanks for the Info. Can you get me a e-mail address for this ranch? I was in Big Sky 2 days in 2006,a beautiful place. Not sure, just hear-say, but been told that on a Indian Res. hunt, you only get the hide and head, no meat? A 2k lb Bull would be hard to get back to NC. A few steaks and roast i would like. Ate my first Buffalo Burgr/steak in Medora , SD was great. If the prices of travel, car, plane, etc.continues to rise, the long distance hunts will history for many of us. However, in MT this year, they had 12.400 licenses for Elk/Deer. Over 20K applied, don;t sound as if a lot of people hurting for $$$ does it? I'm on the last minute cancel out list. They also have eight ( 8) licenses they gonna allow a Lottery for at 5 Bucks a chance, can buy all you want. Never been Lucky, so did not apply as will not know the results till late August orMid-Sept. With my disabilities, I doubt I could get my ducks in the row to come out. LAst minutes plane tickets are kinda Iffy./ I also applied for C0, no luck and to KY. Will know on KY late in July. Thats a Day & l/2 drive for me. Plus, have to get a Motel and guide, thats kinda late to find a place.But if were to luck out and draw a Bull tag for KY, I will go if able, if have to sleep in a tent, which I would love, I think. I enjoyed that 60 yrs ago when was a Boy Scout. At 73, doubt would be as much fun. O well, will see. We go zillion w-tails here and they need culling out( no trophies, small bucks). Can kill 2 Bucks and 4 does. If xcrop damage, which we have lots of can get tags to take X# out at night or whenever you see one.Never did like or want to night hunt, that blinds the game and thats not spoting to me. I do enjoy hunting, but fair chase is my method. Thanks for the info of Bison, be great if worked out for 2009. PS; I was not aware Ted Turner allowed any hunting, but heard he was the largest land owner in the West? What really works best for me is a Disable hunt, or find a guy who has a ranch and invites me out as I did in Missoula, Montana in 2000. All of my Western hunts have been town hunts so to speak. With my disabilities, I need hot water and bath room Am and PM for my dressings. In Douglas, Wy on the Hella-va-hunt in 2006, all was taken care of, just had to get there. They put us up at the Fairgrounds, guides, & vehicles and the folks near there feed us,( Prime Rib and t-Bones, the best Hunt I ever been on. l3 disabled guys, all got Lopes within 2 days. I got a nice l5 l/2" Buck, he sure looks real on my game room wall. Thanks again, chat soon.