Around the Campfire 3/4/12 – Savage World Edition

A lot of people will tell you that the days of wild adventures in the backwoods are long over but here’s a section of stories to prove those people wrong and help some of you two fisted types set a spring vacation destination.

Army of baboons besiege Saudi Arabian town!

The skies of Hopkinsville, Kentucky have been “blackened” with starlings and blackbirds as horrified residents live in fear!

New Chupacabra sighting in … Oklahoma!

Fisherman pulls lovecraftian horror from New Jersey river!

Scientist want to try to deal with the out of control stinkbug problem by introducing another alien bug that eats them. What could go wrong?

In England a 4-week-old baby had it’s finger bitten off by a fox that had crept into an apartment building in the dead of night. Thanks anti-hunting activists!

Here’s a 1980s era encounter between a hunter and the ghost of a murderer!

And here’s a rather long documentary called Cropsy which is a rather pretentious meditation on crime and folklore but scattered throughout the film is some very interesting footage of the large, abandoned Willowbrook mental institution which is now a semi-feral ruin where groups of people live in seclusion. Toward the end of the film police detective interviewed for the film implies strange cults commit human sacrifices at the location. I know where I’m going next time I’m in NYC and feel like exploring.

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North Carolina Jackboots Eustace Conway

Most Americans know Eustace Conway as the gentle mountain hippy from History Channel’s Mountain Men television series. Conway has lived a self-relaint lifestyle in the mountians he calls home for over two decades with no problem from the local government.

Until now.

I used to blog about crime so this story immediately got my corruption antenna up. Sure enough all the clues all there. The Mayor of Boone, Loretta Clawson, has made it her mission to expand green ways and hiking trials for the college community and create more “R-1” housing. Under her leadership the town of Boone now boasts median housing values in the low $200,000 range even with the median income being under $20,000. That’s great city planning, right? It also would mean that the locals have painted themselves into a corner where they need to bring in a lot of very rich people. Rich people who like green ways and probably don’t like mountain hippies.

As the following news report shows the locals are basically making it impossible for him to comply with their demands about his “code violations” which means he’ll lose the place and Boone will be able to develop it. Disgusting:

It’s sad that freedom and American tradition take a back seat to planned economies and bureaucratic whims these days. You can contact the local Boone politicians to register your objections to this madness at (828)268-6200.

h/t The Blaze

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America Lost Almost 12,000 Farms in 2012

Family farms are fast becoming a thing of the past, which is going to have devastating consequences on our food production. I won’t get too much into the politics of this – suffice to say that government persecution of farmers is on an uptick these days.

Farmers are paying the price:

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The United States now has nearly 2.2 million farms after losing 11,630 farms last year, according to a government report released Tuesday.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service’s annual snapshot of farms also pegs the total land in U.S. farms at 914 million acres. That is 3 million acres fewer acres than last year. The average farm size is 421 acres.

[…]

While the overall number of farms declined nationally, the number of the biggest farms, those with $500,000 or more in sales, jumped by 8.6 percent to 145,190.

Small farms, those with fewer than $10,000 in sales, fell by 2.5 percent to 1.17 million.

[…]

The numbers of livestock operations of all types dwindled last year amid a widespread drought that drove up the costs of feed. Beef cow operations were down 1 percent to 729,000; milk cow operations fell 3 percent to 58,000; hog operations shrunk 1 percent to 68,300; and sheep operations dropped 1 percent to 79,500.

So larger corporate farms are growing while family farms suffer. The decline in milk farm operation may have to do with the Obama administrations heavy handed attacks on raw milk.

Aside from an increase in prices and lack of local options for meat and produce as this worrisome trend continues there are some opportunities for the savvy trader or treasure hunter. Even small scale growing operations (like my riotous container garden) will not only save you money but as small farms go out of business there will be neighbors who wouldn’t mind buying or bartering with you for some fresh greens or peppers. If you can get permission some abandoned farms are great places to do a little metal detecting and those foreclosed properties can make a great survival homestead.

Agriculture will be the new gold in the near future so make your plans accordingly.

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Northern Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski

Northern Bushcraft is a great book on bushcraft skills by Mors Kochanski available on Amazon for $13 or for a limited time on Scribd:

Northern Bushcraft by Buck

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What’s The Best Trail Gun For You by Skeeter Skelton

Old school trail companion

Old school trail companion

The following piece is a 1977 article written by the legendary Charles Allan “Skeeter” Skelton for Shooting Times. It’s been floating around for a while on forums and such so I’m going to just assume SI doesn’t mind the reprint. I ran into it on the excellent Woods Loafing blog which I recommend to everyone.

I honestly decided to reprint this because I’m too lazy to write my thoughts on the subject which are pretty much the same as what Skelton lays out. I like my .327 snub nose specifically because I can use .32 long in it but can also put down a two or four legged coyote if need be. However I love my .22 single action and plan on getting a cheap lighter one -like the much maligned Plinkerton for tooling around. My Uberti is frankly a bit heavy but .22 ammo is the superior trail gun ammo in terms of weight. My .327 though is easy to slap in my knock off Remora Gearslinger and 50 rounds of .32 S&W Long is still fairly light. But I’m still looking to go lighter. I am in my early 40s after all.

I guess I’m too long winded to be lazy. Here’s Skeeter’s thoughts on the subject: Continue reading

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