doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT -Blizzard (08) 21" of snow in Ohio

Researcher,

It is estimated that 20-30% of Hillary's votes came from Republicans who switched parties to vote for her instead of letting Obama win. All they had to do was ask and sign a form. I spoke to several people who claimed to have done this because they figured she was the lesser of two bad choices. Sometimes you get to choose between one sharp poke in the eye or a blunt poke in the eye. Sad state of election affairs this year.

Most bird loss, in my lifetime, is from loss of edge habitat more than weather. When a farm is in effect a 1000 acre field with a ditch bank, which can not hide a mouse because it has been mowed flat, no quail will exist. No cover, no food, no place to nest and raise the young. It is a sad state of farming. Add a few chemicals to keep the bugs and weeds down and what do quail get to live on and where can they live on the average farm?

I jumped and asked for a Democratic ticket and voted for Obama thinking he was the lesser of the two. I figured McCain had already won. I didn't have to sign anything. But you have to remember Obama is backed by Kennedy so they are two peas in a pod as far as Hillary and Obama go. They still might even run together. McCain had better get someone good as his running mate..........As far as the blizzard of 78, I remember I was soaking wet from the rain that night, walking to my job inside the plant at the local steel mill. Then I spent the midnight shift with my clothes frozen, about 40 feet up on top of the coke plant ovens, dragging tar out of the bins with a hoe. The snow was so thick I couldn't see where I was walking. My hard hat blew off of my head, down onto the railroad tracks below me and shattered. I was lucky to make it home the next morning through the 3-4 foot drifts of snow. I spent all but 16 hours of the next week in the plant running overhead cranes and working maintenance because people were snowed in. Our 10-12" this week weren't much compared to back then......Do you work at a steel plant, Ironman?

As I recall, the blizzard of '78 was more severe in terms of prolonged cold and wind chill. I would imagine the greater difficulty in accessing food sources and burning off calories faster than they could be replaced would have a more serious effect. We shall see. Here in my part of Western Pa., we unfortunately have no quail to lose. We once had Ringneck Pheasants by the large flock but our Game Comission decided we should shoot all the mommy pheasants. Within a few years, and certainly helped by clean herbicide farming, Pheasants in these parts are an endangered species. The exploding coyote population is doing a number on grouse and turkey. Friends with sons cry about how hard it is to keep a kid interested in hunting when game is so scarce. Even the bunny numbers are way down. Could be the coyotes, or having a Red-tailed hawk on every telephone wire. No squirrel shortage, though and geese are like cockroaches in a tenement. Sure wish I could develop a liking for goose meat. I won't shoot what I won't eat.

Jimmy W, I'm a Pipefitter and have worked in several of Ohio's steel mills and my Dad's retiring (32 yrs) from a steel mill in Cambridge, Ohio this year. What mill did you work in?

My parents bought their farm the year of the blizzard. My Dad and I went to look it over before the purchase and as he was explaining the boundery lines to me, the wind was blowing the snow sideways and you couldn't see 20' in front of you. 5-6' drifts all across the hay fields and 12' drift blocking the doors to the barn. He looks at me and says "well, what do ya think?". I looked around... couldn't see anything but a white cow in a snow storm (but I did know it had 50 acres of big woods) and I said "looks sweet to me". Parents still live there today.

I sure think the blizzard was a whole lot different than this thing we're going through now. Just more Television to pump up the hype nowadays.

KY Jon, You are absolutely correct as far as your observation is concerned. Another thing has been no-till. All the ground is chemically burned down so that planting will not have competition from weeds. But, the birds are nesting and all they have left is poisoned food. I have seen MANY dead birds, dying nests and sick squirrels from this poison diet.

I live in Auglaize county. I just came up from Montgomery county and with all the news I was prepared for some really heavy snow and drifts. Looked the same there as here. Probably actually about 5-6" on the ground, some places blown clean, some drifts, but not what was told on the news.

The clean farming with the cleaning of the irrigation ditch banks and the fencerows has certainly decimated the wild Pheasant population in the Columbia Basin of Washington State where we hunted the gaudy imports in my youth. The Quail were historically down in the brushy draws, revines and creek bottoms of the Palouse in southeastern Washington, especially the area south of the Snake River. The last ten years Quail have been everywhere you look. In the last few years since I retired and moved back to Washington, I've shot Quail in areas where we never saw them back in my highschool and college days.

Here in the Panhandle 12 inches of snow that lasts two weeks before it melts will sure ruin the season. The next year can still be good if the spring rains come thought.

Best,

Mike

Ironman5, I just sent you a PM. Let me know whether or not you got it.

I haven't heard for sure, but they might not have had the OGCA show. If they did, there probably weren't many people there until today. We had a level 3 alert here in Butler County, meaning you weren't supposed to be out on the highway yesterday.

Jimmy, Doesn't show up in my PM section. If you would please e-mail to purvis07@peoplepc.com

Thanks-