By David E. Petzal

Before we get to the Veep, a couple of miscellaneous notes. First, for the permanent record, I consider Sarah Palin to be an exemplary sportsperson, a true American patriot, a leading intellectual of our time, and a speaker whose gifts are equaled only by those of Winston Spencer Churchill.

Last week, NBC-TV aired a series called “Flashpoint: Guns in America,” which was about what you might expect. The segment I had the bad luck to view was on the electronic safety devices that allegedly prevent a gun from being used by anyone but its owner. The narrator, Tom Costello, repeatedly referred to this stuff being installed in a rifle. The gun on screen, about which he was speaking, was a pump-action shotgun.

To Joe Biden. I enjoy watching politicians. Their antics are amusing in the way that the antics of chimpanzees are amusing, and entertaining in the way that films about serious criminals are entertaining. But my favorite is Joe Biden, who is in a class by himself. There are two ways to explain the Vice President: Either he was hit in the head, very hard, at some point in his life and hasn’t gotten over it, or else he has reached that state enjoyed by some senior citizens who will say whatever pops into their brains because they simply don’t give a s**t any more.

By Phil Bourjaily

Shooting a pump gun is like riding a bicycle. Yesterday I shot a round of skeet with a Winchester SXP I just received for testing and I never missed a stroke. These days I only use pumps for turkey hunting and I can’t remember the last time I had to shuck one quickly, but once you learn how, you don’t forget.

By Phil Bourjaily

Today I ordered a new Bucklick Creek Turkey Lounger from Bass Pro Shops. It is the only turkey vest I will consider wearing to the woods. I have had mine since 2004 or so. Before that, turkey hunting was a seat-numbing experience, a literal pain in the butt. The Turkey Lounger changed that forever for me. It was invented by a hunter in Missouri who sewed one of those self-supporting folding camping chairs into a vest. Other vests have more thickly padded seats, but this one allows you to lean back and take some of the weight off your seat, and that makes all the difference. You can also set up without a tree if need be. I have shot a bunch of Iowa turkeys since I got this vest, and it definitely gets a share of the credit for the birds that have demanded patience.

By Phil Bourjaily

I ran into one of my writing colleagues at SHOT Show and he invited me coyote hunting. I said thanks but I had never shot a coyote and wasn’t very interested. Coyotes are not made of edible meat and I give them a free pass, I told him.

He said “I don’t. I put them in a hole in the ground where they belong.”

That’s a common attitude, but in truth, coyotes get blamed for all kinds of crimes they don’t commit. I don’t how many times farmers have told me our low pheasant numbers are the work of too many coyotes, when in fact, our pheasant crash is the result of bad weather combined with too much intensive farming.*

There are good reasons to hunt coyotes: it’s challenging. Fur prices are up. In general, it’s good that we kill some to make the rest keep their heads down and so they maintain a healthy fear of man.