By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Last week, we posted a column from the Washington Post about athletes and guns. Now some of the athletes are talking.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer: 

Sheppard said that he estimates that "90 percent" of his teammates are also gun owners. Sheppard suggested some, like defensive end Trent Cole, have weapons for sport, but most others have them for protection.

"It's just about how responsible you are handling those types of situations," Sheppard said. "I just pray for the best of everybody and just hope nobody gets put in that predicament" where they have to fire a gun.

Check out what other NFL players have to say on the topic. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

It seems Randy Goodman's deer refuses to die. You know the Missouri hunter's ordeal with a large buck that obviously never read any Jack O' Conner has attained true pop-culture status when it's discussed on that most somber, intellectually stimulating of television shows, The View.

I tried to find a video clip of the show. Really, I did. This morning I propped open my eyelids with pieces of toothpick (so I couldn't close my eyes), moved the volume control of my computer's speakers out of reach (so I was forced to listen), handcuffed myself to the desk (so I couldn't run away) and began watching video clips of The View.

I am now typing this blog post with one hand because the other is a bloody stump. The reason my other hand is now a bloody stump is fifteen minutes after clicking on that first video clip my estrogen reached a near-fatal level and I was forced to gnaw my handcuffed hand off at the wrist and run screaming out the back door in search of something manly to do.

I had absolutely no idea how dangerous daytime television was. If someone can find a clip of the show in question... [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

From the Daily Camera:

“Mom ... this thing ... it bit us!” [the boys] yelled. “Mom ... I hit it ... with my snowboard. Mom ... we think it was a fox!”

That’s the way the boys’ mom, Stacey Sandlin, remembers it anyway, and she was sure it was a joke. . . .

But then Tony, her 9-year-old, who was bundled up in a bright-red jacket, showed her his arm, the place where the animal — which turned out to be a coyote — had bitten and torn into his skin. [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily

“Christmas time is here by golly,
Disapproval would be folly,
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don’t say ‘When.’
Kills the turkeys, ducks and chickens
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens,
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.”—A Christmas Carol, by Tom Lehrer

Let’s come to an understanding. I will pretend that you can seriously consider buying at least some of what follows. You will pretend that you are not scared plain flat pissless of what 2009 holds in store, and will read all this with your usual avarice. Note, however, that the rotten situation we’re in does not detract one iota from how good all this stuff is. Some of it is new; other items I have used for years.

KNIVES:  The Cold Steel Canadian Belt Knife is a copy of the Russell Canadian Belt Knife, which is one of the great all-around designs. It’s stainless, with a polypropylene handle, and comes with a very good nylon sheath. You have to sharpen it a lot, but so what? It costs only $19. Cabela’s Bell & Carlson Gator, at $90, is the best factory hunting knife I know of. They did everything right,... [ Read Full Post ]

By Philip Bourjaily

It’s a bad bird year around here, so people I know have been traveling for their pheasants. A friend of mine just came back from northwest Iowa, impressed by the numbers of birds but bemused at his reception by the locals. “They called me a girlie- man hunter because I shoot a 12 gauge,” Cody reported. “They said real men shoot 20 gauges.”

Me, I own guns of other gauges, but the half dozen I actually take out of the cabinet to hunt and shoot with are all 12s. Admittedly, one of the reasons I only shoot 12s is simple-minded:  I don’t want to get to the field only to find I’ve brought the wrong gauge ammunition.

Of course, all my ammunition would fit all my guns if I shot only 16s or only 20s, but I don’t. No other gauge comes close to being as versatile as the 12. Mine range from a double weighing less than most 20 gauges to a near 9-pound target gun with 32 inch barrels, and I shoot loads from 3/ 4 of an ounce (targets) up to 1 3/ 4 ounces (turkeys) out of them. The big bore of the 12 gauge helps it... [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

From the Associated Press:

The one that didn't get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.

The fisherman who discovered the tarnished ring inside his catch contacted Richardson,. . . 41, [who] said he lost the ring about two weeks after his 1987 graduation from Universal Technical Institute in Houston. [ Read Full Post ]