Outdoors »

OFF THE PORCH: Boondock camping
We were within a half dozen miles of I17 running between Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona, close to the tiny town of Mayer. The wind was whipping across the desert ridge we were on fast enough to mak...
14 hrs ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: A pig tale
It was warm in Cleo, Texas when Cherie and I positioned ourselves in the blind. We were 71 yards from the deer feeder and the sun was still bright. Our host had told us the pigs didn’t see well but...
7 days ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Eddie Bauer is making men's clothes again
There is nothing more satisfying than for someone to take your advice. Last year, my grandson used a Nikon M223 2-8 scope to win the Junior division of the National Defense Match. I told a lot of p...
11 days ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Could be a year of firsts
Women are quickly becoming more and more immersed in outdoor activities. Girls are more involved in cycling, kayaking, backpacking and camping than ever before but they are also getting into huntin...
25 days ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Flinch, the invisible barrier
The rifle was a really nice pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in .300 Holland and Holland Magnum. It was in almost pristine condition and the owner had just purchased a brand new Leupold scope. “It shot p...
1 month ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: The gift of knowing where you are
The first time I ever questioned whether I’d married the right woman was at a Christmas party during the Dirty Santa ritual. I’d given the task of getting the Dirty Santa gifts to Cherie and she’d ...
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OFF THE PORCH: The romance of waterfowling
I don’t duck hunt nearly as much as I used to. I think maybe I’m getting too old. Still, duck hunting, or I should say waterfowl hunting, is as rewarding as any hunting I’ve done for multiple reaso...
1 month ago | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Christmas ideas
You don’t want to have to buy me a gift. I am hard to shop for and I freely admit it. To begin with, I’m really picky because I get to test everything. Second, I already have everything I want. I a...
2 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Dog worries
I think dog owners come in two schools of thought. Some see our dogs as loving simpletons. They don’t think a dog is capable of memory or reason. They train their dog as we would a robot, rewarding...
2 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: A blood and guts outdoor story
The best advice on outdoor writing I received in my life always came from Benny Phillips, retired sports editor for the Enterprise. Benny was encouraging when I wrote well and frank when I didn’t. ...
2 months ago | 1 1 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: It is easy to miss a deer
My buddy Isaac Bowman wanted to try hunting and I suggested we try squirrel hunting for his first hunt. He looked troubled. “I was thinking we might try deer hunting first,” he suggested. I explai...
2 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: The illuminated rifle scope
I was in my office waiting to hear a shot. I knew Cherie was likely to see a doe and she is deadly with her Pre ’64 Winchester Model 70 in .243. I heard her come in through the garage and her face ...
2 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Cleaning up the gear
Cherie and I just returned from a great fishing trip at Cape Hatteras. I’m pleased to announce the tough folks on Hatteras Island have got everything under control. Not only that, but the fishing w...
3 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Trail cameras: A boon to deer hunters and naturalists
It was one of the funniest stories I’ve heard. Michael Drummond was interested in improving the quality of the deer on his property and he decided to travel to a farm in New York State where the ow...
3 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: The original exercise program
Everett Jordan was in his late 80s the last time we went rabbit hunting. He loaded the dogs, walked the fields, and beat brush piles to help flush rabbits and keep the dogs excited. I said somethin...
3 months ago | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Dove hunting family style
Doves love a power line and we were just south of the big high tension lines that cut through Northern Davidson County. Sometimes it takes a little longer for the birds to begin flying on overcast ...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Fall is the time for making memories
The evening was warm yet still had the crispness of late August and early September. Daddy’s white Rambler station wagon was parked on the dam of Ned Welborn’s pond just past the last in a series o...
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Dove season, friends season
I suppose there’s a formula for the perfect dove hunt. Of course, the first part of the recipe would be a field with doves over it. And, for the hunt to be perfect there should be shade for the old...
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Where to camp?
We’d just settled in for the night after a race with the storm that was cruising across the plains. The storm had been following us for the last four hours and we wanted to get enough lead to set u...
6 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Summer surf opportunities
As a person who doesn’t normally care for the beach in summer, I was having a great time. It was early morning, the temperature was perfect for standing in the surf wearing only a light shirt and s...
6 months ago | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Russell Jones and the UFO sighting
My Uncle, Evander Pritchert, was a naturally picky man who made a resolution at some time in life to not be that way. As a result, I think he led a conflicted life, internally organized and even an...
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Products that make outdoor life a little easier
One of the distractions of outdoor activity is keeping all your gear running. Sometimes, I think I have too many batteries and tires to maintain; the rest of the time, I know I do. Much of the thin...
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Browning's most wonderful design
If you can, try to imagine a device so perfectly conceived that it’s as relevant now as it was 100 years ago. In fact, this device sees far broader use than it did 100 years ago. It’s improved only...
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Daddy's old trailer
I hate mowing grass. I always have but I admit I like the good feeling that comes across me once the job is done and the place looks nice. I begrudge every minute I spend at it, thinking about all ...
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Molasses Jones shoots in fast company
I placed both hands of the barricade wall and tried to focus on being smooth and fast. The target was only ten yards away, one hundred times closer than targets I won state championships on. The te...
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Challenger Sports hosting soccer camp
For Thomasville residents, enjoying soccer is a relatively new phenomenon. Thanks to Challenger Sports, the reality promises not to be a passing fad. Beginning Monday, June 27, Challenger Sports w...
8 months ago | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Spook time for stripers at Tuckertown
A Zara Spook is one of my favorite lures. Big and gaudy, it requires a little finesse to make it work. My favorite time to use it is during the late part of the striper run on the Roanoke River. If...
8 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Fishing with Greggofish
It felt like we were trolling. The current rolled under the boat and Cherie and I sat on the cooler seat watching lines and engaging in pleasant conversation with our guide. As we talked, he expres...
8 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Have gun, will travel
Bob Harville strolled through the aisles of the Gibson’s Discount Center and found his way to the left rear corner of the store where the sporting goods section was. He chose the aisle with Buddy S...
8 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Having humble pie for supper
“Humiliation is a powerful tool for encouraging improvement. Sometimes we tend to get a little smug about our accomplishments and forget our shortcomings. A little humiliation goes a long way in cu...
8 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Showing off Prissy
Few things can survive 100 years. Unless you collect antiques, you probably don’t own anything that’s 100 years old and even if you own something that old, it’s unlikely you use it on a regular bas...
9 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH
Learning to talk turkey
10 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH
Putting the boat bristol
10 months ago | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH:
Trout fishing fun on the White River
10 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Miz Lisa and Jimmy Beane
At 14 years, young men often develop interests that change their whole outlook. I was as affected as much as any young man but for some reason, my friend, Jimmy Beane, got some sort of super inject...
11 months ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH
Outdoor event planned for returning veterans
11 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Mosquito Lagoon, flats fishing for redfish
The morning was cold, not cold for winter, cold for Florida. It was late January and Tom’s boat was skimming along on glassy water with a pink sky in the east. As the light gathered, we looked over...
12 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Keeping a promise in Quervo, New Mexico
One of the most disappointing qualities I see in people is the lack of commitment to keep a promise. I’ve never been a poetry guy but I remember the impression made on me by a poem by Robert Frost ...
12 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: 2011 cross country road trip/bird hunt
The tip jar on the counter had a note that read “Fill me up, buttercup.” Guitars signed by every imaginable musical artist from the legendary to the obscure hung everywhere in the building. The c...
12 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: E10 gas will cost you money
This spring, all you'll have to do is hang around the boat ramp to see the effects of ethanol blended gasoline. Countless boaters will bring their boats to the ramp, grind on the starter, and event...
12 months ago | 1 1 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: The Browning/Alps Sleeping system
It was late October and we were staying in the Butner Hilton. Yes, you’re correct. Camp Butner and the town of Butner, N.C. doesn’t have a Hilton. Our “Butner Hilton” was a flimsy temporary buildin...
13 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Bonus Birds
Jack Leonard was a practical man. He grew up in a tough environment, coming from a large family with few options. I think Jack finished the sixth grade but really couldn’t read until he went to the...
13 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Choosing a Christmas youth gun
I received a phone call this week from Kevin Frazier — one of my former junior riflemen — that his son, Dylan, had killed his third deer this year. Dylan is 9 years old and tends to drop his deer i...
13 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Self processing your deer
When I heard the shot, a sense of mild dread came over me. Not that I mind doing things myself, I do a lot of  things for myself and I pride myself on that but it had been a long time since I’d gut...
14 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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OFF THE PORCH: Area hunters should harvest more doe
I’d seen so many does in my uneventful deer hunting career that the horns on the buck seemed an apparition. He was coming down the hill behind my stand and appeared not to have a care in the world....
14 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: New muzzle loader technology gives two more weeks to hunt
The presence of cold water on cold skin is a familiar but still highly unpleasant sensation. When wearing rain gear, it’s normally something you aren’t quite sure of at first, but the sense of extr...
14 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Smart deer hunters eat more venison
Deer hunting is like many other endeavors, those who approach it with a serious attitude and take preparation seriously excel and those who don’t stumble along and occasionally get lucky. I can’t t...
15 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: At least I didn't shoot my foot
Doing some things well requires a certain amount of what I call maintenance. If you play the guitar and you don’t pick it up for five years, you might have a little trouble should you decide to pla...
17 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Choke a big factor in shooting success
It was the Northeast Side-by-Side Championships and J.D., the defending champion, was shooting with my wife, Cherie, and me. Like many vintage shotgun courses, the targets were easier than the extr...
18 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Hula Poppers, Jitterbugs and the full moon
There’s no better sound than the sound of insects at dusk interspersed with some frogs singing. Maybe the reason I like that sound so much is the things I was doing as a boy when I first noticed th...
18 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The boys dream rifle, then and now
The .22 long rifle cartridge is the most popular cartridge in the world. There are multiple reasons for this but the most significant is cost. M.22s also make excellent trainer rifles since they’re...
18 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The best things in life are worth crying for
The very best things in life are intangible.
19 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Shotgun games for learning
Last week at Beaver Pond Sporting Club, I had a lesson with a young lady who was just getting started shooting.
19 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Launch and load
One of the things that creates the most pride in outdoorsmen is the mastery of a variety of skills.
20 months ago | 0 0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Time to get up
Traveling, I tend to stay on my own time zone unless I’m more than one time zone away.
20 months ago | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
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Hobby shop offers plenty of fun
Looking for something different and exciting to do this summer instead of heading to the pool every day? Matt Anderson of Anderson RC hobby shop has an activity suitable for all ages.
20 months ago | 0 0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
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Life on and off the Porch
Robert Earl Keene is my idea of what a songwriter/musician should be.
20 months ago | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Fishing rod addiction
It’s hard to believe it’s April already. The fish are in the water and the weather couldn’t be better.
21 months ago | 0 0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Great new outdoor products for your next trip
Shooting a gun that doesn’t fit is no fun. If the gun has little recoil, the experience is unsatisfying because you just can’t manage the gun as well as you’d like to. If the gun kicks, the recoil ...
22 months ago | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
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Time to put the boat in top shape
At Ledford High School, where I took biology, I listened carefully and never heard any reference to sap rising in human beings.
22 months ago | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The worst kind of henpecking is on the shotgun range
I’m in a terrible slump on clay targets.
22 months ago | 0 0 comments | 15 15 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The tackle box gun that can teach you how to shoot
I like black snakes. Oh sure, I get a little upset with them when they invade the bluebird house in the front yard, but overall, I’d say a black snake is beneficial to have around.
23 months ago | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Is firearms ownership respectable again?
A couple is asleep in bed and the wife hears a bumping sound. She wakes the husband and tells him there’s a burglar in the house.
24 months ago | 0 0 comments | 16 16 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Two steps forward and one step back
Whether you buy into the climate change rhetoric or not, it’s been really cold and messy lately.
24 months ago | 0 0 comments | 13 13 recommendations | email to a friend
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The Alpen Apex Riflescope
It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve been active in competitive long range shooting.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 16 16 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Charlotte fly fishing and wing shooting show next weekend
This is the season of outdoor shows.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The outdoor information superhighway
I was talking to a friend about Cape Hatteras. He had just left and was on his way up Highway 12 as we talked.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Can money buy a better mousetrap?
Tactical firearms don’t generally interest me.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The Imelda Marcos of outdoor footwear
While I don’t have as many shoes as Imelda Marcos, I admit I have a lot of footwear.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Your pride can't keep you warm
In this light, the button on Evander’s wool coat looked blue and didn’t match the worn, fuzzy, green wool fabric.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
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Life with Larry: The miracle collar we do not have ... yet
The field was probably 30 acres or so and had strips of ankle high winter wheat and knee high milo in alternating 10-yard wide strips. There were three dogs with handlers and six hunters.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: Having the guts to be a hat man
Certain types of clothing mark the type of person you are. Blue jeans and T-shirts give the wearer a cavalier look of relaxed appearance, even if they are $200 jeans and a $50 T-shirt.
2 years ago | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
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Off the Porch: The carry gun
The Concealed Carry laws that are now in almost every state of the union have proved a tremendous success with crime levels dropping in every state where they’ve been enacted.
2 years ago | 1 1 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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