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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 2009)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, July 2, 2009 The INDEPENDENT Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month by The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410. Publisher Clark McGaugh, clark@the-independent.net Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net Mentor Noni Andersen Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes Opinion If it sounds too good… Remember that old saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?” Well, that ended up being the case with a classified ad in our last issue for free AKC registered puppies. It turned out to be a scam – the puppies are in Africa, $800 to send them to you, but you only have to send $400, I’ll pay the rest, etc. We try to be careful, but this time they gave us a fake address here in town. Crooks just keep trying. So, in future, we all need to remember that old saying. Independence, circa 1776 As we prepare to celebrate the 4th of July, what are we celebrating? The Declaration of Independence starts out, “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Cre- ator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Gov- ernment, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and tran- sient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolish- ing the forms to which they are accustomed.” There’s more, but that gives a feeling for the idea, the idea of freedom, behind the Declaration of Indepen- dence. Think about the freedom, made possible by those who wrote the Declaration and those who fought the British during the Revolutionary War, as you cele- brate this 4th of July. Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League Well, there are winners and losers; seems this year a whole lot more peo- ple lost in the tag draw, but I have a big grin on my face. I finally drew an an- telope tag again – it took only 13 years to get it done. I don’t seem to have the lucky touch like one of my best friends, but hey, I will take this antelope tag! With an antelope tag in my wallet, it is time to get busy brushing up on my long range shooting skills. I used to shoot longer distances all the time, especially when I traveled to Wyoming to go deer and antelope hunting. It wasn’t rare to find my friends and me practicing our skills out to 500 yards. I remember being pretty cocky about my shooting skills, then missing a Doe antelope in Wyoming at 100 yards. Never did figure out what I did wrong on that! The rest of the trip end- ed with great results, but missing that Doe still haunts me. I have used the same load in my .270 for decades and have never had a problem, but this year I have decided to step up to a new bullet, which is supposed to be a better choice. Along with using a new bullet comes new load develop- ment, something that most people don’t under- stand. Rifles can be finicky and a person who hand loads their own ammo goes through a ritu- al of varying the powder charge and bullet seat- ing depth. The combinations can be endless and it is easy to end up throwing your hands into the air in frustration. Luckily, my change to this new bullet has ended happily and now it is time to brush up my long range shooting. Some may wonder why a person needs to shoot long distances when, in most instances, shots are less than 200 yards. Antelope, though, can stretch the shot distance; they have excel- lent vision and the terrain they inhabit is open and flat, which makes stalking within short dis- tances challenging. This is why developing the skills to shoot longer ranges enhances a sport- san’s chances of bagging a trophy antelope. But hunters must recognize their skill level and nev- er take a shot that they cannot consistently make; we owe that to the animals we pursue. It is not enough to sit at a bench and a rock steady rest and punch tight groups; in hunting there are no benches or steady rests. Many sportsmen don’t take the time to practice shoot- ing off hand (close shots only) or get used to shooting prone or sitting. My choice for long dis- tance shooting is sitting with a bipod rest; it is amazing how steady a person can get in this po- sition. But it takes many rounds of ammunition to gain the skill necessary to make the long shots consistently. In other news, ODF&W did adopt the district bio’s recommendation to cut 600 tags from the Saddle Mt. rifle bull elk hunts. This is why so Please see page 21
