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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