To every thing there is a season...

And now it's canine trapping season.

Just thought I'd post a little video. Instead of ranting about the lies and general poop that PETA and HSUS throw in our faces, maybe this will make a better impression on those who may be anti-trapping or at least skeptical.

Just remember folks, for every coyote I catch, I probably save 3-4 red fox. Coyotes do not belong here or anywhere east of the Mississippi, and have become a plague on urban America. I will continue to kill every one I can as long as I can.

Trapping remains a valuable wildlife management tool. I can't put it simpler than that. Man is the apex predator, and until the saber tooth tiger is re-introduced, this will always be the case.

Watch the vid and maybe take something from it:




Thanks.

What a September

If you like perfect sunny weather, no rain, and complete lack of anything interesting.

Thus my lack of posts here. Sorry, just not much to write about, besides the usual SDS-induced flame wars on Stormtrack, which was an interesting diversion for one afternoon.

Critter killing season is coming, so maybe I'll have to move on to updates on that. In the meantime, fall severe season is starting with a bang and my friends down south look to have a couple decent chases in the works over the next week to ten days. Good luck everyone and I'll wait for the pictures. Thinking about turning my data off up here and settling in for another long winter.

8/08/09 Minneapolis tornado

I was at home. Yeah, didn't head out. To be honest I was nervous, my wife was nervous, and I decided to play intercept if anything came close, which looked like a real good possibility. I had no desire to be caught out somewhere while my neighborhood was trashed- every chaser's nightmare I think. Wife and kids come first, not that I would have been able to do much if it had happened, but I felt better being with them...

After a while I started thinking cap bust so I really felt good about my decision. When the storm fired I could have easily shot down 10 or 169 and been in perfect position, but in a traffic-clogged Saturday evening metro mess there was just no way... and I'll never second guess that. Ultimate irony, got a phone call from my mom (whom I was frantically trying to reach-without success) at Greenhaven golf course in Anoka attending the Anoka TORNADOES class of 59 50-year reunion. They spent 20 minutes in the tornado shelter. Love it.

I know of several chasers on it who followed it only because it pretty much went right over their homes, and I have the utmost respect for the people who followed this safely and called it in. And a couple who were in it... because of roads, poor visibility, all the things which convinced me not to go for it. So glad this storm waited until near dark to fire, and that surface winds were light, because this could have been so much worse. I had visions of 5/25/08 running through my mind.

Here's the event summary from our local WFO. Still unbelieveable to me that the path length was 9 miles through a densely populated metro and there were no injuries and actually very light damage, all things considered. I'll also bet that there were several thousand idiots out trying to get a good look at it not to mention all the traffic that the meso passed over... and the thing cycled pretty much over the entire north metro before apparently dropping another one in the trees of Wisconsin... eesh, still gives me chills to think about what could have been.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=mpx&storyid=29737&source=0

More from the lake

One of the simple joys in life is watching the 5 year old thread his own worm onto the hook, head for the dock and proceed to hook the biggest bass so far of the trip. "Dad!" It's a keeper, it's a keeper!" We also were treated to yet another volcanic sunset here tonight. I do wish time would slow down a little bit!

Decompressing

Annual July trip to Ottertail County, probably the closest thing to heaven in Minnesota there is, unless it's Lake of The Woods.

Anyway, I'll let the pics speak for themselves. Some very serious recreation and relaxation going on here... hopefully will add many more as the week goes on.

Didn't bite the bullet...

Days like today are what chasing up here is all about. High risk, high reward, but the rewards are sweet when you are in the right place at the right time.

Sure wishing I was sitting in Grand Forks right now. I'm making the call that there is going to be one or two absolutely stunning, photogenic supercells up there this evening, with no one chasing them. Stay tuned, I'll be checking out the local tv stations tomorrow for pictures of what could have been and posting them here, while cutting my wrists... FAIL.

7/21/09 Local chase

Got off work just in time to go play in a stronger core in the line that was coming through the north metro. Kind of fun to finally experience a decent local storm, on familiar roads.