Climbing Gear

The list of avaliable gear to climbers is virtually endless, so im just going to talk about the bare essentials that I own.  

First off there is the climbing harness, this is the core of everything that happens when you climb,  for those who dont know what it is i have included a picture of one below.  Mine is made by Plack Diamond a well known and respted climbing company.  I have been using the harness since Christmas of 2000 and it has been working great ever since.  The gear will last that long as long as it is taken care of and not thrown around or walked on etc.  

After the harness comes the shoes, they have got to be the most un comfortable things on the planet, and thoughn I have not ever worn heels, I believe that I can safely say that they are more uncomfortable than them.  Climbing shoes have no tread at all, thay are completly smooth and have very soft sticky rubber on the bottom of them.  This allows them to stick like glue to any hard, pourous, or non-porous surface.  the reason that they are so unfomfortable is because how tight they need to be effective.  My shoes are super tight (my tennis shoes are a size 12-13 depending on the shoe, I rock climb in a size 10)  this tightness allows your foot to become a sticky stump that one can jam into cracks shove into holds and stick to features.  Ill include a picture of the shoes below next to the harness so people can see them.

TO BE CONTINUED

Rock Climbing

               My parents came here to my school this past weekend and they dropped of my rock climbing gear, my roommate immediately asked me what the stuff was so I thought that it would be kind of cool to talk about climbing for a little bit.  

                Personally, I have been climbing since the fifth grade.  I was introduced to it through Boy Scouts when my troop and I went for the Rock Climbing Merit Badge.  My troop set up for counselors to teach us the sport, half at their indoor gym in Rockford IL and half at the Mississippi palisades state park.

                When I arrived at the gym it was like throwing a little kid in a free candy shop.  The floor was chipped rubber, and… I could climb on the walls.  The instructors took about 3 hours to teach all of us to belay (belaying is when there is a person on the ground controlling how much rope the climber is allowed while they are climbing up the rock.  I have inserted a picture of it below) and from there one of my closest friends and I were off to the walls.  We climbed all night; we thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.  From that night on I have been hooked on the sport.  The next outing we went to the Mississippi palisades to complete a 200’ rappel (I have had multiple people ask me where there are 200’ of cliff to rappel from in the palisades and I honestly don’t remember, just incase you were about to ask).  It was soooo cool, hanging there 200 feet above the Mississippi river, I could see absolutely everything.  I looked down and the people below me looked the size of those little army men. 

                From there my friend and I joined a rock climbing class at the Y.M.C.A. near my town.  Every Wednesday night we would go climb, pushing ourselves and competing with each other every night.  Each one of us drove the other to be better.  We have both competed in cock climbing competitions hosted by the “Y” and we have both placed 1^st and 2^nd (we took top 2 places in both competitions).  Then in high school we both set records on the wall in our gym, the records are still there today.  

Turkey Calls Cont'd

          The third major type of turkey call is a slate call. It is probably the simplest turkey call out there in terms of parts and pieces, however in my opinion it is the hardest to use or at least the hardest to use well enough to trick a turkey. The call is comprised of a generally circular piece of slate or glass and a wooden, though I have seen glass and fiberglass, rod. The idea is to use the rod and “scratch” it on top of the slate to produce the different sounds of a female turkey. It works the same way as “nails on a chalk board”; the advantage of using this call is that it doesn’t require too much movement to operate though I still wouldn’t use it if the bird was in eye sight. This is because I have been busted way to many times in the past for as slight of a movement as reaching under the gun with my middle finger to remove the safety. If the glass or fiberglass rods are used the call is water becomes water proof (sometimes that can become the difference between a successful and unsuccessful hunt. The cons of this call are few but can make all the difference, I myself find it extremely difficult to use and even more difficult to master. I find that sometimes it may take up to five minutes to find that “sweet spot” and by then it may be too late. A picture of the slate call is posted below.

Turkey Calls

          Perhaps one of the most important things to know when turkey hunting is how to call, and, almost more importantly, when to call.  But first off let me define “calling” for those who don’t completely understand/are new to the subject of hunting.  Calling it the “art” of mimicking the sounds an animal makes, the philosophy behind it is that if you can mimic the animal well enough, it will make other animals want to seek you out and join you; or in the case of turkey hunting, mate with you.  In order for you to call one must purchase one, or multiple of many different types of calls. These calls come in many different shapes and sizes.  There are diaphragm calls that you put in your mouth and blow air over thus creating the “cluck” that female turkeys create that attracts the male “gobblers”.  The science behind it is a thin piece of latex that is stretched  across a “U” shaped mouth piece so when air passes over it, it vibrates (similar to using a blade of grass to whistle).  The upside of this call is that it requires very little movement to use.  This makes it very useful when in clutch situations and the bird is just out of shooting range however would still be able to see you if you moved.  It is also used to get the bird to pause long enough to get a shot off.  The cons of this call is that it is not nearly as loud or clear as the box or slate call, making it very hard for birds that are further away to hear.  Below is a picture of one such call.

              

          My personal favorite the box call is simply that, a box with a lid that is pulled side to side making the “cluck” of a female hen.  The way the box vocalizes is using the edge of the box which is cut on an angle so the edge of it looks like an upside down “V” and the curved lid that is pushed across this edge.  The pros of this call are that it is extremely loud and clear.  This allows one to call in birds from miles around, usually gobbling all the way there.  The cons of this call are that it is an extremely visible call so once you can see the birds, they can see you, and the only thing “protecting” you is your camouflage.  At this point it would be wise to use the diaphragm call discussed earlier.  Another thing that will render these calls useless is water.  The calls require chalk to function well and sound clear, when they get wet the chalk washes away and the wood expands and softens.  If the call is used at this point it will tear the edges of the box apart not allowing it to be used again because the edge won’t be there anymore.  Below is a picture of one such call.

                TO BE CONTINUED

Turkey Hunting

          I was recently talking to a friend of mine when the topic of spring break arose and I was asked if I had anything planned for it.  I responded saying that every year during spring break since I was in 7^th grade, my Dad and I take a trip to Arkansas where we embark on a weeklong turkey hunt with my Uncle.   At that point I was ready for her to say “oh……I see”, the infamous phrase of surprise and instant loss of interest/appeal.   However, to my surprise that wasn’t what happened at all, she started to ask me all these questions about the sport, and what goes along with it.  So, I figured for the next week or so I will elaborate on what happens when you turkey hunt.

          The first thing that arises in the minds of people who have not grown accustomed to or grown up around the sport of hunting is not the actual sport its self but the tool used to do it, guns.  As this was the case with my friend, she asked if I had ever run into another hunter in the field and almost shot them or been shot at.  I have not (however my brother has had shotgun bbs come down on him while we were pheasant hunting about a year ago), though her question was still a valid question because unlike many other hunts, when going turkey hunting it is not required that you wear blaze orange.  Turkeys have excellent, color vision so when you hunt them you have to be covered in camouflage from head to toe, and no matter how hard it is not to you absolutely cannot move.  On more than just a couple of occasions have I had a bird only about fifteen or twenty yards away from me when I moved a foot or went to pull my weapon up and I had the bird jump up and fly away, yes turkeys can fly, and they can fly very well for something that weighs about twenty five pounds.  TO BE CONTINUED

Opening Statements

This is my first post of many for this blog. This blog will discuss the many outdoor sports that are out there such as hunting, fishing, trap shooting, mountain biking, etc. I hope for this blog to open up some people’s minds to the many sports and activities that the outdoors has to offer.
I chose this topic to write about because it is one that I have a large interest in, and one that  I devote a large amount of my time to when I’m not in school. During my summers I frequently go trap shooting, and fishing with my friends and brothers. Then in the fall I goose, pheasant, deer, and duck hunt with my father. I turkey hunt in the spring and enjoy going on many camping trips with my Boy Scout troop.
Starting in the 5th grade o was going on weeklong camping trips with my Boy Scout troop to summer camp. While I was there I would shoot 22 rifles, shotguns, compound bows (I even made my own arrows). I also enjoyed mountain biking through the many extensive trails of the camp and around my own home town. I have gone spelunking (also known as caving) which is where I first learned what true darkness was. It was so dark that you could put your hand in front of your face and still not see it. As a testimonial to my many years of scouting, and how involved in it I am, I have reached the rank of Eagle Scout.