Arkansas Blog

That's the craftiest political move I've seen out of Dustin. Well played.

I agree. a great move.

my only question is who wrote this press release? they need to go back to grammar school.

"Dustin has been a member of the NRA since I was 13 years old and has appreciated the A rating they have always given him."

I am certain it will be a fun experience, and perhaps it will set a sportsmanlike and gentlemanly tone.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It always seems a little odd when you see the Outdoor program on TV, two guys concealed in the woods - they see their deer (dove or whatever) casually moseying across the woodlands -- they whisper to each other about what a beauty it is - then they blast the bejesus out of it -- slap each other on the back - and cut off the victims head and hang it on the wall!

Maybe you should ask the deer (or dove) if these are gentlemen and sportsmen . . .

No, I'm not objecting to killing animals 'cause I still have to have, and will not give up, a medium ribeye at least once a week. It just seems humorous that "fun", "sportsmanlike" and "gentlemanly" can be used in the context of blowing holes in live animals.

Gunner does have a hunting license for Oklahoma. He lives in Fort Smith so that makes sense. However even I must admit this was a nice move by McDaniel.

Gunner does have a hunting license for Oklahoma. He lives in Fort Smith so that makes sense. However even I must admit this was a nice move by McDaniel.

Great move by Dustin!

The only problem with be if Gunner says yes. I would be a tad nervous hunting with my opponent who is down 25%.....

I'm not objecting to killing animals 'cause I still have to have, and will not give up, a medium ribeye at least once a week. It just seems humorous that "fun", "sportsmanlike" and "gentlemanly" can be used in the context of blowing holes in live animals

Don Key, just take it up with the next carrot you slaughter with a peeling knife and hear it scream for its life when you pluck it's top off and send it to a dark, acidic dungeon, never to return.

I do it just like animal crackers - bite the top (head) off, and they never feel a thing.

It is not a "great move." It's an insincere, goofy move.

Watch these 2 young bucks, they'll be wife swapping next. We'll hear rumors that Mrs. Delay cried, but no one died. Must doves die for Arkansas politics? They should do something about the over population of skeet we're suffering from in this heat. My late brother's middle name was Dove, my wife uses Dove soap and I think I might be offended by this hunting trip.

Will Gunner move up in points if he accidentally shoots Dustin in the face on this hunt? Sure didn't hurt Satan to pop his friend with bird shot. It's a quick way to make the national news. Poor doves....taint right with grocery stores full of food.

Don Key,

The actual killing of a deer is like tipping the golf ball into the hole. It's about the passage. The hours clocked in getting to know your quarry. Tracking his movements, learning his habits, becoming one. It's by no means a slam dunk. His flesh feeds your family, his hide and horns displayed in a place of reverence and his magnificence etched firmly within your very soul. The alternative of course is his long lingering death from a debilitating disease or being torn about by coyotes over a period of days while he is still breathing his very last. With those alternatives, I too would choose the quick shot. Hunting is not for everyone but I sure am thankful it has become a part of my life, and I hope future generations will be able to enjoy this noble past time as well.

I track doves for hours, learning their habits, becoming one with the flock until I can sit with them, cooing softly and preening. I carefully craft my bows from Bois D'Arc and use only ancient Caddo arrowheads dug from mounds by meth heads under the fulll moon -- I find guns and machine-made archery equipment to be obscene. After I make a clean shot through their hearts from 20 yards as they fly, I sit by their bloody bodies and pray, commending their dove souls to God and promising Him to put an extra dollar into the plate next Sunday. I have their exact likeness tattooed onto my chest before tenderly mounting their heads on my wall and filling my pillows with their down. Their flesh feeds my family, as I allow my family to eat nothing but dove flesh during the season. One year when I didn't hunt, I watched coyotes chew on them for days as they died a lingering death, flapping their little wings in the hopes that someone with a 12 gauge will wander by.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist being a smartass.

OK, I must confess, although I am not able to stomach blowing mammoth high-powered holes in defenseless deer and doves, I do find it challenging to go forth in the quiet of the early morning fragrant air, quietly stalking my elusive pray, blending into the shadows, carefully controlling my breath to escape detection, drawing ever closer, slowly, inch by inch, pausing for frozen moments in time, unblinking, until I am so close I can make out each hair and twitch of the skin of my prey and then as I spring to ensnare it with my bare hands to exert superior dominion over this creature of the wild, I am again thwarted as my neighbors cat hisses at me and darts off to pee on my car another day.

What does that prove? He still thinks that gun companies are responsible for someone else's bad behavior. Bill Clinton and lots of other elite, liberal snobs enjoys hunting, but still supports gun control.

Since there is scant activity on the recently censored blog (kidding), I'll weigh in on the hunting thing.

I haven't hunted in years, but I grew up doing so. I sometimes buy a hunting license with no intention of hunting, just in support of programs that protect wildlife. I'm all for hunting because that is how wildlife must be managed. I just don't want to be the one doing the killing.

In the devolpers' process of turning wildlife habitats into subdivisions or shopping centers many, many critters are displaced. You've seen the news stories about deer in the city.

I support hunters (and hunting) in Arkansas, as long as they follow the rules strictly, which the stereotypical Arkansas hunter does not.

The only time I ever killed a deer was a day in November of 1979, which would be my last deer hunt. I shot a large and beautiful (legal) doe in a forest in Dallas county. She had a fawn in tow, which I had to shoo away when I approached. It broke my teenaged heart.

As starbuck points out, hunting is not for everyone. Opinions on hunting are often strong, both pro- and anti-hunting. But as long as humans eat up the land that our wildlife uses as habitat, the problem will get worse.

I, too, would rather meet my maker via an arrow (or slug) to the heart, rather than starving to the point that I'm easy prey for a coyote. But coyotes have to eat, too.

Dick Cheney is not invited. Hilarious!

Developers eat up all the land? Have you ever drive outside of Little Rock on Highway 10 or flown over Arkansas? The VAST majority of Arkansas is completely undeveloped and it would take a population 100 times larger than ours to come close to filling up this state. Even then every single person could have over 1/10th of an acre a piece.

You say "undeveloped" as if it's a bad thing, nonny. What's up with that?

No, I don't. I respond to someone saying "developed" as if it's a bad thing, widjy. Way to ignore the point.

Didn't mean to touch a nerve, Anonymous. But to me, when bulldozers, backhoes, etc., make trees disappear in favor of new houses, offices, malls, etc., yes I call it eating up the land. You call it what you want.

I do live in a house, by the way. Someone ate up the property on which it was erected in 1880.

OK...I'll play. I hide away in the darkness barely breathing so as not to be detected by my prey. I have spent 30 minute washing away all human odors from my hide. I check my weapon and find it ready.

In the darkness my senses become more acute, I begin to detect slight movement, I become aware of new smells as my prey comes closer in the black night. My weapon remains at the ready.

I wait and I pray and I wait straining against every natural urge to pounce. I hear movement nearer, nearer. One last time I check my weapon and find that it is good, it will be there for me when the time is right. Closer.....closer....I am holding my breath. I make promises to a silent God....closer and then I spring!

My wife barely has time to make a whimper until I am on her. I use all my strength to hold the flailing woman down on the soft beige carpet, holding her until she calms, waiting for her breathing to return to normal. It is time for the ritual begging.

I remind her of her wedding vows and the current date on the calendar, proof that my hunting season is indeed open. Would that the calendar pages flew past like in old cartoons I say to her. She strains against me as I remind her of sleeping children on the floor below who will awaken if voices become too loud, mustn't cause an embarrassment deary.

Finally just as my strength is about to ebb thus returning the upper hand to her, she submits to my animal desires. Oh that I could mount her like an elk on my wall. She, my finest fleshy trophy! For scant seconds I am Elvis with my own amusement park...run frolic young Priscilla I think to myself as my sunken chest heaves, shoulder to the plow, steel wheels singing on the rails.

I find my final salvation, oh the colors red, green, yellow, blue flash before my eyes and soon like the tide, I recede from her tender shores. With the final power left in me I reach and hit the mute button, the commercial is over, the Daily Show is back on, we didn't miss a bit.

As she settles down to watch the rest of the show, my internal stop watch resets to zero and the count down to next month begins again. 30 more days and I will be king of the universe for 2 minutes, 2 seconds again.

Right... So now you're not saying that development is bad? Or are you not able to realize how undeveloped this state is, regardless how much you cry about the development?

Jiminy Christmas! Who is crying over development? I cried when I shot that mama deer when I was a kid. All I said about development was that when it takes place, it displaces wildlife--and THAT'S a shame.

I'm not against development per se. But while we're on the subject, something seems wrong with the big picture when land developed in Little Rock 30-60 years ago now has a tumbleweed problem, yet another mountainside out west is scraped bare of its trees to make another shopping center.

Let me guess, Anonymous: You're a developer, or you are in bed with one.

DBI - Your braggadocio frustrates me. While I continually pursue the Furry Feline in vain, you conquer yours once a month.

Yo le saludo.

Amazing stories folks but will educated people ever ascend to Ark seats of power? Was Win, Jr the last of good people? Other than being the unhealthiest of all industrialized nations , we also murder more of our children one supposes in honor of 2nd Admendment celebrations:

America ranks first in child gun violence and first among industrialized nations in preschool children not immunized. Children under age 15 are 12 times more likely to die from gunfire, 16 times more likely to be murdered by a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and 9 times more likely to be killed in a firearm accident compared to 25 other industrialized nations combined. These sobering facts come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/060509_bad_healthcare.html

Does that information also mention that most of those "children" are involved, directly or indirectly, in gang activity? Probably not. Does it also mention that those same children are 5 times more likely to drown in a 5 gallon water bucket, of all things, which is remarkable since the number of "children" killed with a firearm is statistically infinitesimal?

...Bill Clinton and lots of other elite, liberal snobs enjoys hunting, but still supports gun control.

So? Many 'responsible' hunters recognize that most 'automatic' weapons don't have any valid role in the sport of hunting Bambi, or Daffy. Plus, many, like me, realize that it's possible to support (and fight to preserve) the Second Amendment and believe it has limits (just like Free Speech has limits).

Clearly there are weapons that serve no other valid purpose than to kill humans...weapons of war. And, limiting their availability has nothing to do with taking guns from hunters or with undercutting the intent of the Second Amendment (an armed citizenry).

I'm amazed by the extent that current Republicans are willing to allow government snooping into their private lives but squeal when any suggest peeking in their gun cabinets is okay...too. Look up their skirts but don't get near their guns...damn that seems off-kilter.

Either arm the animals or hunt them with your bare hands . Make it a fair fight.

I don't consider killing a sport.

Who the hell said anything about automatic weapons?

As long as you're bringing it up, Bill Clinton didn't ban any automatic weapons. He banned weapons that looked like automatic weapons, such as demilitarized AK-47s, which are functionally no different than any semi-automatic 30-06 hunting rifle. Semi-automatic, by the way, means that the firearm merely reloads itself after every shot fired. You still have to pull the trigger once for every shot, unlike an automatic weapon.

Also, it's apparent that not many hunters are on your side on this issue, since democrats are bending over backwards when speaking in public to sound like they support the 2nd Amendment. You (democrats) have been doing this ever since Algore was battered so badly in 2000 by NRA voters.

Roland, Don Key, and DBI, thanks for my first great laugh of the morning. It never does to take one's self too seriously. Hugh, I'm sorry about your experience in the woods. That would have broken any hunter's heart.

You folks crack me up!

About guns: making them safer so that people that shouldn't be using them like children can't use them so easily sounds like a winner to me. We use seatbelts, don't we, without ANYONE suggesting our cars should be taken away? Why can't we make guns safer?

That is a good move by Dustin, but I would be careful if I were him. After all, that is a Delay we are talking about. If this one is anything like the other, it may be a bit dangerous to hunt with him.

Don.....if you aren't bagging the big game animal at least once a month, which is a pitiful score, then I fully understand your daily sense of frustration and your willingness to help Bush-Cheney recreate the world in their image. What would you have to lose?

Having diabetes, my greatest fear is losing both arms, who needs legs? I would be at that woman's mercy 365 a year. Brrrrrrr....I scared myself! I say honestly Don, I now have some compassion for ya.

Maybe Trish will figure out the registration process soon and you can work your magic on her. Watch out for that Billy guy....he appears to be stalking her already. Good luck.

"You folks crack me up!

About guns: making them safer so that people that shouldn't be using them like children can't use them so easily sounds like a winner to me. We use seatbelts, don't we, without ANYONE suggesting our cars should be taken away? Why can't we make guns safer?"

If this is such a good thing, then why is McDaniel running from it like a plague? And lying about his very involvement in it? No one ever sued a car company because it didn't have seat belts when they weren't required. It would never have crossed anyone's mind. Aside from that, seatbelts require exceptionally minor additions to cars, while built in gun locks, which everyone was claiming McDaniel wasn't for the other day, require a complete reengineering of all firearms and, I suppose, the demolition of all currently existing firearms which do not have the built-in locks. Good luck. This is just wishful thinking on your part. The real aim of the gun control movement is to do serious harm to the ability of firearms manufacturers to do business, thus harming the functionality of the 2nd Amendment.

"That is a good move by Dustin, but I would be careful if I were him. After all, that is a Delay we are talking about. If this one is anything like the other, it may be a bit dangerous to hunt with him."

"You folks crack me up!

About guns: making them safer so that people that shouldn't be using them like children can't use them so easily sounds like a winner to me. We use seatbelts, don't we, without ANYONE suggesting our cars should be taken away? Why can't we make guns safer?"

If this is such a good thing, then why is McDaniel running from it like a plague? And lying about his very involvement in it? No one ever sued a car company because it didn't have seat belts when they weren't required. It would never have crossed anyone's mind. Aside from that, seatbelts require exceptionally minor additions to cars, while built in gun locks, which everyone was claiming McDaniel wasn't for the other day, require a complete reengineering of all firearms and, I suppose, the demolition of all currently existing firearms which do not have the built-in locks. Good luck. This is just wishful thinking on your part. The real aim of the gun control movement is to do serious harm to the ability of firearms manufacturers to do business, thus harming the functionality of the 2nd Amendment.

"That is a good move by Dustin, but I would be careful if I were him. After all, that is a Delay we are talking about. If this one is anything like the other, it may be a bit dangerous to hunt with him."

What are you tal

"That is a good move by Dustin, but I would be careful if I were him. After all, that is a Delay we are talking about. If this one is anything like the other, it may be a bit dangerous to hunt with him."

What are you talking about? Apparently, you're talking about Tom DeLay, who is not known for accidentally or intentionally shooting anyone.