Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A few weekends ago I went to the last day of the Grand Forks Gun Show.  It was $5 to get in well worth it in my opinion to check our current firearm prices along with other firearm related stuff.  After I paid I walked in and made a B line to the conceal and carry booth.  The company was permittocarry.org.  I spoke to Rusty about what I would have to do to get a Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota conceal carry permit.  He was super knowledgeable and super helpful.  I really enjoyed talking to him and if his classes are anything like he was that day I would recommend him to anyone.  After talking to him I realized the classes were quite expensive for my cheap self at the time so I put that on the back burner.  Once I was done talking to Rusty I went out to see the prices of guns and if I could find any deals on them.  Holy piss were gun prices high at the gun show.  I seriously think the vendors were out of their minds.  Their brand new guns were on average $60 to $80 more than I what I could get if I just drove across town to Scheels and purchased them there.  The biggest offenders in that department were rifles.  The used pistols cost around as much as you would pay for a new one.  The craziest thing I found though was a Traditions 1851 black powder revolver you know the one you can find at Cabela's for around $180. Well this one booth had it sitting there with a sign that said "sale $320."  I damn  near shit myself when I saw that price.  Seriously these vendors were just either crazy or leaving hundreds of dollars to dicker with on the initial price they were selling it for.  Either way it was crazy in my mind.  Being there on the last day I expected to see deals and lots of empty tables I saw neither.  I know in a gun show you usually negotiate the price, but seriously seeing prices like that made me not even wanna talk to the vendors.  So in the end I found no gun deals and that the prices for used guns are quite high.  I still don't like how expensive firearms have gotten, but I don't think there is much I can do about it.

My trip did not go in vain though I was able to purchase one thing.  It was a cheap knife.  I was looking for a cheap beat around knife at the gun show, and I noticed my options were quite limited.  Some guy had Helle knives for a really good price that made me drool, but they were still out of what I limited myself I would spend.  I had my purchase narrowed down to two knives both of which I was going to try to talk down the price to get, because thanks to my trusty smart phone I knew what they were really worth.  The first guy I dickered with gave me a price so good I ended up purchasing that knife and not even trying with the other one. The knife I got was a Timber Wolf model 103 skinning knife that came in a leather sheath.  The guy had it on the table for $15, I offered him $6 and he took it.  I was amazed by that especially knowing the knife was around $12 to purchase online.  I really got a deal and am quite proud of it.  Once I got back from the gun show I took the knife out played with it a little then made the review you see below.  I hope you enjoy it.


Saturday, March 17, 2012

My Squirrel Traps and Quad Survival Fish Fry and Squirrel Feed

We got old man Rounce to finally cook us up the fish we caught during our ice fishing video also some squirrel Jim and Andy got.  So I invited everyone who was around over for some fish fry and squirrel feed.  Rounce spent the whole day getting the squirrel ready and thawing out some fish.  So I had some spare time before we ate and had to fill my time with something.  I decided to fill my time by making a squirrel trap setup.  So I went down to the new farmers store opening in town and got myself some rat traps.  Now I first learned about using rat traps to catch squirrels in a good ole Dave Cantebury video which you can see here.  I took an old hand drill drilled some holes in the trap tied some string through the holes then went about creating some platform that squirrels could get to and cats couldn't at least not easily.  I found some old pieces of wood my brother used to try to build a skateboard ramp back when that was pouplar and nailed them into a half assed L shape.  Then I found a tree nearby where I could see my traps from the deck and leaned the platform against the tree and nailed it there.  I then filled the traps with some peanut butter and bread combo as the internet suggested to me.  I set the traps up tied them to the platform so they didn't fall and hit the ground when the trap snapped.  As of right now I'm sitting outside on the deck typing this and have not gotten a squirrel yet, but I also haven't seen an squirrels running around either.  If i get some I plan giving the meat to Old Man Rounce for food and salting and freezing the tail to give to Mepps for some fishing lures.  This squirrel trap setup literally only cost my $5 by the way.  Basically anyone can afford to do it.  Here's some pictures of the cheap setup.



As soon as I got done with this the guys showed up and Rounce started up the fish fry.  The squirrel rounce first deep fried quickly, then let is sit on the stove in a dutch oven on low in butter and other unknown things (his recipe's are always so good they are mostly kept secret).  Then after that he let it sit in the oven at 300 degrees for a few hours, before serving it with the fish.  The fish was fried up the traditional Wisconsin way and most of the wish was panfish and crappie.  The fish was good as expected.  All of use were pretty timid about trying out the squirrel at first being it was a rodent and all, but after the first bite we were hooked and ate it up.  It tasted a lot like the dark meet of chicken.  We also had french fries, and baked beans.  A lot of stories and talk going around while we were eating and it was nice that we all got to hang out.  Everyone decided before they dispursed that we would eat squirrel again and Eric wants to start hunting squirrel for food now.  Here's a few pictures of the fish fry.


Had to quick take a picture of the squirrel before everyone took and ate it all
I haven't made any progress on the 3 more YouTube videos I'm trying to put up, but I blame that on the amazing get outsides or else weather we are having.  By the way Happy St. Patrick's day everyone and go put on your kilt, because only real men wear kilts!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Want to help us make more videos and go on more adventures

If you guys would like to see us go on more adventures, have more fun, and show it all to you through more videos and blogging, then donate to us on our Kickstarter page.  You even get different rewards depending on how much you donated.  The funding we receive on the Kickstarter page will go to two videos we will make this summer.  It will be the survival contest involving the members of Quad Survival where you the fans get to vote who won, and a canoeing trip which Eric would love us to have.  The rules of Kickstarter are if we do not reach our minimum funding limit you will not get charged.  So in other words if we do not reach the money asked for you will not have to pay if you donate.  For more info on how Kickstarter works go check out their website.  Thanks to all in advance who donated.

Here is the link to our Kickstarter page http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quadsurvival/help-fund-2-of-our-outdoor-survival-adventure-yout