Trad Gang Members Photo Op

[ber643]

"Friends Call Me PAC" (Ret'd Air Force), won  one of the four Rainmakers I offered on the St. Jude auction this year. He called me and said he would be visiting his Dad for Father's Day, in a city not too far South of here. He offered to pick it up, save mailing, and get to meet at the same time. I jumped at the chance. So Sat. afternoon he and his brother Caleb, also a TradGang member, and Dad, Al, drove up for a two or three hour visit. What an enjoyable, though too short, gab-fest we had. We both took a pic or two and perhaps PAC will post his also. He was raised here in Coastal NC, and is "home" for a week vacation with his family.

Al, "PAC", and Caleb - what nice folks:

 

Pac is holding his newly won Rainmaker and an old Ramin dowel arrow that I made, where we also exchanged a wood arrow with each other.

[Osage61]

[Mudd]

   God bless,Mudd    

[bolong]

   

[Shakes.602]

Lets Hear It For  DADS!!!              And Ramin Dowel Arrows!!  

[ber643]

There ya go!

Actually I had had some (cyber) tradgang contact with PAC a few years in the past but am a little humbled to admit that his memory was much better than mine   . (Both he and his wife are Ret'd AF BTW) He was getting his son-in-law set up to trad bow hunt and one of the things he needed was a safety harness, which I happened to have an extra of, and sent to him.

[ber643]

I sent a PM (and e-mail) to PAC about the thread but don't know if he'll get/read them while on vacation or not. - LOL

[Friends call me Pac]

I'm finally home.  Got stuck at the Wilmington airport for 3 extra hours due to storms in Atlanta.

Folks let me tell you how effective Bernie's rainmakers actually are.  After leaving his house I asked my dad if I should activate the rainmaker?  He replied it might be a better idea if we waited until we were out of city limits.  Once we left town I got the ok and I did 2 cycles on the rainmaker.  

No rain in two months so I really wasn't exspecting much.  I was suprised when the sun went away and clouds began to gather.  The sky got darker and darker.  I figured I might not want to cycle the rainmaker again until we were safely at home and had a boat handy.

 

Once we got home I had the family gather around as I explained how the rainmaker worked and told the story of how it produced instant clouds in the drought stricken NC coastal plains.  Everyone watched in amusment as I turned the rainmaker end over end several times.  They stopped laughing that evening as we had a real thunder boomer roll in.  The first drop of any rain in two months and all because of the rainmaker.

During the week my family wanted me to shake it some more to help put out the forrest fire ragging on the Holly Shelter game lands just up the road from us.  Assuming the previous storms was coincedence I used the rainmaker once again.Not only did it rain but we also had winds over 70 mph!

I have to admit I was kind of afraid flash floods might be worse than the fires.  After weighing the risks I gave it a few flips the morning before leaving and that's how I ended up stuck at the airport for 3 extra hours.

It was great meeting you Bernie and I'm glad my Father was along for the ride. His interest in trad was sparked so Caleb taught dad how to shoot the long bow he had brought to bowfish with.

When we left Caleb left his longbow for him to practice with.  He is a complete newbie but I told him you were right up the road and maybe you can help him since I'm way over here in Arkansas.

We had some good stingray hunting so I need to get to work on the story.  Should be posted soon here on powwow.

[Pepper]

What a great time, I believe that this is the way it should be done whenever possible.

[ber643]

Really enjoyed reading about the success and fun you guys had on your ray bowfishing trips, PAC. Also glad i got to meet y'all on your way. Btw try to get some stainless steel tubing and sharpen that to try on the ray wings. That's what i heard the restaurants used to use before they made it illegal for them to sell them as "scallops". If you can't find a source for the ss tubing, you might try restaurant suppliers. I think they use them in large coffee urns, steam devices, etc. Good luck with it all, in any case, and enjoy them any way you can get them inside you - LOL

Oh I saved the pic you posted - thanks.

[jamesh76]

[mike g]

Hey Burnie....
You Old Turkey soup eating Jarhead, how the heck have ya been....

[PowDuck]

Really cool story.

I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't know you two were brothers.

[ber643]

Same ol' me, Mike and in fine shape for the shape I'm in    :D  Hope you are too. I almost posted my (Mike) armguard with the little Marine Corps stamp on it in that thread about that subject, but decided I'd better let you check it out for the guy.

I guess you are talking about Caleb and PAC being brothers - to be totally honest, I don't really know if I got that straight, or not. I got to thinking about it later, and wasn't sure if Caleb is a brother that PAC calls his buddy, or if he is a buddy that PAC calls his brother. Not an unusual thing among military folk .... and a lot of other folk too, I guess. Anyway, all three of them were real good, and personable, guys to spend time with.

[Friends call me Pac]

Caleb is my buddy not my brother. We met up at a 3d shoot a few years ago.  We were the only trad shooters so we paired up for the course.  During the shoot I found out he lived about 10 miles from me.
 
Caleb is the same age as my oldest son.  Neither of my two boys care about hunting or fishing at all. Caleb on the other hand loves hunting and fishing. I was tired of going by myself all the time so I arranged some hunting and fishing trips we could share.  We have been hunting and fishing together every since.

[ber643]

There ya go, PAC! A true "Brother under the skin". May that we all be lucky enough to find those kind of "brothers" every now and again in our lifetimes. what would life be like without our real good buddies?