Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Ark building plans required

Well we're back from another successful trip to the pond property. We got some work done (between bouts of rain), target practiced with my 30-30 and 38 Special, spend a wonderful day with DIED, DWIED and DSIED (Dave's Son In El Dorado) and made it home in one piece.

It has rained like I have never seen it rain. Flooding everywhere. The drive home was quite challenging (10 hours instead of the standard 8.5) and highway 5 had flooding across the entire road in two areas. Traffic was unreal.

The game cameras captured several great images including another image of a trespasser. Fortunately nothing was disturbed. There was a loose nut behind the setting buttons (I left two of the game cameras in "setting" mode so they weren't taking photos DOH!) but the other cameras worked flawlessly. We installed the final two game cameras so we now have 7 operational cameras (well operational if someone who shall remain nameless to protect my identity) has set them properly.

I'll edit and post photos later.

The highlight of our trip was spending a glorious day at DIED's house. We help him haul in a significant piece of the forest and decorate it, enjoyed a magnificent meal prepared by his wife (Dave is blessed with a wonderful wife, her and JWHAP are great friends) and got to meet Tom Cruise. Tom is a magnificent young man, intelligent, articulate and yet to pick up the bad habits of his father (or his father's idiot friend). The "In El Dorados" are great folks, JWHAP and I are blessed to have them as our friends.

The low light of the trip was our return home.

We were met in our driveway by a neighbor that informed us that someone was seen carrying items out of our rental property late Thursday evening (the place should have been vacant). It turns out that the rental property was burglarized while we were gone. Fortunately not much was taken, only strange stuff (sheets, towels, cleaning supplies).

We made a report to the sheriffs office based upon a witnessing neighbors statement and a list of the missing items. There was no signs of forced entry, we believe that a prior vacation tenant copied the key for access and waited until the building looked empty. We spent yesterday replacing the locks (with digital key-less locks), replacing the stolen items and dealing with the Sheriffs office.

Ricki and I are getting a security system for Christmas.

But life is good, we have wonderful friends that care about our well being. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a message on our answering machine from none other than Bob Lusk checking on our welfare and wishing us a Merry Christmas. I was able to speak briefly with him yesterday. He is on other work adventure, hopefully he'll document this adventure here on the forums.

Needless to say the pond is more than full, there was water here, there, and everywhere.

I'll update this thread with photos after I'm done researching motion activated Gatling Guns.

Game camera photos from this trip...
Two bucks



A pair of foxes (no Brettski, not that kinda of foxes)


A Bobcat on the prowl...




Yet another trespasser, he obviously knows where the cameras are...

As a side note, game cameras are very fun to have.

You get to see lots of animals and any other wild and strange beasts that crosses in front of them.

Take for example the photo below....

Observe at the murderous look in the eyes.

Note the angry "I'm gonna hunt you down and kill you" brow line.

All the hair is standing up in an alert fashion.

Jeez scares the heck out of me just looking at the photo.

The front buck is trying to get away from the kinky one following him.

The larger fox is Mama and the other is her Kit.

Neat bobcat.

I think the trespasser just might be looking for a place to start a Mary Jane patch.

Don't kid yourself. Not even one of those hairs are standing up.

SEND RAIN HERE!!!

JHAP, what did the sheriff say about the previous trespassers and theft?

Are the buckets of rain just to the North or are they in the North County as well? I've got friends in Vista and Escondido right near Lake Hodges.

good photos, never seen a photo of an insurgent with a purse before.

it's a European hand bag!
jeesh

I thought he looked like the p**** whipped guy on the Geico commercial!

Seriously what's sticking out of the hand bag? And it looks like he's been digging as the knee area of his pants is dirty.

I'm gonna make a call to The Mentalist and we'll have a name and address in a jiffy!

home made pocket-fisherman

Not the Popiel model though.

Well you could tell the sheriff dep. that the trespasser in your pic. is a Tuareg.
http://www.newsfinder.org/site/more/tuareg/
Probbably not that many of them, living around your pond.
As for your request on Ark building plans, this would be a good link:
http://laughingsquid.com/dutch-man-builds-half-scale-replica-of-noahs-ark/

Merry Christmas

Looks like another one of those pesky middle eastern Gold prospecters.

I'd say that trespasser is definitely looking to plant some marijuana. Might want to walk the property and make sure that he's not growing on your place.

That's the story I would stick to incase the police find your medical stash.

Nothing really. Since we were not able to identify who was involved nor the date of the incident there wasn't much the Sheriff could do. Based upon their recommendations we filed a report on line.


San Diego County is getting hammered. The rainfall totals just for this storm (which began Sunday) is project to be between 4 to 5 inches (San Diego only normally averages about 9-10 inches of rain per year). There are numerous road closures due to flooding and mudslides.

My mom lives in Escondido near Lake Hodges.



We patrolled the entire property on Thursday (armed). Prior to these events I never though about being armed on my own property, now I carry a side arm. I don't know if that is paranoia or common sense.

As I mentioned previously we did some target practice while we were there. Both the 30-30 and the 38 Special echo down the valley (our property is at the east end of a small valley). I was pleasantly surprised as to how accurate JWHAP I were with both guns (neither of us had fired a gun in years prior to last week). We will now practice on each trip for two reasons (1) to improve marksmanship and (2) to put neighbors on notice. I didn't expect the 38 to be so loud, the dang thing sounds like a hand cannon (not that I have much experience with guns). There is a small arms course taught here in San Diego and JWHAP and I are going to take the course.

I found a great place on our property for a place to shoot. A large flat area that faces a steep heavily forested hill. The hill goes up about 60 feet and nothing is downrange except forest. We are going further improve this area for safety. We don't expect to be marksmen like some of you are (frankly I can't hardly imagine shooting hundreds of yards) but I do want to be able to hit Silhouette at a reasonable distance with a good degree of accuracy.

As far as the bag the trespasser is carrying, I zoomed in on it and I can't tell what it contains.

Oh and BTW I believe the politically correct term for the bag is Murse (Man pURSE).

JHAP, if you want to shoot something loud, try one of these.

Tarus Raging Bull in .480 Ruger

I've got one sans the graphics on the barrel. While it wouldn't be my go to piece for carrying around, you don't have to worry about not having enough gun!

As for shooting distances, once you start shooting past a couple hundred yards, the close stuff seems like childs play.

Target shooting and shooting at a live target can be quite different. Often only the first shot counts. When you target shoot, pay attention to where your first shot goes, and start out at an unmeasured distance, so you have to estimate it. If you have varmints, hunting them can be great practice for when you shoot at something that is more important for you to hit.

I looked at one of those and decided my Ruger Super Redhawk (44 mag) was enough for my wrists!

If you want to make a lot of noise. (and scare the crap out of the foreigners) (bad neighbors) Get yourself a Bushmaster or something and load up a bunch of 40 round clips. I have an XM-15 Competition and I bought my brother an AK Shorty, both in .223. Best time was 40 rounds in 7 seconds by pulling the trigger,(no mods) and hitting the target pretty well. At least when I bought my XM-15, Bushmaster will rebuild and re-chrome the barrel after 10,000 rounds for FREE. My gun guy is back in town He did a stint for a couple years down south. He is a military weapons trainer. 660 meters is a long way to Ace a target.

I'm always armed when walking my property.

Be aware, though, that if someone is growing pot on your property, they get very violent close to harvest time. That's when to get the law involved and stay clear.

I've read about the problems with marijuana growers. Sunil is right, some of them get pretty crazy and you don't want any part of that. Mainly the cartels running huge operations in remote parts of far northern CA, but you never know what will happen.

I think that making lots of noise and leaving lots of signs that people frequently visit the place is a good move. They'll decide to set up their illicit patch somewhere else if they think that your property has a high risk of discovery.

JHAP, how's the Ark coming along? I just heard that the Murf flooded........

On each visit I drive all around our property and have never found any evidence of any growing operation. There are so many square miles of forest around us that I don't believe we are at a huge risk for someone trying to plant one on our property.

Law enforcement officials are constantly finding illegal growing operations in remote federally owned parkland. From what I've read, these operations are usually quite remote and require quite a hike in.

Scott, the Murf (lol, haven't heard that name in a few years, Qualcomm bought the naming rights a few years back and it's now referred to as "The Q") is flooded - several feet of water covering the entire field and the parking lot is a lake. Perhaps they can host a kayak racing event.

JKB, I've been looking at AR-15s lately - California allows them but with many building restrictions (bullet buttons and I believe the max clip is 10 rounds).

Short barrel pump shotgun, intimidating and can't be beat for home defense.
my 2 cents.

"Short barrel pump shotgun, intimidating and can't be beat for home defense.
my 2 cents."

Word.

Agreed, I've been looking at and reading about Remington 870s and Mossberg 590s.

Also been looking at Glocks (23 and 27).

Damn, is this going to be an obsession?