Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How Come Gunwriters Don't Do Manual Labor

Glue horses, The Duck, Mini-van farming...

This here's a funny thread, I don't care who ya are.

Must be mountain cowboys.
At least there doesn't appear to be any Crocs on the jobsite...grin

Rest assured, most have wives, they do manual labor
MC

The way I hear it, Shrap provides the Coke.

Now, dealing coke out of a van is something I HAVE heard of.

I got away from that stuff years ago. It fizzes up on my glasses. Just can't get away from a posthole digger, though. In all fairness, though, I'm sure Mike supervised his wife loading the van, as he wouldn't want to mess up his typing finger. And Delby, welcome to the fire. If you're in Pennsylavnia some time, I'll let you dig some post holes, just to stay limber.

I suppose so, but I'd drive a PH digger (again ) to shoot with them fellers.

Posthole diggers, with which I am well-acquainted, are not technical enough for gun writers who insist on analyzing in detail the slightest minutiae of any activity. :-)

get after it and dig a friggen hole ain't no thanken thing.

Gaush

Mike's truck probably had a pair of gloves and other instruments of labor so he was willing to be photographed in the mini rather than risk being conscripted into service!


Mike

Gee, just got back about three hours ago from shooting doves in Argentina. If lifting a shotgun to your shoulder at least 1000 times a day doesn't qualify as manual labor, what does?

Do have to mention that I've done "real" manual labor for as little as $5 a day, though that did include room and board on a ranch in eastern Montana....

With the pics we have already seen for gunwriters that argues against them doing manual labor, I gotta say it

"Pics or it didn't happen!"

John, you were on the bottom of the pay scale? Relatives? The way they figured in W. Montana was since there were less rocks you got paid $1.00 per hour & lunch or $8.00 per day, whichever was less. But you damn well better make a bunch of holes. E. Montana we made less because we had to pull the rocks out of the holes, room & board because it was 50 miles to town. The ranch there figured since we were young & ate a lot that they were actually paying us $1500 per month. (Tax write off as "casual" labor)
MC

Yeah, I was probably on the bottom of the pay scale, since it was my first job out of high school. But by the next year I was working for $12 a day plus room and board!

In 1975 I got $4.50 an hour for driving truck during wheat harvest on a nearby farm. Got a raise from $3.50 after the first day, because when one of the combines got plugged up, instead of sitting on my ass in the truck (like most of the drivers did) I walked over there and helped the combine driver pull weeds and wheat stalks out of the header.

By the early 80's I'd worked my way up to what was essentially foreman on a custom-cutting crew. Got $7.50 an hour and room and board, not a bad deal back then, especially when you're working at least 15 hours a day without any real opportunity to spend it!

I've dug post holes, but always liked how they "build fence" in rural north central PA, near my camp. An uncle taught me that trade when I was big enough to swing a maul without maiming bystanders.

Have a pile of pointed locust posts on the wagon, ball or two of barbed wire, pail of staples, fence "plahrs", claw hammer, pointed diggin' iron and a post maul. A wire stretcher is optional fer them what's really anal about taut barbed wire.

When the frost is gone and the pasture ground is soft, but firm enough so's the Farmall doesn't "get fast", time to fix fence. Poke a hole with the diggin' iron; Waller it around to make a tapered hole in the ground; Insert locust post and drive it tight with the maul. Once the ground dries up some, it ain't going anywhere. Install wire, go drink a cold beer.

Come the next spring, drive around and whack the posts tight again, if they've loosened. Replace the broken/rotted ones.

Works well for dairy cattle. Ain't really worth much for beefers, nags or anything else with little sense for staying where you want 'em to stay.

Although we generally dug a hole for gate posts, when necessary. I usually found something else that needed done, if I suspected we were setting gate posts.

Nice van. Looks kinda "tactical"?

Wow I feel lucky, I was paid $15 a day on a ranch in central MT. Of course that was back in the 80s so the price of labor had no doubt gone up by then. I was able to by my first rifle with the money though.

First job out of high school was running a JD 7520 working summerfallow. $25/day, plus room and board. I thought it was pretty good in 1978. First day, I opened up the lunch cooler, and was amazed at the amount of food. Being young, I ate a good share of it. Was politely informed that while there would be new sandwiches each day, the large, family sized bag of chips was supposed to last at least two or three days....

Just a Hunter,

Out of curiosity, I logged onto the U.S. inflation calculator, and found out my $5 a day in 1969 was just about equivalent to $15 a day in 1985.

IIRC, first time I worked for anyone other than my parents, I made $5/hr (late 80's) I usually got fed picking rocks, but I had to pack my own lunch when I was driving trucks / tractor.