A discussion forum vaguely associated with the webcomic Templar, Arizona.
Agreed with LouisatheLast. Soaker hoses have a unique texture and just drilling holes in a regular garden hose wouldn't work well. They'd get all cloggy and gross.
Running soaker hoses through a garden/around plantings (including trees) works really well and cuts down on evaporation loss. They work even when coated with mud and wet mulch and manure/fertilizer.
Just remember where you buried 'em. I must've chopped through, man, dozens of soaker hoses every summer I did landscaping, nobody ever knew where they were.
Oh yeah just remembered this is for the dude who wanted to eat vermin. Bonus, delivered by a dude with exactly the perfect face for delivering a series of friendly walkthroughs on killing and skinning things.
Just remember where you buried 'em. I must've chopped through, man, dozens of soaker hoses every summer I did landscaping, nobody ever knew where they were.
Oh yeah just remembered this is for the dude who wanted to eat vermin. Bonus, delivered by a dude with exactly the perfect face for delivering a series of friendly walkthroughs on killing and skinning things.
One of my favorite landscaping adventures was the douchebag who <i>MOVED THE FUCKING JULIE FLAGS</I> and then got all pissed when I accidentally cut through his cable line and his tv stopped working.
maecrab
Member
Here's sort of what I was talking about earlier: www.yougrowgirl.com/garden/dripsystem.php . I think there might have been a misunderstanding about exactly what I meant. This technique is no replacement for a drip irrigation system, but it has a lot of the same benefits and others, which I described before (probably not too well-- I've been moving all weekend and am not at my most lucid). This site isn't where I first read about it, but it's the first thing to come up on a google search.
And yeah, the guy teachig the drip irrigation class suggested securely staking your lines so the emitter heads don't shift, flaging the main hose junctures, and taking pictures of your lines before you cover them. Part of the demonstration also used what he called micro-sprays, which don't drip into the ground but are like tiny baby sprinklers, so the evaporation is still pretty minimized. They seemed like a good idea for densely planted veggie beds.
maecrab
Member
Also, while selling body parts is probably never the BEST option, donating plasma beats a lot of other ways of obtaining cash quickly. Also, bloodbanks will occasionally offer incentives for giving blood; my best friend's dad gets anything from giftcards and icecream (the promotion was called "A Pint for a Pint") to mp3 players, and it's for a good cause, too.
maecrab
Member
I'm about halfway through a book called Edible Container Gardens, by Michael Guerra. This shit is awesome. So far it's been telling a lot about making good use of very small spaces, including rooftops, balconies, sideyards, or even your building's assigned parking space, by using vertical space and properly potting and arranging plants together for maximum benefit. Has a lot of good info on different types of containers and their pros/cons, and has a lot of things you have to take into consideration when gardening in containers, like how quickly the soils nutrients are used up, how fast it dries up, how to take weight into consideration on a balcony, which plants to pot together, and on and on. Just awesome. Also suggests making your own compost even in an apartment with a little worm box in your kitchen. I got it from my city library, so it's probably pretty widely available.
Anonymous
Unregistered
I'm new so if I mess anything up let me know guys. 
I've been living away from my parents since I was 17, (rent and job, not at uni), and I've picked up a few tips on the way, most are quite obvious now that I know them actually, but here goes.
Always have a sewing kit - Most trousers will hold like new if you just stitch them back up.
If it's a large tear, cut them into lots of rags instead of buying new cloths every time you polish and dust the house. (I even used them as dishcloths, but it's not as easy to scrub with.)
If you're poor and fancy a takeaway - eat some toast and butter first, then wait half hour. Do you still really want that takeaway you were thinking about now?
The cheapest tinned/packets foods are almost always just as good as the brand ones. Don't be fooled by people saying it's the same ingredients as dog food, I've heard that phrase countless times, all by people who have never known how hard it can be to budget to the end of the month.
(Also, I don't see dog food killing dogs, so if it was true, it isn't gonna kill me.)
Body heat is a free source of heat! My gas ran out at the end of the month once, and it was a week until payday, in the middle of winter. Wrap yourself in a blanket, make a coffee, extra layers, anything, make sure you keep warm.
We all mess up our budget sometimes - If you have no money, there's no shame in asking a friend for some supplies (bread, butter, milk) until you get paid, just remember to pay them back! (I know some people will not accept repayment, but it's still polite to offer.[my other half still doesn't get this].)
Sorry if I've repeated any from others, or if I've screwed this up. I'll shut up now.
Anonymous
Unregistered
Oh I forgot one.
Plastic containers!!! If you don't finish a meal / make too much of something / make something in advance, these can go in the freezer and be a godsend at desperate times.
birdtongue
Member
well, my sheltered 'might as well have been raised in the 'burbs' beau has so far refused to go into the supermercado, but i can tell my sensibilities are rubbing off on him; i WILL have my sketchy corn tamales and i WILL find a Korean market to pillage. ever the route to a man's heart is through his stomach, muahaha. ahem.
that said, i do enjoy cooking... sometimes. my best advice is to actually plan meals a week (or more) at a time, as you can 'double-dip' on supplies for multiple meals. this also makes buying in bulk or as part of a co-op less haphazard while allowing for variety. for example, fajitas, casserole, lasagna and stirfry will have many of the same veggies, but you won't get bored eating the same. damn. thing. every night. to that end, we always have onions, garlic and bell peppers on hand. garlic, needless to say, is effing delicious, but, ordinarily, also good for you and has various uses. similarly, honey is amazingly useful for things other than making everything more tasty -- for one, it's an antiseptic, ooh, ah. vodka is, y'know, vodka, but it's also great in a creamy spaghetti sauce and also as a cleaning agent and also other stuff. i mostly stick to food uses, but it's nice to know that if i don't want to pee on a jellyfish sting, i can instead use the vodak. well, not nice, but it's too late to un-know it -- then again, vodka can cure that!
frozen produce is easily thrown back in the freezer after cooking, always available, negates the chance of wasting some fresh stuff you just haven't felt like cooking, and generally going to have more vitamins due to being preserved immediately after picking; most supermarket fruit & veggies travel long distances and proceed to sit, gradually decaying the entire time, including when you take them home. fresh-picked produce is, unquestionably, one of the great joys in eating, but frozen keeps. canned is often lovely, but may also have loads of sodium/corn syrup if commercial.
as for getting food, community gardens are getting more popular, and there's always foraging trees and brambles on public property. seems there are groups who do just that, and locate those plants for gathering. mushrooms definitely take more subtle learning, but that's an option.
having durable, well-maintained cooking supplies are essential for making it an easy and enjoyable task -- we pipe music into the kitchen and have little dance breaks, too. knives and such can be picked up at Goodwill, etc., but restaurant supply stores are treasure dens. a pot, saute pan and sharp knife will take you a long way.
i guess you work in enough restaurants, you start blathering about food on the internet. ...naw, i just love food. om nom nom.
I am shocked --shocked!-- by the amount of people who are otherwise handy and competent (even skilled!) who do not know how to cook rice in a pot.
Once we are moved and I have a kitchen that has work space other than "a cutting board over the sink" and "a cutting board on the oven" I'm going to put up step by step instructions with photos on how to cook rice and some other basic recipes.
I feel kinda guilty posting in on this thread, since Paul and I are decidedly not poor at the moment (though this is always subject to change at a pink-slip's notice), but I spent a lifetime accumulating frugal habits, and they are in large part responsible for us not being poor.
The one thing I'm surprised hasn't been discussed more is food preservation. Sure, you can chuck stuff in the freezer -- and Bridgid, You and N. are entirely right to be saving your pennies for one, it's the single best way to save money on food -- but every person who has a stable living arrangement and who wants to live frugally should own a copy of The Joy Of Cooking and The Ball Blue Book, both of which are readily available at thrift stores and yard sales. They're indispensable guides to putting up food. I don't have to scrape for every dime anymore, but I still put up lots of food because it a) it saves money and b) it's just the right thing to do. Here are some easy ones you can do without any more equipment than some mason jars, rings and lids:
1) Sauerkraut / kimchee / pickles -- I make my own kraut with onions and garlic, and believe me, there's a huge difference between homemade and storebought. Huge. Cabbage is always dirt cheap, and so's kielbasa. Vegetarians, make spaetzle and serve alongside.
2) Yogurt -- Catch milk when it's on sale and you can make a gallon of plain yogurt for less than the cost of a single quart. Flavor with:
3) Homemade jam -- If fruit is too expensive to buy, keep an eye out around your neighborhood for free berries. In downtown Kalamazoo, three of the ornamental trees planted on our block are serviceberries, which make the loveliest jam. Mulberries are also easy to find, and you can spike their flavor with a bit of balsamic vinegar, if you have some on hand.
4) Tomato sauce -- if you don't grow your own, consider springing for a bushel of tomatoes from the farmer's market or a roadside stand. I spend one Saturday a year making a huge batch of sauce (22 quarts last year, and when I'm done I look like an extra from a gore flick) and it's entirely worth it. Throw in some cheap red wine, peppers and onions, and you've got a versatile base for a hundred meals, or add some stale bread and make gourmet tomato soup.
5) Paneer/Queso Blanco -- again, wait for milk to go on sale and you can have a pound of cheese for what you paid for the gallon.
Another tip is to pick up a cheap food dehydrator the next time you're at the thrift store; it's especially useful if you can't afford a freezer. I got mine for $10, and it was a huge help when we were trying to stretch our dollars. Having one means that when overripe bananas are on sale for $.10/lb you can buy 5 lbs worth and make the most delicious banana jerky you've ever eaten. Ditto with overripe tomatoes, peaches, berries, etc. -- get them as 'seconds' or just watch the sale rack in the produce section. I've also been making Kale chips to encourage myself to eat more green-n-leafies, and pack "sun-dried" tomatoes in most of my lunches.
As birdtongue just mentioned, there's lots of other local edibles to be gathered; the park across the street from us grows a huge amount of purslane and lambs' quarters, our neighbor rakes bushels of black walnuts into the gutter for city pickup, and there are morels to be gathered at the local nature center if you know what you're doing. You can also make acorn bread from white, pin or bur oaks, which I've done, but which falls into Ivan's category of If-you're-doing-this-you're-beyond-the-scope-of-this-project. You might try it for a fun afternoon project with a little kid, but it's pretty over the top as far as return on time investment.
Lastly, I'd recommend owning a sourdough starter -- you can make artesian-quality bread for the cost of flour and distilled water, in practically no time. It does require a bit of maintenance, but much less than owning a goldfish, I've found. If anyone wants one, email me and I'll send you a chunk of mine.
I'm starting a sourdough starter once we've moved, because I do not want to invest the time and energy into one only to have it die en route. Because I will probably drop it.
maecrab
Member
I cannot believe that nobody—myself included—has mentioned day-old bread stores yet. Big bread companies like Mrs. Baird's have outlet stores (here's a link to their city search [url=http://www.mrsbairds.com/company/outlet_stores.php[/url]) where they sell bread that is NOT past it's expiration, date, mind you; large grocery stores only buy loaves that are 1-2 days old, but they're meant to keep for 1-3 days on the store shelves and then as much as 2 weeks at someone's house. So the day-old bread outlets are just selling bread that the grocery store won't buy from them, but that's just as fresh as what you'd get there. The way the Mrs. Baird's store in Austin worked was any loaf of bread, including the expensive 12-wheat-with-nuts-and-shit kind that I love, was under $2. They also sold basically whatever else Mrs. Baird's makes, including coffee cakes and pastries, bags of powdered and "chocolate"-covered donuts, jellies, tortillas, pita bread, hamburger/hotdog buns, etc. And when you buy a certain dollar amount of stuff, you get a corresponding number of freebies from the free shelf—stuff they have a surplus of or really IS getting close to expiration.
All in all, it's a great deal if you eat a lot of bread or to go by if you're planning a barbecue or having guests or some such. Or to buy bread at if you live close to one; they are usually conveniently located in the poorest, take-your-valuables-out-of-your-car parts of town, jus' like us po' folk!
fishcake
Member
How much did a basic loaf of white bread cost, compared to the actual bakeries? I mean if the price diff. was only 50 cents it wouldn't be really worth it unless you lived within walking distance or had a big freezer to stock up for a week.
How much did a basic loaf of white bread cost, compared to the actual bakeries? I mean if the price diff. was only 50 cents it wouldn't be really worth it unless you lived within walking distance or had a big freezer to stock up for a week.
My mom used to stop by the Pepperidge Farm outlet store which was about half a mile away from my orthodontist, every time I had an appointment. Which was frequently. For something like 15 years. It wasn't out of the way at all. We also had a freezer in the basement specifically for bulk goods like bread and frozen foods bought while on sale. The price difference was far FAR more than 50 cents, but I couldn't say what it was. I want to say stuff was, like, half price.
There's an Entemann's outlout near the Target we shop at, but every time we go there it's closed.
maecrab
Member
How much did a basic loaf of white bread cost, compared to the actual bakeries?
We also had a freezer in the basement specifically for bulk goods like bread and frozen foods bought while on sale.
Welp, I'll be moving ahead with this as a book. FYI.
More to come.
pencilears
Member
ok so, a note on urban and suburban hunting and fishing. mostly fishing,(because I don't think this has been covered yet?)
first thing, this article http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-urban-hunt/Content?oid=81126 for a guy who went out and bagged pigeons and rats among other animals
before you fish or hunt you need to get a license for what you are about to go fish or hunt, these can run expensive, but will last you all year, if you opt for a lot of add on's like extra tags for stuff like cougars or salmon it will be more expensive but probibly not more than buying several whole slamon. (assuming you have the gear and the skills to get a salmon)
there may be situations in your state where you can kill with out a licnece, but I doubt it, and remember if you get caught, in addition to any fines levvied against you they will take all the gear you have on you as well. this can include your boat if you're lucky enough to have one.
so, Don't Poach
on fishing: the gear for fishing can look very expensive, but if you are looking to find and reel in trout you can get buy with a cheapass pole,reel, and used tackle from a garage sale or the kidddie section of fred-myer, you may need new fishing line, if the line has been on the reel for too long it will curl and when asked to do something exciting like reel in a fish will snarl and snag on itself. you can dig for your own worms but you might not get as many worms as you'd like and most fish will not go for a red worm from your compost pile speared on a hook bigger then the worm. go for bait and not fancy lures unless you already have the lures.
you may also want a creel, a peice of heavy plastic string with a huge needle on the end, this is for keeping fish alive and caught. attach one end firmly to your boat or whatever with the needle end hanging free, upon catching a fish, bring the needle up from under through the middle of the jawbone under the tongue of the fish, where the hyoid bone is in humans, so that the fish is threaded like a bead on the line, release fish back into the water and secure the pointy end in anticipation of getting another fish to put on it.
do this fast and they'll stay alive in the water while you get a few more.
fish are very easy to clean. smack it once or twice sharply on the back of the head untill it stops wriggeling, then cut from the "vent" at the hind end to the throat being careful not to peirce the intestines by cutting too deeply. the fish should be open like a wallet filled with guts, gently scrape them out. most should go easily, the swim bladder and (I think) the kidneys are often stuck to the spine, you gotta scrape it good or the leftover guts will rot your fish or make it distasteful before you can eat it.
a steak or grapefruit knife works fine for all this.
you can remove the heads or not, it's a matter of style, if you chose to take it off you can make fish stock out of the heads or use them for crab bait. but they do stink so they must be stored in a gag in the freezer or used promptly.
the easiest way to cook trout is on a bed of onions, if you have bacon, cook a strip or two down a bit for the grease, put the onions in that and put the fish, skin on, on top of that, flip it once and remember that in general fish cooks fast.
--
when you go looking for shellfish, you may need a specific shellfish license, those can be bought for the day and run cheaper then a bucket of clams at the store.
you will need a bucket a shovel and a tide table if you're looking for clams, oysters, or mussels, stranded whales, or half eaten shark kills to scavenge from. in general, times of the month with particularly low tides are the during the new and full moons and on the west coast you get around two tides a day. if you don't have all day to wait for the water to recede check the tables first.
you mostly gotta poke around, look for squirts and dig after them, clams will flee you and shovels will pulverize shells if used improperly. don't keep animals smaller then the limit, or more animals than the limit for above mentioned fish and game department reasons. throw back oyster shells because more oysters will grow on them later.
mussels cling to things, look for big ones and pull them off carefully, mussel shells are more delicate then clams or oysters.
to cook, oysters because you should have cleaned them on the beach and thrown back shells, should be gooey blobs of snot in a plastic bag, fry them. first extract individual blob, wash it off under the tap, then dip in egg/milk mixture and bread and fry as normal. voilah!
clams and mussles must be steamed, put them into a pot add some water, try not to boil them, and boil, turning the pile as necessary, until they have all opened up.
--
voilah!
pencilears
Member
oh and, if you can, old copies of the Joy Of cooking show you how to dress and the best recipies to use for small game, like squrells, raccons, and opossoms.
old copies of the The Joy are good in general for making anything from scratch.
edit:
and for the non-urban oriented poorcrafter you can easily pick up used copies of the Foxfire anthologies, these are books filled with stories and information from old people in Appalachia on things like, how to make your own chairs.
http://www.foxfire.org/
maecrab
Member
there may be situations in your state where you can kill with out a licnece, but I doubt it, and remember if you get caught, in addition to any fines levvied against you they will take all the gear you have on you as well.A friend of mine that hunts and still lives in Texas recently told me that because of the wild pig problem in parts of rural texas, boar is pretty much always in open season. This might be something to check out, for anyone living in Texas; maybe a couple of your friends will pitch in for a group hunting trip? But I've always heard hunting boar is dangerous as hell, too.
A friend of mine that hunts and still lives in Texas recently told me that because of the wild pig problem in parts of rural texas, boar is pretty much always in open season. This might be something to check out, for anyone living in Texas; maybe a couple of your friends will pitch in for a group hunting trip? But I've always heard hunting boar is dangerous as hell, too.
Just thought I'd mention it.
Pest animals change from state to state, apparently a lot of the South counts wild pigs among those. They're pretty much the only one I'm aware of that I'd want to eat. It's not like varminting is all that much less restrictive than licensed game hunting most places anyway.
on fishing: the gear for fishing can look very expensive, but if you are looking to find and reel in trout you can get buy with a cheapass pole,reel, and used tackle from a garage sale or the kidddie section of fred-myer, you may need new fishing line, if the line has been on the reel for too long it will curl and when asked to do something exciting like reel in a fish will snarl and snag on itself. you can dig for your own worms but you might not get as many worms as you'd like and most fish will not go for a red worm from your compost pile speared on a hook bigger then the worm. go for bait and not fancy lures unless you already have the lures.
Are minnows legal out where you are? I'm not sure whether bait restrictions are a common thing or just limited to the recreational fishing type places I've gone.
One thing that didn't get mentioned is check the safety warnings on whatever body of water you fish from. Pretty much any river or pond that's not in a national park or in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, with no major tributaries that might run by say a factory, is going to be poison. Bottom-feeders and filter critters like catfish and clams get dangerously toxic really fast, and anything that eats them stores up all kinds of gross shit. Usually if there's any designated fishing waters in your area the state'll have warnings about the specific major pollutants and dosage limits, around here they for some reason still allow fishing although there's signs posted all along the riverside stating that eating more than one fish a month will give you a toxic dose of PCBs.
A friend of mine that hunts and still lives in Texas recently told me that because of the wild pig problem in parts of rural texas, boar is pretty much always in open season. This might be something to check out, for anyone living in Texas; maybe a couple of your friends will pitch in for a group hunting trip? But I've always heard hunting boar is dangerous as hell, too.
Just thought I'd mention it.
On the other hand, a friend of mine who lives and hunts in rural Texas accidentally ended up shooting a pig which had escaped from a nearby ranch, and had to pay the owner for it. Just a warning.
Don't feral pigs and farm pigs kinda... not look similar? I've never seen a wild pig in person, but I thought they were all skinny and black and hairy and stuff.
All cats are grey at night.
Don't feral pigs and farm pigs kinda... not look similar? I've never seen a wild pig in person, but I thought they were all skinny and black and hairy and stuff.
I think in some places there are feral pigs who are the offspring of escaped domestic pigs. They don't look like boars at all.
pencilears
Member
[quote]Don't feral pigs and farm pigs kinda... not look similar? I've never seen a wild pig in person, but I thought they were all skinny and black and hairy and stuff.
all feral pigs derive from escaped domestic animals. I think the big trick is asking the property owner before you hunt on their land. most people are more than happy to have some body else go out and get problem pigs off their land.
[quote][quote]Don't feral pigs and farm pigs kinda... not look similar? I've never seen a wild pig in person, but I thought they were all skinny and black and hairy and stuff.
Feral animals descended from domestic stock start losing domestic markers after enough generations and depending on how many generations they've been in the wild can look identical to or very different from domestic animals.
Anyone who hunts on somebody elses' land without permission is a jackass who should be prosecuted.
Also, from what I've read most of the feral pig population comes from more colonial-era/conquistador pigs, which had a lot physically in common with the original animal and not so much with the modern meat-tub that can't really make it on its own. The difference the last few hundred years has made in domesticated species has been pretty enormous. See also: third-world cows and pigs that look absolutely nothing like Western factory-farm animals. But that's something for another thread.
Hunting on someone else's land without permission is a violation of the basic firearm safety rules and a good way to get a manslaughter rap, though I don't think that's what happened here? Animals leave their owners' property all the time. I think it's more a scenario of not being sure of your target before you shoot it, which in the same category of being an asshole. I've been shot at by dudes who just blast at anything they hear rustling in the bushes before, I know goddamn well. Like it's fucking difficult to wait two minutes to get a good look to make sure it's not a person or a dog before you cut loose.
I guess that means it's time for
Or: So you bought a rifle and think you're gonna use it to get food cheap and easy. What a sucker.
Four important things to memorize, keep you from killing someone else:
1. Know what the hell it is you're shooting at. That means both the target (bullseye, deer, coworker) and whatever's behind it. Pistols miss. Rifle rounds go right the hell through things. Ideally your backstop is a whole lot of dirt or a bunch of trees with no houses or high-traffic areas for at least a few hundred yards in that direction. If you can't tell where your bullets might wind up (and all bullets can punch through a lot more than you'd think), walk over there and find out. Also, try not to hit rocks or metal, the one you ultimately shoot may be yourself!
2. The last thing idiots and the friends of idiots hear is "Don't worry, it ain't loaded!" Bolt is in the gun, action's closed? You don't know what the hell is in there. Even if you just checked. For that reason, you keep the action open until you've got the gun pointed where you want holes to be made. For some reason nobody ever figures this one out.
3. For the same reason, keep your finger off the trigger unless you're ready to shoot something. If it's loaded you'll break something, if it's not loaded everyone who saw you do it will rightfully beat the shit out of you and there's a good chance your firing pin will snap in half to save itself the indignity of being involved in a murder trial later on down the road.
4. Open-bolt guns are kinda banned so odds are whatever you get won't go off when you drop it, but all the same don't leave the thing sitting around loaded. For safety's sake (and because I do sometimes have to clean my guns and maaaaybe sometimes load 'em full of snap caps and play with 'em) I usually keep my ammo in a box several feet away from the gun. 12ga slugs wind up in the strangest damn places otherwise. And remember that even when they're not loaded they're still loaded. Goes double if you're ever gonna have kids or drunken idiot friends in the house.
The less important rules, keep you from killing yourself:
1. Clean and maintain your gun. Especially when you first get it. Poorly-cleaned guns do all kinds of crazy things. Maybe it doesn't feed. Maybe the barrel rusts to pieces. Maybe it turns into a machine gun without warning. Fairly knowledgeable and safe people have been killed by their own slamfiring SKSes etc. Even if you're not that unlucky, it's a basic thing to extending the life of your gun and maintaining any semblance of accuracy and reliability - especially in old guns or ones using Warsaw Pact ammo (AKs, Mosins, all the cheap fun stuff) which use corrosive primers that can eat holes in your gun if not cleaned (and cleaned, and cleaned) after use.
2. Know what you're putting in the gun, and where it comes from. For anyone in the range of the market where they're actually worried about saving money, there's a lot of shitty ammo out there. Most of the commercial and surplus stuff that's seriously problematic is well-documented and has a serious bad rap already, but if you've got any doubt about a batch of ammunition check the headstamp (the little letters printed on the back of the cartridge) and run it through Google to see what pops up. Two equally-priced boxes of ammo might be radically different in ballistics or accuracy. Keep the hell away from really disreputable makes and (unless you really know the guy) reloaded ammo - the difference between a gun and a hand grenade is mostly how much powder's in it.
3. Know how to use the gun - or any gun, really. When you first get it, take it apart, figure out how it works. Practice with it until you're actually any good. Learn proper stance and firing techniques. Maybe start with a low-powered gun like a .22. Guns are big, noisy pneumatic tools jerking around in your hands, if you fuck around and screw up it's easy to wind up scared of them and then you've got no hope of being any good at all. First rifle I ever shot was what, like three years ago, first time I took it out I tried handling it like it was a dead squirrel, when it went off it kicked back and gave me a big bloody dent in my forehead. Now that I actually know a little something I can shoot humongous old Soviet battle rifles with a steel plate for a recoil pad all day long and not even wind up sore at the end.
4. When you're starting out, hang out around gun people. They're unpleasant, hate newbies, don't know half of what they think they do, and 95% of them are tremendous unabashed racists. Don't wind up that guy. Also, they know where all the good deals are, where the good legal hunting is, how to shoot safely and properly, and some of the creepy nazi guys have garages full of awesome WWII machine guns and even more insane stuff they'll let you shoot.
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