Ukraine (32 Viewers)

[SamAndreas]

In the early 2000s I had a neighbor in Nacogdoches Tx who was the constant "side hustle" type.

He worked as a mechanic, occasionally had side projects when he found a junkyard car that was an easy fix and flip. He had a side business cutting down and clearing felled trees, fixed up an old splitter, and sold firewood... etc.

His favorite thing was hog hunting with his dogs. He dissallowed guns whenever someone came on his hunts, he was afraid someone would shoot his dogs. He loved his dogs and took great care of them... he had mostly bluetick hounds for tracking and baying and pit-bulls for tackling and pinning the hogs down.

He always came back with at least one angry 100-200 lb hog in his trailer cage, and typically a few more in the bed of the truck.

He would sell the bigger ones (200-300 lbs) to local rodeos, and the rest were sold to individuals, and even a few resturants, as food. (Im pretty sure there were ordinance violations in there)

Anyway one night one of his two favorite dogs was gored badly. The vet suggested putting him down because treatment would cost thousands, and the dog was not going to be able to breed again anyway with its injuries.

He told the vet to save his dog, but things were tight with his wife pregnant so he had to scramble to get more money.

One of the side gigs he picked up was trapping raccoons.. a guy who used their pelts in his own side business would come and buy them whole. One day when I was there my friend asked if he wanted him to skin them for him from now on. The guy said "No way. I sell the pelt, I eat the coon. Them is the best eatin", and he proceeded to tell us all the ways to prepare and eat raccoon.

I hate to say this, but that was not a very good food recommendation.

What on Earth would the local rodeos there do with the bigger hogs they bought?

The local rodeos where I grew up didn't use hogs at all. Sometimes they would use girls, but I would imagine that was done for a different purpose.

 

[BigFrosty]

 

[Crzycjunx76]

I hate to say this, but that was not a very good food recommendation.

What on Earth would the local rodeos there do with the bigger hogs they bought?

The local rodeos where I grew up didn't use hogs at all. Sometimes they would use girls, but I would imagine that was done for a different purpose.

Did a quick search to see if any of the "rodeos" still operate.

Top of the results has wild hog rodeo events and a wild hog cookoff.

Cook-off, wildhog bay, ranch rodeo set for Nixon Nov. 9-10 - Wilson County News

Feral hog hunters using dogs have an opportunity to win money during the Wildhog Bay contest in Nixon. This event will be held during the 30th annual Nixon-Smiley Livestock Show Wild Hog Cook-off and Ranch Rodeo, set for Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10, in the Nixon-Smiley Livestock Show Barn and...

www.wilsoncountynews.com

Also... apparently they have their own rodeo classification.

Hog-dog rodeo - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[BigFrosty]

Big news coming from RU telegram.

 

[itztime]

I don't think anyone would eat a raccoon. It would be too much like eating a Norwegian rat, or a skunk.

Skunks are very like raccoons.

Coons are a thing to eat, a buddy of mine a few years back, did some trapping for a side hustle for the pelts. He had a running wait list for the meat at work, he had to leave at least one foot on, to prove it wasn’t a skinned cat or they wouldn’t buy the meat.

 

[staphory]

Coons are a thing to eat, a buddy of mine a few years back, did some trapping for a side hustle for the pelts. He had a running wait list for the meat at work, he had to leave the at least one foot one, to prove it wasn’t a skinned cat or they wouldn’t buy the meat.

I’ve had it before. It’s not terrible.

 

[CajunInVA]

I’ve had it before. It’s not terrible.

Same here. Just have to take care cleaning it.

 

[BigFrosty]

 

[BigFrosty]

 

[BigFrosty]

Because, why not?

 

[BigFrosty]

 

[BigFrosty]

Nice shot.

 

[BigFrosty]

Never realized how big these are.

 

[BigFrosty]

Fantastic breakdown of a raid from the viewpoint of a foreign legion humvee gunner in a quick strike recon unit.

 

[Crzycjunx76]

But while they're doing that could Ukraine lose the Donbas or be pushed out of Bahkmut forcing Ukraine to have disengage and relocate troops. If Russia starts pouring forces into the area could they regain the initiative?
I don't have any military experience so I don't know. I'm good at worrying though.

My uneducated opinion is it is going to be a hard time of year to make gains in the Bahkmut and other northern areas. That regions average temperature is below freezing from Dec through Feb and it is also the wettest time of the year there. There is enough of a force, and most importantly artillery, to keep them from making serious gains... and the weather is going to be hard on ill equipped invaders with poor supply lines. Pushing for gains in those conditions against well supplied defenders will be grueling and costly.

To the south on the other hand it gets cold and wet, but stays mostly (just) above freezing.. the Russians are on their heels there, if their line on the south of the Dnipro is broken they could face a rout, and conditions still allow for rapid advances.
I see a push south, but if the Russian defense there is rotten and hollow, with little to hault a rout if they are pushed off the river, I could maybe see gains as far east as Meripol as well before winter is past.

To the south in Crimea Russia has their most established naval port, airbases, and transportation infrastructure within Ukraines border's. If you can push the Russian's back to the Syvash you have all of those targets under HIMARS range. Of course if UKR had ATACMS, it would already be in range.

If you can accomplish that before the northern "theatre" of the conflict thaws out... and hit the southern airbases, "black sea fleet", and take out supply lines from the Kerch straight out of the equation, then focusing on the east becomes that much easier.

Also highway maps are very useful...paved roads valuable in this mess so cities like Melitopol, a railway and highway hub, though small, are important.