I'm sure that if you read enough books, you too can give good advice, OM. Don't give up hope! We can only aspire to that doctoral degree in urban backpacking....

I went to a friend's house for a slumber party once and they talked me into a real live snipe hunt! (I'm not making this bit up, either.) They walked me out into the manzanita on a hill a couple miles from the house (my friend's family lived out in the foothills on a dirt road) and left me there with the sack as they wandered out making noises through the brush to drive them back my direction. Once I was sure they were out of sight, I walked back to the house cross country and was sitting on the couch watching tv when they got back - no one commented on it, and when I commented that I had made it back in time to dress out the snipe and put them in the freezer, no one bothered to look....