MADDOG, a longtime member and respected contributor to this forum and an Alaskan hunting guide, recently had 17 guns stolen, including a .416 Rem Magnum and a .375 H&H -- guns that are obviously critical to his livelihood. Others came from his father and are the kind of item you simply can't place a value on. (There's a post elsewhere on this board in the classifieds)

His guns were well-protected in a safe, but the police note that this was the work of professsional thieves. This is something that could happen to any of us and is obviously devastating.

MADDOG has not asked for help. I have not spoken to him about my intentions. But I have dealt with him before and know that he is a hard-working individual just trying to make an honest living.

So, I'd like to ask board members to show their generosity and, if you can, help out. If those who are able to help would contribute a few bucks, it would add up quickly and help Marc get recoup some of his losses.

Since it's a Saturday, I can't create a special bank account for this. But I have cleared out my business PayPal account. It costs you nothing to use PayPal, but it you are paying with a credit card instead of a bank account, it costs me 3 percent. That's fine. I will pick up all of the PayPal charges so that Maddog gets your entire contribution. I will make available a printout of all the transactions for anyone interested (in case any of you think I would pocket any of the $$).

I will then send the money directly to Maddog in a money order so that he can use it for whatever he'd like.

My e-mail for the Paypal pymnt. is:

btomek@gvec.net

Please use Maddog as the memo line (not guns as paypal is a little funny that way)

I will start with the first $25. My wife is matching that, so we have $50 for starters.

Anyone else care to help out?

Thanks in advance...

Also, if there's a better way than I propose for handling this, I do welcome your suggestions.

I should have put it in the original post, but for a check or a m/o, you can send to:

IMAGES by Bobby
c/o Bobby Tomek
PO Box 165
Shiner TX 77984

Please put "Maddog" on the memo line.

I just matched your contribution. Let us all help out one our fellows in his time of need. Ask for a list of the stolen guns and serial numbers so we can be on the look out for them.

Why does he need money? He won't get enough insurance to buy a new .375?

Were I in his shoes...the kind of help I'd love to get from fellow board members would be related to getting my guns back.

How about posting on every web forum and classified page you can find, including the major Craigslist cities, a list of all items stolen, with a description.

Also faxing the list to every pawn shop and police department we can think of.

Those guns have to turn up somewhere, for sale......

DavidAk wrote:

quote:

the kind of help I'd love to get from fellow board members would be related to getting my guns back.

That's being done. Please check the classifieds section for more details if you'd like.

He didn't ask for ANYTHING. I initiated this action on my own.

Currently, through the tremendous generosity of the AR family, a big bore rifle is being put together complete with scope, ammo and dies. Those details, too, can be found in the classifieds.

By the way, there's a good chance his insurance company is likely to spend more on postage (0.39) to send him a letter than the amount of compensation he may or may not receive.