By: Bears Butt

I was stationed in Germany, just outside of Weisbaden, a town of relative size, say, about the size of Ogden, Utah. The USAF sent me there after my tour was up in Viet Nam….seems the folks on the other side of the Berlin Wall needed to be looked at. You see I was in Aerial Reconnaissance…Spy stuff. The date was around 1970 when I got there and two years later I split and came home to go to college.

I guess the people I worked with liked me, so they threw a couple of going away parties for me. One was held at the Rod and Gun Club meeting building and was hunting/fishing themed. All the parties we had involved LOTS and LOTS of beer! Of course Germany is noted for their beer and I tried my very best to support the economy in every way I could.

Makes me thirsty just thinking about it…I’ll be back in a minute. Gotta git me a cold one.

I’m back! So at this particular party, they had all chipped in and bought me a special beer stein. They presented it to me full to the brim with ice cold beer! My favorite. The stein was a special one, in that not only did it have a fancy picture of a Red Stag on it with gold trimmed leaves and a tree bark decor about the whole thing, but it also had holes all around the upper portion of the mug itself! Specially made for pouring the contents all down the front of the one enjoying the contents!

The beautiful Stein

Please notice the holes all around the top portion of the mug. Those are real holes and not just pictures of holes!

Well, being full of ice cold beer, I tipped it up and got a frontal barrage of cold beer running down my hairy chest! I continued to drink it up, as it was a custom to finish the drink that you started. By the end of that drink, my crotch was tasting the beer as well, but the stein was empty and that was the whole intent! Right? Let’s fill it back up! BUT WAIT….let’s examine this beautiful piece of art a little closer!

The Secret to drinking from this stein!

So, you can see the artistry that went into this stein is very nice! Gold leaf, a barkey look about the whole thing, as if it were made from a tree trunk with a bent limb for a handle!

On closer examination, you can also see a “limb” looking edge along the top of the stein! It too has holes strategically placed as if limbs had been cut off the bigger limb that makes up the upper rim of the mug and holes drilled into them! Pretty cool!

Well, as it turns out, one of those holes around the upper edge, acts as a straw, down through the handle, allowing you to drink the beer without having to tip up the mug and get drenched! But you have to cover the little hole under the top part of the handle with your finger! This stein was designed for a person who holds the stein in their right hand. No other holes around the top edge are connected to the “straw” except the first one to the left of the handle itself! Sneaky craftsman who build it!

Well, if that wasn’t enough of a cool thing about this stein, there is one more really cool thing about it. Once you have finished drinking the contents, you get to enjoy a view only the consumer can see! Look down inside the mug and hold it up to a lighted background! Now there is a view to behold!

Ah yes! The goddess of goodness! Isn’t that a cleaver idea? I have loved this stein for many reasons and have safe guarded it for all these years. Maybe the next person in possession of it will enjoy it as much as I have, or more!

And to the squad of people who gifted it to me, once again, I THANK YOU WILL ALL MY HEART!!! You guys are wonderful!

Bears Butt

August 1, 2019

Written on August 1st, 2019 , Just more stories, Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Way back in American History, Thomas Jefferson made a great purchase from France, and obtained all the property within the Louisiana Purchase (I’m not a historian, but it was a big deal back then and much trouble came from the purchase),  After all, back then a dollar was a lot of money and he spent around 15 million to purchase ground that not too many people had traveled across.  It was uncharted territory and politically could have been the end of his career.

Anyway, we all know the end result, as he sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to map and charter the territory he had just purchased to open trade with the native Americans and to try and find a water way travel route to the Pacific Ocean from the Missouri River territory in the middle of America.  A feat nobody at that time had ever done.  The stakes were very high and nobody really knew if a small band of people could even cross this vast open land to do what the President wanted done.  They took many supplies, not only for their own companies well being, but also to trade with the native Americans.  To say the least, they had TONS of stuff.  Lewis was the chart maker, to draw maps and keep track of where they were, by using the stars at night and the instruments of the day to know where they were at all times and to record those moments and land marks as they went.  A lady native American went with them…do you know her name?  You see there were no such maps at that time…only the mountain men of old who mostly told exaggerated stories of hot springs and gysers and high snow capped mountains and the mountain passes over which they had to travel.  But mostly nothing written down in the form of a map for others to follow.  Lewis was to make those maps and bring them back to Jefferson.  Meanwhile, as they progressed slowly up the Missouri river and beyond, Jefferson sat back in his office in Washington and prayed they would make the trip safely and would come back with word that there was a travel route to the Pacific Ocean and that the Native Americans were friendly toward travelers along the route.

If you want more information about this please look it up on line and read for yourself…http://www.history.com/topics/lewis-and-clark  I have teased you with some of the facts…there are more…read about Lewis and Clark having a “BB gun” right here on BearsButt dot com….

Well, Sherry works at Smith and Edwards and the other day a lady came into the store looking for a powder horn, an 1820 vintage mountain man hat and assorted other “era” clothing and told her about her son who was to dress the part of William Clark and give his part in the school American History learning day…a 5th grade event involving all the students.  After much discussion, Sherry volunteered my services to keep this lady from spending all her monthly check on fo-for-ah and assorted other necessary things for her son to accomplish this task.

She called me that evening and we discussed her dilema, I thought that perhaps I could help bail her out a little.  Well, it isn’t “period” dress, but a lot closer than your typical Sunday go to meeting clothes, her son Kyler likes the look he will sport to the event.

This picture is Kyler and his Grandmother Diane Murdock.  Kyler is showing off his Beaver Skin shoulder shawl and fine rifle.

He had quite a few clothing items to choose from and he wanted to try them all, whether he uses them in the show or not, will remain to be seen, but he has quite an assortment to choose from.

 

 

Kyler is showing off the warmth of a wool capote with and without the hood up and tied.

 

And  a mountain man didn’t always wear his capote:  You are looking quite good there Mountain Man Kyler!

 

 

And of course the pictures don’t do much unless there is some action on the scene.  Kyler has the look and the passion, now let’s see the action:

THANK YOU KYLER and I really hope your show comes off without a hitch!  It has been a pleasure to meet you and your family.  YOU WILL GO FAR in this world!

March 15, 2017

Bears Butt

Written on March 15th, 2017 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

To all my friends “my age”, this one is for you! Remember “Born to be Wild”? This is the older person version, we would have never understood 40 years ago. Enjoy!

Written on September 11th, 2014 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

AnxiousElkHerdToday was a beautiful day to be up in the mountains and especially at the Hardware Ranch to assist with feeding the elk.  This picture is of the hungry herd of elk that are currently on the ranch.  Marni, the assistant manager says the herd can vary by up to 100 head from day to day, plus or minus.  This looks to me to be between 200 and 300 head.

We arrived about 9:30 a.m. and the temperature was brisk, but not extremely cold.  The ranch manager, Brad, was out feeding the elk that are in a holding pen awaiting brucellosis testing.  And soon he would load the feeding wagon with 5 large, 800 plus pound bales for today’s feeding.

Tracker, Bones, Winemaker and I waited patiently as we knew there was to be some kids from the Mount Logan Middle School coming up to help.

We immediately saw a small band of turkeys near by.

Turkeys

Before the day was over, we saw close to 30 birds in varying band sizes.  All of them look very healthy!

It didn’t take long before a lady with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources showed up to help as well.  She is actually a graduate student working on her doctorate and she had been called late last night to go up to the ranch.  Her main job was to pick up “test” food that had been left on the ranch for the elk to pick through.  The Utah State University students studying wildlife habitat (I’m guessing at this) are looking for alternate food supplements for elk and had eight different mixes of various food products out in feed bins among the elk.  Her job was to pick up the feed that was left in the bins and bring it all back for weighing and comparative testing.  We would do our part to assist her with that task as well as the feeding of the elk.

Pretty soon the students from the middle school arrived and we were all set to go.  All of us were involved in some way.  The object of having the kids there was to give them first hand experience in the feeding program, but also to teach them a few things about the ranch, about elk and with this special feeding program being tested, they even got a bit of High Tech stuff to learn.  I really enjoyed listening to Marni, the “Doctor” and the students teacher fill them with good information and also test their thinking by asking pertinent questions.

These kids are all in the sixth grade and the program they are working in calls for them to have all their other assignments completed in all their other subjects before they are even considered to go out and play on a day trip like this one.  These happened to be all boys today and they were all very willing to step in and do their part.

Marni was called upon to drive the tractor that pulled the 2 tons of hay out to the meadow where the elk were herded up.  The first order of business however, was to load the catch pen up with fresh hay and get the trip wire set to close the door behind the elk that venture into the catch pen.

CarryingHayIntoTrap

LoadingTheTrap

If you can see the open red gate in this picture, that gate gets closed once the hay is loaded into the catch pen.  The bars on the gate keep the larger bull elk from going into the pen.  Brad told me that if you get big bulls in there, they start to fight and will hurt the other animals and even cause enough damage to the other animals that they would have to be put down.  So they don’t want to catch big bulls.  Mostly cows and calves.

Inside the pen is a long string that is attached to a boarded and hinged panel.  When one of the elk inside the pen happens to “trip the string”, the panel closes, covering the red gate and their avenue of escape is cut off.  Then it’s a simple manner of getting the group of captured elk to move through a small chute and into a larger holding pen.

CapturedElkTestingForBrucelosis

When they have captured up a given number of elk in this pen, they will then take the time to catch each one and take blood samples to be tested for brucellosis and other diseases.  The animals will be aged and weighed and even tagged before being released back into the wild.

I have to say, our Utah Division of Wildlife Resources people don’t have much time to relax.  There is always something for them to be doing!  The search for “the right answer” is never that easy!  Keep it up folks!

Now for the fun part!  Feeding the big herd of elk!

HungryElk

As the wagon began to move, it was our jobs to pull off slabs of hay from the bales and kick them out to the sides of the wagon and on the ground for the hungry elk.  The elk know the routine, but they also know that people mean trouble and so they kept their distance.  Today, Marni drove the wagon in a zig zag pattern, quite close to the capture pen.  I think the theory is to have the whole herd close and maybe more elk will get inside and get captured.

KickingOffHay

KidsDoingThierPart

KidsDoingTheirPart2

HayBeingStrungOut

ElkMovingToHay

ElkMoveIn

With a good crew like this one it didn’t take long before we ran ourselves out of work.  5 big bales all strung out across the ranch and 200 to 300 hungry elk taking care of it very quickly!

So, we needed a picture of the kids from the Mount Logan Middle School:

TeacherAndKidsFromMtLoganMiddleSchool

Hey!  But who is the guy in the dark shadow?

Can'tLeaveHimOut

When the elk were all fed, it was time to move down to the troughs and pick up the left over test food.

StudentWorkingOnDoctorate

The kids were interested in learning about this special testing and it was up to “Doctor Alex” to tell them about it.

ExplainingToKidsWhatTheTestIsAbout

With them gathered around one of the troughs, she explained just what the experiment was all about and what the person who thought it up was hoping to see come of it.  I hope that person finds the results they hoped for.

We went on and cleaned up the troughs and then “headed back to the barn” (now we know where that statement comes from)!!!

Cleaning out the trough

ScoopingOutTestFood

BucketsOfTestFood

What a fun morning to be at the ranch!

I know for you, Brad and Marni, it’s just another day at the office, but when I look at these pictures and concentrate on the scenery, I just have to say “What a beautiful office to have to work in”!!!!

Thanks for having us up there and please invite us back soon!

Bears Butt

January 21, 2014

 

Written on January 21st, 2014 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

SmartBeaver

HI, my name is Willard and I’d like to tell you about my buddies here at the Bay who got saved from the oil spill earlier this year.

You see, all of us were trying to figure out how we could disrupt the farm just up stream from the North Marina of Willard Bay but in all our efforts it seemed there was this “one guy” who kept trying to make things ugly for us.  Every time we built the dam up a little, the next day it would be totally wrecked.  We sent in several of our best design team members and a big crew of construction guys and they would spend all night long building and building.

Just when we thought we had things under control….BLAM!  One of them would get caught by a toe or a foot and end up having to be rushed to the medics for surgical removal of the metal devise held to his foot.  More often than not the medical team would have to go to the dam site for their work to be accomplished as the metal devise would not go down stream more than a few stick lengths.

Times were getting really tough for us.  We felt the need to build up a good dam at the mid section of the stream so our population could expand in that direction.  It only seemed right to us and we had some highly anxious families ready and willing to make the move.  The only element keeping them from that move was that “one guy”.

So, the planning crew met several times down on the big waters of the Bay and made a plan that could possibly change the course of what was happening upstream.  It was finally decided that a tunnel could be dug to the side of the main stream bed from the big waters edge, up and under the noisy sector where the rumblings of people movers continually traversed.  If the tunnel could be dug deep enough then the people movers would not crush it.  And so the plan began.

The digging of the tunnel was going very well and progress made continually until one night when a discovery was made that blocked the way.  The engineers said the blockage would have to be removed, to dig under it would mean the tunnel would be too deep on the other side of the noisy sector corridor.

Some of the workers tried their best to gnaw through the big tree root but only managed to damage their incisors and required much care in the intensive tooth repair center (ITRC).

BeaverTeethIncissors

There was a need for a big time beaver to get the call and he had to come from a great distance to be here: Paul Bunyon Beaver, the Rat, (PBR was his nickname), the largest beaver of all of the tribe was brought in for his council and he decided he could get under the root causing the blockage and lift it up and out of the way with his back muscles, enough as to allow the continuance of the tunnel and the rest would be history.

None of the Engineers nor design team had ever encountered such a tough root system as this one.  They all thought a continual chewing would eventually cause the root to be gnawed through as is always the case with tunneling.  You know, Put your shoulder to the wheel and push along!

With several of the crew in the ITRC now, about the only thing to try was Paul Bunyons idea.  And so, a lot of material was removed both above and below the root and Paul Bunyon was called to crawl in and under the root to see what he could do.  He had to move it at least the distance of half his body thickness or his work would be to no avail.

Paul Bunyon was on the site with all his colleagues on the night the root was to be moved.  A briefing was given on just what the engineers were to watch for as the root was moved and just when to tell Paul Bunyon to stop.  When enough is enough, well, it’s enough!

There were quite a few of us on the scene that night and Paul Bunyon Beaver was the man, err Beaver, to get the job done and done right.  I have seen Paul Bunyon Beaver fall a cottonwood six foot thick and he did it in two hours, all by himself!  I’m telling you there was never a sight like that one in all my born days.  That tree fed 136 families for three winters straight.  We ended up calling that area Cottonwood Bottoms (as opposed to Cottonwood Heights).

SmartBeaverRemember me?  Willard?  I’ve been talking so long I thought maybe you had forgotten who was telling this story.  Let me continue.

Everything was ready when Paul Bunyon Beaver crawled into his position and made ready for the command to push up.  When the chiefs of the engineering staff called for the move, Paul Bunyon gave it all he had to push that root up and out of the way.  He only let out one grunt that I heard when suddenly a gush of root liquid came blasting out of that cracking root!

The spray was as ugly as could be and I scrambled for high ground and away from most of the spray.  What an ugly, stinking mess was spraying out from the side of that root!  YUK!  And if it got on your fur it stuck like no bodies business.

Paul Bunyon Beaver came out from under that spray like the dickens and headed straight for the big water, coughing and spitting all the time.  Other engineers were doing the same and trying to get the sinking stuff out of their eyes.  This was not a time for panicking but panic we did!  Beavers of every work life scattered in every direction.  I made it out with only a slight spray of stinking stuff on my backside.  I consider myself very lucky as others were covered in the mess.

The spray continued for many nights and soon the sticky stuff had filled the last dam we had before the little stream entered the big water.  It was even spilling over the overflow of that as the bravest of the brave worked to plug up the holes and make the dam taller and taller.  Such brave, but dumb workers they were.  No extra pay, just more work in an every increasing ugly environment.  They got so sticky, none of the other beavers, myself included, would even talk to them at Beaver Dave’s  tavern after work.

And then one day, one of the normals, the people who we see every day at the Big Water stopped to see what the heck was causing us to build such a big dam and he began to yell and stomp and scream to the top of his lungs.  We all hid out in the deep grass and into our dens away from the sticky water.

It wasn’t long before there were so many of them people around we thought there was going to be another boat Regatta at the big water.  Something that hasn’t happened in so long I forgot why we didn’t like them in the first place.

There were people with wires and people with long poles and people with blow up things they tossed into the sticky waters and people with boots on wading where we like to swim and people with masks covering their faces and funny lights flashing all day and night keeping us all awake and confused.  It was crazy!

And then, not too soon after all of the people started showing up, here came some with nets and poles to catch us with.  Most of us hid out real good because we knew how, but those dummies trying to keep the dam built up were the ones that got all caught up.  They just weren’t told in time to stay put and they would be alright…but no….they got captured and hauled off some place never to be seen again.

I heard from my Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Gandpappy Beaver a story about how people catch up our kind and take their hides off and stretch them pert near as big as the side of my own house.  Then the hides would be sold to the highest bidder and he would make a hat out of it.  What a creepy thing to think about.  Did our friends, the hard but dumb workers get their hides all skinned off and such?  Will we ever seen them again?

WillardBeaverInCage

Each one of them were put into cages like this one and put into a big old truck and that was the last we saw of them.  At least the last I saw of them.  I was going to get out of there before I was caught up and put in one of them wire things.  I scrambled and made it.

But not so for several more.  They captured up about six of my friends and all of them were gone!  In the meantime the rest of the clan had to fend for themselves.  That part of the place we called home was no place to be at, what with all the hub-bub going on.  Too many people stomping and calling out and yelling and doing stuff that us beavers have no business of knowing.  We met over at the tall willow North of there.

TwoBeaversTalking

And talked about what we could do.  I assured them there were two places I was never going to go again…one, up the stream where the “one guy” played and over by the place where Paul Bunyon Beaver dun split the root.

SmartBeaver

Well, there you have if right from the Beavers mouth.  Six of my brothers were taken from the big water and who really knows what happened to them.

I came across some paper floating in the water about a month or so ago and saw one of my buddies pictures on it.  If I could of only been able to read what it said, I’d guess since they didn’t look like they were as spread out as my Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandpappy Beaver once told me, they must have been cleaned up and sent to another water place to start over with their lives.

WillardBeaver

_____________________

So there you have the story of 2013, about the beavers of Willard Bay.  Are they the real heroes people make them out to be, some calling them “Beaveros”?  Or were they just the rodents doing what they do and they just happened to capture up a bunch of spilled diesel before it got into the main body of water called Willard Bay?

As for me, “one guy”, I’m very glad those pesky little creatures of the streams and lakes are gone to better places.  I’m hoping they were not relocated to a place that will cause someone else to be called “One Guy”!

Bears Butt

December 29, 2013

 

Written on December 29th, 2013 , Just more stories, Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

LittleYellowFlowerGarden

Well, when we wake up in the morning we might wish we were seeing little yellow flowers sticking up around here and there, but this story is one I remember from high school….it’s sick!  Any names mentioned are totally fictitious.

As much as I don’t want to admit it, I guess I’ve been around some:

If you don’t like to envision something in your mind that isn’t really a good vision then you might just like to go to another web site.

——————————-NUFF SAID, IF YOU DON’T FLIP OVER TO ANOTHER SITE YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ——————

I was sitting in my English class (I think) and very much confused by what was being taught, I’m sure it was something about dangling participles or adjectives or some crazy thing that “Nobody will ever use in their entire lives”…gotta git it enough to git through the test”…..

Anyway, the teacher, (my best by the way, cuz she would use her wig to wipe the blackboard when she got angry with the group of us), had us doing a silent test…no talking…no looking at Sandy Glass’ paper… no nothing, but trying to figure out the answer to these stupid questions.

The place was very silent, with the exception of some scribbling from those who actually knew the answers or a smart butt who just was showing off, and an occasional eraser noise.  When suddenly, we all heard the noise of someone about to sneeze!

AH-AH-Ahhhh.

Oh dear, Dennis is about to sneeze.  And a big one I might say.

AH-AH-AH-AH-Ahhhhhhhh.   AAAAHHHHHHHCHHHHOOOOOEEEEEE!!!!

All eyes, and I mean ALL eyes, were pinned to Dennis’ seat and we all saw the most incredible sight of all sights that could be seen!

What do you think it was?  After all, we were supposed to be looking at nothing but our own test papers and nothing else.

From my seat, sitting right next to Dennis, and I’m talking like 3 feet…A long string of snot coming out of his nose, just hanging there and it protruding down onto his paper at least 3 feet long, curled like nothing else I have ever seen and he looked over at me and we made eye contact.

His hands were placed on either side of the top of his desk at this point and he knew that what he had done had everyone’s attention. He blinked once, well maybe twice, and looked away from me and then snuffs upward like a giant panda, moving his head as he did, like someone who knew they had 4 feet of snot hanging under their nose and had to dispose of it quickly.  And as his head went backward and his NOSE SUCKED A GIANT  SUCK!

There it went!  Curling and hurling upward in a winding sort of way, up and off his papers and back into his head, from where it had come………

I choked!  Others coughed and still others got up and ran from the room groaning!  Sandy Glass was one of them.

OH MY GOD!  What did I just witness… I felt weak…I felt noxious…and then suddenly a calm came over me and I felt like laughing…which I did and I did it with such vigor and seriousness that the whole class (those left) even the teacher joined in with laughter!

She called for all our papers to be turned in “as they were” and the next day she gave us all passing grades for that test!

I guess there is a lesson here.  You figure it out.  I just thought I ‘d share my story.

Bears Butt

Dec. 2, 2013

Written on December 2nd, 2013 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

Bear’s Butt performed in front of a crowd this evening… (no, none of us know how that was ever allowed)

Here’s the video:

Written on July 2nd, 2013 , Just more stories, Poems (or sumthin)
By: Bears Butt

This is cute!

Bears Butt

June 8, 2013

Written on June 8th, 2013 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

BearSittingAtComputer

I thought of a phrase this morning and just where it might have originated.  To some of you I’m sure you know all about this phrase and where it came from and what it all means, but I did not, at least until just a few minutes ago.

“Cock and Bull”…We all know that it means a very big story has been told and a story that is totally out in left field, far from being anything close to the truth.

Well, in my search, I actually found an English society that welcomes new guests, it costs nothing and they have an email newsletter that comes out whenever it comes out.  So, since I too am inclined to stretch some stories a bit, I joined them, and anxiously await my approval into their organization.  www.cockandbull.org.uk, if you too are inclined to visit their site.

My sources took me all over the place and I have to gather enough info from each of the sources to make my mind up as to what is true and what is cock and bull and this is what I have “condensed” about how Cock and Bull came to be.

I have to cheat some with some notes I had to take, because I’m not familiar with England and where these cities are located, but from my study, somewhere deep in the interior of England (the country), as equally far from any large ocean type water as can be gotten, is a town called, Stony Stratford.  This name lends itself to be more of a mans name than that of a city, but none the less, that is what it is called.  Perhaps we should go visit it some day.

So, way back when, in a time when there were no cars, only walking, horses or buggies and the like were used to get people from points A to B (sort of reminds you of Sir Butt doesn’t it?), the roads all seemed to come to a crossing point in this town of Stony Stratford.  Here the riders would disembark from their carriages and get on others to take them to their other points, but it was also a place where the travellers could refresh themselves, get something to eat and also to parch their powerful dries!  Thus the two pubs in town.

I picture these pubs across the street from each other, but I have no proof of that, only in my mind do they exist there.  When the travellers would enter they would of course order up an ale or whatever and set to enjoy their draught and talk to the locals.  The locals were always willing to hear the stories of where these people were coming from and going to and to also hear a bit about them in general.  (Again this all sounds like something out of  a Sir Butt story).

Well these stories would get rather stretched at times and with a few more ales would even get larger than life.  I imagine the locals having a very good time with the stories, especially after the travellers had gone on their way.  “Hey Joe, did you here that bloke tell me about that fish he caught out of the Tweed last week?”

And on it goes.

In the other establishment the same thing was happening and then the patrons of the two pubs would cross the street and begin to tell what they had just heard in the other establishment.  You will never believe the names of the two pubs….”The Famous Cock Hotel”  and “The Innfamous Bull”.

In America with our wealth of intermixed races and cultures, it is not at all unfathomable to take this Cock and Bull story and condense it down to just a Bull Session.  I’d have used another word there, but this is a family site you know.  But then by my definition, a Bull Session takes at least two people to pull off and so here I sit by myself typing away and it is a true story as far as I’m concerned.

Bears Butt

May 28, 2013

Written on May 28th, 2013 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

HEY SECURITY!  WOULD YOU MIND PUMPING A LITTLE MORE HEAT DOWN HERE?  SECURITY!  SECURITY!  DO YOU COPY?……OVER!

There is no doubt about the benefits of cleaning up around the house, painting, sprucing and just plain de-junking.  Sherry was cleaning out the top drawer of our bedroom dresser yesterday and she laid a bunch of my junk up on top for me to look over before it got de-junked into the “it ain’t comin back” container.

When I got the chance I picked up the first item.  An old leather wallet that my son Windy made me back in the 8th grade.  A very nicely decorated hand tooled wallet with the words “Willow Creek” and an eagles head all painted.  As you can see from the wear, I had that in my back pocket a long time.  Enough so to wear a hole in the one end (folded).

That was a great reminder of how wonderful my life has been, but then I opened it up and what I found set me back 50 years!  Yes 50 years!  Was it a $20 bill?  Nope, but it is worth a whole lot more than $20 I’ll tell you that.  What I found was something I have thought about for many, many years as I remembered having it but I just hadn’t found it until yesterday.  My hunter safety card from 1963!

As a young boy of 15, the Utah State Fish and Game decided to do a test sample with some volunteer kids on hunter safety and survival techniques.  The man at the helm was named “Lee Robertson”, and I remember him so vividly today.  The training sessions were held in the auditorium of the old Box Elder Junior High building in Brigham City. (At that time it was the High School, but by the time I got to attend there they had built another building for the High School kids).  At the front of the class Mr. Robertson guided us through all of the hunter education items he felt necessary at the time.  He had others who helped him, but I can’t recall their names or what they looked like, only Mr. Robertson’s face and actions are embedded in my brain.  To me he must have been some kind of God-like person to have etched so clearly in my aging mind.

During the course he even dressed in his mountain man leather attire and taught us about muzzleloader rifles, pistols and shotguns.  The man was a true legend in my mind.

The course also covered what was at the time considered a very real threat, one where another country could send rockets across our borders and land on our cities.  We were taught how to safely cover our bodies to protect them from falling debris, how to get to an underground shelter (if there was one close by) and of course first aid should one of our buddies take a hit or get caught up in some of the falling materials.

They taught us about the ill effects of the outside temperatures and the effects of the wind on how those temperatures actually made us feel.

Of course they taught us about the safe handling of weapons and how to conduct ourselves when out hunting and shooting.  And above all else, we had to take and pass a very strict test both in writing and demonstration of our shooting skills.

I remember that I took the class with two of my very good buddies at the time and believe me, that course meant more to us than any math, english or history class being taught by anyone.  And even though it was not going to stop us from getting our hunting and fishing licenses in the future if we failed, failing was NOT an option to us.

I’ll tell you right now that the three of us passed that course with 100% on the written exam and perfect shooting scores on the range.  We were “the men”!  Proud men at that and when they handed out the papers for us to carry the rest of our lives, we put them in a very special place in our wallets, right where I found mine yesterday.

The “blue card” as it has come to be called looks like this:

All of the cards they gave us have been through some really wild times to be in this good of shape.  I guess my body is in pretty good shape considering the abuse I’ve put it through as well.

The other cards mean a lot to me, but not as much as that old blue card:

My second favorite card was one that told us what to do in case we found ourselves “lost” (how can you find yourself lost?).   There was and I guess still are these things that a lost person can do to tell a pilot what their situation is on the ground.  The idea is for the lost person to find a large clearing in the area they are lost in, and place dead and fallen trees, rocks or what have you, in the shapes shown on these cards.  My favorite is the “K” and my note that the pilot will circle 3 times overhead and then fly in the direction that is the way you should proceed to get “un-lost”…A great lesson to everyone and perhaps every outdoors person should make up a card, laminate it and have it in their possession…just in case!

And of course every good Boy Scout knows that they should “Be Prepared” and I suppose I was one of those types of Boy Scouts because I had even written some Morse Code on the back of one of the cards in my wallet.

So there is your proof of my actually passing the hunter education course back in 1963…50 years ago!

Bears Butt

Jan. 15, 2013

Written on January 16th, 2013 , Just more stories

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BearsButt.com | Stories, Ramblings & Random Stuff From an Old Mountain Man

Just some of my old stories, new stories, and in general what is going on in my life.