The other day I went in search of the ultimate big game bag.  Of course there are tons of game bags out there made out of everything from cotton to jet age stuff and of course the thin bags that wouldn’t hold a fly out of a carcass no matter what.

Some of you may recall that in the past I have stated there needs to be a game bag that could hold a bag of ice or maybe even dry ice in a pouch at the top and have an air pocket between the inside of the bag and the outside of the bag (like a thermos is made) that the cold air could travel down and around the animal inside to cool it down and protect it from the flys and bees.  Something with tight ties around the legs that are sticking out of the bag etc. etc.

So, I found this one called “Trophy Bag Kooler” (http://www.trophybagkooler.com/)

I read all the testimonials and they seem quite “UP” on the bag.  None of them had even one negative comment to make.  It’s durable, keeps out dirt, bugs, is easy to clean inside and out, tough material on the outside…all good stuff.

So, my concern was the fact that the animal is laying on its side while inside the bag.  So, I emailed the company asking about this and stated that I thought the “down side” of the animal would spoil quickly.  Yesterday I had an email from the company asking me to call them.

On the phone with the company president and inventor of the Trophy Bag Kooler, Steve Glass, he clarified my concerns saying that the use of their frozen gel cools the animal very quickly preventing the down side from spoiling.  We talked for a half hour or so and he was full of knowledge about big game care and his Kooler bag.

The bag is what it is, made out of space age material and insulated to keep the cold in.  It could also be used to keep hot in as well, if that is what you desired.  So, this is how the thing works.

You field dress the animal and place it inside the bag.  Then you stuff the cavity and around the outside of the carcass with frozen bottles of their gel stuff.  These bottles freeze to about zero degrees according to Mr. Glass and they will quickly cool the carcass down to 40 (or lower) degrees.  You zip the bag closed and the cold is kept inside and will remain cold for several days.

My take on it is that you would probably have to replace the frozen bottles at least once if you are going to leave the animal inside for those “several days”.  Steve said that the carcass can remain inside the bag as it ages, just like inside a butcher shop cooler.

He said that in his own hunting camp, he will tie the front and back legs together (hog tied) and hang the animal from a tree that way, like a purse or bag, if you will.

So, there is a take off of what my idea is.  I mentioned that to him and he said that there was a guy who made some of my idea bags, only his used bags of ice inside and he said the guy didn’t last long as the bags never sold.

These Kooler bags have been around since 2008 (I think he said) and they are beginning to get great reviews and his sales are beginning to climb rapidly.  He and his crew were invited to a New Mexico antelope hunt last weekend (Aug. 24, 2013) to show off the product for a tv show that was being shot at the same time.  He said the use of the bag in nearly 100 degree heat proved to be a perfect thing to save that antelope from spoiling, especially for the 2 hour drive back to a processing plant in town.

So, what do you think?  Is it worth nearly $200 for the bag and a bunch of gel stuff?

Bears Butt

August 27, 2013

I’m always looking for something new and inventive to share with you and today I found a pretty good little item.  Well, it’s probably not something EVERYONE could use or even want, but for a hunter who still gets out and hikes for their big game animal, this just might be the ticket!

I can see where there is still some room for improvement on this thing, and I’ll mention it here.  The item is called “The Cape Keeper”   (http://www.capekeeper.com/) and it’s designed to pack out the head and cape of a big game animal up to the size of a moose.  You use ice packs or just plain ice from your cooler to help keep the cape cooled down while transporting it to the taxidermist.

So, here you are far from the camp and you down your big old elk.  Hopefully you are wearing your Cape Keeper as a back pack because if you left it back at camp, you are right where everyone has been all these years before the Cape Keeper came along.

I can’t imagine you looking at your big trophy elk and saying, well, I can’t do this without my Cape Keeper and then you trot off toward camp to get it.  NOPE!  You are going to get to work processing your elk right there on the spot and take your chances with the cape…just like in days gone by.

So, here is where I can see the improvements.  Make the Cape Keeper so it is useable as a back pack.  Lots of pockets to put the essentials of a day afield and yet still capable to haul out the cape of your animal while the rest of your stuff stays in the pockets where you put them.

It needs to have a hydration bladder as well.  Can you imagine hauling out your cape and antlers for say 3 miles without having water to drink while you are doing it?  Nope.

I think it’s a great idea and one that has had some pretty good thought put into its design and functionality, but there is need for much more improvement.

I thought of another thing that would be great for someone to invent that could go with this idea.  You know the heat packs you buy and when you want heat, you just open up the pack and rub them for awhile, activating whatever is inside to get them to produce heat?  Someone needs to invent something like that that generates Cold!  Then with this Cape Keeper, you could activate the cool packs when you load up the cape and head on down the trail.  Great idea!

Bears Butt

August 25, 2013

Looking at pictures on Facebook, hearing stories from different hunters and reading and seeing pictures on the outdoors forums, it appears the Utah bowhunters are having quite a successful year bagging bucks and bulls!  I think it’s great!  Will they leave a couple for us Muzzy hunters?

With today’s modern compound bows, special shaft arrows and deploying broadheads, todays bow hunter has a remarkable edge on how it was in my day.

Back in the day, we too had the best equipment of the time.  Recurve bows, cedar shaft arrows and fixed broadheads that were so sharp they could cut you sitting in the box.  We thought (and did) have the world by the tail.  Did the bucks stand a chance?  Yes!  In the few years I bow hunted I only came close to one once and left probably a dozen arrows on the mountain.  One broadhead is still stuck in the tree where my closest call at bagging a deer went just low and when the deer bolted it broke the arrow off right at the blade.

For sure those bow hunting days were very fun.  All the bucks seemed to be in groups of 2 to 10, all in velvet and all out in the open where you cold see them.  I did get to be quite good at the spot and stock thing, at least in my mind and only wind shifts busted me most of the time.

I think my greatest memory was a hunt with No Grimace; we had left camp before light and hiked up a very steep open hill to get on top.  Up there, we split up, he stayed high and I went about half way down the hill on the other side.  There was only one bush in the middle of the hill I was on and I hid behind it on the uphill side.

We had set up a hand signal system to warn each other of approaching bucks.  I could see all around him and he was about 300 yards above me.  The curvature of the hill prevented the hunter from seeing any animals approaching from above until they were about 30 yards away.  Thus prompting the signals.

During the early morning hours, he began to wave frantically and I began to get nervous as I thought I could see everything around me for hundreds of yards.  I was looking intently and expected a cougar or something big like that to pounce on me at any time.  As it turned out, 3 bucks, all 4X4’s were feeding on the other side of the bush, not 10 yards from me.  My first clue was a snapping twig, as one of them bit it off.  Next was a single eyeball looking through the bush at me.  Busted!

We stared at each other for a minute and then I decided I’d make sure my bow and arrow were ready to fly and then jump up from my sitting position and plug the buck looking at me.  At this time I only knew of the one buck.  When I was ready, I made sure the buck was still “eyeing” me, got everything in shooting readiness and double checked, then stood for the shot, drawing to full draw as I stood up, this buck is mine!

Upon standing I suddenly was faced with shooting one of 3 bucks, the smallest was the one looking at me and the other two were monsters, I spun to aim at the biggest, but by the time my mind was made up all 3 were headed for the next county.  I never did release the arrow, just watched as they all bounded off and over the ridge.

That’s bow hunting at its finest.  Everyone has a good fun time and nobody gets hurt, not even the deer.  However, if one of those bucks would have hesitated just two more seconds, I think I would have made my first buck kill with a bow.  As it turned out, that was my last bow hunting season as I  opted to go into the service.

When I got out of the service 4 years later, that old bow still hung on the rack in the attic, begging me to take it out one more time.  Instead I lent it to a Brother in Law, who broke it…Say…La…Veee.

I think if I was to ever pick up a bow and try again, I would get a long bow and do it right.  No, I wouldn’t go to the extent to use hand chipped broadheads, that would not be fair to the deer.  I’d look into the Epek deployable heads however.

So, to all you bow hunters out there still looking to fill your tag!  Good luck and if you get a chance to leave a buck or two for the next group that wants to go hunting, please do.

Bears Butt

August 23, 2013

OUCH!

Weasel and I hit the Lee Kaye Center this morning to qualify for our Deseret Land and Livestock cow elk hunt coming up in Nov/Dec.

We were both very nervous about it and the DWR guy didn’t make us feel any better.  First off we had never been to the center before, so we had no clue as to what to expect.  The very first thing I noticed was all the volunteers.  They seemed to be in every corner of everywhere.

The second thing was the strict nature of their business and the fact that nothing is free except the conversation, but then to hear or get involved with the conversation you had to have paid your $5 entry fee, so I guess it wasn’t free afterall.

So, after signing in, I asked the guy behind the counter about meeting with our guy, and I named him.  Without a word he disappeared and came out with a DWR guy.  He introduced himself and then turned us over to his partner who actually told us the scoop on this qualification stuff.

With specific instructions to drive down to the 100 yard range we moved in that direction.  Arriving, Our Guy was there waiting for us (he drove faster than the speed limit).

A person had his stuff spread out and was occupying our area and so we had to wait about 10 seconds to put our stuff down.  Then Our Guy handed us each a paper that only had lines down in one corner for our names, gun, serial number and date.  Other than that it was blank.  Instructions were then given to drive down the first lane to the left, go to the tunnel, walk to target stand number one and set out targets up.

All confused, we were both wondering how on earth we were going to put our targets up while people were shooting.  We found out quickly.

They have “tunnels” down there and you are actually quite protected against getting a bullet.  For sure people were shooting over our heads the whole time, but we were safe.  The targets are on metal pipes and you pivot them down and put your target up and then rotate it up into view and lock the pivot down.  There stands your target.  Pretty cool system.  While we were at it there were round dots on our board that we peeled off and put in the middle of our paper so we would have something to aim at besides just a big old piece of paper.

Then back to the firing line we went.

Arriving, Our Guy said, well you shouldn’t have put those red dots on your paper.  You need to go back down there and take them off.

A bit frustrated, we went back and did as we were told.

Now back to do our shooting.  Our Guy says he recommended that we shoot in the prone position, it’s best.  And so, Weasel laid down and prepared to shoot.

First off, he wanted to make sure he was steady and so he took some time getting adjusted.  When you are not used to doing this sort of shooting it does require some re-thinking on how to get it done.  When he was ready, he loaded up and took his first shot.  It did not feel good to him and so he got up and tried aiming in a sitting position.  Our Guy had to hold up a small red fence that would have been right in his line of sight.  Weasel tried and tried to get the rifle to steady itself, but it just wouldn’t do it.  So, he gave the court to me.

I laid down and got ready, it felt a bit uncomfortable and I noticed a cramp right away in my lower back, left side.  But it soon relaxed a bit and I felt somewhat ok to take a shot.  My scope cross hairs were not even on the paper when the first shot went off and I was not a really happy guy.  I put the rifle down and stood up to let the cramp subside a bit.  Then grabbed up my other 3 rounds and laid back down.

Loading them slowly and taking my time at aiming, I knew that if I was going to qualify I needed these 3 shots to hit the paper, anywhere!  But, in order to do that, I had to be as careful about making sure the cross hairs were on the paper when the gun finally did go off.  When I was done with the last shot, I peered through the scope to try and see holes, but could not see any.  I wasn’t too pleased, but got up and put my rifle on the table with the breech open.

Now it was Weasels time in the bag again.

Both Our Guy and I noticed the barrel of Weasels gun was wavering all over the place as he aimed and Our Guy made a comment to that effect.  Weasel said something and continued to aim.  Then fired the shot.  Not knowing the whereabouts of the bullet, he continued and shot his remaining two shots.

Then, as instructed by Our Guy, we made the trip down range to get our targets.  We wished each other luck as we made the trip down the tunnel to our target.  Weasel lowered the target and the evidence was printed right on the papers in front of our faces.

Mine had 3 holes in it and Weasels had one.  BUMMER!  Even though I had a qualifying paper, Weasel did not and we both knew what that meant….another trip to the sighting in range and another trip to the Lee Kaye Center to try and qualify again.

Back at the firing line, I filled out my blank lines with the information they needed and Our Guy took it away.

Driving home, Weasel said, there is a reason for everything and maybe the reason for this is I need to shoot my elk with my muzz.

And maybe that is the case.  In the meantime, he is going to practice holding the scoped rifle and practice his aiming, trying to learn how to hold it steady and not weave all over the place.  There are techniques of all sorts out there that can be learned and help you steady that aim.

Bears Butt

August 21, 2013