One day closer to the hunt!

Now is when things start to get exciting!  People coming in from out of town to get ready for the hunt.  The local boys and girls gathering up their things and packing them away.  It’s really getting fun.  I’ve packed things I know I won’t be using or needing for this hunt and am still trying to think of  “what have I forgotten” items.

There are always certain items you just can’t pick up or pack because you are using them daily or there is no sense in buying it until you are ready to go.  That is part of the fun I suppose.

I have sharpened ALL my hunting knives.  Rubbed down my muzz rifle.  Installed my “cocoon” on the toy.  Made sure the kill jug is safely stored in the camp trailer.  Gotten all my gear sitting in a quick to load area of the house.  Double checked my possibles bag for all the things I know I will need.  Packed my spare clothes and made sure my beaver sharn is in the trailer, along with my sleeping bag and pillow.  Looked over all the batteries in all the two way radios, flashlights, cameras, gps unit and am planning on packing more in case the ones in the devises go dead.  Double checked the propane and made sure the camp chef is packed, as well as the grill and bbq box.  The EZ up is packed and ready and the lantern stand that Magpie made is ready to go into the truck!  Filled up the jug of chainsaw gas and got out a full quart of bar oil, changed the chain to a newer and sharper one.  Have the water jugs sitting where they will get filled with water at the last minute.  Plugged in the power and have the refrigerator all cold and ready for food.  Checked the air pressure in all the tires.  Greased up the hubs on the camp trailer and the toy hauler trailer.  Loaded up my toy on the trailer and have it ready for three more to get loaded.  Checked on the game gambrel and game bags.  Fixed a small leak in the potty drain system.  And have been watching the weather forecasts like a hawk.

By the way…it looks like a major change is coming to the mountains where we will be hunting.  Beginning the day of the hunt the high is expected to only be around 50 degrees, the low in the upper 20’s and a 50% chance of rain…if the rain comes to the valley, it will likely be snow up in the mountains maybe as low as our camp!  Bring it on!

That leads to more gear to be packed!  Chains for the trucks!  Warm gloves!  Rain coats!  And covers for the rifles!

I’m almost ready!

Bears Butt

Sept. 21, 2013  (Weasel and Muskrats Birthdays!  Happy Birthday fella’s!)

RAMBLING:

A great workout this morning!  Wearing my snow boots that weigh about 4 pounds each, plus the hydration pack full of water!  It’s surprising what those two things do for the workout!  Feels Good!

This time next week folks!!!!!!  WAAAHHOOOOOOO!!!!!  I just finished looking over some past muzz hunts and then it dawned on me…I have not taken a deer since 2009!  Last year I missed 2 different ones and so I must make up for it this year!  Look out Bambi!  No mercy!  I have to have some venison bacon!!!

I also made 28 sausage burritos and am thinking that some of them need to go on the hunt with us.   Who wants one?  Last year I took some and we heated them on the top of the engine while we drove to camp.  At the pull off up Monte when we stopped to take a short break, I broke them out and we all had one!  Bones wasn’t too happy with me about that either, because she had made banana bread and was very happy to be handing it out as well.  I don’t know why she got mad, but she did, after all we did eat her banana bread and the burrito.

This year is going to be something real special, I know something that only a couple of you reading this know and it will be a great surprise to the rest of you!  Just a bit more icing on the cake!

I know the rules given to us by the DWR and I want the whole camp to know that some of us are going to be bringing our assault weapons and having them in camp.  As long as the DWR boys don’t come in with search warrants we should be OK.  We need some much needed practice to make sure they are tuned in and besides there just might be some unwanted guests come into camp.

And on a final note for today, yesterday I hit upon a great “road side find” and I’ll be installing it on my camp trailer today!  A wonderful little addition to the man-trailer!

Bears Butt

Sept. 18, 2013

The annual muzz planning meeting went very well.  Our camp will be growing again this year with at least 15 trailers/campers/tents and so if you consider at least 2 people per trailer that means 30 people will be in camp.  Of course there are more than two in most of the trailers…I’m saying 45 people will be in our camp!  That is nearly the population of Randolph!  Do you think when we come through town they will have a celebration ready for us?  Maybe a parade with us as the whole show?  That would be comical!

So a bigger camp only means one thing!  MORE FUN!!!!  I hope Twinkie Man gets the word!  It would be a sad day if all the people didn’t get a Twinkie!

Speaking of which, last year we thought it was the end of Twinkie Man, as Twinkies were not being made any more.  Twinkie Man came through by buying up the Ebay stock at ridiculous prices just to make our day…and it worked!  Good job Twinkie Man!

And a year later, Twinkies are back on the shelves of all major stores throughout the world!  YEAAAA!!!

Well, it’s once again a Monday and this is the first Monday of the LONGEST WEEK of the year!  The week before the muzz hunt!  Enjoy it and try to get something accomplished this week because the closer it gets to the actual hunting day, the more your head will NOT be into your paying job work.

Bears Butt

Sept. 16, 2013

One day closer to the muzz hunt and this day is the one for our planning meeting.  We could probably NOT have a planning meeting and still get all the prep work done and once we were in camp everything would be as orderly as it always is, but we need a reason to get together and jaw jack!

The planning meeting is as important as the hunt itself, in my mind.  It gets a large group of guys together with one common thought….to have fun!  We always are having fun, even when we are working our butts off in the hay fields, we make light of it and get the job done.

Hunting is a tradition taught to us by our fathers, brothers, neighbors, friends…or just on our own through trial and error.  Hunting!  The Fall Sport!  For some Fall begins with the first football game.  For others the changing of the leaves or the bow hunt, but for me, it’s the muzz hunt!  My year begins and ends with the start and end of the muzz season and then it’s a 365 day wait for it to begin again.  There is a bit of a twist on things this year for me, but it’s still the muzz hunt that gets it going!

As you all have read or know first hand, our camp is the largest on the mountain and I can’t think of a better place to be, even if you are not a hunter and just want to come and camp and enjoy the stupid things we do to entertain ourselves….I can’t help but grin as I’m typing at some of the fun things that “just happen” that makes us laugh and laugh….like “Buck Off”….(I know you are grinning right now).

You have to be there and as long as I can get myself up and going, I plan on being there even if I can’t hunt.  Like my dad, his last hunt was spectacular, we were camped at the foot of a large steep sagebrush hillside.  Dad had gone through several heart operations and was not able to climb or hike and so he stayed in camp to keep things in order and to have a good lunch made for us when we came back from the morning hunt.

It was about noon time and we were all back in camp enjoying a drink and a meal, when we heard a shot coming from way up the draw behind our camp,  around the bend in the big steep hill.  It drew our attention in that direction and that is when we saw a string of deer running about mid way up that hill and going to cross about 200 yards above our camp!  Dad was quick to grab his custom 30-06 Springfield and started popping off rounds at the bucks.  When it was all over, three bucks lay dead on that hill and all from dads shots.  With a big grin on his face, he turned to us and said “Go get em boys!”, and that is just exactly what we did.

Illegal?  Maybe, but at the time almost every camp employed the technique of “party hunting” and that was what this was.  We had plenty of tags in camp and when someone got the chance to shoot more than one deer, they did it without so much as a second thought…we always hunted for the meat back then.

Hope to see you at todays planning meeting!  4 p.m.!

Bears Butt

Sept. 15, 2013

I have read about people who bagged their big game animal not gutting them and yet still end up with all the meat.  It’s called the “gutless method” of salvaging all the meat, including the tenderloins, without opening up the gut cavity.  So yesterday I found some videos on line that show you how it’s done.  A couple of them go into great length to show you and they are in 2 parts, do yourself a favor and go on line and look them up, very educational.

I thought I should share this with you as well and so I searched until I found a short version of the big show.  This will give you the run down on how it’s done without all the blood and gore found in the longer versions.

However, this version does not show you how to take off the rib meat, and there is a lot of meat on the ribs.  There is another video out there that shows you the “roll method” of getting all the rib meat off.  You can look that one up if you so desire.

Another thing about the gutless method is the fact that I LOVE venison liver and without opening up the gut cavity that baby will stay in and rot away or become coyote or bear food…not while I’m here…I’ll get that liver out!

So even though this method would work for deer as well as the bigger cousins, I think I’ll continue to do the gutting method for my deer and maybe give it a try with the two elk I’m going to harvest this season.

A word of warning, if you don’t like to see dead animals, blood and gore, you best stop reading right now and turn this site off.

Bears Butt
Sept. 14, 2013
 

The workout this morning was another good one.  8% slope, speed of 7 mph…30 minutes and 30 pushups…I’m feeling good!  I highly recommend everyone get in a good workout every morning!  Just saying!

You know it’s getting close to the hunt when I plug in another address in my weather checking application on my smart phone!  Today I opened up “Randolph”!  And it looks like it is going to be a wet next few days.  It can’t hurt the hunt any to have the dust settled from the extremely hot and dry summer we had.  I have seen those roads up there with 10 inches of fine powdery dust and I’m certain this summer that is exactly the way those roads were.  I really hate it when you are traveling on them as that talcum powder type dust gets everywhere!  When you wake up in the morning in your camper, your teeth grit with it!  YUK!

So this rain is a welcome addition!  On a down side note, the animals won’t have to go to a watering hole to get a drink, but that’s ok, we can deal with that.

Life is good and don’t forget the meeting on Sunday!

Bears Butt

Sept. 13, 2013  (FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!!  OH MY!!!)

Oh Baby!  Day time highs are dropping (finally) even though they are still around the 80 degree mark, it still feels nice…AND….we all know what that means! Big Game Hunting season is just around the corner.

My head is almost totally wrapped around the San Juan Elk hunt, but I’m still working on the muzz hunt…A reminder to you who are close by, the annual meeting to plan the hunt is this Sunday at my place!  Who is excited is ME!

This mornings workout was a 40 minute one with my boots on!  Incline went as high as 8% and speed up to 7 mph.  It was a tough one but worth it!  Then I added another 10 pushups to my stretch…so, I’m at 30 pushups in 3 sets of 10, a 5 minute stretch after the 40 minutes on the treadmill!  I’m not worrying about weight loss, mostly a toughening of my legs!  If Sam is right, I’ll have to go into the deep and nasty to get my elk!  Whatever it takes, right?  This is my one and only chance I figure!

So, on the muzz hunt, don’t be surprised if I take a hike up one of the steep canyon hills while you guys are cooking your dogs on the side of the road!  It’s just a part of my workout!  A quick hike with a pigs foot tucked in my cheek, it just doesn’t get much better than that!  Just don’t forget to save me a cold drink for when I get back!

In addition to my own hunt, I’m attempting to help a fellow hunter find out some info about his hunt….same dates as mine…only he is on the Paunsaugunt, another famous place that holds bunches of HUGH deer and elk!  He is like me only I’m not so sure he is studying the area.  So if I can find out a few hiddy holes for him it will give his hunt a bit of an edge toward success.

On another note, Crock came by last night with 4 like new tires for the toy hauling trailer and today I’ll try and get them mounted and on the trailer.  That will be a job for Rattler if he is not already on his hunts.  When Rattler goes hunting he is usually gone for over a month!

Life is good and times are super!

Bears Butt

Sept. 11, 2013

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