I just finished processing my third deer for this year.  This one was taken by 13 year old, Braden Brailsford from Brigham City.  A nice 3X2 with pretty good mass for a little buck.  He was lucky enough to get a clean shot just before dark on the opening day and nailed it perfectly.  There was only about 3 pounds of meat that was destroyed by the shock, not bad for a high caliber bullet.  His parents were both extremely proud of him and they should be.  He was pretty stoked too telling me the story.  That is two bucks in two years for him!

As I was processing it, it became very apparent this little buck had been eating very well.  There was fat layered in all the muscle throughout the animal.  I have never seen so much fat marbled in a deer.  I suppose that is what happens when the buck eats nothing but alfalfa, corn and home grown veggies its whole life.

So, I have processed 3 deer this year, all taken in Northern Utah and all three were fat as could be.  Does that mean they had a good growing season with plenty of water and forage?  Or is it Gods way of preparing them for the upcoming winter?  If in fact it is the upcoming winter, I suggest everyone reading this pile in an extra cord of wood for the stove and maybe even fix up the snow blower or ATV snow plow, NOW and not wait until that first snow storm.

Another thing I’ve noticed is all the fuzzy caterpillars crawling around….many more than usual.  Another sign of a harsh winter?  HMMMMM…..

Extra cord of wood…..A new heavy duty coat…..snow blower fixed and ready…..extra gas in the gas can…..Or perhaps just jump in the jalopy and head down South!  NAH!  South is for sissies!  Come March of 2015, we will be able to know what the fat and fuzzy caterpillars were trying to tell us….let’s learn a thing or two about this, as Nature tends to tell us stupid humans things that we sometimes don’t notice or if we do, we don’t take heed to.

Maybe there is a need for a new pair of red flannel underwear in my future.

Bears Butt

October 20, 2014

I think you will like this one:

With the coming of the cold months and in inevitable frosted windshield, folks have been posting up a simple formula for taking the frost off the windshield of your car.  2/3 cup of vinegar and 1/3 cup of water…mix…spray, frost is gone and life is good.  I went searching and found this:

Bears Butt
October 15, 2014

Drones!  There is a whole lot being done with Drones these days.  A lot of time and energy has been spent with drones in the world of warfare and unmanned aircraft are the thing that puts the enemy down without any of our guys being in harms way.  But, that is not all there is to drones.  Back here in the states a lot of people are finding that flying their own drones and filming stuff is really cool.  The cost of buying a drone is slightly more than the cost of one of the helmet type cameras at around $500.  Even less expensive if you don’t want to fly one for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

Some people are even using them to try and track down wild animals during their hunting and this has caused several states and even Canadian officials to ban the use of them for hunting activities.  In Colorado, a small town named Deer Trail has even imposed a $25 license to “hunt drones”.  The town officials never expect to have to pay the fees associated with someone actually killing a drone and bringing it in for the bounty, but they have imposed the license and have even sold a few to the locals.

It is being spread around that anti hunting groups like PETA are using drones to scare off animals from the hunters, however, I’ve not been able to find anything on the web that actually shows the use of drones scaring off anything from the hunters.  I’m sure if I was out hunting and saw a drone buzzing around me, I’d be taking a shot at it.  I don’t think I’m alone on that thinking.  So, if I had spent $500 for a drone I don’t think I would be buzzing it around someone in a blind.

So, what is a drone?  Take a look at this video:

Now this guy has obviously been flying drones for quite some time and knows his stuff. But he is not alone, there are a lot of drone techies out there and some of them have videos that don’t make any sense to me as they are talking WAYYYY over my head about stuff they are doing with their drones and how they have them set up.  That’s ok.

The really cool part is the movies they are coming home with after flying these contraptions.

Pretty cool huh? But that is not all. Like I said, some folks are using them to track down big game animals and save themselves a lot of walking. I suppose you could use one to see what was over the next rise and decide if it was worth it to make that hike. But that isn’t what I would call hunting.
I went in search of an interesting video of someone taking pictures of wild animals and found this one to be very interesting. Even though it isn’t a wild beast, it is still an interesting critter that got even with the guy playing with the toy.

Funny huh!?

Bears Butt
Oct. 11, 2014

Camping is fun!  And it is always funner if everything is in its place and safe from the elements.  For instance there isn’t much worse than going to the cooking area and finding a whole roll of paper towels drenched from the nights rain!  Or to go out to the woods toilet and find the same thing with the toilet paper roll.

I did a little research on the web and found this Do It Yourself site with some great ideas on it.  Some of them will be employed by myself the next time I’m heading out.  Some of them will be done and put in my backpack for future needs, the fire starting ones always interest me.  I’m a bad one for flashlights and fires.

So here is the link to the site and I hope you can use one or more of these in your next camp:

http://www.diyncrafts.com/2039/health/top-33-most-creative-camping-diy-projects-and-clever-ideas

Bears Butt

Oct. 10, 2014

I watched this yesterday and thought maybe someone who visits this site might like to know about this:

Back in the early 1950’s, the United States got involved with a crisis between North and South Korea.  We sent thousands of soldiers there to protect the South Koreans from their nemesis the North Koreans.  During that conflict, hundreds of our men were wounded or worse and one of them wounded was 4 Hooves (Roy Torgeson).  Roy spent weeks in the hospital recovering from his wounds and then was sent home, a hero in every respect.  Usually, when a soldier gets wounded in battle, the records are clear and orders are cut recognizing the fact and a Purple Heart is awarded.  Along with the Purple Heart award comes a token amount of monthly compensation.

In Roy’s case, there was no such award nor compensation.

Roy spent years and years sending letters and trying his best to make the Commanders realize this error, but to no avail.  And then the warehouse that held all the military records in Kansas City burnt to the ground, taking with it all the records that were stored there….Roy’s was among the ashes.  He continued to send letters and make phone calls but nobody would listen.

When our friend Dan “Muskrat” Gyllenskog heard about Roy’s wounds, he began to ask questions and get more people involved through the Veterans of Foreign Wars ranks.  Years went by with Muskrat pursuing the award.  It looked like it would never come to be as he continued to hit road block after road block.  Even the Utah State Commander of the VFW got involved and he too hit road blocks everywhere he turned.

Finally, after years of “this battle”, someone in a high position in the Army, listened.  He reviewed the letters and the documentation submitted by doctors and others, clearly seeing the scars of the wounds in X-rays and reading the doctors statements about these scars .  That they could only have come from bullets or fragments of bullets.  And the age of the scars were from that time frame.

Nearly one year ago, Roy received a letter of recognition and his first compensatory check from the US Army command and has since received a check from them every month.  But still no Purple Heart.  Yesterday, September 4, 2014, Roy got a call from the Ogden Standard Examiner’s military correspondent who wanted to come and talk to him.  Of course Roy allowed the visit and this man (Mitch Shaw) talked to him about writing his story in the paper and coming to his presentation.  Yesterday Roy also recieved a letter from the US Army headquarters stating that they recognized their error and that he will be presented with his long over due Purple Heart.  The presentation will be conducted by Senator Rob Bishop at 10 a.m., on October 18th, at the George E. Wahlen building 1102 N. 1200 W., Ogden Utah.

Roy called me this morning with the good news!  Congratulations Roy!  Persistence paid off, finally!  I for one will be at the presentation and I hope everyone reading this will be as well.

I am so happy to be writing this and my thoughts turn immediately to our buddy Muskrat.  He wanted Roy to receive this award so badly.  He and I talked many hours about it and the stumbling blocks he kept encountering in his pursuit.  How can something so plain be such a problem for the one in command not to see?  Finally with all the evidence they woke up and signed the declaration and cut the final orders for Roy to receive this award.

Congratulations again Roy!  And a hearty THANK YOU to Muskrat and everyone else that helped in this cause!

Bears Butt

September 5, 2014

It’s hard to believe that we have been gathering now for 31 years and we must be having a good time or we would never had made it this long.  Switchback and Natalie did a stupendous job at pulling off this rendezvous!  We thank you dearly for everything you did.  Of course it doesn’t all fall on a couple of people, Bones did an excellent job with the range masters, targets, packets etc.  And of course the range masters who volunteered were excellent at keeping things safe and orderly.  Anchor with the hawk throws did an outstanding job as usual and the entire Gyllenskog family needs praising for the kids lympics, bb gun shooting and the adult lympics.  Fat Duck pulled off an almost impossible shotgun shoot, with some crazy “in the shooters face” bird throwing.  And last but not least were the volunteers who kept the kids occupied with face painting, games, an obstacle course and making sure they were tired by days end.

It’s really hard to say who had the most fun at the event.  I know I was dead beat by the time I went to bed every night.  And by looking into the eyes of many the next morning it was very obvious they had a very fun evening as well (some evenings longer than others).

Our weather was nearly perfect with just one day being what I call, very hot.  I loved the overcast days and the light rain during the sleeping hours was a nice refreshing breath of fresh air.

In order to have a fun and enjoyable rendezvous there is always a TON of hard work that goes into setting everything up.  We all know that shooting our rifles and pistols is a must at our rendezvous.  Years ago, that was all we did during the day, but because of the younger people in camp, our activities have spread to other fun things.  Setting up the shooting range doesn’t take a lot of work, but it sure takes some time and man/woman power.

The “A” frame and cross member range is made of angle iron and the cardboard is attached using wire ties at the top and then again onto a cable run along the bottom.  If we could find another medium to attach out targets to it sure would be a nice improvement, as when the wind blows it doesn’t take a lot of wind to knock the stand down.  We make do with what we have.  The range was set up on Wednesday afternoon and the cardboard was attached early on Thursday, just in time for the first day of shooting to take place.  Some folks have other obligations and must complete their shooting before the Saturday Noon deadline.  So basically we have 2 and 1/2 days of shooting.  The range must be manned/womanned with range masters covering both ends of the shooting line.  For future events, two range master should be employed, one on either end of the shooting line for improved safety.  Not that we had any real issues this year, just because we could use the extra safety.

The Firing line is back 20 yards from the target stand and there is plenty of visibility to see incoming and exiting participants in order to shut down the shooting and allowing the travelers to continue through to and away from the camping area.

With the range all set to go, the shooters began showing up to shoot the targets found in their packets.

Seeing Edjukateer sitting at a shooting table does not mean we allow a rest to be used during the competition.  All competition shots must be done standing off hand.  Here he is making sure his rifle can “digest” the 20 grain limit of powder we have imposed upon ourselves for safety.  We are blessed to have a police force that allows us to shoot withing the city limits and don’t want anyone hurt in the event of a “flier” shot that doesn’t hit the backdrop to our range.

How is that for a Perfect center of the target shot?  Good shooting Winemaker!!!!

Pistols and rifles are all shot from the 20 yard line.

Of course you can’t have a bunch of different targets to shoot at with out having some “stinking rules”, here Switchback is reading up on what is do be done with each target.  Some are only one shot targets, while others may have as many as 5 to be shot.  Scoring of each target varies as well, some full ball rules, some half ball rules and others a line break will score big points.  Remember the one with the highest score gets first pick of a prize off the donated prize blanket!  The one with the lowest score gets whatever is left on the blanket!  Everyone wins!

Those aren’t very big targets from 20 yards back are they?  Gittem Bones!

Young and old alike, women and men, all compete on an equal basis.  We don’t discriminate and when it comes to handing out some heckling and harassment, if you give it out, expect to get some back!  If you can’t take it, keep your mouth shut!

When we get together it is always meant to be a fun time and we have yet to fail in that regard.  By the time the end of the rendezvous comes around, I usually have a very sore throat from yelling and laughing and of course my trade mark side ache from all the hard laughing that has gone on for 3 or 4 days and nights.

This year brought in a new twist as we allowed bowmen to shoot in the competition as well and their scoring was right with the rifle and pistol shooters.  They shot the same targets with the same scoring and with some targets they took their chances on ruining some very expensive arrows.

OUCH!  Arrows hitting 1/4 inch thick steel don’t have much of a chance to survive.

HEY!  What am I seeing down range?  It looks like a candle in a can and it appears to be lit.

YO!  What happened to the flame?

WOW!  Good shooting!  That is a solid 10 point target right there!  Shoot at the flame, put a hole in the can and puff out the flame without hitting the wax of the candle!  Shooting like this will get you some good prizes for sure!  And if you only think something like this can only happen once in a great while, think again.  We had more puffed out candles at this rendezvous than not and that is saying something with 49 shooters competing against each other.  Check out this husband and wife team!

Great shooting Bullseye and Tommy boy!

Just to clarify some things.  Here we have three guys signing up to compete in the shooting.  Not only do they sign up, they also sign a waiver of liability and they present to the Range Master their blanket prize.  Remember I said “everyone wins”, well every shooter brings to the table a gift, either hand crafted or purchased, that is worth around $20 and it must be in good “mixed company and mixed age” taste.  No competitive shooting without the prize.  This keeps everything above board and everyone is happy in the end.

As the days of shooting go on, there is more and more happy times being had by all.  If you aren’t having any fun, it’s your own fault.

It’s all about having fun!

At any shooting event like this someone is likely to have issues with their weapons.  Sometimes (and more often than you would think), you get to “BS’n” and forget to load powder into your rifle  and then you push down a patched round ball and have to go through some hoops to get the ball and patch out.  Well it can happen with pistols too.

Fat Duck was not very happy when I took this picture of him trying to shoot his pistol.  The caps are going off just fine, but the powder charge just won’t ignite and send the ball down range.  He is cussing something awful as 5 of the 6 cylinders have not fired.  He is ready to do with this pistol what he threatened to do on a limited entry buck deer hunt in the Crawfords several years back “IF I HAD A CRICK, I’D CHUCK THIS S.O.B. OF A GUN RIGHT IN IT”!  Well , he knows very well there is a crick right behind him at this range and he can make the toss from where he is right now.  But, let’s take the gun back to the loading area and check to see what the problem might be.

YEP!  Just what I figured…it wasn’t loaded!  That is funny right there Fat Duck!

Let’s tally the scores judges!

But you know, it isn’t all about the shooting anymore!

I’ve already told you about signing in for the shooting.  Well the Booshway (person in charge) and the Segundo (second in command) have been working very hard to get this rendezvous ready for this year.  Among the things needed and to provide everyone with a Memoir, a receipt for you is made and handed to you when you arrive, whether a visitor or a participant.

If you attended this event and didn’t get a receipt for some reason, let me know and I’ll see if I can round you one up.  A lot of hard work and expense goes into making receipts and every year they are different!  Thanks for all the work on these Pat and the Gyllenskog family!  Nice job!

So, let’s think for a minute.  Shooting, kids activities, adult activities…let’s see some of those events!

Kids flint and steel starting event.  The winner of this will compete with the adult winner on Sunday night for a great prize.

The adults usually have to help the kids get ready and encourage them to do their best.  But it is up to the kids to start the fire.

And once Gavin gets a good spark to land on his char, he produces a very nice counsel fire for the nights activities!

During the day and as the shooters are down at the range, a bunch of things are going on back in the camp area.  However, I was down at the range and didn’t get to see the kids activities.  But I know there was face painting and bingo along with some other activities to keep them entertained, but once the “organized” kids things were done, the kids themselves were quick to find entertainment.

They caught some big crawfish as well, but I wasn’t quick enough to get pictures of them before they were turned loose.  One thing is for sure, kids can entertain themselves better than adults can for them.

Well, we did have an organized event for the kids all lined up…the “Young Peoples Lympics”!  These kids were broken up into teams of 4 to 5 and each team had to toss a frying pan for accuracy, start a fire and burn a string, drink up some root beer and a few other things.  The team with the fasted time to do all these things won a great prize for each team member.  Yours truly, Bears Butt, was set up to be the bar tender and dish out the root beer.

Again, it’s all about having fun!

During all of this, we constantly have visitors coming and going from the camp.  Some have been here as participants in the past and are now coming to visit with old friends because of other obligations that have kept them from coming to “play”, but they are all welcome.

Wanna Pee and 3 Forks.

Hagaarr and Broken Hawk.

Twister.

Dancing Ramrod (hurt his back while cleaning up for the rendezvous…some things are just not fair).

And as for some of the folks who may not have ever attending an event like this, our friends Bob Cat and Rose!  Welcome!

It’s always nice to see new faces and hope those people return in the future to enjoy more of the activities.

Speaking of which, I was involved in the adult “Mountain Man Lympics” and so I did not get any pictures of that event, but as things have a way of happening, Bob Cat was on the winning team and won himself a nice gift certificate of $25!  I’m certain his involvement on his team will have him talking about it for years and years to come!  Good going!

Sunday morning, bright and early, Fat Duck pulled off his shotgun shoot, one which he coined “Angry Birds”.  His event had himself in harms way down range and hiding behind our POS trailer in order not to get splattered with shot.  In the meantime, the shooter was standing “in harms way” as well, as the birds were fired to come directly at the shooter.  I liked to think that the shot was in direct correlation to “self protection”…..

MISS!!!

Nice shot!

Smoked it!

Now on to the men and womens hawk throw (remember, real mountain men throw knives….they don’t always stick the knife, but they throw it very well).

Look closely, as Bullseye is throwing, Bones (in the background) has her hawk firmely planted in the log!

And when it’s all over, the judges add up the scores!  In this event, the women and men’s divisions are separated and for a good reason too, the ladies almost always out do the guys!

Well, we need an adult flint and steel fire starting contest!

Now these guys are serious!  And who will compete against Gavin in tomorrow nights contest?  As it turns out Wapiti Dung will try his best at beating Gavin.  As I was still trying to get a flame from my attempt at this contest, Wapiti had finished, made his celebration and disappeared before I could grab my camera.

Good times, stories, lots of heckling and of course some old pictures are generally brought out and shared around the camp:

That looks like a “pick on the Dry Dog” picture.

Well, as you can quickly see, there are a lot of fun things happening at the rendezvous, but along with that, it does not come free.  There has to be some fund raising going on as well.  Raffle tickets are sold and the prizes are great.  Prizes for kids are separated from adult type prizes and when their names are called they generally get to pick from the lot of prizes.  This goes on until they are all gone.

(Opps…I don’t have any pictures of the prizes!  Dang it!)

These prizes on the blanket are the gifts the shooters put down.  There are some prizes there that I KNOW cost more than $20 and to be the first one to choose it is not an easy thing to decide what to pick up.  Everything there is good.  I had my eye on a prize and lucky for me, when it was time for me to go up and pick up my prize, it was still there!  That is not always the case.

Most rendezvous going folks have a name they have earned in some way or other, to name a few in our group are No Grimace, Wapiti Dung, Tracker, Bones, Edjukateer, Weasel, Fat Duck, Flying Feathers, Winemaker, Explorer, Hunter, Dew Drop and the list goes on and on.  And as things came to be during this years rendezvous there was a new name given to one of the young members.  Cody Zundel, please come forward!

“AND FROM NOW ON, WHERE EVER MOUNTAIN MEN SHALL MEET, YOU SHALL BE KNOWN AS ‘SQUIRREL'”!!!!

Well, the rendezvous comes and goes very quickly.  Maybe not so quickly for the Booshway and Segundo, but certainly for the rest of us.  This time last week I was busily getting ready for it, and now it’s over and my mind is quickly turning to the Muzzleloader deer hunt.

Our American Flag stands tall, our list of Willow Creek Free Trappers who have gone on ahead of us, waves proudly in the breeze.  Our Beaver Sharn stand protects the camp from evil doings and bids us good luck on all the events of the camp.

But it does come to an end and for Switchback and Natalie, you two did a wonderful job!  Thank you very much!

Next year will be the charge of “Slicker and The Misses”!  We are here to help you guys in any way we can!

Bears Butt

September 2, 2014

Guess what time it is? RENDEZVOUS TIME!!!!!! Let’s hear it….RRRROOONNNNNNDDDEEEEEEEEVVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Let’s let Doc Beard hear it! RRRRRRRROOOOONNNNNNNNNDDDDDDEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Let’s let the town hear it! And the folks at Willard Bay! RRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now that’s what I call a good yell!

Our 31st annual rendezvous and it’s going to be a great one and a great time!  Switchback and Natalie are the Booshway and Segundo’s for this event and they have promised us a good time!  Of course it takes more than two to make a great time, and that is where the rest of us come into play!  I’ll be there to play, you can bet on that!

Winemaker and I were trying to figure out our menu’s for the days and it’s really hard to figure out some of the days, especially the evening meals.  With folks coming and going almost constantly and me wanting to be in everyone’s business, it makes it difficult (especially for her) to plan a meal.  “Now where in the heck is Bears Butt”?!!!!?

You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult to keep track of one Bears Butt in such a small area we camp in.  Heck the whole area, including the range is only about 2 acres.  I hope she doesn’t get any wild ideas about putting a shock collar on me to get me to “come home” when she pushes the button.  She might catch me right in the middle of a drink of my favorite beverage.

So, I hope everyone reading this is planning on coming down to the event!  The rain lately has all the dust settled and now we need some dry out time in order for us not to get our rigs stuck.  But where better to be stuck if it does happen?

This is always such a fun event…kids activities mostly happen on Saturday and it’s really fun to watch them “getting into it”….Kids Limpics…BB gun shoots….knife and hawk throwing…and just plain running around and having fun with friends and family.  For sure by the time bedtime comes around they are more than ready!  Even us older folks don’t stay up too late these days.  But, toss in a Twister with his singing around the camp fire and I’ll extend my “awake time” for several hours.  I usually pay for it in the morning, but it’s worth it.  And especially when the “black flag” comes out with an eye opener of a bloody mary!  Oh ya!

Out my window my my Bears Den, I just saw one Fat Duck drive by with a trailer filled with shotgun shooting stuff!  That is on Sundays agenda…9 til noon…I’ve talked to him about it and we are all in for one BIG surprise.  It will NOT be like past shotgun shoots!  I’m looking very much forward to it!  Maybe I will even hit one of those tricky little pigeons this year!  Duck has gone way out of his way for this years event!  Fun!

The way Switch Back and Nat have got the schedule set up, it looks like the adult events will be held on Sunday, beginning with the shotgun shoot and extending until days end with a “flint off” between the kid and adult winners of the flint and steel fire starting contests that will have been held on Friday and Saturday nights.  Oh and don’t forget, we will somehow be sitting atop the rocking horse called “Black Arrow”at some point….I’m not entirely sure how or where that feller will fit in, but I’ll be loading it up in the trailer and hauling it down for our fun and enjoyment….look out kids, it’s about to buck!

From the little tid bits I’ve told you about in this short write up…don’t you just WANT TO BE HERE?  Of course you do!  And I hope we see you there!  Bring yer bedroll cuz you ain’t gonna wanna leave!  Bring a few dollars as well so you can win some of the raffle prizes being offered up!

RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Bears Butt

August 26, 2014

Remember a while back when I posted about a recall to my cars airbag deployment system?  Well, I just got my 3rd notice on this.

You see, back when the first notice came out, I quickly contacted Crock and had the thing fixed.  All was well.  Then came another notice and Crock once again took the car by the airbag so to speak.  Now, after almost 2 years of recalling these cars for the same defects they are wanting to replace all the airbag deployment units!  DUH!

In the meantime I hope Winemaker or I don’t hit a bump in the road that causes it to go off and deploy the airbags without warning.

Also, if you are following behind a Pontiac Vibe, be aware that they may suddenly hit their brakes for no apparent reason to you….it will because the airbag just decided to blow into their faces and the natural thing to do was to hit the brake hard.  You know they will not be able to see where they are going and that will be the natural tendency.  In today’s world of driving, following a Pontiac Vibe is like having an animal or worse suddenly come into the front of your vehicle out of nowhere.

This is what they look like from the side view….remember…they can be any color!

And this is what you can expect to see when you are following them….again….any color!  BEWARE!  And good luck!

The automobile safety board recommends that under normal driving conditions, allow one car length for each 10 mph speed your are going, except when following a Pontiac Vibe, please allow three times that much distance and in case you are going down a freeway at 70 to 80 mph, please also expect that when you have given yourself 8 to 10 car lengths of distance to the Pontiac Vibe ahead of you, there will be someone pull in between your vehicle and the Vibe.  That will not help you to avoid the crash that just may happen at any moment, but if you are a diligent driver, you can opt to take the next available exit.

Bears Butt

August 24, 2014