Pass The Ammo

(photo credit)

Wolves have always been an issue for hunters and ranchers in the Idaho Panhandle. The threat of running into a wolf in the woods is not so great that everybody has, but everyone knows someone who has. So hatred of the wolf has become pretty strong. I think the main reason for the hatred is the fact that we cannot destroy them when we do encounter one. Hunters have had to stand idly by while their best hound dog was torn apart, after a mistake encounter.

There are apparently only three packs in the northern part of the Panhandle. But they have yet to cause any problems. It’s more the lone wolves that get into tangles with hunters and ranchers’ cattle.

There have been a couple groups working toward removing wolves from the protected species list. And it seems that we’ll be able to shoot em only in a tangle come early next year. This is more toward the common sense approach that we’ve been trying for.

I really don’t see why we even reintroduced them back in 1995. What good does a wolf have to offer the ecosystem? Why let wolves reduce the elk count, when a paying hunter can better manage their growth?

Wolves slowly handed to state
Posted: Thursday, Sep 20, 2007 - 11:07:54 pm PDT
By SEAN GARMIRE

Animals to be delisted as early as February 2008

NORTH IDAHO — A plan that could alter the way wolves are managed in Idaho has been reopened for public comment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The proposed plan would grant state and tribal governments flexibility in killing wolves if they are shown to have caused a major decline in elk, deer or moose populations.

The plan would also give citizens on private or public land the legal right to kill a wolf that is in the act of attacking their dog or stock animal.

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Jonas and I have been headin out to the woods lately. Bear season is open till the end of October, so we’ve been out patrolling beauty creek saddle. Plenty of sign (read sh*t) up there, so now we’re gonna lay some bait down. Typically, we use the innerds of local liberals for bait, but this year we’ll go with Hershey syrup and fish.

Incidentally, a young black bear has been spotted roaming my neighborhood. I guess I could just sit on the tailgate in my driveway, with my rifle. But I guess there’s no shooting in city limits, so I’ll have to resort to my Buck knife, and wrassling the bear down.

Spent the morning out in the woods with Jonas. We scouted for Elk for the upcoming season. We managed to harvest some forest grouse. Last fall I had promised Guav some video of the actual process, but I didn’t have my old camera, now that I shoot a Nikon D50.

So here’s a photoset on how to field dress a grouse. Followed up some a couple recipes!

UPDATE » We Got A Video!

Thanks JJ!

My buddy, Jonas and I have come together in business to create a watering hole for hunters. Currently it is only a forum that we’re trying to get up and going. If you hunt, please register and stay tuned. We’re looking into a initial giveaway to forum members. Maybe a fixed blade knife from Browning. We’re still in the process of getting the online store built. Register and start posting, and we’ll be announcing the giveaway soon now!

Well, I’ve been mighty busy these last couple weeks with hunting and all. As you already have seen, I got my buck already. I think the best part about it is how I was on the clock for work when I did.

We were on our way out to a pool table set up, in the backwoods of bonner’s ferry. As we rounded the corner on a dirt road bordering public lands, we spotted this 4 by 4 grazing on private lands. We parked it and watched him for awhile, to see what he would do. Sure enough, he gradually made his way to the fence, jumped it, and was heading into the woods. I was out waiting for him, on the edge of the trees, and now was my chance. Got him at about 200 yards, using the new LEVERevolution round. It was a neck shot, and it dropped him on the spot. After snapping a photo, and loading him in the truck, we continued down a forest road to gut him.

From there, we continued on to the table set up job. And thats a whole nother story in itself. This guy was a beer short of a sixpack. Pretty much just a fortune telling, speak to the energy to heal people, and other crap. He even asked the energy to heal the wild moose that came to his property, and even a family of raccoons came to visit him for spine alignment healing. Anyways… the guy was crazy, so we set his table up and got outta there asap.

We camped out at ‘The Joe’ (St. Joe River) this weekend in hopes of getting our elk. Jonas’ brother-in-law got him a 4 by 4 out there, and we were gonna try and do the same. We jumped plenty of doe and moose. On Sunday the first snow dumped on us, which was great because it’s so much easier to track game in the snow. Sean managed to run across 2 cows and a good size bull that just barrelled down the mountain when he saw Sean. So we chased em down the mountain a good way, but lost em on some pretty steep mountain side. So we came back empty handed. Elk closes on the 3rd here, so we’re most likely not gonna bring one home this year.

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I just read this excellent field dressing trick in the latest field and stream. And I wanted to post it for any other deer hunters out there.

With the deer lying on its side, stand behind the shoulder and lift the near front leg. Run your knife blade across the thin skin of the “armpit”. The front quarter is free-floating (no bone attaches to the skeleton). Seperate it by progressively working the knife underneath the leg and shoulder as you pull the leg up and away from the rib cage. Follow the countour around the top of the scapula closely to avoid cutting into the backstrap. (You can reduce your load by skinning and boning the quarters, or just pack them out intact.)

Using a slicing motion, insert your knife under the leg to the inside of the scrotum or udder and draw it toward the rear. Slice pregressively deeper, making shallow half-moon cuts and working forward to the hip point where the quarter attaches to the spine; and rearward to the near side of the anus, where the blade’s downward progress is stopped by the pelvic floor. When the hip joint is exposed, cut through the ligaments at its juncture to free the rear quarter. Keep following bone, feeling with your knife blade, until the rear quarter is detached.

Remove the skin from the upper side of the deer, peeling it back to expose the twin, tub-like muscles that run from the hip point forward to the front of the shoulder. Cut down along the inside of the backbone, then tease the long strip of meat free by working the blade horizontally along the curve of the rib cage. Be careful not to puncture the gut on the rear portion, where there are no ribs to stop the blade.

The tenderloins underneath the backbone, from the last ribs to a point between the hams. Carefully work the knife point under the five short spinal processes behind the last rib, then reach up under the spine and tease the tenderloin away from the bone. These muscles are so tender that you can often remove them with your fingers. All that remains is to turn the deer over and repeat steps one and two.

Pulled from the Sportsmans Notebook in Field and Stream Magazine. By Keith McCafferty

Today was a beautiful day. The temperature dropped over ten degrees since yesterday. The big game were definetly movin about. August 30th. Any elk for archery is open. Bear and lion are open for modern rifle. Too bad we don’t have hounds. It would be too easy.

Jonas and I closed the billiard shop down early. Picked up some bear and elk tags at Black Sheep sporting goods, and headed up to spirit lake. Roamed the mountains but didn’t get any luck. We bought a day pass to some land owned by a paper company. There was a feller up there who won the drawing for a moose tag. He told the gate host that he came pretty darn close to one on a ridge, but coulden’t get a clean shot. What a shame.

We didn’t see much stirrin out there. But we got all season to look! Man, I love hunting season. Nothing ever gets done around here, but I dont care. It’s worth it.

The more I learn about Ted Nugent… the more I dearly love the guy. He doesn’t pull any punches. I just stumbled across this interview with a british journalist, while searching for hunting quotes.

Ted Nugent, a heavy metal guitar legend and devoted (bow) hunter, was being interviewed by a French journalist. Eventually, the conversation turned to his love of outdoor pursuits. The journalist asked, “What do you think the last thought is in the head of a deer before you shoot it? Is it, “Are you my friend?” or maybe “Are you the one who killed my brother?”

Nugent replied, “They aren’t capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, What am I going to eat next? Who am I going to screw next? and, Can I run fast enough to get away? They are very much like the French in that.”

Source: Snopes

This is too good. Language warning.

We started out good and early. Jonas and I grabbed our coffee, and we headed to Mikes house around 5:45. We climbed into his rig and headed out anticipating a full days hunt ahead of us. We arrived in the woods, and began our drive up the small mountain range.

It was a brisk Idaho morning with the clear skys above us, and you could see the lake from where we started. The weather station predicted heavy snowfall in the afternoon. After about 3 hours of driving the backroads, we finally spotted a deer on a draw in the distance. We pulled up to the closest road to that draw, and shuffled out in the woods, to get a clear view of where we spotted the deer.

Not long after we split up, we hear a shot come from Mike. So I make my way along the mountain to where the shot came from, and see him lookin across at the draw. Pointing out, he looks at me and whispers “I just saw a huge buck head into the thick”. It had to be 300 yards plus, over to the other side. His shot was off, so we all sat and watched, waiting for him to come out of the thicket. About 20 minutes later, I noticed the head of a doe pokin out from behind some trees pretty close to where we last spotted that buck. Two more filed out into the open behind her. They must have just been with the buck.

We each take turns taking a shot at a doe. But the distance is too great, and with a slight breeze blowing, it was hard to place the slug where we wanted it. We watch as the deer climb to the top and cross over the ridge out of sight.

Mike still suspects that the buck is hunkered low in the brush, because we haven’t seen him make his way out. I take the task of hiking up the mountain, in a attempt to flank the buck from the left, and hopefully push him out into the open. It was our best chance.

After makin’ pretty good time gettin’ up to the top of the ridge, I began walking down the ridge just above to where the buck was last spotted. They signal me, and I began a climb back down into the thick. I follow a set of fresh tracks, but I run into several more tracks, and I’m not sure which ones to follow. So I noisily make my way around the brush. Nothing. No movement, and no sightings. He must have slipped out when we weren’t watching.

Mike suggests going to another spot that he’s hunted in the past, so we jump in the rig to head back down. It’s when we get down to the bottom, when we make a turn, and right there stands a doe and a big ol’ buck. They’re standing in the open, right next to a thick tree line not even 50 yards away. The buck stares at us, and not moving a muscle. We freeze and stare back. Is he gonna bolt? Nope.

Mike slowly reaches below his seat and pulls “The Raging Bull”. A Taurus .454 Magnum with a scope. Slowly opening his door, and walking to the rear of his truck, he levels his hand cannon at the buck. Perfect shot. The buck stumbles and goes down.

It was great. So we excitedly ran over to inspect this trophy. A nice 5 x5 rack (or 10 point in southern terms :wink:) He had some chips on one of the tines, where he’d been fighting, as well as a good scar on his underside and a split ear.

So we load him up, drop him off at Mike’s shop, snap pictures, and go to lunch.

After eating lunch, and making an ammo run, we head back out for the last attempt to get my deer. We’re down the same road that we took the buck on, and it wasn’t too far off that I spot a big doe feeding under a tree. I holler to stop, and I jump out of the truck with my rifle in hand. I get her in sight, and draw a bead. Perfect shot. So I tag her, Jonas helps me pull her up the hill toward the truck, and we load her up. After picking up Mikes buck back at the shop, we take em out to a guttin’ spot in the woods and do the dirty deed.

It was a great last day of the season.

First off, I just wanna congratulate C.P. on the “Big ol’ Kentucky 9 point” he took, as well as Woods, who got himself a commifornia 8 point. (Where’d you shoot that at anyway? Camp Pendleton?)

I just walked in and kicked all the snow off my boots. Been out since 2, today. All this season, I’ve been chasin’ elk over mountains, pushin through the thick after deer, even road hunted some bear up around Spirit Lake. Tommorrows the last day of modern rifle season, and I’ve got jack squat to show for it.

Fellers have been takin deer left and right, but everytime I get out there, the only sure shots I can get are on private land. It’s a cryin shame.

I’m taking work off tommorrow, and spending the entire day tryin to fill my tag. Wish me luck.