Happy snowy Jesse

Tram

Top of Parachute in the A to Zs
Jesse happy
Parachute
Cmon up. I've got a nice place at the base, some half price vouchers and more and more mountain knowledge every day.

More Ice Fishing

Went out on 12/26 to test out some Christmas presents (note sled). It was a balmy zero degrees with a frozen mist/fog in the air making it a bit on the brisk side, but the fishing was real good.

My buddy Bob can't find his skimmer, so had to improvise with the kitchen spoon.

This photo is for Philly. So do I brine the trout filets before I smoke them or what is the secret?

I Ain't Clark Stinkin Griswald!

Happy f*ckin holidays!

See...I can be politically correct.

Ice Fishin

Well, the photos posted backwards of what I intended, but oh well. Above is a better visual of true life in hunting camp. None of this looking fresh reading trashy newspapers...it is rotted beer drinking with periodic napping.

Last weekend, Neil found the six below zero weather a bit refreshing.

My first fish of the 09-10 ice fishing season

Today I broke my skunk for this ice fishing season thanks to the fact that Erik was reeling in one fish while another one happened to be hitting on one of his other poles by my feet. We all caught fish and it was a beeeaaaautiful day for ice fishing. Next weekend is supposed to drop below zero again, so it'll be time to bust out the ice shack. Merry Festivus to all!

Dry suit sale

I thought I'd get the word out about this Stohlquist drysuit sale I found online. Stohlquist B-pod drysuit for $499 with booties and relief zipper. New neck seal is much more comfortable than latex and just as watertight. They have 20% down layaway until the end of the month. I just ordered mine to replace my NRS.
www.paddleshack.com

Cleaver

Josh's Deer

Couldn't have the end of the year hunting photo be a picture of Walt reading the Enquirer.

Huntin' Camp '09

A behind the scenes look at what really goes on at hunting camp....

deer

So I think about 4 people visit the blog anymore, but I feel I must do my duty and share hunting pics. This was last night. Had a little buck at 50 yards for an hour, and he kept looking back. Then here comes a doe. He walks back down to the doe, and out comes a 3rd deer. Much bigger, following doe. I couldn't resist. Philly, hope you appreciate the artistic photo. I have one tag left for muley doe, and there is no way I have room in freezer (with elk). Anybody want a doe? Will deliver.

Ladies' Hunting '09

Karen joined us for our Saturday hunt, we hiked all morning up a thick ass ridge and didn't see a thing, so it figures that after we were back in the truck driving Karen spotted this muley buck with some does. I did the jump and bail that my hubby and Mikey taught me how to do out of a moving truck, and now he's hangin' in the shed out back!
Thanks to Karen for spotting him, and thanks to the hubby for doing all the dirty work and gutting him out!

The Verdict

*VENISON VERSUS BEEF THE TASTE CONTROVERSY ENDS FROM THE UNITED STATES VENISON COUNCIL

*Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist that venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food research group was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste test to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions once and for all.

First a grand champion steer was chased into a swamp a mile and a half from a road and shot several times. After most of the entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged back over rocks and logs, and through mud and dust to the road. It was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before being hung out in the sun for 10 days.

After that it was lugged into a garage, where it was skinned and rolled around on the floor for a while. Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick the steer carcass, but were chased away when they attempted to bite chunks out of it.

Next a sheet of plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in the basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat left from last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to clean out the grass stuck under the lawn mower.
The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men worked on it with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was 375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a couple of steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an inch and a half thick on the other.

The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock in the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added along with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for two hours.

The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every one of the members of the panel thought it was venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted exactly like the venison he had eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years. The results of this scientific test show conclusively that there is no difference between the taste of beef and venison.

Elk Season 09'

Speed goats

I have to thank Keith for a text book hunt, Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better story. Three minutes after shooting light we had 2 goats down.

Steelhead season is upon us

The steelie numbers are big this year! Fish on!!!! Caught 15 on this trip and lost about the same.

When's the bachelor float Walt?????

Don't forget you Idaho brothers!

Marked

Idee-ho

Sorry for the top Annie..but it was a worthy post. Been watching this guy for a while. And yes, Brian, I was off the front porch. Actually I wasn't even on my property.

Luckily I have an understanding wife....it was too hot to hang so we cleared out the second fridge. I'm sure the deer stink will go away eventually...

Chicken Slayer

Well, you all asked for some carnage so here it is! It was a good weekend for grouse and bear, starting out with Mikey being charged by a mama bear and then me finally sticking a chicken last night, the judo tip went straight through which made for a nice carrying stick back to camp. This morning on my solo hunt I saw 3 bears, unfortunately the guy with a bear tag among us forgot his boots at home so he stayed at camp with the dogs!

Chicken slayin' is well worth the effort for a meal like this, grouse breast stuffed with morels, garlic and red onion, wrapped in bacon then topped with a morel/garlic gravy.

Nothing to Report

Attention Bloggers, please use this:



http://gacc.nifc.gov/nrcc/dc/idgvc/dispatchforms/fs_1300_22.doc


(this is real!!!)

Someone post something already....

A worthy post can't be this hard to find....

Gotta be something happening....archey season is two weeks old already and no carnage photos???

Sun River

Ahhh yes, another weekend of SwissfamilyColeman camping, although this time Kim and Neil joined us. The weather was sporadic, with some rain, some crazy wind, and it probably got down into the 30's during the evenings, but we had a lot of fun. The scenery was excellent and the fishing was great, although the fish were mostly dinks...but we caught a lot of them.

Below is documentation of my redneck fishing capabilities. A spin rod, and a needle nose pliers with some 5+ pound test. What else do you need?

Below, Neil and I are partying down around the campfire. Stockmann would be proud of me since I was the last man standing both nights. Jr. made sure that I was the first person up every morning.

Jr. wanted to get in on a little of the partying action too.

With the chilly weather, I thought it would be a great opportunity to bust out the dutch oven and see if I still had skills. Autumn added the flair.

Kim and Neil battled the wind with fly rods, but it paid off for them in the end when they got into a few dry fly hatches and caught a ton of fish.

A little morning joe down by the river...or Jr. prefers his mug filled with river rocks.

Ready for battle. Selma was not MVP of fishing

The scenery was fantastic!

I'm not really sure what to say about this photo. Men are from mars...

Philly's favorite, the camper shot.

Working and Scouting

Mike and I went up to Helmville area to do some site visits this past Sunday. We ran into this muley and a gaggle of bobcats, I counted at least 4 kitty's.

Clearwater Bassin'

Brian came over last weekend to go floating with Becky Evy and I on the Clearwater. The fishing was pretty good! Caught some nice bass like these and a couple mini's too.....

Brian called it a "teaching moment"

She didn't like the big 'uns though

Pioneer Mountains

So we headed to the Pioneers. We wanted to camp on the Big Hole Friday night, but got out of the car and the mosquitoes were so thick we headed to high ground in the Pioneers. Although there are a lot of RV'ers (I guess we now qualify as RV'ers), the Pioneers are awesome. We'll be back...

On the way to Coolidge Ghost town...

Smoked whitefish, cream cheese, cucumber on a wheat cracker...I brought enough food to bring 10 of us.

Nice views...on the way to Elkhorn Hot Springs. The hot springs were warm, but aesthetically, I'd rather go to others.

Signing the register for Coolidge ghost town. About 3/4 mile hike, and pretty neat.

The Wise River. Three bites, and one rainbow. It was a dink, but it was a fish!

Jr. found the axe.

The Lupine and Indian Paintbrush were in bloom