The grey light of dawn was on us when it happened….a flash from a trail camera somewhere out in the woods. Ruined my whole morning, you see I feel like those are cheating when used for bow hunting it is just one more thing that gives you an up on the animals and when they are around because the photo’s come complete with a time on them. What happened to woodsmanship?

Dawn arrived and I was still dealing with the irk of the trail camera when the elk came off the hill. Then they stopped, went on point, and slid off. I thought, “no, it can’t be”. Turning around I spotted him…the hunter too late to the blind.

He spoke to my son who was in a blind adjacent me and then continued to walk around the pond scattering his scent as he went. Enough! I emerged from my hiding spot and invited him to sit with us other than to ruin the whole draw. He took my offer. I moved over to another blind and had a nap.

The hunter had found the place by scouting and since it was public lands had as much right to be there as we did. I have found over the years that first come first serve works. Setting up a tree stand to reserve your spot or now, a trail camera, doesn’t mean YOU were there first!

The hunter was from out of the area so I invited him to camp for an elk bacon burger (explanation on how to make them in an upcoming blog) While eating I told the hunter it could be either a great weekend or bad weekend depending on how he played it. So far he was passing my bone head meter test. We hunted together again that night and he volunteered to move over if my son could make it back up and give him the first shot.  Again he was passing the tests with flying colors. I’d told my son not to walk in past 6:00 PM. He no showed. I left the hunter in the best blind.

I’d been standing to stretch and looked around before I moved to sit back down and spotted…

While there are many different styles and types of broad heads on the market it is the ones with leading cutting edges that cut on contact having the least resistance  that penetrate the deepest. Many of these come pre-sharpened from the factory. I enjoy sharpening my own. Sharpening is something you learn, and I find it somewhat therapeutic. If it won’t slide down my thumb nail or will cut a rubber band under the weight of itself it is sharp. There are many good devices one can use to help them sharpen heads. Archers Past, Three Rivers and Custom King are some company’s that offer these items for sharpening.

While the particular prototype head in the photo is stainless steel. I usually coat the steel heads with marker. This keeps the edge from dulling from oxidization. We use Eclipse heads that are very strong yet easy to sharpen and they hold the edge. They are also coated in Teflon this coating reduces the resistance of the broadhead as it moves through hide or visera again allowing for deeper penetration.

Finally we were loaded and headed for the canyon. Home would be a combination of a camp trailer and spike style wall tent. We’d set camp a few days before because we wanted our smaller rigs to help us be more mobile while we hunted. We didn’t get any pre-scouting done this year, so we’d be freelancing a bit. The elk hole always works so I had confidence with that. Deer….well we bought our donation to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in the long outside chance a couple deer may come along while we hunted elk.

After setting up the sleeping arrangements and stowing away the chow we set up the Professional Series two burner (DB60D) because of the heat we wanted to cook out side. The Pro 60 is the flag ship of stoves from Camp Chef. It’s design  has undergone several changes over the years. One thing has remained the same- Good heat output.

We shoot our archery tackle year round. We are always looking for time to shoot and something to shoot at.

In the winter there are local indoor leagues, rabbits to pursue; spring brings turkey for those of us who really like to be punished by these smart birds, golf shooting, stump shooting, outdoor 3-d ranges and the back yard.

My parents took me hunting right after I could walk well enough to manage the bottom of a ditch to flush pheasants. I have a photo of me at about the seasoned age of 3 with my mother, and a brace of grouse. Then in my later years she wondered why I hunted so much! (go figure)

A camper and good meals were always a part of our outdoor lifestyle. Some of the best tasting lunches I can recall were cheese and tomato sandwiches, cold pork and beans, Oreo’s and cold milk from the old silver ribbed Thermos to wash them down. The cool October noon times, smell of sage brush as we sat eating on the tailgate of the old white 71 Chevy was about as good as it got for this teenager. And often lunch was accompanied by the carcass of a deer and the anticipation of fresh liver and onions for an upcoming meal. Evening meals were mostly from a Dutch oven, breakfasts were off the camper stove, pancakes being the staple.

Before I get too far into this many part series I’d like to go on record with this comment: This is a Pro Hunting piece. Pro in the sense that I’m all for hunting as a conservation tool that allows us to continue to enjoy wildlife beyond bullet or arrow head. For a better understanding of that comment Google: E Donnell Thomas Jr., and get his book “How Sportsmen Saved the World”. It is the most complete explanation to hunting I’ve ever read. I feel it should be required reading for every curriculum of higher education that is perusing a career around wildlife. I’m not so sure it shouldn’t be required reading as part of hunter education classes. I may at times refer to some aspects of “modern” hunting that I’m not fond of, and wish the issue would disappear from the sport. Hunters, like other groups, are not necessarily a band of brothers. We have our “ilk” that tarnishes the activity like many other groups do. So follow me around this fall as we wander around on this great mother earth. I hope to cover the ups and downs, good foods and train wrecks.

The true Blog world is timely. I’ll work to be such. However, I’m already behind because short of a flash light…I work hard to not take electronics to the woods with me and so the lap top stays home.

September 1st, for the bulk of most hunters is the mark of the beginning of fall. Grouse seasons open, Dove, and many archery seasons. Our bow hunt opened August 21 for deer and elk here in Utah. That time of year brings with it several challenges with the heat. It is imperative that you know how to handle meat in the heat. You have more time in 85 degree temperatures than one would think to salvage the meat but you have to move it along. I regret that I soured one elk neck and shoulder in 40 years of hunting. That should have never happened and I regret to this day that I didn’t do the right thing and tell the outfitter I worked for to shove it! Instead, at his insistence, I hung the huge bodied bull elk my client took “whole” on the teepee type game pole so the camp could oogle over it. (You think hanging it was a trick, you should have seen us get it into the Blazer). I couldn’t get one shoulder point and the neck off the ground and as a result the heat stayed in the meat and it bone soured by morning in that area of the carcass. When I got the animal parted out and into the ranch meat cutting service the butcher and I agreed that part would have to go. A week later after my second session of guiding, I stopped in to collect the remainder of the meat that my client had signed over to me. The butcher decided it was all soured and had tossed it to the coyotes (mad doesn’t even cover it)!!!! He was behind and it was an excuse to get one out of the way easy.

I’ll show you in an upcoming blog what we do to handle meat in the heat. For now let’s get started with the “load and go”. Deciding what to take, how much to take is always the worst part for me. What kind of camp will it be? How long will we/can we be there? What about the menu? The beginning of this process somewhat resembles the movie “The Clampets Go to Maui”!

After the Canadian Bacon Omelet, and as I zipped away the stove as the last piece of equipment to be loaded I recalled the saying that “all good things must end”. But it doesn’t mean the end is bad.

The brunch celebrated my 51 birthday. In a way it was a new beginning since my heart surgery last December. I’d pulled 2500 feet in elevation, seen enough animals to entice me back and had the knowledge I could climb to them and get them out if one passed within range. With the bow season just a few weeks away, I’m as excited as I was as a youngster waiting daylight that first bow hunt morning in 1974. There is just something about the woods waking up that is magical.

Morning was early, early like end of evening early. The elk are out but a moment in the heat of August and we’d come too far to scout to not give ourselves a chance to find them. We’d sleep and eat later.

The coffee pot stood ready on the stove; Joe and oatmeal would fuel us up the mountain.

Our view had been a good one and we’d beat daylight so we documented the sightings, snapped a photo to show we’d been there and stump shot our way back to the vehicle. Camp was a short drive away and brunch was in the coolers waiting for heat.

Recently in my travels I bumped into a second generation sausage building shop in the middle of pretty much nowhere.

About ten minutes north of Three Forks, Montana you hang a left and then take the second left and you are there. The address UPS knows is 93 Hilltop Rd. Three Forks, Montana.

Carla Strong Dean carries on her fathers’ passion for teaching people to build sausage. The personalized customer service is what Carla enjoys most. After thirty minutes in the establishment the fresh spices permeated your clothing and you were hungry for sausage.

I picked up some very helpful information I hope to put to work this winter when I build my venison sausages. SES can be reached at 1-406-285-3420.

The Denali is quite a rig with its high output wind fighting burners standing reading along side the center BBQ grill. And it can cook… yeah baby it can cook. The snap ignition is a real convenience if you’re prone to forget the fire stick. (Yeah I’m talking about me)

Antelope back strap medallions and a potato veggie medley on the side was done in minutes. We could have easily feed four. So the two of us just tamped it in and felt a bit piggish.

Many people have conceived a notion that since it is public lands and they are the public that they can treat it however they please. I visited a Forest this summer that impressed me with how it was beaten up and then somewhat patched up. Literally there were roads and two track ATV trails anywhere you could get a vehicle. The public in this area seemed to have figured it out, because the signage was still standing.  

There was good information on the signs and they were free of target practice. There were still many roads left open and they were well maintained. Those I saw driving about in vehicles were doing so with some element of sanity.

It was good to also see that state land and wildlife agencies were working together on issues. The re-seeding of some of the illegal trails made for good wildlife forage. An upside to the scar left. In this photo the buck finally decided he’d had enough and turned to leave as I snapped the photo.

I hope we all enjoy the remainder of the summer and fall months to come in the out-of-doors. Lets work to be courteous of others, wildlife and the lands. I think the group Alabama said it best in a song “Lets leave some blue up above us, lets leave some green on the ground, it is only ours to borrow, lets leave some for tomorrow………”