Fall Days Afield 09

**wendigo** · 10-06-2009, 11:41 AM

work up a weak brine, something you can soak them in overnight. generally speaking 1 cup salt, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, spices/whatever flavoring you like, water. soak overnight. rinse. dry with a paper towel. place in smoker. smoke times will vary depending upon your heat. you don't want to cook these so the cooler the better. for example in a big chief smoker i would only go with one pan of chips and out of the smoker at 3 hours (max), i would probably leave them in my smokehouse over night.
take smoked meat, sear in skillet, deglaze (wine is nice), poor drippings over, enjoy.

**Happy Fun Ball** · 10-06-2009, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by Grange

Your lab reminds me of my lab, Summit. I love the A5. I used to use my grandpa's A5 until I got my Beretta O/U.

Grange, I was thinking the same thing. Where did you get Summit from? Maddie came from Madison, WI (clever name, eh?) out of Candlewood Kennels.

**Professor** · 10-06-2009, 03:14 PM

Just a quick bump...... even if it is fishing, not hunting

**Grange** · 10-06-2009, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Happy Fun Ball

Grange, I was thinking the same thing. Where did you get Summit from? Maddie came from Madison, WI (clever name, eh?) out of Candlewood Kennels.

I got her from a co-worker's breeding. I don't know much about the dam, but sire comes from River Oaks Way-Da-Go Rocky and Magnum's Timberlake Mega.

**Grange** · 10-10-2009, 05:51 PM

My english setter pup, Tico had another good trial showing. This time she ran against Derby age dog which are at a minimum 6 months older. She took third place.

She runs again tomorrow and then it's off to the cottage for a week to grouse hunt.

**Grange** · 10-11-2009, 06:58 PM

Tico got another third place today in an Open Derby Field Trial. Now it's time to go hunting.

**mtnbiker/boarder** · 10-12-2009, 09:26 AM

great tR THANKS....its here in pa...waitin on my big one to come round.......

**lemon boy** · 10-13-2009, 09:26 AM

Grange- congrats man!

==================

Dang, seems like every year I get busy and start slacking off on this thread. Sign of the times I guess. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been getting out and hunting either. A quick review of the camera says I’ve been out a few times and there’s the odd no-pic trip as well.

Doves:

I have a pretty nice dove spot and had a morning to head down there earlier in Sept, usually go grouse hunting for the opener and then hope that the cold doesn’t blast all the doves to TX/NM before I can head out. Luckily for me there were still hanging out.

Plains sunrise

A seemingly good year for the sunflowers

An old range at a torn down homestead

As patient with this sitting around bidness as he ever gets.

And then there’s been a couple of trips in there for some grouse, didn’t shoot as many as the opener but we popped a couple and had a couple of pretty nice points sprinkled throughout. Been hearing reports of less than stellar bird numbers but my usual spots have been “average” I’d say. The dog did bump one covey that flushed from the edge of some dark timber into the timber that I couldn’t chase down b/c it was so thick with deadfall that even the dog couldn’t head into it, brutal nasty stuff. But the best news from this year is: NO PORKIES! (yet…knock wood)

Avy path of aspens

Some shots of the mutt runnin

(he’s in there I swear)

(really)

And then last weekend, I headed up to Jackson county for my annual duck opener trip, pretty standard 30 guys, 25 dogs trailers/wall tents etc… always fun. Unfortunately, this year it was way cold. 18°F @5am cold. So of course all of the ponds were covered in about ¾” of ice, stomping a hole for the dekes was rather difficult and the water level was also way down so that was a muddy affair to begin with. Which is all to say that the morning was tough and I shot only two ducks. Not to be deterred I went to one of my jump shooting spots and picked up another two ducks.

Upon pulling into N. Park the sunset on the Never Summers with the full moon and the sageflats got me to pull over for a couple of quick snaps

I was so intent on the mountains and the moon and whatnot that I came very close to leaving without even noticing these guys in the foreground

Who says you need to be up high in the timber to shoot an elk?

brrrrrrrrrrrr

Fin

**highangle** · 10-13-2009, 05:33 PM

this thread is gud

/*

psstt, so is this stove

GPS it and sled it out on the snow

$1200 to rebuild, prolly wurth moar wen dun

*/

**lemon boy** · 10-14-2009, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by highangle

GPS it and sled it out on the snow

Seems like a lot of work to me, are you sure it wouldn't just be easier to back a truck up to the thing and winch it into the bed?

**mtcham** · 10-20-2009, 10:37 PM

Some random Montana scenics. The rattlesnakes are finally denned up here so we can now move into some new areas.

**skinnyskier** · 10-21-2009, 06:50 PM

I just got back from an afternoon of dog work, and thought I'd share a few photos from the retriever side of things.

My little Irish Water Spaniel, Lark

De-cheating on hard water marks takes help sometimes.

Flynt working the memory bird.

Jersey is one hard-core Chessie

**The Reverend Floater** · 10-24-2009, 03:43 PM

Friday: Quick upland hunt on the way to the duck zone and Paco comes up big. Something tells me he was just a little proud of this one:

After watching a high school football game while drinking beers in the bed of my truck, followed by poker with bourban, 4:00am came VERY early this morning.

This guy decided to swim across the river at first light...pretty cool:

It was a good morning. Just ask the brown dog!

**Grange** · 10-24-2009, 04:52 PM

Great TR's. I forgot my camera for my first week of vacation grouse hunting, and I didn't have time to take pictures when running my dogs for a friend at a game farm "hunt". I hope I won't forget it for second weeks vacation the first week of November.

The grouse numbers haven't been where I was hoping after all the hype this summer, but I have my possession limit on woodcock.

**FreakofSnow** · 10-24-2009, 09:04 PM

Eastern Montana - Antelope hunt 2009

The weather had us on edge before we left with a storm dropping a few inches of snow in Missoula the day before we departed. We checked and rechecked the forecast with predicted temps to be in the single digits for lows and highs in the 30s. Rolling on Highway 200 at -2F, but slowly it would warm to the 20's.

OPENER

Very cold, single digits. Headed out on the fence line. About a mile out spotted a herd, start a great sneak. Other member of the party accidently spook them towards us. I let my buddy (first time anteloper) take the shot, he put a doe down at 300 yards.

Head off to the south, heard an antelope alarm call but couldn't see them. I glassed and was ready, then a doe popped up 150 and I shot offhand. 1/4-ed and called the boys for a pick up, beers and cheers. Later on we saw a herd of 20 about 1.5 miles away but passed on them.

We hooked up w/ K and debated, then saw that the 20 were still on the hill, nearly 2 hours later since our first sighting of them. We drove up to the gate by the windmill and headed up the main drainage south. The terrain allowed us to be hidden the entire way. Peaking over a shallow ridge, Ryan's eyes widen as he ducked. They were right there, like 20 yards away. K and I quickly quietly crawled into position, they spooked about 100 yards. We tried to coordinate a double shot as the herd balled up. Finally a doe stepped to the side, CLICK. Nothing came out of my barrel, I hadn't jacked a round in after the first kill this morning. BOOM! K fired, missing. Again, they ran off in the wrong direction, covering 3 miles in nothing flat.

At the end of the day we all started to head back to camp. At the bottom of the hill on what we now call carcass corner, the two truck pulled over w/ 4 dudes grabbing their rifles. Antelope were on both sides of the road. H took 2 quick shots and dropped 2 does. J took a long shot, 391 yards, nice shot. Helped J 1/4 her and we had 3 more in the truck for a total of 5 the first day.

DAY 2

Scoped myself on an uphill shot. Bad start to the day. Dark red blood pours out and down my nose. Scoped myself bad, deep 1/2 moon cut. Dragging my pride back to the truck, I grab some napkins and guaze to control the bleeding. Joel applies some butterfly bandages Drive up the road and she is in the same spot doe at 200 yards.

Another close sneak, 20 yards away. The wind swirled and they ran. One party member shot a doe in the South area.

DAY 3

Made a great sneak from 1/2 miles w/ good wind. Got to a knob and could see 5 does. Crawled downhill into position behind a sage bush. 200 yard broadside dropped right there. 1/4 and I packed back. Cheesy shot with a doe, but I do love my new camera

9 total antelope were taken in 3 days. 16 tags would have been a tag out.

Day 4

Left with freezing rain falling, quick break down of camp. Our ice never melted, not even the ice blocks outside the tent.

Closing shots

Porta pooper in the sage

Hiding from the wind

**skinnyskier** · 10-25-2009, 09:00 AM

Nice TRs all. Paco brought in a pile of ducks!

**mtcham** · 10-26-2009, 02:51 PM

My son BBRidgekid tags his first pheasant ever.

BB and his grandfather(who owns the real hunting dog).

Probably wondering how the skiing might be today.

**char** · 10-27-2009, 06:13 PM

Went looking for elk the other day. Season opens tomorrow.

Started snowing. Anthony Lakes getting a little.

**The Reverend Floater** · 10-28-2009, 10:58 PM

Went out for an epic elk trek yesterday morning on a hill adjacent from the resort. Started with a 1700' climb at 5:45 AM. Got to the top before sunrise and froze our tits off in the lightly blowing snow and breeze on the ridge. Took some shots to pass the time.

Finally the sun came up and we waited. We heard some bugling in the timber behind us, down the hill but saw nothing. Then we saw a large muley buck in the bowl below us. My buddy had a deer tag and took off after it. I followed behind him as we went down into the bowl. He got a 200 yard shot at it but bricked...he was using my rifle and it was a tough shot.

The shot:

It was then that we decided to hike back up the bowl, back onto the ridge. This put our vert at around 3100 feet for the morning. The scenery wasn't too bad.

We made our way another mile or so up the ridge where we stopped and glassed a peak across a saddle from us. Sure enough, we saw a cow elk bedding down on the opposite ridge. Excited, we crept down onto the saddle, sprayed down with scent cover, then crept slowly up towards the cow, trying to get a shooting lane. No dice.... Finally we got within about 15 yards of the top and the smell of elk was seriously overwhelming. We were fired up and crept on, ready to drop the first cow we came across. Unfortunately they had left in the interim and we got NOTHING. Dejected, we hiked down the snow covered grass and rocks. I probably fell 10 times and was totally cooked by the time we hit the road below.

**Phall** · 10-30-2009, 05:10 PM

went out for rabbits in St. George, VT today with my buddies and his beagles. Ran a rabbit, missed, flushed a grouse, lance missed, then the dogs went crazy for about 40 minutes, and a good size rabbit came right at todd and i and we nailed a solid 2-3 lb. cotton tail. my first kill. super stoked, no pics though.

**The Reverend Floater** · 11-02-2009, 10:18 PM

Whooop! Pretty stoked over here...shot my first big game animal yesterday. After several years of bird hunting, I took the plunge this year and drew a cow tag. Luckily, I've got some friends that could guide hunts if they wanted to...

After several unsuccessful hunts over the past few weeks, we found ourselves chasing a huge herd we saw from the road. They disappeared into the timber when shots rang out way down the ridge but we decided to go after them, anyway. Quite a while later that morning, we were out on a ridge when we heard a lone cow call. Reading the drainage, we decided to gamble on their direction and moved as quickly as we could up the ridge to where it became a saddle to another summit.

Just as we neared the saddle, we heard their movements in the timber below us. A few seconds later and they were making their way out of the timber onto the slope in front of us.

At this point, I began to freak out. The adrenaline rush was insane...I sat down and rested the rifle on my knee and my buddy crouched next to me with the binoculars. My other buddy was hiding next to a tree on the ridge behind us, camera ready. Thank god I had some experienced friends there--JB did his best to calm me down by telling me that we had plenty of time. He instructed me to take off my backpack, which I did, and then rested it upright in front of me with the rifle leaning on it. "280 yards," he stated while looking through his range finder. "Fuck! That's a long shot for me," I whispered, knowing that the longest shots I'd practiced were 100 yards.

The elk were meandering up the slope slowly. There were about 20 of them, mostly clumped together. "It's okay. You got this. There is one spike in there. Don't shoot him. Don't shoot a cow with calves. Tell me which you're going to shoot and I'll give you the okay." I was breathing hard, trying to control my breathing and moving the cross hairs from elk to elk, looking for a good shot. I was using a Savage 30-06 I bought used for $200 out of the paper this summer--not the fanciest of set ups. Through my scope, I saw several cows with their young, a few alone but with their back to me. I couldn't pick out the spike which made me nervous. Just then, one of the cows stepped out of the herd by about 5 yards, perfectly broadside to me, eating. "Lead cow! Lead! Lead! Lead!" I whispered excitedly. JB glassed her for a second. "Take her." Everything else seemed to fade away as I concentrated on placing the cross hairs just above the back of her shoulders, remembering that the 180 grain bullet would drop a bit at that range. Remembering what my buddy Randy told, me, I waited for the end of an exaggerated exhale and pulled the trigger.

BAM! Thwop!

I actually heard the bullet hit the cow. "Yeah buddy! Yeah! Yeah! You got her! Load the next just in case she runs." JB stood up, glassing. J ran out from the tree and was excitedly hugging us. I was amped on sooooo much adrenaline running through my veins as I slammed the next round into the chamber. I wouldn't need it, though. She made it about 10 yards down the hill before cratering.

The shot:

The team photo afterward:

We made our way down to her. Another cow was standing on the slope, watching us and waiting for her. It was kind of sad...she was clearly waiting for the downed cow and let us get within 50 yards before running up the slope after the rest of the herd.

The dead cow had a radio collar on her which was kind of cool. We gutted her out, then my two buddies drug her as best they could for as long as they could. My knees are pretty fucked up from a bike crash and I couldn't help with that. After a while, we couldn't drag her anymore and decided to quarter her. We got a good look at the shot then. The 180 grain Fusion bullet had hit her right in the boiler room and had bounced around through her lungs, killing her quickly, which made me happy. I had the two front quarters plus some burger meat on my pack--probably 120 pounds or so and my knees were absolutely screaming. We walked a ways down and stumbled upon an old, grown-over forest service road. We left the elk and went down, got the truck, and did some aggressive 4-wheeling in my truck to get back up that road and eventually reach the vicinity of where we left it.

Overall, a fantastic experience--a magnificent animal, great friends and a great shot for a rookie that'll lead to a ton of delicious eating! My knees are totally fuct right now but I can't stop thinking about how awesome the experience was.

**FreakofSnow** · 11-02-2009, 11:54 PM

Nice work Rev! There is nothing like that feeling. I predict you may be spending a little more time w/ the .06.

I had 30 cows/calf at 40 yards the other day, killer. But no bulls, maybe tomorrow.......

btw - your team photo is MIA

**flyandski365** · 11-03-2009, 11:11 AM

Hawking has been tough so far this season. Heavy rains this summer produced some very thick cover and the bird is having trouble connecting. Things should get better as it gets cooler and drier. Only one bunny in the bag so far. I'll work on getting some better pics next couple times out.

**wendigo** · 11-03-2009, 02:58 PM

congrats rev
flyandski - you should bring that bird up here. we got 12 rabbits and 3 grouse on saturday (3 hunters). A hawk actually flew 2 feet from me waiting for us to flush something.