bear402

+ 1 I make a a lot of bacon burger with bacon ends and pieces . I get mine in 3 pound packages that are priced quite a bit cheaper than sliced Bacon. I cut it in at a ratio 1 to 4 in my grind if it's fairly lean bacon. Less if it's fatty . Makes good burgers , tacos and anything else you would use ground meat for. I also have used fatty pork shoulder and pork butt out the grocery store meat case for sausage grind. Works good . My wife loves venision Bacon burger ! That's What's for dinner tonight !

+ 1 Nay, Yep to many opinions floatin around to be a fair deal . Couple of nimrods could put the Kueeeeerbunk to an informitive or entertaining thread just cause they get their pantys in a bunch over it . Maybe 10 "Ron White Declarations" by different folks would be more acceptable ! Signed , Ron White ! (AKA: Tater Tot)

============================================= I just returned from my bi-annual trip to Colorado for archery elk and deer . It's bi-annual because of cost and the fact that Ya need a couple of preference points to draw a deer tag. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First off let me qualify what kind of crew was in attendance for this hunt. Basically we were all elkless elk hunters with this being My 4th archery elk hunt, Cousin Gib's 3rd archery elk hunt while his son Gary & Cousin Marc were on their 1st archery elk hunt. The bottom line is that we were looking for any legal elk. In addition I had drawn an either sex deer tag in the unit we were hunting in. Anyway, myself and cousins Gib & Marc + Gibs son Gary left Bakersfield Ca. on the evening of August 31st. We drove until around 1:00 A.M on the 1st of September and then pitched out sleeping bags along I-40 Just past Ashfork Arizona. Catching about 4 1/2 hours of ZZZ's we hit the road and proceeded down the road through Flagstaff , 4 corners monument , endind up at Walmart in Cortez Colorado to purchase final supplies and across the counter archery elk either sex tags. Proceeding onward through Dalores, we arrived at our final destination just outside of the " ********* **** Wilderness". We pitched up camp with a central kitchen & B S ' area stringing my 12 X16 ' Cabelas tarp off my little quad / camping trailer. As usual I laid back and piddled with other stuff as Gib, Gary & Marc set their tents. I always prefer to set my tent a minimum of 60 to 80 yards away from others so I don't get Snored out at night. I swear Marc could wake the dead when he falls into a deep sleep. :shock: I did not take any other pics of camp but here's Marcs tent with an extra tarp fly for the rain and thunder storms that is guaranteed to show up at this time of year. By the time camp was set up and we wound down from the long drive it was time lay out hunting clothes, load our packs and hit the sack . Morning came quickly and after a quick bowl of oatmeal and cup of stout coffee we headed out for the first days hunt. Gib & his son Gary walked out of camp to some familar territory from past trips that included fir groves , aspen, open parks and a few wallows while Marc and myself drove up the road about a mile and bailed out for a climb to a little higher country. Our camp was based at 10,200 Feet in elevation and before the morning was through Marc and I had climbed to at tree line at 11,800' . The weather was unusually warm and dry peaking out in the lower 80's The elk didn't seem to be moving much , although we did find some sign around 11000', on our trek up the mountain. Just at treeline we found a nice bowl off to the the side of a creek drainage's head waters . We could smell the elk as we eased in and after a good look around it was obvious by the elk pellets and patties that a small herd was using the bowl. I had Marc set up about 80 yards down from the bowl in the creek drainage and proceeded to call a few sequences . After an hour of calling with no action , we pulled out to to check out some more real estate for signs of action. Arriving back at camp at the end of the day we had a quick dinner and compared notes with Gib & Gary. They had found little sign and had seen no elk. The first day of the hunt came up blank. 4:30 A.M. came quickly and once again after a breakfast of oatmeal and stout coffee we struck out for another day of fun. Not long into the morning hunt that coffee hit bottom and I had to throw up the ol' "one cheek comode" After the morning hunt , lunch break and short nap Marc and I split up to cover more area . Elk sign was tough to find and the weather was still hot and dry. Worst of all the elk were tight lipped with no elk talk or bugles going on whatsoever. I poked around some old haunts, hunted until sundown and headed back to camp. Shortly after my arrival, Marc came in looking a little worked up. He said that he had shot a cow at 44 yards right before dark. Describing the shot he said it was a broadside shot and he heard the arrow hit the cow elk. It had done a mule kick on impact. Marc was unable to find blood on the ground and could not find the arrow either. Marking where the cow had stood on the shot with flagging tape and Gps coordinates he ruturned to camp for help. At 9:00 P.M. GIb , Gary. Marc and myself all headed up to the shot location to see if we could find any sign of blood , the arrow or the elk itself. Of course now was the time the weather decided to shift as it began tp sprinkle . We searched carefully at first by headlamps and my bloodrunner tracking light, but the clouds started really opening up and knowing that any blood sign would soon be lost we started a 4 man grid search which turned up nothing in the end. We called off the search for the night and returned to camp to dry beds in our tents. As morning arrived I encouraged Gib and Gary to get on with their hunt as I accompanied Marc up the mountain to look things over with some daylight to assist us. We were able to find the arrow within a few minutes and after examination it revealed that there was fat and hair on the broadhead with nothing on the shaft and a couple of traces of blood on two of vanes. I told Marc that it looks like a solid brisket hit to me and I have unfortuntely seen a few of em' in my Bowhunting career . We kicked around for another 1/2 hour and then pulled off satisfied that the elk had been insulted more than hurt in the episode. ( It's amazing how much easier it is to find stuff during the daylight as compared to a dark rainy night !!) ------------------ Fast forwarding a little through the hunt , the weather pattern had taken a change for the better as afternoon Thunderstorms started rolling in wetting and cooling down the elk country , which got the elk more interested in moving a little bit. We were all seeing a few elk on our daily hunts and fresh sign was more apparent. By the 6th day everyone had seen a few deer and acouple of small Bucks around. (Except me the Guy with the deer tag.) :roll: One evening Gib had seen a very nice 4 point Buck right up behind camp grazing a meadows edge . He took a couple of pictures but the lighting was poor so the pics were fuzzy and really only showed the size of the rack which were out past those big muley ears. I went up and set up the next evening for a 3 hour sit but nothing showed up but a few "Slow elk". (MooOooooo cows. ) On the 7th we lost half of our hunting party as Gib and Gary had to pull out and make the 15 hour drive back to California to work and family. It's to bad that they weren't able to stay a little longer for more elk punishment ! I'm pretty sure those elk were havin a lot fun dodging them and I know that Gib and Gary would be missiing all that slipping and sliding down the sides of those hills off of those sneaky dead wet aspen limbs into the muck & goo ----- Marc & I continued on with the hunt , somtimes hunting together and other times splitting up to cover a little more ground. We were starting to get a feel of what the elk were doing as we found more & more elk sign daily. We both were seeing a few elk now and again , cows and calfs but no bulls . There still was no Bugling going on but the females were starting to talk a little with mews & chirps . One evening at dark when Marc and I met at our rendevous point on a trail by the edge of a meadow . A bull cut loose on the other side of the meadow in the treeline with Glumps , Belly grunts and a couple of Barks. I think he was saying " Hey I'm over here , I know your there , but you can't get me ! " ' Naaa naaa naaa ! " :x I was now concentrating my efforts in the low drainages sitting and watching the bogs and wallows along with still hunting elk trails in fir and aspen grove bedding areas . Marc was doing the same as we continued to have a few encounters but no shots. We had pretty much given up on calling . I don't think we very good at it because all we had were negative results. I should have taken a few more, but I did take some photos of the scenery as I hunted along in the Wilderness. Here's an overview of the country we were hunting in . A view Of ******* **** Wilderness . Still patches of snow way back in there. Small Wallow in a Bog --------------------------------------- As our limited hunting days continued to quickly fly by, frustration started to set in a little and we were beginning to think that our trip was going to be a bust ending with a big Goose Egg on the meat pole . The Ol' Skunkaroo !! That stinks. I decided to hunt for a big ol' Milkin Mule deer doe to at least fill my deer tag , but although I had several encouters and close calls , it never came together to stick an arrow in one. I continued mixing it up, alternating looking for deer and then elk as Marc stayed on the Elk trail every day. The weather pattern really cooled off and it rained at night quite a bit as we worked into the 10th september. For some reason Marc and I both had a good feeling that morning as we parted ways to both hunt the low drainages, flat ridgeline and sloping bedding areas for elk. As we parted Marc said "it's going to happen" and I concurred. Marc cut off the pack trail first and I continued on towards the ******** **** Wilderness to a Huge park with a large pond on the lower end where I intended to cut down into the lower drainages crossing through a few elk bedrooms on the way. I hugged the edge of the park on a treeline as I slowly approached the pond. There was a depression followed by a slight rise which hid the pond from view until you were right on top of it. As the little pond edge came into view I spotted a deer feeding in a small grassy ravine running to the left and down the hill . The deer had it's head down in the tall grass and I thought to myself , " There's a doe feeding right out in the open. I immediately slipped into the treeline and slowly worked through it with the intent of ending up on the point of the finger that it formed , ending within 4o yards of the depression the deer was feeding in. With the rain we had the last several days , the forest floor was nice and quiet and I had the wind in my face. I was thinking to myself that , "something good could happen here !" My heart was starting to pump pretty good as I eased up to the end of the finger and peeked out into the open meadow expecting to see my doe. I was totally shocked as I looked out through the branches to see two bucks looking right at my little hiding spot . My jaw dropped as I saw the rack on the Monster Muley that was staring down at me. He was at least a 190 to 200 inch deer , the biggest I have ever seen while I was hunting ! I was in amazement whith the heighth of his tines as he swung that head back and forth trying to figure out what I was. I don't know how but that big buck was on to me , not spooked but on red alert that something was up. I hardly took notice of the Buck that was with him as he looked tiny in comparison . The 2 deer had moved out away from where I had originally spotted the first one so I knew that I would need to range them to get any kind of a shot. They looked to be approximately 70 yards from me standing in the open. As I slowly raised my range finder I realized that I was looking east directly into the morning sun and past experience has taught me to never range a deers body directly into the sun as the lens reflection will spook em' every time. I thought to myself , " Now What " and then decided I would range a tree near the Monster and hope he didn't catch the glare . I inched my range finder over to the nearest fir preparing to press the button , but as I did the Big boy jerked his head up, wheeled and ran up the hill and disappeared into the next little tree line on the far side of the opening. I was thinking to myself, "bummer game over" as I walked off the point and strolled across the open meadow towards where the deer had vanished. I made it about to the bottom of the depression that the little buck had been feeding in, when I caught movement again in the treeline. It was the Monster Buck and his little buddy again and they stepped right out on my side of the treeline hugging the firs as a backdrop. They hung there checking me out as I squirmed around trying to figure out what to do. I knelt down in the tall grass and the Big Guy started getting a little antsy dancing on his tiptoes trying to pick me out of my hidy hole . He had all he could take and disappeared back into the treeline . His little buddy hung back still looking down the hill towards me , but not looking overly concerned about the situation. Well I thought , "theres the consolation prize , been hunting 9 days , meats meat ! " I had to convince myself that any chance at the the freakin Monster was gone. I ranged the treeline that the buck was hung up against . It was a long poke but I'm capable as is my Evo , so slowy raised my bow and took the shot. I saw the arrow arcing towards the Buck in the final few yards and heard a Thwop and knew that I had hit him. The Buck ran straight out past the point of the treeline and then hooked a left as The big boy busted out of the trees behind him and passed him up . I watched as those massive horns ran straight away never to be seen by my eyes again. I walked over to where the Buck had been standing and looked around about 15 minutes for my arrow. I finally found it and after a quick glance, knew that I was not happy with what I was looking at. It had some blood on it and a whole bunch of gutty stuff . I didn't have very much blood to follow , but I did have a good line on the diection of travel the Buck had taken since it was open meadow until he dispappeared into the treeline at the far side of the park. I waited a bit and then started a very slow tracking job on hands and knees at times with 2 or 3 arrows stuck inthe ground marking blood to give me a sight line to find more blood and tracks. It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the treeline that he entered approximately 200 yards away. I found blood on the far side of the treeline where the deer entered into more open ground dropping into a steeper incline. I didn't want to push to hard with such a gutty arrow so I sat down for a break and carefully scanned the hill down below . An odd formation caught my eye as I sat there that didn't look quite right. It kind of looked like a downed grey log but then again it just wasn't quite right. I looked at it with my rangefinder at 84 yards and there was a definate dead limb sticking up at the end of it, but in front of that looked an awful lot like and ear sticking out parallel to the ground . I wasn't sure so I left my bow and pack where I sat and headed on down the hill for a closer look. This is where he left the treeline and dropped down the hill. About half way down to the spot I recognized the downed buck eliminating all doubt. This is how he lay as walked up to him. As it turned out the uphill shot hit with him a little quartered to me and a bit back . The 125 Grn. T-head busted though the diaphram and liver and exited midway through the upper paunch. The deer bled out internally, was good & stiff and already had blow flies laying laying eggs on his hide, so I believe that death came pretty quickly. Here's the entry shot. I took the shot on the buck at 8:35 A.M., had the buck propped up and was taking Pictures with the self timer using my Diablo daypack as a tripod at 12:30 P.M. Little Fork with the Evo Me and the Fork . After taking the photos , I deboned & sacked up the meat , cut the horns off strapped them and my Evo to my day pack and packed it all out to a road below . It was kind of rough trek with 1000 foot drop in elevation. At one point I had to pitch the meat sacks down the hill about 18 feet to a flat spot so I could climb down a rock outcropping handsfree. I hit the road turned on the radio to check on Marc and he told me he was on his way to the SUV with elk backstraps . I told him that he was the man and didn't mention the deer . I had him to pick me up down below as he pulled up right at dark I congratulated him on the Elk and said I got a little baby forky. Of course he was surprised when I pulled out the nice velvet Forky horns to throw in the car. We had previously discussed what to do if an elk was downed , so Marc skinned and quartered his elk, put meat sacks on the parts and pieces and hung them and the head in nearby trees to cool. There were plenty of coyotes in the area so it was definately the thing to do. We let the elk hang over night and then went in the next morning to debone the meat and pack it out. It was only in about 2 1/2 miles off a reasonable trail so it wasn't to bad . We made 2 trips each Marc with his Badlands 2200 and me with an old framepack and had it all hanging in camp. By late afternoon. It was quite a bit of work. but we managed pretty well. Here's a few pictures of the kill site and Marcs 5X4 Bull. Bull & Marc's 05 Bowtech Alligience Marc & his 5x4 Bull taken on his first elk hunt. Old fart whittlin' on a hind quarter. ( Oh Yea !, that's Me ) I hunted elk one more day after the elk packin with no success . We packed up camp & stopped in Cortez Co. to pack the cooler with enough dry ice to keep the elk and buck in good shape on the 15 hour drive home on the 13th of September . The trip was long and we rolled into Bfield at 11:30 P.M Wednesday evening, backed the trailer into the garage , pulled valuable equipment like bows and stuff out of car and called it a hunt. After unpacking and little equipment drying, I took a down day to rest up before the butchering began. Elk Backstraps: The first meal off the elk . (Elk Liver & Heart cooked with onions & mushrooms Served with gravy mashed potatoes & corn. ) It was a good hunt !

Man, you got into them on the return hunt. Exciting stuff right there

Nice Bull ! That video came out pretty good for using a cell phone and Binocs !

Thanks for the positive replys ! I love that Colorado High country. Coach provide me with the T-heads Via CWT classified. Thanks Coach, they worked good. I'll be down in southern AZ come Mid December trying to fill my 2011 Archery deer tag. Bear huntin this coming weekend in the High Sierras.

Great buy on an awsome tent. I'll give 305 fitty for it !!!

I've had the PN-40 a couple of years. It has worked well fo me . The only con for me is that the battery life could last longer. I mainly use it for directions to marked waypoints and topo map reference so it's turned off most of the time. It does have nice topo maps with good references points ,roads, trails, mountain peaks, creeks, campgrounds ect. I subscribe to the Delorme map download service for 29.95 a year and download the arial maps for hunting areas that I'm interested in straight to my laptop and PC. I can make routes and waypoints in the Delorme Topo 8 program on the computer and download them to the PN-40. It really works well once you learn the program. I credit the system for finding many a AZ wet tank for me.

36 hours? My math is quite different. I realized we had issues Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, still no forum, now I'm starting to get antsy. This morning I try to log on and STILL NOTHING, FORBIDDEN..... Email goes out to Amanda asking for help and relief to my forum addition, please give me my fix of CWT.com. Did find out about CWT on facebook, it brought a small yet unsatisfied relief. So, my math is 3 days! I'm glad it's over and I can get my fix by phone or computer, which ever is in front of me at the time the jitters start........ Interesting math!! you are an addict. hehehe....it went down Wed about mid day and was back up by Friday morning. Wed afternoon to Thurs afternoon is 24 hrs... then another 12 hrs or so to Friday morning. that's about 36 hrs. LOL! Seemed like 3 days to me !!

Me Too ! I wondered what I did ! Thanks for all you do Amanda !

That's a great looking mount ! Mucho character fo sure ! If he was in that kinda shape from fighting, I'd like to see what the they other Guy looked like !

I shoot Well built Sharp Pointy ones. They always seem to do the job ! There are a lot of good heads out there to choose from. I've had good results with most fixed blade heads manufactured by the major players. There is some cheesey stuff on the market that I would steer away from like the lower end Eastman heads ect. There's a reason they are priced cheap ! Wasp, Nap, G-5, Muzzy, Wacem, Shuttle, Slick Trick, Magnus and others make Good solid heads that perform well. IMO, the older mechanicals with front deploying blades are more prone to failure, cartwheeling and Kinetic energy loss than the newer designed cam action rear deployment type of head. Penetration and Sharpness is key to quick clean kills. Always pick the right head to match your bows KE level. Don'try to push more blade surface through an animal than your bow is capable of. Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.

No doubt the best defense against getting Busted is to have the wind in your favor , Buuutttt, sometimes that aint happenin. !! I believe in the extra steps that can be taken by bathing in scent eliminating soaps and shampoos, using scent free deodorant and wearing some of the modern scent control clothing that is available. I honestly believe that I have been saved a few times from getting busted in swirling winds and when animals have circled my position by using scent eliminating products. Do I think that scent control is 100 % ? Nope, but i do believe that critters will tolerate lower levels of human scent more than they will if'n your a stinky son of a gun ! Before the scent eliminating products were readily avaible, I used to hunt hard in warm weather wearing those Cabela's cotton camo tees and Poly cotton blend pants. I would be smellin myself getting kinda ripe in a couple of days of hunting. I can bath up and spray down with the modern scent control products , slip into my silver thread X-scent baselayers along with my scent killin socks and boots and hunt a full 5 days with very little odor showing up at all. I know deer can smell a bazillion times better than me but the point I would make is that whatever scent that is eliminated or toned down , will up the odds in your favor. If anyone disagrees with me , well that's your right. Of course you'd be wrong but it is your right ! I think All you non believers are just to cheap to crack that wallet and give the new technology a chance !!! ( Just so's some of you don't get all worked up that last part was an attemp at Humor ! )

I have been having good luck wearing Xscent base layers with the silver thread in it . Even in 100 degree weather it's pretty comfortable with it's wicking effect and it will kill any pit smell before it happens. I also wear a light hood to help contain my breath. Of course a sparay down with a scent kiling spray also helps.

Dude !!! That's some serious energy !

I picked up a 60 pound Evo 3 weeks ago. It's the first 60 pounder that I have ever bought, but with the speed it spit's out and considering the amount of ground blind hunting that I do, it seemed to fill the bill for me. My Evo is set at 29 1/2" draw 60 pounds and consistantly chronos at 303 FPS with a 370 grain 55/75 GT . I had a small tuning problem at first with a "low left" tear through paper. After tuning the yoke and a couple of twists in the control control cable , it's shooting bullet holes and has great arrow flight at all ranges. I have the QAD Ultra rest HD and a Spott Hogg SDP sight on it . First pin is set at 30 yards and is good from 0 to 38 yards on an eight inch paper plate. The other six pins are set 40 to 90 yards . Where the wire crosses the bubble is hitting at 115 yards. We chronographed my EVO down at the shop against the Bowtech 340 and the Invasion. The Evo was 10 FPS faster than the Bowtechs with the same setup and arrows. I did like the grip a little better on the Invasion but the Evo's draw cycle suits me better. So far I am very happy with the Evo and have delegated the Bowmadness to Backup status. Notches on My Evo is 2 cottontails and 3 ground squirrels so far ! CA coastal archery deer opened last weekend so hopefully some some serious first blood will come soon !

That spike heard the camera go off and got a little curious ! And his little buddy too !

This coyote looks like he was after something ! That button buck is fixin to get it !

Those are cool pictures . It's rare to capture so much interaction and especially rare to catch a bobcat getting a snack ! I love pulling those sd cards and seeing what's on em'

Hello Coach, I'll take the Thunderheads off your hands if you still have them. I'm looking for 125's to hunt CO Elk with this year. PM sent 6/11/11 10:32 P.M.

That is definitely a unique mount. I like it !

Testing attachment options. Here's a short "pdf." slide show of a few game cam pics from this past week . The Ugly critter in the begining is me. I think that the doe might have heard the camera go off ! 2011 Game Cams.pdf

A major change I have been working on this year is my mechanical release. I have shot index finger wrist straps for years , along with various T handles with thumb triggers & middle finger triggers half moon backtension releases ect. ect. ect. . Finding the perfect release to match my form, hand grip, trigger position ect , has been a real challenge . I have bought more releases over the years , trying to find the Holly Grail for the perfect shot , incorporating back tension and control than you can shake a stick at. I finally have come to the conclusion that they don't make the perfect release for me . Since it's not in my nature to give up , out came the hacksaw, JB weld, putty epoxy , paracord, arrow nock chunks,screws, serving material, fletching glue ect.ect. I have hacked off handles . built up triggers, re-positioned triggers, made handles out of various items, molded handles to my fingers with epoxy putty. Anyway its been an on going project. After destroying several releases and producing several near misses i have finally come up with a release that is custom fit to my hand and form . It's a real " Frankenstein:" T handle, middle finger release, comprised of a Carter" Lock Jaw 2000" wrist release head, a T handle hacksawed off an old Stan back tension release. First off I had to narrow the open hook width on the Lockjaw 2000 with a hacksaw and moto tool , as it absolutely to wide to fit a string loop properly for an easy hook-up and clean release I attached the handle with string loop material, and Jb weld. Molded the handle to fit with epoxy putty. Covered it with camo cloth with fletching cement as an adhesive and outer coat. I built the trigger to the proper fit with arrow nock chunks , Jb weld and finally molded the fit with epoxy putty followed by a little sanding and some BCY 2D serving material for traction. The final fit on the handle and trigger was done with the expoxy putty still pliable at full draw with my bow . Ooops, forgot to comb my hair this morning !

+ 1

Thanks for your input Jake ! I understand what you are saying . In that picture , I do have the release over rotated into my cheek so the picture will show the entire release and the fit that I managed to get out of the beast. When shooting I don't have that much tourqe on the loop. I can blow bullet holes all day with this release and downrange flight is good with no kick. Broadheads are grouping with my fieldtips . Life is Good !