savagman

Thank you all for taking time to share. You confirmed some of my ideas and added a few that i appreciate. I plan to treat the scouting like a hunt. Hike in before dark with a smartly loaded pack, glass the morning, "bed down" through the heat, and glass again in the evening.

I am leading a small group of new hunters (hopefully) this fall. We've been friends for almost 40 years - they are just getting the big game bug a little late. I had them apply for a higher odds draw. I explained that anything you can draw with 0 points will have warts. The unit we chose is rough and will require some effort to get to mature bucks. I am assuming it's not a unit for the road hunting crowd but they never cease to amaze (and frustrate) me. I am not mentioning the unit because I don't expect/am not asking for specific information. We plan to put in the work and hope to fill a tag or two. I have near zero experience in this unit and very little Coues experience. I spent a little over a day looking over a few areas and have since poured over maps. I have half a dozen areas that warrant a closer look. My question is what to focus on during summer scouting? My thoughts are figuring out access, learning roads, finding good glassing points, etc. Water seems too early as everything could change by the hunt. But with that said, almost everything I have seen thus far is related to cattle. Assuming the ranchers still have cattle on the range come fall that should be consistent. I do plan to hike to e scouted springs and try to locate any that are not dry. The temptation is always finding animals but will Coues deer be in the same areas in late November? If anyone is willing to share thoughts, opinions, or observations on this subject would be appreciated. I did try to search old posts but no matter what I search for I get zero results. Thanks

I have long been intrigued by mesquite. It's my favorite wood to grill on and the prolific beans have piqued my interest for a long time. We have many mesquite trees in our yard including Chilean, Velvet, and Honey Mesquite. The Chilean provides an abundance of beans but they are bitter and not palatable to humans. The honey and velvet mesquites in my yard taste very good. The flavor varies from tree to tree and somewhat less from year to year. We finally committed to harvesting beans (from the tree, not off the ground) and after sun drying on trays took them to a Desert Harvesters grinding event. 4 - 5 gallon buckets processed to 9 lbs of flour. We made waffles and oatmeal cookies today. I am truly impressed by the flavor. What an abundant resource that is currently underutilized. If there is interest, I will follow up with a couple recipes.

They were good size but not huge - 3 to 4 lbs? I always cut out the lateral line - with bass and crappie mostly to get rid of the pin bones. But that pink or red colored flesh is stronger flavored. I trim out about 1/4 inch in the middle of the fillet. It essentially turns 1 fillet into 2. On the carp there is a lot more red flesh. I also take the initial fillet and slice off that red flesh as best as I can. With that said, the little that remained when I cooked it was slightly stronger flavored but not unpleasant. The y bones are my only complaint with carp. Just have to be careful or in this case remove them before making the fritters. My first carp meal was cooked by a sweet gal from Bandledesh. We ate with our fingers (no fork or chop sticks). The way it was cut and prepared, the fish naturally broke at the y bones. Made eating the fish like chicken wings. Took some practice but easy peasy and delicious.

Fried up some Bartlett Bass and Crappie last night. Used carp in a crappie fritter recipe.... Deliciousness. I know, many of you will poo poo carp but it's great. The fritter recipe starts with poaching the fish. It was fairly easy at that point to pull out the y bones. Leftovers for lunch in the form of fish tacos. Can't beat fish tacos.

Chicken Fried Elk steak and taters. I'm usually a rare steak guy. My wife tolerates medium but prefers more well. This was a hit. I liked it, she loved it.

I'm going to write a letter and ask for permission to hunt on their property. Probably won't work but the answer to their elk "problem" is free. https://montanafreepress.org/2024/07/25/judge-sides-with-fwp-in-elk-management-lawsuit/ United Property Owners of Montana Contact info: PO BOX 247 ROY, MT 59471 406-464-2281 INFO@UPOM.ORG

I had the fortune to shoot some Snow Geese recently. The meat is awesome. I know that tradition for most is to just breast the birds but I wanted to share that the leg meat is delicious. I just brined, rinsed, and used a modern Confit recipe. Confit is an old technique where the meat is slow cooked immersed in fat (preferably from the same animal). Duck Confit is a classic. Anyways, my geese had very little fat so I used what I had, bacon grease. I lightly peppered the meat and vacuum sealed with a good dollop of bacon grease. I then sealed that bag in a second bag. Then placed the bag in a crockpot of water and cooked on low for 24+ hours. It was probably done sooner but I did it over Thanksgiving and was otherwise occupied. The meat came out falling off the bones, extremely tender, and delicious. Very mild flavor and nice texture. Think a good slow cooked pork butt. The bacon grease did add a slight porky flavor. Very good eats and doubled the yield vs. just breast meat. We did shredded goose taco's initially and the whole family enjoyed them. I have since been taking bowls with beans and rice to work. I have enjoyed the chance to extend the satisfaction of a successful hunt over many meals. This method worked so well I plan to try with other game meats. I think slow cooking in fat will yield a very tender meal.

Carnival gun?

Looks awesome. Thanks for sharing.

I have noticed a decline. Not a biologist but I suspect population fluctuates with moisture. Drought has most small game numbers down. Saw decent numbers in 6A this past weekend. Will PM you.

I agree. But don't ever fret about asking a question. You didn't deserve to be marginalized or attacked. Sometimes I come unhinged when dealing with crappy people. I am reminded on "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handy. “Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don’t know what your rights are, or who the person is you’re talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door.” Exits stage left, slams the door loudly....

Maybe I don't understand the humor in criticizing everyone and everything. Rarely a positive comment. But he is active.....

Not gone. Have an actual life, not just trolling on forums...

You are right. I apologize. But why let trphyguy crap on everyone for years? It was time someone called him out.