Packing up for a week of elk hunting here today. Couldn't come at a better time either. Whatever the resolution of the recent election (& all the COVID posturing), I'll be mostly incommunicado which suites me just fine. Was out shooting clays with some old friends yesterday and that had an analgesic effect as well (Out of the wreckage of my old club, a new one has risen. Not the same but not bad either). I'm sure multiple layers of reality will be waiting to slap me in the face upon my return but for the next week or ten, I'll be mostly living out of my 20-year old pickup, with an old (ancient) pair of Swarovski's perched on my nose. Cold and tired at the end of each day is surprisingly good for your state of mind IMHO.
Have a great trip Lloyd. I’m on break til the MN deer season has ended, pheasant hunting will commence after the 2 week southern season, then grouse after the 3 week deer season in, well, grouse country.
Drive safely.
Best,
Ted
Excellent way to get away from all the "bad news" we're hammered with daily, to clear the head! Good luck to you and have some fun!
I'm in the same boat as you, although it won't be elk I'll be chasing, rather mule deer for a week with my brother, leaving tomorrow morning. Then back home for Thanksgiving and then off to SD for another week to chase pheasants. He's got a camp trailer we'll be roughing it in on the mulie hunt.
I have a cow elk tag for a local unit, that lasts until the end of December, so that's what I'll be doing to finish out the season.
I sure do love retirement!
Lloyd, so glad you can get away awhile from all that this year has been. I was leaving Friday for our annual hunt when COVID crashed our hunting party. Two came up positive and others were exposed. At first I thought I would still go but then the other reality pressed in. I’m 71. I can hunt alone (and usually do) but I can’t drag a deer out by myself anymore. Artificial hips are great things just not for that kind of work.
I’m bummed but not alone. I have my expensive out-of-state deer tag to keep me company. :-)
So, to you, Lloyd, and to all of you, best heed the words of the late Jack Atcheson, Sr.
“Hunt while you can.”
Tis true. Tis true.
The increased blood flow is very good, and leaving one's cares behind is an exercise in itself.
We are besieged by gale force winds, trees crashing down, etc.
Deer can wait until tomorrow for me.
Gentlemen, thank you all.
Not liking the news I'm hearing out here...oh well. Here's the distraction of elk hunting in NW Colorado:
Typically dirty and thirsty old 4x4...
Drive to the light eh?
Known locally as the "bear's ears"...
Ancient glass...
Our good deed for the day. This fellow spent the night in his car before we found him and pulled him out. Hard to understand why he was even out here (we played hell getting to this point in our 4x4 trucks). Biden voter?
He probably just fancied himself as following the science? Hope the roads stay firm, and have fun.
I think that generation of Subaru was pretty formidable in the rally circuit with the all time AWD - ground clearance and tires are another issue.
He probably just fancied himself as following the science? Hope the roads stay firm, and have fun.
We all know what a bad idea following science is, heck you might even end up demoted. Why just look at NOAA, better to have a political appointee in charge with no scientific back ground who is happy to promote the admins agenda no matter what the data is.
https://www.businessinsider.com/noaa-sci...science-2020-10
The end of day one (for my tag)...
My tool of the trade...
The target species...
The day after (backing up a buddy)...
The Great Spirit was generous with us. Filled two of three tags. Getting everything back to the truck was (as usual) the real challenge. As has been mentioned here before, age is a monster. Back at home now, facing reality. Colorado is Covid-crazy yet again.
Well done Lloyd.
Congrats.
I'm jealous. Didn't fill my elk tag this year. I hope she tastes good.
Thanks Ryan. In almost 30-years of doing this I've only had the animals get this close one time before. She never saw me until I mounted my rifle when she was, at most, 40-yards away. Hit her at the base of the neck with the round quartering though to just under the skin below the backstrap about midsection (which is why my photograph of her looks so "peaceful"). Accordingly, she should eat well.
Ran off and hid in the hills again...
Desolation at sunrise.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/7eM54b6h.jpg?1[/img]
Colorado Columbian Sharptail?
Hard living...north of Maybell.
Went back out to help a buddy hunt his elk.
If you were west slope, then Yes, Columbian.
I collected mine outside of Craig.
East slope are plains Sharptails.
For some reason I can't get that photo to display. There was a gang of birds along the edge of the road and this was the last one to depart. First time I've ever seen them there. If I might ask, what makes them "Columbian"?
[img]
https://i.imgur.com/7eM54b6h.jpg?1[/img]
Remove the ?1 at the end of your string
Thankyou Skeettx! Columbia river basin maybe?
Prepare to be bored.
There are 6 sub species of sharptail grouse.
Each subspecies' morphology is subtley different.
The Colombian sharptail grouse developed on what is called the Columbia plateau, which is the hi grassland shrubland intersect West of the continental divide
They are a bit smaller than their cousins, with more contrast in their markings.
Named for the, you guessed it, the Columbia river system by Lewis & Clark.
Which is why I think they are cool.
The plains sharptail is east of the cd.
It never ceases to amaze me how much good protein an average-sized cow elk produces. I've got easily 200 lbs of beautiful steaks, roasts, and ziplocked bags of trimmed meat (ready for the grinder). The other thing that I am once again vividly reminded of is how many hours (and days) at my kitchen table were spent in rendering all of that into my freezer and refrigerator. Just finished up a few hours ago, leaving me immensely grateful and not just a little exhausted. I've outsourced this job in the past and have never been as pleased with the results as when I do it myself...so I continue to do it. Just not sure how many more times I want to sign-up for it again. Bird hunting is so-much more tidy and easy to deal with.
Elk is my favorite venison.
I process all my own venison. I usually Skin the animal Then freeze The large muscle groups for future break down. But it depends on how much time I have.
When you shoot them four at a time,You have to plan out the butchery.I get too meticulous with the knife work, sometimes unnecessarily so, But it sure is nice having the products in the freezer ready to go.
Congrats on your success.
CZ, thankyou again. Grinding and wrapping burger today, near on close to 100 lbs. My back is killing me.
Absolutely. Counter height, how sharp your knife is, what kind of shoes you have on, all play a role when you’re breaking down deer.
I’m a big fan of putting trim into a big stainless bowl as you go along, and then every so often just bag it up in 2 pound packages squeeze the air out and put it in the freezer then just grind it when you want to use it, or if you like chunks in your chili, use it as is.
I also break down the quarters into the muscle groups, and freeze them without cutting them up.
All these things produce a better product for you when you want to cook them.
I was making raspberry jam this morning, and I remembered that I have a vacuum frozen red stag rump roast in the freezer . I think I’m going to take that out of the freezer and eat it this weekend.
It is a bunch of work cutting up an elk and the last one I cut up, I was kind of thinking the same thing about outsourcing the next one, but I'll probably end up (if I get one this year) cutting it up myself.
Every time I do cut up an elk, I try to think about the time I cut up 3 bull AK moose with a a couple of guys and then I think cutting an elk up isn't so bad!
Battery powered chainsaw.
1 down, 2 to go....
The way we use it, having it ready to go is preferable. Pull out a roll or 2 of meat (~2lbs.) and make burgers, or meatloaf, or chili, etc.
That’s a number 10 grinder, it works great. I think I have the same one. I almost hesitate to say that there was a moment when I knocked myself unconscious with it.
Nice looking set-up and a good looking batch of ground meat you've got there!
Your more ambitious than I am Lloyd. I just returned from Steve's meat market in Arvada with two deer turned into steaks and sausage. I love those jalepeno chedder franks they make but all of the sausauge they do is top notch. Looks like you and the family will be well fed with Elk venison, my favorite.
SKB: If I ever break-down and have it done elsewhere, it would be Steve's. They were like $175 to process an elk about 15-years ago so God only knows what the going rate is now. I had time this year so it wasn't such a big deal.