Whatcha Got Going On 2026

[aeronut]

#173039

Another year has gone by and 2026 is here so time to start another general thread.

The weather has been up and down here.  No rain or snow but temperatures have been from 7* to 75* this month.

I didn’t get a deer tag this year or last due to my Spondylosis.  I had a pretty bad time dragging her the 70 yds to my truck and couldn’t lift her into my truck.  I finally took the tailgate off and used it as a ramp and was barely able to get her in then.

Last July I took a fall in the Smoky Mtns and tore my left bicep tendon.  Had surgery to repair it and went through the therapy but the muscles still get achey.

Lately I’ve been doing some black powder shooting and making my own powder.  Tested a few loads yesterday in my .45 LC Uberti.  Pretty comparable to a .38 spl but a whole lot more cleaning.

Anyway, that’s pretty much what’s going on here in SE Ks.  Temps are going to be in the mid 50’s but we’ve got a cold front coming after the weekend.

Happy new year everyone.

 

Dennis….AKA aeronut

[aeronut]

#173072

Today’s project is going to be installing an electric fence barrier around the bird feeder.  The squirrels will get on it and sit for over an hour and eat all the bird seed.

[richard roop]

#173075

Last year I blew my left bow shoulder out shooting right handed. I was doing the ‘swing draw’ and somewhere along the way I started drawing the string as I was raising the bow from low ready. Very smooth, very fast and very stressful on the shoulder.  Dr. #1 said Bursitis and phys therapy,   Dr. #2 said Tendonitis. Dr. #3 with a really spooky MRI machine said Arthritis.  A couple of Cortisone shots haven’t done much more than the DMSO that I’ve been using.

Decided to get back into the gym and work out around the area and movement that causes the pain. So far, so good. I’m able to shoot again (correctly) and am building my shooting strength back up.

My goal is to book a feral pig hunt in Texas later this year.

 

[aeronut]

#173161

I think winter is finally setting in here in SE Ks.  22* right now with a stiff northerly wind.  I used to work for the big electric company here as a substation journeyman and was out in this stuff every day and a lot of stormy nights.  Before I retired I was used to the cold.  Now I’m glad I don’t have to be out in it.

[richard roop]

#173164

Low thirty’s over this way at night. We need rain.

I have observed that over the past couple of decades that; Hills are getting steeper, the ground is getting harder, everything is getting colder (especially water) and the air is getting thinner. Somebody needs to look into this and find out what’s going on.

[aeronut]

#174653

7* this morning with a -10* wind chill.  We got about 3″ of snow from Friday night until this morning.  Thankfully we were lucky and didn’t get any ice this time.

[Charles Ek]

#174832

The inexorable advance of climate change has been slowed this month in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region. We’re enjoying a good old fashioned winter here at the Head of the Lake, with a recent storm dropping a fresh mantle of snow over the decaying remnants from earlier this winter.

Went out yesterday to set a trail camera in hopes of getting another shot like this one from January. First one is au naturel; second is a composite with me added for scale.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Charles Ek.
• This reply was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Charles Ek.

[Charles Ek]

#174834

[aeronut]

#174838

I looked at the pictures and just thought you had a pet wolf at first.  I had about 4″ of snow about a month ago and that’s the most here all winter.

[Charles Ek]

#174839

We have a massive amount of depth hoar in the woods now (which would have scared the bejesus out of me when we lived in AK and WA). I was sinking up to my hips yesterday on my second-largest pair of snowshoes. That will be remedied for future excursions this winter.

 

https://www.mtavalanche.com/sites/default/files/MSA%20January%20Final_0.pdf#:~:text=Depth%20hoar%20forms%20when%20a%20shallow%20snowpack%2C,difficult%20for%20these%20grains%20to%20bond%20together.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Charles Ek.

[aeronut]

#174846

That sounds like a pretty dangerous situation.  The Hoar frost we have had around here is just the spiky looking frost on stuff.

[Charles Ek]

#174859

The hare season ends here tomorrow. Despite leaving some exceedingly fresh sign, this rascally bunny kept hisself safe this week by keeping his cool.

 

[richard roop]

#174869

Charles;  When you say ‘hare’  are you referring to cottontails, jacks, snowshoes, or all of the above ????  We had something called ‘Hemrogatic (sp?) Rabbit Fever come thru this down this way. It really knocked down the rabbit populations.  Now, lack of rabbits is affecting the coyote populations.  Long term drought isn’t helping any, either.

And;

How the heck do you find your arrows buried in all of that white stuff ?????

[Charles Ek]

#174874

These are snowshoe hare I’m hunting. We have both hares and cottontail rabbits in town, but it’s illegal to hunt anything in Duluth except deer (during a city-sanctioned bowhunt.) The rabbits are ill-equipped for deep snow and I rarely see their tracks outside the city.

Finding arrows is hit or miss sometimes and their (temporary, mostly) loss is part of the game.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Charles Ek.
• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Charles Ek.
• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Charles Ek.

[richard roop]

#174870

Did a bit of checking;

Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease……….. 90% mortality.

[richard roop]

#174881

I’m curious how snowshoe hares taste compared to cottontails.  We have Blacktail Jackrabbits (Hares) down here that are edible but take a bit more effort in the kitchen than cottontails do.

I seem to remember back in Michigan guys losing an arrow (aluminum or glass) in the winter woods and flagging the general area with tape, to return in the spring for a arrow / shed / morel mushroom hunt.

[Charles Ek]

#174882

Nobody ever raised snowshoe hare for a restaurant menu, which I have seen done in Anchorage with rabbits. Here’s a good hare recipe:

https://honest-food.net/tuscan-hare-sauce-and-pappardelle/

On two separate occasions, I have found two arrows nestled one over the other behind a target on my home range after the snow melted. I usually have good luck finding arrows in the field in the spring, partly because I recall where I shot them and the frozen ground is harder to penetrate.

[richard roop]

#174883

I will try that with the next Jack that I slay. …….. Thanx !!!!  I’ve never used Buttermilk for the soak; always used salt & baking soda overnight,  to ‘draw the blood out’  as the old timers used to say.  Good to try new ways once in a while.

Weather forecast for today is in the high 80s. ……….. Send rain !!!!!

[richard roop]

#174914

Not sure how to post over in the ‘Tips’ section so I’ll toss it in here for guys or gals that shoot gloves. Some time back I got a wax ring for a toilette seal to be used for mixing up string wax. Sticky stuff.  Thought that I’d try heating some up and applying it to the inside of my glove finger stalls with a Q-Tip.  Feels kinda strange at first but the glove literally now ‘fits like a glove’.  No movement on the fingers at all.  Seems to help my release a bit.  More Mojo ………. and Mojo is real !!!!

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