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in reply to: Southwest DIY Javelina Hunts? #36535

Yes, You MUST take care of javis right away for best table fare, I like them best when made into Pastor(kinda a smoked/grilled process). Chilis, BBQ, etc… not so great just as a steak…

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in reply to: Wilderness survival tales #30441

“Water is Life” is not just some folk tale or off-the-cuff saying…

Where I live there are constant examples of non-survival, avg. 100plus humans per year, by illegal aliens crossing the desert and falling to the elements. All are tragic, most are due to lack of water/exposure.

Water is a rare, hard to come by commodity in the desert South-West. Sometimes the 3liters I carry for a day hunt isnt enough and other messures must be taken.

1- Pre-Hunt hydration… easy on the coffee(I love my coffee so this is tough), I “tank-up” with water hours before I head off into the mountains, if your not urinating, your not drinking enough. Dark colored urine is the first sign, for me, of impending problems(headaches/loss of focus/exhaustion). I also take a few aspirin before heading out, to stave-off aches/pain and effects of altitude/water loss…

2- Some Desert “tricks” that get me through and back home…

Being aware of what the plan is/and conditions, making sure I dont “Bite-off-more-then-I-can-chew”, may keep me from exploring new areas, but gets me safely back.

Wearing long sleaved shirts,a hat, use of a shamagh, slowing down pace, major travel/hiking in the morning all reduce water-loss from sweating.

Either carrying a few Copper washers or picking-up small rocks to place between your cheek and gum will help push through the final hike to my SUV where I always have extra water… Real copper works the best for this…

Chewing cactus as a last resort(for me), most taste like crapola,spines in fingers(no matter how carefull you are) and mental-block(see above story)…

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in reply to: Wilderness survival tales #28414

Not really a survival story, but some early outdoor skills by “infants of the woods”…

My 2 buddies and I went camping in the early fall(NY), we were maybe 10years old, and our parents said it was OK as long as we set camp where they could see us. Being the Great White Hunters that we assumed we were, we made plans of what each would bring for the over-night adventure…

When we met-up on the ridge across from my house(where my parents could see us),where we found the plan was incomplete. We each had a sleeping bag and pocket knife with a pack of matches between us. No food, no water, no untensils… “YOU were suppossed to bring that!!!” hehehe…

Not wanting to head back home as failures, we raided an old apple orchard, went by one of the guy’s grandmothers house got some rubarb stalks from the garden and a few eggs from the hen-house and found a rusty can to boil some water in. Things were fine sitting around the fire eating apples and rubarb, but hunger set-in and we came up with the idea to make spears and get some frogs from a small pond. We ate like kings, we thought anyway, cooking frog-legs over the open fire, using a thin flat rock as a frying pan for the eggs, making a tea from ginsing roots and told stories till late at night(“Vampire’s” had chased us home on the camping trip before this one)…

My parents had alittle party at my home that evening with the other guy’s parents, card games and cocktails, and compared notes on what we had taken for our “Big night in the woods”, they knew we had forgotten any food or water and guessed we would be home soon, but they saw our campfire burning late into the night…

My Mother was so impressed with our outdoor skills, she had us hunt-up a bunch for the next weekend when she had another party with the frog-legs as the “Guest-of-Honor” served with ginsing tea…

The three of us still hunt and fish to this day and are best friends… and sometimes have a “frog Feast”, to the confused looks from our women… hehehe…

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in reply to: Double DeadHeads #28320

The deadheads were under brush along the bottom of the cut, probably Mt. Lion kills…

I didnt call any Lions in, but cool finds and an awesome morning anyway…

Full-moon peaking around the Santa Ritas at sun-rise…

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in reply to: Double DeadHeads #28317

Both from decent Coues Bucks, a few years old…

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in reply to: Wilderness survival tales #27409

Years ago (I was 17years old) a friend got a new 4wheel drive truck with the grill and roll-bar spot lights, like 8extra lights. We went out “testing” the new truck around mid-night on a saturday night. An opened case of beer, two bottles of wine and a dirt road north-east of Phx, AZ where hours before we passed a sign that said “Last gas 45miles” behind us… After off-roading a few hours we ran out of gas, but since he had two tanks no problem right???

The extra lights had sucked the elec. system dry and there we where, lost with a dead truck,no clue on dirrection to a road, a few beers left, half a bottle of wine, 3guys, 110degrees plus…

First day we sat tight hoping for someone/something to show us the way… Second day the trucks owner walked west and returned after dark, no life seen… Third day his brother walked south, and he returned after dark with no life seen… Forth day we all hiked north… for two days…

No water, just chewing some scant cactus, On the seventh day we came upon a dirt-floored shack owned by an old Indian couple who fed and watered us. They didnt own a vehicle, but told us whitch way to civilisation and after resting for a day we walked the 10miles to another house with a vehicle…

This was before cell-phones, we told no one what we were doing… I got fired from my job(they didnt believe my “adventure”)…

Many lessons learned that week…(first was NOT helping to find/retreive the truck)…

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in reply to: What's in your daypack? #27383

ausjim wrote: [quote=1shot](probably doesnt work, but if you believe you might get a full nights sleep)…

Haha, that’s the real value of a lot of those old tricks.. peace of mind 😉

I think Americans know the inland taipan as the two step from soldiers coming here during WW2. We call it the fierce snake, as it can get a bit uppity. You wouldn’t want to step on one.

Most snakes down here are pretty peaceful, although none match the gentleman’s rules of the rattler, so civilized a duelest that he gives you an en garde.

Rattlers dont ALWAYS buzz, I have almost stepped on a few over the years all coiled-up on cool mornings… Once while leading another hunter along some rail-road tracks a few hours before dawn to quietly get into some Mule deer cuts, I walked by a rattler that was coiled by the rail sucking some heat off the iron, I heard some javis move out so we stopped for a few mins. to let them move out, and I “forgot” to point out the snake to my buddy, he jumped and yelled like a girl… All I could do was say “Sorry about that…” hehehe

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in reply to: What's in your daypack? #26498

ausjim wrote: Something that never goes in mine but always should is a crepe bandage for snakebites. But I always forget 😳

Arent there “two-step” snakes down under???

I ‘bump” into rattle snakes a couple of times a year, but dont worry about snake-bite-kits… hopefully cell-phone gets a signal… Adds to the excitement of hunting down south…

Old desert trick… While camping you set a rope all the way around your bedding area, snakes wont cross-over the rope…

(probably doesnt work, but if you believe you might get a full nights sleep)…

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in reply to: pictures of animals #26243

Mexican brown Taran…

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in reply to: pictures of animals #26242

Bear messing with one of my Cams, lucky he just spun it around and didnt damage it…

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in reply to: pictures of animals #26235

Trail-cam photo of a color-phase Black Bear… The Black colored Bear was saved for a young local hunter that had never killed a critter with his Bow, second day on the hunt he scored…

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in reply to: pictures of animals #26233

A couple of bears from the Santa Ritas in So. Arizona…

I heard rocks being rolled in the cut next to me and knowing it was a bear, I moved up and over to intercept…At less then 20yards I took the pic at the time I would be drawing an arrow back…(A few days before the season opened)

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in reply to: What's in your daypack? #26220

For NY or Az hunting/scouting… I have a choice of either a Diablo or Super day pack from Badlands…

One Randall knife, a small fillet knife, folding saw. First aid kit with Quick-Clot, strike-a-light,water tabs, hot sauce and a few large battle dressings added. A few 10ft lengths of 550cord, small closed-cell foam pad,two mini-mags, GPS with extra rechargable batts, Silva compass, 10×50 binos. At least 3litres of water, stainless steel cup, Mexican coffee, one 2hour Sterno, 1lbs can of roast beef, 2 ramen noodle packs… Camo bandana to silence steel cup/coffee/sterno, one extra Shamagh…

Extras added when going deep or Lion hunting… Hammock,Elec. caller with remote…

Always with a sidearm,2extra mags…

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in reply to: Southwest DIY Javelina Hunts? #25039

Yeah, the AZ regs are a long read and the draw process can be confusing… More public Land then you could hunt in a life-time, and you can get into areas that get little to no hunters… Javi tags are mostly over the counter, and there are normaly left-over tags from the draw hunts, but in recent years they have been going fast (gone with-in hours)… I dont really hunt them anymore because Javi season is during the Bow Deer season, Bow deer tags are over the counter, either from AZ game and fish or Walmart/Sporting Goods stores…

I’m in 34A and host a few Wounded Warrior hunts each year, mainly Coues deer, but also share info for the spring bear season to some residents of AZ… Come on down, I can point you into some great (safe) country…

Good Luck

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in reply to: Attraction #23877

Because that was what my Dad used, and while he went out hunting with Rifles also, I could make my own Bow and wander around our woods and become the “Great Provider”…

What has kept me attracted to recurves is the simple form of stick and string, the challenge of getting it done with such a simple weapon, and pure intent of doing it the Hard-Way, which gives me the most enjoyment…

I’m with You DocNoc, I’ll also sit and watch for that big fish with flyrod in hand till I can rise him to take a fine dry-fly, hopefully first cast(Roscoe,NY BeaverKill, Willo, East and West branch of the Delaware, my “stands” are still there, the flat river rocks made into bench seating overlooking prime lays of big trout)…(I have sat all day waiting/watching and never taking a cast, even while knowing a well placed nymph would cause a hook-up…silly me, but thats my way hehehe)

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