All About Pocket Knives

Scott I can remember similar "missions" when I was a Cub Scout and later a Boy Scout. I loved chopping wood with a hatchet or an axe or cutting shavings off with my knife. Guess some things just never change. I salute your for investing yourself in those boys' lives.

Thanks Phil.....much appreciated.

I guess I shoulda just made one post with all the pics, but....I don't know where my last marble went......

Here's the hobo meals....

Been halfway busy since Thanksgiving and would like to tell y'all how the Thanksgiving hunt with two of the grandsons went. They are 11 and 12.
We started building a new shooting house back in the spring while they were here on spring break.
I finally finished it and set it in the angle point of a small "L" shaped food plot, 75 yards would be the longest shot.
Planted a summer crop of Iron and Clay cow peas, they did well, plowed them under and planted Rye grain for cool season food. Didn't do well because of drought, 73 days without rain. The rain came the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.
Grand #1 hunted Thanksgiving afternoon, we saw only one deer, a big doe. She came out a little before dark in spite of the fact a neighbor had been apparently zeroing a rifle while we were in the stand. I though he would never quit. The doe came out even as he continued to shoot, she didn't even flinch. I guess they get used to people and civilized sounds. We went on Friday morning and saw nothing. Had a good breakfast of Miss Joy's pancakes and venison sausage.
Grand #2's turn was Friday afternoon. As we started to the woods in the cart he said, "Granddaddy, I don't want to shoot a deer." I said that's okay but what changed your mind? He explained, he was listening to a speaker phone conversation his dad and another man up in Georgia had earlier that day concerning a deer the man's son had crippled up and it was finally killed after a week or so. He said he didn't want to take a chance on doing that! I was very proud of his decision. I only mentioned what he had said to his mother and she said even if he is the rough and tumble brother he has a tender heart. We were rewarded by having a gray fox walk within 20 feet of the stand he helped to build. We could see all the beautiful markings on its' face.
The hunts were not very successful by some folks standards but to me they very successful. Each evening I asked the boys if the wanted to drive back to the house and of course they did. That gave me the opportunity to remind them the best part of the hunt was that we didn't have to spend the evening dressing a deer. They each looked at me and then grinned.
Here's a few pictures of our safari: Treefarmer

Great read TF****______great to see the youngsters in the woods and on the lakes -- so much bad stuff around these days, makes for a great day, when I read these kind of stories !!!! __________ you and the boys have a great day sir !!!!!

I'm right in there with Monk, great story, great days with your grandsons. Sometimes you are simply not in the mood to kill. OH

Yeah buddy......good on ya Philip!!

Took my grands bass fishing yesterday.....we each caught one, but Poppy caught the biggest
Here they are holding my bass. They'll learn to like those sandpaper teeth!!

What i like best about hunting is that no 2 days in the bush are ever the same. Every day gives you a unique experience and you have no idea of what it will be went you set out.
"Bush" here is steep mountainside that leads into mountainous terrain with even a few glaciers still present. So to get over the front ridge and into the back country takes planning and effort because you are walking uphill through ++ deadfall or the thickest 10 feet high 'brush' you have ever seen in the slide paths. Elk stomp these areas down into 'apartments' for bedding. You would never know it until you actually fight your way in. (how does a bull elk with antlers travel through this stuff ?)
I remember watching from dark through the earliest of sun rise to full sun rise on a crisp & cold October morning on a ridge overlooking a small alpine pond with the sounds of birds and movement coming with the light.
Never would i have put out that amount of energy to be near top of a wilderness mountain before sunrise, if it were not for hunting.
I learned something that morning. I was looking east as the sun rose. Below me still in shadow was the wet open area of about 300 yards length. A nice buck mule deer was up grazing at the far end and he was working his way towards me. I was nestled into a tight group of Alpine Fir so he couldn't see me even when the sun was over the east ridge and shinning on the place were i was hidden.
I could of shot him at 70 yards but decided to wait as it seemed the perfect set up. I was watching him with my binoculars planning to pick up my rifle when he got close to 50 yards. Then suddenly he stared right at me and took off.
Later a very experienced hunter/guide/friend told me what happened. I was looking east and as the sun shone on where i was, the bino lenses reflected a bright flash. The deer saw this, knew that it was not 'right' and his alarm response took over and he was gone.
Ever since i have looked for a spot in which sunrise is behind me.
kj

That's the college of outdoor knowledge, Joe. Sorry you never got a shot off.

TF Great story, your GC sound like they are well grounded. You mention the neighbor zeroing while the doe fed. Saw a similar thing a few years back at the public rifle range on our nearby state gamelands. Shooting points at 100 yards, a few of us shooting. One of us called for a "clear" to hang new targets. We all did that and had gotten back to the tables when we noticed at @ 75 yds doe feeding on the grass between the targets and the shooting tables. Hope she had hearing protection.

TF you have much to be proud of.

Treefarmer, thanks for sharing that! Enjoyed the read.

kj, Also good read! Thanks! and I agree, no 2 days are the same when hunting. One thing you didn't mention, was scent and the wind. So, not only movement and reflection but also scent and wind direction.

I was telling Nevada Jerry on the phone Friday, that one of my hunts in southeast Montana was on a very large ranch(49 sections or 31,000 Acres) and part of the ranch had good sized hills in the 2000 - 3000' range and had a high meadow up there. The Mule deer and Big Horn Sheep in there had never been hunted and had no fear or reaction to man. I could walk right up to within 20 or 30 FEET of the Muleys. They never spooked. There were no Muley bucks of significance though and thus no shots were taken up there. Never saw them and suspect they were bedded down where I couldn't spot them. Didn't have a tag for the Big Horns. My buddy and I were taking a break and sitting over near a rock fall. I heard some rocks clatter and looked over my right shoulder and there were 6 Big Horns grazing and moving towards us. They were only 40 or 50 yds away and were totally unconcerned with us. They probably got within 25-30 yds of us. What finally disturbed all of this, was out of nowhere came a super low level B-52 on some sort of practice run and scared the hell out of us! We couldn't settle down after that left the high meadow. I think we went back down to the ranch house after that. On that same property was the Powder River. The Oak trees were thick by the river and some great Whitetail Deer lived in there. I saw the largest trophy non-typical WT deer I've ever seen in my life there. It had so many points and stickers, I couldn't count them all! Couldn't get a shot on him, because all I had with me at the time, was my 22lr rifle, even though that deer was less than 20 yds from me. We stared each other down for about 10 mins before he disappeared. I never saw him again.

He looked like this one and I'm not exaggerating... It was spectacular!

What a crazy rack ! Must be some hormonal abnormality that makes them grow like that ? I doubt such abnormality is all genetics & feed.
I would have shot my 22, if i was able to stop shaking and hold my bowels. Side on, angle of jaw, go 1" back & 1" down & shot should hit the first vertebra (C1) & severe spinal cord right where it exits the skull.
Old timer told me that was how he culled caribou as a government biologist over 50 years ago.
Where i live (West Kootenays) a mature Whitetail will usually have a fairly tall rack of brow tines plus 4 more points per side (called a "4 point" here). They never get big heavy racks. Same for body size; carcass weight of 130 pounds is about as big as they get. (carcass = head off, hide off, all 4 lower limbs off and gutted, leaving just meat & bones to be butchered)
Being mountainous terrain there is little infusion of new genetics and feed is 'natural', no clover fields, corn crops etc. that really help them grow.
kj

I thought long and hard about shooting that deer in the eye, to get the 40gr bullet into his brain. I had lingering doubts in my mind on whether I could truly deliver a killing shot, without wounding this magnificent animal. The other thing I couldn't figure out, was how to get the rifle shouldered and take an aimed shot, without him bolting. Backing up a second... on how it happened that I saw this buck... I was helping my buddy Doug fill his antlered deer tag, by driving deer in the Oaks by the Powder River, up toward him where he was stationed in the trees. I had made one drive and was walking back to start over and I was walking back slowly and stealthy. I came by a big Oak tree trunk and looked to my left and there he was! 40 or 50' away... I froze. Our eyes locked on each other. We stood there motionless, staring at each other for about 10 mins. This was when I was thinking about shooting him through the eye. The other problem was, I had already used my antlered deer tag. Doug told me later, that had I shot him, he would have put his tag on the deer but at the time, in my mind, It was illegal for me to take him. The other thing I couldn't figure out, was how to get the rifle shouldered... super fast! or super slow... in the end, I broke my stare from him for a split second and when I looked back, he was gone! I was breathless! I couldn't believe what I just witnessed. I walked out to the edge of the trees and up to where Doug was and called him out and told him what happened. We went back to where I saw this trophy buck and we scouted for him the rest of the afternoon, with no luck. All I have is the memory.

No idea on how non-typicals happen. One thing is for sure, the mast crop there in the river bottom with all of the Oak trees there, was huge. So, the deer were getting tons of minerals from the acorns.

I found some photos from being up in the high meadow. The Big Horns had split up and I caught this shot of three of them going back up hill, after they had initially moved towards us. Sorry about the butt shots. The other shot is of some of the Muleys in the high meadow after I had walked up on them, with my normal camera lens, this is not with a telephoto lens!

.....sorry, guys, I love to shoot, but I've never shot an animal or bird of any kind!!, just doesn't seem right to me!!...... ..............

carrmillus wrote:.....sorry, guys, I love to shoot, but I've never shot an animal or bird of any kind!!, just doesn't seem right to me!!...... ..............

Hunting isn't for everyone... but mankind has been doing it for a long time.

CheckSix wrote:

carrmillus wrote:.....sorry, guys, I love to shoot, but I've never shot an animal or bird of any kind!!, just doesn't seem right to me!!...... ..............

Hunting isn't for everyone... but mankind has been doing it for a long time.

No need to be sorry, others like me will do it. To each his own Tommy, as Dave eluded too. No offense but I don't understand the thumbs down. If you prefer not to do it, don't. With all due respect, you prefer animals starving to death over an ethical and humane kill that can be used to feed one's family?
Like any other state, population control is key to each species.
In Nevada, we have a lottery system because major over population is not a concern since the land can only sustain so many animals to begin with in the high desert.
If no one killed coyotes, they would be in everyones front yard. Same with ducks and geese.
No offense but I know a thing or two regarding conservation and that is my opinion. Feel the same way about cow slaughter dissent but the people who complain seem to enjoy hamburger and steak pretty well. As long as someone else kills the the animal they have no problem eating it.
My 2 cents.
Jerry

I recall during the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry claiming to have had a "twenty-four point buck" in his sights, but not taking the shot for some reason.

Maybe that one was atypical.......

Charlie Noyes

Kerry also stated that "sure I deer hunt; crawl on my belly with my trusty double barrel" (my paraphrase) - he got some real grins from sportsmen across the country with that claim. OH

I grew up in a household in which the word "gun" was not allowed, together with the usual 'bad' words like 'f**k'. My father was in the British Army 1938-45 and spent time in France. He never spoke of it but he was very adversely affected for the rest of his life.
So i had a fear of guns and zero experience.
I bought a piece of wilderness mountainside in my early 30's with the idea of modern day homesteading. This is land no one had ever lived on since the last ice age. The first year i cleared an area of least slope for a garden and also planted 2 year old fruit trees, nut trees and berry bushes. A lot of hard work.
That winter the elk ate everything i had planted. Not just the terminal buds like deer browse but the entire plants were eaten down to a short stub. I naively thought this was just bad luck, a one off thing. The next summer i replanted everything i had lost and more with lots rose bushes and other shrubs. That winter there seemed to be more elk and everything again was eaten.
I realized that if one wants to live off the land you have to accept what that land can provide. This piece of mountainside land was not giving me a lot of edible plants but it did have a lot of animal protein walking around on it.
So the third summer i put up a 7.5' high fence around the garden and orchard area and bought a rifle, BLR 308, which was a good choice for a 'bush' gun.
That Fall with all the correct hunting license & animal tags i set off on foot into the bush uphill from my house. I had never owned a gun before and never had hunted anything. What was i going to do ? I did not know. Up to that point i had spent most of my life getting educated, becoming an MD and specializing. Nothing about hunting in any of that.
Yet within 5 minutes of walking slowly uphill i had an inner feeling, a 'knowing' that i had done this before and that i would naturally know what to do. And that is just what happened . I felt relaxed and at home in the wild bush and quite often managed to find the little 'pockets' with the game.
Over the years many people have wanted to hunt with me. I prefer to hunt alone except for the serious back country stuff, but i have helped a few novice hunters feel at home in the bush.
"Genetic Memory" is a term i have read applied to an experience of an 'inner knowing' about something you have no experience with.
kj

kj: Hats off in total respect for your Dad. From '38 to '45...impossible to imagine his experience. In helping to overthrow the Nazis he overthrew
hell on earth. And like every good man paid a personal cost to himself.

Your shift from high academic attainment to a life of self reliance is remarkable. I give weight to the concept of "genetic memory" [Also to a "collective unconscious."] In time I hope we will learn more of your insights and experiences.

KJ - I guess my life experience (as regards hunting) is kind of the opposite of yours. I grew up in a hunting family and I hunted from an early age until my thirties. At that point I began to lose interest, or perhaps I should say that my interests changed. These days I still do some shooting, but I have not bought a hunting license for over twenty years. Maybe when I retire and have a bit more time I will try deer hunting again.

Regarding the "genetic memory" you may have a point. When I was young we always had mongrel dogs that I used for squirrel hunting. The dogs loved hunting and took to it as if they were born to hunt, as indeed they were. I guess I was the same, from the time I could hold a gun I was as eager as the dogs.

Now, that's impressive KJ!! Much respect!

Mel - knice to hear from you!

Yes! Great story kj! Somewhere up above, I mentioned that mankind has been hunting for a long time. Maybe some of us have that imprint somewhere in our minds?

I also was raised by a father that fought in WWII (USN) but he did not own a gun, nor did he hunt. In hindsight, he was in fact, naive about them, because his father (my grandfather) never taught him. He enjoyed fishing but that was the extent of his outdoors activity. So, I learned how to fish.

Once I got on my own in my early 20's, all of my friends hunted deer and birds (and fished). We connected on fishing but when the season changed, they would hunt. I decided I wanted to try hunting, so they helped me get up the learning curve quickly. What I found out was, I was a decent shot and I loved being outdoors, figuring out the habits and behavior of the animal I was interested in. For me, that was the most challenging and enjoyable part. Figuring out bedding areas, water holes, feed areas, travel paths, etc. Matching wits with a highly adapted animal, that everyday had to figure out how to survive. If that culminated in a kill shot, fine! But even if it didn't, I did not care. I just loved being out there trying to figure them out.