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Topics - Rancid Crabtree

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166

Whitetail Deer / A blast from my past

« on: September 18, 2007, 05:20:46 AM »

I got these three Hilbre heads in an exchange with a guy from Maine. My Dad had a quiver full of these in the 60's

3:1 ratio with a needle point

No glue needed, just screw on.

167

Old Guns, Rifle, Target, Shotgun / 1895 Winchester

« on: September 03, 2007, 06:59:54 PM »

1895 Winchester

Back in 1895, the Winchester repeating arms company made the first edition of the “1895 lever action". In 1896 they made a few small changes and released the second edition of the 1895. In 1880, Norwegian immigrants Ole P. Quisla and his wife Anna had a son named Oscar. In 1900 Oscar Quisla Bought the 1895 rifle at a hardware store in Portage County, WI in the town of Rosholt. The new rifle (serial number 749) and 3 boxes of 30-40 Krag shells cost him $45. He took that rifle on many deer hunts in WI.

There were no deer in Portage county at that time so Oscar and friends would board a train and ride North until they reached a logging camp where they would hitch a ride by horse and wagon where they rode with their tent, blankets and food until they reached the winter deer yards where the deer would congregate to eat slashings (tops and branches) left behind but the loggers. The picture below was taken in 1905 when Oscar (far left) was 25 years old. On this trip they returned with one buck and one doe for each man. Oscar is holding the 1895 Winchester which has a shiny nickle finish. Most guns back then had a black or brown finish.

My Father’s family farm was only two miles from the Quisla Farm and since My Grandfather did not hunt, my father learned about hunting from Oscar. In 1958, when my Father was 23 years old, Oscar sold him the 1895 Lever action with 3 boxes of 30-40 Krag shells for $45.

In 1961, my Parents moved to Milwaukee and my Father left the 30-40 Krag back at the farm since he had no use for the Rifle in the city but he would travel back to Rosholt each year to deer hunt with the krag.

In 1964 Oscar Died at the age of 84. That year, when my Father returned to Portage County to live and farm with his young family, he went to the home farm to retrieve the Krag. His older brother who was never happy about my Father leaving the farm for the big city, told my Father that the gun was no longer his and that his older brother was keeping the rifle as a remembrance of Oscar.

As the years went by, my Father made attempts to get the rifle back but was unsuccessful. Now in 2007 with his brother (in a nursing home) in his 80's, my Father was back on the home farm doing some repairs and when finished, his sister asked how much she owed him for this troubles. My father said that he would like to have the Krag back. His sister went to the closet and retrieved the old rifle and gave it to him.

I asked my Father (now 72) what he had planned for the 111 year old Krag and he said “I’m gonna shoot a deer with it”

My oldest brother who reloads will make a few boxes of 30-40 cartridges for him and after the rifle is throughly cleaned and inspected, I would expect to see my Father in the woods this fall with the Krag.

168

Wisconsin General Events and Activities / Sherwood Forest Jubilee shoot

« on: August 25, 2007, 07:50:31 PM »

Well, day one of the Sherwood Forest Jubilee shoot is in the books and day two is tomorrow (Sunday the 26th). I volunteered to work on the kitchen/food staff. I got to the club house this morning at 0:dark 30 to get the fire going. This fire pit is where all of the day’s food would be cooked. We used oak so everything had a nice smokey flavor.

We start with made to order breakfasts bright and early because some folks camp on sight. We served 43 breakfasts that included Eggs, Toast, Bacon, Sausage, Hashbrowns, Pancakes and French toast, We also offered Pastries coffee, juice and milk.

Shooters began arriving before the 8:00 am to hit the course.

While they were shooting, we finished breakfast and switched right into lunch mode. We served a chicken dinner with Potato salad, beans and rolls. We also cooked burgers, fries, brats and hotdogs.

Here is some of our team

I got to know the deep fry machine very well. Fries were a hit with the crowd.

Day one saw 132 shooters and tomorrow (Sunday) normally brings around 200 more. We even had 3 crossbow shooter on the course.

Here is a pic of some club members from back in 1953. I wonder what they would think if they came back now?

169

Big Game Recipes / Venison Summer Sausage

« on: August 17, 2007, 05:31:05 AM »

I thought I would share what I know about making Venison Summer Sausage. I start with very lean and trimmed venison and I add to it beef and pork fat. The ratio I use is 80/20 or 80% lean venison to 20% fat. For a 20 pound batch I would use 16 pounds of venison and 2 pounds of beef fat and 2 pounds of pork fat. The pork fat I get when I buy 60 pound boxes of pork trim. The trim is know as boneless pork shoulders but any fatty cut of pork will do.

The first thing I do is trim all the fat from the lean pork.
I save the lean pork and cook it and shred it for BBQ or for pork only sausage. I get the beef fat from a local butcher. I ask for leaf lard as it comes from the inside of the carcass and I find it better than back fat or suet but suet will work fine. I grind the fat and venison at the same time to get them mixed together

Next I season the meat with the spices. Most every sporting goods store now sells summer sausage spices that are pre-mixed. Try one and if you don't like it, you can always add things to your taste. I have people who really like garlic or onion or both so I put the garlic and/or onion in a blender and make a slurry of them and add it to the sausage mix. I also add whole mustard seed. A step that most packaged sausage leave out is the fact that you need to mix the dry seasonings with water before you add the spices to the meat. If you do not do this, you will have some meat that is over seasoned and some that is under seasoned. When you pour the water/spice mix over the meat it is much easier to get an even distribution. The other ingredient that will come with the pre-mixed spices is a pink colored salt that is going to be called "Cure" or "Curing salt". This is really a mixture of salt and sodium nitrate. It is colored pink so that you do not confuse it with regular salt. It is absolutely mandatory that you use "cure" when you make a smoked sausage or you run the risk of getting food poisoning. If the pre-mixed seasonings that you buy do not contain this cure, it is more than likely sold right next to the spices. It is very inexpensive and is a must. So now I take the water/spice/cure/garlic/onion cocktail and pour it over the first grinding of the meat. This is the fun part. use your hands and mix the water/spice/meat/fat mixture until it looks evenly distributed. Your hands will hurt and then go numb from the extreme cold but you can talk your buddy into this step by telling him that you have to get the grinder ready for the second grind. Once everything is mixed, you need to grind it again but this time you will use a grinder plate with smaller holes than the first grind. I suggest an 1/8 inch plate for summer. After the second grind I take the mixture and pack it down tightly in a plastic tub. Do not use metal as it can react with the spices and give a metallic taste. I cover the whole thing with a layer of plastic wrap and store in my cooler overnight. While you sleep, the cure will.....well.............cure the meat and turn it a reddish or pinkish color (which is why all smoked meats, even chicken have a pinkish color to it) The next step is to soak the summer sausage casings in warm water for a half hour while you get the sausage stuffer ready. Stuff the meat as tightly as possible into the casings. You do not want any air bubbles.

Tell your buddy that because you know how to fill the casings, he will have to turn the handle. Tell him that is the more important job anyway.

Tie off the end of the casing with a strong string and your ready for the smoker. I smoke summer sausage slowly and at low heat because you can't rush a good thing. If you are in a hurry and turn up the heat you will find that the fat will melt too quickly and rather than mixing with the meat, it will work it's way to the outside, near the casing and run down to the bottom. It start with a preheated smoker at about 100 degrees and I leave it there for 2 hours. I smoke for a total of 12 hours and slowly increase the temp. to 180 degrees. The sausage is done when the internal temp of the sausage is 165 degrees. During the entire 12 hours I have a heavy smudge (fancy smoking term for lots of smoke) the entire time. I use hickory but lots of other woods will work as well (avoid pine and cedar) It takes a lot of smoke to penetrate the fibrous casing (which you peel off and can't eat anyway) When the sausage reaches the 165 degree mark I leave them in the smoker for another half hour while I fill a tub with water and snow ( always do summer sausage during the winter months) you Southern guys who don't get snow can fill a tub with ice and water. I take the sausage out of the smoker and place it in the super cold water and tell my buddy to move and mix the sausages around so they can get quick cooled. I tell him I something really important to do, but really I don't want to freeze my hands off. Keep the sausage in the cold water until the internal temp. is 80 degrees. This step ensures that your sausages will have a full and plump look rather than a shriveled and wrinkled look. The next step it to put the sausages back on the hanging sticks and dry them off. Finally you can let the sausage "Bloom" (this is a fancy smoking term that means to let them hang until they reach room temp and it gives you time to get the feeling back into your hands) I let my sausages bloom for a couple of hours and then place them in a cooler overnight.

The next day I vacuum seal the sausage and freeze the rest

The final step is to go out and buy some cheese and crackers on your way to my house so we can enjoy what you made

170

Big Game Recipes / Venison Hotdogs

« on: August 17, 2007, 05:27:00 AM »

If your so inclined to turn some of your venison into Weiners, This should help.

WIENERS (FRANKFURTERS)

INGREDIENTS FOR 10 LBS.

2 cups ice water
2 level tsp. Instacure No. 1
4 Tb. paprika
6 Tb. ground mustard
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground white pepper
1 tsp. ground celery seeds
1 Tb. mace
1 tsp. garlic powder
4 Tb. salt
2 cups non-fat dry milk
4 Tb. powdered dextrose
6 lbs. Venison
4 lbs. semi/lean pork trimmings (pork butts)

You may use 1/2 oz. coriander in place of the mace. If a wiener of lighter color is desired, omit the paprika.
Wieners can be made from many different meats, as well as any combination of meats. In some cases, people want to use the leftovers when they butcher their livestock, while others prefer a quality wiener.

GRINDING & MIXING
For home use, grind the meat together using a plate with very fine holes 3/16". After grinding, mix all the meat with above ingredients. Mix for 2-3 minutes or until all ingredients are evenly distributed with the meat. Emulsify meat, following emulsifying instructions found on page 214, then pack into stuffer using a 24-26 mm sheep casing to stuff wieners.

SMOKING AND COOKING
After stuffing, hang wieners on properly spaced smokehouse sticks. Be sure wieners are not touching each other. You may rinse the wieners off with cold water if necessary.

Allow wieners to hang at room temperature When using collagen or synthetic casings, about 30 minutes. Wieners should be smoked as follows:
Place into preheated smokehouse and dry for approximately 30 minutes. Apply heavy smudge for approximately 90 minutes, gradually raise smokehouse temperature to 165° F and smoke until internal temperature of 138° F. Transfer to steam cabinet cooker and cook at 165° F for 5-1 0 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 152-155° F is obtained. Spot-check various wieners to be sure that these temperatures are reached.
If you do not have a steam cabinet, you may leave the wieners in the smokehouse at 165° F until you obtain 152° F internally.
After smoking or cooking, the wieners should be quickly showered with cool water for about 10 minutes or until the internal temperature is reduced to 100-110° F After showering with cold water, allow wieners to chill and dry at room temperature or until desired bloom is obtained.

CHILLING
Wieners should be placed in 45-50° F cooler and chilled until product has reached an internal temperature of 50° F

Before smoking

After

171

Big Game Recipes / Venison snack sticks

« on: August 17, 2007, 05:24:39 AM »

Next to jerky, snack sticks are the family favorite. Here I will show how I make a 30 pound batch of snack sticks or hot sticks. I start with 80%lean venison and 20% pork trim.

I ground the venison first as the fat has a tendency to clog up the grinder

I mixed the two together by hand and then added the water and spices. I use LEM brand seasonings packets

After mixing the seasonings with the meat I ground it again using a finer hole plate and then packed it away in the cooler overnight to cure. This morning Josh and I stuffed the casings with the cured meat.

Each smoke stick holds around 15 or 16 links that are a total of 52 inches long each.

I preheated the smoker to 125F and hung the sticks at 11:00 am. I spread the sticks in the middle so I get good air flow.

Adding that much cold meat to the smoke brings the temp down to about 115F which is a good starting temp. I will keep them at this temp for about 2 hours

After the 2 hour drying time, I add hickory chips to make a heavy smoke.

After 5 ½ hours the temp is at 150F and I keep them there until the internal meat temp reaches 165F. I then take them from the smoker and let them cool at room temps. When cool, I put them in the fridg.

After a night in the cooler, I cut them to size I saved a bunch for the family to eat and sealed the rest in about 1/2 pound packs or 12 sticks per pack. This is the point when the scavengers start to show up.

It really does not look like much for all the hard work.

172

Big Game Recipes / Ground and shaped jerky

« on: August 17, 2007, 05:22:34 AM »

Who does'nt like jerky?

Here is how I make ground deer jerky. This will be a 23 pound batch.
Step 1. Keep things clean. Wash everything in hot soapy water and wipe everything down with a solution of 1 part bleach in 10 parts water. I hate those little bacteria.

After I butcher a deer I save all the trim and freeze it in gallon sized freezer bags. This bag will hold up to 8 pounds of trim but I like to put between 6 and 7 pounds in them. I thaw them out in the fridge. It takes 2 or 3 days to thaw out. I like to work with meat that still has ice crystals in it. It seems to grind better.

I bought a manual grinder on Ebay but soon tired of turning the handle so I added a motor and some pulleys and enclosed it in a box with a handle so that I can move it easy. The grinder and it’s parts are in another box.

Add the grinder and the hopper and I’m ready for work.

Start with the largest hole plate that you have so the first grind goes easy

Make sure to weigh your meat after the first grind to be sure of how much meat you are dealing with. This will tell you how much seasonings you will need.

I really like the AH Nessco brand of spices. No matter what brand you use. Follow the instructions. Make sure to use a brand that includes a curing salt. Without this you run the risk of botulism poisoning.

The cure is the salt looking stuff on the right.

Make sure to mix the seasonings with water. This will help to distribute the spices evenly. If you use them dry, the meat on top will be over seasoned and even after mixing you will not be able to get all the meat seasoned equally.

Pour the seasoning/water over the meat and mix by hand until you can't feel your fingers any more. (This is really cold meat)

Grind the seasoned meat a second time using a smaller hole plate. I use a hamburger sized hole plate.

Pack the meat into a plastic or enameled container. Do not use metal. It will give a metalic flavor to the jerky. Push it all down to remove all the air pockets and cover with plastic wrap. Iwill place this batch in the fridg. overnight.

In the end this batch will be 23 pound (the container weighs 6 pounds)

After curing overnight, I am ready to shape the jerky and dry it. I built a dehydrator to do large batches. It is built of wood and lined with metal. In order to move it around I made it in two halves. One half is the heater and fan box. I use (2) 1000 Watt hot plates and 3 fans to move the hot air.

The other half is the dehydrator box with supports for ten drying racks. It is also lined with metal.

The racks I use are plastic. I spray them with non-stick cooking spray before using them.

I use a jerky cannon by LEM products because it is large enough to hold almost 2 pounds of meat with each filling. It is basically a big caulk gun with a nozzle for jerky and another for snack sticks.

The racks measure 24 inches by 24 inches. Once filled, each rack holds 4 pounds of meat.

This batch will use 6 racks and should be done in about 7 hours.

Every hour, I rotate the racks from top to bottom and spin them 180 degrees so that I get even drying. It will take about 6 hours to dry this much meat

When finished, I take the long strips of jerky and cut them down to 5 1/2 inch lengths and vacuum seal the rest

173

Wisconsin DNR Outdoor Reports and News / DNR hunter Survey

« on: August 10, 2007, 09:25:26 AM »

Did any of you ever get the hunting surveys from the DNR? The only one I ever got was for spring turkey. I went to the DNR web site to see the results and came across the 2005 and 2006 surveys for all sorts of animals Most notably was the archery deer hunting survey for 2005. Brian Dhuey from the DNR explained that they only do this survey every 4 years so they do not have 2006 results available. The gun deer hunting surveys for 2005 and 2006 (that survey is done every year) are also available. It would be worth your while to check them out. Check out the archery survey at
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/harvest/reports/05bowdeer.pdf

and the others hunter surveys are at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/harvest/harvest.htm

If you are looking for a place to hunt, question 16 would interest you. It gives the number of bowhunters per square mile density based on deer management unit.

4,329 Bowhunters responded from across the state. some of the interesting responses caught my eye. like the age group of the bowhunters. Only 6.8% were 18 years old or younger. That should have all of us concerned.

It was good to see that 150 (3.5%) were women

The two largest age groups of bowhunters was the 0-7 years of experience and the 23-30 years of experience.

Question 5 said that when deer management units become over populated and conventional harvest methods are not enough to bring the herd size back to goal numbers, what method would you most favor for increasing the doe kill. Surprisingly enough, the 2nd most popular reply was a 4 day antlerless hunt in October (and this is from bowhunters) The Dec 4 day doe hunt was number 1.

6. asked how did the 4 day October antlerless hunt affect your archery deer hunting. nearly 25% said had no effect on their bow hunting. 25% said it made the deer nocturnal but what I found odd was that 1066 people chose not to respond to this question. That means that 25% of those surveyed did not want to answer?

?

7. asked about the effects of baiting deer during archery seson and 77% said it had either a positive effect or no effect at all. only 22% said it had a negative effect on their hunting.

8. asked what fear bowhunters had about baiting deer and the single largest reply was 40.4% that said they had no fears about the practice. the next largest was 14.3% who feared disease transition.

9. asked that in regard to baiting, which do you favor. 58% said no change from the current rule or to limit it to a 1/2 gallon. Only 1.5% of all the bowhunters said to prohibit the practice all together for bowhunting. Only 1.5% of Bowhunters want a baiting ban for bowhunting.

10. with regard to feeding deer for viewing purposes only (non-hunting) 73% to allow it with the current amount or a reduction to a 1/2 gallon. Of that 70%, 30% said allow it without any limit to amount !!!!!

11. asked about the legalization of crossbows for everybody during archery season. 38% of current bowhunters say yes.

16. showed that there are 14 bowhunters per square mile in zone 77D but only .03 bowhunters per square mile in zone 54B (CWD)

17. showed that 78.5% of bowhunters hunt private land

20. did you hit a deer that you did not recover? 13.5% did

22. showed that 94% of all bowhunters used a Compound followed 2nd by crossbow users 2.8%

23 asked if you used bait. 66.3% did not use this method for bowhunting. I found this interesting. The majority do not hunt using this method yet in all the other questions about baiting duriing bowhunting, the majority approves or has a positive opinion about using it. What this tells me is that the states bowhunter thinks that even if they don't use it, it's fine if another Chooses to hunt that way.

174

Archery / The frontal archery shot

« on: August 09, 2007, 11:18:33 AM »

I do a lot of custom butchering for folks and I tend to take a lot of pics along the way.

I post these pictures in an attempt to show what the target opening looks like from both front and rear. This opening on this small deer was 1 3/4 inch across. I am only guessing that it would be about 2 1/2 inches on a large adult deer. As you can see. The sternum at the bottom is a large bony mass that if hit with an arrow will not offer much penetration. On either side of the opening the ribs (viewed from the front) make an solid all of bones that are curved and are at a glancing angle. If you did go through the ribs on either side of this small opening, you would hit only one lung. If you miss the opening and shoot high, you do have a chance to hit the spine if you shot does not hit right or left. The spine is a cord that is smaller than an index finger as you can see in the pics. While it possible to make this shot and bring a deer down it does require the highest degree of accuracy to ensure a quick kill. Again. Take from these pics what you will. This is what your target area looks like

From the front. Neck high, sternum low and rib on both sides

From the inside looking out.

The spinal cord in the neck, near the frontal opening. It is very small and well guarded.

A cross section view. The cord is enclosed in solid bone.

I do not mean to tell you how to hunt or tell you which shot angles to take. I post this only to let you know that a frontal archery shot is a low percentage shot for a quick and clean kill and isn't that what we are all after.

175

Archery / Deer are tough

« on: August 09, 2007, 11:13:02 AM »

I process a lot of deer for other people so I get to see some strange stuff. This the the femur (thigh bone) from a large buck that was brought to me by my neighbor. He shot it with the bow. As soon as I started to de-bone the hind quarters I notice something was wrong. I removed all the meat from the bone and boiled it out. As I was scraping off the meat. I heard a metallic sound in my sink. I found one blade from a broadhead. This buck had been hit in the hind quarter a year earlier and lived to be shot a year later by another bow hunter. After looking at the bone, it appeared that there might be more of the head still in the leg and that the bone had grown over it so I took it to work and we scanned it. It turned out that there was no other parts of the head within the bone. This tuff deer made it through the remainder of the archery season and then WI's gun deer season and a cold WI winter and did this with a compound fracture. This is a tuff animal.

Here is an image a friend sent me of a deer that lived to be shot my a gun hunter who discovered this sight when he was gutting the buck. It just goes to show you that if you do not hit a bleeder. That deer will probably live.

And another from what I can only hope was an accidental impact. This deer also lived to be harvested by a gun hunter.

176

Camping / Homemade Wilderness survival kit

« on: August 09, 2007, 11:03:50 AM »

I made this kit a few years back. I teach wilderness survival to the Boys and Girls Scouts. I will have Wilderness survival merit badge weekends where I have the kids make a kit based on what they think they will need to survive 3 days in the wild. (You would be surprised to see what some kids think they need to survive) I stress that they need to make a kit that covers the basics like shelter, water procurement and purification, Signaling, fire starting, first aid and food.The second day they have to make an impromptu shelter and spend a night in it. Spending a night alone in the woods in a shelter that you made, helps remove the biggest fear that people have about getting lost. Here is the kit I made. It weighs six pounds and has 101 items/uses (some items have multiple uses) It even includes a tent that is 4 feet wide by 3 feet tall by 8 feet long.

The entire kit kits into a fanny pack with multiple pockets. If it is not comfortable and easy to take along, you will end up leaving it at home, or in the truck.

This is my son Jake modeling the pack

Here is the left side pockets as packed

Here is what is in the pockets

A rain poncho which can also be a shelter and a water gathering device and it's bright orange so it can be a signaling device.
A Swiss Army multi function knife. (need I say more)
50 feet of mason twine which is by far the strongest and lightest stuff around (use your imagination for it's uses)
Safety pin
Compass
Hand warmers (because I live in the North)
A small flashlight
a few large pieces of aluminum foil folded into small squares which can be used as drinking and cooking utensils
A deck of cards because boredom will kill you and it stresses the fact that you need to stay still (don't get more lost) You can use them for starting fires too
food including homemade granola bars and jerky, beef bullion cubes, sugar packets, gum and hard candy

The right side pockets as packed

Here is what is in the pockets.

Another rain poncho
A large black plastic garbage bag for shelter and water gathering
it is wrapped with bright orange signal tape
A signal mirror (plastic, not glass)
A whistle
A PAL survival flashlight which I also use for fire starting
Water purification tablets
A bottle of denatured alcohol for fuel for my stove
a mesh stand for my stove

The center or main pocket as packed

Here is what is in the pocket

The tent which I made from rip stop nylon and waterproofed ( will explain more later )
A Kutz-All saw ( I will explain more later )
50 feet of parachute cord
A Mylar space blanket
An Altoids tin that contains another saw (I will explain more later) the tin is also the stand for my stove.
The soda can stove ( I will explain later )
A glow stick
Toilet tissue ( the single biggest moral booster there is ) It is also a fire starter
A first aid kit
A fire starting kit ( I will explain later) The tin is also a cooking and drinking vessel

The tent

Made from rip stop Nylon and bug netting. It has a zippered front entrance.
The tent poles are made from aluminum arrows that I cut down. They nest together for storage but slide together when assembled
Tent lines from mason twine
tent stakes
A large piece of Tyvek house wrap to act a floor to keep you off the wet ground. (very light weight and very hard to rip )

This is a pic of the tent made out of blue nylon

The Kutz-All saw

It has a hollow handle to store the blades which are really Sawz-all blades including a knife blade

the zip saw and the tin

The soda can stove

This stove, when filled with the denatured alcohol fuel will burn for 25 minutes and bring a container with 2 cups of cold tap water to a boil in 2 1/2 minutes
The fire starting tin or the tin foil will be the cooking vessels

The first aid kit is pretty basic but I added an instant scab powder that stop bleeding instantly

The fire starting kit as packed

The contents of the kit

A small flint and steel
A blast match ( a one handed flint and steel)
Steel wool, which is the worlds best tinder. I use the 9V battery from the PAL light and the steel wool as a very fast fire starter.
Small birthday candles
Wax paper ( another good tinder when wrapped around small sticks and pine needles )
A butane lighter with a built in light
Sugar packets and a container of Potassium permanganate. I can eat the sugar or mix it with water to drink. The Potassium permanganate
when mixed with sugar makes an excellent fire starter if you use the fire by friction method (bow and drill) It is also a signaling device as it
turns bright purple when sprinkled on snow. It is also a water purification powder (an oxidizer) if you use more of it in some water it is an
anti bacterial wash
Water proof/wind proof matches (only one shown)
A small vile of magnesium shavings for instant and hot fire starting
Large candles
Rubber Bands ( I'm not sure why they ended up in the fire kit but still good to have)
A cotton make up removal pad soaked it melted paraffin wax is another good waterproof tinder
Alcohol wipes for cleaning and also a good tinder
The fishing kit just fit nicely into the tin as well

I keep several methods of fire starting in my fire box in my survival kit.

1. Waterproof/windproof matches
2. Butane lighter
3. Blast match
4. Flashlight (more later)
5. Steel Wool

More important that the actual method of striking the flame or the spark is the next step. What do you strike it onto?

Good Tinder is the key. A whole box of matches is useless if your trying to light a log on fire. I think the absolute best tinder in the world is 0000 Steel Wool.
Steel wool weights almost nothing, compresses/fits into whatever container it's placed in. Works even when wet, Never goes bad, ignites with every known
spark flame method (even a magnifying glass) It burns really hot, the more you blow in it. The hotter it gets. lasts a long time so it will ignite the next lager pieces of tinder. I tell all my Scouts that Steel wool is the first thing they should put into their fire starting kit.

The Blast match and the flashlight are about the easiest methods to use for one handed fire starting. Position your steel wool nest into your bundle of tinder and push down with one stroke of the blast match to ignite the wool. You will be amazed at the amount and heat of the sparks generated by the blast match. Blow on the steel wool and add tinder and you will have a fire in no time.

A similar method is to use my flashlight. It is another good one handed fire starter. For this you need a flashlight that uses a 9 volt battery. other batteries will work too but require two hands to use. I use a PAL light because it is water and shock proof. It is a great light with incredible battery time due to the fact that it uses a singe bright LED. It even has a strobe feature. Take the 9 volt battery out of the light and press the two terminals against the steel wool. BLOW!!!

My fire kit also contains a small vile of magnesium shavings that I make ahead of time. A survival situation is no time to be doing this with cold shaky hands. (which is another reason I don't care for matches) Sprinkle the magnesium shavings onto the steel wool and you have just boosted the heat range and fire starting capacity in your tinder nest by at least double.

I am sure I could leave out some redundant stuff and add more. I am always adding and subtracting from the kit.

177

Camping / Portable camping water heater

« on: August 09, 2007, 10:59:18 AM »

I decided to make a portable charcoal (of wood coal from a fire) camp water heater. It is made from an old plastic five gallon bucket and some plumbing fittings. The heater coil is made from soft copper water pipe that I wound around small log and the enclosed in an old coffee can. The bottom of the can is cut out and replaced with wire mesh to let air in and ashes out. because we always have a campfire going, we have a ready supply of hot coals. The funnel for adding additional water (or snow) is a long transmission fluid funnel so that the new cold water is added to the bottom of the bucket. The spigot is located just below center as the coldest water will be at the bottom and the hottest water at the top. The compression fittings allow the coal basket to be removed and placed inside the empty bucket for storage and transport. I find that the heat shield is not really necessary and I could trim a bit off the ends of the copper tubing to bring the coal basket closer to the bucket. I hang it from a lashed tripod but it also sits nicely on the edge of a picnic table. This device will boil water if it is used in the summer time. Adding a section of hose and a shower head also makes for a portable camp shower but you would need to hang it higher.

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Great Lakes Fishing / Charter fishing out of Sheboygan

« on: August 08, 2007, 08:11:24 AM »

Some pics of the last two charters I took with the Sea Dog.

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Archery / Deer hunting with a turkey

« on: August 08, 2007, 07:30:22 AM »

This is how I recycle the wings fro the turkeys we arvest.I Use the feathers from the birds to make arrow fletchings.

I like to use whole uncut white feathers for the two hen feathers and one homemade c0ck feather. I found 7 good looking specimens (one is a spare)

Next I split them to get rid of the side that I won’t need.

Then I found the best section in the middle of the length and cut off the ends. These are longer than I need but I will trim them later

Because the split base is way to thick I need to thin them down.

I use a belt sander with a fine grit belt because the bases are pretty soft. I finish them with a sanding block

The thined feather is a lot less beefy.

Next I cut them to their finished length.

The next step is to cut down the height a little so they fit in the fletching jig.

After fletching, I use a feather burner to give them their shape.

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Wisconsin General Events and Activities / Sherwood forest Bowmen August shoot

« on: August 08, 2007, 07:04:25 AM »

The Sherwood forest Bowmen in Sussex will be having it's jubilee shoot on August 25 and 26 from 8 am till 4 pm each day. 28 3D targets at simulated hunting ranges. food, drink and camping available on site. Many raffles and door prizes. Both modern and traditional archery equipment welcome.