Lil Man Catches FIRST Fish!

I couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate my 200th post than to feature this photo of my little guy catching his first fish! We had been fishing with Gramie and Grampie for almost the entire day when in the fading few moments, we suddenly got that one flag I had been secretly praying for all day. Stomachs bulging with red hotdogs and roasted marshmallows, we all ran quickly to the ice hole not knowing what was twitching on the other end of the line. The little man’s excitement was running high as he grabbed the line and ran across the ice plucking the GIGANTIC pickerel from the murky depths. I am really not sure who was ultimately more excited him, me or Gramps . . . we were all hooting and hollering probably making the neighbors think someone got run over by a snowmachine. I cut the line, picked up the fish in my leatherman and handed it to my little guy. He immediately starts dancing around high on the excitement of the moment! Later that night, I filleted the fish and cooked it up, providing a taste for all. It was nice to stress the importance of eating what you kill and killing only what you plan to eat. It was by far my absolute best day fishing ever and the best fish I have ever consumed!

Mysterious Tracks

The latest activity that, for the moment, has completely captured the attention of my three year old is the through exploration of our backyard. Our new favorite activity, has been the discovery and following of animal tracks left in winter's coating of snow. Varying hare, turkeys, gray squirrels, fox, bobcat, coyotes, grouse, whitetail deer, mice and neighboorhood cats are just some of critters that make their way across our acreage.

I have been impressed to find that, after just a few sessions out in the wilds, he has already mastered the identification of several species tracks and understands which direction the particular animal traveled. In the last few weeks, I have followed red fox across our living room and turkeys through the bathroom as he leads pretend safaris. His expansive imagination and drive to continue to learn has been fun and exciting to watch. I am hopeful that his interest may allow him to have the patience to spend time with me in the turkey blind in May or June photographing. Time will tell!

Saw the posted tracks frozen into the snow along the side of a ice covered lake. Hazard a guess?

Secrets of DC

The Old Post Office- boasts incredible, expansive views of DC from the Washington Monument all that way to the Capitol Building. I am told that the views are even better than those experienced from the top of the Washington Monument. Access is easy and not crowded at this location and in my opinion well worth the short walk from the mall. If your in town check it out!

View from the top of the old Washington, DC postal office.


The World War II Monument - has in a hidden away service access area a piece of graffiti that is permanently etched into the granite. While this may at first "seem" like a piece of vandalism it actually is not and the history behind it is fascinating. Check out "Kilroy was Here" for more information.

Country Mouse Visits City Mouse

It certainly has been a wild couple weeks with little time to do any serious blogging. While I have managed to jot down a few scattered thoughts on my BlackBerry, nothing has seemed to be post worthy. I blame this latest cranial blockage on the fact that I haven't been able to invest any serious time in the woods and on the waters in the past several weeks. As sometimes happens, other priorities have instead focused my attentions elsewhere.

As you will see in the outlined photo montage, I recently returned from DC where I was able to briefly visit with my cousin and her boyfriend who graciously carted me around the big city and showed me the local sights. Ultimately, a fantastic trip that I would highly suggest be made at least one by every single red blooded, NRA card toting American. Can I get a YeeHaa!

Note the sizable flock of Canada Geese to the right of the Washington Monument.

Welcome to the Jungle

A few weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation with a coworker concerning hunting and fishing. Their outlook was that they believed both these activities to be brutal sports undertaken by individuals with no love or compassion for Gods creatures. When I inquired if they ate meat I received a most zealous "of course, I certainly aren't one of those damn vegetarians." Intrigued by this seemingly contradictory statement, I inquired how they could loathe hunting and fishing and yet find the eating of meat acceptable. It was explained to me that modern practices around the slaughtering of domesticated animals is a well controlled and regulated process. The federal government, FDA, etc. create and enforce guidelines that "guarantee" meat products are acceptable to eat. Game animals shot by hunters, according to this individual, were unfit to eat, carry diseases and are full of contaminates. The act of buying meat off a shelf in a styrofoam tray and safely sealed in plastic wrap was a civilized practice whereas killing and butchering your own meat barbaric. Through his tirade, I had all I could do to hold it together and not burst out in hysterical laughter. In the end, however, I simply let the individual be content with their beliefs. Sometimes people are to stuck in their ways for me to invest the time it would require to explain a differing viewpoint. After all isn't ignorance bliss? So this very long intro sets the stage leading into my recent book purchase.

Just before New Years, I found myself at the bookstore liquidating some gift cards with this prior conversation still dragging its dirty unkempt nails down my chalkboard of a brain. Walking the aisles, perusing various titles, I stumbled upon Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle". I had heard about this classic piece of literature many times before in english and history classes but yet had a chance to read it. A quick scan of the back cover read, "this novel exposed the disgusting filth and contamination of the nations food supply". Bingo, I took the book to the counter along with Vonnegut's "Slaughter House-Five" (another story for another time) threw down my gift cards and was out the door.

As many of you know, I have a passion for literacy and firmly believe that if you want to be a good writer you have to be a voracious reader. Because of these beliefs, I was anxious to immediately start reading to build a frame work upon which to write out a few thoughts on our nations food supply and the publics perception of it.

Finally able to open the book on a snowy wintry New Years day, I was captivated and unable to put it down till I finished three days later. While typically, I dog ear dozens and dozens of pages and wear out a high lighter reading a novel of this size, I was so captivated by the story that I mostly forgot my standard anal practices.

In a nutshell, the novel is written around the plight of the main character Jurgis and the atrocious conditions he and his family had to endure. These hardships were enough to make even the most hardened soul empathetic. Jurgis loses everything, his wife and son die, he loses his job, flirts with starvation, is robbed of all his money and goes to jail. He finally leaves jail, realizes crime pays and finally is "saved" by members of the Socialist party. Basically, his life reads like a bad country song.

Of course, what made this book infamous and most interesting to me were its reporting of the flith and general disregard for the public health that were evident in the meat packing facilities of the time. So powerful and disturbing are the written descriptions that the book prompted changes in food processing industry that echo to present day.

Cover to cover this was a fantastic read. Interesting tidbits could be found throughout the book. Mentioned in the introduction is a book by Eric Schlosser titled "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal". Written in 2001 it is described as a modern day version of "The Jungle". It was immediately added to my reading list. Yet another book now on my reading list includes, "The Civilizing Process" for a quote from the introduction: "reminders that the meat dish has something to do with the killing of an animal are avoided to the utmost. In contrast to the medieval practice of bringing the entire animal to the table, sometimes with hoofs and feathers still attached, in more recent times, the animal form is so concealed and changed by the art of its preparation and carving that while eating one is scarcely reminded of its origins".

Additionally, several quotes jumped off the pages that were interesting because of their content, descriptions or the thoughts they provoked. They include a few, from the introduction, that pull quotes from other books as well as good writing from within the body of the novel. I won't bother to list them here but will encourage you to give the book a good read and make your own decisions.

Tanning Hides (Part 3)

Several months ago a small box arrived on my door step containing the key elements and directions that would enable me to tan an animal hide. I had started this little adventure with high hopes but now had began to seriously question my abilities and develop reservations that this little experiment would even work. Staring down into the "pickle", reeking of vinegar and putrid coon, I began poking the hide with a yard stick curious if the hair and flesh would vaporize on contact. Seeing that the remains appeared to stay intact, I proceeded to remove the coon hide from the pickle bucket.

Taking the raccoon hide firmly in both hands, I proceeded to squeeze all of the remaining vinegar and salt from the hide. After dumping the pickle down the tub drain, I read further into the directions where it stated, "be sure to reserve pickle for next step". More curse words ensued and yet another unscheduled trip to the store was made. Had I followed the directions, I would not have had to mix another pickle, however, I am running for village idiot this election cycle and really needed to raise my public ratings.

After mixing up a fresh pickle, I proceeded to dump in the kit included tanning solution and raccoon pelt. Everything then received a hearty stir. Lastly, I dropped in a large rock to keep things from floating above the surface and secured the lid.

This mix of 1 gallon of pickle and 9 (22 tablespoons) oz of Rittels Kwik-Tan was allotted to sit a minimum of 24 to 36 hours to give the tanning solution a chance to penetrate and work its magic. I didn't have time available to work with it again until 48 hours had passed and it seemed to have made little difference.

Two days later, I (AGAIN) dumped the pickle and proceeded to squeeze out the coon. I put 1 gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda in the bucket and thoroughly washed the hide inside and out (perhaps 10 minutes of rinsing). This could have been where I messed up in the process, as the hide still has a slight vinegar scent. So, if anyone is reading and thinking of trying you may want to spend more time on the baking soda wash. (I am going to hang the hide outside for a few days and see if this helps to dissipate the smell. If that doesn't work, I am going to seal the hide in a bag for a few days filled with dry baking soda. IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, I am drowning the whole works in Febreze and hoping for the best!)

So by this stage, you should have a soggy raccoon hide that smells something like a cross between a well aged italian sandwich and New York City taxi cab. The directions instruct you to dry the hide at this point but not over dry. This seemingly contradictory statement is made possible by "damp drying". This is accomplished by turning the skin fur side out to allow the fur to dry but keep the flesh relatively moist. I then tightly wrapped the entire hide in a bathroom towel to absorb additional moisture. After 5-10 minutes of drying, I turned the flesh side back out and proceeded to prepare the oiling mixture.

Mixing 2oz of water and 1oz proplus tanning oil provided more than enough oiling solution to cover the entire hide. A single application was all that seemed necessary and using a small brush it was easily painted on. After a through application, I turned the hide again so that the newly oiled flesh was to the inside. This is done to allow the oil a chance to slowly penetrate over 4-6 hours.

Now once again turn the hide back to flesh side out to allow it to dry. The various sections of the hide will dry at differing rates of speed, so care should be taken to keep a close eye on things. I checked the drying once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. At these points, fold the hide and see if white crease marks are produced. If they are you should pull and stretch these areas working to keep them pliable. This is also a great time to strip the hide of any extra flesh that may have lingered throughout the process. A heavy to medium grade sandpaper works great in removing stubborn areas and also gives the hide that buffed "professional" finished look.

That is the end of the process. I hope I didn't make any of the steps sound to complicated as it is fairly easy. I would highly recommend trying, as the final product makes an impressive wall hanging. Please drop me an e-mail if anyone has questions and I would be happy to assist. Good Luck!

Ice Fishing in a Canoe?

One of this things I find most exciting about a day on on the ice, is you never know what you might end up seeing. Wild animals like coyotes, moose, deer, otters fox, beavers and other critters can at anytime show their faces and make a average day on the ice extraordinary. When you add to this mix a chance to catch a wall hanging fish specimen, it is no question why a day in the icy wilds of Maine is so attractive to such a huge number of sportsmen.

Along this line of "outdoor entertainment" it never fails to amaze me what creative Mainers will do when they have amble amounts of time and a healthy childish sense of play. Saw these guys out trolling for salmon this past weekend and wanted to share. No worries they had lifejackets in the canoe!

Aconcagua Revisited

On January 20th 2006, I completed a life long dream to climb one of the world’s seven summits. These peaks, coveted by mountaineers around the world, include the highest spots on each continent. A listing can be found here. At 22,843 feet Aconcagua located on the Argentina/Chile border is the highest peak in the western hemisphere. If you want to be any closer to God, you need to drag yourself to the Himalaya.

Reaching the 4 year anniversary of that climb, I find myself reflecting on the trip and contemplating a future return to the mountains. As I think about the momentous experience and the impact it has had on my life, I wanted to share a few of my favorite photos from that trip.

In order photos depict: Base Camp, Camp 2, Camp 3 w/Aconcagua in the Background, Camp 3, Leaving Camp 3 for Camp 4, Camp 4 and Summit of Aconcagua.

Tanning Hides (Part 2)

Armed with a cup of strong black coffee, I retreated to the quiet sanctuary of my basement with high hopes of finally beginning the process of tanning my recently acquired raccoon hide. Slurping back the bitter hot brew I marveled at how quickly the early winter storm was accumulating. A muffled laugh escaped me, as I pondered the identities of the poor fools who had to actually go out on a day such as this.

As I tore into the small box titled “Trapline Kit”, I was immediately disappointed to find that it did not contain all of the items necessary to begin the tanning process. Missing were several “ingredients” including: Odorless Mineral Spirits, baking soda, 1 lb of salt and 2 quarts of white vinegar. While most people might have these items kicking around the house, I did not. Donning my winter jacket and stumbling into the raging blizzard, a cloud of obscenities burst forth creating a black cloud that followed me all the way to the local country store. Fortunately, I knew that my local country store would not disappoint me and within its aisles all of my items would be found. What else would you expect from a store with a permanent sign out front professing the selling of Beer, Wedding Gowns and Shotguns . . . damn I do love Maine.

Arriving back home, I was further disgruntled to find that the process of tanning was not something to be accomplished in a single day but would instead require two weeks of on and off efforts from beginning to end. Finally surrendering myself to the mercy of the task at hand and the time requirements, I rolled up my sleeves and went to work.

The first step in the tanning process is perhaps the most messy and stinky . . . it is also the most critical. Before any of the other parts of the process can be considered you must completely degrease your hides. For some critters like fox, coyotes and bobcats I am sure this is a walk in the proverbial park, however, for grease balls like raccoons this is a herculean endeavor. Using the odorless mineral spirits, an old rag and about 20 minutes of intense upper body activity the hide was finally “degreased”. I found this process worked well, if you kept the hide on the wooden stretching board and put the bottom in a 5-gallon bucket. As you wash the hide with the solvent saturated rag the extra dribbled into the bucket and could be reused to keep the rag wet. There is a fair amount of splashing that occurs as you slop the rag around so I wore chemical safety glasses and also dishwashing gloves.

After degreasing the hide needs to be washed with 1 tablespoon of tide to 1 gallon of water. Again I used a rag and the 5-gallon bucket to thoroughly wash and then rinse the hide of the solvent and soap. After scrubbing I filled the 5-gallon bucket with water and soaked the hide and then squeezed it out a few times.

Having never tanned a hide before, I found phase two of the process most bizarre. This is when you create a “pickle” that the hide can safely percolate in for up to two weeks. Using a 5-gallon plastic bucket, I mixed 2 quarts of white vinegar, 2 quarts of water and 1 pound of salt to create the pickling formula. Then all that remained is to immerse the hide in this soup and to wait. I waited one week, as that is when I next had the time available to move the entire process to the next step. As the week moved slowly forward, I stirred the pickle as instructed and noted the hide was changing to a pure white color just as the directions had indicated. This I found encouraging as I began to think . . . hey maybe this will work after all.

The completion of the tanning process will be posted soon!

Tanning Hides (Part One)

As a young boy, tanning hides was something the elders of the clan did to us children when we were misbehaving. It usually occurred in the woodshed with a leather belt, random piece of kindling wood or some other close at hand justifiable implement. The entire procedure only took a few minutes and in the “end” always managed to produce a beautifully tanned hide. With the advent of time and perhaps what some would call “advancements” in child rearing, the old methods of tanning hides no longer seems to be an accepted parenting practice. Not to be confused with the barbaric methods of old, I recently decided to try my hand at tanning hides. Perhaps from my previous experiences with getting my hide tanned, I assumed that the process would be rather easy to accomplish, straightforward and quick to complete. I was however wrong.

Of course to begin any tanning process, you must begin with a hide. In order to secure a hide you must first kill an acceptable furbearing critter. Personally, I chose to target fox and coyote because I trapped them as a child. Back then, I sold what I caught and thus was unable to keep any of my original hides. Of course, best made plans never seem to work out quite the way you originally wanted and thus I ended up completing the 2009 trapping season with a single raccoon hide.

Having had much experience with the skinning process from many year of previous practice, I was able to easily separate the masked bandit from his fur coat. For the uninitiated, this is a relatively simple process with the most difficulty occurring around the tail and head. The tail skin can be rolled off the tail bone using a couple of pencils placed one above and one below the tail bone. Held together with your hand a strong downward pull does a quick job of separating the two. To eliminate the chance of spoilage, care must be taken, with a sharp knife, to split the tail all the way to the end. The thin hide around the head, is slowly worked round and round as you cut off the underlying ear cartilage, around the eyeholes and finally off the end of the skull to separate the nose.

The pelt is then placed fur side down and worked with a scraping tool to thoroughly separate the attached fat. It is critical that all meat, fat and membrane be removed, as it will quickly spoil and ruin your hide. With fatty critters like raccoon and beaver this is by far the part of the process I dislike the most, as it is time consuming, hard, messy, nasty work. Of course, the professional trappers have skinning beams and two handed fleshing knives that make this job exponentially easier, however, I did not have access to these tools.

Finally, with the hide cleaned of all fat it was placed on a wooded stretching board with the skin side out, held in place with tacks and left to dry in my cool basement for about a two months, until I was ready to start the initial steps of the tanning process.

Part two of the Tanning Hides Process to be posted soon!