Don’t Ruin Your Cast Iron!

There’s a lot to like about cast iron.  It’s rust resistant.  It heats evenly and holds heat a long time.  It’s anti-stick.  And generally speaking it just provides a better, more satisfying, cooking experience. But cast iron does take some work.  Whether you’re looking to rehab some yard sale finds, or maintaining cast iron you’ve had for years, understanding the process is important to getting a good result.  Check out this video on how we season our cast iron.

In the Jaws of a Dilemma

Okay, hypothetical question here. Of course this has NOTHING whatsoever to do with me or any real-life scenario. 🙂 Let’s say you’re hunting on the last day of archery season. You already have two deer in the freezer, but of course there’s no such thing as having too much venison. Now, let’s say you have to leave the house at 4:00 for a family obligation. You’re planning to stop hunting at 2:00 to accommodate that. At 1:30 a group of mature does walk out at 30 yards. Do you shoot, knowing that tracking, gutting, and transporting the deer to the processor could make you late to the family event? Or do you let them walk? I made my call. Um, I mean,

A Hard Day

Yesterday was a tough day for me.  I’ve been hunting hard all through the archery season, and have passed on lots of does and a few small bucks.  Having seen more deer on the property, and a higher buck /doe ratio than I have ever seen on this farm, I was excited for the start of rifle season.  And then . . . disaster.  Shortly after first light I heard a deer coming in from behind me.  Watching and waiting I saw a medium sized eight point come in from about 80 yards.  He was probably a 3 1/2 year old with a mid-sized rack, but a pretty big body for his age.  This is a deer I might have passed

Making a Mountain Man Possibles Bag – Part 1

I recently picked up a muzzle loader to extend the deer season.  I originally thought it would be a purely practical purchase, but soon found myself getting into the whole mountain man thing.  Being a leather worker, I though what better way to get into the whole process than to make my own possibles bag. While looking for design inspiration, I stumbled across the fact that you can buy tanned, salvaged coyote faces on e-Bay!  Really???  Well despite the oddness of that statement, it gave me an opportunity to include a a coyote face in my design without taking the time/effort to harvest, skin, and tan a coyote pelt. Part one takes us through some initial design, cutting out the body of

DIY Camera Arm

Today we build a camera arm for self-filming hunts from a tree stand.  Anyone can build this with a few common tools and an inexpensive MAPP gas setup from the hardware store.  This set-up will cost you 20% of commercial alternatives, and will give you the same or better quality.  Plans will be available on the blog, and the link will be added here when it is available.  Thanks, and good hunting!