Jake’s Outdoors

Once in a Blue Moon…

My dad and I were able to sneak away for a couple of days of bow hunting in central West Virginia this week.  Since I killed a doe on my regular base license, and didn’t buy any extra tags, I had to go to my dad’s land to have a chance to kill another deer (landowner’s child privilege).  I took off Monday, Tuesday and most of Wednesday so that I would be able to relax a bit.  We had some beautiful weather, and it was great to watch the sun come up from a tree stand again.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot of deer activity.  I saw a few, and almost shot a doe, but she refused to take that last step to open up a good shot.  I think the deer activity was restricted because of the full moon.  It was clear that the deer were up and moving late into the night, which also put them up and moving mid-day instead of morning and evening. I should have made sure to be on stand in the middle of the day, but I was not in the woods at the right time.  On Wednesday, on the way home, we saw a bunch of deer on the side of the interstate.  That was about 11 AM.

I was a bit frustrated with the movement of deer, but I guess that is what hunting is all about.  It is hard to head into an area and find the perfect stand when you only have a day or two.  Since the full moon threw off the feeding schedule of the deer, typical hot spots were suddenly cold.  I guess I should have been able to adjust accordingly, but for this trip, the deer won the battle.

It won’t be long till rifle season comes in!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Starting the Season Off Right…Sort Of…

Bow season is now underway here in WV.  I have been itching to break in my new (to me) Bowtech Diamond Marquis.  This bow is a huge upgrade from the equipment I have been using.  After all of the problems last year with deer jumping the string, I decided it was time to move into the 21st century with my equipment.

I have gotten out three or four mornings so far.  On Wednesday, I blew a perfect opportunity at a beautiful buck.  He was a mere 12 yards away, I was at full draw, and everything was perfect.  I grunted at him to stop him, but instead he bolted.  Stopped out about 35 yards (but behind trees) and looked at me for at least 15 minutes.  I was really upset about my stupidity, as he probably would have stopped on his own in about 5 or 6 more yards.  This would have been my best buck with a bow, but now he just keeps making appearances in my nightmares!

This morning I finally got to break in the new bow.  I shot a nice doe at just about the same spot that I missed the opportunity at the buck on Wednesday.  I also got a good view of just how good the new Rage Broadheads are.  I got a clean pass through, and a huge hole.  The commercials claim this for the broadheads, but I have had terrible time with mechanical broadheads up to this point.  I shot this doe and made a very good shot on her.  She went up the hill and stood watching around her for about 10 minutes.  I guess she just didn’t have the blood pumping good enough.  She never even knew she was hit.  I ended up sending another arrow through here at 35 yards because I thought she was going to walk over the hill, and I was starting to doubt my first shot.  The second arrow also passed through, both blades opening up and leaving a second huge hole.  When I went up to the spot of the second hit, I could see that I just didn’t give her the opportunity to expire.  The blood trail, and the puddle where she stood was amazing.  I know that is a bit graphic, but I just have to give my recommendation for these great broadheads.  They are fairly expensive, but it seems that all archery equipment is increasing drastically.  One bad thing about the Rage broadheads is that they don’t stay “set” on the o-ring very well.  I sometimes have problems dislodging them from the “set” position when removing from the quiver.  You need to be careful and not bump them when you take them out.  Otherwise, they are great, flying like field points, and doing a devastating job when you hit an animal.  I didn’t get any pictures because the skies opened up and we had downpours for most of the day after I got the deer dragged out of the woods.

This was my second deer of the year.  I also took a doe in a new early season muzzleloader season.  I took Jacob with me for a 2 day hunt, and we were able to score on a pretty nice doe.  The picture above is the muzzleloader doe.  He was very excited to see the smoke belch out of the barrel when I shot.  I think I have decided that a mid-September hunt is too early for deer.  It was extremely hot, and we had to process deer within an hour or so of recovery just to keep them from spoiling.  It felt like a rush against the clock just to save the meat from going bad.  We also had to battle with the flies and yellow jackets to get the butchering done!

I am hoping to get away for a couple of days to catch a few more days of bow season, and get to our camp.  I’d like to tag a buck with the new bow this year.  I just don’t know whether I have already had my shot at a nice buck!  I hope everyone out there has a good season ahead!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Treewalker Treestands: Great Customer Service!

It seems like I have been writing posts recently about poor customer service, or poor products. I am happy to be able to write about great customer service for a change!

Many posts ago, I wrote about the treesstand I bought at the WV Hunting and Fishing Show back in 2006 (I think…).  It is a Treewalker Treestand, and it is the best stand I have ever hunted out of.  After hunting out of it for several years, I still love it!  In fact, I continue to recommend this stand to anyone I know who is looking for a stand.  I know that Treewalker must be getting more and more popular, as I get several hits per week searching for them.  If you do a Google search, you will find that my review of the Treewalker on Associated Content is listed right under the homepage for Treewalker, and my post about the stand is right below the article.  That means these pages are getting a lot of hits!

Last year, the netting of the seat of my stand started tearing.  I forgot about it until just a few days ago.  This year, West Virginia is having an early bow season, and I was afraid that I had let it go too long to get the seat replaced.  I looked on the website, and couldn’t find the replacement seat, so I emailed Treewalker.  I got a reply back the next business day, and was told that if I would send them my address, they’d get one out to me.  Well, I needed to get one for me, and one for my dad, so I emailed them back about it.  Today, a box arrived in the mail with two net seats, and a company t-shirt!  Talk about great service.  They took care of me, not even charging me for the postage to send the seats.  I don’t know that this is their typical policy for replacing seats (the invoice had them marked at $22 apiece) but I am certainly thankful for their generosity!  I knew when I bought this stand that the netting of the seat wouldn’t last forever…I didn’t expect it to.  So, it is a nice bonus to have them send them out to me for free!

I have to tell you, there isn’t another climbing stand I would hunt out of at this point.  The Treewalker is the most solid stand I have ever used.  I am afraid of heights, so the large platform is ideal for me.  I feel secure in the stand, and never have had any fear of it failing (and I have had stands fail on me before!).  The stand bites into the tree enough to make sure that it will not slip at all.  I have never had any problems with it creaking or making noises to spook deer.  It is, in my estimation, the perfect climber.  Add to the great quality the great customer service, and I can’t recommend Treewalker enough.

If you are in the market for a new stand, make sure to check out the Treewalker.  I don’t think you will be disappointed!  It is great to see a company that is dedicated to their product, and dedicated to making their customers happy.  It is good to be able to write positive things about an outdoor company.  Throw your business their way!

Popularity: 23% [?]

Starting Them Young…

I have tried to introduce my kids to the outdoors at a very early age.  Some people have asked me what I would do if my kids grew up and didn’t like hunting.  That may happen.  I certainly don’t plan on forcing them to like it.  I try to be very patient with them, as they learn about hunting and fishing.  But, if my kids’ attitude right now is any indication, I think they are going to love the outdoor sports.  You’ve read some about my older kids, and how much they have taken to going to deer camp, shooting guns and bows, and fishing.  Now it is time for the youngest, JonDavid to join the exploits of his older siblings.

Recently, JonDavid has taken to watching hunting shows on TV.  For the record, JonDavid will be two in November (he’s our hunting season baby, and got the middle name “Hunter” without much complaint from my wife).  He enjoys watching the animals, and hunts so much that he asks for the Outdoor Channel to be put on when he comes in the living room.  When he gets TV time while my wife is teaching school to the two older children, he asks for hunting shows.  This morning, a friend came over, and I was showing him the new scope I installed on my muzzle loader.  When JonDavid saw it, he shouted out, “hunt deer, hunt deer.”  I think he is getting ready for deer season too!

A few days ago, I got out the camera and videoed JonDavid as he was playing in the living room, and watching hunting shows.  If anti-hunters stumble on this they will say he is being “brainwashed”, but in reality, he has developed this love of all things hunting on his own, as he watches the hunting shows.  He doesn’t even remember hunting camp from last year!  Here is the video of JonDavid:

I think I definitely have another little hunting buddy! It won’t be long till Jacob will be shooting, and from the looks of it, JonDavid won’t be too far behind him. It is great to share the love of the outdoors through 3 generations. I know my dad loves sharing time with the grandkids in the woods as well. This is the type of activity that I hope we can continue to share through 3 more generations!

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Bad Customer Service Experience…

Here is an outdoor related post, just to balance out the last one…

Recently, a friend and I went to Gander Mountain in Charleston, WV, to get some stuff for the upcoming bow season.  Unfortunately, when we got there, we could not get anyone to help us!  We spent a lot of time in the archery department, and then spent more time at the gun counter.  In more than 30 minutes, we didn’t have a single associate come around the departments we were in to offer us assistance.  I decided today that I would send an email to complain, as I figure nothing will change if no one ever complains about such bad service!  Here is the email I sent to them:

I just filled out the customer survey, but thought I would go this route as well, just to make sure this gets to someone who may be concerned about it.

Recently, I shopped at the Gander Mountain in Charleston, WV, and was extremely disappointed in the customer service available.  We were in the Archery department for 15 to 20 minutes, and never saw an associate.  We went over to the gun department, and stood at the counter for another 15 minutes, and only saw a couple of associates behind the gunsmithing area.  One associate was on the phone, but looked up and saw us waiting for them at the counter.  He finished on the phone, hung up, and then disappeared behind the wall.  Neither associate came out to assist us.  After this, we decided to leave (since we could not get any help).  Walking out, we passed a couple of associates, who did not even acknowledge us, or ask if we could use some help.  I should not have to go hunting associates in the store to get help with merchandise!

Just so you know, we decided to go across town to Dick’s Sporting Goods, where we spent over $200 that day, and where we went back and spent about $100 a week later.  When I go back out to purchase the rest of my equipment for this year, I will most likely be going to your competitor because of the bad service in your store.  It would be nice to see people who are excited about hunting and fishing in your store, and who are excited about helping the rest of us outfit ourselves for the great outdoors!

Kris Brewer
http://www.jakesoutdoors.com

I wish these specialty stores would be diligent to hire people who are going to be helpful.  I don’t go to the store to walk around aimlessly.  I want someone available so that they can help if I need it.  By the way, I was going to be asking about a special order gun stock, or barrel to outfit a gun for my son.  There’s no guarantee that I would order one, but because I got no help, they certainly are not going to get my order.

So, do you all have Gander Mountain in your areas?  If so, is the service better than what we experienced?

I have used Gander Mountain as affiliate advertising on this site in times past, but I will not be doing so any more, unless they are able to make amends for their poor service!

EDIT:  I got a very fast response (less than 30 minutes) from Gander Mountain.  Here is what I got:

Hello, Thank you for your email, I do sincerely apologize for the bad experience you had in our store. Our goal is to fully satisfy every customer in our stores. I assure you that this is something that we do not want to ever happen again, I will forward this to the store and district manager so this problem can be addressed. Hopefully you can forgive us for this occurrence because you are the most important part of Gander Mountain. Thank you very much and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Daniel M.
Gander Direct
1-888-5GANDER

Visit us at gandermountain.com

I am happy to get this response, and will await further response from the local store.  I’ll keep you posted!

Popularity: 23% [?]

A Plugin Must Have

Ok, this post doesn’t really have anything to do with the “outdoors”, but I found a plugin for the blog yesterday that is a “must have”.  It is called “WPTouch iPhone Theme”, and it makes all WordPress blogs instantly compatible with iPhones and other smart phones.  I am systematically installing it on all of my blogs, and it is working great.  It pares down the site to pretty much the basics so that posts are easy to read.  It looks a lot like a blog reader on your phone (such as in google reader or something similar).

You can find the plugin by going to the “Plugins” tab on your WordPress dashboard, and entering “WPTouch” into the search box.  I know, as I now read a lot more info from my phone, that this will be a valuable tool!  Hope it helps, and makes your small device reading a bit easier!

Popularity: 20% [?]

Thoughts on Shooting Running Deer…

I know, many of you will be shocked to find this update.  I have been extremely busy, but I keep hoping to show my outdoor blog the attention that it deserves eventually…

I received an email through one of my email lists today, asking for opinions on shooting moving deer.  I thought that was an interesting question, and one that certainly has caused a lot of controversy in the hunting community.  I thought I’d post my own response, and I hope you all will add your thoughts (even if you disagree with me).

I know that with some, this is quite the touchy subject.  I watch a lot of the hunting shows on TV, and love them.  But, one of the “unrealistic” points that they emphasize is the need for a deer to be standing still.  I watched one a few days ago, where the hunter didn’t shoot because the deer was walking, and never stopped.  Realistically, where we hunt, you’d rarely kill a deer if it had to stop to shoot.  Once the shooting starts on opening day, the deer are on the move.  Sure, some of them stop, but some will be on the move trying to get to that next piece of cover.

Many other game animals are shot on the move, without ever even thinking about it.  We shoot rabbits, and birds on the move almost exclusively.  We learn how to do it, and do it effectively.  I know there is a difference in using a rifle, but the truth is that with practice, you can learn to hit deer on the move too.  A person needs to know their own limitations, and know the type of shot that they can make.  We as hunters certainly need to make every effort to make safe and humane kill shots.  If you are going to be maiming animals because you can’t make a running shot, then don’t shoot.  But, I know many people who can kill an animal on the run more often than not.

My bottom line is that I don’t think anyone can make a hard and fast rule on this.  What one person is capable of doing may be impossible for another.  The same type of question could be asked about long distance shooting.  What is too far to shoot a deer?  I watched a show a few days ago where a guy shot a bear at 925 yards.  Impressive?  You better believe it!  Would I take that shot?  Not with my current equipment/skill set.  But, I have shot many deer on the run.  Under the right circumstances, I have a lot of confidence in my ability to hit them, and hit them soundly.  Other circumstances might cause me to pass on the shot.

That is my opinion, and I look forward to reading other responses!

Kris
http://www.jakesoutdoors.com

So, what do you all think?

Popularity: 25% [?]

Rabbitry Named!

OK, I thought we would be able to get this done a couple of weeks ago, but we are just getting around to it.  I wonder, are you all as incredibly busy this summer as we are?  But, after combing through all of the entries, and debating the pros and cons of the ones we liked, we have finally come to an agreement on the name of the rabbitry! We are going to go with a slight variation of one of the entries, and name the rabbitry:

Brewer’s Hare Raising Adventures

Eva submitted the name, and we will be sending her the prize of the knife that I wrote about in the original post about our Naming Contest.  I hope she enjoys it!  Thank you all for the many good entries.  I believe this name will fit our endeavors for the next several years!

I have the website started, and you can take a look by clicking the link above.  I will have to get some more pictures of the shed we are using to house our rabbits, as well as some more pictures of our rabbits.  We have a barn full of little bunnies right now, so it may take a while to get everything updated.

Since we are on the topic of rabbits (again), I thought I would share an interesting occurrence from this week.  We have a new litter of bunnies, less than a week old.  These little guys are quite active, much more so than any other litter we have had so far.  These little guys seem to have an uncanny ability to escape from the nest box, even though they are far too little to be out of it.  My son went out to tend the rabbits, as he does every morning, and found that not one, but two of the little bunnies had gotten out of the next box, and proceeded to get their heads stuck in the cage wire.  I know that they make “baby saver” wire that will make sure that this does not happen, but my cages are not so equipped.  I ended up having to cut the wire to free the babies.  Go figure, the heads will go through one way, but will not come back out!  The next day, there was another little bunny with his head stuck in the wire.  I had to cut the wire again to let him out.  Now, there are 3 holes in the wire that I will have to repair!

On a much sadder note, one of the litte bunnies was small enough that he actually fell completely out of the cage.  He disappeared, and I could not find him.  Later, when the yard flooded from all of the rain, we found him in a puddle.  I guess I am going to have to build me some cages with the baby saver wire so that these type of things don’t keep happening.  This all came as a great surprise to us, since we have not had any problem with this type of thing before.  Maybe these rabbits are just more active than the other litters that we have had.  If that is the case, we will be in trouble when they get bigger and we have to tend to them…we won’t be able to catch them!

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Butchering Rabbits: Getting the Job Done

Holly over at NorCal Cazadora asked how we went about slaughtering our rabbits for the freezer.  I thought I would do a short post on it, since it is a big part of the process of raising rabbits for food.  Many people simply cannot do this part of the job, and send their rabbits off to processors.  They end up buying back rabbit meat at a much higher price than what it would cost them to butcher themselves.  Having said that, I can certainly understand why many have this hang up.  In fact, I was not sure whether I would be able to go through with it until I finally did it.  It was much like my first time out deer hunting…I wasn’t sure I could pull that trigger until I had that first buck in my scope!

Warning:  There will be some graphic descriptions later in the post, so reader beware!

I used two basic processes for slaughtering the rabbits.  The first was the one that Holly alluded to in her comment on my last post.  This method is achieved by holding the rabbit by the hips, and then hitting the rabbit on the back of the head with a blunt object.  We used a short piece of re-bar, which seemed to work very well.  I picked this method up by reading a blog, Life as a Polyface Apprentice.  You can click that link and see some pictures of this method “in action” as I did not take any pictures the day we were butchering.  If you have never read that blog before, poke around a bit.  If you are interested in raising your own food, it is a great resource for material.

The second method also worked well, and we implemented it on a few of the bunnies.  This method is called the “broomstick method.”  Basically, you lay the rabbit down on the ground, and put a bar across the back of the neck.  With a swift motion, you pull up on the hind legs, dislocating (breaking) the neck of the rabbit.  It is an extremely quick method for dispatching the rabbits, and leaves little room for a mistake to be made.  This method was better on some of the rabbits because my hands are rather small, and the rabbits had very broad backs/hips.  This made it difficult for me to hold on to them securely, and I just didn’t feel confident with the first method being quick and humane.

I think it is very important for us to take good care of our animals, and even when it comes time to butcher they need to be handled humanely.  I don’t believe in torturing them, or making them suffer.  That is why I will use these two methods that dispatch the animals very quickly, and with as little physical pain as possible.  I will probably use the second method most often, as my rabbits are growing out nicely and have very broad backs.  This second method can be implemented without a fear of dropping the rabbit, and making a poor initial strike to render the rabbit unconscious.

Thanks for the question Holly, it gave me something good to write about while I am suffering from writer’s block!  Hopefully that will shake some cobwebs and I can get back to getting some thoughts down on the proverbial paper!

I am going to leave the rabbitry naming contest open for a few more days.  If you haven’t entered, make sure and get an entry in.  If you don’t want to do  a post on it, don’t worry…give some suggestions anyway!  I would love to have the perfect name, and give the prize away to a deserving participant!

Popularity: 57% [?]

The Fruit of Our Labors…

We started raising rabbits several months ago, without any of us ever having eaten rabbit meat.  We have been looking forward to trying it, and finally have had the chance.  We butchered our first 6 bunnies a little over a week ago.  That was an experience in and of itself.  I wasn’t sure how it would go, but it wasn’t very difficult.  I was afraid that maybe I would be too attached to them to butcher.  But, in the end, we ended up with 6 plump bunnies.  We gave 3 of them to friends and have now cooked up the last 3.  We had the first one barbecued in the slow cooker.  It was delicious!  Then, last Saturday, we smoked 2 of the rabbits.  They came out great!  They were very easy to do as well.  We mixed some apple juice with oil to marinate them for a while, and then put them on the grill with some lemon pepper seasoning.  They came out tender and very tasty.  We will certainly be doing that again!

The kids have all taken to the rabbit meat.  I was not surprised that they liked it, considering how much they enjoy other meats and are so curious about where their meat comes from.  They handled losing the bunnies to the freezer quite well.  I am hoping that they will continue to go with it as we grow the rabbitry.  Jacob will tell people that he knew we were going to butcher some of them, and that was the agreement when we got them in the first place.  So, they are handling losing a few at a time to the table.  I am hoping to keep the litters coming so they will always have a few out there replacing the ones that get butchered.

We also kept both the livers and kidneys to the rabbits.  The kidneys stay with the carcass, and since we cooked all the rabbits whole, we just cooked the kidneys with the rest.  I thought nothing of it, but Jacob asked if people at the kidneys.  When I told him that they did, he insisted on tasting them.  He has decided that he likes them, and has eaten most of the kidneys from the 3 rabbits that we have cooked.  It is amazing what kids will try if they are not prejudiced by others!  I tried the kidneys as well.  Being organ meat, it is quite different from other meat, but somewhat like what I would imagine for the livers, which I haven’t tried yet.

The contest to name the rabbitry is still open.  Please give us a suggestion, and enter the contest!  The prize is a nice knife, perfect for collectors or for use as a pocket knife.  Don’t need one?  Use it for a gift for someone else!

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