2013 Grand Forks Men's Show

Last weekend I went to the Grand Forks Men's show.  I had fun as I always do when I go.  The show was filled with basically everything outdoors related.  That included campers, live whitetail deer, docks, boats, hunting dogs, and 4 wheelers just to name a few.  Of course they had Patty's favorite thing, free beer tasting from Hugo's.  Apparently Mike's Hard is coming out with an orange soda flavored drink that tastes so much like orange soda they should put it in 2 liter bottles.  Anyway onto the outdoor stuff.  A lot of the things they had at the Men's show I have seen before in the ATV and docks department.  Nothing to exciting to talk about there.  The boats they had at the show were all big expensive Walleye boats that you really couldn't put in a shallow landing or have fun with in a small lake.  The had Bennington Pontoons which are basically the Lincoln of pontoons.  They are ridic and have things like sea legs, crazy sound systems, and crazy lighting.
There are 3 things I found interesting at the Men's show.  The first one was the SnoBear.  I've seen these on T.V., but never in real live.  I know they are ridic expensive for only the richest of the outdoors-people, but it was really neat to look at.  If you don't know what that is, basically it is a snowmobile/ice shack.  You drive your giant snowmobile out to your spot on the ice, hit a button, it lowers itself, and is ready for ice fishing.  The distributor who had it there didn't really feel like talking to me much more about it, and it is probably because I don't look like someone who could afford it.
The second thing I found interested and liked was the combo toy hauler/ice shack/camper they had on display.  I have a blurry picture of it below that doesn't do it justice.  It seemed like the perfect thing for my friends and I even though we can't afford it.  It would kill 3 birds with one stone for us.  It's got flip down bunk beds, a toilet, holes for ice fishing out of, and a extremely tiny kitchen.  These things are amazing, I just wish they weren't priced around actual campers.  It's like a bare bones mobile man cave/deer camp.
The third thing I found more interesting than anything is the "sport utility bike" from The Grand Forks Ski and Bike Shop.  I've seen this bike everywhere in town, but not with these accessories on it.  Somehow they put a fly fishing rod holder on it and a holder for your bow.  I don't know how easily that would be to take into the wilderness except maybe in North Dakota where trees and hills are few and far between, but it still seems impractical to me.  If anyone has used a setup like this or sees how this could be useful please feel free to comment on this post.  In conclusion even though there weren't to many things there that were exciting or that I hadn't seen before, I still had fun at the Men's Show and appreciate it every year. Below are some pictures I took of the event.

The SnoBear

The camper/ice shack/toy hauler sorry it's blurry

Shot of everything

A wheeled deer stand that raises up once you get to the spot.  Probably something that would only work in North dakota

The confusing "Sport Utility Bike"

My last few weeks of upland hunting in North Dakota and Movember

It has been a few weeks since I have last posted and I have been up to quite a bit.  I went hunting one day every weekend since then for upland birds and I was not very successful.  You can't expect to much though it is Eastern North Dakota and I was hunting without a dog.  Anyway, I didn't see a single thing in the way of birds until my last day out hunting.  I was driving along a road between some public land and what I could only describe as a massive number of grouse flush from the ditch on the side of the road.  It was actually around probably 30 grouse which I considered a big number.  I quickly found a spot to park the car and go attempt to chase after them.  It just snowed the day before, and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground which made walking difficult.  The grouse were nothing but annoying after that.  I could hear them making their noises so I would head their direction and they would either flush over 100 yards ahead of me or just keep running on the ground and staying around 100 yards in front of me.  I tried every tactic I could think of to try to fix that.  I would try to sneak up to them, run up to them, try from different angles relative to the wind, nothing changed the way they acted I could not get a shot at all.  Finally after following them around for an hour and being quite far away from the vehicle at this time they all decided to fly onto some posted private land and that was the end of me chasing grouse for the season I guess.  I did hunt a different location after that, but to no avail there.  My grouse and pheasant season in North Dakota before their deer opener ended in 0 birds and 1 jackrabbit.  This is more than previous years, but still less than hunting only one afternoon in Wisconsin.

My hunting these past few weekends has not been in vain though.  First off I really enjoyed being out of the city and enjoying mother nature.  You really can't beat that, because even if you don't get any food for the table you still enjoyed the day.  Second, I found quite a few signs of fur bearers.  There was one spot of public land where this one truck always was every time I went out hunting.  Finally one time when I went out there the truck wasn't there so I decided to check it out.  Little did I know after walking through the some of the extremely rare wooded areas in this part of North Dakota that I would come to a creek.  I was surprised and happy to find something besides the same fields over and over again.  I found a tree stand which I assume was the guy's with the truck who had always been there.  In the part of public land by this creek I found tons of gnawed trees and beaver slides.  This got me excited as I was starting to wondering if trapping was really going to be worth getting my car stuck in the snow tons of times this winter.  I also found what looked to be the makings of a beaver dam but that was on private property so I could not get to close of a look at it.  I think I found at least one spot to possibly trap this Winter which excites me.  To add onto this topic Eric and I decided to go combine our efforts in getting trapping stuff this year as we both have been challenged by someone we know in an outdoor contest.  Eric traded a bow for about a few dozen traps all size 1 through 3 coil spring and long spring.  I ordered things for the traps like swivels, in line springs, and stakes to put his traps in better working order for the coyote and fox he wants.  Eric still needs a catch pole and if he's reading this I would like to remind him to get one or we may have a bad time.  I want to try to trap a little more than just fox and coyote, so I got some dog proof coon traps, some weasel boxes, weasel lure, coon lure, and some muskrat colony traps.  I already own a #1 long spring, and #110 conibear as everyone has seen from my videos.  I have already ordered all my stuff, and it is currently sitting in Wisconsin waiting for me to come get it.  I will see it soon as I go home to celebrate the greatest national holiday known as Wisconsin Deer Season.  I won't be there for the while time, but I will get at least 4 days in of hunting.  So, lots of excitement is coming up for me.

Here are the pictures I took while I was out hunting these last few weekends.

Beaver run

Beaver run there were a lot of them

chewed on tree

same chewed on tree

chewed on tree next to a run

More runs

Treestand I found there

chewing

dam in progress

The dam again

another run

More beaver work

Rusting old farm equpiment

Sitting on one of the few hills taking a short break from chasing the grouse around

Cows staring at me

Finally the last part of the post for everyone who is sick of reading.  Quad Survival has, as you know, grown mustaches for Movember to support awareness for men's cancers.  Well this year we have decided to participate in it some more by having a Movember team.  Our team address is http://us.movember.com/team/893129 if you want to donate.  Also if you want to donate on my behalf which also goes towards the team as well you can donate at this address http://mobro.co/quadsurvival.  Either way works except donating on my behalf puts me up higher in the team rankings.  I encourage everyone to donate for Movember as it goes to a good cause, and showing the world it is not only women who get cancer.  You may also join our team if you would like and help on behalf of Quad Survival.  As  many of you know I recently lost my father to cancer and I thank everyone who will contribute to Movember in advance it means a lot to me in many ways.  Stay updated as we will have more posts coming soon especially with deer season coming.

Upland Hunting Last Weekend in North Dakota

After I wrote the blog post last Saturday I went out for some upland hunting.  I know the area I live in in North Dakota can only be described as embarrassing compared to hunting in Wisconsin, but dammit I need to do outdoors stuff.  I've gone upland hunting in this area of North Dakota many times before, and it is basically a miracle if you flush a grouse or partridge any more than 3 times in the season.  Yes it is that bad I kind of wish I had a dog to help me.  Anyway, I got ready and prepared for a day out in the fields seeing nothing.  I packed snacks water and so on.  I walk into the first field and within about 10 minutes of walking a jackrabbit pops up right next to me.  Within that split second I decided I was hungry enough to try jackrabbit, so I shot it and put it down.  This was the first time I have ever seen, or shot a jackrabbit and when I walked up to it I noticed it was quite large.  I picked up the rabbit and headed back into town to clean it.  I've never cleaned a rabbit or jackrabbit before, but from what I was taught it was pretty simple.  

When I got back to the apartment I weighed the jackrabbit and it weighed 7 pounds!  This seemed big to me, but from what I understand is normal size for North Dakota jackrabbits.  I did some looking up online on how to skin one and found there are about 8 different ways people are showing, so I decided to try it how my grandfather told me to, but modify it so the meat was boneless.  I don't think I did to bad for my first time skinning jackrabbit, but I didn't get as much meat as I could.  I got most of what Uncle Ted would call bountiful back straps  and some hind leg meat.  I made a pretty decent mess in the kitchen and decided that the sink was not the best place as the jackrabbit kept sliding around.  I have no learned and will be able to do a better job and get more meat next time.  After I was done cleaning up I put the meat in a bowl of saltwater in the fridge and went back out hunting for a while.

I didn't see anything else out hunting the second time that day, but I almost got my car stuck on minimum maintenance road.  When I finally got off the road my car was so loaded up with a dirt/clay mix that I had to get most of it out from the parts of my car by hand.  That wasn't fun.  Anyway, after that mess I went back to my apartment to get my jackrabbit ready.

I follow the way my grandfather, you know him as Old Man Rounce, told me.  I seasoned the meat with garlic salt, salt and pepper.  Then I shook the jackrabbit meat in a bag filled with flower.  Fried it on the stove in butter and olive oil at medium low for about 12 minutes, with a cover on it most of the time.  Then I took a pot put some butter in it added half a cup of water and a few shots of Brandy (the Brandy was my choice).  I set the oven to 350, put the meat in the pot (I don't own a dutch oven or I would use that) put a cover on it and let it cook for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remember that rabbit is an extremely lean meat with nothing but really protein in it, so you must keep it as moist as possible and use lots of butter to give it more flavor, and keep the meat from getting to tough.  When the food came out of the oven it look pretty good.  It tasted not bad either, but Patty said it didn't have much flavor, which it didn't so for next time I have to add more spices and probably use real butter (Patty doesn't like real butter so it's almost never in the apartment).  So everyone make note of that use real butter not fake butter.

Patty went out hunting with my the next day, but we didn't see anything.  Below are some pictures of the weekend.

The jackrabbit

Getting ready to skin it

When it says Town Car for the name I guess it means Town Car

Sunset ending the first night of hunting

The jackrabbit after it was cooked.  Some of it was already eaten by me I was hungry.

The second day of hunting.

Also last weekend I guess Eric went salmon fishing in Wisconsin.  He sent me a picture with no details on if he caught this fish or not, but I'm sure if he actually contributed to this blog he would have some good stories for everyone to read.  It looks like he or someone did well salmon fishing though.  Here is the picture below.

What I have been up to lately (Jared)

Well between massive amounts of homework, tests, and papers I have found a little spare time to go fishing.  I've fished mostly the Red River here in Grand Forks.  As you can see from the pictures below I have not been to successful at all in catching fish.  Patty caught a bullhead, but that's it.  I think it is because I have no idea how to fish catfish and have hardly any experience fishing a river.  The only information I have about catching catfish is what I find online.  I have herd there are a decent amount of walleye to catch in the Red River as well so I might try to figure out how to catch those as well.  Patty and I also tried fishing Ryan Park pond in Grand Forks about 3 weeks ago and didn't catch anything.  I was hoping for a nice trout to eat for supper, but I guess they haven't stocked the trout pond yet. It is really nice North Dakota's fishing season doesn't close when the ice goes out, so if the weather is nice early you can go fishing early which I am doing.

I still have two videos I need to put up on YouTube, but between my computer acting up and having to have Windows reinstalled and massive amounts of schoolwork I haven't gotten around to it.  Hopefully I will be able to this weekend.  Anyway here are the pictures of fishing.

The Red River Of The North

Ryan Park Pond

My Red River fishing setup

The only fish we have caught so far

A few weekends ago I went to the last day of the Grand Forks Gun Show.  It was $5 to get in well worth it in my opinion to check our current firearm prices along with other firearm related stuff.  After I paid I walked in and made a B line to the conceal and carry booth.  The company was permittocarry.org.  I spoke to Rusty about what I would have to do to get a Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota conceal carry permit.  He was super knowledgeable and super helpful.  I really enjoyed talking to him and if his classes are anything like he was that day I would recommend him to anyone.  After talking to him I realized the classes were quite expensive for my cheap self at the time so I put that on the back burner.  Once I was done talking to Rusty I went out to see the prices of guns and if I could find any deals on them.  Holy piss were gun prices high at the gun show.  I seriously think the vendors were out of their minds.  Their brand new guns were on average $60 to $80 more than I what I could get if I just drove across town to Scheels and purchased them there.  The biggest offenders in that department were rifles.  The used pistols cost around as much as you would pay for a new one.  The craziest thing I found though was a Traditions 1851 black powder revolver you know the one you can find at Cabela's for around $180. Well this one booth had it sitting there with a sign that said "sale $320."  I damn  near shit myself when I saw that price.  Seriously these vendors were just either crazy or leaving hundreds of dollars to dicker with on the initial price they were selling it for.  Either way it was crazy in my mind.  Being there on the last day I expected to see deals and lots of empty tables I saw neither.  I know in a gun show you usually negotiate the price, but seriously seeing prices like that made me not even wanna talk to the vendors.  So in the end I found no gun deals and that the prices for used guns are quite high.  I still don't like how expensive firearms have gotten, but I don't think there is much I can do about it.

My trip did not go in vain though I was able to purchase one thing.  It was a cheap knife.  I was looking for a cheap beat around knife at the gun show, and I noticed my options were quite limited.  Some guy had Helle knives for a really good price that made me drool, but they were still out of what I limited myself I would spend.  I had my purchase narrowed down to two knives both of which I was going to try to talk down the price to get, because thanks to my trusty smart phone I knew what they were really worth.  The first guy I dickered with gave me a price so good I ended up purchasing that knife and not even trying with the other one. The knife I got was a Timber Wolf model 103 skinning knife that came in a leather sheath.  The guy had it on the table for $15, I offered him $6 and he took it.  I was amazed by that especially knowing the knife was around $12 to purchase online.  I really got a deal and am quite proud of it.  Once I got back from the gun show I took the knife out played with it a little then made the review you see below.  I hope you enjoy it.

What I did over the weekend (Jared)

Well on Saturday over the weekend I decided to take the little lady out predator hunting.  I have a cheap predator call and the free Android app.  The hunt went as about as well as I expected.  We didn't see nor hear anything except shooting way off in the distance.  The main reason for me going out though was an attempting to find some public lands I could trap on that would seem fruitfull.  I did find what looked like two different fox tracks on the land we hunted, but not many other signs.  Now I have to somehow get some more cash and go out trapping.  By the way the lady thinks I need to get a ground blind and a heater or she's never going out hunting with me again.  Go figure haha.  Anyway here are some pics of us hunting.

Some new toys I got (Jared)

So I am attempting to give trapping a try to see if I like it.  Due to this I have purchased myself two new toys.  They are a Duke #1 Foot Hold Trap and a #110 Conibear trap.  Combined they cost me under 10 bucks.  I'm not sure if I am going to spray them or dip them to get them ready.  AS of right now I am tempted to set them up in random places around the apartment and see who gets caught.

I learned that in North Dakota you do not need trappers safety before you can trap unlike Wisconsin.  Also in the city of Grand Forks you can trap inside city limits if you use a trap that is not designed to mame or kill.  This means a live trap and possibly that foot hold trap I have but it may not be what they meant in that law.  Either way here are some pictures of my new toys and hopefully I'll be able to update you some more about them.

Jared doing some upland hunting in North Dakota

Well I (Jared) decided to do a little evening upland game hunting in North Dakota since I don't have any homework tonight. I probably won't get anything but sure beats sitting around.