You hear about women who buy a different pair of shoes every time they get a different outfit. I’ve got buddies whose wives’ closets are full of shoes. Us guys may all roll our eye in disbelief and count our blessings that our wives aren’t like that — but are we outdoorsmen really any different?

I know that this article is going to start a range war and all of the men in the reading public will call me a traitor and tar and feather me. But think about all of the boots that we really believe we can’t live without.

I need Chaco sandals for when I’m unloading the boat and in the boat fishing. I also use them when backpacking and fly fishing so I can wade out into a river, fish and then jump out and hike down the trail and be dried off before I get to the next hole. Then for fishing we actually need some slip-resistant deck shoes don’t we?

And if we’re wearing waders then we need wading boots, right? And felt bottom soles are outlawed in Alaska because you can transport invasive species of bugs or something? So you may have wading boots that have multiple bottoms that you can detach.

Then my buddy up in Alaska wears calf-high rubber boots because of all of the rain/bogs that they hunt in up there. She came to Idaho elk hunting and had a heck of a time scrambling around the mountains in her rubber boots. (But she did get a huge bull).

Then what about cowboy boots? You need cowboy boots to ride horses. Yes, I pack back into the mountains wearing hiking boots, but deep down I’m always worried that if I get thrown that I may hang a boot in the stirrup and get dragged due to the heavy lugs on the sole. Oh yeah, at last count I have seven to nine pairs of cowboy boots.

What if you’re hunting in a snake-infested area? Then we know that we need to wear snake boots. I know the yuppie trend is to sing praises about not killing venomous snakes, but I hate snakes. When I was a kid, a copperhead bit my dog. Since then, I’ve had no use for poisonous snakes. So if you’re hunting in snake country, you can justify wearing snake boots.

And then what about hiking? You have to have a pair of lightweight, canvas-sided hiking boots, don’t you? But what about hunting in colder weather? You’ll need some leather hiking boots. Leather ones are warmer/more waterproof in light snows and rains and cooler weather.

BUT what about hunting in deep snow in subzero weather? You’ve got to have heavy-duty leather high-top boots. Otherwise in deep snow it will come over the tops while hiking and pack into your boots.

Curse of all curses. So then we also have to have gaiters to strap on.

Oh, but what about ice fishing? Not only is it ungoshly cold, we’re also standing on a block of ice. So some Sorel Pac boots are nice aren’t they? Nothing is more miserable than having ice cold feet.

Since we’re on a roll, I might as well slam a few more nails in the coffin! A lot of us work for companies or in environments that require steel toe boots. And it is best not to wear the same pair of boots 12 hours a day, six days a week. My dad always said it is best to have two pairs and alternate every day wearing them and they’ll last a lot longer.

I can only pray that my wife doesn’t read this article and finally put two and two together and figure out how many pairs of boots that I actually own. What are you laughing at? You’d better get to praying, too! get prepared for the upcoming firestorm!

Sidenote: If you’re smart enough to hide this column so your wife doesn’t see it, then here are a few words of advice. For your deer/elk hunts this fall, buy a good pair of hiking boots. I’ve had good luck with Irish Setter VaprTrek boots. They’re lightweight. For heavy-duty snow, I like the leather Irish Setter Elk Hunting boots.

One thing that I now swear by — a good pair of hiking socks. I don’t want to exaggerate and say that it will be like walking on carpet, but it almost is. When you go to buy boots, wear the thicker hiking socks; otherwise if you buy boots while wearing a thin pair of socks then they will be too small and cramp your toes while out hiking hard. I’d rather have my boots a hair big rather than small.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

As hunting season is getting into full swing, I hope that you’re prepared. You’re practiced up with your bow, your rifle is sighted in, and if you’re out of shape then you’ve been working out. But one minor detail that most people overlook, which in a very short amount of time will become a big deal, is if your knife is sharp or not. In all actuality, it’s not that most hunters overlook this task; they just flat out don’t know how to sharpen a knife.

I always say that 100 percent of the outdoorsmen use a knife and yet I bet less than 5 percent can sharpen one. That’s why I’ve conducted knife-sharpening seminars from Texas on up to Alaska, at the SHOT in Vegas, SCI Convention in Reno, DSC Convention & Expo in Dallas and everywhere else in between.

While it does take some skill to sharpen a knife, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. It’s somewhat scientific and somewhat touchy feely (artistic). Here’s what I mean by that. You engineers want step 1, 2 and 3. You’re the kind that designed the pre-set systems. And they work but I say learn to do it the old way by hand and then you’ll have a sense of pride at learning your new skill. You’ll even be able to impress your guides.

To master this skill, you do have to learn the basics and adhere to them to be successful, but your artistic flavor is also necessary because it does vary somewhat knife to knife.

In the old days, the metal in knives was softer so our dads/grandads only used a smooth Arkansas whetstone. Now, the knives are so hard that you’d work forever with one so I recommend using a diamond stone which is a metal plate with impregnated diamond chips. There are cheaper ones on the market but Smith’s Consumer Products makes the best. Their surface has a consistent texture.

Smith’s color codes their stones according to the coarseness of the surface. Yellow (325 grit) is coarse and orange is fine (750 grit). I advise using the orange. I only use the coarse stone in my knife-sharpening seminars when someone comes in with a really dull, chipped or mushroomed edge knife. Don’t let your knife get that bad. Keep it touched up.

If your edge gets too chipped up you may have to regrind the edge or, you can just keep using it and over time you will grind past the chip. But while cutting you will snag on the chip. It’s not that your knife is dull, what you’re cutting is just snagging and stopping. Make sense?

What is the best angle? Just use whatever angle came from the factory. Used to be, edges were around 30 degrees. Then you started seeing 25-, 22-, 20-, then 18-, some 16- and now even 14-degree angles. In the old days, they couldn’t be that steep. The metal was too soft so the edge would have rolled or chipped.

So if you see a knife with a steep angle then you know that the metal is hard. No biggie, use a diamond stone otherwise it’d take all day to sharpen in on an Arkansas stone.

It doesn’t matter if you cut into the stone or push away. The big deal is to do the same number of strokes on each side and keep the same angle all the way down the blade. When it starts getting sharp the strokes will feel smoother. Like the edge is sliding on glass. That tells you it’s sharp.

Before you start, look at the edge. If the light reflects off the edge, that’s a flat (or dull) spot. Really bad edges may be mushroomed or rolled. If so, don’t cut into the stone, push away. Also, if it’s really bad, I lay the knife down flatter the first three or four revolutions and then go back to the correct angle after the metal is lined back up.

Finish up on an Arkansas stone. I had a buddy in college that then progressed to a leather strop and resin and he could get a wicked edge.

The ultimate set-up is the Smith’s 8-inch Tri-hone stone. It’s elevated and has a coarse diamond stone, a fine diamond stone and an Arkansas stone. Everyone has a budget so if you can only afford one stone, I’d recommend the Smith’s 6-inch fine diamond. It’s elevated about 1 inch which aids in being able to comfortably access the stone.

There are a lot of ways to sharpen a knife but I think the way I teach is the easiest method. My brother uses a little 4-inch flat piece of diamond impregnated metal and he can get a knife just as sharp as I can. So if what you’re doing is working, don’t change.

As we come to a close don’t give up if it takes you a minute to master this skill. While it is a simple concept it will take a month or so to get the hang of.

To help speed up your learning process here are a couple of helps. I have a short e-article on Amazon Kindle and a YouTube on Ron Spomer Outdoors.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I titled this article Sighting In Your Rifle For Big Game Hunting but the same concept applies if you’re hunting with a bow or even a spear! Whatever method you choose, you need to sight in your choice of weapon PLUS become proficient. If not, at best you will miss and at worst you will wound an animal.

Nothing kicks you in the stomach like wounding an animal and not finding it. That makes you feel like wrapping your gun/bow around a tree and quitting hunting.

Once I took a buddy black powder hunting to my honey hole. He missed 10 or 11 shots. I finally figured out that he hadn’t even sighted in his rifle. It is crazy to spend all of the money, take vacation, and work so hard to get into the position to take a shot and not be prepared for it. It surprises me how many people don’t really sight in their rifle so let’s cover that today.

* To begin, you need to have a good rest so you can obtain a good group.Leaning over the hood of the pickup won’t cut it. You may be thinking well, I don’t have a bench while hunting. Duh, no kidding. What we’re talking about right now, though, is getting your rifle sighted in, not how to shoot free handed.

Take a card table, chair and some Caldwell sand bags to shoot off of and go out to the desert and find a good backstop. It’s best to not have any wind but that day will never happen so try to go when there are minimal winds. If you have a rifle that kicks like a mule use a Caldwell Lead Sled or a Caldwell Hydro Sled. That way you won’t flinch. Also wear double ear protection to prevent flinching.

Shoot three shots to determine your group and then adjust the scope/sights. If you’re not getting a good group then you need to determine the cause. This can be caused by multiple things so you have to systematically eliminate each cause.

1. Scope is loose.

2. Scope mounts are loose.

3. Rifle is no good.

4. After multiple shots a thin barrel will heat up and you’ll lose your accuracy.

5. You could be using the wrong brand/grain of ammo.

6. Rifle barrel is dirty. Non gilded metal bullets shoot best out of a clean barrel. Your groups will widen as the barrel gets dirty. Clean the barrel and watch your groups tighten up.

7. You’re a horrible shot (OK, had to throw this one in for humor).

8. May be other causes but this list is pretty inclusive.

Let’s say you’re getting a good group but it is off to one side. Make adjustments and shoot again. Or, to save ammo have someone hold the rifle steady on the rest. Have them hold the crosshairs on the bullseye and you click the adjustments until they are on the bullet hole. It should now be on target.

Ammo can vary greatly between manufacturers. Brand X may be 2 inches low and Brand Y is 2 inches to the left.

You have to sight in your rifle for whatever brand of ammo that you’re going to be shooting. Also, for whatever reason, some rifles like certain ammo. I’ve had good luck with Hornaday and Nosler. For pellets JSB is the best with Sig Sauer & Benjamin right behind them.

Also, you need to figure out which grain bullet shoots best in your rifle. For instance, everyone will tell you that 165 grain is the best size for a 30-06. Sure, 180 or 220 grain is better for moose as far as killing properties but they won’t be as accurate. But is it still accurate enough to shoot in your rifle? Maybe for up to 150 yard shots? Experiment. In your .223/5.56 according to the twist of the rifling certain grain bullets will shoot better.

Don’t be bashful. Call the gun manufacturer and ask them which brand of ammo and what grain is the most accurate in your rifle. This may save buying a lot of different brands of ammo. It constantly amazes me as to how ammo varies. I remember one time I was testing out different ammo performance in a Mossberg Patriot 30-06. I had 15 or so different boxes of ammo to test. It varied widely but a couple were definitely the most accurate.

Next, set up targets at 50, 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards. How long are you comfortable shooting? The rage now is long range shooting but in all actuality, 400 yards is a long shot.

Figure out what you are comfortable at and limit yourself to no further shots. Practice so you know how much to hold over and either carry a range finder of learn to judge distances.

My buddy Ron Spomer teaches a system he calls … I can’t remember the exact terminology but it is something like “Point Blank Shooting.” He teaches to sight in your rifle at 200 yards then if you aim at center mass — anywhere from 50-400 yards — you will have a dead animal.

You have to come to the realization that just because you can see them doesn’t mean you can shoot. Especially when hunting down in the Owyhees. I’ve seen a lot of elk wayyyyyyyyyy out there. There was no cover to sneak closer so I was sunk. That’s life.

Well, there’s a lot more that we could cover but that’s some of the basics to get you started. Good luck.

• A good rest is a good stable table to shoot off of and sand bags (when sighting in your rifle at the range). If you’re up hunting a good rest can mean you had a strong limb to lay your rifle on or a rock and you laid your backpack on top of the rock and were able to get steady so you could make a good shot.
• The group means the bullets all are close together. So let’s say you take 3 shots. You don’t want one on the bullseye, the 2nd shot 6 inches high and the 3rd shot 10 inches to the right. Then you’d worry where the bullet was going to actually hit. You want them all w/in 1 inch of each other (or better yet, all bullets touching). Even if the group is 4 inches low, no big deal if it is tight. Just turn your scope 16 clicks and it should now be on the bullseye.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

Katy and I just put a Honda BF2.3 motor on our jon boat, ditched the trolling motor and are zipping around the lake slaughtering the crappie. I may have crappie addiction issues. This year, the fishing is unbelievable although it was a lot slower this past Saturday. We only caught 50 in three and a half hours. I flew home Friday night, had plane troubles and was late getting in. As we were going to bed, Katy said she wanted to go crappie fishing the next day. I’m a lucky guy.

I need to be up bow hunting this week but things are a little scattered this year. Or maybe I have to broaden out that statement and say this lifetime. Then suddenly I remembered! A few more days and it’s dove season. Yikes! School is starting and we don’t want any school kids getting attacked by dive bombing doves, do we? So, we must get out and do our civic duty and protect the kids.

Dove hunting is a blast. It’s a great hunt for many reasons. It is low-key, you can talk, it’s not too intense, you don’t have to get camo’d to the max like when whitetail hunting and the weather is mild.

It’s also a great hunt to start kids on.

When dad started me dove hunting, I couldn’t even reach the trigger of the double barrel shotgun. I couldn’t have been 6 years old. I had to tuck the butt under my arm and shoot like Granny on the “Beverly Hillbillies.” Opening day at lunch mom would come pick us up at school and take us to meet dad to hunt.

Since those days I’ve dove hunted in Idaho, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. Hunting is somewhat similar no matter what state you hunt. Doves are agricultural birds. What I mean by that is they prosper around farms. Hunting over milo fields is awesome or near water ponds in the evening/morning. Years ago in Nebraska, we hunted the marijuana patches that grew wild.

In Idaho I’ve had good luck around old farm yards, corrals, feedlots and water sources. They like to set in dead trees. Dove season opened Sept. 1, as far as I know, pretty much nationwide. But don’t forget another side hunt-Eurasian doves. The Eurasian dove is about one-third larger and since it is an invasive species you can hunt it year-round and there’s no limit. The daily limit on mourning doves is 15 with a possession limit of 45.

As you can see, dove hunting is a great hunt since we can hunt mourning doves and Eurasian doves at the same time. You can really rack up and get a mess of doves. Like in all hunting, if you scout, you’ll be more successful. Drive around and see if you see any flying and ask permission to hunt. Scout out grain fields, old barn yards and water sources.

They don’t really start flying good until late afternoon so you can sneak out after work and still have a great hunt. Last September, when I was working over at Burley, I had a great field that they were feeding in. And right across the dirt road was some big barns that held hundreds of Eurasian doves. I had a lot of shooting there. But right out of Nampa a buddy’s grandparents had an old farmstead that was unbelievable. I don’t remember how many we shot in less than three hours but it was close to 100. What a hunt.

So how do you hunt them? In the middle of the afternoon if they’re out in the fields feeding it can be tough to sneak up on them. You and your buddy may have to take turns jumping them so they fly around and the other one can get some shots.

Get concealed along tree rows. They like to follow them. As alluded to above and especially on dry years early/late it can be good at ponds and slow-moving rivers/creeks. Wear a camo shirt and cap and get semi-concealed for maximum shooting.

I use 7 ½ shot and either a 12-gauge or a .20. I like modified chokes because most shots will be close. A semi-auto is fun but you’re limited to three shots. I usually use low base shells but high base shells are more effective.

Cotton Ward, the old outdoor writer for the Idaho Press back when I first started writing for the IP 19 years ago, ago gave the most accurate description of the flight of a dove that I’ve ever heard. He said “when they come dipsy doodling in, they can be deceptive and hard to hit.” Even though they are smooth, beautiful fliers don’t let them deceive you, they are hauling. If you’re missing, try leading them more. And for sure follow through when shooting.

In the old days, everyone cleaned them whole. Mr. Teague used scissors to clip off the wings, the feet, the rear end and then cut up each side of the back bone and remove it and the guts. Now everyone just breasts them. They make great poppers. Have fun.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I decided years ago that the people who get a bull or buck every year scout. And I don’t mean a little. They scout a lot. And therein lies the problem for most of us. The ones who don’t scout enough usually fall into two categories.

NO. 1: LOVE TO DO IT ALL

I’m definitely in this category. I’m not an expert at anything because I like to do it all. I have a buddy and all that he does is fly fish. I love fly fishing but I’ll never be as good as him because that is all he does., year-round. Read my articles. You see what I do. Spring it is mushroom, bear, whistle pig and turkey hunting, bowfishing and crappie fishing.

Then it’s strictly crappie fishing and then backpacking/fly fishing and picking huckleberries.

Then bow hunting and on and on it goes. So if you’re like me, it’s hard to dedicate three to four weekends to strictly scouting. I know that I should. But we live in Idaho. There is too much to do. I still want to do four to six more crappie trips, one to two more backpacking… You get my drift. Because of all of the opportunities there are just too many voices screaming for our time. So this is one big reason we don’t scout as much as we should.

NO. 2: FAMILY AND WORK

There are some people that are rich and have unlimited time off, but as a whole most of us have precious little free time. For the last 43 years, I’ve worked 10 to 12 hours a day. Most of you readers have one to four weeks of vacation. If you have a growing family, you’re lucky if you get to take one week of vacation to hunt.

You sure can’t justify taking one to two more weeks to go scouting.

You have to (and want to) take vacation with your family. So unfortunately, for many of us the first one to three days of our hunt (if you’re lucky enough to hunt for one week solid) is spent scouting more than hunting. The first elk that I ever got we moved camp twice before we got into them.

And the above scenario is why a lot of people hire guides. And guides are a great option if you can afford them. But that’s not an option for many of us.

So with all of the above said, there are a lot of underlying reasons as to why we don’t scout as much as we should. I know. I get it. I live in the same world that you do. All that I’m saying, is that the more you scout, the more successful you will be. If you can only scout for a Saturday, then so be it. If you’re lucky and can scout for four weekends prior to your hunt, that’s better. But whatever boat you’re in, let’s get into scouting.

First off, you don’t want to start scouting in April, the elk and deer are in their wintering grounds. They may migrate out 5 to 15 miles by October. You probably ought to wait to do your scouting until July and hitting it hard in August is actually the best.

If you draw a special tag, spend time scouting. Especially if It’s a once-in-a-lifetime draw. I’ve only been successful in drawing three tags. A bull moose, cow moose and an antelope tag. A moose is a once-in-a-lifetime deal so you want to give it full attention. The good deal on my moose tag was, I had something like two to three months to hunt. So I could hunt while scouting. But most hunts may only be a week so you need to scout beforehand.

So how do you scout? Let’s go over my antelope scouting deal. Ugh, it started off rough. Katy and I were going to go scouting but the four-wheeler wouldn’t start so I threw a chain on it and had her pull me to jump start it. Unfortunately, it locked up, threw me over the front sliding on the asphalt and then flipped over on top of me. Luckily, she was looking in the mirror and stopped right fast or she’d have drug it over the top of me. Trip to the emergency room, broke rib, jerked the skin loose from the knee to the hip, thought I’d broke both legs, etc.

But despite the minor delay, we got out 24 hours later. Just like when hunting, you need to scout at daylight/dark. Find out where the herds are. Find a shootable buck. On most draw hunts you’ll be hunting a trophy animal so it is worth the time to scout.

You’ll want good optics. I used Riton Optics and have had good luck with their 10X42 binoculars. You’ll also want a good spotting scope. Your goal when scouting isn’t necessarily getting up right on top of them, you just want to know where they are and if there’s a good one in the herd and pattern them.

It took me a couple of trips but I found a nice buck. Now I knew where to go. BUT — you need to have two to three spots checked out. What if you get there opening morning and someone else is there? Or what if wolves have moved in and run everything out of the country? You’ll have to jump.

Also, pre-locate a spot to camp. You don’t want to camp in the meadow where the elk are at. A lot of hunters throw up their tent the weekend before. It stakes out their spot plus, they can drive up and not have to take a day to set-up camp.

Well, hopefully some of these tips help. Good luck!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I decided years ago that the people who get a bull or buck every year scout. And I don’t mean a little. They scout a lot. And therein lies the problem for most of us. The ones who don’t scout enough usually fall into two categories.

NO. 1: LOVE TO DO IT ALL

I’m definitely in this category. I’m not an expert at anything because I like to do it all. I have a buddy and all that he does is fly fish. I love fly fishing but I’ll never be as good as him because that is all he does., year-round. Read my articles. You see what I do. Spring it is mushroom, bear, whistle pig and turkey hunting, bowfishing and crappie fishing.

Then it’s strictly crappie fishing and then backpacking/fly fishing and picking huckleberries.

Then bow hunting and on and on it goes. So if you’re like me, it’s hard to dedicate three to four weekends to strictly scouting. I know that I should. But we live in Idaho. There is too much to do. I still want to do four to six more crappie trips, one to two more backpacking… You get my drift. Because of all of the opportunities there are just too many voices screaming for our time. So this is one big reason we don’t scout as much as we should.

NO. 2: FAMILY AND WORK

There are some people that are rich and have unlimited time off, but as a whole most of us have precious little free time. For the last 43 years, I’ve worked 10 to 12 hours a day. Most of you readers have one to four weeks of vacation. If you have a growing family, you’re lucky if you get to take one week of vacation to hunt.

You sure can’t justify taking one to two more weeks to go scouting.

You have to (and want to) take vacation with your family. So unfortunately, for many of us the first one to three days of our hunt (if you’re lucky enough to hunt for one week solid) is spent scouting more than hunting. The first elk that I ever got we moved camp twice before we got into them.

And the above scenario is why a lot of people hire guides. And guides are a great option if you can afford them. But that’s not an option for many of us.

So with all of the above said, there are a lot of underlying reasons as to why we don’t scout as much as we should. I know. I get it. I live in the same world that you do. All that I’m saying, is that the more you scout, the more successful you will be. If you can only scout for a Saturday, then so be it. If you’re lucky and can scout for four weekends prior to your hunt, that’s better. But whatever boat you’re in, let’s get into scouting.

First off, you don’t want to start scouting in April, the elk and deer are in their wintering grounds. They may migrate out 5 to 15 miles by October. You probably ought to wait to do your scouting until July and hitting it hard in August is actually the best.

If you draw a special tag, spend time scouting. Especially if It’s a once-in-a-lifetime draw. I’ve only been successful in drawing three tags. A bull moose, cow moose and an antelope tag. A moose is a once-in-a-lifetime deal so you want to give it full attention. The good deal on my moose tag was, I had something like two to three months to hunt. So I could hunt while scouting. But most hunts may only be a week so you need to scout beforehand.

So how do you scout? Let’s go over my antelope scouting deal. Ugh, it started off rough. Katy and I were going to go scouting but the four-wheeler wouldn’t start so I threw a chain on it and had her pull me to jump start it. Unfortunately, it locked up, threw me over the front sliding on the asphalt and then flipped over on top of me. Luckily, she was looking in the mirror and stopped right fast or she’d have drug it over the top of me. Trip to the emergency room, broke rib, jerked the skin loose from the knee to the hip, thought I’d broke both legs, etc.

But despite the minor delay, we got out 24 hours later. Just like when hunting, you need to scout at daylight/dark. Find out where the herds are. Find a shootable buck. On most draw hunts you’ll be hunting a trophy animal so it is worth the time to scout.

You’ll want good optics. I used Riton Optics and have had good luck with their 10X42 binoculars. You’ll also want a good spotting scope. Your goal when scouting isn’t necessarily getting up right on top of them, you just want to know where they are and if there’s a good one in the herd and pattern them.

It took me a couple of trips but I found a nice buck. Now I knew where to go. BUT — you need to have two to three spots checked out. What if you get there opening morning and someone else is there? Or what if wolves have moved in and run everything out of the country? You’ll have to jump.

Also, pre-locate a spot to camp. You don’t want to camp in the meadow where the elk are at. A lot of hunters throw up their tent the weekend before. It stakes out their spot plus, they can drive up and not have to take a day to set-up camp.

Well, hopefully some of these tips help. Good luck!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

Used to be, I’d catch crappie until the end of May. The last four or five years, I’m still catching them up until I start bow hunting, which is nearly September. I don’t know what has changed. But who cares? The bite is real!

Of course, the technique to catch them changes as the year goes by. On a recent Monday, Katy and I caught 114 and on Thursday we caught 141 in four hours. And she was reading a book for one to two hours both times. This year, it seems like the red/white tube jigs are the hot ticket with a small jig head but Thursday I switched to a Lake Fork Trophy Lures Baby Shad in their pearl color and it held its own.

Of course, they aren’t up right by the bank like in the spring when they’re spawning. We’re catching most of them out 50 yards from the bank and farther. To catch them is a little unique. We’ll cast out and let it sink to the bottom. If you’re fishing with two rods, cast out both.

Then pick up the first one and slowly pick up the tip of the rod and slightly reel. They start hitting right away. If not, repeat. Near dusk it is a hit every cast, literally. Reel it in, unhook your fish and by now another fish will be hitting the second rod. Don’t grab the second rod though. Cast out the first one right fast so it can be fishing and then reel in the second fish. Unhook him right fast and then cast it back in and grab the first rod. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until you’re tired. Fishing is unbelievable right now. More than likely you’ll only be able to handle one rod.

I don’t have a depth finder on the Black Pearl (which the haters call the Edmund Fitz Terror due to a few mishaps) so I can’t tell you what depth to fish in but I’d say out to 30 feet. We catch most of them deep but as soon as I say that we get a lot of fish not over four feet deep. You might say, Tom, they’ve followed your jig up from the bottom but quite a few times we’ve had a jig laying over the side of the boat and caught a fish not three feet deep.

But big news, even though we’ve owned the Black Pearl for 34 years and she is very well weather worn, we did upgrade her last week. We put on a Honda BF2.3 gas motor. Ahh … It is like a slice of heaven. No longer do we have to monitor the battery power level nor are we limited to staying within a couple of miles of where we launched. Nor do we periodically have to paddle back due to a dead battery. A couple of times in bad winds I’ve made it back within 50 yards of the dock only for the battery to die (curse of all curses) and get blown off into eternity.

The Honda BF2.3 motor pushes the BP about three times as fast as the electric trolling motor, too. As soon as I get a free moment, I think I’ll go down to the courthouse and legally change her name to SUCK MY WAKE! That definitely sounds more prestigious than all the other names that my disillusioned buddies have called her. Such as The Edmund Fitz Terror, The Coffin or Carp 1.

Now that I have a real motor and can fish more and will be paddling and cussing less, what am I going to do with all of the fish that allows me more time to catch?

Yes, I am definitely on top of the world now that I have a gas motor. I’m thinking that I’ve reached the pinnacle of crappie fishing. 

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I know that I’m totally blessed and get to do a lot of cool stuff, but my most favorite trip every year is backpacking with my daughter, Kolby. It’s the best daddy-daughter time in the world. No TV, no cellphones, no internet, no nada. Just me and her. We get to talk about everything under the sun with no interruptions. When I take time to hear her insights, it amazes me as to how smart and perceptive she is. I’d never have a chance to see this side of her if we didn’t withdraw from the busyness of the world.

I live a busy life. Right now, I’m 30,000 feet above the earth headed home. I’ve been out of state for two weeks and have two to three in-state trips this week while home and then I fly out again for two more weeks.

While going through TSA, I got a call from an editor wanting me to fly down to Texas in a few weeks for a dove hunt. And working on a deal with Knives of Alaska to develop a professional boning knife for the outdoorsman. It will soon be hitting the market. I’ve got to run down for a few days to bone out a steer, deer and a hog and do some filming on processing and do a couple of TV shows.

There is always something going on or being planned. So to get away, just me and my daughter by ourselves in the wilderness backpacking and fly fishing is precious. If you don’t do this with your kids, you really should. It’s the highlight of my year.

After your initial set-up cost, it is a cheap outing. We covered backpacking gear a couple of weeks ago, but I’d advise buying good gear. It will last for years to come and not toot out on you while in the backcountry. We tested out an Alps Mountaineering Chaos 2 and an Alps Meramac 2 tent, their Crescent 20 sleeping bags and their Nimble Air Mats. All worked great.

I had a flurry of articles I had to submit so we got off a little later than I wanted. I wanted to get to our camping spot, set up and fish for an hour or two before dark. As is, we got there in time to get set up before dark. We threw up the tents and while Kolby was pumping up the mats, I gathered enough firewood for the duration. I love the Nimble Air Mats. They’re unique in that the storage bag acts as a pump of sorts. It connects to the valve on the mat. Fill the bag with air and then roll it up to force air into the mat. A lot of mats are only 1-inch thick, the Nimble is nearly 4 inches thick so you only need one mat. This will save me from packing two.

We built a fire, ate some snacks and then stumbled to bed. The next morning, I got up early and hit my favorite hole. I caught one nice cutthroat, about 17-18 inches and then went back to camp to get Koko. We built a fire, drank some coffee and ate a quick breakfast.

We then hit the river and fly fished all day. I started out using Skull Head black wooly buggers from flydealflies.com. I could not beg a bite. I put on one of their Olive Caddis flies on Koko’s line and right fast she hung a nice native cutthroat. Wow, what a nice fish.

We didn’t catch a ton of fish but got a couple of nice ones and had a great time and as you remember from last week’s article, we got sidetracked picking huckleberries, which isn’t a bad thing at all. That in and of itself would have made it a great trip. I screwed up big time and forgot to pack flavored oatmeal. We love that for breakfast with huckleberries mixed in.

Wow, too many options in the backcountry. Do we pick huckleberries? Thimble berries? Fly fish? Why just do one? So we did all three. Late that afternoon we headed back to camp and built a big roaring fire and dined on Mountain House meals. I love their beef stroganoff dinners and if I don’t pack a MH raspberry crumble dessert … let’s just say that Kolby might go full auto.

As the sun set it started sprinkling lightly. We normally stay up until dark to watch the bats erratically swooping around chasing mosquitoes but due to the sprinkle and being dead tired from hiking all day we crawled to our tents and crashed. The sprinkle turned into a light rain. Nothing is as peaceful as being in a tent warm and toasty while it’s raining outside. Poor animals, they need to buy an Alps tent and sleeping bag.

The next morning the wood was damp. I had some fire-starting material I was testing but it didn’t work so I used some paper towels and soon had a fire going. I dipped a pot of water out of the river and made coffee.

We then hit the river until … we walked by a good huckleberry patch. Kolby put on the brakes and we picked a few more bottles of berries (we pulled the filters out of our Aquimira water bottles and filled them up). I finally got her back to fishing.

Soon the time had come to leave. We reluctantly packed up camp and hit the trail back to the truck.

What a great time.

Kolby and I got home, unloaded and were in bed by 1 a.m. The next day, Katy wanted to go hit the crappie so I unpacked, repacked and we took out and didn’t get home and in bed until 1 a.m. again!

Wow, two girls that are fishing me to death. Now that’s a good problem to have!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I interrupt this “Backpacking Series” to bring you a time-sensitive article. My daughter and I had an awesome backpacking trip last week and I planned on writing about that trip this week but first we have to talk about picking huckleberries since the season is semi short.

As stated above, we were up backpacking and while hiking down a trail after fishing, we hit one of our old huckleberry patches. Wow! They are thick this year. We picked quite a few but of course since we were backpacking we didn’t have a container. Kolby decided the best that we could do was to store them in our Aquamira filtered water bottles. So we pulled out the filters and used them.

If you wonder why I am so excited about them, my answer? You would only ask that question if you ever hadn’t eaten any. They’re a great tasting berry. They’re unique. A little tart and yet sweet — and a great tasting berry. They grow on a small shrub, barely up to your knees. I pick a lot of mine on steep hillsides. They are a deep blueish/purplish color berry that is about half the size of a green pea.

Normally, I always pack flavored oatmeal for us to eat for breakfast. A big treat every year is to pick huckleberries and mix them in every morning for breakfast. That is a real treat. This year I totally screwed up and forgot to buy oatmeal. Screw up of all screw ups.

I also like to mix some huckleberries into my water bottle. It elevates water from plain ol’ water to a fruit-flavored water drink. Pretty ingenious, huh? The first real natural fruit-flavored drink.

For lunch we always eat PBJ sandwiches but this year we didn’t have any jelly. PB sandwiches by themselves are not exactly a gourmet meal. In fact, it’s kind of a prison diet. So as they say, necessity is the mother of all inventions so we came up with a PBHB (Peanut Butter Huckleberry) sandwich. A little unique … and maybe not necessarily a good unique!

Normally when backpacking I’m mentally keeping note of all of the items that I’m not going to have to pack out. My Mountain House backpacking meals, four at 5 ounces each = 20 ounces; peanut butter, 12 ounces; bread 4 ounces; candy, a couple of pounds — and so the mental list goes. But this time we took out a few pounds of huckleberries and gladly did so. They are one of God’s natural delights second only to the morel mushroom.

And I failed to mention — the best way to eat them is by themselves. You’ve got to have discipline for them to ever make it into your container without eating them all while picking. They are small and you pick them one at a time so it takes a while to gather very many.

Upon making it home we put them in the fridge and stumbled off to bed at 1 a.m. The next day we had a fish fry. I made crappie into fish tacos and grilled a batch of sweet corn on the cob on my Camp Chef pellet smoker.

But then it was time for dessert. Huckleberry homemade ice cream! This is the ultimate way to eat your huckleberries. They freeze solid in the ice cream and I can’t tell you how good they are. This is my most favorite homemade ice cream.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and call in sick tomorrow. The huckleberries are ripe.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

When I first started teaching Backpacking 101 seminars, I expected to talk the first 45 minutes and then field questions the last 15 just like I did in all of my other seminars. But I soon found out that the attendees want to hear the instruction the first 10 to 15 minutes and then go over what gear they’ll need. Later on I’m going to run one or two backpacking articles but, today, I’ll list out what I consider some items that you’ll want to pack. When possible, I’ll list which manufacturer(s) has tested out well for me.

I’m going to list out items with a short description. This way we can save space plus I can cram in more items.

• Pack — I’m old school. I still use an old external frame Kelty. But the younger crowd likes an internal frame. And they do conform to your body better and not sway like an external frame pack.
• Tent — I used an Alps Mountaineering Chaos 2 tent this week and my daughter used the Meramac 2 tent. They’re nice. They have two doors AND, two vestibules in which you can leave wet gear.
• Sleeping bag — According to how cold you get. This week we had the Alps Crescent Lake 20 mummy bags. If that is too warm for where you’re camping, get their Blue Springs 35.
• Sleeping pads — You’ll want a pad. We live in the Rocky Mountains! The Alps Nimble pad is about 4 inches tall. You’ll only need one pad.
• Chair — Nice so you don’t have to set in the dirt while eating or setting around the fire. Ten times more relaxing. I found one in the middle of the road called an Alite Mayfly.
• XGO base wear — Light weight and good for cool mornings and to sleep in.
• Boots — I like the Irish Setter VaprTrek 5-inch hiking boots. You’ll want a lightweight durable boot.
• Sandals — I take a pair of Chaco sandals to give my feet a break and to wade in rivers.
• Socks — Wear good hiking socks and you’ll never regret it.
• Rain gear — We got rained on two days this week on our backpacking trip. Take something like the Frogg Togg lightweight, easily packable top.
• Straps — To secure gear to your backpack.
• Cooking utensils — Small aluminum coffee pot, Army/Boy Scout mess kit, plastic eating utensils sold at sporting stores. I like to take a plastic coffee cup.
• Paper towels — I always take half a roll. Works for TP, kindling to start a fire and to wash utensils.
• Fire gear — Take a few cheap Bic lighters, waterproof matches and some Trioxane fire bars.
• String — Always handy.
• Mouse trap — The little vermin try to confiscate your food.
• Food — I eat flavored oatmeal in the morning (add fresh huckleberries), PBJ sandwiches for lunch and splurge and eat Mountain House MREs for supper. For coffee, I use motel packs.
• Flashlight — I take a good one and a cheap one to read in the tent/change clothes etc. Plus, one may break.
• Water — I use Aquimira filtered water bottles. That way you don’t have to lug around water.
• Mesh bag — Use to hang your food in a tree.
• Camera — You’ll be in cool country and want pics.
• Adventure medical kits — Moleskin and the small roll of duct tape to patch tents, tent poles etc. Also take some Bactroban for cuts and adhesive wrap and Band-Aids. Uncle Ben’s tick repellent.
• Knife — You’ll use a knife constantly. I like the Spyderco locking blade folders.
• Nylon zip-off leg pants or shorts. They dry easy.
• Blue Lizard sunscreen
• Maps — MyTopoMaps makes the best maps. You can get one specific for your area, as large/small as you desire.
• Compass — Always have two.

As you backpack you’ll add/subtract items from this list, but this should get you started. Have fun.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.