There was definitely a miracle on 34th Street or whatever street the Claycomb house is on the night before Christmas Eve. While digging through the freezer to find something or the other, I found one last package of salmon fillets. It was a fillet of silvers from two years ago while fishing with Alaska Expedition. The Claycomb girls were rejoicing — which brings up the topic of this week’s article: How to smoke salmon.

There are a lot of good ways to cook salmon but the two favorite methods in my house are blackened and smoked.

Blackening is not hard. Skin the salmon. I like to use a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull out all of the bones. Next, melt a little butter in a Lodge cast iron skillet. Drop the fillet in the butter and then flip. Pull it out and sprinkle on heavily some Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish spices. The butter will cause the spices to stick to the fillet.

Add a little butter to the skillet and turn up the heat. The Cajuns say to do this outside because you want the skillet smoking. I don’t cook it quite that hot, but you do want it to semi-burn a crust on the outside pretty fast. If the heat is too low, it will cook the fish throughout and be dry. You want to get a blackened crust on the outside, but the inside of the fillet should be almost rare or at least moist. Salmon is great blackened.

But the way that my girls like it best is smoked. So that’s what we’re going to focus on today. Here’s how I do it. Leave the skin on (I’ll explain why later). Pull the bones with a pair of needle-nose pliers.

Mix 3 to 4 cups of warm water with ¾ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup white sugar, salt, little pepper, ginger and stir. You can marinate your fillet in a cake pan or it works nice to put it in a plastic bag. Squeeze the air out of the bag so the marinade and bag are semi-tight against the fillet.

Marinating fish or jerky in a bag is nice because every hour you can massage it and not even get your hands dirty. On fish, I just flip it, which will help ensure that all surface areas are being marinated.

I like to let my salmon marinate at least four hours. In the old days, I’d smoke it on my smoker or grill on a piece of foil, skin side down. But that holds in the moisture so it tastes broiled instead of smoked. Here’s the best way. Smoke your salmon on a board, skin side down. The skin will stick to the board but no big deal because you aren’t going to eat the skin anyway.

The Native Americans will tell you to use a cedar plank but an oak cutting board or whatever will work fine. I soak my board in water before smoking to prevent it from burning, but most of my smoking boards are all charred on bottom.

For ease and consistency, I use a Camp Chef wood pellet grill. That way I can regulate the heat to a T, and it still has a good smoke flavor. I suppose any flavor of wood is good, but on fish I prefer apple.

Smoking on a wood plank lets the moisture run off so you get a dried fillet instead of a water-logged, broiled-tasting piece of fish.

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.

If you’ve peeked out the window lately, then you are painfully aware that winter has hit. After all the hunting seasons are closed, what’s a guy to do? Sit around and drink lattes and get fat? No! The show season is nearly upon us, so get out and hit some of the outdoor shows.

I like going to outdoor shows for a lot of reasons — besides the obvious reason that it’s usually cold and the weather is miserable by then and I’m bored stiff. Here’s a few other reasons that I enjoy them.

SEMINARS

I love hitting the shows and attending the seminars. At every seminar that I’ve ever been to, I’ve learned something. The bigger the shows, usually the better the speakers. Although I must throw out a disclaimer. Sometimes at smaller shows you’ll have a gung-ho young local guy and he’ll share everything that he knows and not hold back like some of the older dogs.

And of course, I like doing seminars at the shows. January will be a busy month for me. The first week, I’ll have four seminars at the SCI Convention in Reno, the next week four seminars at the Dallas Safari Club Convention in Dallas, and then the last week four at the SHOT Show in Vegas. So I’ll be swamped.

NEW GEAR

If you are in need of new gear, hit the shows. Many times manufacturers will have booths set up and be offering show specials. Plus, you’ll see a lot of new gear not offered in the big box stores. I see a lot of creative hunters and fishermen who invented new little knick-knacks and are trying to make a go of it. You’ll see gear you’ve never seen before.

A buddy told me to get your product into Cabela’s, you have to let them list it on their internet sales for two years. Then if it does good, they’ll offer it in the store. Gee, you could have a great product and go broke before you ever got to put it in front of a customer. That’s where shows have helped jump start many struggling little companies. So you’re likely to see gear you’ve never seen before.

‘OLD’ GEAR

Then in addition to all new products discussed above, there’ll also be a lot of booths with old gear. By “old” I don’t mean old but, rather, what you will find in the stores. There may be show specials. For instance, if you’re in the market for a backpack, this may be a good spot to find one.

But, please, Look around. People drive me nuts with their impulsive shopping habits. I remember one year, I had eight seminars at a show. A buddy of mine worked for one of the top backpacks in the country and they had a booth in back. I don’t know how many people I saw that walked in the front door and walked straight to the first booth and bought a backpack. I know for sure that Robert had much better packs in back. Look around and then buy.

GUIDES

If you’ve been wanting to hire a guide to hunt or fish in some out-of-state area, this is a great place to meet them. At the Boise show, I see some of the guides that I know from up in Alaska. In fact, one guides’ son was the fish cleaner on the dock, working his way through college.

And if you want to go on an exotic safari, SCI and DSC are the two shows to hit. You can sign up for all manner of big game, bird hunting or fishing adventures. It’s almost painful to walk the aisles and see all of the cool hunts they are offering if you’re on a peon’s salary.

Most of the time you can tell by talking to a guide if he is any good or not. But for sure, check references. You don’t want to waste 10 days and $25,000 on a bad deal.

And to get even deeper, you need to determine if their set-up is for you. You need to be honest with yourself. What is your main goal? To some people, it is important that they are back to the lodge by dusk and served a great dinner cooked by a chef, and to sit around the proverbial camp fire and drink until midnight.

To other outdoorsmen, the whole objective is to hit it hardcore and be successful. Different guides specialize in different flavors. Make sure you pick the right flavor or you’ll be disappointed.

Be crystal clear on what is provided and what isn’t. Do they handle the shipping back of your trophies? Get all of the necessary tags, etc.? There can be a lot of hidden costs that they take for granted but you didn’t have a clue.

Let the shows begin! Have a merry Christmas.

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 was born, World War II was a couple of months from ending. My father was stationed at Barksdale Field outside of Bossier City, Louisiana, as a high-altitude physiologist and trainer of B-26 bomber crews on the oxygen systems in the airplane.

When the war was over, he immediately was accepted into the University of Utah Medical School. After medical school, he then spent two more years specializing as an intern in general surgery for the Coast Guard in Staten Island, New York, and then the Wellborn Clinic in Evansville, Indiana.

By the time we finally got back to Idaho and settled in Pocatello, I was 7 years old and in the second grade. Normally, the children in my grandfather Merkley’s family were taught firearm safety and instructed in principles of marksmanship and to handle firearms, specifically rifles, before 7 years of age. I got a late start in that instruction, so my father and his brothers made sure I was brought up to speed as quickly as possible.

My Uncle Floyd and my Grandmother Merkley’s brother had farms in Blackfoot and Wapello, Idaho, where we could shoot firearms and ride horses. Within a few years, my father bought some farm property off the old Bannock Highway where we could shoot firearms as well as ride our own horses.

By the time I was 10 years old, I had a Savage Model 5 .22 rim-fire rifle and my father was taking me to the Arco Desert to hunt jackrabbits in the sage brush between the highway and some farms whose owners knew the Merkley family and had given my dad permission to hunt the rabbits that constantly saw the farms as an ideal place for food. That preliminary training with a .22 rifle ingrained the basics of firearm safety, marksmanship and hunting into me.

At first it was quite a challenge to try to line up the sights on moving rabbits and hit them, but constant practice began to pay off. I eventually was able to quickly line up the sights, fire and hit my target in one smooth fluid motion. I also started to became more aware of my surroundings and saw more rabbits than I had when I first started learning to hunt them. I still own that .22 rim-fire rifle, although I came to favor my dad’s Winchester Model 62 .22 pump rifle.

Those first lessons in firearm safety in the field, hunting and awareness of my surroundings served me well when at 11 years of age I received a high-powered rifle for Christmas in preparation for deer hunting with my father and Uncle Veral during the next fall deer season.

My father loved jackrabbit hunting, but wasn’t particularly fond of hunting deer, elk, pronghorn, mountain sheep or birds. He did, however, feel he had a responsibility to train me the way his father and older brothers had trained him, because there wasn’t a state hunter safety program at that time.

Big game hunting was a great adventure for me. It was a time my father gave up some of his time to camp and hunt with his brothers and me for a few days while another doctor covered for him and looked after his patients.

Early on, I realized that I wanted a rifle that would reach out and hit with more authority than the one I received for my 11th Christmas. When I was 16, a friend of my father asked to go hunting with us. He brought a .300 Weatherby Magnum Mark V as his hunting rifle. He got his deer at about 500 yards with one shot. The deer dropped as if he had been pole axed. Late that afternoon after we returned to camp, he noticed me looking at his rifle and asked if I would like to shoot it. I said I would and he set up a can full of water at about 100 yards for me to shoot at. At the shot, the can full of water exploded, the but of the rifle hit my shoulder hard, and rose upward, hitting me in the jaw hard enough to make me check to be sure my jaw was OK. I handed the rifle back to him and said, “Wow, I gotta get me one of these.” My father said that was OK, but I had to buy it myself since he was through buying firearms for me. To this day, I hunt deer with my father’s Remington Model 721 in .30-06 Springfield and I bought my own .300 Weatherby Magnum to hunt larger ungulates and even deer or pronghorn if I think I will be shooting at 300 yards or more. I also learned to shoot it without hurting myself. I now consider the recoil of a .300 Weatherby pretty tolerable and my grandsons who are 16 or older are comfortable shooting it also.

However, I think those jackrabbit hunts with .22 rim-fire rifles with my dad were some of the best hunting memories I have.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

I know you’re out there. Yep, you. You spent to much time in the woods this season. Hunting was hot, but now mama is hotter. Don’t worry, I’m an expert at getting things cooled down since I’ve had a lot of experience in this realm. But don’t get me wrong, we need to panic and do some damage control fast.

Forget the chocolate and flowers. This is a time for some massive damage control. We’re talking about all-out marriage-saving warfare. All-hands-on deck stuff. Pull all stops. This means we’re taking her to Baker City, Oregon, and staying in the historic Geiser Grand Hotel. Sometimes it’s good to get out of town for some new scenery, and the timing is perfect. There are a lot of fun activities going on in Baker City right now — in fact a barrage of marriage-saving events. Below are just a few of the ones that I know of.

• The historic Geiser Grand has several events planned in December. The hotel’s elves launch the festivities Friday, when guests can expect fresh-baked cookies and cold milk delivered free of charge to their rooms each evening through Dec. 30.
• Holiday High Tea will be held Saturday and Dec. 22 at 2:30 p.m. The Victorians called it High Tea. Really, it’s a delicious lunch. Inspired by actual historic menus, enjoy an elegant experience with white linen and silver service at a table next to the tall Christmas tree under the stained glass ceiling. The day begins at 2:30 p.m., followed by the historic tour at 3:30 p.m.
• Christmas Opera is Dec. 18 from 6 to 9 p.m. Embrace the holiday spirit with opera arias, Christmas carols and good cheer from Opera Elect, free of charge with dinner reservations. Enjoy drinks or a meal right next to the Christmas tree in the Palm Court.
• Sleigh rides are Saturdays starting Dec. 15 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Laugh at Ole Man Winter as you tour the Baker City Historic District. Katy and I did the sleigh ride for a tour of the town a couple of years ago. It was fun.
• Christmas Feast is on Christmas Day. Start with a crisp green salad, fresh fruit or gourmet, from-scratch soup. Then choose from five wonderful entrees. Then for dessert, choose from extravagant gourmet creations.
• On Dec. 31, kick off 2019 with a memorable New Year’s Eve dinner in the Palm Court. Reservations are available from 5 to 9 p.m.

The Geiser Grand first opened on Main Street in Baker City in 1889. The New York Times said the Geiser Grand is “something out of a time-machine tale … a sparkling symbol of the gold-mining boom that had enriched this sagebrush-covered corner of eastern Oregon.” The hotel features an exquisite stained-glass ceiling, mahogany detailing and crystal chandeliers — and offers house-made cuisine, luxurious suites and five meeting rooms.

And just in case you can’t handle setting around town, why not go snowshoe the Wallowa and Blue mountains! Great for all ages and athletic condition. No classes needed.

Katy and I did this one year. They have snow shoe rentals at the Geiser, as well as snow park permits, maps and advice. We had a great time. To tell you how cool it is, the National Geographic named this area one of the top five places to cross country in the entire North American continent.

Then on top of all the above, even on a normal weekend, Baker City is a good getaway. The food at the Geiser Grand is great, but there are also a lot of other options, too.

For instance, across the street is a chocolate shop. Alyssa trained to be a chocolatier in — I believe she told me — Belgium. They even have sipping chocolate, which I had never heard of.

Wow, maybe I’m on the wrong career path. I should have gone into the marriage-salvaging business. After taking her to all of the above activities, your woman will be secretly thrilled if you stay in the mountains a little too long again next year, in hopes that you will again overwhelm her with a barrage of spoiling-your-woman activities.

P.S. Now you may just be wondering, did a conniving wife hack into my account and write this article? Or did they all just take up a pool and pay me to write this so you’d spoil your woman? Well, I am suddenly driving a new truck.

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.

For those of you who took advantage of the archery, any weapon seasons and controlled hunts — some that lasted into November — hopefully you were successful in harvesting the game you hunted and had a good time with family and friends.

There are still some opportunities for white-tailed deer in the panhandle units of the state and elk hunting with muzzle loaders, as well as archery hunting into late December. Check your Idaho Big Game 2017-18 Seasons and Rules Handbook available at most sporting goods stores and Fish and Game offices if you want to legally hunt for another month.

For those who think winter puts a damper on outdoor recreation, you couldn’t be more mistaken. After this past snowfall that left quite a bit of snow in the valley and a lot of snow in the mountains, there is a lot to look forward to. Pebble Creek Ski Area in Inkom as well as other ski areas around Idaho are encouraged by the snow fall and some may open earlier than they normally do this winter. I believe Grand Targhee Ski Resort, just up the road from Driggs, has already opened. Pebble Creek was open this past weekend and will open again Friday, when it plans to open for the whole season. The East Fork Mink Creek Nordic Center outside of Pocatello is now open as well.

Idaho State University maintains a series of yurts that sleep up to six people in the mountains east of Inkom that folks can snowshoe or cross-country ski into and spend the night. The yurts are equipped with a log-fueled stove for warmth as well as a smaller Coleman-type stove for cooking.

The Catamount Yurt may be the easiest to access for those who aren’t used to snowshoeing or cross-country skiing most of the day. It is only about 2 miles southeast of McNabb Road, but in the winter the road isn’t plowed up to the sheep pens, so you might have to add an additional mile of snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. There is quite a bit of privately owned land around the Catamount Yurt, which is situated on Bureau of Land Management land. Most of that land has a no trespassing signs posted on it, so be sure to ask at the ISU Outdoor Adventure Center how they want people to travel to the yurt.

There is also a yurt up Inman Canyon for those who are in good condition and want a longer more scenic route through the mountains before getting to the yurt. The ISU Outdoor Adventure Center and equipment rental office can supply you with maps showing you how to get to the various yurts and should be able to answer any questions about the routes into and out of the yurts.

Sledding is a popular winter sport and there are numerous places around Pocatello to go sledding, particularly in — but not restricted to — the mountains in the Mink Creek area.

If you own a snowmobile, you have access to a lot of BLM and U.S. Forest Service land, but make sure you know where you can and can’t ride and don’t enter or cross private property without permission.

Ice fishing is popular in Idaho. I have never tried it because I keep worrying about falling through the ice. but I see a lot of people at Devils Creek Reservoir and other lakes and ponds happily sitting outside or in ice fishing huts during most of the winter months.

Another idea that might appeal to some is going to Yellowstone National Park and snowmobiling to Old Faithful to see it erupt in the winter. There is also a snow coach that leaves the Stage Coach Inn in West Yellowstone early in the morning and takes people to Old Faithful. When you are dropped off back at the inn later in the day, you can eat at any of West Yellowstone’s fine restaurants and then soak in the hot tub area at the inn. West Yellowstone is an interesting city and the park is gorgeous during the winter months.

Ice skating is a lot of fun and there are a couple of places in Pocatello where they try to have ice skating rinks when the temperature is low enough. I’m wondering if the new recreation center in Pocatello might try to provide an ice skating rink.

If you haven’t soaked in the hot pots at Lava Hot Springs during the winter months, try it. You just might become addicted to cold weather and hot pots for soothing all the muscle aches that come from skiing and other activities.

So get outdoors and enjoy the winter this year. Don’t be a couch potato and sit around and watch football and basketball all winter while your physical conditioning deteriorates.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

For several years I have wanted to meet Jeff Schroeder from Jerome, who is the president and executive director of Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry. Unfortunately our paths have yet to cross. Whenever I have been in the vicinity of Twin Falls and Jerome, I have been pressed for time on what usually is a 13-hour journey to the Oregon coast. I have got to just find a time to go to Jerome and meet him.

For those who have not heard of Jeff, he and his wife took over the Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry program in 2009. Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry (IHFH) was organized into seven regions with cooperating food pantries in each region. It took a while to get food pantries in each region working with IHFH to provide donated wildlife meat to the needy in each region. In 2016, IHFH finally obtained a processor and pantry in the Southeast Region.

Chad Giesbrect of Del Monte Meats in Pocatello said hunters can either pay for the processing of their big game and tell Del Monte how much of the meat they want donated to the pantry — which in the Gate City is First Baptist Church at 408 N. Arthur Ave. — or they can pay for the meat they are keeping and have Del Monte invoice the pantry and IHFH for the portion they are donating to the needy.

Here is how the program normally works: Hunters donate meat to cooperating food processors. The processors call and invoice the local IFHF food pantry, who then submit the invoice to IHFH for processing. Once delivered to the food banks and pantries, they distribute the meat to families and individuals in need.

Hunters can pay for the processing and donate the meat to the food banks and pantries, but they should check with IHFH to make sure all regulations are met for the donations. Donated meat must be processed professionally — so, not in your garage — for the food banks and pantries to distribute it to the needy.

There may be some wildlife meat the processors and pantries cannot accept for donation to the needy, such as bear. Be sure to check with IHFH as to what they are allowed to process and donate to those in need.

IHFH estimates that one in seven Idahoans are hungry and need assistance. The need for donations is very real and appreciated by the pantries and food banks in the area.

The people in Idaho have a history of being charitable toward those who need help getting back on their feet through religious organizations and the many programs that exist in most communities to help those in need. Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry and their cooperating processors, food banks and pantries are making it possible for hunters to have their surplus wildlife meat professionally processed and distributed to those who need it most.

Please consider helping IHFH achieve their goal of “Transforming Idaho’s wild surplus big game meat into nutritious food for the hungry.” They have a website at ihfh.org.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

As I get older I like to have tighter and tighter groups for my rifles — I like an accurate rifle. Fifty years ago, 1- to 1 1/2-inch groups with a factory rifle and factory ammo were unheard of, but today it is possible. But you have to do a couple of things if you want to get a tight group using factory ammo and a factory rifle.

Here’s what I’d suggest. First, you’re going to have to test a few different manufacturers and grains of ammo to determine what shoots best in your rifle. It constantly amazes me as to how much the accuracy of different ammo varies.

Secondly, some rifles are more picky than others. Some rifles like to be clean before they’ll give you a good group. My Mossberg Patriot Revere .30-06 likes to be clean. After I shoot about 15 shots, the groups start widening out. That doesn’t cause me any heartburn because I’m not going to get in that many shots in a day other than on a hog hunt.

So here’s how I’d recommend cleaning your rifle. But first, one disclaimer. I’m a middle of the road cleaner. You have extremes on both sides. On one side was my old 94-year-old buddy, Roy. He said a smokeless rifle didn’t need to be cleaned. And then on the other end of the spectrum are the fanatics that will run 20 patches down their barrel.

Here’s what I do, and it works fine for me. To begin, get a good gun cleaning station. I use an Otis Range Box. For years, I’d pile blankets on the kitchen table and try to balance it on them. Make a one-time investment in a gun-cleaning station and you’ll be happy ever after. You can keep all of your gun-cleaning supplies in it so it doesn’t take 30 minutes rummaging around hunting all of your supplies.

The first patch I’ll run down my barrel using some Barnes CR-10 Rifle and Hand Gun Bore Cleaning Solvent. Then run a wire brush. Then a rag to clean it up and repeat. it depends on how dirty the rifle is, but generally I’ll do this two or three times (Let it set for a minute the first time. But read the instructions).

Then I run a couple of dry rags down the barrel to remove any loose crud and then use some of my Otis gun cleaning oil and run a few patches and brush it until clean. You want to remove all of the CR-10. The last patch I run a lightly oiled patch down the barrel.

Then oil a rag and lightly oil the bolt and clean out the breech. Then run a patch over the outside of your rifle. If you over oil it, it will just act as a dust magnet.

Then using an optic rag, I will clean the lenses on my Riton Optics scope. Don’t dry rub the lenses. I like to blow off any loose dust. Then using a good lenses spray apply to the lenses and then clean with a lenses rag.

You are now ready to go sight in your rifle.

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.

We had what I perceived as a pretty warm hunting season from Oct. 10 to 20. A couple of the evenings were pretty cool, but nobody I am aware of felt cold enough to mention they were cold. As a matter of fact, I packed clothes, gloves and hand and pocket warmers I never needed. I basically did very well with boots, pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt with a light pull-over jacket with hood. During the day, I put the jacket in my day pack because I didn’t need it.

Those who will continue elk hunting during November should experience colder days and nights than the temperatures during October. If you are planning to camp while hunting in November, your vehicle might be quite a ways away if you start to experience hypothermia — the dangerous lowering of your body’s temperature.

Cold affects not just one or two specific tissues or functions of the exposed person but affects the whole physiological economy in a sometimes subtle, yet always complex fashion.

Under cold conditions, humidity plays a minor role, unless the skin is artificially wetted through rain, perspiration or falling in the creek. Should this occur, the resulting evaporation cooling may exceed all other factors in importance. A person immersed in sub-arctic 40-degree water can be cooled beyond recovery in about 20 to 40 minutes or approximately 10 to 20 minutes in 32-degree water. A person in wet cotton clothing because of perspiration or rain must be considered nearly immersed in water and should act accordingly.

The sooner wet clothing can be removed and dry clothing put on, the sooner a person can regain some warmth. To the outdoorsman who depends on the clothing worn to stay dry and warm, the choice of clothing immediately available in case of the need to change in a hurry, should have the highest priority. Because of weight limitations, weather factors, seasonal conditions and the environment, clothing must serve several purposes, yet be able to withstand the abuse of the rough, rugged environment. Several layers of easy-on, easy-off clothing can offer layers of dead air for insulation between the fabrics. Wool is traditionally preferred because it is warm even when wet, but it is poor protection from wind, so a good wind-proof garment should be the outer layer worn.

If someone in your group exhibits signs of hypothermia, remove wet clothes, hats, gloves, shoes and socks and replace with dry clothes and blankets. Protect against wind and drafts. Move to a warm dry shelter as soon as possible. If the victim is conscious and you have warm liquids that do not contain caffeine, you can offer it to them. Do not give a victim of even mild hypothermia symptoms alcoholic beverages. Caffeine and alcohol speed up heat loss.

Any time a person exhibits signs of hypothermia, as the body cools, symptoms will indicate the severity of the situation. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees. If the body temperature drops to 96 degrees, shivering begins and metabolism increases. At 94 degrees, gross motor skills are impaired. At 92 degrees, severe shivering begins and walking becomes difficult. At 90 degrees, convulsive shivering begins and the inability to stand up will be experienced. Finally, at 89 degrees body temperature, shivering stops and the individual will become comatose.

A person who is exhibiting any signs of hypothermia is in trouble. Immediate action to restore body heat is critical, so make sure you and the members of your group are prepared to act quickly to restore body heat and get the victim to professional medical help if necessary.

Many people don’t realize how soon a person will be in serious trouble if they don’t immediately remedy the situation when body temperature begins to drop.

Stay safe and stay warm. If a member of your group starts to show signs of hypothermia, get them warm fast or get medical assistance while there is still time.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

In the last two decades, Dutch-oven cooking has gained monumental acclaim. A lot of the articles I write I feel like I barely get to do them justice because of my limited space, but on this topic I really am just going to barely scratch the surface. There’s been no telling how many books have been written on this subject.

When you think about Dutch ovens, your mind automatically drifts back in time to the old trail drives and cowboy chuck wagons. It’s the crack of dawn and while everyone is roping their horse for the day, the cook scoops a shovel full of hot coals out of the fire. He throws some on top and some on bottom of his old Dutch oven and heats up a batch of sourdough biscuits. In a short amount of time, the cowboys all line up single file as he serves them up a hot cup of coffee, biscuits, scrambled eggs and sausage.

Now let’s fast forward 100 years. The modern-day Dutch-oven cooks are chefs that demand an exact heat level. My buddy Paul Loree strategically places a certain amount of coals on top and on bottom for the exact heat he wants for that recipe.

I bought my first Dutch oven in 30 years ago. I messed around with it, but years later I attended a class that Paul taught. That’s where I really learned how to do it right. Paul has taught thousands of people how to cook Dutch oven.

Where do we start? The first step is to buy a Dutch oven and bring it home and scrub it out with hot soapy water and a Brillo pad. This will remove the wax, grease or whatever the heck it is they protect them with at the factory. (Many manufacturers claim to preseason their Dutch ovens, but I still do it myself.)

Dry it off. Grease it up and fire up your oven to 400 degrees. Throw it in the oven for an hour. Let it cool off and pull it out. Grease it up and it is ready to use. From now on you will never use soap on it again or it will remove the seasoning and you’ll have to re-season it. From now on to clean it, scrub out the old food and heat and grease.

Here are a few good Dutch oven cookbooks:

• “Lovin’ Dutch Ovens: A Cook Book for the Dutch Oven Enthusiast” by Joan S. Larson
• “The Outdoor Dutch Oven Cookbook” by Sheila Mills
• “Cast Iron Cuisine” by Linda Cawley and Geri Munford (A good one for beginners)

Buy one of these books and try some of the recipes. Remember, every time you open the lid to peek in it increases the cooking time by five minutes.

There is a wide array of tools and accessories to make life easier when cooking with a Dutch oven. Tongs to lift the lid, lid holders and charcoal starters are just a few. Paul will shoot me for being a heretic because in the old days they got by without all these gimmicks. It’s just that they make life easier.

Shortly after attending Paul’s class I took my boss Doug Pagler bear hunting. We got back to camp after dark and I was preparing dinner and was worried that I didn’t have charcoal and was trying to carefully measure out some hot coals. Doug brushed me aside and said quit worrying about it. He grabbed the shovel and scooped a load and laid it on top. I told him we needed so and so many coals. He told me not to worry, he’d been cooking Dutch oven for years. Then he said something that clicked. He asked me if I really thought that the old cowboy carried a bag of charcoal to cook with?

As best I remember we ate every bit of whatever it was I was cooking, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. It’s just that the cooks nowadays have exact heat temps and know exactly how long to cook a meal. There’s no guesswork — for them it’s just like using an oven. They know for each recipe exactly how many charcoal briquettes to lay on top and how many on bottom.

Remember, though, in the cowboy days all they had to use was the coals they scooped out of the fire pit. All my buddies are hardcore and use an exact number of charcoal briquettes. You can also double stack ovens to conserve coals. Paul cuts the side out of a metal trash can and stacks his ovens in it. That blocks the wind and helps him cook faster.

You can buy a variety of brands and sizes of Dutch ovens. The most common is the 8-quart oven. They even make aluminum ones. They are unbelievably light. Paul packs them in on his horses. And they make an anodized one if you’re worried about Alzheimer’s. The aluminum is light and cleans easier, but the cast iron has a more even heat. Whichever one you buy, get one with a lip on top and legs on bottom. This way you can put coals on top. Lodge is the best brand that I’ve found. The walls have a more consistent thickness, the lid seats better and the handle works smoothly.

What can you cook? The sky is the limit. The classes that Paul taught were four weeks long. The first class he taught for the first two hours and then served the whole class. He had cooked a whole turkey, enchiladas and lasagna for a main course. For dessert, he had cherry cobbler, and if you didn’t like cherries he had peach cobbler. I was totally sold after that meal. Now it’s a given. If we’re having a barbecue, we tell Paul to bring whatever he wants as long as it’s a Dutch oven special.

A couple of years ago, we had a dinner for our cattle suppliers. We had a guy with an outfit named Going Dutch or something like that cater the meal. He fed more than 300 cowboys with Dutch ovens. He grilled some ribeyes and cooked potatoes in his Dutch oven. They were sliced and cooked with cheese and jalapeños. They were worth dying for.

I’m telling you. You can cook anything. Paul even cooks pizza. Here are a couple of easy recipes to get you started.

Doug Pageler’s Quiche

• 4-5 eggs
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups Bisquick
• 1 can of mushrooms
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes
• 1 large onion chopped
• 8 oz. cheese
• 1 lb sausage

Charlie’s Honey Buns

• 1 cube butter
• 1-1/2 cups brown sugar and 2 tbsp Karo syrup
• ½ cup chopped nuts
• 2 cans Pillsbury Grands biscuits

Line a 12-inch Dutch oven with aluminum foil. Place Dutch oven over 5 or 6 coals and melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and nuts gently. Slice biscuits in 1/2 or ¼ and drop all around on top of the brown sugar mixture. Cover with lid and 12 to 14 coals on top. Bake until golden brown — about 15 minutes. Dump onto a large plate and let the goo drip down the sides.

If your salivary glands aren’t salivating by now, you’d better get yourself checked out. You ought to buy a Dutch oven this fall and try it out in hunting camp. It’ll add another dimension to your camping experience and will guarantee you a spot in any camp.

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.

Do you Know what America’s favorite deer rifle is? I don’t know what it is now, with all the choices available to hunters, but from 1895 to the 1950s and ’60s it was the .30-30 Winchester center fire or .30 WCF as it was first called. Now we just call it the .30-30 Winchester.

In 1835, it was originally manufactured as a lever-action rifle with a tubular magazine under the barrel. It was the first small-bore sporting rifle designed for smokeless powder. Because the cartridges were loaded one in front of the other in the magazine, the bullets were either round nosed or flat nosed to avoid ignition of cartridges in the magazine, which would destroy the rifle and ruin the hunter’s day. However, Hornady has recently been manufacturing a 160-grain bullet with its flex tip technology for the .30-30 Winchester that has a spire-point tip, a higher ballistic coefficient and is safe to use in tubular magazines. Hornady calls the new bullets LEVERevolution bullets, and they have the potential of improving standard .30-30 performance in lever-action rifles out to 200 yards.

I usually load my .30-30 with 170-grain flat-nosed bullets at 2,227 feet per second and 1,873 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. Round-nosed and flat-nosed bullets create more air resistance, making the lever-action .30-30s decent 200-yard hunting rifles but the 170-grain bullet drops fast and loses momentum and foot pounds of energy past 200 yards. By 300 yards, the bullet has dropped 20 inches, and by 400 yards, it has dropped 58 inches.

Since 1,873 foot-pounds of energy is only about 400 foot-pounds of energy above that recommended for elk or moose hunting, it is recommended that the .30-30 be restricted to 100 yards and no more than 150 yards for the larger ungulates. In Canada, the .30-30 is used on moose and caribou using bolt-action rifles with spire-point bullets, but I personally think one should consider moving up to a .30-06 for game larger than deer or pronghorn.

Still, the .30-30 is a popular hunting rifle because of its good accuracy and light recoil, which is about 11 foot pounds of energy coming back at the hunter at 9.7 foot pounds using a 170-grain bullet.

Since I write a lot about the 700 Remington Magnum, .30-06, .300 Winchester Magnum, 300 Weatherby Magnum etc., I am sometimes asked if I even still own a .30-30 Winchester lever-action rifle? The answer is an emphatic yes. I own the original model 94 Winchester I used when I first started going hunting for deer, and my wife inherited a Model 64 lever-action .30-30 from her father.

I always take the .30-30 Winchester with me when I go deer hunting in case I end up hunting in heavy brush or sspen stands where a light, shorter rifle is preferred and the distance to target is likely to be 100 yards or less — sometimes a lot less.

I also like to lend my .30-30 to a couple of my grandchildren who probably aren’t ready to hunt with even a .30-06, which recoils twice as hard as the .30-30.

Whenever I am not hunting but want a rifle with me when going into some mountain property my family has owned for a lot of years, the .30-30 Winchester gets the nod. I have a sling on it and it is light and easy to carry if I am hiking, scouting for game prior to the hunting season or just want the reassurance of a rifle with adequate power out to 200 yards.

The .30-30 Winchester lever action may be older than my Aunt Doris, but it still does what it was designed to do within 200 yards, and it does it well. It definitely has an important place in and out of my rifle vault.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.