Soon after getting married, Katy told me that I was the eternal tightwad. I told her that I wasn’t a tightwad, I was just thrifty. She puts her hands on her hips and says, “Well, you’ve carried it to a new level.”

I told her I didn’t have much as a kid and learned to get by with what I had. She informed me that I was no longer a kid and I had a real job, a good job and I needed to loosen up some.

So with the above said, there are some items on the market that can make working on your guns a lot simpler. Let’s cover a few of those items. Up until … OK, maybe 10 years ago, anytime I was going to clean a rifle or mount a scope I’d pile some blankets on the kitchen table to cradle my rifle. Needless to say, that didn’t provide for a very stable work station.

When mounting a scope, it is not conducive to obtaining good results if the rifle slips and bounces off the table. Ditto with the scope. You need something firm and steady holding your rifle. Same when cleaning your guns.

The ultimate tool to solve the above problems is the Otis Elite Range Box. It is like a giant tackle box. Remove the top and put the two forks in place to cradle your rifle. Now you’re ready to work. Another big feature is that it has ample room to store all of your cleaning patches, oils, solvents and tools. On the side of the forks are slots to hold your cleaning rods. I love these boxes for cleaning my rifles/shotguns and for mounting scopes or working on them. You can also carry it to the gun range. After you get one you’ll wonder how you ever lived without one.

Another important thing is a stable bench to shoot off of. Ninety percent of the time I go out on the prairies to do my shooting/sighting in my rifles and shotguns. That way I don’t have to work around anyone at the gun range and hold them up or vice versa. But one benefit that a gun range has is that they have a steady bench and seat.

For a few years I shot off the tailgate. Then I started taking a chair and then I really moved up and for years used a card table and chair and piled blankets/coats on the table to rest my rifle on. Still not the ultimate.

Replace the blankets with range bags. It seems for every different gun that you need a little bit different of elevation to get comfortable so get a variety of bags to accommodate your different needs.

Now I use a Caldwell Stable Table. It is a collapsible table and seat. It is durable and easy to slap up or fold-up and store at home. It’s handy.

Another item that came out years ago was the Caldwell Lead Sled. It was a device that held your rifle so you could shoot and it wouldn’t kick you as bad. This is a big deal if you’re shooting a lot of rifles or big bore guns. If you’re flinching then you can’t get good groups. To reduce recoil, you lay lead shot bags on the sled, hence the name Lead Sled.

But a couple of years ago Caldwell came out with their Hydro Sled. It has a reservoir that you fill with water to give it weight which reduces recoil. I use it now instead of my Lead Sled.

If I’ve got many rifles to sight in, I always take my sled. If not, by the time I get two to three new rifles sighted in it is hard not to flinch which prevents me from obtaining decent groups.

But where I really got to loving my Lead Sled was years ago. I was doing an article for Bass Pro Shop on the best turkey loads and had to sample a ton of different turkey loads. You want to talk about getting pounded! Go shoot a couple of boxes of 3 ½-inch HEVI Shot ga. Turkey loads. That will make you cry Uncle. But with my Caldwell Lead Sled, no problemo.

SUMMARY

So to ease your pains when mounting a scope, putting a red dot scope on your shotgun, cleaning your rifle/shotgun or just to keep all of your cleaning supplies and gun tools organized, get a range box.

To provide a stable rest for sighting in your rifles, patterning your shotguns and seeing what your gun is actually capable of shooting, invest in a Caldwell Stable Table and some bench bags.

Then if you want to go all out and hit the next level you might want to check out these two items.

1. Caldwell Ballistic Precision Target Camera. The younger techie crowd will like this. With the app and using your cell phone it allows you to observe where your bullet hits the target.

2. Caldwell Chronograph to measure bullet speeds. These are an aid to tell you your reloading results. I like to know how fast my airguns fly, when I start losing accuracy or performance etc.

SECOND SUMMARY

As Katy would say, “Boys and their toys.”

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.

Soon after getting married, Katy told me that I was the eternal tightwad. I told her that I wasn’t a tightwad, I was just thrifty. She puts her hands on her hips and says, “Well, you’ve carried it to a new level.”

I told her I didn’t have much as a kid and learned to get by with what I had. She informed me that I was no longer a kid and I had a real job, a good job and I needed to loosen up some.

So with the above said, there are some items on the market that can make working on your guns a lot simpler. Let’s cover a few of those items. Up until … OK, maybe 10 years ago, anytime I was going to clean a rifle or mount a scope I’d pile some blankets on the kitchen table to cradle my rifle. Needless to say, that didn’t provide for a very stable work station.

When mounting a scope, it is not conducive to obtaining good results if the rifle slips and bounces off the table. Ditto with the scope. You need something firm and steady holding your rifle. Same when cleaning your guns.

The ultimate tool to solve the above problems is the Otis Elite Range Box. It is like a giant tackle box. Remove the top and put the two forks in place to cradle your rifle. Now you’re ready to work. Another big feature is that it has ample room to store all of your cleaning patches, oils, solvents and tools. On the side of the forks are slots to hold your cleaning rods. I love these boxes for cleaning my rifles/shotguns and for mounting scopes or working on them. You can also carry it to the gun range. After you get one you’ll wonder how you ever lived without one.

Another important thing is a stable bench to shoot off of. Ninety percent of the time I go out on the prairies to do my shooting/sighting in my rifles and shotguns. That way I don’t have to work around anyone at the gun range and hold them up or vice versa. But one benefit that a gun range has is that they have a steady bench and seat.

For a few years I shot off the tailgate. Then I started taking a chair and then I really moved up and for years used a card table and chair and piled blankets/coats on the table to rest my rifle on. Still not the ultimate.

Replace the blankets with range bags. It seems for every different gun that you need a little bit different of elevation to get comfortable so get a variety of bags to accommodate your different needs.

Now I use a Caldwell Stable Table. It is a collapsible table and seat. It is durable and easy to slap up or fold-up and store at home. It’s handy.

Another item that came out years ago was the Caldwell Lead Sled. It was a device that held your rifle so you could shoot and it wouldn’t kick you as bad. This is a big deal if you’re shooting a lot of rifles or big bore guns. If you’re flinching then you can’t get good groups. To reduce recoil, you lay lead shot bags on the sled, hence the name Lead Sled.

But a couple of years ago Caldwell came out with their Hydro Sled. It has a reservoir that you fill with water to give it weight which reduces recoil. I use it now instead of my Lead Sled.

If I’ve got many rifles to sight in, I always take my sled. If not, by the time I get two to three new rifles sighted in it is hard not to flinch which prevents me from obtaining decent groups.

But where I really got to loving my Lead Sled was years ago. I was doing an article for Bass Pro Shop on the best turkey loads and had to sample a ton of different turkey loads. You want to talk about getting pounded! Go shoot a couple of boxes of 3 ½-inch HEVI Shot ga. Turkey loads. That will make you cry Uncle. But with my Caldwell Lead Sled, no problemo.

SUMMARY

So to ease your pains when mounting a scope, putting a red dot scope on your shotgun, cleaning your rifle/shotgun or just to keep all of your cleaning supplies and gun tools organized, get a range box.

To provide a stable rest for sighting in your rifles, patterning your shotguns and seeing what your gun is actually capable of shooting, invest in a Caldwell Stable Table and some bench bags.

Then if you want to go all out and hit the next level you might want to check out these two items.

1. Caldwell Ballistic Precision Target Camera. The younger techie crowd will like this. With the app and using your cell phone it allows you to observe where your bullet hits the target.

2. Caldwell Chronograph to measure bullet speeds. These are an aid to tell you your reloading results. I like to know how fast my airguns fly, when I start losing accuracy or performance etc.

SECOND SUMMARY

As Katy would say, “Boys and their toys.”

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 had COVID-19 in April and didn’t recoup until May 6. For six weeks prior to that I was helping a buddy over in South Dakota. I left there and it was pretty much still winter and by the time I got well, spring was in full swing, crappie fishing was on the tail end slide and the mushroom season was over. When I went to sleep it was winter and when I woke up and it was almost summer. I felt like Rip Van Winkle.

I got to make the most of summer but still, even now I feel a little time disoriented. And suddenly it’s almost Christmas and here I am writing my annual Christmas list. Wow.

Well, here’s a list of some of the cool items that I got to test out this year and some that are old-time favorites. I say something to this effect every year but if you take time to investigate what your little outdoor honey wants/needs, you can really rack up some points. Most of our outdoor endeavors are pretty specific so investigate before you make a purchase.

I’ve never thrown this angle in before, but with the COVID-19 panic ravaging businesses in America try to shop in your community if at all possible and keep the dollars at home. That way your friends and neighbors can maintain their jobs and businesses. If your health is compromised then, yes, you can probably do almost all of your shopping online. I just wanted to remind everyone that local businesses are what supports the community that you live in.

If you buy a unique or much-needed item, you’ll sweep your outdoor lover off their feet. And you don’t always have to spend a lot of money. Well, let’s get started:

HUNTING

• SneakyHunter BootLamps
• Smith’s Folding Limb Saw
• Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife
• Umarex airguns. Check out the Gauntlet, Origin or the Yukon Magnum break barrel.
• mytopomaps. They will make a map of wherever or however detailed that you want. I use them.
• Hi Mountain seasoning to make your own jerky and sausage.
• Chard Pro Former Jerky Gun. I just got one. Can’t wait to use it.
• .511 cool tactical pants, great for hunting.
• Spyderco makes a cool little hunting knife called the Bow River knife.
• Scopes/Binoculars. There’s an up and coming new company called Riton Optics. Check out their offerings.
• For shooters, Caldwell makes a lot of must-have items. Shooting bags, Hydrosled and their Stable Table. These items help you have a stable rest when sighting in your rifles.
• Otis Elite Range Box. This is a great help when mounting scopes or cleaning your guns.

BACKPACKING ITEMS

• Alps Mountaineering Dash chair
• Alps Chaos 2 tent
• Alps Nimble pad
• Camp Chef Stryker 200 stove
• Aquimira filtered water bottles and straws
• Adventure Medical Kits duct tape, mole skin
• Irish Setter Canyons hiking boots
• Hiking socks — these are worth their weight in gold.
• Eating utensils, Outdoor Edge Chowpal, Collapsible cooking utensils.
• Uberleben Stoker Flatpack is a cool little collapsible stove.
• Smith’s Consumer Products offers I don’t know how many folding knives that are great for backpacking.
• Backpacking meals

FISHING

• Heybo makes some cool fishing shirts.
• Mister Twister plastics. I like their tube jigs for crappie fishing.
• I’ve been using a Honda BF 2.3 motor to fish with this summer. I like it better than my trolling motor.
• Sunglasses. Check out the Hobie El Matador model for full eye coverage.
• Hire a fishing guide to float a river.
• Fishing rod & reel.
• Fish filleting knives. Smith’s Consumer Products makes a variety of sizes.

CAMPING

• Daisy Powerline 51 slingshot, great fun for kids (and Katy) for shooting cans around camp.
• Grizzly 60 cooler. This is a well-built, stout cooler.
• Camp Chef Rainer 2X camp stove
• Smith’s Consumer Products sharpening stones. My favorite is their 8-inch Tri-hone set but I also love their 6-inch fine diamond stone.
• Lodge Dutch oven with legs
• Tent
• Backpack

STOCKING STUFFERS

This is where you can score some points on cheap little knickknacks that they’ll value.

• Split shots
• Fishing lures
• .22 ammo
• Waterproof matches
• Flashlight
• Substitute a day pack for a stocking!
• Talon Snap Cleaning Kit. This is a cool new kit to clean your pistol.
• Flies make great stocking stuffers. (Check out flydealflies.com use CLAYCOMB and you can get a discount.)

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 a grade-school kid, I’d read the Fur-Fish-Game magazine and dream of being a mountain man. No, read probably isn’t the right word. Devour would be the correct word. I’d read the articles about the old trappers up in Canada and of their lifestyles. In summer they’d go out in the woods, build a cabin, pack in supplies, cut a winter’s worth of firewood and then when the winter snows hit, they’d slap on a pair of snowshoes and set a trapline. They’d trap all winter and come out in the spring and sell their hides, which they’d scraped and stretched on the long winter nights in the cabin.

In junior high with my paper route earnings I bought some of the old A.R. Harding books that were advertised in FFG. In some of the books the old timers would talk about processing their moose, which would provide their meat for the upcoming winter. But they also made a big deal out of saving the bones, which they’d boil down to make broths and stews. You can visualize how they made their stew.

At daylight before they took off to run their traplines they’d load up a Dutch oven with moose bones, canned vegetables and snow and put it on the fireplace. After running their trapline all day they’d come home at dusk to a hot pot of stew.

Then nine or 10 years ago, I was helping a store up in Haines, Alaska, during the Canadian Thanksgiving spree. One day a young lady pulled up to the back of the store and asked if we could cut up her moose bones for her to make stew. We shrugged our shoulders and said sure. She opened her van and there was a whole moose carcass in back laying on a tarp. She took all of the cut-up bones back to her cabin to make stews and broths for the winter.

So, I guess these backdrops are what prompted me to save the bones/fat off of our Thanksgiving turkey and try to make a stew. Boy, am I glad that I did. Turkey stew has now come to be almost as enjoyable as eating the actual turkey itself. Plus, it’s super easy to make.

Ever since, I’ve been making turkey stew but I doubt that I’ve ever used the same recipe. I’ll list out a general list of ingredients that I use but feel free to improvise to your family’s liking. I suppose that you can throw in pretty much anything on up to the proverbial kitchen sink.

Here’s how I make it. I’ll throw in the turkey bones/fat, sliced potatoes, squash, tomato, onion and, for sure, cilantro. Cilantro is a key ingredient. I also slice up one to two jalapenos to add a little spice and then garlic, salt and pepper. I go light on the salt and let everyone add what they prefer when served.

There’s nothing sacred about following my exact recipe. Tweak it to what sounds good to you or what ingredients that you have handy. Cook until the vegetables are done. You won’t believe how good it is.

Maybe I’m too much of a mountain man/cowboy but it tastes best when cooked in a Lodge Dutch oven. For cooking at home, I use a Dutch oven without legs. They’re easier to use on the stove top or in the oven without legs.

I know you’re thinking that there has to be more to it than this. Nope, it’s that simple.

So when you carve up a turkey don’t throw away the bones and fat. Bag them up and freeze them so you can later make some turkey stew. Even on a smaller turkey you’ll have enough scraps to make two batches and can stretch it out to three to four batches on a large bird.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and take a moment to give thanks for all of your many blessings. It always improves my outlook on life when I focus on all the blessings I have instead of the one or two things that I don’t have.

Sidenote: FFG is still going strong. In fact, I have an article in the November issue which is currently on the shelves. If you want to check out some of the old A.R. Harding books contact FFG or look on pages 40 and 44 in the current issue.

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.

Four centuries ago, America was a fledgling country. Her life was in the balance. The pilgrims were on the verge of starving and things didn’t look good. Luckily some friendly Native Americans came out of the woodwork (OK, the woods) and provided a feast for the pilgrims. That shifted the pendulum and gave the starving pilgrims hope.

Tradition has it that they brought in some wild turkeys among an assortment of other foods. The pilgrims were overwhelmed by their kindness and gave thanks for the meal, their new friends and all of their many blessings in general.

Since that time nearly 400 years ago, Americans nationwide have declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday and stopped for a day to acknowledge their many blessings and give thanks for them and our country. Four hundred years later, we still have the best country in the world as evidenced by the thousands of people trying to enter America. Who can blame them?

So with that said, what should your main course be this Thanksgiving? Anything less than a turkey along with maybe a smoked ham and for sure pumpkin pie is obviously a plot designed to end all true American traditions.

One year, I thought I’d do something different. I grilled some ribeyes for a change of pace. They were nice, well-marbled ribeyes. They were probably as good of ribeyes as any that you’ve ever had. But it went against all tradition. It put a big kink in the Claycomb family traditions. The Wampanoag native people would have turned over in their graves. Never again has my family deviated from having a smoked turkey as the main dish. Since then, things have settled down and all is well again in the Claycomb household. Katy and Kolby have not left me.

The last decade or so, Mom has sent us a smoked turkey from Greenburg’s in East Texas but a few weeks ago their plant burned down. So this year we will go back to me smoking the turkey. If you’ve never smoked your own turkey, don’t panic. It is super easy and will turn out delicious.

Most likely, you will run to the store to purchase your turkey, but if you’re lucky, you may be smoking a wild turkey that you killed this spring. If so, realize that you will need to baby it a little bit more than if you’re cooking a farm raised fat butterball turkey. A wild gobbler won’t have as much fat as their farm-raised cousin so it won’t be as juicy. Baby it a little more than you would a store-bought turkey.

I learned how easy it was to smoke turkeys over 40 years ago. A buddy at work, her family raised turkeys and she knew that I smoked deer meat, sausage, etc., and asked me to smoke a turkey for her. I told her I didn’t know how. She told me all that she needed was for me to put it on my smoker for three to four hours and then she’d come by that night and grab it and take it home and finish cooking it. I was apprehensive but she told me to just smoke it and quit worrying. (At the time, I had a wood smoker. Now I use my Camp Chef pellet smoker.)

The next day she brought me a sample. Oh my gosh, it was the best turkey that I’d ever had. I have since cooked them as she instructed. Here’s how you do it. If you have a regular smoker, throw it on the smoker at low heat for four hours. Then put it in a black turkey-roasting pan in the oven all night at about 190-200 degrees.

Put a couple of cups of water in it to keep it moist. You don’t want it to dry out. In the middle of the night check it out. If all of the liquid has evaporated add a couple of more cups of water. When you wake up, if it pretty much falls apart with a fork, it’s done. If not, turn up the heat to 325 and cook until done.

When you put it in the oven, sprinkle with spices. I’ve cooked it like this for the past 40 years. But this year, I’m going to deviate and use this recipe that I found on Hi-Mountain Seasoning’s website: Bourbon-glazed Holiday Turkey. It looks good. (himtnjerky.com)

I’ve ordered their Game Bird & Poultry Brine Mix and their Poultry Rub Blend to use. I can’t wait!

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’re going to get into good country, sometimes you’re going to get stuck. It’s not a maybe, it’s only a when. Let me throw out one disclaimer first. When you finally get your first four-wheel-drive truck, you erroneously think that you’re bulletproof. Newsflash — you’re not. Just because you have a four-wheel-drive doesn’t mean that you can’t get stuck so be prudent. I’ve heard it said, drive like you have a two wheel drive, that way you don’t jump all in and get hopelessly stuck.

When you really get in trouble is when you drive too aggressively and get in too far, and then it’s really hard to get you out.

So enough theory. What’s the moral of this article? You’re going to get stuck once in a while, so how do we get out?

The curse of all curses is when you high center. That’s when the snow or dirt is up against the body of your truck. Not good. What you’ll have to do in this scenario is jack up your rig and put some rocks in the ruts and under the wheels. If no rocks are handy then use sticks and limbs. Anything to get your truck to set up higher.

To be able to do this you need to carry a Handyman jack. A little hydraulic jack usually is nonfunctional. You’re buried in the mud so you can’t get the hydraulic jack slipped in under the truck and even if you can you’re on a soft base. If there is enough clearance you might be able to put a rock under the jack. Just carry a Handyman jack.

With a Handyman jack, you can put the lip under the bumper or whatever is stout enough to lift your truck and lift it up. Don’t get under anything as the ground under the jack will likely be muddy and slippery and it can shoot out and drop the truck.

I always carry a few quarter-inch bolts and nuts because laying in the bed of my truck and bouncing around the bolt holding on the jack handle is always getting lost. Many times the jack gets rusty and won’t function. Keep a quart of oil in your truck which you should do anyway and pour a little on the jack mechanism to lubricate it up so it’s functional.

You also need to keep a shovel in back of your truck. That way you can dig out some of the snow and mud that is causing you to high center. I don’t carry one but I’ve also thought that a hoe would be beneficial in a lot of circumstances. I used to worry about someone stealing the gear out of the back of my truck but most of the kids in town are little yuppies now and don’t even know what a shovel and a Handyman jack are. And the ones that do are farm and ranch kids and are decent enough so they won’t steal them.

Always carry a chain. You’ll need it so someone can pull you out or so you can pull out some other poor soul. You can also pull trees off the trail if one is blocking you in. And while speaking of trees blocking the road, for sure carry an axe and it’s best to have a chain saw.

Think about it a minute. You see a lot of blown over trees while hunting, right? That happens behind you sometimes when you go down a trail, too. Speaking of, one time we had hiked down a trail in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area while fly fishing. I’d backpacked in and set up a camp back in there a few miles. That morning my nephew Tom and I had hiked downstream fishing. Later when we were fishing back to camp we found a 20-foot log, about 2.5 feet in diameter laying dead center in the trail. It had rolled down the mountain and landed in the trail. Glad we weren’t there when that happened.

Same can happen behind you when you drive in on a trail. One time on a spring bear hunt Ed Sweet and I drove into an area. Going in we noticed a crack down the middle of the road. The downhill side had dropped about 1 inch. Coming out it had now dropped 2 inches. Not good. You don’t want that to sluff off and slide down the mountain. Hate to be a weenie but Mercedes and I got out and let him drive over that spot alone!

A lot of people have winches on their four-wheelers but not too many people do on their trucks. If you do, they can be beneficial. I have a buddy that carries a big spike, he drives it in the ground and then has something to tie off to when stuck out on the prairies.

Then lastly, of course, aggressive tires make a big difference. If your tires are bald you’re not going to get any traction. And nothing to do with getting stuck but go to the junkyard and get an extra tire and wheel. As many flats as I get I always carry two spares. Be careful out there.

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 were talking and she said her principal said he’d heard that I liked hunting. She asked him if he liked the outdoors and he said he used to but hadn’t been in 12 to 15 years, that he didn’t know where to go.

Which prompted her to say I ought to write an article about how to get into hunting.

I’m super blessed. I had the best mom and dad in the world. Dad took us hunting and fishing with him since we were born. We got BB guns when we were 6 years old, pellet guns at 9 years old and shotguns at 10. When I started dove hunting, I couldn’t even reach the trigger. I had to hold the butt under my arm like granny on the Beverly Hillbillies.

But what if you didn’t come from a hunting family? How could you get into it? It’s almost like a family inheritance or something — if you don’t have a dad or uncles that take you as a kid it can be almost impossible to get into.

I think we have to break newbies into two groups. Group one hasn’t ever hunted/fished and group two has but they’ve just moved to Idaho, or maybe just moved to a new locale and lost their old hunting/fishing spots.

GROUP ONE: I’M A HUNTING NEWBIE

There are a million/trillion Californians moving into Idaho. Many of them would like to get into the Idaho lifestyle but don’t know how to start. They’re not against hunting/fishing/camping — they just don’t know how to get into it. I’ve had a lot of them tell me this. This may be you.

So how do you become the next Kit Carson? It’s tough but not impossible. Let’s speed up your learning curve. I meet most of my hunting buddies at church or work.

Have patience. There’s so much to learn so it will take a minute. First thing, guns are a lot of fun but if someone gets shot it sucks all the fun out of it. You’re going to be shooting/hunting with people you love. It would screw up your life if someone you love got shot. I’m not known as Captain Safety. This year I’ve broken a rib twice, cracked my patella, torn a meniscus, gotten stabbed and I can’t remember what else but on gun safety, I take it super serious. While hunting, make it a standing rule that everyone has the freedom to point out unsafe acts. This is serious stuff.

The good news is, now it is easier than ever to get into the outdoors. As a kid, I only remember a couple of outdoor shows. There were no YouTubes, podcast, blogs, etc. Now there’s a million videos on calling, etc.

When I first started elk hunting, I just grabbed a bugle and went hunting. In those days, there were no tubes. We cut a vacuum cleaner hose and blew into it. There’s no reason you can’t have a sharper learning curve than we had in the old days due to all of the helps.

Seminars: I’d recommend hitting all of the outdoor seminars you can. I never heard of an outdoor seminar until I was in my 30s. Now I conduct 50 to 60 seminars a year. The first of the year I’ll be conducting two seminars at the Dallas Safari Club Convention & Expo, five at the SHOT Show in Vegas, and four at the 2021 Safari Club International (SCI) Convention also in Las Vegas, plus at multiple retail stores. But I still attend as many seminars as I can to keep on top and learn new tricks.

Publications: The Idaho Press has the best outdoor page of any newspaper. One disclaimer though. Used to all articles had to get approved and edited by an editor. Now, anyone can start a website/blog with no reality filters But there are a few good ones. I write a weekly Product Review for Ammoland ShootingSports News (ammoland.com), which is the largest outdoor website in America. Also, check out gunpowdermagazine.com.

Join local clubs, the gun range, archery clubs, shooting range events, local Ducks Unlimited club, the National Rifle Association and so forth. You’ll meet people there.

GROUP TWO: I USED TO HUNT BUT …

I’ve had to move a bit and that’s always a major pain. In some ways it’s like starting all over again. You have to discover new hunting/fishing spots. That can be a major pain but it can also be exciting. You’ll meet new hunting partners at work, Church or in your neighborhood.

If you’re a girl, it can be really tough to get into the outdoors. Of course, ALL of the guys will want to teach you the ropes but that can get weird. There’s getting to be more women groups. My wife and daughters go shooting with their buddies.

So yes, it’s tough getting into the outdoor world if you weren’t raised in it but it is not impossible.

Imagine you just moved to a new country and don’t know the customs or the language? That’s almost how drastic it is. Have the attitude of a 2-year-old and jump in with both feet.

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.

Next to sheep hunting, elk hunting is the toughest hunt in Idaho. They live in rough country and they’re tough animals. If you’re hitting it hard by the third day you’re so sore you can’t hardly hunt. So why do people hunt them if it’s so tough? The same reason that makes it tough. Because they live in rough country and they’re cool animals. It gives you a good excuse to get out and hike into areas that you never would.

There’s something cool about being up in elk country. You’re on top of the world in majestic country seeing sights that few people get to see which is all a side benefit.

But how do you be successful, after all, that’s why we elk hunt. We want to get one. I wish that I could give you a five-step plan for guaranteed success. If I had that plan I’d get an elk every year. But I’ll throw out some general rules that should help you be more successful.

SCOUT

The people that are successful year after year scout before season. Even if your family has hunted the same spot for 40 years and you know all of the routes they take when feeding, heading to bed or when spooked, you need to scout. Why? What if a pack of wolves have moved into your drainage and slaughtered everything? Or what if three other camps have decided to hunt in your honey hole this year?

One year a buddy invited me to go hunting with him up by the Rawah Wilderness area. I got there and he said we’ve got to move camp. How come? Unbeknownst to him, the Rainbow Coalition had decided to have a festival there and the day before when he was setting up camp and doing a final scouting, he’d run into some girl in tennis shoes hiking down the trail. And I mean only tennis shoes. Not conducive to a good elk hunting scenario.

While hopefully you may not encounter the above scenario things can change even if you did do due diligence and pre-scout. So the moral to the story is, you need to have at least three spots scouted out to hunt. That way if they aren’t at your first choice — jump. Go to your second choice.

I remember the first elk that I ever got, we moved camp twice before I finally got into the elk at the third camp. If there are no tracks, move. Elk can’t fly so if there’s no tracks, they’re not there. Granted, if you wait long enough some may get moved into your drainage but that’s a big if.

GLASS

I teach “Glassing For Big Game” (glassing = looking around with binoculars) seminars at a number of national sports and hunting conventions and shows and at retail stores and yet every year I’m amazed at how much game I see when I take time to properly glass. Hint: Use good optics. I use Riton Optics 10×42 binoculars and a Lucid Optics spotting scope that I am testing this year. When you take time to glass, it will amaze you as to how much more game you’ll see. But you have to use good optics or you won’t see anything plus bad optics will give you a headache.

SCENT COVER

The more I hunt, the more important I realize that scent cover is important. I like to clip on a couple of the Hunter’s Specialties elk wafers that have cow urine scent on them. They’re strong so let’s just say that you don’t want to be walking downwind of your buddy while he is wearing one.

Also, regardless of how much you cover your scent, always try to stalk in from downwind of your game. Whether it’s elk, deer or bear. And the thermals switch and swirl so it can be confusing. Stalk accordingly.

When setting up to call don’t have brush downwind of you. Set up so they can’t sneak in and scent you and scatter without you even knowing it.

CALLING

With the advent of wolves, most people tell you that elk have gone silent. There’s no use calling anymore. They won’t answer. OK, I agree they have quieted down a good bit but that doesn’t mean that they won’t still come in.

I learned the above by accident. Years ago I took an old buddy elk hunting. He could barely get around even with a walking stick but I’d try to take him out a few days every year. One year near the end before he died, we went to a spot where he’d seen a bull a few days prior. He sat in a spot and I hopped right over the rise 100 yards away. I usually set up and call for 15 to 20 minutes and then move. He said we’d set there about 1½ hours.

Everyone knows the above idea is a dumb idea. Except … the elk. We’d been calling for over an hour. Suddenly I saw a four-point bull sneaking up the mountain. He had not made one peep. I’ve had that happen a lot since then. So yes, elk may not bugle as much as used to when you’re calling but they still come in. Well, 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 love eating wild game. I get some of the best ribeyes in the country and yet I still favor fried backstrap with milk gravy and french fries. Or what about a smoked forequarter made into chopped BBQ sandwiches?

I’ve even noticed amongst the young yuppie crowd that there’s an interest in hunting/eating wild game due to it being the undisputed king of organic food. With the dropping number of hunters, I’m surprised that Fish & Game isn’t playing this angle.

The last two weeks I’ve written articles on meat and processing your game. It’s only logical to follow up with an article on recipes. But when cooking wild game remember a few things:

1. Big game doesn’t marble (intermuscular fat) like beef so it is not as juicy. Don’t overcook it or cook it as fast as you do beef. Cook your big game on the medium rare side.

2. Deer/elk haven’t been finished out the last 120 days on corn so it might have a slight off-taste that you need to mask.

3. If tough, use Adolph’s Tenderizer.

BACKSTRAPS/FILETS/CHICKEN FRIED STEAK

Backstraps and the filets are the all-time favorites. Here’s how the Claycombs like to eat them.

The filet mignons, I marinate mine for an hour or two and then apply seasoning. Right now, I’m favoring the coarse ground McCormick’s seasoning. Grill on medium heat. Also great for kabobs.

Now for everyone’s all-time favorite. I’m going to lump backstraps and round steaks together because I chicken fry these. My wife beats them with a tenderizer and sprinkles on Adolph’s Tenderizer.

Let sit 15 minutes. Dip in milk, roll in flour and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fry them in a black skillet until golden brown. I like them cooked medium but my wife cooks them a little crispy and that’s great, too.

I always make milk gravy with my CFS. Another twist is to sauté onions and make onion gravy and garlic toast. Fry up some French fries and drizzle the gravy on the steak, French fries and garlic toast.

A meal fit for kings. I can get the best beef in the country and yet this is my most favorite meat in the world. My family loves fried backstrap.

FLANK STEAKS/ TRI-TIPS

These make great appetizers. Marinate for an hour or two then lay on a pan and heavily sprinkle on McCormick’s coarse ground steak seasoning. Finely chop up some onions and green peppers and lay on the flank. Roll it up and pin it together with toothpicks.

Smoke on low heat for an hour and then turn up the heat. When done, slice paper thin across grain.

These make great hors d’oeuvres. After eating them once you will not believe that for all of these years you haven’t saved them.

KABOBS

Another way to use your steaks is to cut into 1x1x½-inch chunks. Marinate the steak, mushrooms, slices of green peppers, onions and squash for 2-4 hours. Skewer the above ingredients, sprinkle with Tony Chachere’s seasoning and cook on your Camp Chef pellet smoker. These are to die for.

FOREQUARTER

Now for my all-time favorite and after trying it once it will be yours too. The third most tender muscle on the carcass is in the shoulder, if you cook it slowly. Sprinkle the shoulder with your favorite seasoning salt. Smoke it on low heat for 3-4 hours. I used to lay bacon strips over it but haven’t in 30 years. Then put it in a black turkey roasting pan and put in about 2-3 cups of water. Put it in the oven all night at 180 degrees. If you wake up in the middle of the night check on it. If it runs out of water it is ruined. If it is low, add two cups.

When it falls off the bone with a fork, it’s done. If not, turn the heat up to 300 degrees. After cooking all night, it should finish in 30-45 minutes. But to make sure this is clear, if it doesn’t fall off the bone with a fork it is not done.

Pull the meat off of the bone. There will not be enough meat left on the bone for an ant to eat. All of the collagen and gristle has disappeared. Chop into ½-inch chunks. Sprinkle with Tony Chachere’s seasoning salt. Toast buns in a Lodge black skillet on both sides with butter. Throw on a handful of chopped meat and douse with your favorite BBQ sauce and a little Tabasco sauce. I cannot tell you how good these are. Your petite little wife will eat two. It will rival any beef brisket sandwich that you’ve ever eaten.

FAJITAS

Use the skirts to make fajitas. Peel the tough skin off of both sides. Slice ¼-inch slices cross grain.

Marinate the meat, onions and green peppers for 3-4 hours. Cook everything in a black iron skillet. Fill a tortilla and feast.

BBQ RIBS

Trim off what fat cover is easily removed and sprinkle with coarse ground McCormick seasoning.

Place on your smoker for 3-4 hrs. then put in a covered dish in your oven that is preheated to 325 degrees. Cook until the meat falls off of the bones. Douse with BBQ sauce and dig in.

SAUSAGE

Years ago I decided that I like a good hot dog but not the Joe Cheapo $.99/pack hot dogs. So now I make hot dogs out of sausage. Everyone will die for them. Smoke your sausage and then for condiments put out bowls of chopped onions, avocado slices, Wolf Brand chili and spicy mustard. Eat one of these and you’ll fall back in love with the lowly hot dog!

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.

You hear about aging meat but does anyone really understand what it means to age meat? So first off, what is aging? It is basically controlled rotting. So why do people age their meat?

1. It makes the meat more tender.

2. Some people favor the aged flavor.

DRY AGING

Dry aging is when you hang meat to age in an open environment. You’re supposed to hold it at a certain temp, humidity and for a certain time period. If you want to age your meat just do a rib rack or a loin rack. If you age the whole carcass the trim will be green and you’ll waste a lot of meat.

WET AGING

Now, I bet over 99 percent of the beef is wet aged in a cryovac bag. If you’ve been to a supermarket and seen a “primal” displayed in a bag that’s what a cryovac bag is. (Editor’s note: According to nebraskastarbeef.com, “primals” are the large muscle groups from which commonly known steaks, such as ribeyes, T-bones, etc. are cut.)

Aged in a bag changes the environment. The bag creates an anaerobic condition (lack of oxygen) so a different flora of bacteria grows as compared to meat that’s hung in the open (aerobic — oxygen is present) so it will age differently.

You can get by with aging beef longer for a couple of reasons:

• Usually you’re doing so in a cooler that has a controlled temp.

• Beef starts out much cleaner than your wild game due to the environment. So the initial bacteria load is lower.

When you age game it’s usually in your garage. It’d be best if you could keep it at 32 to 36 degrees. Equally important will be how clean your carcass is. If it has hair/dirt on it there will be a high load of bacteria present. The dirtier it is, the less time you can age.

RIGOR MORTIS

At a bare minimum, you want to let it go through rigor mortis before you bone it, though. If it’s boned out before going through RM, it will be tougher. It’s going to shrink up but if it’s tied to the bone it can only shrink so much. If you bone it hot it will shrink twice as much. In the backcountry, sometimes you don’t have a choice but given the opportunity, let it hang at least one day. Or if you can just quarter it out so it is still attached to the bone, that would be the next best option.

One good thing is that a lot of bacteria, though not all, will have visible indicators. If it starts to get a slight off odor or turns a slight off color, don’t panic, just cut it up and freeze it.

I know it sounds complicated. That’s because it is. So how have people survived? Because sometimes we worry way too much. I remember my nutrition professor from South Dakota said when they had a horse die they’d tell the local Native Americans. They’d always wait three days to come get it. They lived. I am just giving you rules of thumb to go by.

One of my past bosses would age his beef ribeyes in cryovac in the fridge for six to eight weeks. Anymore, I won’t even cut up a ribeye unless I’ve aged it for a minimum of 45 days. I’ve even had them up to 90 days old. But, that’s beef in a cryovac bag in a cold fridge.

Don’t age your meat loose in the fridge. It will pick up odors.

Here’s what I’d recommend. Start off cautiously. Age a few days more than you normally do and progress from there.

Five things make your meat tenderer: 1) Letting it go through rigor mortis before boning, 2) let it age, 3) young animals are more tender, 4) use tenderizers before cooking, and 5) cook your meat slower.

TIPS

• Remove the hide. It acts as a blanket in warmer weather and spoils your meat.

• Game doesn’t have a fat cover like beef and will dry out faster.

• A hanging carcass derives most of the benefits of aging within the first nine days.

• The end of a cut, for instance the ribeye, will dry out and look almost like jerky. Before you cut your steaks slice off this layer of tough, dried up meat.

• Don’t cut your meat into steaks to age. Either hang the whole carcass or as primals. By primal I mean a whole shoulder, hindquarter, etc. If cut into steaks it will deteriorate faster. This is due to oxygen and bacteria hitting all sides of the meat.

Hopefully I’ve sparked your interest to experiment with aging your meat.

It will surprise you as to how much tenderer it is. Let’s end on a quote from Ben Franklin: “After three days fish and company both start to stink”! Don’t age 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.