BOISE — Idaho wildlife officials on Thursday approved expanding trapping for river otters despite widespread opposition.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved a plan that lifts trapping restrictions on the mainstem of the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River, mainstem of the Snake River and mainstem of the main Salmon River. It also lifts restrictions on portions of the North Fork of the Payette River.

Commissioner Ron Davies of Clayton voted against the change, noting the commission should also consider Idaho residents who want to see otters in the wild but don’t want to kill them.

“There is a significant portion of the residents of the state of Idaho that don’t want to see this happen, and the responses are overwhelming toward that,” he said. “But probably my biggest reason against this is that trapping is under a microscope right now, particularly after the changes that were made to wolf trapping in our state. This will add fuel to the fire of that community that is against trapping.”

About 100 otters have been killed in Idah so far this trapping season, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The maximum number of otters that can be trapped is 160, and that’s broken down to maximum quotas in various regions of the state. The current season runs to March 31, or until a region’s quota is reached.

The change approved by the commission expands where trapping can occur, but retains the maximum quotas for each region.

State officials said there are between 50 and 80 trappers who pursue river otters, and that the Idaho Trappers Association expressed interest in the expansion. Backers said trapping is part of Idaho’s heritage and cited in the Idaho Constitution.

“When I first heard this I thought, well, OK, I can see their point,” said commission member Don Ebert. “Maybe we shouldn’t trap the river otters. People can see them, everybody loves them. I love them. I love to look at them. But the bottom line is, the heritage of the state of Idaho is to preserve the right of hunting, fishing and trapping. That’s a big deal in Idaho. With more population, more infringement on wild areas, that’s going to become more of an issue all of the time.”

Idaho lawmakers last year expanded wolf trapping and snaring to reduce wolf numbers, an action decried by environmental groups and that is being challenged in federal court.

John Robison of the Idaho Conservation League called the commission’s decision to expand river otter trapping baffling.

“While hopefully river otters will still be seen in these rivers, there will be fewer opportunities for folks to have memorable encounters with river otters,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “Decisions like these tend to alienate large swaths of the public, just at a time when Fish and Game needs more volunteers, partners, and supporters than ever before to accomplish their mission.”

I don’t know what makes varmint season so appealing. Maybe because our hunting seasons are all over and we feel like we cheated the system and snuck in one last hooray. Or maybe it’s just because it is flat out fun. Or maybe it’s because after a hard-core regimented big game season you can run ‘n’ gun and shoot multiple animals. Elk/deer hunting is like a chess game. Varmint hunting is like a high-speed video game!

Who knows all of the deep psychological reasons why varmint hunting is so much fun? If you’ve never varmint hunted, don’t be a deep thinker, just do it! In this article I’m going to cover techniques and gear that you’ll need. But everyone has a budget so if you’re a kid on a paper route budget don’t despair — just buy a hand call and go cheap. You can still get some shots.

First off let’s start with what gun(s) to use. Two decades ago, a good bolt action was the ticket. Now, ARs have taken over the scene and for good reason. They’re semi autos so you can get fast follow up shots. I just got an Anderson Mfg. 5.56 and tricked it out and am now ready to have at it.

I love rifle hunting but if there’s more than one of you in your hunting party, I’d recommend one of you carrying a shotgun. I kept count one year and 40 percent of my shots were close enough to use a shotgun. How many times has one busted you when you were calling? Either sneaking in and spooking at 20-30 yards or zipping in at Mach V and you didn’t even get a shot? Have one of the hunters in your group carry a shotgun for one season and I bet it will become a rule.

For shotguns I’d recommend using good quality ammo. I use Kent or HEVI-Shot. Sure, you can use leftover pheasant shells but if you want to reach out there to 50-70 yards you need to use good shells.

CALLS

When I was 5 or 6 years old, dad had an old wood call. We’d call for a minute and then wait five minutes. That philosophy has long gone out the window. Now everyone calls non-stop. That’s why electronic calls are so nice. They save you from blowing out your lungs on a hand call. After a few revolutions we’d then run a flashlight on the horizon to see if we could see any eyes.

Years later Johnny Stewart came out with cassette calls. My brother would plug one in his truck, roll down the windows and we’d stand in back of the truck. You can either run your light on the horizon or about 20 feet out from you in a circle. If you see eyes glistening the shooter gets ready and the light is dropped down on the varmint and you have about a second to shoot before they scatter. This was revolutionary.

If you buy a cheap call, you’re going to get frustrated. Buy a decent call. All the good varmint hunters I know use a FoxPro. It comes with quite a few calls and you can buy/download more. Of course mimic whatever game is in that area. Don’t use an elk in distress if you’re hunting outside of Star. Use a rabbit squeal. You get my drift.

DECOYS

Something that will tip the odds in your favor is to use a decoy. The most popular decoy is some kind of waggler. In a nutshell it is a wire attached to a motorized spinner that rotates. A white rag or piece of fur is tied to the end. You’d think a small white rag spinning around would scare them off but they love it.

Everyone has a budget. If you’re a kid on a paper route budget you get a stiff wire (3 to 4 feet long) and tie a turkey feather 2-4 inches from the end. Stick the wire in the ground at an angle and the breeze will twirl the feather around.

A decoy is important because a varmint hears the ruckus and comes running in expecting to see some action. If they don’t, that throws up a red flag. That also has them focusing on the decoy and not you.

BLINDS

You’ll need to be concealed while calling. Numerous times I’ve just hid behind a fence post or a pile of brush. A few years ago I upgraded and bought a strip of camouflaged burlap that was 3 feet by 10 feet long. I can lay this over a fence or between two bushes. Or there’s C-shaped panels that are lightweight and work great.

I don’t want to get too extravagant but it’s nice to have a chair. You don’t need a full-blown Lazy Boy. I like the Alps Mountaineering Dash Chair which is a backpacking chair. It is beneficial to have a low-profile chair for two reasons: 1. It elevates you so you can see over the grass and sage brush. 2. It’s comfortable so you will hold still longer and not spook the game.

So just because all of our hunting seasons have wound down don’t store away your rifles alongside your summer shorts just yet. There’s one more season in full swing right now — varmint season!

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

If you’ve never snowshoed, you ought to try it. In the old days when I bought my first pair of snowshoes all that they had were the old wood frame ones which had rawhide webbing. I still think that they’re the coolest.

In the old days, the trappers and American Indians made them out of branches and used rawhide strips to make the webbing. Out on open prairies and grasslands they used longer, narrower shoes. In brush and mountains everyone uses wider, shorter ones nicknamed Bear Claws.

But let’s back up to the beginning. Why would someone use snowshoes? Because in deep snow you’ll sink up to your waist and get buried. It is impossible to walk. And even in shallower snow it is a major pain if it is just slightly crusted over. You take a step and right when you’re putting weight on that foot you break through the crust and slam down into the snow. Snowshoes are the only way to go in snow other than if you’re a cross-country skier.

The bindings on snowshoes are different from those used on downhill skiing. When downhill skiing your foot is tied firmly to the ski. When snowshoeing your toe is in constant contact with the shoe but with every step your heel rises up. The bindings resemble a thick piece of rubber that your toe slips into. Of course, there are varying types of bindings but the original ones 40 years ago were all like this.

A few years ago — I don’t remember maybe 20 or 30 years ago — you started seeing aluminum framed snowshoes hit the market. They’re lightweight and relatively cheap. I still like the old wood/rawhide snowshoes the best but mine finally rotted out. It was cheaper to buy a pair of aluminum ones than to repair my old ones. So that’s what Katy and I use now.

So where should you go snowshoeing?

You don’t want to just randomly pick a mountain to hike up. You’ll want to pick a trail or old logging road to hike on. Think back to where you elk hunted last fall. Where were some good logging roads for hiking? You’ll want to pick an old logging road or trail. Or you can hike across a meadow. Or maybe even use them if you’re going ice fishing and the snow is deep on the ice.

I’ve seen a couple of backcountry yurts advertised as fun to hike to and spend the night in. I’ve never done that. When Katy and I go snowshoeing we just go up in the mountains and hit a trail. It’s a fun excuse to get up in the mountains and get a little exercise. We don’t have a big agenda. We’re just going hiking.

To have a carrot at the end of the hike I like to throw a coffee pot in my backpack. After a couple of hours of hiking we’ll build a fire and heat up a pot of hot water to make hot chocolate. You’ll want to throw a jug of water in your pack. Sure, you can melt snow but remember, 10 inches of snow melts down to 1 inch of water. By the time it heats and sizzles you don’t have much water left so you’ll use a lot of snow. But yes, I use snow. I’ll put water in the pot and supplement it with snow so I don’t have to pack as much water.

So, with the above said, heat up a pot of water and pour everyone a cup of hot water. Pull out the packs of hot chocolate and everyone is ready for a treat. It’s a big treat for everyone to warm up around the fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

A lot of the newer shoes are not quite wide enough so with some of them you’ll sink down in the snow if it is too powdery, soft and deep. I haven’t researched all of the makers so I can’t recommend which is the best shoes to buy.

So in closing, don’t sit around the house and get fat and lazy. Grab a pair of snowshoes and hit the trails.

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

Last week I said I wanted to write about Varmint Hunting but … maybe that will happen next week. A more time-sensitive topic popped up. I’ve been writing a weekly article for the ISJ since… I can’t remember when. You might think after a year or two you’d run out of topics to write about. But if you love something there’s always something new — a new angle or maybe you just get up in the mountains and get refreshed and have five more articles you’re dying to write.

Like right now I’m sitting in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport leaving the Dallas Safari Club Convention & Expo. Suddenly it hit me. I miss Katy. I’d pay $100 if she was sitting here with me right now for 10 minutes holding hands.

It’s weird, we just celebrated our 38th anniversary and I think I love her more now than when we got married. OK, I better switch back to hunting because if Katy sees that I’m comparing our love with my love for hunting this could be my last article!

Anyway, now is the show season and it makes sense. Hunting season is pretty much over so because it’s a dead time, January to March is the perfect time to schedule the shows. The SHOT show is the mother of all shows. It’s Jan. 17 to 21 so everything else falls somewhere around it. Although this year for some reason the Safari Club International Convention moved back to Vegas and is on the tail end of the same week at SHOT. Usually, it is in February.

But with all the above said, let’s talk about why you ought to hit the shows. We’ll start with the SHOT. Monday is Media Day at the Range. They invite writers to test out all of the new (and old) rifles, pistols, shotguns, crossbows and ammo. Of course, that’s a fun day. The show actually runs Tuesday through Friday. All of the big manufacturers are there. Worldwide. I don’t know if every country is there but nearly. Firearm manufacturers, ammo, backpacks, knives, optics, outdoor clothing, backpacks — you name it. The reason I’m there is to see all of the new gear for 2022. I’ll be finding new products to test and write about, lining up sponsors, trips, etc. It is by invitation only but if you ever get to go, you should.

Next let’s talk about the club conventions like SCI and DSC. Probably two-thirds of the booths are guides. If you want to book the hunting/fishing trip of a lifetime, these are the shows to hit. I want to take Katy and Kolby on a South Louisiana redfish/spec fishing trip and to Alaska fishing so I hit some of those booths. I met a good sounding group of Cajuns that run Saltgrassoutdoors.com. Then I talked to Waterfalls Resort, which is where I went for my first Alaska fishing trip years ago, which instigated my writing career. I may take them there.

Then you have the state shows like the Idaho Sportsman Show, The Great Northwest Outdoor Expo (I hope they’re having it this year) and so forth. I love these shows. They’re local so you meet a lot of local manufacturers with a new product that they’ve invented. That’s how I met the SneakyHunter Bootlamps crew.

Then of course there are a lot of guides there, too. You can usually tell by talking to them if they’re legit but check references. You don’t want to save your pennies for the trip of a lifetime only to end up with some bozo for a guide.

Then I love hitting the seminars. But take with a grain of salt seminars put on by celebrities if they’re promoting their sponsor’s products. Like any shopping check around and do some research. I conduct 40 to 60 seminars a year. I had a seminar at the DSC, two at SHOT and three at the SCI Conv. I try to give honest reviews because if I say this air gun is the best, some kid may be saving up his paper route earnings to buy that air gun. If it’s a dud he’s stuck with it until he gets out of college and gets a real job.

But still, here’s a couple of words of warning:

1. Remember the old proverb — a gift blinds the eyes of the wise. If the speaker is sponsored, the gift will sway his opinion.

2. Marketing is made to create discontent. A few years ago the .300 Win. Short Mag was advertised as the best rifle ever and the 30-06 was relegated to the museum. Then the 6.5 Creedmoor came out and overnight the .300 Win. Short Mag was deemed worthless. Manufacturers have to breed discontent or you’ll use the same rifle your dad did, your kid will use it and your grandkid will. That’s bad for business. They want you to buy a new rifle every year.

Everyone likes new inventions but products also have to stand the test of time. So investigate and make wise buying decisions.

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

I wanted to write an article on varmint hunting this week but it will have to wait until maybe next week due to a lot of extenuating circumstances.

I was supposed to fly to South Dakota on Monday but due to airlines laying off staff, they were short-handed and my first flight out of Boise was late which threw off all of my other connections.

Rebooked for Tuesday. Got up at 3:30 a.m. and Katy dropped me off only to discover that my flight was canceled.

Rebooked for Thursday morning only to have my first flight late again due to short staffing which threw off all of my connections. Again! Finally, I actually got out at 6 a.m. Sunday morning and am now sitting in the Minneapolis airport waiting for a flight to South Dakota. I think that I am finally going to make it on the fourth try!

So with that said, I have spent the week running back and forth to the airport, not getting a paycheck.

But with the above said, we’ll make lemonade out of the lemons provided by the layover. To begin, at least I was stuck in Idaho so I got to spend an extra week with Katy and Kolby. One day, Kolby was going to walk her new dog and wanted to know if I wanted to go along. Sure, I need to get in shape anyway. We took off down a trail and she showed me a house that had an apple tree. The owners weren’t picking them so I knocked on the door and asked if we could pick some apples. He said sure.

We picked a couple of bags worth and then came back later loaded for bear. We had plenty of bags and my backpack and picked 70 pounds of apples. If you’re like me then you’re wondering, aren’t they all frozen and ruined since it has been single digit weather for a while? Which is exactly why I am writing this article. No! They are salvageable!

So, to answer the obvious question first. Aren’t they soft and mushy? Yes! And no! Let me explain. It surprised me but most of the apples were still on the tree, not that many had fallen. And when picking them I only had a few fall. Now bear in mind, I’m not a real apple expert but I would have expected that they would have all fallen by now, but not so.

So yes, they are frozen right now but if you have access to an apple tree, hustle out there and stock up for the winter! They are frozen so of course that has burst the cell wall structure so they will be mushy when they thaw out but still, you can do a lot with them. Let’s list out some options:

First and easiest, slice them and eat them frozen. They taste like a frozen apple-flavored popsicle and are delicious. I couldn’t believe how tasty they were.

Second option is to slice them and throw them in a blender with orange juice. This made an awesome juice drink for us at supper last night. I tried it later with a berry juice but that was a little weird so I’d recommend just mixing them with orange juice.

Since we had 70 pounds there was no way that we’d use them all before they went bad so we quartered out as many as we could fit in the freezer and put them in bags and froze them for later use.

A fourth option, and a good one, we made applesauce. Applesauce is easy to make. Becky across the street taught us how to make this. Slice some apples and put in a pan and boil/cook. Add cinnamon and allspice and when soft put in a blender. Excellent applesauce. We made way too much so we put some in baggies and froze it.

And I saved the best for last. Ever since my daughters were 6 to 8 years old, they made apple crisp using a recipe out of one of their kids cook books. They’ve since progressed to recipes off of the internet. But regardless, Kolby is about to founder us on apple crisp. To add a little more flair to it she throws on a few dollops of ice cream which makes it to die for. Here’s a recipe she shared with me that she got off of the internet by The Chunky Chef. We tweaked it a little.

Kolby’s Apple Crisp

6-8 Apples

¾ cup Oatmeal

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. allspice

2 tsp. lemon juice

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup flour

½ cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl mix the topping ingredients and stir.

Lay apple slices in pan.

Cover with the topping ingredients.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown.

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation Trail Rangers cleared 236 miles of trail and cut and cleared 2,428 trees on the Salmon-Challis National Forest during the 2021 field season.

Rangers also accomplished other light maintenance such as trail tread repair and water bar maintenance, a forest news release said.

The Department of Parks and Recreation also contracted with Idaho Single Track Alliance to clear an additional 95 miles of trail and cut and cleared an additional 455 trees, the release said.

In total, the Department of Parks and Recreation and partnership organizations such as Single Track Alliance, spent 21 days on the forest with crews from ranging in size from two to five people. Several hundred additional trees, that were not officially reported, were cut and cleared during this time, the release said.

“Our partnership with Idaho Parks and Recreation is vital to maintaining trails on the Forest,” Forest Supervisor Chuck Mark said in the release. “As we look to continue to provide sustainable access for Idahoans for years to come, (the Department of Parks and Recreation’s) ongoing shared stewardship of trails will be critical to providing this access.”

In addition to trail maintenance the Department of Parks and Recreation host an avalanche education course on the Salmon-Challis National Forest each winter. The department also participates in the Adopt-A-Trail Program on the Forest and in the local Salmon-Challis Trails Group meetings.

“IDPR’s Trail Rangers absolutely love to work on the Salmon-Challis National Forest,” Brian DiLenge, the department’s East Region trails specialist, said in the release. “The fun remote trails and the spectacular views make it one of our favorite places to work in the state.”

You might be thinking, “It’s pretty hard to top 2020’s string of record-setting fish,” but then in walks 2021 like the ’27 New York Yankees. This year, anglers from all across the country flocked to Idaho’s numerous fisheries and amounted some incredible new state records, from carp to cutthroat trout.

In total, 2021 had 18 new state records, which included six certified weight records and 12 new catch-and-release records. Making the cut this year are the following angler trophy stories, from Priest Lake to American Falls and everywhere in between.

A load of carp

Not too long ago, Meridian’s own Cris Endicott landed a whopping 46.7-pound Snake River grass carp on Oct. 10. The grass carp measured 50 inches long and set a new rod/reel certified weight state record for the species. Since 2016, records for carp have been kept separately for rod/reel and archery anglers, and this fish surpassed the current 39.5-pound archery record set by Saige Wilkerson in 2012.

Record cutthroat trout tips scales (and boat) in Priest Lake

This time of year, Priest Lake is more suited for ice skating than boating. But back in May 2021, Spokane angler Madison Nackos wound up setting a new catch-and-release state record for a westslope cutthroat trout that tipped both the scales and the boat. Coming in at an impressive 24 inches, the westslope cutty beat out the previously held record of 21 inches set back in 2020 by Tom Weadick.

Westslope cutthroat trout are native to Idaho and can be found in both lakes and streams throughout Idaho’s Panhandle Region and throughout central Idaho’s Clearwater and Salmon river systems.

Everything’s just perchy

Lake Cascade is renowned for its “jumbo” yellow perch, so much so that it even attracts anglers from as far away as Wisconsin. Mosinee, Wisconsin, native Adam Mann made the journey in search of some trophy perch ice fishing in March 2021. During that trip, Mann hoisted up a new certified weight record perch, weighing in at 3.22 pounds, or roughly the weight of a bag of apples.

“It was incredible, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Mann said.

His record topped the previously impressive record of 2.96 pounds held by Skye Coulter set in 2016.

A cutthroat tug-of-war

Jon Urban of Eagle is no stranger to the catch-and-release record books. Urban set the Lahontan cutthroat trout catch-and-release record once before, but had the title stripped earlier this year by Stephen Veals in March. Just two months later, Jon Urban was back on top of the leaderboard, this time with an even bigger Lahontan cutthroat trout — 18.5 inches long — while fishing on Grasmere Reservoir.

Important note: Anglers looking to set a catch-and-release record should be prepared with a tape measure and a camera. Remember, catch-and-release records need to be broken by a minimum of ½ inch to qualify.

Honorable mentions Community pond trophy

Most local ponds aren’t known for their trophy fish, but Joe Brandes made us reconsider that notion. In July, this lucky Boise angler landed an impressive white crappie while fishing Sawyers Pond near Emmett. While Brandes let the 15 ¼-inch white crappie go, he took home a new catch-and-release state record.

Not too common

It’s not every day that an angler hauls in a 37 ½-pound common carp from the depths of American Falls Reservoir, but on July 14 this year, that’s just what angler Kaden Hammer did. Hammer’s catch earned him the catch-and-release state record for common carp.

Gold-medal tanker

Back in March, Snake River angler Kyle Stevens shot a massive 3.4-pound goldfish with a bow, earning him a certified weight record for the species in archery.

Checking records in real-time

Catch-and-release records will no longer be printed in the Idaho Fishing Seasons and Regulations brochures. Instead, the online rulebook will be accessible via a QR code that folks can scan (in the brochure) with their mobile phones that will direct them to Fish and Game’s up-to-date table of records. With anglers breaking records left and right, Fish and Game staff are working to keep state record information accessible and current.

This is one of those “do as I say, not as I do” articles. I don’t want to make my ignorance publicly known but until the last few years I’ve never given it a thought as to prepping my hunting knives for storage. Three things have woken me up to the need to do so.

The first one was about 15 years ago when I pulled my skinning knife out of the sheath to skin a deer, elk, bear or something and noticed that some idiot (that would be me) had left gobs of fat caked up on the blade from the previous year’s hunt. It hit me then that maybe I ought to wipe the blood and fat off of the blade before storing away my knives.

Then a couple of years ago my brother said that he always sharpened his knives before he put them away for the year. That way the next year when he pulled them out on opening day to skin his deer they were sharp and good to go.

And the final straw that tilted me over to this new line of thought: I’d recently done a few TV shows with “The High Roads With Keith Warren” and while watching the show there was an advertisement in the middle in which he said something to the effect that you ought to clean your knife before putting it away and wipe it down with a good quality oil but to be sure to wash the oil off with dish soap the next year before using it.

So, with all of the above said, I finally jumped on board and am recommending that you properly winterize your knife before storing it. I’m going to describe what steps that I’m going to be taking from now on.

First off, blood is corrosive so you’ll want to wash any blood/fat off of your knife with warm soapy water and then dry it off well before putting it back in the sheath. I have some Kydex sheaths but I still think there is something attractive or maybe nostalgic about a leather sheath and favor them. But, on many of our hunts we encounter snow, rain or both. So, after you get home from your hunt you don’t want to throw your knife on the shelf in a wet sheath. Granted, many of the new knives are made out of stainless steel so they resist rusting. But some of the old school knives like Old Timer, etc. are made of some kind of regular iron and will rust and pit. It’s a shame for a knife to rust up and not be able to pass it on to your kids or grandkids. So not only do you need to properly care for the knife but also dry out the sheath when you get home before storing the knife in it.

Next, after washing and drying my knife I’m going to wipe the blade with a rag that I put a few drops of high-quality gun oil on. We do this with our guns don’t we? Some of my Diamond Blade knives cost $400 to $500 so it’d be a shame not to be able to pass them on down to my grandkids. So, I think Keith is right in advising to do this.

And don’t forget to care for your sheath. If you take care of it the sheath should last for two to three generations; if not, it can mold up or dry out and crack in a short amount of time. So, here’s my advice: After you get home let it dry out. Then using a rag rub it generously with either Neatsfoot oil or Lexol. This will help it last for years to come.

Or I guess there is one other option. Don’t ever kill anything and then your knife can sit in the knife display case at home for eternity!

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

A lot of you are done hunting for the season but before you move on to ice fishing, drinking lattes or whatever you do until spring bear season hits, don’t forget to properly clean your rifle before you throw it in the gun safe.

If you properly clean your rifle it will last for generations, if not, you can destroy it in one year. Let me give you a good example of a bad example. One time I grabbed my 12-year-old nephew to take him deer hunting. We pulled his older brother’s rifle out of the closet for him to use. It WAS a nice rifle. But, the year before, the big brother had thrown it in the back of his truck in a hard case for the six-hour drive home through a pounding rain.

A year later when we pulled it out it was rusted up like a 125-year-old pirate ship on the bottom of the ocean. A top-notch rifle rusted up. OK, this may be a drastic example but you get my drift. Clean your rifle before you store it.

Here’s another reason to properly clean your rifle. If you aren’t able to obtain good groups, cleaning the fouling out of the barrel may help. I just got an Anderson Mfg. AR 5.56 and am tricking it out for the upcoming varmint season. I put on some Bowden Tactical after-market parts, a Riton Optics scope and got some good Nosler ammo. But that is all in vain if I don’t properly clean the rifle.

So how do you properly clean your rifle? Don’t be like my old buddy Roy that said you don’t have to clean smokeless rifles. And on the other extreme is my buddy Troy that goes over the top. I’m somewhat in the middle.

To begin, you’ll want to run a swab down the barrel soaked with a solvent. Years ago, everyone used Sweets 7.62 Solvent. Then there started leaking out rumors that if you didn’t properly remove all of the Sweets 7.62 that it could eat up your rifling. A buddy recommended that I switch to using Barnes CR-10.

After you run the swab down your barrel with the solvent then attach a cleaning brush (that matches the caliber of your rifle) and run it up and down your barrel to break loose the fouling. Then run a patch down the barrel to remove the fouling. Repeat until the patch comes out clean.

After you are done, I run a few patches soaked with Otis gun cleaning oil down the barrel to ensure that all of the solvent is removed and to oil the barrel so it doesn’t rust. The first shot after cleaning your gun won’t group as well so most serious shooters shoot one shot and then shoot their group.

If you’re cleaning a bolt action rifle, you’ll want to use a bore guide. Remove the bolt and slide in the bore guide and run the rod down the barrel from the back end. Here’s why. The last spot that the bullet touches before leaving the rifle is the crown. You don’t want to ding up the crown or it will harm your accuracy. That’s why rifles have recessed crowns to protect them. Of course on a semi auto you have no choice but to enter through the end of the barrel. And if you use a graphite or aluminum cleaning rod it shouldn’t matter. Don’t use a stainless-steel rod or you may harm your rifle.

Also clean the breach. I found something cool to help on this task. It’s called a Swab-Its which resembles an ear swab except that it has a foam tip. They offer various sizes. These are the best tools that I’ve found to clean tight to reach spots on my guns.

And, lastly, run an oiled patch over the outside of the rifle to put a thin layer of oil on it to protect the surface. You don’t have to soak it. Your rifle should now be good to store for the winter unless you’re like me and it is now varmint season. Off we go again!

Tools to help

Use a graphite or aluminum cleaning rod so you don’t damage your barrel. I just got a Real Avid graphite rod that I like.

As a kid I piled a stack of blankets on the kitchen table to hold my rifle for cleaning. It simplifies things to use a portable gun cleaning station which is a plastic box with forks on each end to hold your rifle steady while cleaning. It also has room to hold all of your cleaning supplies so they don’t get misplaced.

Use good gun oils. As far as I know Otis makes the best.

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

A buddy shot his deer this morning and I’d told him if I was in town, I’d cut it up for him. I had an article written but the photos haven’t been approved yet. So I thought, you know, this would be a good topic to write about this week. So today we’re going to talk about what to do if you shoot a deer/elk/bear/moose/antelope and can’t get your truck to it.

To begin, let’s talk about what to do if you shoot an animal 5 miles back in the mountains. Or even a mile. If you have horses, then you’ll just need to quarter it out, throw the quarters in the panniers and hit the trail.

But let’s hold on a hot second. Whether you have horses or not, you still need to skin it first. The first 5 million animals I gutted I did the old traditional way. Make a cut up the midline and gut it out. But here’s another way you might try.

Don’t even gut your animal. Make a cut down the backline. While the animal is laying on its side, peel the skin down to the belly. Remove the forequarter. Then pull the backstrap and next the hindquarter. Then flip it over and repeat on the opposite side. This way you don’t even have to gut your animal.

To bone the animal, use a Knives of Alaska professional boning knife. Once every blue moon I’ll carry a small tarp to spread out and then I can lay the cuts on the tarp to keep them clean. If you don’t have a tarp, no biggie. Just lay 1 ½-inch thick limbs against a log and lay the cuts on the branches. That keeps them out of the dirt and let’s air blow over and under them and cool off.

It’s best to put the cuts into a canvas bag when you load them into your panniers (or really your backpack, too). Canvas keeps the cuts clean but the bag breathes. If you pack out your meat in plastic bags they will hold in the heat. I’ve done it numerous times but it’s best not to.

You’ve probably heard about aging meat. That will be a whole article in and of itself. Basically, aging is controlled rotting. No one likes to hear that description but it is semi true. So why would you age your meat? Aging makes the meat more tender and gives it a distinct taste that a lot of people like.

It is best to let the meat age on the carcass. But what if you’re in the backcountry and can’t haul out the whole animal? Or, even if you can haul it out, what if it is too warm? Then you have no choice but to bone it out.

So obviously you can’t always age your animal. Now for the kinker. If at all possible, it is best to at least let it go through rigor mortis. Here’s why. No matter what, the muscle sarcomeres are going to shrink up as it goes through rigor mortis, right? But with the ligaments attached to the bone it only allows them to shrink so much. But if you bone out your game hot, it will shrink let’s say two or three times more. This makes the meat tough. So, if at all possible, don’t bone it out for 18 hours after shooting it.

But, let’s say you shoot something on top of a mountain in bear/wolf country. You can’t leave it there overnight or they’ll eat it. So sometimes (a whole lot of times) you won’t have a choice but to bone it out hot. And it’s not the end of the world. I’ve boned out hundreds of deer hot. It’s just that it will be more tender if you don’t have to.

If you’re packing out on horses then you can quarter it out leaving it attached to the bone and pack it back to camp in quarters. You can even hang those quarters in a tree and let it age in camp. You may want to hang a tarp so the sun doesn’t warm it up during the day. Of course, if you’re backpacking it out, you’ll want to bone it out so you’re not packing out bones.

Well, we are out of room but if you want to know how to bone out your game and learn some unique cooking tips from Michael Scott (which is one of the top 15 chefs in America), check out “The High Road with Keith Warren” at highroadhunting.com. We did a three-part TV series on processing game.

Happy eating!

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. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.