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.

Keep those off-season fishing mechanics sharp by getting out on your local stream or river this winter.

Ask just about anyone if standing in two feet of 33 degree water while snow somehow finds its way down the back of their base layer sounds like their idea of a good time, and you’ll probably get a resounding no. This time of year, it’s tempting for anglers to stash the rods and hang up the waders ‘til next spring. And that turnkey fireplace beside the 55-inch flat screen doesn’t make the decision any easier.

But for those willing to don their thickest neoprene waders, set up shop on an icy riverbank for a few hours and fuss with frozen guides, there are still several opportunities to sharpen one’s angling skills, take in Idaho’s beautiful winterscape, and hook a few fish.

The benefits and strategy of winter stream fishing

There are several benefits to fishing rivers and streams during the coldest part of the year. For starters, you may have the whole stretch of river bank to yourself. For a handful of folks, fishing plays second fiddle to other winter hobbies like fly tying, skiing or making a pot of chili in the slow cooker. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a nice stretch of river where you won’t have to worry about summer crowds.

Seek out slow, deep water where trout and whitefish will most likely be holding, expending as little energy as possible. Look for slow pockets or pools on the edges of faster moving water, where food will be floating past in the main currents.

Slow and hungry

Just because fish are moving slower in the winter doesn’t mean they’re not still looking for an easy meal. Insect hatches are sparse in winter, but that doesn’t mean they still aren’t around as a food source for slow-moving fish. Fish can be frustratingly picky this time of year, so presentation and food size is vital.

As a general rule of thumb, use smaller bait and flies than you would in spring and summer.

The same goes for tippet. River flows in winter slow down dramatically and tend to be lower and clearer. That means it’s even easier for fish to see right through a poorly-executed presentation. It might be wise to downsize your tippet from what you usually run in the spring and summer, such as a 4X to a 5X.

Technique, technique, technique

Once you got your rig set up, it’s good to try different techniques that you might not have tried before in the warmer months.

Dead drifting is critical in winter because trout won’t chase a fly in cold water. To dead drift, simply let the slow-moving current carry the fly either on the surface (dry fly) or just beneath the surface in the upper column of water (bait, nymphs, midges). If you see dimples on the water, it may be fish feeding on drifting insects, which will likely be tiny midges or mayflies.

Occasionally stream fish will rise for dry flies, such as small midges or olive mayflies, during the winter. Save yourself a few extra grams of weight and keep that box of dry flies at home. A small midge emerger or a tiny olive mayfly emerger will be the only dries you’ll need.

If fishing for trout or steelhead, try swinging a fly by keeping the fly in the upper part of the water column. Steelhead and trout will often feed upwards, so a well-placed fly swinging across the upper portion of the water just may catch their eye.

If the fish aren’t going for small flies like midges and stoneflies, it may not hurt to lob a streamer out there to test the waters, so to speak. Streamers can look like a big, easy meal when presented slowly, but don’t expect trout to vigorously chase them like they do in summer.

Hit the snooze

The only thing sweeter than netting a jumbo fish in the middle of winter is netting a jumbo fish in the middle of winter after 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unplug the alarm clock. Disable your phone’s sleep reminder. Brew that extra pot of bold roast, and slam that extra waffle. Winter fishing means one thing to many anglers: sleeping in. This time of year, fish will be right there with you, figuratively speaking.

With most winter fisheries, fish won’t be getting after it until mid- to late-morning. Unlike peak summer conditions, fish will be most active during mid-afternoon on sunny days, and even longer into the afternoon on cloudy days.

It’s easy to see how excited one might be about submerging their southern hemisphere in icy water all for the hopes of catching a fish, but rest easy (and long) knowing that those fish will still be waiting for you when you hit your local river or stream later in the morning.

Where to start

Now that you’re well-rested and know what to try on fish, here’s where to find them. See Fish and Game’s Fishing Planner to learn more about each location.

Boise River: Don’t overlook this river during late season because low winter flows actually make it more accessible and wader-friendly than during summer. It has healthy populations of rainbow trout, whitefish and brown trout. But don’t expect gullible fish because they experience a lot of fishing pressure.

South Fork of the Boise River: This popular stretch below Anderson Ranch Dam doesn’t get any less popular during winter. Water coming out of the reservoir provides stable conditions and thousands of trout per mile make it a destination for late season anglers. Trout and whitefish tend to be above-average in size.

Payette River (Banks to Horseshoe Bend): This section of the Payette River supports a tremendously diverse fishery, including mountain whitefish. Whitefish will readily take a well-presented bait, fly or lure, they’re scrappy when hooked, and they’re tasty, yet admittedly, a little bony. Anglers have many access points along this stretch of river.

Big Wood River: This river has long been popular during winter for catch-and-release trout fishing. It rarely freezes, and if you fish it on the right day, you can catch trout on dry flies. Bring your midge and baetis patterns.

Malad River: This spring-fed stream is a fun winter fishing spot because it’s easily accessible from the Hagerman area and has lots of trout. Bring your light tackle because they tend to run small, but they’re plentiful and fiesty.

Lower Lochsa, and Selway rivers: All provide good opportunities to catch whitefish during winter, and also have catch-and-release trout fishing.

St. Joe River: This river provides winter fishing opportunities for cutthroat trout and whitefish.

North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River: Lower section also has fishing for whitefish and cutthroat trout and is accessible during winter.

Snake River below American Falls: This section of the Snake has produced some excellent trophy trout fishing in recent years, and there are plenty of others. The relatively mild climate and dam release keeps this fishing accessible and productive during winter.

Snake River (Tilden to Shelley): This section is slated to get nearly 40,000 rainbow trout stocked in November. Several thousand fish will be released near Tilden, Blackfoot, Firth and Shelley.

Portneuf River: Upper section is your best bet, and Fish and Game provides several access areas so you can get to the river.

South Fork of the Snake River: This has year-round trout fishing and there’s no limit on rainbow trout. There’s also lots of opportunity to catch whitefish during winter.

Don’t forget to buy a new fishing license for 2022, and so you don’t have to worry about it a year from now, three-year licenses and Fish and Game’s new auto renew are also available, so all you have to worry about is where you’re going fishing next.

One fun thing about being an outdoor writer is that I get to test a lot of new gear. It amazes me how many new items come out every year. I have seminars at all of the big shows in January: the Dallas Safari Club Convention & Expo, the SHOT and the Safari Club International Convention in ‘Vegas. So of course, 99.999 percent of the manufacturers will be there displaying their new gear for 2022 as well as their old tried and true products.

If you just met an outdoorsman/woman and don’t know what to buy them for Christmas, don’t panic, Santa’s little helper is here to help you out. In some ways, outdoorsmen are easy to buy for. We love our gear. And if we just had the latest greatest item, we’re convinced that we will finally be successful. BUT — it does have to be the exact item or you might as well burn your money and give them a bag of rocks because it will have the same effect.

But the good news is, you don’t necessarily have to spend a bundle to light up their eyes. Everyone has a budget. So I will list some economical gifts on up to the blow-their-socks-off items. So with the above said, here are some items that tested out well for me over 2021 or items that have stood the test of time.

— Fishing lures. Make sure you get the exact ones/colors that he prefers.

— Browning Hiking socks. Great for hunting, fishing, backpacking or hiking.

— 5.11 tactical pants. Katy and I both love these. They’re nice looking, durable and functional.

— XGO base layers.

— Axil electronic hearing protection.

— Smith’s knife sharpening gear. I use their fine diamond stones. They’re the best.

— Smith’s electric knife sharpener for the kitchen.

— Otis Lead Free Wipes.

— Flashlight — the ASP Dual Fuel Raptor.

— Hi Mountain Seasoning — they make awesome jerky and sausage seasoning packs. The best on the market.

— Real Avid cleaning rods.

— Caldwell Sandbags.

— Trulock shotgun chokes.

— Alps Mountaineering Taurus 2 tent, Blaze +20 sleeping bag, Nimble air mat and Dash backpacking chair.

— Versacarry holsters.

— Boyds’ Gunstocks, they make some cool wood stocks.

— Blackfire Clamplights, great for working on your truck in the dark or in camp while backpacking.

— Chard Jerky Gun.

KNIVES

— Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife.

— KOA Elk Hunter.

— If you want some economical folders, check out the line up from Smith’s Consumer Products.

— For a nice kitchen set check out the Smith’s Cabin and Lodge Cutlery Set.

— Spyderco Counter Pups, great kitchen knives.

— Benchmade Claymore, nice assisted opening knife.

ULTIMATE GIFTS

If you want to cut to the chaff and blow him/her out of the water here are the ticket items.

— Mantis X10 Elite Shooting Performance System. The Mantis X10 is a great tool to help you become a better shot.

— Diamond Blade Knives. They have too many cool ones to list but check out their Summit, Heritage or Surge knives. DB has won numerous awards.

— AR: Who doesn’t love an AR? For an economical AR check out the Anderson Mfg. AM-15, M-LOK, 5.56.

Henry’s lever actions. How can you not love lever actions? Check out their .22, .22 mag, 30-30 and 45-70. All super cool!

— Airguns are super popular. Check out the Umarex Synergis or the Umarex .25 cal. Gauntlet. Love these guns or another fun one is the Umarex Steel Force BB gun. It shoots 6-round bursts.

— Boots. I love the Danner Recurve Moc Toe and my daughter likes the La Crosse Lodestar.

— Caldwell Stable Table and Hydro Sled.

— 5.11 Atmos Warming Jacket.

— Riton Optics 10×42 binoculars and their 3-9×40 or 4-16×44 scopes.

STOCKING STUFFERS

Here’s where you can impress them with little economical items that they’ll love.

— Flies. I get them cheap from flydealflies.com.

— Adventure Medical Kits first aid gear. This is the gear I use.

— JSB pellets for their airguns.

— Aquimira filtered water bottles.

— Mountain House backpacking meals (these are almost gourmet!).

— Ammo: Very specific what caliber, manufacturer and grain he shoots. Testing some Nosler ammo right now.

— Mister Twister plastics and jigs.

— Pautzke Fireballs.

— Swab-Its cleaning gun cleaning swabs.

— Clamtainers, plastic ammo containers. Great for flying.

— Talon Snap pistol cleaning kit.

— Freedom Baby ABC, an outdoors ABC book for kids learning their alphabet.

— IOU that you’ll go fishing/hunting with him. This will be the best gift you could give him.

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 titled this article cooking pheasants but really it will apply to not only pheasants but also turkey and grouse. If you read my articles then you know that two weeks ago that I was in South Dakota pheasant hunting. I didn’t want to use the same ol,’ same ol’ cook-in-a-crockpot-with-mushroom-soup recipe so I thought I’d try something different.

When I boned them out, I pulled the breast and cut off the legs and bagged each separately. As a side tip, if you’re flying with meat, you don’t have to use a cooler. I usually wrap the bag of meat in clothes in my luggage and they stay frozen fine. It was no different this time. I threw them in my luggage at 2 and when I got home at midnight they were still frozen. In fact, the next afternoon when I pulled them out of the fridge to cook, they were still crusty.

Let’s start with the breast. I laid them on a cutting board and used a thick bladed Smith’s knife to slice them into thin strips. Cut them cross grain. I then laid them out and sprinkled them with the Hi Mountain Apple Blend Turkey Jerky seasoning. I then flipped the slices and seasoned the other side and then put them in a bag and squeezed the air out.

I like to season my jerky and marinate my meat in a plastic bag. That way every few hours I can flip the bag over and gently massage it for a couple of seconds and be ensured that it is getting evenly marinated.

I let it marinate for nearly 24 hours and then pulled it out and slapped it on my jerky air dryer. It dries unevenly due to all of the slices not being cut uniformly as well as the tray on bottom dries faster than the top trays. I’ll rotate the trays every hour or two and be watching for any small pieces that are done.

As they finish, I pull them off. Once again, I was reminded that Hi Mountain makes the best jerky and sausage seasoning in the world. This batch isn’t going to last long.

Now for the legs. I put them in a bag and poured in a bottle of Tony Chachere’s 30-minute Chicken Marinade. I also threw in a dash of Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing and pressed out the air and put in the fridge to season overnight.

The next day I put them on my Camp Chef pellet grill on high smoke, which is high smoke but low heat. Then I had to run over and pick up an Anderson Mfg. 5.56 that I had ordered. I have some Bowden Tactical after market parts and a Riton Optics scope that I’m going to trick it out with. I’ll be writing about that soon.

When I got home I pulled any jerky that was dried and turned up the heat on the smoker to get the legs ready for dinner. By now the legs were a golden brown and looked awesome. I only cook real potatoes and think instant potatoes are a communist plot but while shopping I had grabbed an instant pack of butter garlic instant potatoes. I cooked them and threw in some chopped onions and a spoonful of chopped garlic.

Kolby had a dozen tomatoes left over from the season that were on the edge. I made some homemade tomato soup which is easy. Cook the quartered tomatoes in a pan. When stewed put in a blender. Throw in a spoonful of chopped garlic and blend for a few seconds. Then return to the pan and throw in some chopped onions and chopped cilantro and a couple of cups of half & half or whole milk and stir.

We were now ready to eat like kings and queens. As you know if you’ve ever hunted pheasants, they’re the roadrunners of the game bird world. I don’t think that anything you do will keep them from being a little tough but gee, these had a great flavor and were great. We ate some more the next day for lunch after church.

So if you have a freezer of game birds you might want to try these methods on them. And yes, you can make jerky out of waterfowl.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and takes a minute to give thanks for living in the best country in the world and for your many blessings.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

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.