RETURN FROM THE WILDERNESS

[stilllearning]

ok just to let you know ....... I did not sleep peacfuly last night at all and it is all your guys fault.

How you ask and thank you for asking.

I drempt all night about chasing hogs around in the woods trying to get that perfect shot. I ran from some hogs while you all laughed at me too. thanks for the help by the way. I am loving your guys stories and seriously can not wait to see the video come out and my wife is going to kill me when I order a copy but it will be worth a couple of nights on the couch if the stories are already making it so I can't sleep. I can't imagine what the video will do for me. ;D

Way to go folks.

[lockmaster]

Hog hunting is very addictive SL....

;D ;D ;D

Pleasant dreams.......

REAL is SOOOOOO much better!!! ;D ;D

[lockmaster]

We have so many great photos between all of us that were on the hunt...but this is one of my personal favorites. This is Cliff, (skipmasters dad) at full draw on his hog. There was a long "stare down" here between him and his hog. The hog was HUGE and this photo does not do justice to it's true size.



(This is the hog he "HAMMERED" in the end with a fantastic shot that put the hog down....but here, the hog was displaying a very unpredictable "attitude" by actually starting to walk towards Cliff making us wonder at the hog's next move.......Would he charge Cliff?........he didn't!!! After the shot by Cliff, the hog only made it about 10-15 feet before expiring.

[BT]

I think cliff definitely showed some of the Tedicast quality's on that one

There were many shots to be had but none were perfect other than the one that was shot

[BT]

admin said:

Now that I am all caught up with the things that needed doing I can tell my side of the story as it pertains to the weekend.
(other than the hunting aspect.)

Day 1 :

The ride to Everett (where the wilderness is located) took about 6 1/2 hours with a pretty steady clip and only one stop for gas and coffee.
The ride was very enjoyable with Spiker there to act as a wedge between the boys ;D
More than a few times I got the eye as to their behavior but in my defence....I am not a single parent and they are not just like me

We did manage to get lost for a total of 6 exits by heading north when we should have been going south
I think that perhaps I may be able to blame it on the snow storm that we encountered although Spiker assures me that he did see the sign which would have lead us in the correct direction had I seen it.
None the less....we needed gas and it was available on our turn around exit.
(everything was just working out for us....lemons to lemonade)

The boys were much better after the stop and although we moved forward with a degree of trepidation as to our course , we made good time and did arrive at our destination before our agreed time.

The restaurant was warm and we got seated then waited for the next of our crew to arrive.
It wasn't long at all before Lockmaster arrived and then soon after the Westchester crew followed in.

After a short bite to eat we headed in the last 18 miles to the Lodge.
We were not there long before Alvie mentioned that if we wanted to , he might be able to get us in for a late afternoon hunt.
It seemed that Spiker was suited up before the last word left Alvie's lips ;D
We all took a few shots into the practice butt and it was then that redsoxboy found his bow to be hitting 5" low and 3" right
Thank God we had the good sense to check our equipment before we went out.

Lockmaster stayed behind to catch up on the much needed rest although I now wish he had at least walked out with us.
I didn't have nearly enough time for the rest of the weekend in which to spend time with this one friend who I had not seen for so long.
But we headed out with happy hearts and a great anticipation of seeing good hogs this day.

We had not gone into the area more than 100 yards when redsoxboy saw a large Barbado Ram standing 40 yards of the trail below us.
He turned to me and asked if a Ram was more expensive than a hog and if not , could he try and get this one.
I dont think you could ask for more than a son who values your position over his own
I assured him that I would be fine with that if that was what he would be satisfied with.
It was cool to watch my son put his first stalk on an animal with his bow in hand.
He moved awkwardly for a seasoned hunter but for a novice....he was like a cat

After the success of my sons stalk we headed down into a valley where we had heard the screams of a hog which our guide assured us was caused by fighting boars there.
Later we would find out that it was instead because of spiker's arrow
We saw some hogs in their beds which they had cut out on the slopes of the hills to gain sanctuary from the cold winds and we moved past them in an attempt to find hogs which were at least as able to move as were our selfs.
We found two between Skipmaster and Myself.

With an hour of light left remaining we had scored out 2/3rds of our party.
This was a feat that was provided for by mother nature in part and added to by our own skills as archers
We all did our best to help our guides load the buggy's that came to pick up our meat and I have to wonder how they would have done this without the aid
These men , our guides are rocks and as cheerful workers as you will ever meet I dare say.
I hope that those who follow us will be as quick to lend them a hand and offer them a bit more than their pay at the end of each hunt because they truly do earn and deserve it

Back at the lodge the guides hung and cleaned our quarry as we collected our coffee and food and toasted our good fortune among one another.
I was really happy to see that my companions here seemed to be enjoying this hog hunting as much as I have myself , each and every time I go.
That night we had Spiker's Chili and Lockmasters macaroni and cheese with potato salad and deer salami and more.
My stew went sour on the ride down and had to be tossed

I dont even remember much of what went on that night other than that there were many tellings and retelling of the events of that afternoon and it seemed to be enough to keep the smiles on everyones faces.
I never got to the pool table but the boys and others did while we all took turns watching the video of each one of us who had gotten some action that day.
The only sour note that I was very down about was that Spiker's film had not come out.
I felt so bad that I offered to have him hunt another hog with me but he bailed out
I wish that he hadn't turned me down because that film needed to be created for the benefit of his friends and self as the next 11 months go by.
Heck!....I would have been happy to pay for another hog just to see him take it in the same manner that he took the first! ;D
Perhaps the story of his encounter will always shine brighter than the film just because it had to be played through the minds cinema
where editing is done to fit ones own perceptions of what went on there.
I am seeing this one as a great comedy

We stayed awake far past a reasonable hour IMO but it was hard to get serious and sleep for the sake of the following day when I was having such a good time being awake.
None the less...off to bed I went.

Day 2 :

I slept very soundly as I generally do and did not awaken to the billiard balls that woke cliff
(Cliff later stated how much he was beginning to hate the game )

The breakfast that was prepared was a solid one and tasted great.....old fashion SOS is what I used to refer to it as and it was done in a way that was worth going back to get seconds
After breakfast we got suited up and all went out with Lockmaster and Cliff in search of their perfect hogs.
Both of them scored very good hogs that would provide great eats for months to come

The real story starts afterwords.
There was a trophy hunter there at that time who was ..... well .... lets just say that he was there and leave it at that
And so we ate lunch and waited for them to leave.
I remember saying something about waiting till they were out of the way before taking care of the hogs but after that I kind of forgot about it.
It was Spiker that came to me after they left and suggested he and I take advantage of the time to butcher a hog so that he could learn how.

I agreed and approached the task as an aside to the day.
I remember someone asking about watching the video's that were there while we relaxed that evening.
I actually said that this would be a great idea.....as if we had all the time in the world
Spiker and I butchered up 1/2 of a hog and packaged it.
We took out time and it came out great

Lockmaster showed up in the butcher room and watched and offered suggestions as Spiker worked and I went outside to have a smoke.....still ignorant to the fact of what was before us
We did Spiker's other 1/2 of the hog and after a couple of hours it was packaged too.
Taking our sweet time and treating it as more of a shop class than what needed to be done.
I am not sure as to when it sunk in but it may well have been when Skipmaster came in , walked into the cooler and said HOLY crap!!
I think that may have been it ;D
I walked in to the cooler and however I had missed it the first two trips , I now saw the full picture of what faced us

Soon afterwords I was breaking the hogs down as skipmaster skillfully made the cuts and Spiker wrapped.
Lockmaster was cutting as well and cliff was helping me hold the giant slabs of swinging pork still so that I could work.
The most amazing thing a saw was the work that Rayzortech did on the skulls
I could not have done what he was doing to the degree that he was doing it
The skulls were perfect afterwards and I thanked him for doing such a great job for my son and myself

What I did not know was that only lockmaster,skipmaster and myself knew how to butcher
That was crazy!.....but within a couple of hours you would have never know this to be the fact
We worked as a well oiled machine for 14 hours or more with only one break when Cliff prepared a rack of ribs for us to eat.
Cliff is very good on a grill

When we finished it was 4:30 in the morning....12 hours of cutting and 24 hours of wake time
We were spent....to say the least

I will remember that day till the day I die!

That was the best and hardest I have worked in a dozen years and I know that can be said for everyone.
All the while we laughed and joked although we were all ready to drop dead.
In a regular work place it probably could have turned into something ugly but among such people as we had here , all we had was fun in the face of adversity.

[akdd]

Congratulations on the great hogs!!! Thanks for sharing the great stories and pictures. I am happy that everybody had such a good time. I would have liked to have been there maybe next year.

[BT]

admin said:

admin said:

Now that I am all caught up with the things that needed doing I can tell my side of the story as it pertains to the weekend.
(other than the hunting aspect.)

Day 1 :

The ride to Everett (where the wilderness is located) took about 6 1/2 hours with a pretty steady clip and only one stop for gas and coffee.
The ride was very enjoyable with Spiker there to act as a wedge between the boys ;D
More than a few times I got the eye as to their behavior but in my defence....I am not a single parent and they are not just like me

We did manage to get lost for a total of 6 exits by heading north when we should have been going south
I think that perhaps I may be able to blame it on the snow storm that we encountered although Spiker assures me that he did see the sign which would have lead us in the correct direction had I seen it.
None the less....we needed gas and it was available on our turn around exit.
(everything was just working out for us....lemons to lemonade)

The boys were much better after the stop and although we moved forward with a degree of trepidation as to our course , we made good time and did arrive at our destination before our agreed time.

The restaurant was warm and we got seated then waited for the next of our crew to arrive.
It wasn't long at all before Lockmaster arrived and then soon after the Westchester crew followed in.

After a short bite to eat we headed in the last 18 miles to the Lodge.
We were not there long before Alvie mentioned that if we wanted to , he might be able to get us in for a late afternoon hunt.
It seemed that Spiker was suited up before the last word left Alvie's lips ;D
We all took a few shots into the practice butt and it was then that redsoxboy found his bow to be hitting 5" low and 3" right
Thank God we had the good sense to check our equipment before we went out.

Lockmaster stayed behind to catch up on the much needed rest although I now wish he had at least walked out with us.
I didn't have nearly enough time for the rest of the weekend in which to spend time with this one friend who I had not seen for so long.
But we headed out with happy hearts and a great anticipation of seeing good hogs this day.

We had not gone into the area more than 100 yards when redsoxboy saw a large Barbado Ram standing 40 yards of the trail below us.
He turned to me and asked if a Ram was more expensive than a hog and if not , could he try and get this one.
I dont think you could ask for more than a son who values your position over his own
I assured him that I would be fine with that if that was what he would be satisfied with.
It was cool to watch my son put his first stalk on an animal with his bow in hand.
He moved awkwardly for a seasoned hunter but for a novice....he was like a cat

After the success of my sons stalk we headed down into a valley where we had heard the screams of a hog which our guide assured us was caused by fighting boars there.
Later we would find out that it was instead because of spiker's arrow
We saw some hogs in their beds which they had cut out on the slopes of the hills to gain sanctuary from the cold winds and we moved past them in an attempt to find hogs which were at least as able to move as were our selfs.
We found two between Skipmaster and Myself.

With an hour of light left remaining we had scored out 2/3rds of our party.
This was a feat that was provided for by mother nature in part and added to by our own skills as archers
We all did our best to help our guides load the buggy's that came to pick up our meat and I have to wonder how they would have done this without the aid
These men , our guides are rocks and as cheerful workers as you will ever meet I dare say.
I hope that those who follow us will be as quick to lend them a hand and offer them a bit more than their pay at the end of each hunt because they truly do earn and deserve it

Back at the lodge the guides hung and cleaned our quarry as we collected our coffee and food and toasted our good fortune among one another.
I was really happy to see that my companions here seemed to be enjoying this hog hunting as much as I have myself , each and every time I go.
That night we had Spiker's Chili and Lockmasters macaroni and cheese with potato salad and deer salami and more.
My stew went sour on the ride down and had to be tossed

I dont even remember much of what went on that night other than that there were many tellings and retelling of the events of that afternoon and it seemed to be enough to keep the smiles on everyones faces.
I never got to the pool table but the boys and others did while we all took turns watching the video of each one of us who had gotten some action that day.
The only sour note that I was very down about was that Spiker's film had not come out.
I felt so bad that I offered to have him hunt another hog with me but he bailed out
I wish that he hadn't turned me down because that film needed to be created for the benefit of his friends and self as the next 11 months go by.
Heck!....I would have been happy to pay for another hog just to see him take it in the same manner that he took the first! ;D
Perhaps the story of his encounter will always shine brighter than the film just because it had to be played through the minds cinema
where editing is done to fit ones own perceptions of what went on there.
I am seeing this one as a great comedy

We stayed awake far past a reasonable hour IMO but it was hard to get serious and sleep for the sake of the following day when I was having such a good time being awake.
None the less...off to bed I went.

Day 2 :

I slept very soundly as I generally do and did not awaken to the billiard balls that woke cliff
(Cliff later stated how much he was beginning to hate the game )

The breakfast that was prepared was a solid one and tasted great.....old fashion SOS is what I used to refer to it as and it was done in a way that was worth going back to get seconds
After breakfast we got suited up and all went out with Lockmaster and Cliff in search of their perfect hogs.
Both of them scored very good hogs that would provide great eats for months to come

The real story starts afterwords.
There was a trophy hunter there at that time who was ..... well .... lets just say that he was there and leave it at that
And so we ate lunch and waited for them to leave.
I remember saying something about waiting till they were out of the way before taking care of the hogs but after that I kind of forgot about it.
It was Spiker that came to me after they left and suggested he and I take advantage of the time to butcher a hog so that he could learn how.

I agreed and approached the task as an aside to the day.
I remember someone asking about watching the video's that were there while we relaxed that evening.
I actually said that this would be a great idea.....as if we had all the time in the world
Spiker and I butchered up 1/2 of a hog and packaged it.
We took out time and it came out great

Lockmaster showed up in the butcher room and watched and offered suggestions as Spiker worked and I went outside to have a smoke.....still ignorant to the fact of what was before us
We did Spiker's other 1/2 of the hog and after a couple of hours it was packaged too.
Taking our sweet time and treating it as more of a shop class than what needed to be done.
I am not sure as to when it sunk in but it may well have been when Skipmaster came in , walked into the cooler and said HOLY crap!!
I think that may have been it ;D
I walked in to the cooler and however I had missed it the first two trips , I now saw the full picture of what faced us

Soon afterwords I was breaking the hogs down as skipmaster skillfully made the cuts and Spiker wrapped.
Lockmaster was cutting as well and cliff was helping me hold the giant slabs of swinging pork still so that I could work.
The most amazing thing a saw was the work that Rayzortech did on the skulls
I could not have done what he was doing to the degree that he was doing it
The skulls were perfect afterwards and I thanked him for doing such a great job for my son and myself

What I did not know was that only lockmaster,skipmaster and myself knew how to butcher
That was crazy!.....but within a couple of hours you would have never know this to be the fact
We worked as a well oiled machine for 14 hours or more with only one break when Cliff prepared a rack of ribs for us to eat.
Cliff is very good on a grill

When we finished it was 4:30 in the morning....12 hours of cutting and 24 hours of wake time
We were spent....to say the least

I will remember that day till the day I die!

That was the best and hardest I have worked in a dozen years and I know that can be said for everyone.
All the while we laughed and joked although we were all ready to drop dead.
In a regular work place it probably could have turned into something ugly but among such people as we had here , all we had was fun in the face of adversity.

Day 3:
I woke up at around 11:00 I guess.....it was all a blur to be honest.....it could have been any hour , all I know is that we left at 12:30 ....I think ....I dont know
I know that we left.....it was a very blurry morning and we didn't even drink! ;D

The first thing I heard was Fred and Lockmasters voice in the dinning room below the loft.
I was glad to see frank had stuck around because I wanted to thank him again for his assistance and company this weekend.
We talked a little about the site and about his hunting plans for this year and I took the opportunity to give him a pack of the Sonic Prototype heads which I had tested last year.
I hope he gets a chance to use them soon.

There was no breakfast (that I am aware of) but I dont think I could have eaten anyway.
We quickly packed the van after frank left and thank god Spiker had taken a picture of the van as we packed it for the trip.
We had to use that pic in order to repack.
It was that tight!

We said good bye to everyone and soon were off toward home.
That was bitter sweet.....I really wanted to stay just one more day to simply hang out but of course , life goes on.
On the way home Spiker looked like he was recovering (poorly) from a beat down of some sort and I am sure that I looked no better ;D
I lost my voice from the night before and (dont ask me why) I couldn't stop smoking
I swear to god it was the only thing that was killing the pain in my throat.
(weird)

By the time we reached my house Spiker was back to life and my wife had made a little easter dinner for us
(she can be a good partner at times )
Spiker was a great dinner guest and my wife actually likes him
Which is odd because she doesn't care for any of my hunting Buddy's as a rule ;D ;D

Thats the story
Lots of things missing but thats enough to get the idea of how it went through my eyes

[SPIKER]

Ah yes, the Trophy hunter dude.

That guy completely freaked me out in the sense that I didn't actually believe that there were any hunters (I use the term loosely), like that out there anymore. He brought an entourage, or his "posse", or whatever you want to call them (actually, it was his dad and three sons), so let's say his "peeps". He was the great white hunter, and they were dragged along to applaud him.

Forget the fact that they showed up at 5:30am and started playing pool.

This guy was a classic meatball, as we would say back in the day on Long Island. Loud, brash, and very quick to brag about his exploits on the hunting preserve circuit.

He had to have spent a fortune in the last couple of months, including Sat. BT read my thoughts when he stated that if he had that kind of cash he would hire a guide and do an awesome Montana hunt!

He was hunting with a rifle in a place where if you could get a 100 yd. shot, that was real far. I heard about 3 or 4 shots that day, and was wondering what the heck he was shooting at. We were to find out later that day.

As we were bringing in the hogs that Lockmaster and Cliff downed that day, our guide got a call from another guide asking for help with a hog. We went with him to find like 5 people standing around, looking at their guide....guys, you think you could have given him a hand!!

We helped them out and continued to the lodge to hang the additional hogs with the rest. But not before the great white hunter tried to give us the blow by blow.

Anyway...back at the lodge we were reviewing the tapes, I was taking heat for fleeing the crazed savage beast that tried to take me out. ;D, and we were generally having a great time when the dad of the trophy dude asks us if we want to see their video!

Yeah, let's see it we say. Oboy, am I glad we did. It started off with a lot of shaky footage of a , I believe it was a ram , but I'm not sure, just standing there staring at the camera......for like 5 min. to which we hear the dad on audio say, "come on, we don't have all day", "what are we waiting for?", "let's go", will you shoot already!!?" I am not kidding you. Then after what seemed like another 5 min. a gunshot rings out. The Ram is still staring at the camera....he missed!!!!! ;D

He argues with the dad, then fires another round, this time hitting the Ram, and putting an end to everybody's misery.

OMG!

What I saw next will leave me scarred for the rest of my life!

The camera pans to the trophy dude, and he's playing air guitar on his rifle. saying"yeah baby", while doing a Michael Jackson Moon Walk!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Unbelievable!!! Then he makes his sons sit behind the dead ram as if they had killed it themselves. Thank god redsoxsboy is on our side! No comparison there!

Then the guy realizes that his dad had showed us the tape, and actually wanted to rewind it to see it again, (after saying that the tape wasn't supposed to be for anybody but themselves), which was funny because he offered a copy to Alvie for a promotion of some kind.

I don't think that it had fully sunk in until 3am when the recounts of the day put us into one of those uncontrollable fits of laughter that just won't stop until there's no more tears to shed!!

My god, I don't think I'll ever forget that night!

[SPIKER]

Excellent! Does that mean I'll get another invite for supper!!!

[BT]

spiker said:

Excellent! Does that mean I'll get another invite for supper!!!

I think my wife would rather share your thoughts than my own ;D

You bet!....maybe we can get together for something else like the Rinehart shoot