Recipe - Spices

I measure my seasoning ingredients in parts so I can use small batches for dinner or make bulk mixes for back stock. We recently discovered that parmesan cheese lids fit on mason jars, so that is how we are going to store them. The spices we don't use much of (or are too difficult to make) we just buy. We go through a ton of chili and tacos, so it's nice to have the ingredients on hand.

CAJUN SEASONING - steak, jerky, burgers
1 cayenne
2 garlic powder
2 onion powder
4 pepper
4 salt

JERKY SEASONING- 2ts per lb
1 CAJUN
1 tender quick

CHILI SEASONING- 3tb per lb
1 onion powder
1 cumin
1 garlic powder
1 cayenne
2 oregano
6 paprika

TACO SEASONING- 3tb per lb
1 ground pepper
1 oregano
1 paprika
3 garlic powder
3 onion powder
12 salt
12 chili powder
12 cumin

Recipe - Fish Tacos

Frying fish for more than 4 people gets to be a bit of an ordeal, frying for an hour. We tried fish tacos one time and loved it. You can make enough food for 2 or 20 in about 15 minutes.

Fish
Place fish fillets on a baking sheet and sprinkle with seasoning. (Pick one: Tony's, lemon pepper, taco seasoning.) Bake at 450 degrees for 6 minutes.

Sauce
Add equal parts mayo and sour cream to a bowl. Add a few teaspoons of lime juice and some cilantro. Fresh cilantro is best, but it only lasts a couple weeks in the garden. I pick it all at once, blend it together with olive oil, and freeze it in ice cube trays so I can use it year round.

Shell
Tortillas or taco shells will do well for the quick meals, but if there is time fry bread tastes pretty good. Mix 3c flour, 1/2ts salt, 3ts baking powder, 1c milk. Press it flat and fry it in shortening.

Assembly
Option 1 - Spread the sauce on the tortilla. Add fish. Add cabbage.
Option 2 - Mix the fish, cabbage, and sauce together like potato salad for a more even distribution.

Story - Fishing Report 03/14/14

Lake: Beaver
Location: Horseshoe Bend
Time: 6:00PM-8:00PM
Air temp: 55 degrees
Water temp: 46 degrees
Wind: SW 15
Sky: Partly cloudy
Winning tactic: Troll crankbait 8' deep in 15' of water at 1MPH

 We tried trolling bottom bouncers with worm harnesses and crankbaits in 15'-30' of water at .5 mph. Andrew had a hit on the crank bait. We were seeing a few fish about 10' deep in 15'-20' of water so Andrew threw out a crank bait and got this fish within about 15 minutes. It was a big female still full of roe. We didn't really have enough time to figure out what was going on, but we will be better prepared for next time

Pretty big for a white bass.

She was full of eggs, but her stomach was empty.

I think the liver and roe were bigger than the fillets.

How To - Dropping Brush Piles

We went out to drop brush piles to hopefully help our crappie fishing in the future. I figure that if we take a tree with us every time we go out, we should have a lot of options in a couple years.
Lessons learned:
Get everything ready ahead of time. Assembling everything on the water takes time.
Don't attach the rock directly to the tree. Have a couple feet of wire connecting them so you can put the tree in the water, then the rock.
Transport the pile in the boat. We tried dragging one with a top speed of about .6 mph.
 Fresh wood sinks way easier than seasoned wood. We had to pop the bottle on the dry wood to get it to sink. I think  that one will eventually soak up water and lay on it's side.

Free material from the recycle center means we don't have to buy anything or cut live trees.

Cedar, rock, and bottle. Compliments of the citizens of Rogers. I had the wire already for the garden. The idea is to have the rock on the bottom and the bottle on the top so it will stand up.

It took us a couple trips.

It was kinda scary leaning over the boat in 43 degree water with all that weight.

#1 sinking

#2 sinking

#2 sunk

#3 sinking

#3 sinking

#3 sunk

How To - Free Outboard Service

After I realized how easy is was to check the vitals of my motor, I started doing it pretty often. My motor hadn't run right since I got it. It would never idle. To put it in gear I had to throttle down, shift, and throttle up before it died. I finally got tired of it and tore it apart to clean. The carb was way easier to clean than I expected and now I can idle around without the fear of it dying every time. The main problem with my starting/idling was due to the throttle control arm which I will explain below.

Honda BF15 four-stroke.

Not much going on inside.

Disconnect the fuel supply.

Drain the old gas from the carb.

Move the hose clamp back to release the fuel line.

There are two bolts to remove the carb.

Pop off the clasp to remove the choke control rod.

You will have to put the motor in gear and turn to full throttle to take off the throttle control rod. Hold the throttle arm on the carb fully open with the right hand while doing unscrewing the bolt.

Take the carb to a clean work area and take the 4 screws off the bottom.

Remove the pin holding the float assembly together and the two screws in the center.

This is what it will look like with those items removed.

Keep track of how the innards go back in.

Put on eye protection, remove all rubber components, spray with carb cleaner, and blow out with compressed air. Put everything back together in reverse steps of taking it apart.

Be sure to put the rods back on the carb before bolting the carb down. Getting the throttle control rod in the correct position is crucial. This was one of the main problems I had in the beginning. There was no difference between Idle and Start on my throttle positions. You want the control rod to just finish releasing the spring on the carb when you hit bottom of throttle. I have marked mine so I know where it goes.

Make sure to get the carb drain tube into the discharge hole.

No choke position. If the throttle control bar is not touching the black plastic, your Start throttle position will not be high enough. If the throttle control bar is not fully seated when the throttle is all the way down, your idle screw will not work. 

Full choke position. You can see how full choke bumps up the throttle a bit off the throttle arm.

Take the spark plugs out for inspection.

Gap should be .024 - .028. One of mine was barely .022.

Never run your motor out of the water.

Since I am not at the lake I use muffs.

Put the throttle in the Start position and crank it up. Make sure you have good water flow through the cooling system.



After warming up a bit, turn the throttle down to Idle. Adjust the idle speed screw to the desired level. All these adjustments should be relatively close to what they were before.

With the desired idle achieved, adjust the idle air screw back at half turns until the motor runs the smoothest. A good starting point is to screw all the way in and then back it out five turns.

Story - Bass Fishing Lake SWEPCO 03/09/14

Lake: SWEPCO
Location: Discharge
Time: 3:00PM-6:00PM
Air temp: 60 degrees
Water temp: 79 degrees
Wind: SW 10
Sky: Sunny
Winning tactic: Chartreuse 1/4oz jig bouncing on the bottom in 10' of water

I have always heard people say that the bass in lake SWEPCO grow year round because the water is so warm. I guess I didn't comprehend how warm the water actually was in the winter. We fished Beaver lake on Saturday and didn't catch anything (big surprise). Air temp 38, water temp 38, wind 15, and raining. Fast forward 24 hours to lake SWEPCO. Air temp 60, water temp 79!, wind 10, and sunshine. It was crazy using summer tactics in the winter.  These fish were not lethargic at all. They were aggressive and we didn't catch one under two pounds. I caught three using a chartreuse jig. Murph caught the biggest one at about 4 lbs on a texas rigged purple worm. We caught the most where the plant was discharging the heated water. I don't know if the fish were there because of the heat or the current. It was weird to have river like currents in a lake. Maybe the current kept the bottom clean so the rocks were exposed. Either way, it was a great time. This lake was unlike any other I have seen and is worth checking out.

Here is Murph with the catch of the day. Poor Robert at the front running the trolling motor all day. Also, Murph is about 7' tall, so that fish is really bigger than it looks.

Here is the discharge. As you can see, it was a hot spot.

My first fish of 2014.

Barney Fife

Sometimes it's the little things that get us. One of my sayings is "it's the details that get us".  I apply this to my work ethic for my job and everything else I do out of habit.  In the business world I believe they call this detail oriented.  My observation is that most hunters are this way even if they don't realize it.  Think about it.  You look for the smallest hint of sign, broken twigs, tuned over leaves, parts of tracks, acorns as they are developing, rocks out of place, trails that are not noticed unless you look hard, and I could go on. This also translates to the equipment we use.  We know all the stats on everything we use.  We know the weight of the broad heads, type of fletching, length of arrow, weight of bow, weight of the bullets, type of bullets, we sight in as close as we can to dead center, I think you get the point.  Hunters are just naturally detail oriented.  
As you live you learn from experiences.  I'm going to tell you about an experience I had that I learned from where I left out one minor detail.  I was on a late season gun deer hunt and I barely had time for one last chance hunt before I had to head home and the gun season would end.  I really didn't think my chances were that good, but anytime you are in the woods there is a chance.  I went to one of the only places I could with the time I had.  It was a field area where deer had been know be, but not normally this time of year.  When I got there I was in such a hurry I just grabbed the basic required items, orange, gun, and a single bullet.  I was there just a couple of minutes before I saw a deer enter the field.  It was a doe and I was in the market for a buck so I just watched from a safe distance.  I watched one deer after another enter the field until there was a herd of about 15 does.  From my vantage point there was a low spot in the field that I couldn't see because of the lay of the land.  All the deer I watched came from my left side, then a deer came from the right side from the hidden part of the field.  That made me wonder what else is hidden from me in the field. So I decided to try to sneak to where I could see.  As I crawled around in the field trying to use the rolling hills in the open field to hide behind, to my surprise there was buck.  It was a good buck.  I thought to myself how lucky can one be.  The sun was fading fast and I had to take a shot quickly if this was going to happen.  I tried to get in position to take the shot and it seemed like everything was working against me.  It was what I consider a long shot at +200 yards, I couldn't seem to get comfortable, and I was looking directly into the setting sun.  That's enough excuses.  I made myself ready, took aim with the sun glaring in my scope, squeezed the trigger, and the gun went off.  I saw the ground blow up next to the buck, but it didn't know what was going on and it was still standing there.  I had missed.  Out of instinct, I worked the bolt on my trusty 270 to take another shot just to realize there were no more bullets in the gun or with me. Remember I was in such a hurry I only grabbed one bullet.  Remember how many bullets Barney Fife would carry in his pocket?  That's right just one.  I had Barney Fifed this hunt.  
I knew better but I let the hurry get in the way.  I neglected one minor detail, extra ammo.  My hunting buddies will never let me live this one down and they shouldn't.  However, since I have such good hunting buddies they made it so I will never have to worry about this issue again.  They gave me a gun sock that holds extra ammo.  Now when I grab my gun during hunting season, it automatically has extra ammo on it.  
In conclusion pay attention to the details, take extra ammo, and don't let your friends make the same mistake.  

Changing of the Guards

It is that time of year again I call the changing of the guards.  It happens several times each year. It’s when you switch from one hunting season to another.  Deer season is now behind us and turkey season is coming on.  Time to put away the deer rifles and get out the shot guns.  Normally what that means for me is its time to clean the guns.  I try to keep my guns fairly clean throughout the season with casual wipe downs as needed, but at the beginning and the end of each season I try to do a deep cleaning on the guns.  This equates to each gun getting a good cleaning twice a year.

A few years ago a friend showed me a bore snake and how easy they were to use and how good they work.  I bought one to try out for myself and I liked it so good that I have one for every caliber I own now.  In a matter of seconds you can have the barrel cleaned and this great for when you finish target shooting or hunting and you will not be cleaning your gun right away.

Even with a bore snake there is no substitute for breaking down your gun, scrubbing, and oiling on a regular basis.  If you take care of your guns they will likely last longer than your lifetime.  I have a gun I bought used that was made in the 70’s that is still in great shape.  I have another rifle that I bought about 20 years ago that is my work horse and to say that this gun gets used is an understatement.  I does have few dings, but overall it is still in great shape and works just like it did when it was new.

Story - My First Pistol Buck



This was my first gun hunt at Red Star. I took the 7mm mag and the .40 out to see what the woods had to offer. The first evening I sat on a clearcut switchback road where we saw some bear tracks. I didn't see anything that night, but I would swear that I heard an elk bugle. The next morning Brent showed me another area to hunt where an "old road" was. When Brent says old road, he means at one point about 100 years ago someone rolled something with wheels over the trail one time and abandoned the area because it was too rough. I walked in, sat on the ground, and waited for the woods to wake up. After about an hour, I had a button buck and doe chasing each other full blast just playing around. A little while later the wind changed and started blowing towards the trail I was watching. I got up and moved down the ridge a little to the other side of the trail and started kicking leaves around the base of a tree that I was going to stand by. As soon as I got my back up against the tree I noticed a deer over my left shoulder. I was standing with the stock on my shoe and the barrel in my hand. The deer walked parallel to me and when he got about 3 feet from me his head popped straight up. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something wasn't right. I knew I didn't have time to raise my rifle and get it on him before he was off in the thicket, so I reached for my pistol. When I popped the snap on my holster the deer turned to run away. The next thing I know, I drop the rifle with my left hand, draw the pistol with my right hand and shoot 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 times. I am not sure which one of those hit him, but he fell down and started kicking. I ran about 5 yards and caught up to him and put a final one in him. After looking at him, the legality of it all was questionable. If you closed your eyes, you could feel 3 points on one side, but they might not have measured. I got him gutted and tried to get him on the fourwheeler. I had to climb up on the wheeler and fall backward off the other side in order to hoist him up on there. When we were skinning him, we noticed that he still had an acorn in his mouth.

 

If you are ever worried about drawing and firing in a stressful situation, don't. I have had several instances where I had my gun drawn before my brain could catch up. Hitting anything is another story. My accuracy rate drop to about 5% under stressful fire.