Hunting 2023

[WhistlingBadger]

WARNING: This thread might contain pictures of dead animals. That isn't the point; I mostly want to share some pictures and stories of the places where I spend my best days. But this is hunting, which means I do hope to work mortal harm upon a critter, and @Fishmanic gets terribly disappointed when I don't post pictures of same. If you are offended, upset, grossed out, or otherwise all het up by seeing where meat comes from, it might be wise to read no further. I'm not trying to start a fight or upset anybody.

Anyway.

I have an abusive relationship with elk hunting: I can't stop loving it, even though it keeps hurting me. I didn't draw any tags this year, so I'm hunting the general area. That means I'm seeing about 20 hunters for every elk. That gets kind of old. Next weekend my buddy and I plan on hiking into the gnarliest, roughest area we know, where we usually see elk and hardly ever see hunters. Should be good, but I suspect I'm about to get my annual reminder that I'm not 25 anymore...

 

[WhistlingBadger]

OK, some pictures.

This is Big Red, my weapon of choice. It's a hickory flatbow I made a couple winters ago. To date, it has killed exactly one squirrel. Someday it hopes to upgrade to an elk. In the meantime, it catches the morning sun rather nicely, don't you think? String silencers are muskrat fur. Arrow is douglas fir wood and wild turkey feathers, held together with bison sinew.

Little Rock Creek. Photo doesn't do it justice. Just a tiny creek flowing through a giant valley. It sparkles in the sun and sounds like music.

A big boulder shaped like a mushroom.

See that pine twig stuck to my finger? It's a caterpillar. One of the coolest examples of cryptic camouflage I've ever seen.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

A couple from closer to home.

The Badgerling and I found some wild corndogs growing in their natural habitat. They taste terrible, though, no matter how much mustard we add. Puzzling.

I finally got last year's antelope hide cleaned and stretched. The white powder is borax (same stuff your grandma added to her laundry), which keeps mice and bugs away. I was going to brain tan it, but it has too many holes to be worth the work, so I just made it into rawhide. I plan to cut it into strips for bow backings and other assorted projects.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Here's my only kill so far this year. A good, macho trophy photo to make @Fishmanic happy. I'll make the hide into a belt pouch/sporran, and I roasted the meat on some aspen coals for lunch. It was my first time eating squirrel. Interesting experience. He tasted good, but wow was he tough. I'm pretty sure I used more calories chewing the meat than I got from him. Next time, I'll stew it for a few hours.

Sunset on the southern Wind River Range. My camp was at the bottom of that light colored ridge in the mid ground. There are worse places to be. I am grateful.

Looking toward the high peaks.

 

[Fishmanic]

nice appetizer!

 

[GaryE]

Dear Elk,
Whistling badger is an incredibly nice guy in what he posts here, , and is a good musician and teacher. But if he offers to give you guitar lessons before the big elk xmas party, I would consider it carefully. He has a bow, but no violin.

If you do take him up on the offer, bring a friend who looks much more edible than you do. Why? He seems to have been eating tree rats, and you know how the hard life of a musician can drive a man to terrible lengths...

 

[Back in the fold]

Hey , uh . . . . hate to be the one who has to wise you up but don’t let your Wyoming hunting buddies know you eat squirrels . They will probably laugh you right out of town .

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Dear Elk,
Whistling badger is an incredibly nice guy in what he posts here, , and is a good musician and teacher. But if he offers to give you guitar lessons before the big elk xmas party, I would consider it carefully. He has a bow, but no violin.

If you do take him up on the offer, bring a friend who looks much more edible than you do. Why? He seems to have been eating tree rats, and you know how the hard life of a musician can drive a man to terrible lengths...

Hey , uh . . . . hate to be the one who has to wise you up but don’t let your Wyoming hunting buddies know you eat squirrels . They will probably laugh you right out of town .

I have to admit, I doubt I'll kill a squirrel again unless I'm really hungry or really need the fur for some project or other. They're too cute and too hard to eat to seem worth killing. But...now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

 

[Fishmanic]

A hunting we will go
Whistling Badger is on the prowl


WB wearing his horns and going hunting


@WhistlingBadger

 

[WhistlingBadger]

"What's Opera, Doc?" is absolute genius. Did you know every note of music in that whole cartoon is out of Wagner operas? So good.

 

[Fishmanic]

making of What's Opera Doc

 

[Fishmanic]

A hunting we will go…

 

[GaryE]

Hunting is serious stuff. Wascally wabbits indeed.

It just so happens I have a yard full of what I call elk, and if you want to come here hunting (you'll need a silencer, I'm technically within city limits) you are welcome. I will offer you food better than squirrels.

The eastern dumpster elk is smaller, with a mask on its face. I have a herd of five them who got into fighting under my bedroom window at 4:47 this morning, hissing and wheezing angrily. I found myself lying awake, silently singing 'kill the wabbit' in my tired head. The eastern dumpster elk sang the song of their ilk, and sounded like they'd been watching the Lord of the Rings movies and had started imitating the Ringwraiths. In between choruses of kill the wabbit, I heard them challenging hunters to follow the path of the ancestors, into a dark alley.

We also have a smaller elk, the eastern striped stinkb****d elk, which also says hunters are all wimps and chickens, and are ready for battle anyone wants to come by. They're a bit like the salespeople in old fashioned department stores - the ones in the perfume section, and would be a challenge to make a trophy out of. Their version of 'high-tailing it' is a call to war.

So leave Wyoming and come east. I have lots of tetramin and bug bites you could use as stuffing for the tree rats you eat, and hunting in my yard would have the extra thrill of making you avoid the cops when they show up.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, I'm going out tomorrow through Saturday. Probably my last chance with the bow this year. Wish me luck. I'm about due for some. Or, if you're a vegan animal rights activist, wish the elk luck. But they don't really need it.

 

[connorlindeman]

Well, I'm going out tomorrow through Saturday. Probably my last chance with the bow this year. Wish me luck. I'm about due for some. Or, if you're a vegan animal rights activist, wish the elk luck. But they don't really need it.

Good luck! If you don't get one, I guess it will be squirrels all winter ;-)