BilletHead

Fig jam sounds good Mr. Guide, I may have to google that recipe up. Thanks, BilletHead

Am I ready? No. Will I go? Yes when it cools off some, more than some, cools off a bunch. This will be my 37th year going. My most uncomfortable most likely. Why? We will get there but first I only hunted the first couple of years with a compound, then laminated recurves and longbows. Then graduated to self bows out of hedge. The last years of the self bow 17 years. Have taken 7 deer with stone heads I knapped. I take it back 8 years back I did a season with a 45 lb. recurve after my rotator cuff surgery. Time and wear and tear takes its toll. Struggled with a 50 lb. self bow last season. Shoulder going bad again, well it never got the best but it is bad again. Surgeon said bad arthritis in there when he fixed me up. Never going to be the best. So I deal with it. Tried to shoot my favorite, I was all over the place and never getting to full draw. I was sick over it. Asked some compound questions to friends but really did not want to go there. Finally got out my vintage black widow. Got it from my close fishing friend. Got it the year of my shoulder surgery. Out of the blue he tells me he has a black widow from the early 60s 45@ 28". I about go bonkers. We made a trade and I got it. Killed a deer that year also. I strung it up, pulled back. They shoot a bit different than a long bow. First shots low and right. Took me a few to get lined up and at ten yards I'm grouping again. So here is to a good season for you all and may you have the best of luck. Do it while you can because time will take its toll. Mrs. BilletHead will be going too with her Martin Bobcat, over 20 years old. Here is what I will be using this season, I will be adding some no mar bow tape to the limbs. I would get the spray paint out but on this gem better not. Broadheads of choice zwicky Eskimos 2 blade. I have a set of files, diamond hone and leather strop. Can get them surgically sharp. Good old wood shafting too with some of my turkey feathers. Hand split, ground, dyed and chopped. BilletHead

Ronnie I forgot to add your coleman can kiss my yeti's bottom side BilletHead Exciledguide have you ever indulged yourself in something nice just because? Maybe you really did not need it?

Anyone raise there own figs? A long time ago I met a lady who had a fig bush next to a south facing storage shed. I knew what it was but had never seen one in person. She explained cold weather kills them but if you get lucky and put it in the right place and facing South they will grow. I asked if I could pick and eat one, she said help yourself. Man what a tasty treat. After that I always wanted one and finally a seed catalog came and I found a start. Not recommended for my area but heck I'll try. Found a spot on the South side of the house and stuck it in the ground. It grew every year but most years it froze back to a stump. I thought it was dead every year. One year it got big enough I got a fig (singular fig). Cool I thought. Every few years I got more and then froze back to a stump. The last two mild winters have been good to me and the fig bush. It only died back to three foot tall. How do I know how far back it dies? Spring leaves tell the tail and I trim it off where the leaves stop. This season it is now six foot tall, Full of figs too, the most I have ever had. The darker you pick them the better they are. From green to purple to almost black and shriveled. I pinch them open and eat out the heart. Usually I only get enough to graze every day but this year I have enough to founder on. Question is if I dry some do I just wash them and do it whole? Any good fig recipes? I know I will reduce some on the stove and drizzle the reduction on some rare seared duck. BilletHead

Peppers out of the smoker,. Before and after photos. First photo you can see some rosemary on a try. Smoked it too and will add it to a bottle of olive oil to hopefully infuse some flavors. Had one heck of a year for the rosemary. We like it especially on poultry. It is a killer on hybrid grilled too. BilletHead

That is one cool folding outboard, I hate to call it cute but will do it! I am more interested like Bird Watcher in seeing the above trolling motor. Is it a three phase motor? Will it dim the lights when you turn it on? Will It pull a person on skis? Just messing with you bferg we know what you mean. I have a 3hp tanaka two stroke outboard. I had not run it for eight years and thought about selling it last year. So I mixed some fresh gas and it started first pull. Changed my mind and got the spray paint and camouflaged it. Thought I might want to put it on my 12' flat bottom and hunt out of it someday. The motor screams like a wild banshee and pushes the boat like a slow elephant. Works though, BilletHead

Yes Quill stuffed peppers are good and we have done a bunch this gardening season. A couple of times we stuffed our cubanells. Kind of like folks do bells. We precooked a mix of deer burger and maple sausage. After cooking the meat the Mrs. mixed in some of her salsa and Colby jack cheese. Then she stuffed in the mix. Stood up the peppers in a dish and added in some water in dish bottom. Covered with foil and slipped it into the oven to cook. When the steamed peppers started to soften uncovered the dish and cooked some more browning the pepper tops. Did it again with just farm raised burger we had done from the neighbors crippled bull calf. Let me tell you I can stuff myself with stuffed peppers. I picked a bunch of peppers this morning and have them in the smoker, BilletHead

Sounds good for you Scott. I was a bit worried and had to read your post twice. I thought you might of went whacko thinking I had read you had stripers in a field! I want a cart and as long as Mrs. BilletHead catches no wind of this post I may get one My bad, BilletHead

My, my we have opened a can of worms. Let the haters hate but I have not only one but two yeti coolers. Did I give full retail? No but I used discounts. Here we go, First one was a 25 quart Roadie. Got it at Bass Pro using some built up points. Used a another sporting goods card to pay for it thus building up more free points. If you pay bills with cards it is the way to go as paying it off every month will get you free stuff when building up points. Second one is the 45 quart size. Let me tell you a couple of yeti stories, sorry no bear attack stories. Mrs. BilletHead had a day off yesterday and we went to Joplin shopping at the big box store Sam's. Took the 45 quarter size. Put 5 frozen gator aide bottles in it. Warm cooler at that. As the cooler cooled some condensation forms water on the bottom of the cooler. Drove down, shopped. Put in cooler two 5 lb. blocks of sharp cheddar. a pound chunk of smoked blue cheese and a bunch of bratwurst. Hit Academy and other places taking our time home. Back home and open the cooler unloading it. There was ice in the bottom of the cooler, not slush but ice. Granted cold air travels down but it was solid ice. Second story, took tea from the fridge and put it in a water storage bottle the refillable travel type. No ice just tea. same deal in the cooler with froze bottles. Hot weather had been dove hunting first part of September. Opened cooler up. ice crystals had formed in the tea bottle. I used to be able to hunt and hike the mountains in my younger years, antelope on the flat land too. There was a time when I had six assorted coolers. Time and age, ice and fish on ice and abuse over those years followed. Soon all of those fell apart. So how much ice did I use over those years? A BUNCH for sure. So now another story. We make trips out West to fly fish. A small truck camper is our home for those two weeks. We take our food. Frozen food saver sealed. Some pre cooked and some not. When we go we want to spend time fishing and not cooking. Ok big 45 quart packed and dry ice on top. One week into the trip we have to thaw out food when before warming up or cooking. Cooler not riding in the front of the truck with AC but in the camper across Kansas or Nebraska in triple digits. If they would have made them and if I could of afforded them at that time many moons ago when we got married at 18 and 19 they would of certainly paid for themselves. If I am still living for a couple of more decades they will still pay for themselves.<br />Let the haters begin to hate and by the way mach 3 Gillette for the baby face and bulk cheapo two blades to keep the chrome dome smooth as a baby's behind.<br />BilletHead<br />P.S. second 45 size was bought from Austin canoe and kayak out of Texas. 20% off and free shipping. If you don't mind an E-mail from them once a month sign up and get some kind of discount for each letter.<br />http://www.austinkayak.com/ I am not affiliated with them just a good place with good customer service

Only if someone tells her Scott! Crapola you and Chris have my number. Looks like I need a cart and harness and it will make it easier on me and Mrs. BilletHead. Mr. BilletHead might be in the dog house? By the way I drove up to Schell this morning. One of the area workers said there were sixteen teal there a couple of weeks ago, none now but two pintails and two shoveler spotted this morning.

I impatiently await with popper baited breath Mr. Ness, BilletHead

Man up kayser! All joking aside we love our layouts. When we do walk any distance use my mule, They are a bit cumbersome yes but not too heavy. Even a woman and maybe a child can do it. Like I say don't carry the load you do. Pop them up with six pins, a little camo from the native plants and brush where you set up and you are good to go and a dry rear to boot. Keep in mind to dry your blanket between trips and after you hunt the spot because the wet blanket will be as heavy or more than the layout. Take up BirdWatcher's offer even if it is for the days you don't have to go far. Just my two cents for what it is worth but like I say we don't and cannot carry a load far. This sweetheart of mine carrying is 54 years young. If she reads this I might be in trouble for the age and mule remark, might just stir her up some? Make life exciting in the BilletHead household. Wanna know how much she weighs? On second thought I won't go there as I know my limitations! BilletHead

Yes the heat is back but the Summer season is coming to an end. Picked more tomatoes but they are small. Got to have four slices to a sandwich instead of one. Still tasty though. Might just pull them and get the bed ready for lettuce. Did see evidence of my first tomato worm. Looking out the bedroom window I see a stem up top without leaves. Getting peppers still. Got a bunch of new blooms after that cool spell and all the rain. Bookoos of the tobasco peppers. Don't know what I am going to do with all of them. I had put some of them in the jar of pickled peppers I made to give them some zip. I got one that was hidden in a mouthful of the banana peppers and my tongue was on fire and went numb. Hot little suckers for sure. I did another experiment last week for grins and giggles. Took a handful of assorted peppers and threw them in the smoker. 4 hours of smoke and set the heat to 280 degrees. some of them got a bit crispy and some stayed a bit softer. Smoky and concentrated flavors. I took one of the jalapenos cut it open, scraped out the seeds and chopped it up and added it to a bowl of brown beans. Yum-o Darn good eats. I will be doing more with about the same amount of smoke and a bit less heat keeping the peppers less crispy. I am sure even the crispy ones will rehydrate fine for cooking. Need to do something with all the peppers. I am hoping we will have a few still on the vine when the hen of the woods mushrooms bloom. The peppers were real good in the pickled shrooms I did last fall, Billethead

I like them too Wrench. A quick down and dirty tie. Color combinations are endless. BilletHead

Got to wait until Oct. 5th up here. Already been looking around some though

Got out for a drive today. Decided to trek to Four Rivers Conservation area to see what the high water had done. All I can say is dead black sour smelling vegetation. Not all but a good part was affected. Some high planted beans and humps with smartweed still showing. They are doing there best to get it drained but the damage is done to what crops were growing. Lots of herons and egrets walking around getting stranded fish in puddles. While driving I got to shoot another young eagle. First off it looked as though he had been studying the fishing regs of the area. After that followed him about his business, BilletHead

There will be a whole lot of flocking going on before I am done. I may have to flock around the clock tonight to get them all done. I have a dozen of my first full bodies (cheapo) that the heads don't detach from the bodies. Wait until I remind Mrs. BilletHead about these. She will tell me I would (doing these)be a pain to flock with. BilletHead who feels he will be flocked to death soon.

Thanks for the comments and input. Yes Gavin I would like the rear hook too. So far my internal wire rigging has not impressed me, meaning support for the rear hook. My wire bending skills are lacking right now. Need to work on that. I would like to keep these as light as possible keeping them out of the chuck and duck class of flies. I can throw this size a long ways with the eight weight. Funny hearing the prop spin like a P-51 mustang flying overhead when they wiz by on the cast. BilletHead

Can you just imagine the cloud of flocking fibers when the flocking starts? Might have to run the dust collector in the shop. Takes care of wood dust. I think the paint fumes were worse:) Scott do you need flocked too? BilletHead

Are you telling me Chris you need to get Flocked? Bring them down and get them Flocked. I could keep up with two painters. Pat says I'm the best Flocker she knows. Oh bring them with the masking already done. Did you get the e-mail with the pics of the spoon mold? BilletHead

No truer words have been spoken Fishinwrench, BilletHead

Yes Scott Pat and I talked about maybe doing the sock thing this season as we were flocking . She then stated that I was so much in a hurry to set up and take down and doing it would soon go by the wayside. After 36 years she knows me to well. BilletHead

Well really it wasn't as bad as I thought. My bigfoot decoys needed a head job. I am not very careful and some were losing there flocking on the heads. Wanted to do it last year but put it off. I read how some were doing it and also called Mr. Bird Watcher for his input as he had done some before. First thing he told me last year was to not by the high priced kits, then it was better if to people did it as a team effort, use a squirt type bottle (mustard ketchup type) and flat black oil paint. Also use a box to catch unused flocking salvage for next time. I ordered a pound of flocking. Got it in the mail. Went to Wally world and got some rustoleum flat black oil paint, some one inch foam brushes and a squirt bottle. Squirt bottle in housewares for 97 cents, cheaper brushes in are dept. four for I think a buck in package of four where as if in hardware 57 cents each. Cannot remember how much the paint was right now just a quart will do bookoos heads. Yesterday I masked off the eyes and cheek patches on the heads. Today I got the Mrs. to help out. Got a plan going Pat would do the painting and me he flocking. Hardest part was the painting so her job Handed them off to me and I did the puffing out of the bottle on the painted heads. Gave them a good coat, tapped off the excess and repeated on the head again. I am more than happy with the results. I would not mind doing this every couple if not every year if needed especially if you have help like I have. Have another dozen and a half mixed full bodies and some floaters to do maybe this weekend. All in all not as bad as I thought it would be to do a bunch of flocking geese, BilletHead

Got your message Mic, well done and nice fish. Your spinners look nice too. Hard to understand about the fly rod thing on bass tourneys. I thought you could use one if it is like seven and a half foot long? I have a friend who lives in Idaho and guides steelhead fisherman. He calls fly fisherman fairy stickers. Are the pros afraid of fairy stickers? Just joking I couldn't compete with a pro much less with a girl as Mrs. BilletHead out fished me last trip Someone needs to get a small OA fly rod gathering for bass somewhere. Just for grins see who could catch a winning limit. (photos of length of your best six). Mic my dryer is a stonefly turner. It turns rods too. I cannot remember how much I gave for it. Must of been a good price or I got a discount or I wouldn't of got it. Takes aa batteries. BilletHead

Tried it out this morning. Man it looks and works great in the water. Sorry for the junk photos. Did not take the good camera out with us. This thing spits from the front and sputters from the back. Depending on how hard you strip it will walk the dog too while it is doing everything else. Needless to say I am very pleased. Only thing is the fish did not cooperate Lots of minnow fry out and about, maybe too many. Once and a while a fish would chase one up but never really splash the surface. East wind sometimes becoming calm at times. Had to put up catching a few of these so it was not a complete bust. They hit a bluegill bug on a slow sink. Not too aggressive. Enjoyed watching Mrs. BilletHead cast. Doesn't get much better spending time with your spouse even if fishing isn't too good, BilletHead