The Unhuntable Moose

Back in 1978, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (now Colorado Parks and Wildlife) reintroduced Shiras moose into northern Colorado, and after supplemental releases across the state and satisfactory population growth, the Department started issuing hunting licenses.

While in college, I worked for the USFS in northern Colorado and routinely saw moose throughout the Laramie River Valley and Rawah Wilderness. However, prior to that I hunted and fished throughout the upper Poudre Canyon area and never saw any moose.

Last week, as I drove back to Ft. Collins from Steamboat, I spotted a nice bull just off the highway on the top of Cameron Pass. There is no hunting within a 1/4 mile of Highway 14, so as long as he stays close to the road without being hit by a vehicle, he'll live a long, healthy life.

One of these days I hope to draw a tag for either the area I first grew up hunting, or the Rawahs where I worked for the USFS. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy watching and photographing any moose I find...  hope you enjoy the photos!

Brush Creek Bombers - Wyoming Mule Deer

Last fall I hunted Brush Creek Ranch in southern Wyoming. I had a mule deer tag in my pocket, and my expectations for a fun hunt were high, but I had no idea I was going to meet such nice folks, shoot such an awesome deer, or help with another hunter's last Wyoming buck. If you are interested in a last-minute hunt for this year, or planning a hunt for next year, call the ranch at 307-327-5284 or visit their website. Their accommodations are second-to-none, the scenery is breathtaking, and the employees will take great care of you!

My friend Chris Denham allowed me to write the story for Western Hunter and it just came out in issue 10.3. If you get a chance, check out the Western Hunter website and go to subscriptions - besides this awesome publication, they are starting Elk Hunter Magazine this fall. Subscribe to both!

In the meantime, enjoy the article!

My First Week as a Sales Rep

The first week is in the books. Whew! I feel a little like a first grader in college-level course. There is just so much to learn. Luckily, I had the regional manager from SureFire out this week to show me the ropes a little bit. We visited some of my top accounts, and I was very impressed with all the businesses we saw. It's really cool to see how different people in the industry run their businesses. There are large stores with tons of inventory, small stores with just a couple salesmen, stores that cater to everyone, and stores that cater to just law enforcement/military.

Next week the regional manager from Trijicon will be here for a couple days, then I'll travel with my friend Barton from Zeiss the following week. In October, I head to Seattle for some training at Filson after a quick visit home.

After dreaming about a job like this since I first started in sales 15 years ago, the reality hasn't quite sunk in yet. I can't wait to get completely organized and feel like I have a grasp on what I'm doing, because then, watch out, I'm going to LOVE this job!!

On another note, we drove along I-25 through Castle Rock last week, and it's even nicer than I remember. From my initial estimates, I think it will be a great place to live. I just hope our houses in AZ sell soon so Nichole and Mattox can join me!

I'm No Longer Unemployed!

Actually, I was never officially unemployed because I own my own business, but now I officially have a new job!

On September 12th, I start work as an Independent Sales Representative for The Evans Group.

I am very excited about the lines I'll be selling:

Boyt

Camelbak Tactical

Case Knives

Eberlestock

Filson

First Lite

MOJO Decoys

Mossberg

Original SWAT Footwear
ProShot

Reed Footwear

Smith Elite Glasses

Steyr/Merkel/Anschutz

Surefire

Taser

Trijicon

TUFF Products

Zeiss Sports Optics

I'll be calling on gun shops, hunting stores, fly fishing shops, online retailers, uniform stores, semi-custom gunmakers, and many others. My territory will cover Colorado, New Mexico, and parts of southern Wyoming.

That last bit of info may come as a surprise to some because it requires that I relocate my family to Colorado. Hopefully my home state will welcome us back with open arms! We're thinking about the Castle Rock area, but still have two houses and a business to sell in Arizona before we move. Keep your fingers crossed that it all goes quickly and smoothly...

Kansas Wheat Harvest 2011 - Part 3

Once wheat harvest was finished, Heath had to start spraying. One of the practices that Heath has helped implement is no-till farming. The basic idea is to conserve moisture in the soil, they don't disc up the ground to kill weeds. Instead, they use herbicides. This year, when the wheat crop only had about 3 inches of rain, they were able to reap fairly good yields from their practices. The downfall is the cost of the chemicals.

For me, the biggest downfall of spraying so far was the nearly eight hours we spent trying to repair the main pump on the sprayer. It wouldn't seal appropriately so we had to keep taking it apart, and then reassembling it. No one planned to stand in the sun for eight hours - my burned and peeling neck is proof! We finally got it to work and a couple days later after it rained we headed to Garden City for some errands. One of the stops was the spray shop... it turns out that one half of the pump is just plain wrong. The next time the seal fails, they can replace the defective part, which should fix it for good.

The broken pump spraying herbicide all over.

The two halves of the broken pump.

Last year's corn stubble Heath was spraying when the pump broke.

We also started having a little fun chasing coyotes and prairie dogs. Nichole's dad has been on a prairie dog eradication program, so where there once were hundreds, there now are just a few. I did get a chance to unlimber my Larue AR-15 on a couple. My longest confirmed kill so far is 238 yards... and Mattox got to watch! Sadly, it's hard to get a good photo of a blown-up prairie dog, or at least one suitable for posting so I just have one of Mattox and me after the fact...

The prairie dog whackers.

Less time on the combine has also given me a chance to take some photos of the other critters on the farm: barn cats, burrowing owls, cottontails, and cattle.

Barn cat.


Cottontail rabbit.

A burrowing owl in the farm pasture.


BoyFarm heifers with the farm buildings in the background.

Old boots lining the fence along the county road.

Kansas Wheat Harvest 2011 - Part 2

There's something very empowering about running the combine. Not only do I have control of a massive machine with tons of moving parts, but I also am contributing to the success and well-being of the family farm. With every pass, I share in the hard work and legacy that has been passed down through multiple generations. Nichole's grandpa farmed some of the same ground her dad and brother are farming today. Her other grandpa farmed in Oklahoma and Kansas, and had a custom cutting business, too.

Cutting wheat!

Between Nichole's brother and dad, they have more than 80 years of farming experience. What's really cool is they seem to balance her dad's old-school farming practices that built the farm with her brother's new-fangled ideas and processes. It's clear that to be successful you must have both strong roots and branching limbs.

Cutting in Mattox Draw.

Combine header - the sickle cuts the straw.

Unloading wheat at the house for storage in the bins.

After harvest finished, one of the main chores we tackled was cleaning the combines. With an air compressor we blew off every nook and cranny where dust and chaff collected. It is one of the dirtiest jobs on the farm and luckily we chose a day when the wind was blowing. Not only did it keep us a little cooler, it also moved most of the dirt away.

Once we loosened up a bunch of the dirt, Heath started up the combine to move it all out the back end.

Kansas Wheat Harvest 2011 - Part 1

The Tree Quarter/Lone Tree Field.

Nichole and I loaded up Mattox, the two cats, and two dogs, and then headed to Western Kansas to help Nichole's family with wheat harvest. On the way in we saw deer, antelope, and quite a few pheasants. A couple fields got hailed out just a few days before needing cut, and the custom cutters took care of a bunch of fields. That meant that our part of harvest only lasted six days - a record for sure!

Wheat!

On our way to the farm we spotted deer, antelope and pheasants.

The first day we arrived, we fed the baby calf, rested, and took some photos at the Tree Quarter, which is the lone tree on the farm, and THE lone tree used for Nichole's business logo. There just happened to be a whitetail doe bedded near the tree that posed for a couple photos before we posed for photos. The next day we started cutting. Nichole took a couple breaks to nurse Mattox when her mom brought him to the field. Otherwise, we were on the combines for about 10 hours. Each day was similar to the next... up early to feed the calf, check the wheat, haul water to the cows, service the combines, and then cut until 9pm or so.

Cinnamon the calf.

A whitetail doe posed for photos, too.

The best girl and the cutest boy in the world!

One night as we were making the first pass around a field straddling Mattox Draw (yes, THE Mattox Draw), I noticed the bin in my combine had way too much chaff. It turned out that a bracket broke, which caused one of the main separating fans to stop working. A quick weld the next day, along with a new bearing, fixed it like new!

The view from the combine.

One quick weld and my combine was back in the game.

Four Rules of Firearm Safety

Okay, so I might be a safety geek, especially having worked in the outdoor recreation safety industry for the last eight years or so. However, as long as we always keep gun safety in the forefront of our minds, shooting and hunting will remanin two of the safest sporting activities.

As a reminder, here are the Four Rules of Firearm Safety as devised by Jeff Cooper, founder of Gunsite:

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
4. Always be sure of your target.

If you ALWAYS follow ALL FOUR rules, you will never have a shooting accident.

Also, don't forget your eye and ear protection... now get out there and turn show powder into noise!

Gunsite 270 General Rifle

Back in 2008, after I took the Gunsite 250 Defensive Pistol course, I also took the 270 General Rifle course. It is designed to give new shooters the familiarity and confidence to handle their rifles, while honing the skills of experienced shooters for shots ranging from “up close” to 300 yards. My class had students of all experience levels and we all benefitted from the thorough teaching.



Similar to the Defensive Pistol class, we were all made very familiar with our equipment and learned the most efficient ways to manipulate our rifles and their controls. I took my Christensen Arms .270WSM topped with a Swarovski riflescope. We practiced loading, unloading, feeding, mounting, carrying in multiple slung positions, and of course, many different shooting positions.


Prone


Sitting


Kneeling, using concealment and a rest

The main thing I took from the class is the idea of “natural point of aim.” Every time you hold your rifle, whether supported or not, your hands and body will “naturally” point the rifle. If you try to force the sights away from this natural point of aim and onto your target, different parts of your body will be competing against one another and you will shoot less accurately. However, if you shift your body so that your “natural point of aim” is at your target, you will only need to make slight adjustments to your point of aim while pressing the trigger. It was amazing to see how our groups shrunk after making sure our natural point of aim was the same as our intended point of aim.

To find your natural point of aim, get into any shooting position (following the Four Rules of Firearms Safety, of course), and then close your eyes and relax for a few seconds or a couple deep breaths. When you open your eyes, your gun will be pointing at your natural point of aim. If you are not aimed at your target, shift your body so that you are, but do not just push the gun around with your hands. Close your eyes again and check your natural point of aim. Continue shifting and checking until your natural point of aim is the same as your intended point of aim, and then fire. With some practice, you will easily and quickly find your natural point of aim, which should make you a better shooter!

If you get a chance to take the Gunsite 270 General Rifle course, I strongly suggest it. You will fire more rounds through your rifle in a week than you probably ever have, and you will leave with the skills and confidence to make the shot, whether it’s at cape buffalo in the thick brush or a mule deer on the prairie. The teachers are excellent and the knowledge they give you is worthwhile for real-life hunting scenarios.


A timed run through the Scrambler tested our stamina and skills.

Here is the article I wrote for Western Hunter about the Gunsite 270 General Rifle class:

Outfitters and Other Services

Just below the "Trent Uses and Endorses" section is a list of outfitters and other outdoor service providers. I know each of the companies personally and can say that each provided me with great information and opportunities. If you are in need of their services, you won't go wrong picking any one of them!

Trent Uses and Endorses

On the right side of my blog is a list of companies whose products I have used over the years and feel comfortable endorsing. This is not a complete list and I have not used every product made by these companies. However, based on the products I have used from each company, I can proudly and confidently back them. If you have a question about any of the products, feel free to shoot me an email at trent@trentswansonoutdoors.com.

Drownin' Worms

Teague proudly shows Mattox a catfish on Mattox's first fishing excursion.

We spent Easter weekend down in Phoenix with my brother and his family. Besides the huge Echeverria picnic on Saturday and an Easter egg hunt on Sunday, Erik and his oldest son Teague took Nichole, Mattox, and I on Mattox’s first fishing trip. One of Erik’s friends lives on a private lake in Ahwatukee with an abundance of warm water fish species such as catfish, carp, bluegill, and crappie.

We rigged up a couple rods with corn and worms, and let Teague do the catching as soon as the fish hit. We only fished for about an hour, but Teague caught a carp and three catfish. The carp put up quite a fight, but after I tightened the drag on Teague’s reel, he made short work of the big bottom-feeder.

Since I was trying to get a picture of Mattox with a fish (two of the squirmiest things on the planet), I was frustrated when the first catfish got off, and then when I dropped the second. It all came together on the third, which also happened to be the biggest! We got a great photo of Teague holding the catfish, me holding Mattox, and Mattox touching his first slimy fish.

Teague was totally unselfish and loved sharing the experience with the family. He couldn’t wait to go and was very proud to show his fish to Mattox. I think those cousins will have a great time in the woods together!

Even though Mattox’s first fishing trip was more about me than him, I hope he’ll recognize the value of exposing kids to the outdoors early. My parents took me fishing before I could walk and now we’ve done the same for Mattox. Hopefully he’ll do the same for his kids…






A sequence of photos showing Teague catching and releasing a nice carp with the help of his dad: