Jackson Hole Outfitters
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August 2002 Newsletter

Hi guys and gals,

I hope your life isn’t as busy as mine. I’ve just got too much on my plate, and it isn’t food. Got lots to talk about. First, thanks to all of those who have supported our efforts at combating the wolf wackos and the lion lovers and the other anti-hunters and nuts we have to put up with. Wacko environmentalists are destroying our forests out west. We have a severe pine beetle infestation in the Jackson Hole area. Huge stands of trees are dying. The wackos won’t let us log the diseased trees or spray the beetles. It is a constant battle. The fires out west are a result of too many years of no logging and suppressing small fires. Not any fires here in my area yet, but we are being cautious. Need some serious rain. We had sprinkles off and on all day yesterday while I was starting to set up camp. It helped, but we need a downpour. It will probably come while we are trying to hunt. Weather is a real factor in our success, or lack thereof. Cold clear weather is by far the best. Hot and dry or rainy and yucky are bad for hunter success.

The Game & Fish Commission had a lion season-setting meeting and some of the same lion-lovers were there who sat at a table with me in a Scoping meeting. Scoping is where the G&F gets input from the public on which direction they want game management to take. Anyway, these people were from the Cougar Fund. A couple of the statements they made were; "We shouldn’t manage animals, we should just let nature take its course." "There is no sound scientific reason for killing any females of any animal population." "Elk feedgrounds are detrimental to the health of an elk herd." When people make statements like that, you can’t even reason with them. They are the enemy of any sound wildlife management. I told them point blank that if they want things "natural", then they should plow up their house and turn it back into elk winter range. And please ride your bicycle instead of that fossil-fuel-consuming car.

I used to outfit lion hunters, (see Roy’s picture above, #1 Outfitter‘s Award) then I quit for a few years because my good guide sold his dogs and the lion mortality quota was only 3. Now the mortality quota is 12 so the season is unlikely to be shut down too early. I now have an excellent lion guide so I am back in the lion business. We have a plethora of lions (meaning it is not too hard to cut a track if snow conditions are right) and we would love to take you on a great lion hunt, behind dogs, of course. Cost is $2,800 plus $300 if you kill for a 6 day lion hunt (5 fully guided days). Extra days can be added at $400 per day. Call me for details. Incidentally, Roy had a very exciting lion hunt. The treed lion came down, hit the ground, and then actually jumped on Roy’s back, using his hunkered body for a stepping stone to make his getaway. The dogs were loosed and again treed the lion, where Roy’s handgun brought it down. The lion injured one dog. Roy said when that lion jumped on him he thought he was a goner!

In 1991 I traded Bill Woodin a mule deer hunt at my camp in Wyoming for a caribou hunt or fishing trip in Alaska. Bill is an Alaska float plane Air-Taxi, taking hunters into the wilds of Alaska to remote lakes to fish and hunt. Bill killed a heck of a buck with me (#3 Outfitters Award) and I finally found money and time to take my two sons, Trenton and David to Alaska.  Click here to see Bill's great buck he killed with me.

We flew to Anchorage, stayed one night with a close friend, Mont Mahoney, who is a Dall Sheep Guide and pilot for Alaska Airlines. I slept in his den under his Dall Sheep heads, Grizzly bear rug, and mounted King Salmon. Mont has great success on Dall Sheep and you don’t have to draw a permit in the area he hunts. He takes you into the back country on a super cub. Contact Mont at (907)360-6190.

We then drove south on the Kenai peninsula to Bill’s place. We flew 400 miles west across the most beautiful terrain and country I have ever seen with thousands of lakes, both big and small. The first day we flew up a narrow gorge with big glaciers on both sides, circled 50,000 caribou, saw a big grizzly, and then landed on a lake next to Bill’s wall tent camp. From his canoes we caught pike until sundown at 11:50 PM (June 22, the longest day of the year). Flew the next morning to Lake Nerka and set up camp. Then we flew to another large lake and caught mackinaw, then back to Nerka and had the most fantastic Arctic Char fishing in the world!! Bill had a Zodiak boat with 15 horse motor and we would motor up into the mouth of a river, then drift back while casting. Caught 4 to 10 lb Char on every drift. Those were the fightingest fish, pound for pound, I have ever seen. Then we flew to the west end of Nerka and caught Grayling, Dolly Varden, and Rainbows. The scenery there was out of this world!  Click here for picture. There was no wind and the lake was like a mirror, reflecting the snow-capped peaks and glaciers all around us. We taxied the plane up into a small river and drifted down, standing on the floats while fishing. Really cool! Then back to the campsite and the Char fishing. In the morning we needed some fish for breakfast, so we went in the boat to get some "pan-sized" four-pounders. We caught one right off the bat, then needed one more small one. After a half hour of fishing and throwing back about 10 fish of 7-10 lbs, we gave up and kept a big one to eat. We flew to a river a couple hours east of Nerka, landed on the river, taxied up a very small stream just wide enough for the plane, then rented a boat so we could go out on the big river and fish for King Salmon. And fish we did! I caught a 25 lb King, pic David caught a 25 lb Chum Salmon, Trenton caught a couple of Kings, 12 and 15 lb. Plus we caught some grayling and Rainbows and other Chum (Dog) Salmon. Great fishing. Then flew back to Kenai. Contact Bill at (907)776-5370 for a great trip. www.alaska.net/~fourwair

The next day we went to the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula to Homer, AK. Gorgeous spot, big glaciers across the bay, and great halibut fishing. Our guide, Dennis Johns, did a superb job. We caught over 100 halibut from 15 to 30 lbs. Click here for picture.  Dennis wanted to get out to where the halibut were much bigger, but the seas were just too rough. Besides the fishing we saw sea otters and whales. Contact Dennis at (907)262-9855

The next day we drove to Seward where we took a Renown Charters cruise boat to see the "calving" glacier which has big chunks break off into the sea. Had a great cruise, seeing sea otters, a sea lion rookery complete with two big males arguing over territory and the females trying to get their calves out of the way, and porpoises racing the boat, just like you see in the movies. At the big glacier there were chunks breaking off and big pops and groans from the glacier. Two pairs

of mountain goats came down the cliffs to the water. Really neat. Well, I didn’t want to bore you with my travelogue about Alaska, but several guys have asked me about the trip so they could plan their own trip to Alaska. I will definitely go again and definitely with the same people.

I will include the following as a help to you who are dedicated hunters but whose bodies are falling apart. You know who you are, or shall I name names? I have hunters come to camp all the time who have health problems. They have bad knees or a weak heart (Bud Monnen had open heart surgery right after his elk hunt last year) or asthma or whatever. Many times their health issues get in the way of a good hunt. As an outfitter my health, strength, and stamina are extremely important, and I can out-hike guides 20 years younger than myself, right Brian? The keys to good health are deep sleep (when your body repairs itself and replenishes nourishment to the cells) and good water (which takes nutrients into the cell and carries wastes out of the cell) and a properly functioning nervous/muscular system. I’ve had some life-changing experiences in those three areas over the past four months.

I have been a chronic insomniac for 30 years. The slightest noise in the night or covers rumpled or too hot/too cold wakes me up and I can’t go back to sleep. I had heard rumors of people who go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning, with no consciousness in between, but I figured those people must be hunters or fishermen and are quite adept at stretching the truth. In mid-April I got a Nikken sleep system, which consists of a magnetic mattress, a magnetic pillow, and a far-infrared ceramic fiber comforter (outer space technology to balance body temperature). After a couple of weeks getting adjusted to it, I sleep all night every night. Astounding!! The other night I had to get up in the night (drank too much before going to bed) and when I laid back down I thought to myself, I wonder how long it will take to go back to sleep. That is the last thing I thought before I woke up at daylight. Pre-Nikken I might have laid awake the rest of the night, or been here at my desk all night. I think that is the main reason it is taking me so long to get this newsletter done, because I don’t have any all-night sessions. My wife, Din, requires 2 hours less sleep a night.

I have had knee problems for the past 3 years; combination of too many hours riding a horse and climbing mountains and walking on haystacks carrying an 80 lb bale. In July of 1999 I was scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus in my left knee, and my right knee had a lot of garbage floating around in there. A Nikken magnetic knee brace brought it back to where we canceled the surgery. (see my newsletter of August 99 on my website) I’ve still had chronic problems, not being able to bend my knees completely, and other aches in them. Now my knees are 100% and can bend all the way against the back of my thigh.

I don’t want this to sound like a commercial, but it has tremendous benefits for a hunter. Many people, including us, have had amazing health improvement stories. Since we began using the Nikken products, including the water system, sleep system, and magnetic insoles, we have had ; 1. My insomnia cured, 2. My knees saved, 3. Black scabby mole the size of a dime disappeared (potentially cancerous?), 4. Aching back relieved within 3 minutes, 5. Daughter’s chronically cold feet warmed, 6. Two friend’s allergies relieved (permanently?), 7. Severely aching toe relieved in 5 minutes, 8. I was helping a friend shoe his 3 year old horse, had just pounded a nail through the shoe, front hoof, when the horse reared up, jerking his hoof upward. The one inch of dagger-like horseshoe nail caught me in the meat of the left thumb, went in and caught the bone, and the horse literally threw me up in the air on the end of that nail in my thumb, and I landed six feet away. As you can imagine, the thumb didn't like it one bit, and the nerves in the thumb screamed very loudly at the brain. Brain checked with the olfactory nerves and they verified that indeed the red fluid of life was gushing out in six inch spurts. I broke out in a cold clammy sweat and had to lie down with my feet up in the air to keep my brain from temporarily shutting down. I don’t mind blood on deer or elk, but I seem to have an aversion to my own blood. Anyway, after bandaging it, I taped a Nikken mini magnet over the owie and left it on all night. The next morning I was amazed at how I could freely use the thumb with just slight soreness. I sat right down and played a tune on the piano. Funny thing is, I could never play the piano before. Three days later I took the bandage off and the hole was healed over. Amazin'!

This week they killed a grizzly bear in Greys River that had been killing sheep. Any bear that kills sheep can’t be all bad. It was on Middle Ridge about 10 miles from my camp. This is the first documented case of griz being this far south. Now Shadow will have something to spook at, knowing there might be another griz around. So far all Shadow has seen are grizzly stumps and grizzly rocks, but he reacts to them just as if they were the furry kind with teeth and claws. That’s why I named him "Shadow", as in "scared of his own". I figure he has done something bad that I haven’t found out about yet and he has a guilty conscience.

A large and heavy bronze sculpture, by outfitter Bob Skinner, entitled "Final Hunt" is being raffled off by the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association. It has a market value of $9,500 and tickets are only $25 each or 5 for $100. Drawing held at our December convention. Make check out to WyOGA and send to me. I’ll pass it on. Of course proceeds are used to further our hunting agenda.

Some are not aware of a slick way to dress your game in the field. We hunt really rugged terrain and getting a deer or elk out whole is almost impossible so we quick-quarter it. We don’t gut, but remove the quarters and the backstrap, leaving only the rib cage, backbone, and pelvis. The elk is on its side, so I have the hunter hold the back leg up while I cut between the nuts (leave evidence of sex attached to each hind quarter) then along the pelvis bone and remove the quarter. On an elk I make sure and leave the 10 inches of hide just in front of the tail that goes across to the other quarter, leaving the hindquarters attached by that hide so I can hang the hinds from my saddle horn. To remove the front quarter (after caping) I have the hunter lift the front leg up while I cut right along the bottom center of the brisket, then I continue to cut right along the rib cage to get all the meat off the ribs and remove that quarter without cutting into the backstrap. Then I start at the rear of the elk and remove the backstrap by cutting alongside the backbone all the way up to the ears, then cutting against the rib cage clear up through the neck and I remove all the neck meat with the backstrap, making a very long strip of meat. The carcass is now deboned and not gutted, so I then pull up on the tail and cut along the flank underneath the backbone and get the tenderloins. I put a backstrap, loin, and one front quarter in a game bag and then lift them into each side of the saddle panniers (which I carry behind my saddle) and I hang the hindquarters on the other horse’s saddle by cutting a small hole in that strip of hide holding the quarters together, just large enough for the saddle horn to go through. So the hinds hang hair side next to the horse, hams toward the front of the saddle while the hocks are tied to each other across the back of the saddle. Makes for a balanced packing job, very easy with a little practice, and I don‘t have to ride back up the mountain the next morning with a pack horse. In most of the places I kill game I don‘t want to go there again the next day if I can help it.

Many thanks to Eric Wagner. He just faxed a news article to me that says the 9th District Court ruled that Arizona’s regulation of issuing only 10% of their hunting tags to non-residents is "invalid and discriminatory". This could have far-reaching implications for you non-residents hunting all across the west and could have good benefits for my hunters who have a hard time drawing a tag. The Wy G&F is introducing a bill into the state legislature this next January that will put a preference point system into place which will help with our drawing system, but this court ruling may change things even more. Stay tuned.

There is a great new magazine called MuleyCrazy. It is dedicated entirely to mule deer. Published by Ryan Hatch of Kanab, Utah, it features short articles about tremendous mule deer bucks with color pictures of each buck. If you have a great buck with good photos, I’m sure Ryan would love to hear from you and get you in the magazine. Give him a call at (435)644-2486 to subscribe or to get your mug plastered all over the nation. There is another great publication you should check out and that is Garth Carter’s Hunting Report. Garth and Jason Carter’s main focus is in getting you drawn for tags in the western states. Good hunts available there, too. One last plug, if coming to Jackson Hole, stay at the Anvil Motel (307)733-3668 Tell Al Parker I sent you.

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