Scoring an impressive 247 4/8’s this monster was not brought down by a hunter

“Michigan’s Biggest Buck” is a very powerful statement. The current Michigan record is a buck shot with a firearm in 1976 by Paul M. Mickey that scores 238 2/8 Non-Typical, Boone & Crockett points. The buck in the pictures accompanying this article has an amazing gross green score of 257 2/8 and a green net score of 247 4/8! If this score holds up, it will blow way past this long standing record by nearly 10 inches.

This new buck cannot officially be recognized as the state record until April 6, at which time it will be eligible for an official panel-score. The current tallies came about when Commemorative Bucks of Michigan scorer, Dennis Sheets measured the massive headgear accompanying this buck. These scores are considered “green” because the current record keeping systems require a 60 day period of “drying” after the antlers are acquired.

This impressive buck was not brought down by a hunter but rather it was found dead by Sharon Weidmayer while she was taking her dog “Camy” for a walk through some overgrown pasture land. Ms. Weidmayer found the buck on February 7, 2010 and informed her hunting friend Ron Waldron of her find and asked him to come and get the deer.

Two days later, Sharon took Ron to the dead animal. When Ron saw the monstrous buck he exclaimed in jest, “That’s not a deer, that’s an elk.”

Ron could not wait to show the antlers to his son-in-law/hunting partner, Mike Guenther. As soon as Mike saw the trophy he knew they had something really special and contacted the authorities to acquire a permit to own the deer.

This buck has 26 scoreable points and carries an incredible 29 inch inside-spread, and main beams that measure 31 inches. The deer was found dead in Clinton, Michigan which is in Lenawee County. This is the same county that produced the 200 class buck taken by Jeremy Collingsworth during the 2009 archery season and was featured on the cover of the January 2010 issue of Woods-N-Water News.

Mr. Guenther reports that the big buck that his father-in-law brought home hadn’t been dead for very long. The deer had been eaten by coyotes but the eyes were intact and the meat remained red. The cause of death is unknown but there were no visible holes or broken bones. The jaw and teeth wear indicate maybe a 4 ½ year old deer.

Ironically, another 4 ½ year old deer that was also found dead is the world record non-typical buck. This deer is known as the “Missouri Monarch” and scores 333 7/8. The highest scoring buck killed by a hunter was shot with a muzzleloader by 15 year-old Tony Lovstuen in Iowa and scores 319 4/8.

The highest scoring Michigan non-typical taken by hunters include the aforementioned Mickey buck which also holds the firearm record at 238 2/8. Aaron M. Davis has the archery record with a Hillsdale County buck that scores 225 7/8. Calhoun County is the home of the state record muzzleloader buck shot by Tim Tackett and it scores 215 1/8. The handgun record is held by Carl Mattson with a score of 218 1/8.

Mike Guenther states that Sharon also found the previous year’s shed from the buck’s right side and that the brow tine curls the same and it even has matching “sticker” points. Guenther goes on to say that the buck put on a lot of mass since the previous year.

When word spread of their great discovery over 200 people toured their pole barn to view the spectacular trophy. Ron and Mike are passionate hunters themselves and are “quite glad to be able to share such a wonderful buck with the public.”

As I’ve shared in past videos, unbeknownst to most Americans, the troublesome, invasive Asian carp is one of the most nutritious and delicious fish in the world. But along with the unique challenges of catching the silver and bighead Asian carp, the next big task is processing them. This is also perhaps the number one deterrent that keeps people from utilizing these fish more frequently. Now, if you don’t mind eating fish in a manner that requires picking out or around the bones after cooking it, such as eating whole rainbow trout or other fish with small delicate bones, then there’s no issue whatsoever, just cook the Asian carp any which way you want and eat and pick away. The bones can be removed quite easily after cooking. However, if you desire a boneless filet, as many Americans are accustomed to, then you’ll have a little more work to do.

The silver and bighead Asian carp have two rows of intricate Y bone structures which require a special technique to get a completely boneless fillet from them. There are lots of great videos out there on this on this topic, and I’ll be making one myself here in the future, so stay tuned for that. But the process that I’m going to be sharing here requires a meat grinder and is very simple. And if you’re a deer hunter who makes a variety of products from your own ground venison, then all this will be very familiar to you.

No matter what method you use for harvesting Asian carp, a vitally important part of processing and eating them, or any fish for that matter, is to bleed the fish out immediately after it’s caught. I did a past video on this if you’d like to learn more. Filleting an Asian carp is initially the same as most any other fish, and it’s very common to filleting cod. There are lots of different ways that you can do this, but this is the method that I find easiest. I make my first initial cut at the dorsal fin and cut right down the backbone to the tail area. Next, I cut around the head about halfway down the rib cage and then meet up with my first cut to finish off the filet. I then wash my fillets off, put them in a cooler, and when I get home, I soak the fillets in salt water for a few hours or overnight to draw out any remaining blood in the filet. After soaking in some saltwater, I remove the skin from the fillet as you can see here.

After skinning, I then trim away the dark meat on the other side which is the slow-twitch muscle fibers of the fish that are used for long-distance swimming. This dark meat tends to have a strong flavor, so it’s good to remove as much of it as you can. To easily do this, I fold the fillet in half and slice the dark meat right off. Again, for this method, you’ll be using a meat grinder, which is a super easy way of processing the Asian carp to turn it into fish patties, fish tacos, fish burgers, fish sticks, fish nuggets, fish cakes, and all kinds of other delicious recipes. To do this, simply run your whole skinned and trimmed fillets through a meat grinder with a small or fine grinding plate. I recommend running the fish through twice for optimal breakdown and blending of the bones, which also adds extra calcium to the finished product, making it even more nutritious. After grinding the filets thoroughly, simply season and shape the ground fish however you desire and start cooking. If you’d like to learn more about the Asian carp, check out the book Eat the Enemy, which is a complete guide to catching and cooking the Asian carp. Check out the video below to see more…

(Thanks for your time! As you may have noticed, there are no annoying, irrelevant third-party ads cluttering up this blog article. If you enjoyed this content and would like to make a donation to help Three Minutes Outdoors with bills and production costs (which are sometimes quite hefty!) it would be greatly appreciated. Click here to make a donation today.)

Carp illustration images used under managed rights from © Joseph R. Tomelleri.

Asian carp video footage courtesy of Great Lakes Fishery Commission

We asked a firearms expert with over thirty years of experience to pick the top five semiautomatic pistols. Yes, here we go again with another Top 5 gun list. Having previously done one on the Top 5 9mm Pistols, 5 Best Sig Sauer Guns, 5 Best CCW Guns, and plenty more.

Top Five Semiautomatic Pistols on the Planet

Now it’s time to get to one of the most popular gun debates out there. We’re going to talk about what I consider to be the five best Semiautomatic Pistols regardless of size, brand, or specific caliber.

M1911/M1911-A1 .45 ACP

Okay, y’all know this one had to make the list. Besides belonging on this Top 5 List, it’s also one of the three most enduring inventions of the legendary gunmaker John Moses Browning. After passing a 6,000 round torture test, it became the first semiautomatic pistol to be adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as well as the most powerful sidearm to ever become standard issue to a nation’s military.

It served faithfully in that role for nearly 75 years, and even though the M1911 was officially replaced in that role by the next gun on the list, it remains wildly popular with gun enthusiasts to this day, more than 100 years since its invention. And it’s one of my sentimental favorites as well; my very first firearms purchase was a Springfield Armory M1911-A1, and I’m quite fond of both my Springfield Mil-Spec and my genuine WWI-vintage Colt.

Beretta 92FS/M9 9mm

As previously indicated, this was the gun that had the daunting task that of succeeding the M1911 as the official sidearm of the U.S. military, and in 1984 the Beretta 92F/M9 did precisely that, in turn fulfilling the role for 33 years — saw combat in Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan along the way — before giving way to the SIG M17. This pistol gained further credibility after being adopted by LAPD and the L.A. Sheriff’s Department as well as numerous other domestic law enforcement agencies. In retrospect, that’s not surprising in light of the fact that Beretta is the world’s oldest industrial firm of any kind, dating back to 1526, so you gotta figure they know what they’re doing.

What’s more, two renowned firearms industry experts who are both known as hardcore M1911 aficionados, Ken Hackathorn and gunsmith Bill Wilson, have gone on record lavishing praise on the Beretta, with the former deeming it “the most reliable handgun I ever used” and the latter stating that “I shoot it just as well as the 1911.”

From a personal standpoint, as I’ve written several times before, the Beretta 92 was the very first pistol I fell in love with – strictly platonically speaking of course – back at the tender age of 14.

Browning Hi-Power P-35 9mm

Another one of John Browning’s top three most enduring inventions (the third being the M2 “Ma Deuce” .50 caliber machine gun). Though alas, Mr. Browning passed away in 1926 before this particular project was perfected, so the proverbial torch was passed on to Belgian gun designer Monsieur Dieudonné Saive, who saw the pistol through to completion in 1935, hence the P-35 designation. With its 13 + 1 standard ammo capacity, the BHP was the first of the “Wondernines,” i.e. high-capacity double-stack 9mm autoloaders; indeed, the “Hi-Power” designation refers to the ammunition capacity and not the ballistic power of the caliber in which the pistol was chambered.

The “Grande Puissance” spent several decades as the most widely used military, police, and counterterrorist pistol in the world, with its list of users including the elite British Special Air Service (SAS) and the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). That’s credentials!

I purchased my own 1967 vintage BHP as a birthday present to myself back in 2007. With roughly 4,000 rounds through it, it’s been a fine shooter.

Glock 17 9mm

Here we go again. The most reliable and durable handgun ever made: a service life in excess of 250,000 rounds; going 10,000 jam-free rounds without a cleaning; Tenifer finish that’s more rust-resistant than stainless steel; continuing to function after being dropped out of a helicopter at an altitude of 400 feet; working after being frozen in a solid block of ice, etc. The pistol that, upon its debut in 1982, established the credibility of polymer-framed and striker-fired pistols and paved the way for their eventual dominance of the U.S. private citizen and law enforcement market.

My own Glock 17 has given me superb performance over the course of 19 years and 20,000 rounds. ‘Nuff said.

Ruger Standard .22 LR

Hey, I had to include at least one rimfire pistol on the list for the sake of “equal time,” right?

The Ruger Standard is to .22 Long Rifle (LR) rimfire semiauto pistols what the M1911 and Browning Hi-Power 9mm are to centerfire semiautomatic combat handguns, i.e. the gold standard against which all competing makes & models must be judged. Back in 1949, this pistol launched the careers of the late great Bill Ruger (1916-2002) and Alex Sturm (1923-1951) and their eponymous Sturm, Ruger & Co, which is now one of the giants of the American firearms industry.

Like the 1911 and BHP, M1911 and the BHP, the Ruger .22 autopistol has proven itself highly adaptable through the decades, spawning many variants and lending itself to a myriad of customizations.

And this gun hasn’t served as a mere plinker and paper-puncher either: suppressed (“silenced”) editions of the pistol were actually used by U.S. Army Special Forces AKA “Green Berets” for stealthy kills against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) sentries during the Vietnam War.

Shockingly, this is the only pistol on the list which I don’t own! That said, I recently did a live-fire range review of the current and most refined variant, the Ruger Mk IV, and found it to be a very pleasant experience.

Hit Or Miss?

Okay, agree or disagree? For any fans of SIG Sauer pistols, Smith & Wesson auto pistols, the CZ-75 (that one just barely missed the cut, to be honest), Heckler & Koch (HK), Walther, etc. go ahead and unleash your rage at us in the Comments section.

Bonus: Glock Gun Photo Essay

MORE: The F-35 Now Comes in Beast Mode

MORE: Why the U.S. Navy Tried to Sink Their Own Aircraft Carrier

Expert Author Biography: Christian D. Orr has 33 years of shooting experience, starting at the tender age of 14. His marksmanship accomplishments include: the Air Force Small Arms Ribbon w/one device (for M16A2 rifle and M9 pistol); Pistol Expert Ratings from U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP); multiple medals and trophies via the Glock Sport Shooting Foundation (GSSF) and the Nevada Police & Fires Games (NPAF). Chris has been an NRA Certified Basic Pistol Instructor since 2011. In his spare time, he enjoys (besides shooting, obviously) dining out, cigars, Irish and British pubs, travel, USC Trojans college football, and Washington DC professional sports.

Cast Iron Cleaning With Electrolysis

Among the variety of restoration tools available to the dedicated vintage cast iron cookware collector, perhaps the most useful of all is cleaning by electrolysis. While a bit more work and expense than other methods to set up, a properly designed and implemented electrolysis tank can remove both rust and build-up in relatively short order.

The term electrolysis comes from two Greek words, and essentially means “to break down using electricity”. Some may remember high school science class experiments in which electrolysis was demonstrated to break down water into its molecular components of hydrogen and oxygen. But an electrolytic cell can also affect the electrodes to which the voltage source is attached, either by adding material, removing material, or both. The process, under conditions of high voltage and temperature, is the basis for electroplating such as that of decorative chrome on automobile parts.

For our purposes, electrolysis cleaning works somewhat like chrome plating in reverse. By connecting the positive and negative wires the opposite of the plating process, you get crud and rust removal.

The most common set up for an electrolysis iron cleaning tank involves a plastic storage container or the like, sturdy enough to be capable of holding eight or more gallons of water, and a car battery charger. You’ll need a piece of metal, either iron or steel, that will serve as a “sacrificial anode” to which the electrical current will flow from the piece being cleaned.

You’ll also need turn the water in the tank into what’s called an electrolyte, making it more conductive so the current will flow more readily through it. For this, we use Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda™ (not baking soda), available in the laundry additives section (medium size yellow box), at the rate of 1-2 tablespoons per gallon of water. Washing soda is primarily sodium carbonate, whereas baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Some people use a swimming pool water conditioner called pH+, which consists of sodium carbonate. Some advanced hobbyists use sodium hydroxide aka lye to achieve a double-acting electrolyte/cleaning solution, but for most, the simpler and less-hazardous washing soda will do.

Gallons of WaterWashing Soda 55-10 T.1/3 – 2/3 C. 1010-20 T.2/3 – 1-1/3 C. 1515-30 T.1 – 2 C. 2020-40 T.1-1/3 – 2-2/3 C. 2525-50 T.1-2/3 – 3-1/3 C.

To properly connect the voltage source, you just have to remember the blacK (negative) wire goes on the sKillet. Also, the battery charger you use must be a manual one, or have a manual charge mode. An automatic charger will see the electrolysis tank as a charged battery and shut itself down.

If you already own a fully automatic charger and don’t wish to purchase a manual one, there is a workaround, although it necessitates the use of a 12V car battery. Hooking up an automatic charger to the battery as if to charge it, you can then use jumper cables from the battery to your electrolysis setup. Current stored in the battery will flow to the pan and sacrificial metal, and the charger will happily supply current to the depleted battery. Heightened care is required using this setup as you must be diligent in properly maintaining the positive-to-positive and negative-to-negative connections between charger and battery. You must also ensure that the positive and negative leads from the battery do not directly touch. Additionally, the terminals and clamps can become hot.

I use a 2amp/10amp switchable manual Die Hard™ Charger from Sears. I understand Sam’s Club has some inexpensive manual chargers as well.

Manual car battery chargers have become increasingly harder to find. Another relatively affordable alternative is a variable DC power supply. Normally used for electronic equipment testing and repair, they offer advantages such as adjustable voltage and current. Set the unit to deliver and maintain a desired constant current (amperage) to achieve the best results.

I place a length of 2×2 wood across the top of my container, and suspend the pans in the water from it with coat hanger wire, attaching the black connector to the unsubmerged tip of the handle of the pan. The other, red connector goes to a piece of air conditioner cabinet steel sheet metal I get from an HVAC guy who often has panels of new, unpainted metal left over from his installations.

Other options for cheap anodes include rebar or used lawn mower blades. Larger steel cans like those for fruit juices with top and bottom removed, cut down the side and flattened are another inexpensive alternative. Anodes with more surface area tend to be the most efficient.

For best results, make sure the connectors make good electrical contact with both the piece being cleaned and the sacrificial metal. Use your wire brush or stainless steel scrubber to remove some of the rust and/or crud at the spot on your piece to which you will be attaching the charger connector.

In the long term, to keep your clamps away from corrosive moisture or being affected by the electrolytic process, you may opt to not connect your charger clamps directly to the piece, instead attaching them to the metal bracket or wire the piece is hung from. Adequate current should still be able to flow if all attachment points are relatively clean, bare metal. Poor connections cause increased electrical resistance and excessive heat. Clean metal-to-metal connections will assure the most efficient cleaning and the least damage to charger leads over time. Charger clamps becoming noticeably hot during use is an indication of poor contact.

Also, don’t be tempted to add more washing soda than recommended; it can cause excessive current and overheating problems which may make the charger shut down or melt cable wire insulation. You’ll know you have good current flowing when you see a mist of fine bubbles forming around the piece and your charger’s amp meter reads towards the upper end of its scale.

The process of electrolysis converts red rust (ferric oxide) to ferrous oxide, sometimes called black rust. The process also both coats and rots the “sacrificial” piece of metal over time, so it will need to be scraped down occasionally, or flipped so that a clean side faces the piece being cleaned. Eventually, it will need to be replaced.

A byproduct of the electrolytic process is the formation of potentially flammable hydrogen gas. It is prudent, therefore, to insure the area around the setup is well-ventilated, or, better, to consider doing it outdoors.

Electrolysis is largely a line-of-sight process, meaning the side of the piece closest to the sacrificial metal will become cleaner first. If you put something between the piece and the metal, a “shadow” of crud will be left on the piece where the object blocked the flow of current from the piece. Some people’s set-ups have metal on both sides, or surrounding the piece for faster action. I just turn the piece around from time to time. Visually, built-up crud loosens, and peels or flakes off like old paint. In some places, it sticks tighter, and takes longer to come off. The red rust will turn into a fine, soft black residue that easily wipes or scrubs off. The process is finished when the metal is bare and gray. Some darker staining may remain in spots that were particularly cruddy, but that’s OK, it can be dealt with.

Tip: If the rust is only on the inside, large format pieces like cauldrons and washing kettles can become their own electrolysis tank. Fill with water and dissolve an appropriate amount of washing soda for the volume. Use a 2×4, a piece of PVC pipe or other non-conductive material as a crossbar and hang a piece of sacrificial metal from it. Attach the negative cable of a manual battery charger to the side of the pot and the positive to the sacrificial anode.

How long does the electrolysis take? Before I started using lye, cleaning an average piece using electrolysis alone might have taken a couple of sessions, maybe 8 hours each. Softening things up with the lye first reduces that to about one afternoon session of a few hours. Hanging the piece to be cleaned as close as possible but without touching the sacrificial metal also tends to speed up the process.

Two identically rusted Lodge #7s, before and after electrolysis:

Other Thoughts

As you read about the usage of electrolysis for cast iron cleaning, you will often encounter a few caveats about the choice of materials for the sacrificial anode.

Many frequent electrolysis users, unhappy with the constant need for anode replacement, have turned to stainless steel, some even going so far as to create a 360° setup by using a stainless steel barrel as both container and anode. The advantage to stainless steel is that it does not corrode as readily as do other types of steel or iron. It is not unusual, however, to see comments that using stainless steel in an electrolysis setup creates a hazardous byproduct called hexavalent chromium. “Hex chrome”, as it is referred to in the electroplating industry, is indeed a problem for those working in that industry, where, at the temperatures and voltages employed, it can be produced, vaporized, and released into the atmosphere. At the far lower voltages and temperatures commonly used for cast iron cleaning, however, hex chrome is not a concern.

Similar warnings are seen against using galvanized metals, and the possibility that zinc may be released into the electrolyte, where it may come into contact with the piece being cleaned. Again, the voltages used should not be sufficient to cause concern.

To avoid the foregoing types of concerns altogether, the use of graphite as an anode appears to fit the bill quite nicely. Graphite is a form of carbon that happens to be electrically conductive, but at the same time is far less reactive to the electrolytic process than the majority of metals. As such, the only thing that it can possibly introduce back into the electrolyte or to the piece being cleaned is plain carbon. Graphite also has the advantage of not becoming coated with iron oxide as do typical metal anodes. It therefore needs no regular cleaning to maintain its performance. Storing the anode dry between cleaning sessions is recommended.

Although not as inexpensive as plain sheet metal or scrap iron, graphite can be had, considering its expected duty life, quite reasonably. Bars, rods, or plates of compressed extruded graphite are available from a variety of sources. Look online for liquidation sales of lots of remaindered graphite forms, avoiding those which mention other materials like copper in their composition.

It is important to note that, over time, any anode material used for electrolysis cleaning will deteriorate and will eventually need to be replaced.

Some users have found a hybrid electrolysis/lye method works well. Using the same concentration of sodium hydroxide as that used for a lye bath as the electrolyte can provide some advantages, including a “dual action” cleaning and increased metal anode life. The same cautions for using lye alone apply (if not more so).

Proper disposal of used electrolyte should include avoidance of soil contamination near vegetable gardens. And, as with any cleaning process, proper protocols should include thoroughly washing and rinsing the cleaned piece before beginning any seasoning regimen.

Finally, electrolysis should only be used to clean bare cast iron ware. Aluminum pieces will dissolve. Enameled cast iron pieces may also have their coatings compromised. Chrome or nickel-plated iron pieces may or may not be adversely affected, depending upon whether or not areas of plating have already begun to release or flake off.

When I was in my early 20s, I used to hang a couple dozen tree stands every summer. The work was tedious, hot and extremely time consuming. And I always felt like I was acting like an outfitter for myself and members of my hunting family at home. Sometimes these stands wouldn’t even get used in the fall, and I’d have to burn more time and energy pulling an unused stand in the winter. The entire process just seemed extremely inefficient. Now that I’m in my early 40s, I have even less time and energy than I did back then, and I desperately try not to waste either.

Now my family and I hunt much more mobile and hang 75 percent of our stands in real time.

Occasionally, I grow tired of passively sitting in a tree waiting for a big buck to come by for the ambush. Also, some conditions are just plain poor for a tree stand location, and the advantage of sitting aloft is lacking. In recent years, I’ve grown fond of switching up hunting techniques and giving the bucks in my area a different look. When I get to hankering for some action, grow bored with tree stand sitting or just need to do some in season speed scouting, my go-to method for chasing deer is old school still hunting.

Defining The Practice

I will preface the remainder of this piece with a statement of pure truth: I am by no means a master still hunter. I live on the prairie in southeastern Illinois, far removed from the big timber and rugged country where the method is used much more frequently. In my hunting youth, I read T. S. Van Dyke’s book from 1883, The Still Hunter. His tales and illustrations of sneaking up on whitetails on foot seemed like pure fiction to me. Around the same time, I read several books authored by Larry Benoit and his sons. They told spinning tales of tracking down monster Adirondack bucks on foot for miles, in the snow no less, before closing in on the animal for a kill shot with a rifle.

After digesting a pile of literature on the subject, I made up my mind. I was going to learn how to still hunt.

I’ve always thought the term still hunting was a bit of a misnomer, because you’re on foot and you’re moving very slowly. Still hunting is the simplest form of active pursuit there is, a process by which one literally creeps through a whitetail’s habitat on foot as slowly and methodically as possible. The goal is quite simple: use all your senses to see, hear and sometimes even smell the whitetail before they return the favor. But that’s only the first part of the still hunting equation, for the hard part is pulling off the shot at eye level. For my tastes, still hunting lends itself to be a fantastic method for the deer hunter with a firearm tag in his or her pocket. But, given the proper conditions, an archer can also use the still hunt. Let’s study these elements in detail.

The Proper Conditions

In order to up your odds of still hunting success, you need to have the proper conditions. In my opinion, a calm, sunny and dry day is just terrible for the task.

I want damp conditions to allow for quiet footfall in the timber on a calm day. Also, dry leaf litter under foot is less apt to spook game if the wind is up and covering your sound signature. Noise mitigation is paramount to the still hunter.

On sunny days, keeping the sun at your back and slowly working through the shadows is a fine way to get the drop on bedded deer. But cloudy days seem to make for better overall visibility. Keep in mind that shadows can help hide the human form, but they can also hide the whitetail just as easily.

Rain and snow can make for some excellent conditions to still hunt. However, if the ground is too wet and muddy, it can throw off your balance and make for a noisy boot slurping through the muck.

Falling snow is my absolute favorite helper. While I’m wearing some white snow camo and easing through whitetail habitat on foot, the fresh powder helps dampen one’s noise signature and ups the odds of catching a big buck on his feet.

The terrain and undergrowth also need to be considered before attempting a still hunt. Too many snags make for difficulty in slow navigation where minimal movement is desired. Terrain that is pancake flat sounds advantageous, but it is not, nor is extremely sharp terrain. Flat ground gives game the advantage of seeing you way before you see them, and aggressive contours take your mind off the task of spotting game, and you become consumed with not slipping and falling. Gentle rolling timber or hill country is a still hunter’s best ally. Terrain should be diverse enough to allow for camouflaging hunter movement, but not so sharp it is extremely hard to traverse.

A word needs to be mentioned about the condition of the still hunter themself. Being in sound physical condition with a strong core, legs and feet is a good idea. If I still hunt for a few days straight, my hips and calves get tired and sore, and I am less balanced on the trail of game. Physical form aside, by far the most important condition of any still hunter is a soundness of his or her mind. On a still hunt, you must try and remain focused and adaptable. If your mind is on work, bills, your phone or other distractions beyond the woods, you will fail in this endeavor.

When I begin a still hunt, I try to mentally check out of day-to-day life and check into the metaphysical “force” of the hunt. I try to be hyperaware of the task at hand. If I can control my mind, I can control my pace. And if I control my breathing, I control my mind. Speedy travel and a racing mind are poison to the still hunter looking to bag a buck on foot. The mental aspect of still hunting cannot be overstated. If you have a slow foot and a calm mind, you can shoot any deer in North America on a still hunt given the proper conditions.

Still Hunting Gear

A minimalist approach to still hunting is usually a good idea when choosing essential gear. I prefer to still hunt with a short-barrel firearm with a 2-7X scope, or open sights, and a quality sling. A short barrel seems to balance in both hands well, and it wields nicely while sneaking through the timber. The scope is almost exclusively on 2X, and I find it much easier to zoom up in power to spot a deer at ground level than it is to have an encounter and need to quickly zoom down in a hurry up close.

Still hunting with archery gear is challenging, but it can be done. I use a short axle-to-axle Mathews with their quick detach quiver. Personally, I hate carrying a bow during a still hunt. And mine resides on my back attached to a backpack with a device called a Bow Spider. This allows me to quickly deploy it when action calls for it, but it also allows for more balanced and streamlined travel.

As far as other essentials, I like to still hunt with a Guide Series chest harness from Vortex. It houses a pair of their 8×42 binoculars, a range finder, a wind checker and my knife and tags. This leaves no gear in my pants to snag on brush and makes it easy to get to.

For camouflage, I prefer neutral tones of tan, brown, gray or olive green, opposed to commercially available patterns meant for tree stand hunts.

In the footwear department, I despise rubber knee-high boots for still hunting. They are helpful in the mud, but I like a nimble, lace-up boot like a Danner Pronghorn. If conditions call for ultimate silence, sometimes I go barefoot or with a thick wool sock. Then I’ll attach my boots to the back of my binocular chest rig with rubber coated wire gear ties. This fall, I plan on adding a pair of Silent Pursuit brand moccasins to the list. Ultimately, still hunting gear needs to be simple, functional, easy to access and silent.

Still Hunting Techniques

Still hunting your way to a big buck may sound simple, but it is quite challenging. Once you’ve got the proper conditions and gear, it’s time to start slipping through whitetail habitat. Whenever possible, the approach should begin with the wind in your face and the sun at your back or off to one shoulder. I tend to break up my approach in 10- or 20-yard increments, and I slowly creep forward step by step to the next landmark to stop beside. But these are not ordinary walking steps. I like to “fox walk” with a stride about half as long as a normal walking stride. The “fox walk” is a three-cadence stride, where you raise your knee high above the underbrush to step forward, then gently place the ball of the foot to the ground, and finally roll your foot to place it flat. Repeat the process with short strides from your trailing leg and feel the ground below your feet for obstacles as you go.

The process is slow and tedious, and it takes a lot of focus and balance. However, with enough practice, you can effectively sneak through the timber.

Spotting bedded whitetails can be immensely tough, and the reason for the snail’s pace is to take the time to visualize everything. Looking for an antler tine in the brush or the flicker of a white tail can be a giveaway for a bedded buck’s location. You must be as thorough as possible, scanning the terrain and habitat for sign of prey. Use the terrain to your advantage and slowly peek over the next ridge or down into the next bottom.

If you can get it, snow helps the still hunter tremendously. It more easily allows you to cut a big set of buck tracks and stalk their maker, creating a very intense hunting experience. Sometimes, I’ll stop and rest a spell in some natural cover and take a mental break. I’ve found this helps restore my vigilance when I continue. For added versatility, I’ve taken to still hunting with a stand on my back during the rut in somewhat of a hybrid combination.

Though I never climb very high on these hunts, one climbing stick or a couple screw-in steps can get me six to eight feet high up in natural cover very quickly. This method is a ton of fun when big bucks are chasing does all over, and I like to chase them too!

My Successes and Failures

Before everyone reading this figures me as some authority on still hunting whitetails, I assure you I’m not. Though I know how to do it, I fail more than I succeed. No doubt, when practicing this ancient method, I spook deer way more often than I kill. But like most things in whitetail hunting, it is the few and far between successes that make up for the struggle.

During muzzleloader season in 2013, I watched a big buck and a few does feed in a morning snowstorm. Then they headed into a small patch of cover to bed for the day. Around noon, I put some snow camo on and still hunted their way. Not an hour into the hunt, I peeked over a ridge to find the group bedded in a bottom out of the wind. I rested my smoke pole on a small tree and killed the buck when he stood from his bed.

In 2016, I still hunted my way through the timber on a sunny day during the rut, and I found an old target buck tending to a doe in a brush pile. He finally gave me a shot, but my arrow missed high. During the following year’s gun season, I took off on foot for that same buck in a drizzling rain. By luck, I found him in the back of a cattle pasture, down in a valley out of the weather and made my play. He spotted me in my final approach and sprang from the cover, giving me a short window to make a shot. And I dropped him before he fled. I knew the buck to be old, but to my surprise, using tooth cementum analysis, he was aged at 9 1/2 years old!

If I never live to shoot another trophy buck on a still hunt again, tagging an ancient whitetail with the most primitive of hunting methods is a feat I assume I will never top! Hopefully, you can apply this tactic with success, too.

ZipLine Medical says anyone can use its ZipStitch device for wound closure, and it doesn’t need to be prescribed by a doctor

ZipStitch says its device is 12-times stronger than regular stitches and results in reduced scarring (Credit: YouTube/ZipStitch)

There’s an emphasis in many industries on easy-to-use, cheap alternatives to established products — and healthcare is certainly one of them. Jamie Bell takes a look at ZipStitch — a hospital-grade wound closure device that anyone can use to treat small cuts in seconds.

Whether it’s at home chopping vegetables, playing sports with friends, or cycling to work, minor cuts and flesh wounds can happen just about anywhere in day-to-day life.

Bigger, deeper wounds will often require a trip to the emergency room, and ultimately stitches — a painful, invasive procedure.

In the US, getting stitches is also expensive for anyone without health insurance. Cost range from $200 to as much as $3,000 in some cases.

However, any medium-sized or smaller cut is usually treated outside the healthcare setting using an adhesive bandage or plaster.

While these dressings can stop a small amount of bleeding — and protect against infection — they do little to close the wound and speed up the healing process.

US tissue-repair device company ZipLine Medical has developed a tool called ZipStitch, which combines the convenience of a plaster with many of the benefits provided by having a cut stitched by a doctor.

ZipStitch: The do-it-yourself wound closure device

ZipStitch is a small, adhesive device that is designed to be placed over cuts less than 4mm in width.

Once it is stuck down, the user simply pulls each of the four miniature straps on the device, tightening them and closing the break in the skin.

Because it is so small and light, ZipLine Medical believes its product is ideal for everyday first-aid kits, and can be useful for someone to have with them during a range of outdoor activities where minor injuries can often occur, including cycling, hiking or camping.

The company warns, however, that the wound must be cleaned properly and allowed to dry before application.

Not only does this reduce the risk of infection, but it ensures the device will stick to the skin and remain in place.

It is sold online for $29.99 as part of a pack including gauze pads to stop bleeding, alcohol wipes to clean wounds, and bandage to cover and protect the cut once ZipStitch has been applied.

The device is supposedly 12-times stronger than regular stitches and results in reduced scarring.

Although it can only be used to close wounds up to 1.5 inches in length. ZipLine Medical recommends seeking stitches in hospital to close larger cuts.

Unlike conventional sutures, ZipStitch is also non-invasive, which can reduce the chances of bacteria causing infection.

The company says it provides better protection than butterfly bandages and other adhesive plasters, repairing cuts faster and decreasing the likelihood of scarring.

Hospital-grade Zip technology

The device uses ZipLine Medical’s own Zip technology, which has been used by more than 500,000 people in the past five years, and by hospitals in 30 countries.

The California-based company says it delivers faster and less painful wound closure than established methods such as stitches or staples — with 95% of its patients saying they prefer Zip technology to these treatments.

Having proven to be safe and effective in several clinical trials, it gained FDA approval in 2017.

As well as treating minor, everyday injuries, Zip technology has been used to close wounds left by operations including knee and shoulder replacements — which, the company says, has resulted in reduced scarring compared with conventional stitches.

When used to close wounds following these procedures, a longer strip of the ZipStitch device is used to precisely align the edges of the incision.

The Zip structure also functions as a cage to offer extra protection from anything that might cause pain or reopen the cut.

Removing the ZipStitch can be done at home by the patient in some cases, and ZipLine Medical says this is as simple as pulling off a Band-Aid.

It is also less painful than removing stitches or staples, and leaves no holes in the skin.

As well as benefits for patients, the company claims the speed at which ZipStitch works can decrease healthcare costs and improve efficiency of patient care by reducing the number of follow-up appointments.

How ZipStitch compares to butterfly bandages and other wound closure devices

The main alternative to ZipStitch is the butterfly bandage — an adhesive strip designed to close small wounds by pulling the skin together.

These outperform ordinary plasters and are also small and light.

However, butterfly bandages cover a much smaller area than the ZipStitch device, meaning only cuts that are very short in length can be closed effectively.

There are several other methods for closing wounds without traditional stitches — German healthcare company McKesson uses a series of adhesive strips to do this.

Clozex Medical has developed a wound closure device that comes in several different lengths to treat a variety of cut sizes, and to cope with curvatures and raised areas on the skin.

Skin glue or “liquid stitches” can also be used to non-invasively hold the edges of a cut together. It can also be applied in addition to other wound closure methods like traditional stitches or adhesive bandages.

These other products are not do-it-yourself solutions, and require a healthcare professional to administer them.

To make many of the more advanced tools and weapons associated with wilderness survival you will need two animal products, sinew and rawhide. What sinew is, how to obtain it, and how to process it is the subject of this post.

What is Sinew?Sinew can be obtained from the tendons of any mammal. Tendons are the tough stringy things that attach muscles to bones. When these tendons are processed into sinew they provide a wonderful material that can be used to make super strong cordage, good sewing thread, and they can be used as a binding twine to attach arrowheads, arrow fletchings, knife blades, spear points, drill points and etc. Sinew is as tough as nylon, and it is impregnated with its own natural glue that can be activated with a little moisture. Sinew shrinks a little when it dries so that is binds things together tightly. Sinew will last for hundreds of years if it is protected from moisture. In short, sinew is a super material that has no modern equivalent. The only down-side to sinew is that it must be kept dry. If you get it wet it will soften and stretch, and whatever you have bound together with it will come apart. If you think that any sinew that you have used may be exposed to moisture, you must coat it with pine sap or some other agent that will waterproof it.

How do You Obtain Sinew?One of the most widely available sources of sinew is from the deer, although elk or buffalo will work just as well. The most useful sinews are located in the lower legs and along the upper back lying over the back straps. If you hunt deer you can remove both the leg and back sinews when you are butchering. If you have friends that hunt you can ask them to bring you the lower legs when they butcher. The lower legs have no usable meat on them and most people just cut them off and throw them away. Hunters will usually be glad to give you this part of their kill even if they do think you’re a little strange for wanting it. You can even go to most packing houses during deer season and they are often glad to get rid of any legs that they have. All of my friends know that I want deer legs and I usually get anywhere from twenty to fifty a year just for the asking. Pictured below: deer legHow do You Process Sinew?To remove the sinews, you need a sharp knife or a good sharp flake of flint. Slice down the back of the leg from knee joint to just above the dew claws and peel the skin back. Lying just below the skin is a white membrane. This membrane encases the tendon which lies in a shallow groove down the back of the leg bone.

Split open the membrane and you will see a milky white cord looking thing. This is the tendon. You can usually slip your finger under the edge of the tendon and lift it up out of the bone a little. When you get the tendon up out of the groove, run your knife up and down to loosen the tendon even more. I usually run my knife down toward the hoof, and when I can’t go any farther, I turn the blade up and slice through the tendon freeing that end. You can then grab the tendon with you hand and peel it out down toward the knee joint. When you pull up as much of the tendon as you can get, cut that end off with your knife. There may be some membrane left sticking to the tendon (kind of a slimy case) and if you can remove this it will be helpful although it’s not vitally necessary.When you have a white floppy tendon in your hand, the hard part is done. Just set the tendon out in the sun or on the kitchen drain board if your spouse is out of town. In less than twenty-four hours the soft wet tendon will be hard, dry, and kind of a translucent yellow color. It looks a lot like plastic. Now take the dried tendon and use a smooth round rock or the round end of a ball peen hammer and start pounding. What ever you pound with, it needs to be rounded. Flat edges, like the flat of a hammer or axe, will cut the fibers in the sinew. As you pound, the sinew will start to turn white, and it will begin to separate into fluffy white fibers. You can now take you fingers and pull apart the fibers is small bundles about the thickness of a pencil lead or smaller. These little fiber bundles are what you’re looking for. You can use them to back a bow, make a bow string, sew leather together, tie on arrowheads etc.To use the sinew to, for example, tie on an arrow head; all you have to do is pop a piece in your mouth and chew on it a little. Don’t be squeamish. It’s no different than chewing on a piece of deer jerky. The saliva in your mouth and the gentle chewing will soften the sinew in seconds. Don’t chew too long or you will wash all of the glue out of the sinew.

When the sinew is soft remove it from your mouth and wrap it around your arrowhead. You don’t have to tie it off because the sinew will stick to itself. Set it in the sun for twenty or thirty minutes and it will dry hard and tight. Coat the sinew with melted pine sap or carpenter’s glue and let it dry. Pictured below: sinew bow string, arrowhead, spearhead, and knife blade all attached with sinew; and sinew backing on an elm wood bow.That’s all there is to it. Amazing isn’t it!

Do you like to fish for walleye with leeches? If so, you may want to take the time to create your own leech traps. They are easy and inexpensive to make. Most will take you less than 10 minutes to build. Here’s how to make five of them:

1. Soda Bottle Leech Trap

You can create a quick and easy leech trap with just a pair of scissors, a roll of duct tape, a rock and a 2 liter, clear, plastic soda bottle. Start by removing the soda bottle’s cap. Next, cut the top off of the soda bottle just above the label line. Place a piece of chicken liver or stew meat into the bottom of the bottle along with a good size rock. The meat will act as bait and the rock will help to keep the trap from moving too much in the current.

Proceed by inverting the top of the bottle so it looks like a funnel. Then insert your makeshift funnel, tapered end down, into the bottom of the soda bottle. Duct tape the funnel into position. When you are ready to use the leech trap, simply set it in the water on its side. Hopefully the leeches will be enticed by the bait and crawl into the bottle.

1. Wood Leech Trap

One of the easiest leech traps to make is a leech board. All you’ll need to make one is an old piece of porous wood and a bottle of fish oil. You can buy the fish oil through a pharmacy or health food store. In most cases a large bottle of fish oil will cost you around $35. In order to make the wood attractive to the leeches you will need to soak it in fish oil.

Some anglers prefer to make a mixture of fish oil and blood. You can get blood for your mixture from draining off packets of meat from your local butcher shop. After the wood has absorbed the oil and blood, place it into the water. The leeches will attach themselves to the wood. Once they do, remove the wood and pick the leeches off of it.

1. Coffee Can Leech Trap

You can also make a leech trap out of an old coffee can. To do so you’ll need bait, a hammer, a sharp screw driver and a pair of vise grips. Use the screw driver and hammer to poke holes in the bottom of a coffee can. Continue by placing the bait into the bottom of the can. Finish the leech trap off by squeezing the top of the can shut with a vise grip. Leave just enough room for the leeches to get into the can. Place the baited coffee can into the water and wait for the leeches to arrive.

1. Dunk Bag Leech Trap

I have found that a dunk bag also works well as a leech trap. You can typically pick one up through most outdoor outfitters for less than $5. Soak the bag in fish oil, place a piece of bait inside the bag and add a rock for weight so the bag won’t float away. Submerge the bag into the water and wait. The leeches will swim into the bag through the holes. Once the leeches are in the bag pull it out of the water and remove them.

1. Jute Pouch Leech Trap

If you don’t want to use a dunk bag, a jute or burlap pouch will also work. You can typically buy a case of jute pouches through craft stores or online for less than $20. That way you can place leech traps in multiple locations. Treat the jute pouch the same way as the dunk bag. Soak it in fish oil and then add the bait as well as a rock.