New Les Stroud knife

Can't wait for the "Tagamami," a new Helle Knife that is a collaborative effort between Les Stroud (Survivorman) and Helle, one of the best higher end Norwegian knife makers out there.

No pictures as of yet, but I have emailed the two Helle distributors in the USA asking to be notified when they get them in.

99.9% chance it'll be a much better knife than the Bear Grylls knife.... just like the shows I suppose, Bear is out for flash, Les is out to thoughtfully teach.

EDIT: Wow, I didn't realize Bear Grylls and Gerber had "teamed up" on so much stuff... there's a fixed blade, a folder, a parang, and a couple versions of "survival" kits.

Frozen Guides Fishing Service

Two of my brothers and my dad went out for our annual Owyhee River fishing expedition. For the last 8 years we have ventured over to the brown trout waters in hard to reach extreme south eastern Oregon. This year was particularly cold as we have been in the grips of a mid winter freeze in November.

Starting off with a hearty breakfast at a local greasy spoon, we enjoyed the company of a non fishing brother, his two young boys and an Uncle up from California. Fueled up with Belgian waffles, protein-special omelets and coffee, the four fishermen headed through Notus and Parma Idaho and Adrian Oregon into the beautiful Owhyee canyon.

The truck thermometer read 24* F and we knew we were in for a tough day, but still hopeful for a hatch of some sort should the sun choose to grace the canyon with it's warmth. Swapping out jeans for fleece pants and waders, we geared up and started on a stretch familiar to us. The water was low and much of the area was iced clear over, so the pickings were limited, but we managed to find some fish before too long.




Tossing a Clouser minnow

















Fish on!











Looks like the Krakken!














Bringing that brown to net













And letting her go.














Plop. Another Clouser Minnow toss.











Three frozen fishermen





























Fish on, brother number 2














And the 21" reward...

More Videos!!!

Elk videos

Finally got three of the videos uploaded. I have three more, and I am still working on uploading them, but until then, enjoy...

wow

Videos

I am continuing to work on getting my videos from my elk hunt downloaded to here or photobucket, but it seems my short two minute segments don't want to be shared...

Stay tuned, I'll get them up sooner or later, as well as the actual hunt report and notes!

Thanks for checking in.

BCB

Back from elk hunting.... report!

Had a fantastic time elk hunting this year! Saw more elk on the mountain than I have ever seen before, including a calf which I have never seen before (in my little corner of the mountain that is). Found a couple of great new water holes, made lots of notes, learned a lot....

On to the pictures and video!

Fires

I always get a little nervous about this time of year due to wild fires. Mid-late summer thunderstorms can create huge fires in no time, struck by lightning and fanned by high winds. This summer may be worse than some because of the long, wet spring and the ensuing high growth rates of the under story brush and weeds. I find myself checking the Forest Service fire map often during this time of year.

Thanks for checking in,
BCB

fitness hike

I went out for a hike in an effort to continue to get my legs in shape for the upcoming elk season. I headed out on a local trail into the local foothills. I had my daypack with my spotting scope, binoculars and a canteen of water. Saw a antelope doe and a peregrine falcon eating a fresh Hungarian partridge. Heard some coyotes and chuckars. All in all a good trip, my legs felt good, but I still have a long way to go...

Thanks for checking in,
BCB

Elk scouting trip 1

Wow, nothing like the first trip of the season to show me how out of shape I am!

About two months until I head up elk hunting, time to get running and loosen up the lungs, loose a few pounds and whip my legs into shape.

The high country was beautiful and absolutely chock full of bood quality browse for the elk, the micro stream where I hunt is spring fed and it stable year around... just perfect for a healthy herd of elk on "my" mountain. The long, cool spring and (so far) cool summer, it seems the stars are aligning for an awesome fall hunt. Speaking of the weather, I always check the Old farmers Almanac to get a prediction on the weather and it is predicting a hotter than average August (which bodes poorly for fire danger), but a much cooler than average September which bodes well, very well, for an active, vocal rut.

Other preliminary elk scouting trips I have been hearing about nearly all mention an abundance of calves this year, and from what I saw I'd agree! I didn't spend much time on the mountain, but I did see lots and lots of sign, so all in all I am pumped!

This is the year!
BCB