What tricks have you learned from other in camp?

[Mathews]

Old 1 gallon milk/water jugs filled with water thrown in the freezer saves from buying blocks of ice every trip

[Hunterjohnny]

SCRAMBLED EGGS IN A BAG. PUT YOUR EGG YOKES IN A ZIP LOCK BAGGIE AND PUT INTO BOILING WATER FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES AND YOU GOT SCRAMBLED EGGS, ADD SOME FRANKIES HOT SAUCE AND A TORTILLA AND YOU ARE READY TO GO

 

That one is great, a friend had a whole omlet made up in there, mmmmm. Boiled and eaten in no time flat.

[couesdiehard]

Old 1 gallon milk/water jugs filled with water thrown in the freezer saves from buying blocks of ice every trip

 

Another benefit of this trick is that as your trip goes on you have lots of cold water to refill your canteen or hydration pack, as the ice melts in the jugs. Just want to make sure you use clean jugs and good drinking water if you plan to do this.

[Mathews]

Old 1 gallon milk/water jugs filled with water thrown in the freezer saves from buying blocks of ice every trip

 

Another benefit of this trick is that as your trip goes on you have lots of cold water to refill your canteen or hydration pack, as the ice melts in the jugs. Just want to make sure you use clean jugs and good drinking water if you plan to do this.

Even better

[azmetalman]

Old 1 gallon milk/water jugs filled with water thrown in the freezer saves from buying blocks of ice every trip

 

Another benefit of this trick is that as your trip goes on you have lots of cold water to refill your canteen or hydration pack, as the ice melts in the jugs. Just want to make sure you use clean jugs and good drinking water if you plan to do this.

Even better

[azmetalman]

Old 1 gallon milk/water jugs filled with water thrown in the freezer saves from buying blocks of ice every trip

BW

 

Another benefit of this trick is that as your trip goes on you have lots of cold water to refill your canteen or hydration pack, as the ice melts in the jugs. Just want to make sure you use clean jugs and good drinking water if you plan to do this.

Even better

 

For what it is worth...in addition to the frozen water in milk jugs I freeze milk, orange and tomato juice in the original containers as well as anything that isn't going to be consumed the first night or next day. All of this helps keep your camp food cold for an extended trip.

[couesdiehard]

Old 1 gallon milk/water jugs filled with water thrown in the freezer saves from buying blocks of ice every trip

BW

 

Another benefit of this trick is that as your trip goes on you have lots of cold water to refill your canteen or hydration pack, as the ice melts in the jugs. Just want to make sure you use clean jugs and good drinking water if you plan to do this.

Even better

 

For what it is worth...in addition to the frozen water in milk jugs I freeze milk, orange and tomato juice in the original containers as well as anything that isn't going to be consumed the first night or next day. All of this helps keep your camp food cold for an extended trip.

azmetalman,

You beat me to it. I wanted to add the same trick to this thread. Freeze everhything possible at home first. Load it all in the ice chest hard frozen, and out in the field place the ice chest in the shade under some insulation like an old heavy sleeping bag or packing blankets.

[couesntime]

Azshtr, (not implying you do this) you can go to home depot and buy a homer bucket, cut a hole in the bottom turn upside down, use it and leave it out there, like i have seen a few times.

 

roll your clothes up in juniper/p-pine boughs, put in bag a day before you leave and then pull them out when ready to hunt.(just make sure not to put boughs on the inside of your clothes... or an ol' timmer once told me, he finds a dirt tank and soaks his clothes in there then let air dry. (just dont use the tank you plan on hunting!)

[mcelkhunter]

On an elk hunt years ago I learned that it was not a good idea to drink baccanora (sp?? i think some kind of mexican moonshine) in the evening and expect to get up and hunt the next morning!!

[billrquimby]

Bacanora indeed is Mexican moonshine. The good stuff is clear and has a mild flavor. Speaking from a long-ago experience, only a small amount is required to turn a group of U.S. Forest Service rangers and a couple of civilians into blathering idiots when served liberally in a Coleman-lantern-lit tent at the old corrals in Salt House Canyon, several miles west of Strayhorse by horse and mule.

 

Bill Quimby

[billrquimby]

Oops. Apparently it no longer is an illegal moonshine.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacanora

 

Bill Quimby

[azmetalman]

Bill I love your comments about the Salt House Canyon Party. A bunch of years ago when I still lived in Tucson my wife and I attended a professional convention in Carefree. While sitting by the swimming pool one evening one of my contemporaries who is a very big man (no fat) was talking about how he enjoyed straight shots of Tequila. I had heard this dribble a number of times before so I came prepared. I had a fresh quart of Bacanora that I had purchased on a trip to El Novillo. I brought the bottle out and gave my friend 3 shots. In 30 minutes he was slurring his speech and went to bed. He showed up at the very last meeting the following morning and accused me of feeding him Coleman lantern fuel. Bacanora is pleasant but it will separate the men from the boys if necessary.

[billrquimby]

Bill I love your comments about the Salt House Canyon Party. A bunch of years ago when I still lived in Tucson my wife and I attended a professional convention in Carefree. While sitting by the swimming pool one evening one of my contemporaries who is a very big man (no fat) was talking about how he enjoyed straight shots of Tequila. I had heard this dribble a number of times before so I came prepared. I had a fresh quart of Bacanora that I had purchased on a trip to El Novillo. I brought the bottle out and gave my friend 3 shots. In 30 minutes he was slurring his speech and went to bed. He showed up at the very last meeting the following morning and accused me of feeding him Coleman lantern fuel. Bacanora is pleasant but it will separate the men from the boys if necessary.

 

My lifelong friend and hunting partner Alex Jacome wrangled an invitation from George Proctor (then the Apache National Forest supervisor) for us to join his department's annual pack-in elk hunt in the canyon country southwest of Hanagan Meadow. They packed in big wall tents and all the gear, and furnished horses and mules for everyone. Ales and I only had to bring a jug of bacanora and our sleeping bags. Permits were easier to draw then, and Alex and I enjoyed what had to be one of my most memorable North American big game hunts.

 

Slurred speech was not the only problem everyone had after an hour of swapping lies and sipping bacanora. Two guys tried to stand up and couldn't. Their legs were like wet noodles. and we all giggled until we discovered nearly everyone suffered the same malady.

 

Among those in camp were Rolfe Hoyer (for whom the campground at Greer is named) and then-forest ranger Buck Buckner, who later became a honcho in the Boone & Crockett Club and the accepted authority on gunwriter Jack O'Connor.

 

The hunting portion of my trip ended when I shot a cow elk the the first hour of the hunt -- and then watched a huge bull emerge from the bush and stand where the cow had stood when I shot her. Alex and I had any-elk tags, and all I could do is find the bull in my scope and say, "Bang! You're dead," and watch it walk off. Alex didn't shoot an elk, but he did take a black bear.

 

This happened in about 1966 or so. I wrote about it in my "Sixty Years a Hunter."

 

Bill Quimby

[elk77hunter]

quick fire starter, take the lint from the dryer and store in a piece of foil or 35mm film tube to keep it dry.

Lights immediately.

[azmetalman]

Saturate your dryer lint with Vaseline and store it in a 35mm plastic film canister. It will light even if it is raining or snowing and it will burn hotter and longer. I use cotton balls saturated with Vaseline. They store easily and last forever. Just work the Vaseline into the cotton balls and squeeze out the excess. When it comes time to use them pull the fibers out of the the wad like you are trying to fluff them up. Obviously they won't fluff but you get the idea. Try this one. It is fool proof.