Stay thirsty, my friends

The Most Interesting Man in the World's guide to life: Keep thyself surrounded by a sea of D's...

My favorite bartenders, Michelle and Jen.

Sharin' interestin' stories with a 50's pin-up girl and a Trophy Rack...

There are perks to workin' at a bar, and one of them is Halloween when all the crazies come out. It's nice to be able to dress up as somethin' fun to go to work. I didn't have a lot of pictures taken of me in costume... ironically though, most pictures involved beautiful women.

H/T to The Beard Coach for an awesome costume idea. My original thought prior to findin' his blog was to go as the Macho Man Randy Savage, but I had no clue where I could quickly and cheaply come up with that much neon. My other options were oldies/goodies, but this was a much more relevant idea, somewhat easy, and I looked snazzy to boot.

Pumpjack

Holy duckfuck Kerrcarto, why didn't you tell me about these fuckin' guys earlier?!?

I'm gonna have to work on aquirin' more of this shit!!!!

•••

The weatherman (who apparently gits his rocks off lyin' to me) has predicted a late October snowstorm that should give us six-eight inches (that's what she said). Hopefully it's just a lie... I'm all about snow, but I'd prefer that the ground be a bit drier beforehand. It's so damn wet from all the rain the last two months that the alot of the area corn has yet to be harvested... there's new sprouts growin' outta the ears that are still standin'. Crazy shit.

Either way, I'm gonna be out and about so I'll hope for the best. I'm plannin' on gittin' up a deer stand tomorrow evenin' before the Halloween festivities.... love me some deer huntin' in the snow.

Wednesday Grind

Some good heavy shit from the other side of the pond. This Danish rock will clear your fuckin' sinuses on a hump day!

Video is from '07's Live - Sold Out! DVD. Song's from their first album, '05's The Strength/The Sound/The Songs.

Horns Up!   \w/     \w/

New Toy

The trip to Wyoming did a number on my personal funds as expected. However, I stumbled upon this at a gun show over the weekend and couldn't help myself, and the price was right and doable.

It's a CVA 12-gauge black powder shotgun, 1999 NWTF Limited Edition "Gobbler" model. Being that a long-time bucket list item is whackin' a turkey with a black powder gun, I'm really excited to finally have one. They ain't easy to find used and priced right, especially with a sidelock. Been lookin' for one of these for several years now.

Hours of figgerin' out how the work the damn thing and copious amounts of load development await me, but I'm lookin' forward to it. Hopefully it'll pay off come next April.

•••

And a new song that I heard over the weekend that's stuck in my head... might as well share the joy. The video is actually purty funny, and there's some fun cameos at the end.

Drink up, bitches.

A beautiful fall evenin'

Napped a lil' too long this afternoon, and didn't want to take the time to git up a tree with the bow. Gives me a good excuse to take the ol' flinter for a walk. It's a perfect evenin'...

Uncle Bill's buck hunts from Wyoming

More Wyoming pictures to come... it's takin' a while to crop and tone all of 'em.

In the meantime, here's some video for ya.

Wednesday Grind

Back on my normal big-boy schedule, which mean back to the Grind...

From '04's New Found Power. Crank it the fuck up!

Horns up!  \w/    \w/

Days 13 & 14 - Another one in the books

Alotta miles, one last dinner and one more hotel, done, done and done. We're back in good ol' South Central Pennsyltucky.

It's a little bittersweet to be home from such an awesome journey, but the fall foliage is here and bow season is in full swing. It's good to be home:-)

Day 12 - The long road home

Headed out after breakfast this mornin'... Some 730+ miles later, we're settled for the night in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Lots of miles today, but we did manage to stop for a bit at the original Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska, and we also grabbed a meal at a Whiskey Creek, courtesy of our friend Budrow.

Long day tomorrow... 800+ miles will find us back in Sandusky, Ohio.

Day 11 - Nearing the end

The meat's been picked up. Everyone's packed up and ready to go. We had another fantastic dinner and got to spend one last evening with all the great folks here at Bear Track.

Leavin' in the mornin' will be very bittersweet. After over five years of plannin', it's hard to see this awesome vacation windin' down so quickly. Three hard days on the road and it'll be back to the real world again.

My laptop is packed up for the ride home, so the last of the pictures will have to wait for a few days.

Dear PETA...

Stop over for supper sometime. We have plenty.

Day 10 - My first Merriam turkey

Laid-back day today. Slept in a bit, got my mulie head skinned out, took a nap, all that fun stuff. Ron and Karl were both done huntin' so Karl spent the day nappin' and Ron spent the day with Pete Dube, the owner of Bear Track, helpin' at the ranch.

Bill and I got to spend the evenin' with another guide, Roman... Talk about a wild-ass, and a helluva hunter and a quality guide to boot.

As soon as we got to the ranch, we saw a lone jake feedin' in the same field we shot at 'em in yesterday. We made a quick stalk and I whacked him with Ron's .223 Remington. Not quite the luster of smokin' a spring bird, but I was quite pleased with my first Merriam bird. Gives me a little more resolve to get out here in the spring and call in an ol' longbeard someday.

We cleaned the bird up and then headed to the field where I killed my doe yesterday to fill Uncle Bill's last tag. The deer were out by then, so we made another stalk. Bill missed his first shot, but more came out about a half hour later and he put a young doe down, so he's tagged out now as well. His friends, Bill Sr. and Jr., also both got doe antelope and Jr. got a doe mulie, so Sr. has a doe tag left.

Roman and I will hit that field again in the mornin' to try to fill my last doe tag. Then we start packin' for the trip home and enjoy our last day of vacation.

Day 9 - Whackin' and Stackin'

Put some serious meat on the pole today!

Our guide, T.J., wasted no time this mornin'... Uncle Bill dropped a beautiful 4x4 mulie with eyeguards and kickers on each side just before 8am. By 10am, I had a beautiful antelope down and we were headed back to the lodge.

On the way out, we joined up with Ron, Karl and their guide, Scrawny. Karl had whacked a wide, tall antelope just after I got mine and we were both headed to the lodge. On the way out, we found a nice doe antelope and Uncle Bill punched another tag.

After hangin' out at the lodge for a bit, Scrawny decided it was time to go "Whackin' and Stackin!" We headed to a nearby ranch that has a problem with the whitetail population and did some work. Ron filled both of his doe tags, and I took out a nice big doe as well. We also had a few good turkey stalks while we were there. I did a buncha missin', but Uncle Bill managed to drop a young jake.

We've just had a blast huntin' with these guides out here. T.J. has been awesome. He's been very patient with me, and I've learned a lot from him the last few days. The best part is it's just like huntin' with one of my good huntin' buddies back home. Ron and Karl have hunted with Scrawny on previous trips, and I know they have a blast. I'm gonna miss these guys when we have to head home.

Came back to the lodge to see that Uncle Bill's friend, Bill Sr., also got a dandy mule deer buck.
All our buck tags are filled now, so we get to fill our remainin' doe tags at a little more relaxed pace.

Karl's wide antelope buck

Uncle Bill and I with our awesome guide, TJ

Uncle Bill's mulie buck with awesome kickers

My first antelope

TJ and Uncle Bill with his Merriam jake

Day 8 - Another awesome day

More meat on the pole today! Ron filled both his tags with a great mulie and a goofball antelope, somethin' he's been tryin' to find for years.

I scored on a nice ol' mulie this mornin', and Uncle Bill got a dandy antelope soon after. Bill's friends Bill Jr. And Sr. also got goats, although I didn't get a chance to get pictures of them.

Ron's mulie buck

Ron's antelope with a unique damaged horn... very rare!

My first mulie buck

Bill's antelope buck

Day 7 - First day success!

Ron got his turkey, Karl got a beautiful mule deer buck, and Uncle Bill's friend, Bill Jr., also got a beautiful old mulie.

Ron's Merriam longbeard

Bill Jr.'s old, wide mulie

Uncle Bill and I had a great day, but no shootin' for us. We saw hundreds of antelope and made a few good stalks, but just couldn't seal the deal. Had the crosshairs on a shooter, but he gave me only a few seconds to shoot, and between me shakin' and the stiff wind, couldn't get a good shot so I held off. Didn't expect to get buck fever that bad... Whatta rush!

The weather was a little sketchy today and some productive roads were impassible. It'll be real nice the rest of the week though, so the huntin' will only get better.

Day 6 - Kickin' Back

Lazy day today, very relaxing. Went into town for breakfast, then spent an hour at the range makin' sure the guns survived the trip okay. Felt good to touch a few off again.

Other than that, purty much a lazy day. Kickin' back with some good Montana beer, Madison River's Copper John Scotch-Style Ale. Got my pack loaded and things ready to go for tomorrow's hunt. We'll get our guide assignments and other info after dinner tonight, and after that it's just a short night's sleep and we'll be hard at it.

I'm ready... Hopefully a lot of pictures for you tomorrow.

Beer

New Belgium's Fat Tire Amber Ale from Fort Collins, CO and Big Sky's Moose Drool Brown Ale from Missoula, Montana. Prime rib dinner with a power outage. Good times:-)

Day 5 - Assorted critters and such

We're settled in at the lodge at Bear Track Outfitters. Purty laid back day, but I'll post some pictures from our drive around the ranches this mornin'.

Day 4 - Things every American should see

Today was insane.

We left Murdow, SD early this mornin' with a long day ahead of us.

After breakfast at a lil' hole in the wall diner with surprisingly good food, we headed off for the Badlands. We spent a few hours tourin' around there. The highlight there, aside from the amazin' sights of course, was spottin' a group of Bighorn Sheep. None of them were big rams, but they aren't often seen so that was purty neat.

After that, we headed off to see the Crazy Horse memorial. I'll be lucky if it gets completed in my lifetime, but it was awesome to finally see it in person. If we had the time, I easily coulda gotten lost in the museum and visitor's center for a long time... Lotta cool stuff in there.

Next was Mt. Rushmore. I gotta tell ya, it should be impossible for any American to set foot near there without gettin' the chills. Just awe-inspirin' to see somethin' like that and learn about it in the visitor's center... Nothin' else like it.

We also did a drive-by of Devil's Tower, stopped at the bustling metropolis of Spotted Horse (pop. 2) and had a beer with the locals, and saw plenty of critters along the way.

A fantastic day, and I'm happy to lay my head down in Buffalo, Wyoming at long last. We'll check into the lodge at Bear Track Outfitters tomorrow afternoon, and who knows what else we'll get into.

Bighorn Sheep at the Badlands

Crazy Horse Memorial

Mount Rushmore

Every biker's Mecca

Some of the first antelope seen on the trip

Devil's Tower

Day 3 - Continued

So, my apologies for the discrepancies with picture sizes on the previous posts. I'm still messin' with my mobile settings to try to get you guys the best pictures.

More drivin' today, although we stopped a few places. Austad's first for Karl, who is the only golfer in our group. Then the redneck Utopia known as Cabela's for a few hours in Mitchell, SD, followed by a great dinner at Al's Oasis in Oacoma, SD.

We passed within a half hour of where our pheasant huntin' trip was back in '07, so it was another day of thinkin' back to that awesome trip. We'll have to do it again sometime soon.

We're startin' to get into some beautiful territory now, so I've been takin' more pictures...

Cheap lodging at an Iowa Rest Area

A close-up of the wind towers in Iowa

New tires for my truck

Iowa Landscape

Some goofy statue along I-90 in South Dakota

Bronze pheasant at Cabela's, Mitchell, SD

Drivin' down towards the Missouri River

Bridge over the Missouri River

Another view of Al's Oasis

I'd like this more if the camper wasn't parked there, but oh well.

Ron at Al's Oasis, Oacoma, SD