January 2015
Volume 1, Issue 5
January Volume 1 Issue 5
Publishers Notes By Raf Viniard Happy New Year to all my fellow hunters, fishermen and trappers and to those that call Montana home…the “Last Best Place on Earth!” I want to thank all those that helped Montana Woods N Water get off the ground in 2014. It was a year filled full of challenges and excitement. Trapping season is in full swing and lion hunters are still prowling about looking for that big Tom to tree. It may be snowy and cold but that has not dampened the dogs or the cat hunter’s spirits. If you are ice fishing or thinking about it…just remember to use caution…a dunk in the lake or river this time of the year may be the last bath you take. Here at Montana Woods N Water we are undergoing some exciting changes and looking forward to moving Montana Woods N Water in a new direction in 2015. We will no longer be printing a hard copy and there are many reasons for this decision but it boils down to the cost of printing, distributing and meeting some grueling deadlines. Starting with this issue we will be sending out story links via Facebook, Twitter, etc. every Publisher & Editor: Raf Viniard Tuesday and Thursday. We will still be covering all the same fantastic stuff we did in hard 406-407-0612 print but better and faster. Our writers were very limited as to what they could write Field Editor: Mitzi Stonehocker because of our print budget. By going 100% digital we will be full color and can now 406-544-1868 include active links to other news and information sources. Starting in February we will Sales & Marketing Director: be adding video links to some of our content and advertising. If you want a copy of any Kori Erickson issue, all you have to do is download it and print it from your home computer or take it 406-293-1478 to your nearest print shop. This new format will allow you the reader to better pick and choose what articles you find interesting and follow our writers more in-depth. Yes, we will still have advertisers and by going digital we can cut their advertising cost and reach thousands more potential customers than print alone.
Montana Woods N Water has teamed up with Big Bull Sports and the Sanders County Search and Rescue and will be holding a “Five Months of Fun” fundraising event. We will be raffling off some really nice firearms and other prizes. Go to www.montanawoodsnwater.com and hit the “SAR” tab for more information. While you are on our website you might want to swing over to our “Store” tab and see what we have on tap. Keep sending us your pictures and stories. We thank you for your continued support and we wish each and every one of you a healthy and prosperous new year.
Contact Us Montana Woods N Water 171 Clark Creek Loop Plains, Montana 59859 406-08-0576 www.montanawoodsnwater.com Email: raf@montanawoodsnwater.com
Flathead Valley Sales Rep: Misty Loveless 406-250-4191 Missoula Sales Rep: Vacant Pro Staff Writers & Photographers: Angela Gerych Pastor Jim Sinclair Dan Helterline Zach Butcher Paul Fielder Montana Mitzi Toby Bridges Sam Martin Toby Walrath Jason Badger Tony Rebo Editorial Policy: Montana Woods N Water (MWW) reserves the right to refuse to publish in any form of content that does not include the author’s name, complete mailing address, and/or valid phone number or e-mail address. Anonymous submissions will not be addressed or published. MWW reserves the right not to publish anything we feel is not in good taste or appropriate.
Front Cover Photo Provided By: Roy & Tina Scott RTK Photography
GUEST WRITER - MISTY LOVELESS
Nikki Kirk – Wonder Woman By Misty Loveless Nikki Kirk was taught the ways of the woods and how to become a huntress by her big brother, Ryan. Through his many teachings and that of family traditions, Nikki grew to become very familiar with the life that nature provides. She gives a great deal of credit for her life of the woods to her savvy brother’s mentoring. Through him, Nikki was taught how to track, trap and hunt. Skills she would learn to depend on for survival in her very young life. Imagine...you are a nine year old native Montanan girl living through poverty. Life has left you without your father, and your brother who is old enough to be on his own. Add to this you have just become the sole provider for yourself and your disabled mother who battles with an addiction. How do you accomplish this demanding task? You use the lessons you have been taught to harvest wild game and care for yourself and your loved one. That was Nikki's life for six years until the passing of her mother. This is her story of perseverance beyond those younger years. In January of 2014, Nikki received a once in a lifetime call. Widow Makers TV, a program that portrays women of the woods all around the world who love to hunt. Widow Makers TV, was working in conjunction with World Wide Adventures, an exotic online travel destination agency. They asked Nikki to partake in a co-hunt with another young woman. It was through Nikki's wildlife photography and photos of her harvests that Widow Makers found her. Having just suffered a bitter divorce, being a single mother and trying to get her wildlife/outdoor photography business off the ground, Nikki saw an opportunity for a dream trip she could not resist, going to New Zealand to hunt the Red Stag. March 2014, Nikki was in the first week of the two week New Zealand hunting trip when she bagged a beautiful Red Stag with her bow. She recalls her experience with a great fondness of camera crews, a wonderful resort stay and her amazing guided hunt. I invite you to check it out by visiting Widow Makers TV. There you will find the You Tube video labeled "Girl Shoots Giant Stag" also known as Episode 1 Season 1. She credits Dennis Brieske, the owner of Flaming Arrow Archery for the many bow shooting lessons getting her ready for such an awesome hunt. She also knows she could not have Picture of Nikki’s truck after extraction. done it without the outpouring of love and support from her Montana community, by becoming her sponsors and advertisers. Three days after her return from New Zealand, Nikki felt the urge to get back to nature and explore some of her favorite areas. So, she did what all proper Montanans do and went for a drive. Little did Nikki know that drive would almost cost her, her life. Having no recollection of her accident, it was presumed that Nikki fell asleep at the wheel on Hwy 93 between Whitefish and Eureka. Being jet lagged will do that to you. Though it was a single vehicle accident, the truck rolled four times leaving Nikki with her back broke in four places, a collapsed lung and a broken sternum. Responders were amazed to find her still alive in a crumpled mess that was once her truck. Of course, being a faithful mother, her words were only, "Tell my son I love him." This left Nikki in the ICU/hospital for several weeks. She has very little to no memory of the accident or her treatment. She does recall around day four of being in the ICU and the doctor asking her to move her toes and being unsuccessful. It was not until two days before her discharge from the hospital, that she started regaining her memory and some of her mobility. Her first and most important question to her doctor was, "When can I go fishing and be outdoors again?" She received your typical safe doctor response of "We don't know what the future holds." Deep down, Nikki had other ideas about returning to the woods. In April 2014, on opening day of spring bear season and only a short while from being discharged, Nikki wanted to go spring bear hunting. She got up and attempted to get ready through her loved ones protests, insisting she still needed time to recover from her accident. Her statement to them was, "Watch me!" Two hours later Nikki knew she would not make it out to hunt that day for she was unable to get herself ready due to her physical limitations. Though she had high hopes for her future, as expected with any major life changing accident, Nikki went through a period of depression. She had lost EVERYTHING that was making her dream life. Her mobility, her very expensive camera equipment, bows and guns. They were all in her truck when she rolled....and of course, her daily life was very challenging and frustrating. One silver lining through that phase in her healing, was the release of her Widow Makers episode. Everyone gathered around to watch Nikki do what she does so well. Continued next page… 2
MISTY LOVELESS – GUEST WRITER One summer day in 2014, Nikki was approached by her son Asher wanting to learn to shoot a bow. All though it took a lot of will power, Nikki got the bow pulled back and released. After that moment Nikki became unstoppable! Her reasoning? "You have a choice in life. You can let it get ya, let it break ya, or let it make you stronger." Asher six at the time, was ever loving, helpful and supportive giving Nikki the push she needed to get up and get moving again.
Nikki with her son Asher
Nikki proceeded to make her own physical therapy regiment in the woods of Northwest Montana. She went from walking ten feet to the lake, to a ten mile hike in the woods in the matter of a few short months. She longed to be able to hunt again. Though she was very apprehensive of the 2014 hunting season, she ended up only missing four days of it. She was in the woods more this year than any other time in her life. Her perseverance paid off big this season. She filled her bear, doe and buck tags. When she harvested her first deer since that Red Stag in New Zealand, she fell to her knees and wept tears of joy and gratefulness that she could still do what she loved and provide for her family.
Nikki truly believes that being in the woods of our great state brings her closer to God and herself. Sitting across from her you would never be able to tell this young woman was the survivor of a near fatal crash and just had surgery two weeks prior to our interview on December 22nd 2014 to remove all the plates and screws from her back. Nikki is having a custom knife made out of one of the plates and has given a screw to her brother as a symbol of him holding her together through their rough childhood. Nikki is far from done and plans on continuing her "therapy" as much as possible. She has become an inspiration around the world with her story of strength, perseverance and overcoming some pretty impossible odds. She hopes one day to organize a handicapped hunter’s charity. This coming spring 2015, she will add to her list of credits by leading a two person spring bear hunt with a fellow fan from Iowa, who kindly calls her “Wonder Woman”. If Nikki can smile and keep living the dream…so can you!
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LOCAL CELEBRITIES
The Wolfers Are Back Again By Raf Viniard I opened my email this morning and saw where Dan Helterline, Andy Pershern and Stan Fishers had joined forces in checking traps and sharing their trapping secrets. As a Sanders County wolf, I would not want this team dogging my trail. Check out this 65 pound black wolf taken on Andy’s trap line. This makes their 3rd wolf this season. Between Dan and Andy’s trap line they have removed SIX wolves this year.
5
FISHING
“Improvise, Adapt and Overcome” By: Sam Martin
Now a days outdoor magazines are full of articles on how to do something or some pro telling you that their way is the only way to do something. Sure, these kinds of articles can be helpful for the young and inexperienced, but what about those of us who have spent hundreds of hours on the water? How can anyone telling us what we already know help us to become better anglers? As someone who subscribes to every fishing magazine imaginable and aspires to write for those publications I have put a considerable amount of thought into this. What could I, a kid in respect to most of y’all, teach you that you don’t already know? I debated this for a considerable amount of time one fall while fishing around some of the ponds around my college town. On one particularly tough morning I found myself in “Ike”-mode, furiously swearing at the fish and reeling in my dropshot without any thought of technique. Instead of the carful and slow presentation I should have been doing I was ripping and popping the little bait across what felt to be a shallow flat. So it was much to my surprise when I caught a fish. At the time I thought it was just the lake’s resident deity showing me some mercy on a bad day so I continued to fart around the way I had been. But then I caught another fish, and another and another! It was then I had to stop and ask myself what the heck was going on. I was doing everything wrong, purposefully so, but I was still managing to get bit. Why was that? So I sat down, pulled out a sandwich and began to contemplate my situation. As far as I knew, at least by what I had been told by every fishing magazine, the fish should have been out deep, feeding on schools of bait fish in order to fatten up for winter. But wait a minute I thought there aren’t any schools of bait fish in this lake, there’s only bluegill. And that is when it hit me, I hadn’t caught any fish out deep because they were all up here in the shallows, hunting the bluegills in their preferred habitat. So now you may be thinking, “Sam, what on God’s green earth does that have to do about what you were talking about earlier?” Well now I’ll tell you my friends. What is the one thing that all of those how-to’s don’t explain? The simplest answer is how to think outside of the box; in a word, versatility. Sure they’re great for explaining what to do in the perfect situation, but as those of us who have spent any amount of time on the water know, the situation is all too often imperfect. “Ok, ok Sam,” you say “so if articles can’t teach us to be versatile then what are you getting at?” What I'm getting at, fellow anglers, is that while I or other writers may not be able to teach you how to be versatile, we still can inspire you to think creatively.
Take for example the humble bait fisherman, king of cast and wait. Traditional logic says to just slap a bobber above the hook, hurl it out there and pray that something comes along. Now let’s dabble in some versatility. Say after an hour our intrepid bait fisherman doesn’t get bit, most would just pack it up and leave. But not this person. They look about and take in the conditions, sunny with no breeze. Typically in this weather fish would be hidden under shoreline weeds and cover, the exact location they have been fishing. So now our angler is stuck by a thought, perhaps the weed line they have been fishing is only the inside edge of a much larger grove that extends into deeper water. But how could he fish something so deep without having an unimaginably long leader or getting stuck in the weeds? With a flash of inspiration our fisherman fills his bobber partially full with water, turning it into an improvised ballast tank. After only a few minutes of experimentation they are catching away thanks to a little creative thinking and an openness to being versatile. Now while this was only a story, you can still see the points where our hero had to think outside the box. It’s not so much about what they did, but how they came to do it. Yes, I know, its abstract as heck but that’s what spending four years alongside English scholars does to a man. The point is that you shouldn’t just do what you read like it’s a how-to manual because it isn’t. Instead, take that information and mix it together, find new ways to employ what you learn and, for the love of God, be versatile. 6
CAMPFIRE TALK
NEW MONTANA HUNT & FISH LICENSES
Deer & Elk Permit Applications Available January 26 Montana's new 2015 hunting and fishing year begins March 1. Licenses will go on sale—and applications for resident and nonresident deer and elk hunting permits will be available—Jan. 26. Deer and elk permit applications and information will also be available online at fwp.mt.gov; click "March 16—Deer & Elk Permits" beginning Monday, Jan. 26, at 9 a.m. The application deadline is March 16. FWP urges hunters to apply online. "It's fast, convenient and accurate," said Ron Aasheim, FWP spokesman in Helena.
Nonresidents seeking to apply for big game combination, elk combination or deer combination licenses and deer and elk permits for the 2015 fall Montana hunting season can also apply online or download an application from FWP's website. To request an application by mail, write to: Licensing Section; Montana FWP; P.O. Box 200701, Helena MT; 59620-0701; or call: 406-444-2950. Aasheim said May 1 is the deadline to apply for moose, sheep, goat and bison licenses and June 1 for antlerless deer B and elk B licenses and antelope and antelope B licenses. Montana's upcoming hunting and fishing license year runs from March 1 to Feb. 29, 2016. This information taken from the fwp.mt.gov website.
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10
MONTANA MITZI’s RAMBLINGS
Bear Hunting Advice Please By Mitzi Stonehocker
We are almost through January! Time to start planning spring projects and spring bear hunting, yippee! I have hunted all my life and never shot a bear, so this year I made the decision I, Montana Marilyn Mitzi McDowell Stonehocker being almost 61 am going to hunt hard for a bear!
So how do I prepare? First, I buy a tag. I did pass the bear identification test several years ago, so that is out of the way. Next, I need to find someone who will advise me on the best way to hunt bear, next I go to the target range and shoot my rifle as dust possibly could of collected. I figure I am not completely ignorant and from past experience as a cook in many hunting camps and listening to the stories around the campfire, spring bears are hungry after hibernation, so I am thinking to check out those fresh sprigs of green spring grasses. I thought I might check out some of the wintering grounds where the deer and elk have fed and maybe some have died from old age or starvation? I am not much on tree stands as I am fearful of high places so a ground stand is a possible solution? I know bears are out early and late depending on the weather, no problem, pack a snack and plan an all day outing. How am I doing, wish this dang iPad could talk as I am sure comment from seasoned bear hunters are flying. My challenge to you, fellow Montana bear hunters, write a response for the next Montana Woods N Water publication and give me some back talk on hunting for bears!
MeMaw’s Pigs In A Big Blanket Recipes are passed down from generation to generation. I married my husband almost 40 years ago. His mother who is still alive gave me this recipe for a family favorite. Now I am passing it on to you and your family. 1 pound hamburger, I like elk best 1/2 pound sausage 1 medium onion chopped 1 cup uncooked white rice 1/4 chopped green pepper 1 quart canned tomatoes (I can my own so they are wetter) 1 head of cabbage Set a large sauce pan of water to boil, carefully take the head of cabbage apart so you have a nice big leaf, if that proves challenging, do the best you can. Place the leaf of cabbage in the boiling water and let soften, around 2 minutes per leaf. Place on a paper towel to cool and continue with the rest of the cabbage. When I get to the last I sometimes cut it up and use it in the hamburger mixture. Put the sausage, hamburger, onion, green pepper and mix with a little salt and pepper. I use clean hands as that is easiest. Add the rice last. Take a cabbage leaf and a 1/2 cup of the hamburger mixture on the leaf and carefully roll up. Place each roll in a 8 quart kettle. I make a circle and if I have lots of rolls sometimes I stack them. Pour the tomatoes over the rolls and place on the stove top covered. Bring to a slow boil/steam. Cook on low for an good hour. I do use my crockpot if I am busy and not able to watch the mixture I usually give the rolls about 4-5 hours to cook this way. We like potatoes and a nice loaf of bread to eat with this. Enjoy! 11
MEMAW’S KITCHEN
Enemy Caught Captured & Cooked By Mitzi Stonehocker aka Montana Mitzi
As I soak up the warmth of the Arizona climate waiting for warmer weather to return to Montana we have plenty of time to visit with other “Snowbird” Montanans. Yesterday we were all sitting on the back porch talking about desert bugs and snakes. Floyd Lovell from the Ronan, Montana area and a former veteran said, “I wish I could get a rattlesnake to eat.” I about gagged and then asked if he knew how to cook rattlesnake. Obviously he had eaten rattle snake before, and after a few more probing questions, he went on to tell the story of how he single handily captured, killed and cooked the enemy. While he was in the service his platoon was on a “bivwack”, a military term, for us it is called an exercise. The goal was to sneak around and not get caught while trying to capture or take out the enemy. As with all military, hunting and fishing stories with its many embellishments we listen intently on how he accidently crawled upon this rattle snake laying up next to a big log in a creek. Through some pretty clever maneuvers and quick thinking he killed the snake with his rifle. Being a military man the mission always comes first so he tied a rope around the snake and dragged it along with him to complete his mission and assignment. Firing a weapon during a training exercise can get one in a lot trouble in the military. Upon returning to his camp he presented the very large rattle snake to his Sergeant (Sgt). His Sgt asked if the snake was important enough to cause him to shoot while on the exercise. Floyd said yes, it was the enemy and he had acted in selfdefense. This was an acceptable answer and the Sargent told him to take the snake to “Cookie” the camp cook to be prepared. Floyd finished his story with this, “I took the cooked delicacy into the mess hall to share with my fellow soldiers and I was not greeted with enthusiasm, but when the Sgt barked out an order for everyone to try a piece, I grabbed my piece and was surprised, it was indeed tasty.” Floyd described the taste like this, “It has the texture of fish and the taste of chicken. I have given Floyd a new mission to catch a rattler so I could try it. I have now obligated myself to try a piece, so stay tuned for future updates. I am passing on what I have been told about preparing a rattle snake for a delicious table fare.
Rattlesnake Bites Recipe You will need one large rattlesnake, preferably dead. Cut off the head, being careful not to touch the head. Next cut off the rattlers and save these, sort of a souvenir. The snake may still twitch and move around as you complete this process. Now you know why you remove the head first...that could really freak you out. You may smell a earthy odor and that is normal. Peel and pull the skin off like a glove. Keep the skin as they are valuable, (not to Montana Mitzi). Slit the snake up its belly from one end to the other. Remove the innards like any other fish or game animal. Yes, snakes have a heart, intestines just like every other animal. Next rinse the snake well in cold water, cut into 1 to 2 inch chunks and put in boiling salted water for about two minutes. Remove from the water and pat dry. Prepare an egg/buttermilk wash and dip the snake portion into it and then flour. You can season your flour with salt and pepper to taste. Place the chunk of snake into a pan of hot oil and fry until golden brown. Salt and pepper to taste.
Famous Rattlesnake Quotes When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you, do not wait until he has struck before your crush him ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
It’s not the bite of the snake that kills you it is the poison left behind. ~Tom Callos Use your enemy’s hand to catch a snake. ~Persian Proverb 12