Jafo

Just got back from round 2. About 5 miles of hiking around. Here is a shot of the camp from the outside:

Just getting back in from the early morning hunt. It is windy, cold, and a little rainy here and absolutely nothing moving, not even the squirrels. It is supposed to clear up soon, so I will probably head back out in a couple hours and do some hiking around. As for the vent, yes, there is a giant plexiglass dome at the top of the yurt that you can crank open if you want. Nice when it heats up, you let it right out.

Oh and the woodstove belonged to a cousin of mine who had it in an old camp not that far away. He doesn't use the camp anymore (it is falling down) and he told me to take it. It is a very nice Swedish S flow stove from the 1960's. It does a great job.

I paid a contractor friend of mine to build the platform, but honestly, had I had the time and tools and knowledge, I could have built that myself. Unfortunately my understanding of pi begins at the end of a fork . The rest of it comes in a kit, with instructions, and you just pop it up yourself.

It is a round Mongolian structure, hard to explain. Here is the wikipedia info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt Alls I can say is, they make great hunting camps. Once you build the platform (deck) the rest goes up in a day and they last for a long time (the roof itself is warrantied for 15 years). Mine is a 30' diameter yurt, which as you can see, is very spacious. 30' is generally the largest yurt you are going to get in NY. It is a year round structure that handles the North country snow just fine. To have the same sq footage in a standard bulding would have cost me 3-4 times as much as what I paid for the yurt. Not only that, the yurt is somewhat portable. I mean, I don't want to move it, but if I ever decided to, I could take down the bulk of it in about a day and load it up on trucks and move it. It leaves an extremely small footprint. With the insulation package, I stay in this yurt at -20 in shorts and a t-shirt (with the wood stove going). I have owned it for 2 years now, and can't say enough good things about it.

Got up to my yurt in the Adirondacks nice and early today and have triple checked everything I am going to need tomorrow. Having a couple cold ones next to the wood stove (it is 42 here now) and munching on some chili. I don't have high expectations tomorrow because it is still so early in the fall, but still looking forward to hiking a bit out in the woods and watching the wildlife go by up here in 5H. This must be one of the most special places in the park! Oh, and here is a panaromic of the yurt:

The one thing I have read consistently is that some bear meat may be vulnerable to trichinosis. If you read the NY DEC site, they say you can fix this by feezing the meat for 3 weeks. The Mayo clinic site however says this is not applicable to bears. Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trichinosis/DS00689/DSECTION=prevention NY DEC: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/bbhunting10.PDF (see section on cooking) Just something to consider when eating it rare. I am not sure who to believe, but I think the Mayo clinic thinks the trichonelli live longer in the bear fat.

When you guys say "skin it quick" how quick is quick? 5 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours?

Awesome looking bruin!

I am heading up into the dacks too tomorrow. First time early bear hunting. Any tips?

Ok, I caught it this morning lol!!! The actual link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/...709039235694592 Nearly spit out my soda when I read that!! LOL!

Wow, good season! You must have grass on your property that tastes like acorns and smells like corn lol..

Next year, keep your DMP info secret lol!

I feel ya, but everybody has family like that. Trust me, the minute you make a stink about it, you will be cast as the bad guy. I would however feel more apt to demand things from them.. On a minutes notice...

It's family.. I would have let it go and made plans for the next weekend to do some hunting with my father in law..

This is pretty sad... http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111127/NEWS07/111127001/Cops-Upset-Vermont-hunter-kills-self-after-pal-killed-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

I am not sure.. The fact that I can smell a smoker 20 yards away MYSELF though tells me it is probably not a good thing. BTW, I quit smoking 2 1/2 years ago and the one thing I found out afterwards is that smokers smell absolutely horrid. I can't believe I walked around for so many years smelling like that.. Just saying..

You hunting upstate or southerntier?

Good luck Steve, maybe it just isn't our time yet?

Season hasn't improved much, but today after I sat for 3 1/2 hours I decided to explore some spots I have never been to. I found one area full of dung, tracks and rubs, more than I have seen in the rest of the property combined. I think I may have hit on something. Can't get back until maybe tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning. Got my hopes up. I picked out a pretty decent spot to sit.

I dunno, he wasn't that far from his home.. This is only an educated guess, but I doubt he was lost that close to HOME. Sounds to me like a health issue, but I am just speculating..

And here is the news article: http://www.wktv.com/news/local/Missing-hunter-found-dead-in-field-134507418.html

Here it is on the wktv facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/wktv2

Guess they found him dead, news conference in a few minutes..

Nice!