The Tanner Family Pheasant Project

Just after hatching, our chicks in Rubbermaid bin

The kids and I have been doing a little pheasant project the last couple months.  We have a small GQF Hovabator incubator and bought some pheasant eggs to hatch.  Memorial day weekend, we hatched 37 chicks.  We’ve since lost 2, so we’re sitting at 35 chicks now that just turned 4 weeks old.  There is some land not far from here where we plan to release them and see if they can’t survive – at least till hunting season  

We typically hatch something each year.  When we lived in Texas – and even Utah, it was quail.  We can fit many more quail eggs in the incubator than pheasant eggs, and it was more fun having more birds around.

But the rules in Montana are different, and according to the Fish & Wildlife department, we can’t release quail here (they wouldn’t survive the winters here anyway).  But there are no problems with releasing pheasants, so our bird of choice this year was a no brainer.  I think we’ll try Chukars next though – as they are legal to release in MT as well, and I’ve never tried hatching them before.  Let me know if you have any good Chukar egg sources.

One problem has come up though.  On a recent walk on the land where we plan to release the birds, we saw a family of foxes.  Mom, dad and several kits.  My thoughts now are that our birds would last maybe a week – and would be quite the delicacy for the fox family.  Usually, a little predator control would solve the problem, but I don’t think my kids would let me back in the house if I exterminated a few cute little foxes.  So, I’m currently looking for a new home.  Fact is, I’m sure there would be predators on any piece of land I could release the birds on.  It’s just that I’ve seen these foxes and know that they’re there.  Maybe I’ll just keep these birds in the backyard and use them for dog training.  At least then I get to eat them instead of our local fox family

Local Characters

Doc Bradford's recent newspaper ad

I’m involved in my local chapter of Pheasants Forever (Gallatin Valley PF), and have met many great people as a result of this association.  In fact, I’ll be chairing our annual banquet/fundraiser next February if anyone is interested in sponsoring.  Anyway, one of the guys that sits on our PF committee is Doc Bradford.  Doc’s a Michigan man who moved to Montana to retire 7 years ago.  He got into shooting clay targets in his 50’s, and has since gone overboard.  He’s a certified shooting instructor and has built a 9-station sporting clays course on his 80 acres of Gallatin River-front property.  We just hosted a “thank you” event for this past year’s PF banquet sponsors at his place, and I must say his place is really incredible – but only if you like shooting and fishing and the beauty of nature   Doc is about to open his range up to the public – Rising Spirits Sporting Clays is the name of his new business.  I’ll have plenty of opportunity to get to know Doc and his range much better as I hope to be involved in the sporting clays league he is about to launch. 

 

I’ll keep you posted on Doc and his venture – as well as my performance in the sporting clays league – in future posts.

 

I also received an email from a customer (Chris Pfadt) who bought some Crackshot Snake Chapz several weeks ago.  I noticed his Three Forks, MT address when we shipped the order (just up the road from where we live in Bozeman 30-40 miles) – and we’re practically neighbors (by Montana standards).  Anyway, Chris sent me an email once he realized we were neighbors as well and invited me to come and check out his operation.  He runs the Grey Cliffs Ranch (www.greycliffsranch.com) – and after looking at the website, I had to wipe the drool off my chin.  They’ve got upland hunting and trout fishing – and even some big game opportunities by the looks of it – all in a spectacular location.  I can’t wait to get out there and check out his ranch.  At the rate I’m going, I’ll never be able to afford hunting there – but it will be fun to go take a tour.  I might need to bring my own snake protection though – apparently Chris is on a search and destroy mission for rattler dens.

Meeting new people and other upland businesses is a fun benefit of meeting people through Uplanders Warehouse.  I’ll continue to post more businesses and interesting people as I encounter them!

Grey Cliffs Ranch

Blackout!

So here’s a story for you that should get a few chuckles.  I wish I could chuckle with you.  

Back in early April, I had a severe sinus infection combined with some flu symptoms (fever, cold sweats, nausea, etc.).  I was so congested and miserable that I couldn’t sleep.  I took some Nyquil for some relief, but it wasn’t really working for me.  My wife then gave me one of her sleeping pills which seemed like a good idea at the time.  About 3 a.m., I wake up with the urge to vomit.  I hustle out of bed and into the bathroom to try and reach the toilet.  I think the head-rush of jumping out of bed and the sleeping pill (not to mention the Nyquil) caught up to me and I crashed to the floor – completely blacked-out (which isn’t a good thing if you’re 6’2”, 250 lbs).  Next thing I know, come to lying on the bathroom floor in an awkward position with no idea of how long I had been out (my wife – bless her heart – later mentioned that she had heard a big crash, but figured I had just knocked something off the counter).  After I got my wits about me, I figured out that I had somehow shaved off a sizeable piece off the outside of my big toe – the blood being the major clue.  That pain wasn’t as bad as my foot though – and then there was my knee that felt a bit ‘off.’  Anyway, the black & blue coloration on my foot in the morning combined with the pain let me know that something was definitely wrong.  I went to the foot doctor, and sure enough, I chipped a piece of bone off one end of the toe joint, and cracked a second bone. 

The good news is that the sinus infection, flu, etc. is long gone, and the foot is healing up and feeling better.  But my knee went from feeling ‘off’ to a steady pain, so I went in to another doc last week to get it checked out.  The diagnosis is a torn meniscus – which typically requires surgery.  They scheduled me for an MRI, but I canceled – I’m too cheap to pay for those things (it would cost more than the surgery on the knee).  So I’m now hobbling around with bum knee hoping that it will fix itself.  The more likely case is that I’ll suffer for another month or two before I figure out that my fall hunting might be in jeopardy from this blasted thing – then go spend the money and get it fixed.

And here’s the icing on the cake.  I packed up the kids and took them fishing at Canyon Ferry reservoir on Memorial Day.  The fishing was horrible – not a single bite in a few hours of solid effort, so we resorted to skipping rocks.  My 12 year old daughter was finally getting the hang of skipping rocks, but consistently had a late release and would shoot the rocks more up the shoreline than out into the lake.  I was comfortably sitting in my camp chair on the shoreline, enjoying the evening, when my daughter - standing all of 2 feet away from me – launches a rock directly into my good knee.  I could have killed her if I didn’t lover her so much.

Like most experiences in life, there are lessons to be learned.  Here are my key learnings from these experiences:

Lesson #1: Throw up in bed. In the end, it’s cheaper

Lesson #2: Don’t let your wife slip you any pills

Lesson #3: It’s hard not to swear around your kids when they throw rocks at your knees

Making lemonade from lemons

Working with customers in the retail business can be a mixed bag at times. Sometimes things don’t quite go as planned, such as a recent order from a customer named Petey. He ordered a pair of Gamehide chaps which were showing in-stock on our website – www.uplanders.com. When we went to pull and ship the chaps, there were none on the shelf in the size he ordered. Ouch! Incorrect inventory in our system usually provides the best opportunity for us to upset a customer – and we try really hard to avoid this. It’s just a bad experience and more often than not, causes a negative reaction from the customer. And rightfully so in my opinion – I’m a consumer too, and I have little patience for retailers who don’t have their stuff together.

Well, in this particular case, Petey was more than patient and understanding. You can read the story here on Petey’s blog.

When we do screw up, we do try to make it right as best we can. Everything turned out great in the end, but I think Petey’s response to the situation is more a reflection on him and his personality than it is from anything we did. Thanks for being a great customer Petey!

April (Snow) Showers?

 

 

 

New snow on April 24

Ok, this winter business is really getting old.  I thought we were past winter and into spring already, but apparently not.  We woke up this morning to another foot of the white stuff.  Someone please make it stop!!!

The best part is I’m taking our Boy Scout troop on a campout tonight.  I have some visions of how muddy those boy can get my gear, but I’m sure they can surpass any expectations I may have.  They’re always good at that

 I ‘ll be putting the boys up in the Taj Mahal – my 10×14 Kodiak Canvas tent.  They’ll be living in style tonight – and I’ll be cleaning up for the next week   I’ll post some pics when we get back. -JT

 

I about missed a flight last week due to a heavy snowfall, then we get hit again yesterday.  The photo of my truck was taken this morning (April 24) right before I got the broom out.