# What do you do in the off season for fun ?



## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

I have several hobbies that I pursue year round, the others just get more time in the summer.


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## SWAMPBUCK10PT (Apr 5, 2010)

_gardening----trap shooting---sporting clays shoot ---just tonite shot 38 of 50 on a tough course. Great fun--fishing [brook trout]---also turkey shoots,[mostly rifle]---lots of family outings







_


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## ebbs (Feb 7, 2010)

Archery 3D shooting, softball, traveling, reading, biking. Probably too many more if I really get into it!


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## battman1 (May 21, 2010)

Used to shoot 3d's until they put me on this Sun. shift at work.I also like to fish and spend time with the ol lady.I also like shooting traditional black powder when I get time.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Gardening right now takes up most of my time as its so big, upkeep of the acreage the rest of the minutes of the day, though we just had 2 days of monsoon rains again with flood alerts( floating around in my duck punt) zip down to Idaho 2 or 3 times a month as we do most of our shopping there, have BB Q'S for get togethers, would like to do alot more but theres not enough hrs. in a day!!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

battman1 said:


> Used to shoot 3d's until they put me on this Sun. shift at work.I also like to fish and spend time with the ol lady.I also like shooting traditional black powder when I get time.


 I guess we can assume that she is not over your shoulder. Or is that new antler call out of the sunshine?? lol


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## battman1 (May 21, 2010)

What ever do you mean?


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## headhunter25 (Feb 21, 2010)

What I like to do and what I get to do are 2 different things for me. I like to shoot 3 gun and pistol matches, fish and sit out back under the big tent and drink a cold beer. I gave up the drinking last year and the sewing/gear making has me so busy that I don't get to shoot much anymore.

**Disclaimer** I never would suggest that anyone give up drinking beer. It's a miserable existance and all your drinking buddies won't have anything to do with you anymore. I only gave it up because of the meds the VA has me on.

Chris C.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Sorry to hear that you had to give up a cold one every so often Chris, but Thank You for your service!


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Well if you can drink wine let me know, I enjoy making cherry, grape ( all kinds ), dandilion ( its not all that good ), crab apple blossom, wild plumb, and all time favorite Honey ! I like to garden, picking peas by the bucket now. Fishing when ever I can...want to get my son into shooting carp on the Maumee river with the bow so I can make fish oil to make lure for trapping. Working on my traps getting them ready for next season. Cooking over the grill....love ribs mmmm. Work when I have time..lol. Sleeping too


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## headhunter25 (Feb 21, 2010)

youngdon said:


> Sorry to hear that you had to give up a cold one every so often Chris, but Thank You for your service!


Thanks youngdon. Even though I get sick from time to time (Gulf War) I would do it all again without a second thought.

Chris C.


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## LilBill (Mar 12, 2010)

me right now i trout fish ,bass fish ,shoot the bow,shoot skeet,train dogs,scout for the upcoming seasons,later in summer i will work on duck blinds,plus my 14 yr old dughter is playing on a traveling A ball softball team so there are a bunch of tournaments,and play golf from time to time.headhunter ,yes ,thank you for your service.you have the best place in the world ,to buy guns ,in your town.


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## wilded (Feb 10, 2010)

Hunting, fishing, shotgunning, falconry, boat building, photography, pistol, rifle, reloading, a few things I forget and work. ET


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## treedog (May 2, 2010)

I like to fish,Build custom calls, bow fish, hang out with the wife and kids, maybe train a dog or two. Drink some cold ones when I get the chance and plan for the next season. I almost forget and get out of as many honey does as I can.
John


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## wilded (Feb 10, 2010)

On a call said:


> Well if you can drink wine let me know, I enjoy making cherry, grape ( all kinds ), dandilion ( its not all that good ), crab apple blossom, wild plumb, and all time favorite Honey ! I like to garden, picking peas by the bucket now. Fishing when ever I can...want to get my son into shooting carp on the Maumee river with the bow so I can make fish oil to make lure for trapping. Working on my traps getting them ready for next season. Cooking over the grill....love ribs mmmm. Work when I have time..lol. Sleeping too


It would sure be nice if you could do a how to on making homemade wine. We are going to pick wild mustang grapes next weekend for jelly and I would like to try my hand at making wine. ET


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Wine can be made from just about any fruit. Some take longer and some are better than others. Grapes are the most common, however with the many differant types each will taste differant.

All wines when made are dry...it is when you add sugar after finshed does it turn sweet. Some grape wine taste better sweet some better dry.

I have no idea about Mustang grapes ??

I would recomend looking up a wine making shop near you. You will need supplies and BUY a book with recipes.

Wine is more easy than beer FYI. But it takes longer for it to settle...especially if it is wild fruit.

Whatever kind of grapes you use, the general techniques, equipment and ingredients are the same. Here's an overview of some key steps along the way.
*Basic Winemaking Equipment *

Here's everything you need to make your first one-gallon batch of wine from fresh grapes. You should be able to find this equipment at any homebrewing or home winemaking supply shop.

Large nylon straining bag
Food-grade pail with lid (2 to 4 gallons)
Cheesecloth
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Acid titration kit
Clear, flexible half-inch diameter plastic tubing
Two one-gallon glass jugs
Fermentation lock and bung
Five 750-ml wine bottles
Corks
Hand corker
*Inspecting the Fruit *

Winemaking starts with inspecting the grapes. Make sure they are ripe by squishing up a good double handful, straining the juice and measuring the sugar level with a hydrometer, a handy device you can buy at a winemaking supply shop. The sugar density should be around 22° Brix - this equals 1.0982 specific gravity or 11 percent potential alcohol - and the fruit should taste sweet, ripe and slightly tart.
The grapes also must be clean, sound and relatively free of insects and other vineyard debris. Discard any grapes that look rotten or otherwise suspicious. Also, it's very important that all the stems are removed, since they will make your wine bitter.
*Keeping it Clean !!!!*

Winemaking demands a sanitary environment. Wash all of your equipment thoroughly with hot water, boiling what you can. It's also wise to arm yourself with a strong sulfite solution to rinse any equipment that comes in contact with your wine. To make it, add 3 tablespoons of sulfite powder (potassium metabisulfite) to a gallon of water and mix well. Or use bleach but rinse rinse and wear old clothes.
*Adjusting the Juice *

Adjusting the juice or "must" of your wine is critical. Luckily, it's also easy. Acid content is measured with a simple titration kit; you can buy one at a supply shop. The ideal acid level is 6 to 7 grams per liter for dry reds and 6.5 to 7.5 grams per liter for dry whites.
Here's an example: If your must measures 5.5 grams per liter, then you need to add 1 gram per liter of tartaric acid to bring it up to 6.5 g/L. Since 0.2642 gallons equals 1 liter, 1 g/L is equivalent to adding 3.8 grams of tartaric acid to your one-gallon batch. Add this powder in one-eighth teaspoon intervals, checking acidity carefully after each addition, until the desired level is reached. You can buy tartaric acid at your supply shop.
You also need to monitor the sugar level with your hydrometer. The must should be about 22° Brix for both reds and whites. To bring the sugar concentration up, make a sugar syrup by dissolving one cup sugar into one-third cup of water. Bring it to a boil in a saucepan and immediately remove from heat. Cool before adding in small amounts, one tablespoon at a time, until the desired degrees Brix and specific gravity is reached. To lower the sugar level, simply dilute your must or juice with water.
The temperature of your must can also be adjusted to provide the perfect environment for yeast cells. Warming up the juice gently (don't cook or boil it!) is an easy way to bring it to pitching temperature without damaging the quality of the wine. Fermentation can sometimes reach into the 80° to 90° F range, though the 70° F range is standard for reds (whites often are fermented at cooler temperatures).
If your grapes have been refrigerated or are too cold, use this unorthodox but quick trick: Heat up a small portion of the juice in the microwave, mix it back into the fermentation pail and re-test the temperature. An electric blanket wrapped around the fermentation pail also works, but takes longer. For cooling, add a re-usable ice pack and stir for a few minutes. Pitch the yeast when the temperature reaches 70° to 75° F for reds and 55° to 65° for whites.
*







Racking the Wine *

"Racking" means transferring the fermenting wine away from sediment. You insert a clear, half-inch diameter plastic hose into the fermenter and siphon the clear wine into another sanitized jug. Then top it off and fit it with a sanitized bung and fermentation lock. This can be a delicate operation and it's important to go slowly. You don't want to stir up the sediment, but you don't want to lose your siphon suction.
*







Bottling the Batch *

Bottling may sound complicated, but it's really not. To bottle your wine, you simply siphon your finished product into the bottles (leaving about 2 inches of headspace below the rim), insert a cork into the hand corker, position the bottle under the corker and pull the lever. It's always wise to buy some extra corks and practice with an empty bottle before you do it for real.
Wine bottles can be purchased at home winemaking stores, or you can simply wash and recycle your own bottles. These supply stores also rent hand-corkers and sell corks. You should only buy corks that are tightly sealed in plastic bags because exposure to dust and microbes can spoil your wine. Corks can be sterilized just before bottling, with hot water and a teaspoon of sulfite crystals.
A one-gallon batch will yield about five standard-size (750 ml) bottles of wine. If the fifth bottle isn't quite full, then either drink that bottle or use smaller bottles to keep the wine. The key is to have full, sealed containers that are capable of aging.
Now you're ready to make your first batch of fresh-grape wine. Below you'll find step-by-step recipes for a dry red and a dry white table wine. The recipes have similar steps and techniques, with one important difference. Red wines always are fermented with the skins and pulp in the plastic pail; the solids are pressed after fermentation is complete. White wines are always pressed before fermentation, so only the grape juice winds up in the fermenting pail.
*Dry Red Table Wine *

Ingredients

18 lbs. ripe red grapes
1 campden tablet (or 0.33g of potassium metabisulfite powder)
Tartaric acid, if necessary
Table sugar, if necessary
1 packet wine yeast (like Prise de Mousse or Montrachet)

Harvest grapes once they have reached 22 to 24 percent sugar (22° to 24° Brix).
Sanitize all equipment. Place the grape clusters into the nylon straining bag and deposit the bag into the bottom of the food-grade pail. Using very clean hands or a sanitized tool like a potato masher, firmly crush the grapes inside the bag. Crush the campden tablet (or measure out 1 teaspoon of sulfite crystals) and sprinkle over the must in the nylon bag. Cover pail with cheesecloth and let sit for one hour.
Measure the temperature of the must. It should be between 70° and 75° F. Take a sample of the juice in the pail and measure the acid with your titration kit. If it's not between 6 to 7 grams per liter then adjust with tartaric acid.
Check the degrees Brix or specific gravity of the must. If it isn't around 22° Brix (1.0982 SG), add a little bit of sugar dissolved in water.
Dissolve the yeast in 1 pint warm (80° to 90° F) water and let stand until bubbly (it should take no more than 10 minutes). When it's bubbling, pour yeast solution directly on must inside the nylon bag. Agitate bag up and down a few times to mix yeast. Cover pail with cheesecloth, set in a warm (65° to 75° F) area and check that fermentation has begun in at least 24 hours. Monitor fermentation progression and temperature regularly. Keep the skins under the juice at all times and mix twice daily.
Once the must has reached "dryness" (at least 0.5° Brix or 0.998 SG), lift the nylon straining bag out of the pail and squeeze any remaining liquid into the pail.
Cover the pail loosely and let the wine settle for 24 hours. Rack off the sediment into a sanitized one-gallon jug, topping up with a little boiled, cooled water to entirely fill the container. Fit with a sanitized bung and fermentation lock. Keep the container topped with grape juice or any dry red wine of a similar style. After 10 days, rack the wine into another sanitized one-gallon jug. Top up with dry red wine of a similar style.








After six months, siphon the clarified, settled wine off the sediment and into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork with the hand-corker.
Store bottles in cool, dark place and wait at least six months before drinking.
Red wine is fermented with the pulp and skins. This "cap" will rise to the top, so you need to "punch it down" frequently with a sanitized utensil


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## wilded (Feb 10, 2010)

Thanks so much. ET


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

wilded said:


> Thanks so much. ET


If ya like her we can trade up


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## El Gato Loco (Jan 15, 2010)

Off season? I am still trying to get after coyotes every chance I get. Not everyone is into the heat and creepy crawlies though.









Most of my time is spent working but me and my wife have spent a good bit of time shooting, camping, floating, etc. We try to fill every weekend with something constructive. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. The kids are in summer camp and they swim every day, and go on field trips 3-4 days a week so it's hard to compete with that. They are usually so tired that they don't want to do anything on the weekends.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Does your wife hunt with you Chris ?


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## Patrick (Jun 28, 2010)

Although a few lucky snowboarders are still enjoying spring riding conditions around the U.S. (mostly in the western states), the majority of the country's snowboard resorts have melted out and shut down operations at this point. Sad? Immensely. I'd say I don't know what to do with myself now, which I guess is true, although my significant other has a bevy of yardwork-related projects with my name attached. Man cannot survive on yardwork alone, however, which is why I have other hobbies and pursuits to keep myself occupied during the snowless-months.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Welcome to the forum Patrick, I look forward to your opinions on the variety of subjects we cover.


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## El Gato Loco (Jan 15, 2010)

youngdon said:


> Does your wife hunt with you Chris ?


She's gone out with me a few times but not since we got down to TX. Hoping to get her back out when it cools down some.


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

No.1 I Spend as Much time as possible with my 12 yr old and my wife, we love to fish, camp and garden. We also go out with a caller as often as possible. Just picked up some new sounds this week!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

How are the fox kits doing Reid?


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

They Are Still In the Den but FIL says he hasnt seen the momma fox in a while. Guessing they are weaned. I havent seen any of them in weeks.


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## wvcoyote (Mar 14, 2010)

I do a lot of bass fishing, fish a few touraments, go to the range and get some trigger time in. Do some scouting looking for coyote , deer and bear sign, and spending time with my wife when we both are not working. Oh ,forgot about the honey dew list.


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