The 'between times' season

We’ve entered a period known as “between times.” The major hunting seasons are over, and the winter trapping season hasn’t started yet. The summer salmon runs are finished and, with the lack of freezing weather, icefishing isn’t even close to happening. Most folks have already winterized their boats but probably haven’t even tried to start their snowmobiles yet.

Now is the time to clean up and repair the summer fishing gear and the fall hunting equipment before you store it away for the winter. Now is also the time to start checking your winter gear to make sure everything is in good shape and ready for what, hopefully, will be something more akin to a normal Valley winter, at least snowfall wise.

I didn’t need to winterize my riverboat since I never got to use it this past summer. It’s still winterized from last year. When I finally get it back from being repaired and stored in my “new” storage shed, I’ll need to attach a trickle-charger to the batteries to overwinter them in good condition. I haven’t tried starting my snowmobile yet, but after charging the battery, I expect it to fire right up. It was tuned up a couple of years ago and hasn’t been run much since for a variety of reasons but should run fine when I start it.

Both my four-wheeler and my six-wheeler are ready to go. Unless we get a significant snowfall early on, I’ll keep the UTV/ATVs on stand-by just in case I need to head off into the pucker-brush. I keep finding reasons to run the wheelers beyond the “normal” season because they’re fun to operate and allow me to access areas I otherwise couldn’t get into to explore or hunt.

This “between times” period is handy for making changes and upgrades to equipment found wanting. I had a fanny pack I used while crossbow hunting. I discovered that the factory shoulder harness supplied was uncomfortable and got in the way of shooting my crossbow. A few feet of nylon strapping, some plastic buckles and a couple of snap-hooks and I had a redesigned harness system that worked more efficiently to carry the pack with all the gear I tend to carry. However, I found a commercially made pack system that works even better, and I have adopted it for hunting.

I’ve found some after-market products I’ve attached to my crossbow to upgrade the safe use of the unit by not allowing a “dry fire,” a foot stirrup upgrade to shorten the overall length of the crossbow, some limb silencers, a gadget to keep my hand away from the string when the bow is fired, and an adjustable sight which, once properly sighted in at twenty and sixty yards, allows the sight to be set for any distance in between and be dead on target.

Over the next six to eight weeks, I need to get caught up on some of my reloading backlog. I’m hoping to develop a reduced load for a large caliber handgun I have and to get some lead bullet loads put together for a rifle I purchased last spring. I’ve also got to finish reloading for the monthly Bang ‘n Clang matches I’ve yet to attend this season.

I need to get with the manufacturer of a pistol caliber carbine I have which has developed some headspace problems. This could mean the barrel needs to be replaced. I’ll know better after calling and talking with the manufacturer. I need to do some inletting on a couple of firearms I’ve had for a while. On one, I need to inlet the rear sling swivel stud flush into the buttstock to make for a neater and “classier” looking installation. Since I’ve never done anything quite like this, I’ll be going slowly and hope I don’t mess up the wood.

The other gun is a muzzleloader I put together from parts. I’ve had a German silver cap box forever which would look nice inletted into the buttstock of the smoothbore. Again, this isn’t something I have experience doing, but I have all the tools and knowledge to do the work – I just need to work up enough nerve to make the first cut.

I’ve got a small caliber revolver which needs a section of the metal on the grip and a small section of the trigger guard cleaned up with a file and reblued. Again, not something I’m experienced doing but which should be doable if I go slowly.