I'm in the wilds of Northern Pennsylvania during early March, camping out for 2 nights in the RBM UP-2 mini hot tent. We're getting some high winds and periods of heavy snow. I'm out here exploring and scouting the area during the day, as well as hunting for shed antlers that bucks have been dropping over the past few months. I'm also cooking some brats and freeze dried meals on the wood stove.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:30It's the beginning of March, it is windy, it is cold, we've had snow off and on all
00:42day today.
00:43Not a whole lot, but there's little squalls here and there.
00:46It was a last minute decision to come out here with the hot tent, and I think it was
00:50a good decision.
00:53A couple days ago it was 65 degrees, nice sunny day, beautiful weather, and yeah that
01:00changed in a hurry.
01:23So I'm going to get some wood processed before it gets dark, try and get enough to last me
01:31the night.
01:52Got some beech here, which makes great firewood, very dense wood so it burns long and hot.
02:22Let's get warmed up for a little bit, that should last me the night, still might get
02:33a little more.
02:34I needed a little break from the extreme cold primitive style camping, so that's why I really
02:42enjoy the hot tent.
02:48That feels good.
02:52That wind out there is howling.
03:00It even let up a little bit, it was really bad all morning.
03:02It's nice and warm in here though, I'll probably make some food in a little bit.
03:07All that wood cutting makes me hungry.
03:14That is putting out some heat.
03:16I'm not going to zip this door shut yet, because if I do it's going to get too warm in here.
03:30It's already plenty warm enough.
03:34I like to keep a carbon monoxide detector in here with me.
03:39So I'm going to be out here for a couple nights, I'm going to do some scouting.
03:42I hunt this area sometimes, I've been wanting to explore it more and learn more about it.
03:47Might even find some shed deer antlers.
03:49This is the time of year to do it, late winter, early spring, when the ground is bare.
03:54Most of the snow has melted, so they're easy to spot.
03:58Bucks will shed their antlers after breeding season, usually late December through early
04:02spring.
04:03Then they'll grow new ones throughout the summer.
04:05I just like to collect them, and when I do find them it tells me that a buck most likely
04:10lives close by.
04:12So, it's valuable deer intel.
04:15I have found a lot of them here in the past, so I'm hoping I find some tomorrow.
04:20Look for more camping spots too.
04:24This is pretty wild country, at least by Pennsylvania standards.
04:29I love spending time here, I've been camping, hunting, and fishing this area for most of
04:34my life.
04:35It can be a challenge to hunt though, there's no shortage of game here, but everything is
04:41so spread out, they have so much space to roam and remote places to hide out in.
04:46You really have to learn the land and how they use it.
04:50Black bears are common here.
04:52They'll leave you alone for the most part though.
04:56Lots of coyotes, which I hear more than I see.
04:59A lot of times I hear them howling while I'm out here camping, mostly at night.
05:04There's also a healthy bobcat population, squirrels and chipmunks and everything else
05:09they like to feast on.
05:13It's been a really bad winter this year.
05:14It's been really cold, a lot of snow.
05:17When we get bad winters like this, it's hard on the wildlife.
05:21Some of them don't make it.
05:23So, I'm going to rest up and cook some food tonight, get up early in the morning.
05:39The wind's picking up again.
05:44I can see a buck rub out there already, about 100 yards away or so.
05:51Pretty nice one.
05:52I'm going to check out this buck rub real quick.
05:55A lot of times you can tell how big the buck is by how far the rub goes up the tree.
06:00That one's not real high up.
06:03When they're about waist high, you know it's a pretty big buck.
06:06They'll rub smaller trees like this during the breeding season in the fall to mark their
06:10territory.
06:11Both a visual marker to other deer, and they rub their scent on the tree as well.
06:17There's definitely a lot of deer activity in this area.
06:21I'll do more exploring tomorrow.
06:24I'm getting hungry.
06:27Let's start a big tree fall over there.
06:37Let's go.
06:51Beef stew.
06:54Beef stroganoff.
06:57Chili mac.
07:00Chicken and rice.
07:04For now, I'm just going to heat some water up and decide while this warms up.
07:14Also got some smoked brats.
07:18And I'm just going to cook this thing like you would over a campfire.
07:33I'm going to open this door.
07:49That's good.
07:54Makes a little smoky flavor.
07:59I'm going to cook another one.
08:03Let's see if I can prop this up somehow.
08:08Perfect!
08:19And we're going to go with the chili mac tonight.
08:24I have an idea.
08:54That's actually really good.
09:25Get my bed set up.
09:29Ah, that's nice and comfy.
09:56Well, I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow.
09:59Add some wood to the fire.
10:26That's good.
10:57I'm going to go get some more firewood.
11:01Some fallen trees right over here.
11:04Nice and dry.
11:06They've been burning pretty good for me.
11:16My measuring stick so I know how long to make these so that they'll fit in the firebox.
11:56Carry these back.
11:58Get them split.
12:13It's a little warmer today.
12:16Not nearly as windy.
12:18I'm happy about it.
12:26That log over here, I'm just going to drag it over so I can cut it up by the tent later.
12:35It'll make my life a little easier.
12:49Some kindling sized pieces here too.
12:56Let's get some coffee warmed up.
13:00It was looking like it was going to be a sunny day this morning.
13:03Now we've got some clouds moving in.
13:06Welp, I'm going to have some coffee and then we'll go to bed.
13:09Good night.
13:29here after it warms up and then I'll head out see what kind of cool stuff we
13:34can find.
13:54Well I'm gonna start my hike.
13:59It's a deer bed. Lots of deer sign.
14:29It's all through here. Some pretty fresh tracks here. Looks like coyote. Got a
14:45coyote hanging around here. There's some nice buckrub here. Pretty big one. Looks
14:57older though. A lot of old beaver activity here. They chew down all these trees
15:05through here. Tea berry. I collect some of these as I walk through here. Make some
15:16tea with them later. It's wintergreen but I also call these tea berries. You can
15:23also make tea with the leaves of the plant.
15:27More coyote tracks. Pretty big ones too.
15:51Well I guess that would be why. I just happened to look up in the direction
15:56where they were going. So the coyotes have been feeding on this deer.
16:03Could be a coyote kill. It could be a deer that just died. Natural causes. Not much
16:10left of it. Like I said it's been a rough winter. Either way coyotes really do a
16:15number on these deer around here. Usually they'll target fawns or injured deer
16:19that are easy prey for them or they'll scavenge deer that already died. They
16:24hunt in packs a lot of times. Usually around four or five. Sometimes more
16:29sometimes less. Some older buckrub there and more fresh one here. Deer trail here.
16:42Some coyotes using it. I brought my mushroom hunting glasses which are also
16:49good for finding deer antlers. They do help. There's definitely a lot of buck
16:57activity in this area. A lot of deer activity in general. Time for some jerky
17:03little snack break. Clouds went away. Warmed up pretty good. I love walking the
17:15woods this time of year. There's no vegetation on the ground yet. Most of the
17:18snow is gone so you can see everything that's going on. Another tea berry. So I'm
17:26coming up to a place that I call antler swamps. It's a place where I used to find
17:31a ton of shed deer antlers years ago. I haven't been here for a while so hoping
17:36I find some today.
17:49There's one. Small one. But hey, we found an antler. Make a nice knife handle or
18:00something. Another deer carcass. Wow.
18:11Spike. I don't know what's going on with the deer around here. Like I said, I don't
18:24know if these are coyote kills or if they just didn't make it through the
18:27winter. I used to put trail cameras over deer carcasses that I'd find out here
18:33and see what kind of pictures and videos I could get. It's interesting to see what
18:37feeds on them. Eagles love to scavenge them. Seems to be a lot more of them
18:42around lately. Lots of ravens too. Hawks. Lots of birds in general. Fishers will
18:50come by a lot of times. They belong to the weasel family but they're a lot
18:55bigger than a normal weasel. Gray fox, red fox, which are pretty common around
19:00here. So the deer definitely don't go to waste. They feed all kinds of things,
19:04especially in the winter when other food sources are hard to come by. And of
19:09course coyotes, which I've gotten hundreds of pictures and videos of. Some
19:15pretty big ones too. And even bobcats. One time I got pictures of a family of
19:21bobcats that ate an entire carcass in one night. Here's a scrape. Deer will come
19:27by here, scrape up the dirt, and break off a low-hanging branch and rub their scent
19:33glands on there. Their way of communicating with each other. Another
19:38nice rub here. Not finding many antlers this year. Just this little one, that's it.
19:43Nothing else yet. Coyote. There was a deer massacre back here. A little beaver dam
19:54here. One way I've heard that people trap beavers is they'll knock out part of the
19:58dam, set a trap there. I guess they'll hear the water running. Then not long
20:03after that the beavers will come to fix the dam and get trapped. There's a deer.
20:11It's getting a little windy again. Jerky's good. A beautiful area.
20:22Well, my long hike paid off. We found an antler. Nice one too. It's so hard to see
20:35them sometimes, especially in this grass. It just looks like two big blades of
20:39grass sitting over there. They really blend in. It's been out here for a little
20:49while. It's kind of bleached from the sun. The weird thing is I found one several
20:56years ago, almost in this same exact spot. I figured I'd come back and see if I'd
21:01find another one here, and I actually did. Well, it's been a long hike. I'm gonna
21:06hang out here for a minute, take a break. It's nice and warm here. Until that wind
21:14blows and it's not nice and warm. Nice little bed of moss here. Ah, that's nice
21:20and comfy. Well, it's getting kind of late. I should probably get back to the
21:26campsite. There it is. Home sweet home. I am starving.
21:56I hiked a lot of miles to find these two antlers. I'm still happy with these. I'm
22:02gonna get the fire going and make some food. Fire's out, so I'm gonna cut some
22:07kindling here.
22:26I'm getting a fire started in my wood stove. I like to do the upside-down fire.
22:50Lay my base down, some bigger logs, and I'll put my kindling on top of those.
22:55Start with the bigger kindling first, lay them on top at an angle, and put my
23:02smallest pieces of kindling on top of that. I have some of these little fire
23:14starters I made. Just cotton pads soaked in wax. You can break them apart like this.
23:26Lights up pretty quick. And that, I'll just put it right on top. Makes for a much
23:37easier fire starting. A couple pieces over the flame. Gives you a cleaner burn
23:46because as the top layer burns, it'll dry out the layers below it, and by the time
23:51they burn, they'll be nice and dry with very little moisture, therefore less
23:55smoke, which means less creosote. I'm about out of water, so I'm gonna go
24:00gather some more.
24:03There we go.
24:25It's getting chilly out.
24:33Got some meals to choose from here. Beef stroganoff, beef stew, and chicken and
24:53rice. Needs sustenance. Sounds like the water's boiling. Probably just gonna end
25:03up having all three. I'm hungry. Gonna find my spoon. Mix it up with this for
25:15now. I'm so excited to eat. Burned a lot of calories today.
25:33Chicken and rice for the win. Time for the beef stew.
25:50I'm gonna cool it down a little in here. It's getting a little warm. I'm not
26:07complaining though. You guys get to watch me pig out tonight, but I hope you guys
26:12understand.
26:14Sounds like it's snowing out there now.
26:44Fire's blazing. Running low on firewood though, so I'm gonna go cut some.
27:44That'll be my overnight piece.
28:14Snow's coming down pretty good. Kind of came out of nowhere.
28:32Let's get inside where it's warm. We got firewood. We're good to go. I'm gonna make
28:50some tea with my berries. Rinse these off first. Get any dirt off. I'm just gonna
29:00crush them up a little bit. I'm just gonna let those steep in that hot water
29:11for about 10 minutes. Time to zip up this door. I just heard some coyotes howling
29:23down that way. Sounds like the same area where I found that deer antler. Smells
29:34good in here. This is tea berries. Tea's about done.
29:47I gotta make this more often. It's getting late, so I'm gonna go to bed.
30:47Beautiful day. Let's have some pancakes. I'm gonna do these a little differently though.
31:00I usually make these over a campfire, but this will work too. Some more pancake mix
31:08here. I'm gonna mix it all in one bag. If I add too much water, I can add more mix.
31:18Take it out of the bag. I'm just gonna knead it with my stick here, and then I'll just
31:24wrap this around. Just kind of spiral it around it. Mix it so I don't have to bring a pan
31:34with me. One less thing I have to pack out here. Stick it in there over the hot coals.
31:55Looks good. Now we're gonna add some bourbon aged maple syrup. I'm out of butter. Turned
32:10out to be a beautiful day today. It's warming up a little bit. That's good. Pancake on a
32:18stick. I'm gonna make some coffee. Bring that to a boil, and I'll take it off after about
32:31a minute. And we'll let that cool off out here. And you can see most of the grounds
32:50just settled to the bottom. Nothing like some hot coffee in the wilderness. Well, I'm gonna
32:59hang out here in the tent for a little bit till I get everything packed up and get out
33:03of here. So I hope you guys enjoyed the video. It was a lot of fun making it. Join me in
33:07my next one.