knobby

After many spells of headaches, nausea and dizziness; in July 2007 our cousin Ashley who is 25 years old, was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a softball. She immediately underwent a craniotomy to remove the tumor, however 10% could not be reached without causing more damage. At the time, her neurosurgeon thought her tumor to be slow growing and she was diagnosed with a Grade 2 Oligodendroglioma-Astrocytoma. In September 2008 Ashley underwent a second craniotomy due to the tumor doubling in size. At that time, Dr s took biopsies and slides and sent them all over the United States for testing and second opinions. The tumor had progressed to a stage III (of which there are only IV) Anaplastic Astrocytoma. This time Ashley took both radiation and chemotherapy treatments in order to stop the growth of the tumor. After starting to have problems again Ashley was able to secure an appointment with Dr. Parney at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. In July 2009 she underwent an extremely aggressive craniotomy and again they were able to remove a substantial amount of tumor, but not completely. Unfortunately, since January of 2010 she has made 11 trips to Mayo due to complications from the treatment of the brain tumor. Many of these trips have included surgeries and lengthy hospital stays. At present she is awaiting surgery for a skin graft to close the open wound on her head. However, she was told that after having an MRI, they are seeing significant changes and they need to perform a biopsy to confirm what they believe to be the cancer showing aggressive growth again. Ashley is an amazing, strong, courageous young woman. She continues to fight this battle on a daily basis not only for herself, but her 5 year old daughter Haylee and her family. To us, our production company is a way to express our love for waterfowling and hope that each and everyone of you enjoy watching what we do. We are currently filming our second DVD, "The Reality of it All" and are having a blast doing so! Just like every waterfowler, we have a burning passion for what we do, but we also strongly believe in putting our family first. In some way, shape or form, everyone of us have been affected by cancer, and at this time Ross and I are seeing first hand the effects it is having on our cousin, our familys and their lives. Our cousin Ashley is our hero and really gives us a reason to give it 100% everyday, because on our worst day we have never experienced what she is going through. With that the financial stress that is put on a person and their family is sometimes hard to cope with. Ross and I have decided that we will take $5 from every DVD sale we make, being online or from a retail store and it will go towards Ashley and her family, to help with whatever they need help with. Like I have always said, what we do isn't about making money for us but helping those in need, and we will continue to do so as long as we can! Go to http://www.lochmin.com to purchase our latest DVD, "Working for Waterfowl", we appreciate all of your donations! Sincerely, Ryan and Ross Knobloch Loch'M In Waterfowl http://www.lochmin.com (Moderators, this does not benefit Ryan and I financially, I hope we can keep this post up, she needs all the help we can gather up.)

That sounds like Oprah.

Well what an awesome season we had here and by the looks of things other members here did great as well. The DVD is almost done and will be sent to the replication company very soon. Check out www.lochmin.com for the video promo. Next up are the turkeys and man am I getting the itch.

Well its a good thing you weren't 100% sure because Thanksgiving weekend we were in Iowa, the whole Loch'M In Crew, hammering the geese, that decal is only on 5 vehicles and not a one is a jeep. Now if you seen an F-250 with a 16 foot trailer then it was us.

Loch'M In has been scouting, hunting and putting the the miles on to put the waterfowl on the ground, It started before the storm with an Iowa hunt that gained us 9 geese, 1 short of a five man limit. Then it was out to Nebraska as the storm began to roll through to hunt with our good friend Kody Karloff from Double K Duck club. 14 geese and 9 nine mallards were taken on Nebraska soil. And we just arrived home from Missouri and it was a weekend of hammering the geese, seen several ducks but never did they want to work. Shot a 7 man limit of 14 geese the first day and an 8 man limit of 16 geese the second. The Loch'M In "Train Wreck", we heard the words "train wreck" from Missouri fellas all weekend, so we thought we would put our spice on it. Blow the horn, cause the train is comin through.

Nice spot there for sure, and the scenery is awesome

The past 4 days were very action packed and full of fun for Ross and I. Ross started it off on Friday when he shot a nice Southern Iowa buck with 15 scoreable points. Then Saturday it was off to the flooded cornfield with Al, Tyler, Curt and Steve. A total of 24 ducks and 4 honkers were taken on this day. After scouting Saturday evening we found a nice field hold several big honkers and lots of little hutchies. We knew the honkers would work but skeptical about the hutchies since they never seem to do what you want them to.Sunday morning rolled around and needless to say they landed in the spread a 3 were taken, 4 more honkers filtered there way in and we ended the day one goose short of a 4 man limit. Thanks again to Al, Curt and Christian for joining us. Sunday evening it was off to the marsh for our annual marsh hunt with our dad and family friend Bob, with the way the Iowa weather has been we weren't sure how it would turn out. The outcome was much better than expected, Monday a 4 man limit of ducks and 1 goose were taken and it was a mixed bag, teal, mallards (one banded), gadwall, pintail, bluebills, ringnecks, and even a couple of spoonies. I even had a chance to set down the camera during the rain/snow and take in some of my first ducks of the year, I think I'll stick to running the camera though, obviously not shooting has taken a toll on my accuracy! Tuesday was a bit tougher but managed to scratch out another mixed bag of 14. The rain moved in and we had to head home back to our real jobs but all in all it was a great 4 days.

With the warm weather and lack of birds coming from the north, today was a day were we didn't expect much but knew we needed to be out there. The first two honkers came in just like they were supposed to and both went down, as Ross walked back to the blinds he had a smirk on his face and asked Warren and Bob, "who shot the second one", with neither of them knowing he tossed it down, saying "well it's banded". To save a fight between brothers, the coin was tossed and Warren came out the victor. This bird was band 6-30-1997 in Iowa, making it 12 years old. We finished the day with a pair of drake mallards, even though only 4 birds were taken, the was for sure topped off by that old gander flying his way into our spread. Thanks to Warren, Bob and Al for hunting with us today.

Picture taken this morning before the action hit goose hunting.

After days of watching birds never hit the same field twice we decided to hunt the trusty loaf pond. Today we hunted with Al, Ross and I's Dad, and Bob D., a long time family friend. We had five shooters and ended the day with 10 birds. After the action the wife and my little men came out to snap some pics. Although the boys came after the hunt was over the expressions on their face show how excited they get and I can't wait for the day when they become a steady part of the hunt. Couple of pics I took Here are some my wife took

That is one nice lookin hollywood!!

Lookin good and nice pics also

Well maybe there is no end in sight for the wet conditions but that hasn't stopped the geese from flying. So far we haven't even been able to pull into the fields, which I'm sure is the same for most Iowan's, and the packing in and out has made for lots of tired guys at the end of the hunt. Last weekend was the usual group of guys hunting and birds were sketchy, jumping from field to field and not being able to pattern them well. We did end up with a total of 11 last weekend. This weekend was no different as far as the weather goes and hunted on Sunday, found a small corn field that was holding several geese and ended the day taking 9. Thanks to Kurt and Mike K. for joining us this morning on such short notice. Next week it looks as if we will be trading in the layout blinds for the boat to pull in some ducks and geese.

Hey thanks

Well here is just a bit of what Loch'M In has done so far and what is to come hope you enjoy. http://www.lochmin.com/apps/videos/videos/view/5329097-loch-m-in-waterfowl-early-season-sneak-peek