Rem308

Here are a couple pics from a few recent trips out on the water. We are starting 2012 off right. Both fish are similar in size and after a quick measurement and few photos, they were released for another day. Good 38"er 37" -- I didn't hold it quite right, this one was in a rush to get back in the water. These fish were caught on conventional tackle, but I am getting so close to fulfilling one of my major goals of catching a muskie on the fly. Time will tell.

That's a great buck, well done. That rack has character, I bet he was a trouble-maker.

Friday, November 4th afternoon I was able to get in my stand around 3:30 PM. It was a little breezy but was a very comfortable afternoon. I sat in my stand and around 4:30 I had a doe trot up and stop at 25 yards and was panting and looking over her shoulder...I had to get ready fast so I pulled my bow off the hanger and go ready as a small buck was coming in pursuit of this doe. I could see it was a spike and as he came trotting up with his head down I drew and bleated...he stopped in a good shooting lane but kept his head down. I released the arrow and it blasted through right behind the shoulder....I could see pink blood shooting out as he bounded a few quick jumps and could hear it spraying the leaves. He piled up within sight about 40 yards below my stand. I had to sit back in my stand and get calmed down, it seemed that the nerves came to me after I had arrowed him. This is only my second buck taken with the bow and I am thrilled. I shot him with a Muzzy MX4 100 grain broadhead....He was double lunged and I got a complete pass through.After a few quick pictures I drug him out and he's in the freezer now.

I wanted to share some of the highlights of my first week of rifle season. It actually started off Sunday morning when I took a mountain bike ride on some public trails and had several bucks cruising through and chasing does. That was enough to really get me fired up for the week. Monday morning started out pretty good, but we had heavy rain by 8:00 AM. I had a nice buck walk under my stand at around 9:30 AM, he would have been a wide 6 but he only had one side of his antlers, other was broken at the base. Other than this buck, I didn't see a deer all day Monday. Tuesday we had more heavy rain and very high winds. I was setup in my stand w/ my 'Gunbrella' and I was dry, but the wind was just awful. Around lunchtime I had 3 does sneak through but nothing following. Nothing else the rest of Tuesday. Wednesday morning started with the first kill of the week -- we have mouse traps setup in our camp and this stud was DRT when I started getting ready. Not sure what he'll score --- he does have a pretty 'saddle' across his back! Wednesday was more high wind than anything, gusts were forecast in excess of 25 MPH. That afternoon around 3:30 PM the wind and rain stopped and turned into an excellent time to hunt. Deer started moving and I finally got to see this nice little buck following a doe about 100 yards above my stand in some thick cover. I had a shooting lane and he stopped in it, presenting a good shot. He dropped in his tracks and I was psyched. Took him with my Remington 700 SPS-V chambered in .308 Thanksgiving Day had several deer moving for us, but I never saw a good buck. A few of the guys I hunt with missed some nice deer Thursday, but I never saw anything big. Friday morning greeted us with perfect weather. It was 26 degrees at the farm and a heavy frost. Deer were moving early and I was able to watch several does and pick the mature one. This was a 75 yard shot on the edge of a field, she also dropped and slid down a hill into the field. Our camp isn't nearly as nice as some I've seen, but it suits us just fine. It's a large and older camper that is starting to fall apart. We have rebuilt the floors and adjusted several parts over the years but it is on its way downhill. Works great to allow us in out of the elements when needed.

I was able to take a few days off work and get out and do some fall turkey hunting with my Uncle Mel & my Cousin Kevin. We had some rough wind to deal with on Saturday & Monday, but this morning conditions were much better. I had clucked a few times after daylight and a little later I heard a short gobble above me. I quickly got situated, called a few soft times and he gobbled again. I had previously only had fall birds let up their location when called to, but this one was coming my direction. Pretty soon I could see him sneaking over the ridge and coming my way. I could see that he had a pretty good beard and I just hoped he'd walk within range. He actually closed the distance pretty quick...I pulled the trigger and he started flopping! It turned out to be a pretty good bird, I would estimate 16 or 17 pounds w/ a 6" beard & pretty good spurs.

Yep -- it's not really that bad. We all sit down at the table, each of us keeping our pumpkin quiet, always have some pizza, and we just talk while we do it. I draw the design out w/ a pen and then just start small. The key is to watch the thin spots because that's where it'll get weak and break. When we finish we show the finished product and it's pretty funny to see what is made. It doesn't really take too long.

I always end up carving a jack-o-lantern with some sort of relation to the outdoors. This year is no different...last weekend we carved a few and I opted for a big tree and doe standing under a full moon. Hope photos show it all: Happy Halloween Folks!

I went fishing last Friday hoping to target some muskie. Had a great time out and my fishing buddy and I both had bass hitting our big muskie baits. Still a lot of fun, but no muskie boated. The fall bite is on! The first fish of the morning, I thought it was a fluke..but then realized the largemouth were hitting hard. Good action on this bait:

Sunday morning I got up and headed out to a local farm pond to do some fly fishing. With fall seeming to be upon us and bow season and turkey season starting to get close, I figure that this will be the last fly fishing trip for me in 2011. I made sure I had a few poppers, a few woolly buggers, and a hand full of other flies to throw. Weather looked like a few pop up showers and no wind...perfect. I started off with a weighted craw imitation fly and on the 2nd cast this little guy nailed it --- I love fly fishing, no matter how big they give you a good fight. I threw this a few more times but ended up getting it snagged and lost it...so I switched over to a few of my surface flies...which is where the fish were hitting. I immediately caught a few of these largemouth which are always fun. I also switched over to a foam popper and started catching a few more fish, but it was always a steady balance between the panfish and the large mouths. (I always have to get a good shot of the face of these little guys) This dark little guy absolutely slammed the popper --- took a big chunk out of it! Look at this HAWG!! It took him several hits but finally he was able to get the hook in his lip! After catching several little fish and loving every minute of it, I was working a popper along side some weeds and an explosion happened like I hadn't seen all day. The water shot up and I saw the white flash of a bass and the fight was on...My fly rod felt like it was going to break, after all I am used to these small little fish! This big boy rolled up and hammered the popper and gave me a fight that was just awesome. I was questioning every knot on my setup but all held true and I was able to lip him and bring him out of the water for some photos before returning him. This is the best large mouth bass I've ever caught and to top it all, it was on a fly. Great way to wrap up my season.

Great fish and pics! Looks like a great time. Hope to get to post some more pictures myself here in a week or so, got a few trips lined up. Again, thanks for sharing.

Yep, hope everyone sleeps well tonight!

This weekend myself and 3 friends went muskie fishing. After the long winter and water being trashed all around us for so long, we knew we were going to fish hard. We loaded up the gear and ended up fishing a true 10 hours each day for a total of 20 hours. We were eating our sandwiches on the water, taking Aleve for the pain of the constant casting and figure 8’s at the boats, and loving every minute of it. We raised a LOT of fish, plenty of follows, a few really big fish got off at the boat and a missed opportunity here and there. I ended up boating my biggest fish to date, a 40”er on a crank bait. The colors of this fish were great, and after a real good fight, quick measurement and photos, I released her for another day. We fished through about every type of weather you could ask for including a crazy hail storm that ended up covering our boat in nickel sized hail. Immediately after that was a great looking rainbow and plenty more great fishing. We are already planning our next outing.

With all the other water trashed from all the storms, after turkey hunting the last few days, I hit a local farm pond w/ the fly rod. I ended up catching a bunch of bluegills...tons of fun on the fly but no real size to them. The only problem is that after hunting hard all morning, then eating a sandwich and fishing in the sun for a few hours, I had to stop fishing to go home and get some sleep! The majority of them came on little poppers like this one.

I really like chasing the smallmouth bass on the fly and woolly buggers seem to be a real good fly for just that. I tied up a good variety the other evening, some weighted, a few not.

In between visiting family and hiding Easter eggs for my nephew, I was able to sneak out and do some dual sporting with my brother-in-law over Easter weekend. I really hadn’t gotten to do any real riding on my Yamaha since I put on a Pirelli MT43 rear tire and also an FMF Power Programmer. I had ridden with the programmer in the factory settings but adjusted to a recommended setup for more performance and I couldn’t be more impressed. It really woke up this bike and made for a great weekend. We ended up riding a real good mix of pavement, gravel back roads, dirt trails, and plenty of creek crossings thanks to the recent rain. We didn’t take too many photos between both days, but we ended up riding close to 100 miles total. My Yamaha WR & my brother-in-law’s KTM One of us on a great little stretch of trail/creek crossings Another view of a perfect old farm road One of the many creek crossings Back at the house hanging with my nephew Hotdoggin’ it! We had a great weekend and I cannot wait to get back to the farm country and ride many more miles.