fly

Sorry to hear that. This is the primary reason my dad decided not to buy land in Southern Illinois. The property was actually a farm he grew up on until he was about 9 years old. However, being remote and 3 hours away there was no way to keep an eye on the place. The property had a farm house which he was sure would eventually be broken into to.

I felt the second one as well. Hope the saying that things come in 3's isn't true in this case.

About 4:30 this morning a 5.4 magnitude quake woke me up. I thought it was a tornado, and was going to get to the basement (never go to the basement in an earthquake). The center was near the Indiana-Illinois border, but it shook things up pretty good where I live near St. Louis. Maybe a new gas/oil pocket will emerge and I can start driving to work again.

I just found out that postage stamps go up to 42 cents on May 12th. I was going to buy a few books of stamps and the post office worker advised me that I may want to wait until then.

I've never trolled either. I've only caught a handfull of small browns (9-12 inches), and the were all on small copper john wet flies.

Gotta love them trout! Great looking fish. I can't wait to try my luck in Idaho this May/June for Westslope Cutthroats in the Lochsa River and possibly Kelly Creek!

You aint lieing. I've got a spring bear hunt planned (rifle, then bow) that's helping ease the pain. However, nothing beats hearing the sound of dried leaves rustling on the ground as a deer approaches. Waiting for the perfect angle, then coming to full draw....

If John passes, I'm interested.

Yea, it was a fun trip. I got to try out some of my equipment for a upcoming bear hunt in Idaho. My new 2000 watt Honda generator powered my travel trailer just fine and was very quiet. I was surprised to see it even powered my AC. I also got to sight it my 300 ultra mag with my new Nikon scope. I'm hitting a quarter every time. Best of all I got to spend a couple days with my dad and create yet another hunting trip memory.

My hunting story: Looks like I won't be posting any pictures this year. My hunting report. Wednesday night: We arrived to the Shawnee National Forest around 9:00pm. We camp at the Pine Hills camp gound. However, this year no one will be camping or hunting from the forest roads. Flooding and high winds from recent storms caused massive mud landslides and downed trees on all the access roads. We ended up parking the travel trailer along side a secondary road instead of the usual campsite. In 25 years of hunting I've never seen such devastation. Thursday: Walked about 2 miles to the area I always hunt. I walked in about 5:30am. It was raining hard and lightening was lighting up the sky. I set up at a spot I've had success at in the past (nothing was gobbling in the storm). Finally at 9am the rain turned into sprinkles and I got a couple gobblers to answer my calls. A couple hens were also churping just down the hill. The gobblers flew down (I had luckily set up about 150 yards from their roost) and were fast approaching. I got ready but lost them due a deep ravine they needed to cross prior to reaching my decoys. The hens were in the ravine and kept churping. I called a little more and I could see two turkey heads (only their heads) coming up the ravine towards me. One was bluish white and the other red. I had the bead of my shotgun on the red head (about 35 yards away) and was just waiting to see that beard before pulling the trigger. However, the red headed turkey never came up high enough for me to see the beard. They went back down into the ravine and left. Then the rain picked up again. I hunted until 11am, but didn't hear or see anything else. Friday: No rain, but the wind was howling. I set up close to where I had been thursday. At 6:00am I had 2 Tom's gobbling down at the bottom of the hill. Then the hens started in and I never heard those ghobblers again. Then at 6:30 another gobbler started in. He wasn't more than 75 yards up the hill from me. I thought I'd see him, but the minimal tree vegetation was just enough to keep me from spoting him. He felw down and went on the other side of the hill. He gobbled like crazy, but was leaving the whole time. I saw a couple hens in a green field and snuck up to within 30 yards, but there were no gobblers with them. It was still fun easing in to shooting range. Sorry team, but no turkey for me this year. I'm 95% sure that large red headed turkey was a gobbler, but since I didn't see it strut, didn't see the beard, wasn't sure if it had been the bird that had gobbled, I couldn't take the shot. Better luck to all of you!

Same in IL, except no clearance yet.

I'm headed for Southern Illinois this evening for a Thursday/Friday turkey hunt. Forecast: Rain and thunderstorms! I hope I can pull off the upset. >Frank

Looks like I'm in the minority here. I used to use one, I have a couple in my closet. I removed it a couple years ago and found my shooting was the same. The ones I had were low quality so perhaps a higher quality stabilizer might be worth while??? I'm happy with my shooting without one.

Thanks guys, I'll be harvesting a doe with 1/2 year olds this fall as long as the spots are gone. I think it's important to make the decision exactly what to shoot prior to entering the woods. A second of hesitation can be costly. Now there will be no hesitation when that doe walks within range.

The DVDplanet.org scammed me this past Christmas! I ordered the Wonder Years for my wife for 60.00 and never got the DVD's. I e-mailed them and they responded that they would give me a 50% discount on my next order, and that my order would be rushed to me. After a week I went to the web-site and guess what! They were no longer taking any new orders. I've never heard from them again. I've contacted my credit card company and I have filed a complaint. Looks like a 60.00 lesson for me.

Yup, today was my first official day of 2008 to wear shorts. After church of course. I didn't want to blind anyone.

Same here. I shot mine on the last day of the 07 archery season (Jan.17th). It's going to be October before I get it back. What's killing me is I haven't had the official P&Y score yet. It should be the biggest I've taken to date. I called Jarvis Taxidermy (well know around my area) and he told me it would be 3 years before I got the head back!!! I'll not be dialing that number again.

Well said!

john, you're wife's not right man. Sounds like something my wife would say, God love um. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Heston. I hate to hear of his passing.

Did you sit down beside her? Were you eating curds and whey? As long as it wasn't in a location where my kids might get bit, I would have let her and the 100+ soon to be spiders walk.

I just finished watching a Drury video and a doe was harvested that had two 1/2 year olds with her. I've always wondered about this... Will the 1/2 year olds survive the winter if their mother is harvested in October? Does it depend when the 1/2 year olds were born or the month the mother is harvested? Do you feel it is ethical to shoot a doe in early October that has 1/2 year olds? Thanks Frank

Ya know there are times I experience the same thing and think the suits are the reason deer can't smell me. Then at other times it seems the suits don't work at all. I honestly don't know just how effective they really are? I guess any advantage (no matter how small) might make the difference and that's what counts.

I wasn't sure, but her fathers Remington helped me along.

Incredible! My wife's dad did the same thing at our wedding! Except the long skinny box had shotgun in it. Oh yea and it wasn't a gift for me. Well I guess the ammo was... sort of. Congratulations on both!

Good tips here. If you're comfortable with heights you may want to place your stand 25-30 feet high or more. Then when the wind changes after you're in your stand (as we all know it does from time to time) you minimize his chances of smelling you. Also walk in to your stand in a direction you don't expect the deer to be walking near. I've had deer smell my scent from my boots (walking in) 3 hours later.