Deer Season - Last Day

I was sitting in my office and saw some does bed down in a fence line and two more head a different direction over a hill in the next valley. I called a friend of mine (also the landowner) and we made a plan. Glad to say it actually worked out for once. We stalked em and got close enough to shoot. I have to admit I got lucky. This buck was running away full sprint up a steep hill at about 150yds. I put my crosshairs two feet in front of the deer and dropped him deader than a stone. When I came up on the deer its brains were hanging out of his skull, a head shot. At least I didnt ruin any meat. My friend was able to shoot a very nice mature doe. Im gonna try the golf ball skinning deer trick with thest two.

Red River Walleye Fishing - October

Here's some video highlights of this year's trip!  I recently bought a pair of I-Kam sunglasses and took all the video here with them.  I now have a laptop dedicated solely to create, edit and store the hunting and fishing videos I plan on taking with the new glasses.  This is my first attempt at video editing so hopefully I'll be getting better at it.

This year was great with somewhere in the neighborhood of 500+ fish caught with over 300 caught on the First Day!  I'm already looking forward to next year because we not only have a new cool place to stay, but we can leave our boats in the water, not pay the daily park fee, have a fire at night, and get cheap bait without leaving our digs.  Oh and the proprietor is easy on the eyes.  And, thanks to Adam, we now know the mayor of Selkirk!

And thanks to Mark for these pics!

Bard's Fishing 2011 Part 1:

My year started off with alot of Ice fishing. I borrowed TK's camera and check out the perch thats about ready to pounce on my jig. Perch fishing was good on Spirit Lake, I was able to go about 4 or 5 times on Spirit. Was able to fish with Brian and TK for a half day in the big shack. Fished alot on local smaller bodies of water.



I took some guys from Inwood smallie fishing at the MO river in May. We boated around 50 smallies and one 20" walleye. Fished the Big MO twice with not much luck in March. A trip in June with the guy holding the smallie below and did very well on casting jigs towards shore. And a trip in September with a few walleyes and the smallie pictured below.




The crappie and northern were caught at a local sand pit. I didn't catch either but cleaned and ate both of them. Had a decent summer with lots of bass caught at this sand pit with friends and family.
Pictured below is a mess of pan fish. Kept 40 in about six hours of fishing on East and West Lake Okoboji this fall. I spent a week in August in Okoboji and enjoyed fishing the lakes. Lots of action on pan fish just good ol' slip bobbers and worms with the chance of catching anything in play.
If anybody wants to go fishing, just call Im likely going somewhere! A big thanks to Dad for letting me borrow his boat.

2011 Wyoming Antelope

2 Dads, 2 Boys, 3 Buck tags all filled. Christian shot this nice buck the second morning, he missed his first shot at 220 yds, but ran quickly to the top of a ridge and got down prone ad dropeed him at 150 yds on the second shot. A perfect shot.
We camped this year, I got nearly twice as much rest as opposed to driving back and forth from town. It was a great hunt- Again!

Christians Big Buck

Am 100% sure CHristian shot the buck I sent you guys pics of, so heres what he look like when the velvets off.
11 points, hes got one little sticker off the back base of his horn, which when we zoomed in on the velvet photos, you could clearly identify.
HE came out at about 7:40 PM, about 80 yd, Christian dropped him where he stood with a .308. He disappeared(fell into beans), I wasn't watching the deer when he shot(I was watching the gun), when I looked back he was gone, but there was buck about 35 yds from where he stood, I thought how did he move so quick?, but Christian said- "hes down, I know it", then I looked a the alive buck and could see he wasn't the same one, he was nice, but lacked the giant brow tines. He just kept eating, like he'd never heard the gun shots...
hes got a 19.5 inch big spread, 9 inch tip to tip, 6.5 inch brow tines

Turkey Tri- Fecta 2 years running

Same spot ,2 years in a row, 3 turkeys down! Brian graciously let the 4th one walk this year.....I gather it might be first picked next year on the last evening? Check out the difference in foiliage on essentially the same week.......yes it was colder this year...

Saltwater Slayers

Not too many pics like these on this blog- you gotta drive 15 hours! OK , the fishing wasn't spectacular, but- watching your son reel in a 27lb mackerel(his biggest fish ever), and your youngest nephew reeling in his biggest fish ever (that Graham is a fishing machine I tell).......both are always a treat, .
Then- we have my youngest daughter, other nephew, sister in law, puking over the other side of the boat for chum.......ah memories.....

Nice Walleye

Ahh....love this time of year! I have moved out of the hunting mode and have hit fishing mode big time.

I caught this 24 1/2" walleye from the dock in 3.5 feet of water about an hour before sunset, along with several crappie, a little northern and a couple of decent perch.

There was a tournament on the lake the weekend before and there was an 8 pounder, a 6 pounder and several other nice 'eyes taken during the day. Can't wait to get out there this weekend!

Wow, what another turkey slaying year. 12 or 13 total turkeys killed out of 9 guys. Should have been one more if I hadn't missed a chip shot 20yd shot. Im convinced Joels gun muzzle blew my shot off kilter or something. Pictured to the left is Kyle's very wet turkey. Nice work Kyle!

A couple of moments stand out this trip. Killing the above pictured toms with Tim was awesome. Got set in the blind around 3PM and at that point I have not killed a turkey and was down on my luck. After a few very close encounters with toms none presented a shot. I had written 2011 off as a no turkey year but then the very last hour of light we called in 4 toms accross a crick right into our decoys. We had to wait what seemed like 10 minutes for them to get far enough apart to shot but was actually like 20 seconds.

I am making the turkey boobs into jerky as I write this, cant wait to taste.

Then of course their was the Big O four wheeler flooding event. Kelly and I lets say got in over our heads. We crossed the crick at 3pm and it was about 14 inches deep, no problem crossing. Crossed the crick at 7:45pm and it was now a river and 4 feet deep. Needless to say the four wheeler stalled and we had to bale and pull the fourwheeler to the shore. Walked almost a mile back to the truck soaking wet with 40 pounds of gear. Oh I forgot to mention it was 36 degrees and sleeting/snowing at times. Lets just say it was an experience I'll never forget but kind of want to. Dad, send Kelly the bill it was his idea to cross the crick.

Bard

2011 SD Snow Geese

Jeff, Jordan, Jake, Steve, and I had a successful Saturday goose hunt on the ground by Wentworth. Jeff and Jordan had let me know when they were coming up to hunt the ever evasive sky carp. After driving around a bit they decided to set up their nice decoy spread near the big slew by Wentworth. (Needless to say their decoys were much more impressive then the first year they came up!) Friday evening they produced two geese with Saturday looking promising - it was up early for the Iowans. Wind had switched and was out of the South and decoys had to be moved as well as the blinds....... needless to say I showed up when much of that work was done... Perks of having access to great hunting ground) As you can see Jeff, Jordan and Jake ( Triple J goose hunting) must know what they are doing, geese decoyed nice and steel shot filled the air bringing down 13 geese in total. You will have to ask Jordan about his upsidedown backwards/hanging out of blind shot. It was a successful hunt and a fun time........ nothing better then seeing waterfowl flaring into your decoys...... and the words "Take Em" echoed!

Get Ready Turkey 2011

It’s supposed to be 70 degrees this week! So, time to bust out the turkey pics and get pumped up! Here are a few shots around the camp and hunting last year.
Fellow turkey hunters, we’ll be having opening night lasagna provided again by Team KS Gulker again, served with a fine plastic cup of Coors light, green beans, Italian bread, and pecan pie with gobs of whip cream. Top it all off with one of Joel’s cigarettes..
Then we have Kelly’s famous vomit breakfast. Following that- some turkey hunting. You’ll then be treated to your 6” subs, chips and little debbies again for lunch, followed by some more turkey hunting.
Followed by an Iowa crockpot cook-off of some delicious recipe (which I forgot, did not write down, but am sure was delicious-Pork?), with green beans, bread, a plastic cup of day old luke warm Coors light, and pecan pie with gobs of whip cream. Top it all off with one of Joel’s cigarettes..
A little vomit breakfast, turkey hunting and subs, followed by crockpot smoked brisket, corn on my knob, bread, a cup of two day old luke warm Coors light, and pecan pie with gobs of whip cream. Top it all off with one of Joel’s cigarettes..

2010 Bow Buck

After losing the spot I've hunted for the last 5 years, it took a while to get out to the woods this year.  I only hunted 5 times over a period of 8 days.  After moving my stand 100 yards downriver from my old spot to the neighbors ground, I only hunted it one time.  After watching 5 different bucks parade up and down the other side of the river one morning, I thought it would be a good idea to hunt over there.  I already had permission so I went out with Wyatt for a few hours on a Friday afternoon.  After a 3 hour sit we hadn't seen any deer and when it began to get dark we started packing up.  As I picked up the tent I happened to see a couple does about 80 yards away so we hit the ground.  After they started to walk away from us, I heard a grunt from the switchgrass field.  Wyatt had my pack, so he got out the grunt call and laid out a really nice grunt sequence, which the buck responded to and started coming toward us.  By the time I saw him, he was about 70 yards out and it was getting dark but Wyatt got a good look at him and told me 10 times over the next few days that he couldn't get that big buck out of his head.  He has the fever!  I saw this buck again on Monday morning bounding through the switchgrass after a doe.  On Tuesday morning, I had a little 8 pointer walk by at about 20 yards and disappear out into the switchgrass.  About 30 seconds after he was gone, I looked that direction again and there was a deer standing right where he had gone.  I figured it was the same buck until he lifted his head and it became obvious it was definitely not the same deer.  It only took about a minute for him to close from 70 down to 15 yards where I let him have it.  He still ran about 200 yards before piling up but left a pretty good blood trail.  He is a main frame 10 with 4 kickers, gross scored 144" and netted down to 136 which will easily make P&Y  He is by far my biggest deer ever by score.  I'll put some more photos up when I get the euro mount back.

2010 Rifle Buck

Was a cold windy day on the opening morning. Decided the night before that Mark would sit by the stock dam on Virg's and I would go somewhere else. Well I wasn't feeling good when I awoke, so I merely went behind my dads place and just sat in my vehicle and watched the draw from about 7-8. Saw one deer, then proceeded to drive around a bit....... swung by Mark and saw him headed to his truck. Mark and I decided to push through a couple of draws on Virg's ground and had no luck. Drove to my dads place and saw a deer coming from the North headed into the draw....... Then we planned on how to work the draw....... decided to push it into the wind. Well didn't make it 20yards up the draw and I saw a doe bedded down. Decided not to shoot...... thinking there was a buck bedded down too. Good thing another few yards and I saw this buck bedded down..... so I let him have it with the .30-06! And missed...... 3 deer bolted from the corn/brush.... I figured one was the buck so I wind sprinted to the end of the corn to try and get a look...... but of course deer were halfway across the field by then. Mark lobbed a shot.... and I turned around and began to head back to the truck. But at that same instance I saw the buck... not 20 yards in front of me just a starring right at me. I put him in the scope, decided he was big enough and let him have it again! Mark was confused at this point... wondering why I was aiming and then shooting in the opposite direction the deer had just run......and totally surprised when I yelled big buck down! A 20 yard shot with a .30-06 lets a buck like this run about 5 yards before it falls dead. Best I can figure I ran within 7 yards of this buck after the first shot... kind of weird that he never bolted...... must have sensed my great hunt and stalk skills!

Another Des Moines River Walleye

Chellie and I closed the cabin this past weekend, but I had a chance to go to the dam with a buddy and caught this nice 22" walleye along with a couple smaller ones in a little less than an hour. The nice part is people around there and at the bate shop say the fishing is dead there lately, yet I've managed to catch something there every time I've gone out. I actually stopped today to check the cabin over the noon hour and spent about 30 minutes fishing (in my suit!). Two guys were leaving and they said nothing was biting. Undeterred, I went to my honey hole and caught a 16" walleye after about 15 minutes!

I don't know if it's the secret, but I use a 1/8oz jig with a white gulp minnow body and no bait. Everybody I've seen there just reels in slowly. I actually jig it in and always get the hit on the drop. I love fall fishing, but now it's time to concentrate on duck and pheasant hunting. But I do hope to get back to the dam next week over a noon hour again.

We Kansans Do Antelope Too!

Christian had an antelope tag for area 32 in Wyoming, a great bargain for a youth hunter at about 150 bucks.
Christian and I and a friend put the stalk on a few, and got to about 4-500yds, too far for Christian to shoot, but the fella with us gave it a try, and missed. the antelope moved off. About an hour later we got to within about 220yds of a small buck, Christian tried but also missed. About an hour later, they moved off over a hill- we followed. we crested the ridge and I couldd see antelope a long way of, but suddenly there was a buck at about 100yds moving uphill towards us. We crept to the edge of the hill on our bottoms, but Christian just couldn't see him. I determined to just wait a second and he was coming right up the hill to us, which he did. Christian dropped him at 53 yds right in his tracks- he was really excited. The other fella got his antelope in the same area the next day- Christians buck measures in at 11 inches- seems "The Specialist" does it again. I am worried about him(TK)- if he really deer hunts, he could be the next deer king at this rate! Next year we'll look for the 12.6 buck. But Tim is right, they are difficult to judge.

Harding County Antelope

Getting this up a little late, but was busy fishing as you can see below. We finally worked it out this year to go out opening weekend this year. Weather was good, but windy on Saturday. Mark got his buck on Saturday afternoon. We saw them about a mile and a half from the road and the plan was for Mark to put the stalk on, get seen, and they would run toward me laying on a butte another mile away. Well, Mark got to within 400 yds without being seen and decided to take a shot figuring if he missed, our plan would still work. He adjusted for wind and distance and gut shot the goat. We both could see it was lethal and he figured he could get his doe tag filled at the same time, so he did. Nice shootin', Tex!

No luck for me on Saturday, however I did manage to slam my thumb in the truck door getting out to put a stalk on. The nail should fall off in the near future. Ouch!

Sunday morning we went back out and saw a buck with two does about a half mile from the road, just over a knoll that would give me a pretty easy stalk to within a couple hundred yards. Make the stalk and only had to belly crawl about 20 yards to the top of the knoll. When I got to the top, the grass was too tall for using my bipod on the shortest setting. Even fully extended, I saw mostly grass through the scope. The buck looked a long way out so I raised up a bit on the aim. I fired and got nothing! Tried again with the same result. Just before I shot there was a lot of gunfire in the distance, and my shots must've blended in because the antelope were on alert, but didn't know where to run. I ended up missing again, reloading and getting really pissed. So, I just sighted right on him and let it go. He was kinda quartered to me, but I did hit where I was aiming. Dropped him without so much as a kick as he hit the ground.

After dropping him, we extimated that he was only 200+ yards out. Tough to tell when you're looking through grass without much experience.

We dragged him to the road and just got done taking a couple pictures when the DNR officer showed up. He checked the tags on our goats and we asked if he would take our picture. He did and then got his camera and snapped a couple for himself. Who knows, maybe Mark and I will be on the cover of next year's hunting atlas.

We decided to donate the animals to "Hunter's for Hunger" and are getting european mounts done on our bucks. All in all, a great weekend. We love the country out there. Truly beautiful! Can't wait until next year. By the way, Mark's goat antlers measured 10.5" and mine was 12.5". Guess that means I get to add more "bling" to my hunting shirt!

Selkirk 2010

Well it was a tough year to fish the Red River this time. We tried it on day one and only two sauger were caught (and some huge bullheads).

Days 2-4 were much better as we fished Traverse Bay in Pine Falls. Fishing in Pine Falls meant driving about an hour each way (got up really early and got home pretty late each day). We voted before going out on Wednesday to start the annual fishing tournament on that day instead of sticking to the 3 day tournament. Good thing for Brian (he won) because I would have crushed the competition otherwise. I ended up losing by a slim 3/4" margin. I've posted the results below. Now, you tell me. Who had the best year this year?

Anyway, the weather was great, winds light, sun high and fishing pretty steady in the mornings. Orlan did battle with what had to be a HUGE sturgeon on Friday. He caught one later that morning (pictured above) that was a master at 46.5". We figure the first one had to be at least 18" to 24" bigger. Both Brian and Adam latched on to one later that day, but didn't get them to the boat.

Here are this year's results. Enjoy!

Orlan Tim Mark Adam Brian Bard

Day 1 0 0 12 0 14 0
Day 2 29.25 24.5 23.25 16.5 18.5 20

Day 3 19.25 20.5 21.5 20.5 21 22.5

Day 4 22 28.75 10 15 21 15.5

Ave 17.63 18.44 16.69 13 18.63 14.5

We caught these walleyes on Saturday afternoon during "adults only" weekend at the cabin. Caught these pitching jigs with twister tails below the dam at the head of the DesMoines river.

It's important to note that everyone in this picture contributed to the stringer. I've fished there a several times and usually pick up at least one nice walleye each time.

Des Moines River Walley

I caught this 18.25 inch walley in two feet of water about three feet from shore w/ jig and minnow. Tim got a tip from a cabin neighbor that they have been catching walley at the spill over dam. We went down there and on my second cast I caught this walleye. My eyes were surprised when I seen this eye come out of the water. Tim caught a few small perch and a bullhead and was very jealous. But Tim claims he caught a few more this week but no proof, as always... Does he really have a job?

Pickstown Walleye

Had a good day on the big MO. A couple shy of our limit. Pulled plugs along the shore w/ planer boards. Ran one up shallow, one out the back and ran one deep. We were getting a little impatient since we didnt get our first fish in the boat until 12:30pm. After a front blew through it got HOT and fish stopped biting and it was time to get off the water and go home.