SD Rifle Buck

Two weeks later after harvesting the below bow buck, I managed to rifle this monster. Just shy of 150 class deer. A classic 10, and massive. What makes this hunt memorable is I took my brother in law Tim to video tape and be a pair of "extra eyes". After about an hour of sitting, I had to relieve myslef. I hadnt even zipped up and I saw this buck trotting through the grass. Put the cross hairs on him and it was over. I dont think Tim saw the buck until it was down. Thanks Tim. Possibly the biggest buck I'll ever take. Thanks dad for letting me borrow your 30-06.

SD Grand Rack Master

This pic is my bow buck from 05. Shot it in Dad's field. One of the greatest hunting days in all my life. Wife was gone shopping, I talked my nephew Erik K into watching my daughter, glad I took the risk.

I watched the buck come in from about half mile away. Lost site of him below some terraces. I heard him grunting, so I logically grabbed my grunt call and no more than two grunts on that thing and up he came over the terrace. He was clearly looking for a fight. Steam billowing out of his nose and looking around in all directions. He decided to follow the terrace right to me. My blade cut right through an artery, went 100yds and died. Very fortunate b/c I hit him way high and way back, I think my arrow probably hit some switch grass b/c even my dad could have made that shot (15yds). Adam came out and helped me follow the blood trail/gut/and load him. The cool thing is, VanZantens hired man found my arrow two years later while pheasant hunting. This is a day I will remember all my life.

Rackmaster

These are the first two bucks I shot with my bow. The smaller one in 05, the bigger one in 06. In 07 I let one go that was bigger than 05 but smaller than 06. I did get video of him though and will post that sometime. 06 I have on the wall and enjoy looking at him every day. The day I shot him was a perfect November day. Wind was still, temp around 32. He came down a trail I had only ever seen one deer on before so I didn't even have a shooting lane cut. I picked out a small hole in brush and managed to stop him in just the right spot. He was 30 yds out and my Thunderhead sliced him good. He never got more than 60 yards from my stand and I was fortunate enough to watch him expire. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life.

IOWA HUNTING

Just a preview to let you see what 20 minutes of Iowa hunting can do if you know where the birds are. This is Jordan and a friend with 6 birds. The dog is JJ (jordans dog) 2 years old and becoming a great hunting dog. More later.

My first Buck!

Here is a pic of my first buck ever! I have only been hunting deer for 4 years and only really got into it because of Brad and a few of my friends. I realize it is just a basket rack....... But it was on the last day of Buck season and the only deer we saw that day. Shot him out of the slough by the stock dam on Virg's. I also shot another younger doe with my rifle this year and two more with my muzzleloader. All in all it was a decent year hunting whitetails! I always have a good time when Brad, Tim, and Mark come down and hunt.... whatever it may be.

IA Pheasant Hunt

This is more like a days hunt in IA. I saw nearly 500 birds this day, no kidding. The guys to the left of me and the guys to the right of me missed their limit 3 times over. Its hard seeing that as a guide. I bet I have this same photo twenty times over with the same guys in the same spot over the years, thats what makes it cool.

Bards Big Walleye

Gents,

I throw out a challenge: Anybody who catches a bigger walley in 2008, I will put $100 down towards the purchase of a replica of that fish. Your goal: Over 32.5 inches, and must weigh more than 14.4 pounds. I am the KING when it comes to big walleyes. Who has caught 3 Walleye over 30 inches. Nuff said.

Our Pics

This is a series of pics from 2007 for Tim, Chellie & Eric. Hopefully 2008 is as wonderful as 2007.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mkleinwolterink/FavoritesOf2007

November Mallards

These greenheads were shot on the Wentworth slough in November. Mark and I went and had a great setup. We had to walk through about 80 yards of corn and sat next to a tree. Best cover ever and the wind was perfect. Of course, my expert calling clinched the deal. We had the limit of greenies in a little over an hour. We went back the next week to the same spot and had another amazing hunt. Shot a little of everything in about 2 hours. Don't know why we haven't really hunted this slough much before, but we sure will from now on.

Farting in your turkey tent

Apropriate or not it makes for a great photo

Kansas Turkeys

Ahh my first turkey. Double bearded but not the camp winner. Me and Ryan shot these simultaneously off of the Gustavsons property SW of Manhattan. Note the differences in the tail feathers here especially the color. A great start to the 2007 season. Little did I know when this picture was taken that I'd be moving within a few miles of this pic...

Kansas Doves

This was the dove hunt this year and it was a great one. 98 birds in the morning with probably about a third that many lost in the deep weeds we had due to it being such a wet summer. The afternoon wasn't as good at the old pond out at Milford but we all know that that varies year to year. I only went dove hunting one more time a few weeks later with little success in this same area. Interesting how they can be there one day and gone the next. Not as hot as usual this year either and nice to have some new faces along while missing some of the old...

Pheasents in IA

How out of shape are you?? A nice leisurely walk along the river bottoms of IA will tell you..Great success though and a nice trip with good weather and plenty of birds. My dog was lame for a week after this. Is that a flat tire on your truck Bard?? It was nice to do some hunting with my nephew here and I had to pay up a buck when I missed the first bird I shot at.

Munden Pheasents

Munden KS... pheasent mecca. This is just a small sample of the birds we actually shot this day. In fact I shot 4 birds in the first field we walked. A great day capped off with some deer scounting with Jim in the very late evening made for real good time. We went back to Munden with Jim later in the fall and didnt do as well but saw so many birds it felt like we shot a hundred. Not enough guys late in the season with some well hunted birds makes for poor success, but you cant kill em all all the time.

Ducks In Kansas 07

This is an important picture mostly becasue of the story and the guys in it. Those are 8 count em 8 shovelers (yummy). It was cold again here as you can see but a beautiful fresh snow morning with alot of sun. We were hunting the Kansas river west of manhattan. The guy on the left is Allan Disbrow and the man to his right is his dad Steve who Kelly and I work with. Steve is the Orlan of Kansas in that he has that magical gift of sweet talking land owners into allowing you to hunt. He is very active in hunting and goes pretty much every weekend with his son. The guy to his right is Jim Splichal who is our pheasant connection in Munden KS. I spent two weekends in Munden this year and every time I travel there it is like walking backward in time as we used to go there when we were kids and hunt with Jim. As you can see we are still doing it and I only hope that I can get my own sons up there sometime in the next few years. So back to the shovelers. We had sat there all morning not seeing much but enjoying each others company. We saw them coming early and were prepared for their arrival. As divers do they swung around on the deeks and plopped right in. The mistake they made was all trying to land in the same 3 ft area which caused them to bunch up very tight. When 5 guys unload 15 rounds into a 3 ft area not much gets away and in this case none of em did. The one or two that were still alive had that look of "what the heck just happend" on their face. Being on the river there was a sudden sense of urgency afterward as we all ran out of the blind to get to all of em before they floated off. I mean Nell can realistically only retrieve one at a time right. It was a memorable day something you dont forget....

Kansas Geese

This is a 4 man limit of Canadas although one got away from us somewhere. They were taken on the Kansas River about a mile from where Kelly and I work. The guy on the left is Mark Payne who is a friend of the guy taking the picture. We had to wlk in about 300 yards from the bridge shown in the photo. A word of worthy note here geese are very heavy and lugging these things out of the river bottom was harder than carrying out the deeks. It was an amazing day that proved that if you are where the geese want to be you can clobber them and as most of you know it again proves that the secret to hunting success is being where the critters want to be. We see geese flying everywhere all the time and have almost no success calling them in in an area where they arent known to be. These geese had been sitting in the same area of the river for weeks a few days after hunting them a few times in they they didnt come back anymore. Lessons all well learned. It was also blistering cold although you wouldnt know it from the photo. It was 17 degrees with about a 10-15 mph NW wind and was Feb 10th I believe. I put the date there for future reference when I can't remember anymore what time of year it was etc. More stories to come..

The Motley Crew

This is most of the guys that will be posting here. Not pretty, I know. This was from last year's turkey hunt in Kansas. Only two months away from getting together again. I was just thinking, we really need a rookie this year. Maybe Adam will go.

Prairie Dog Hunting In South Dakota

This summer my Dad and I went prairie dog hunting by Winner, SD. This is what's left of a dog when shot with a Cooper 20 tactical. A 20 tac uses a .223 casing necked down. Packs quite a wallop and was a flat shooter at 200+ yards.

It was a great day and I'm looking forward to going again later this year. We caused most of the carnage with the 20 tac, but also sent dogs to the great beyond with a .22 and a .223. Good times!

Tim, Mandy and Mark - WW Slough

This is a picture of Tim, Mandy and Mark -- in cover at a South Dakota slough. You can see a couple decoys through the cattail shadows. It was opening pheasant weekend in 2006.

It was a nice spread and they had better cover than this shows. I waited until they were showing themselves to take the pic. Mandy the wonder dog sat right on top of that goose mound the entire hunt.

I'm not sure how many birds they came away with but it was a pretty slow evening hunt.

Meanwhile Kelly and Christian were in SD hunting pheasant while Tim and Mark sat for ducks.

Goose Recipe from Joel

Joel Emailed this to us and I thought I'd post it. Next time Tim brings home some goose...he can cook it. Thanks Joel. (Tim rarely gets goose...seems like I hear about some close fly-overs, but never a kill!)

1 large goose breast cut as thin as you can. Put it in a small bowl with soysauce (just enough to cover/coat the meat). Sprinkle in some ginger (enoughto coat the top) add about a tablespoon of splenda or some sugar if you arenot dieting. Mix with your hand and place in fridge for about 2o minutes. Cut up vegetables. I used 2 bell peppers, 1/2 onion, a can of waterchestnuts. In your wok put 1 tblspn of sesame oil, 1/2 cup of maple syrup, 2tblsps of minced garlic. Drain soy sauce from meat and place meat in wok..cook on med heat till the meat is almost cooked through then add vegetables. Sprinkle mixture with red pepper flakes maybe about 1/2 a tablespoon. cook until vegetables are tender and moisture in the wok is low enough to coat the vegetables and such. I served it over some chow mein noodles..yummy serves 4

Hey Everybody!

This is new for me this year. Hopefully this will be a cool way for me to keep a record of all my hunting and fishing trips from here on out. Most of you know I had knee and ankle surgery in December, so I pretty much have to give up on ice fishing this season. So it looks like the first trip to report on this year will be the famous Kansas Turkey Hunt in late April. Until then, I'm just going to post about anthing I feel like posting about. Feel free to comment, criticize, condemn, or complain. Just let me know what you all think. This is also a place for all the hunters I know to post their successes (or failures), so go for it! Keep in mind, everyone is encouraged to scorn, mock, whine and gloat when making comments here.

Now, for all the Kansas Turkey hunt participants, look out! More bling bling coming TK's way this year. My shirt is getting crowded.

Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know. My brothers, cousins, father-in-law and friends all purchased the same camo shooter's shirts and whenever we get together for a hunt, there's always a competition. The winner of said competition embroyders that contest win on his shirt (the bling).

Good Hunting/Fishing Boys!