Northern Pays Back

I caught this northern a couple weeks ago on a shallow running shad colored rap in about 3.5 feet of water trolling into the inlet on Shetek. Decent fish at about 3 lbs, but as you can see in the picture, it had another lure hooked in its jaw when I pulled him out of the water. Under the gill was a shallow running perch colored rap that looked brand new. Don't know how long he had the lure in him, but it sure didn't affect his appetite. So, while I normally hate the slimey snakes and would never put one in my livewell, it was nice to get a useable $5 lure from this guy.

Chellie and I were in a small fishing tournament (only about 8-10 boats) on Shetek July 5th. We had a few small fish, but this guy won the tournament with a 7lb 9oz walleye. Pretty windy that day and the bite was slow, but most boats came back with at least one keeper to weigh. All the fish were caught up in the inlet to Shetek which is where we've caught most of our walleyes. Been talking to a few more fishermen lately though and I gotta fish a couple new spots they say produce fish.

Dock Fishing at the Lake

Here are some pictures of fishing from our dock at the lake. Walleyes from the dock have been small, but last week we fished a local tournament on the lake and one of the guys caught a 7lb 9oz walleye pulling plugs. We pulled plugs too and caught several walleye but only one keeper. I'm still learning the whole plug pulling thing. Apparently I need planer boards now because that's what everyone else was using. Kinda funny because the other guys had no idea how to jig fish. Anyway, we caught all kinds of other species too. Northern, catfish, bullhead, and crappie. Trolled between 2 and 3 mph. Seemed pretty fast but was the most effective at about 2.5 mph. By the way, the big walleye was released in our bay, so I'll be fishing for him soon!

The bullhead pictured is from Memorial Day when the family was up to visit for the day. Don't know how Jacob caught him with his dad helping him. The kid must just have natural ability.

It was really windy that day, but the fish were biting (carp and bullheads) on the Smith Lake public dock and the kids had a great time. We're headed up to the cabin again tomorrow and will be trolling the inlet where we caught 'em last weekend. Hopefully we have some nicer walleye pictures to post next week.

Eric's Graduation

Yeah, I know it's a little late getting this up here, and it's not about hunting or fishing, but I wanted to get this picture up here so those of you who haven't seen Eric for a while can at least see what he looks like. He's going to Winona State University in the fall and majoring in Composite Materials Engineering (geek). And no, I don't know what that is exactly.

Anyway, been doing some fishing at the cabin and will try to get those pictures up soon.

"Working" turkeys

It was another stressfull work day. I was sitting in my office working on account plans. I figured I could be doing the same thing while sitting in a turkey blind. I packed my computer and headed out to the blind. After a few yelps and 20 minutes of working on account plans I noticed a turkey behind a cedar tree about 45 yards away. All I saw was a beard and got very excited. Made a few more calls and it came right for me. It got about 30 yards away and dinner was served. Turned out what I thought was a young jake turned out to be a bearded hen. That would be my second hen turkey taken in IA. The first, was a strutting hen(video proof), the second shown here. I finished up account plans and headed home. Maybe next year I'll do the same, if Im still employed.

Really Late Season KS Turkey

Shot this nice and soon to be yummy tasting jake this morning. No dekes, no blind, no calling (well maybe a little calling but not at the birds). Hunted last night watched the birds go into the treeline. Came back in the morning and set up against a tree to wait. Now since turkey camp I havent fired my weapon and I must say that I have probably logged at least 70 hours in the bush since then. Turkeys were gobbling everywhere but AGAIN none stepped out into the field. I moved into a bunch of fall downs and and of course fall promptly into nice little nappy. I woke up to find a group of 4 jakes and 2 hens just entering the field about 50 yards to my left. They began to move across the filed and were maybe 45 yards away when desperation got the best of me. I wish I could tell you that I killed him that far away but after I shot the "stupid" birds didnt know what to do. They spread out all over the field and this moron runs about 30 yards to my left. If I have to say I did anything spectacular its that I shot him on a dead run at that distance. I am thinking maybe the good lord was feeling a bit sorry for me this morning.

Late Sesason Ks Turkey

Heres a pic of a friend of mine Brian from work who shot this respectable Tom about 4 miles from where Brain and I shot the jakes earlier this year ( 10 inch beard 1 inch spurs). We gambled on some new spots and he walked off but couldnt find a good area so he was walking back along a road and saw a large group of jakes and a few toms fighting in a field. He set up on the edge no blind, no dekes, no calling. 2 hours later one of the toms came close enough. I on the other hand struck out completely and have pretty much ever since turkey camp. I have enjoyed a great amount of time in the woods this spring though and I still got a few days left to bag another and truly have become a turkey hunting junky going 2-3 times a week much to the chagrin of my wife. Fortunately this is one bird my wife loves to eat so I have that on my side!!!!

My first 300 lb pig

Where to begin. I hunted my butt off (hundreds of hours at night) for 2years in Deutschland to get this pig. My friends in Baudenbach werekind enough to let me hunt on their property every full moon for years(pig hunting in Deutschland is mostly done at night). After a hardymeal and a few drinks with Eberhard, Rudy, and "Big" George at the jagdcabin, I took George's advice on stand selection. Rudy was kind enoughto show me where it was. On this particular night, 8 Nov 03, there wasan eclipse scheduled at about 11:00 PM. My friend Shawn and I werestaying late, and he said he wanted to hunt thru the eclipse. So wecrawled into our stands at about 7:00 PM. I remember thinking theeclipse could maybe last an hour. It was a very still night, no snow onthe ground. At about 11:00, the eclipse started. I saw a fox anddebated shooting it, but feared the rifle fire would scare any pigsaway. Hours later, the eclipse was still going, I was quite frustratedafter sitting so many days. My rifle was pointed to the left in myseat. After hearing nothing for 7 hours, I heard one twig snap to myright. I picked up my rifle and pointed it out the right window.Looking thru my binoculars, I saw a shadowy shape moving at a brisk walkfrom front right to rear right. I quickly identified it as a hog, hadenough time to pick up the rifle, swing, sight, and shoot. It was aperfect heart shot. I went to my friend Eberhards house for help, Itold him I had shot a pig and he said "where is it?" I told him we needthe trailer- he said- "oh." We got back to the pig, Eberhard wasexcited as well, he blew the "Sau is Dead" song thru his horn, it echoedthru the spruce forest, it was beautiful. Truly my favorite memory fromDeutschland, and the hardest trophy I ever earned. It's weight was 266lbs field dressed, and had a very fine set of teeth.

For Our German Friends

Kelly finally bags one!!

After weeks of guiding others and watching ALOT of turkeys walk around our blinds Kelly bagged a young jake last night. Not alot to look at bu YUUUUUUMMMMMMYYYYYY!!! I pretty much decided that whatever (tom or jake) walks in front of my blind is ending up on my grill.

Two Kansas Toms

Here's two nice toms that Mark and I shot on Friday evening after watching Ryan and Adam slay a couple nice ones in the late afternoon. We watched a bunch of them mill around a couple hundred yards in front of us for almost two hours. Finally, my "turkey skins" decoy was too much for them to resist and they came into range and Mark and I lowered the boom. Ryan and Adam counted 52 turkeys in the field at one point. Amazing! Can't wait 'til next year.

By the way, I have a '98 Tahoe for sale really cheap!

Of course its about this too. A hard days hunt followed by good food and fellowship..

Id tell the story but most of you have heard it, lived it, or will get to in person. Suffice it to say that Brian and I worked hard fro these two jakes. We had the right plan we stuck to it and were successful. Thanks for a day Ill never forget Brian...."give em the crinkly bag"

Turkey Camp 08"

Only took 13 hours to kill these...

Turkey Camp 08"

PSSSTTTT Brian wake up I see big foot!!!

Turkey Camp 08"

Heres some of the photos from Turkey camp, we never did get the group photo taken

Prelude to a Kansas Turkey Hunt

Thanks to Kelly for this picture of a few "soon to be deceased" toms (hopefully). This really gets me going. Just a few short weeks and we'll be there. Time to get the tent ready, Mark! We've got longbeards to slaughter!

This picture was taken near Mound City MO. This is also part of my new job description...can it get any better. We did above average compared to the other groups in the outfitter. We took somewhere around 80 geese in two days of hunting. We set up in mostly corn fields and a pasure near water. The decoy spreads were all around 1000 "deadly decoys". We all went through an insane amount of shells b/c alot of the times when the wind wasnt blowing we would have to reach out pretty far. When the wind was blowing the birds came in like crazy. It was truly a memorable hunt and will no doubt do it again. I have to mention it....During this trip I actually saw one of my customers friends eat a goose heart. He likes eating dove hearts and we dared him to eat a goose heart, he did.

After a long stalk through a corn field and a belly crawl across a pasture, Tim and I were able to successfully kill this Canadian. Unfortuantely the neighbor did not enjoy this hunt as much as we did. Long story short is the lady that came out of the house had a mouth like a sailor. Fortunately for us Adam was able to smooth over the situation. I am sure that if we are presented with the opportunity again, we will take the shot and will get swore at.

Kansas turkey hunting at its finest. There is nothing like discussing the days hunt, warming by the fire and sharing a wealth of knowledge over a cocktail. Hopefully in 6 short weeks when it is time to kill the long beard it will be somewhat warmer than it appears in this picture.

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.