A Gander ole Day!

Jeff and I had a good morning on the 30th of September.......... Jeff had been out the previous evening and set out the decoys....... and took 5 teal! But the morning hunt brought some excitement! The ducks weren't flying like they were on the opener, but with Jeff's two goose decoys and his excellent job of calling we were able to persuade four Canadians to the decoys! The first two came in over the corn and locked in on the decoys, we actually waited for the first goose to land so the 2nd could get into range before we opened fire! The final bag was the four Geese, a hen bufflehead, and a drake and hen wood duck........ If you ask Jeff we had some good luck too!

South Dakota 2008 Duck Opener

South Dakota Duck opener........ Mark and I enjoyed a successful limit out opener this year. The slew by Wentworth proved a good place to be yet again! Mark made it out and had the decoys set up by 6:50, I on the other hand overslept and didn't make it until 7:35, Mark had already slayed 4 by that time...... However Ducks kept flying in and Mark and I were able to fill our limit. Had another hunter been there whose name I will not say, (lakefly) we most likely would have had 15 ducks! Mark did a good job at retrieving said ducks! Ducks shot were mallards, wood ducks, pintail, red head, canvasback, and the coveted teal! A nice mixed bag! Weather was cloudy and quite foggy until about 9:00 when it cleared off, ducks were mostly flying in pairs, but did have a fewer bigger groups fly by as Mark was clearing off the decoys! Also saw a good number of Canadian Geese flyin by just out of range!

Would you shoot it?

Okay, we got this picture by the deer stand we put up last week. If you had never shot a buck before and saw this one on the first day, would you shoot it or wait for something better??

I don't know for sure, but I think I'd wait and see if something better came along. Am I being too greedy?

South Dakota Doves

Well guys, looks like we need to start a new tradition. Dove hunting in SD! Orlan, Mark and I were expertly guided to a dove hot spot by Adam VanZanten on Wednesday night. Things started a little slowly, but really picked up around 7:00pm.

We shot fairly well (except for Mark, but that's no news flash) and got 21 doves. Not bad for it only being about 65 degrees or so. Babe and Mandy did a great job retrieving for us, even though Mandy developed a taste for the birds as the night went on.

The best part of the hunt was when Orlan decided to take all the doves home and clean them for us. A swallow did give his life for the hunt early on. You can guess who did the honors on that one. And Mark managed to flock shoot some blackbirds. Orlan didn't want to clean any of those. Mandy wouldn't even eat those.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know how hunting was up here in South Dakota. We plan on going again some night next week.

Doves 08

Could defintely have used some shooters this year..shots fired to kill ratio i would say ran about 18 to one for most of th egents and young boys in this photo. I didnt do that bad but only fired my weapon baout 1/10 as much as most here LOL.

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.