Big MO is open for business 2013

 

First trip to the Big MO this year on 3/30/13.  Weather was good so Jordan and I decided to give it a go.  Started the day in Pickstown SD.  Fished 2 hours and didn't see anyone catching fish.  Talked to one guy who didn't catch anything all morning or the day before and he said he wished he would have gone to chamberlain.  So we loaded up the boat and drove an hour north to Ft. Thompson and managed to scratch out these walleye.  All these were caught on bottom bouncer and plain hook and minnow.  Biggest was 21".

Coyote Hunting

If you've never tried it, try predator hunting with a call.  I've had some great times over the last few years doing this after deer season.  Regretfully, we're not that successful but we are getting better.  Last week me an my partner shot this coyote then 2 days later I shot a bobcat.  I send the pelts of to be tanned, its not too expensive.  Its a great way to cover that Jan-Apr time with little hunting and improve you're shooting.  Coyotes are pretty darn smart, I'd say a third of the time if they come,  you may get a shot off.  Also a great way to just be outdoors.

Shot this buck with bow 2 Dec at 8:45 in the morning.  As usual, the buck came when I least expected it.  At about 8:15 I was bored so I tipped my doe can about 5 times, then again about 15 minutes later.  I looked across a wide open bushhogged field, and there stood this buck looking in my direction.  He faded back into the woods, then I did the doe can followed by some grunting and out he came across the wide open in full sun over 100yds to me.   It took me a few years of getting used to making noise in my stand during the right times….but now after this event and some others it has proven to me to work on occasion and there is no harm in doing it if done at the right time.   Dropped this one on the spot at 20 yards.  That was so nice to not have to start the search….10 pts, 18 inches at widest part.This buck had part of his hindquarter chewed off by coyotes several months before.  It was fully healed, but there were some what looked like fresh bite marks on him.

Lake Sinai SD 11/08/12

Took a day off to go fishing at Lake Sinia near Volga SD with Sam.  Another beautiful fall day to take advantage of.  We limited out on walleye much like the one Sam is holding in not much time at all.  TK, do you want me to create my own blog? BG.

 

Holloween @ Lake Marindahl SD

Took the wife and kids to Lake Marindahl since the kids had half day off from school on 10/31/12.  Another beautiful day to be on the water.  Jori and Jake had a double on crappie pictured  below.  I caught a couple bass that I let the kids reel in 4 or 5 times.  The kids convinced us to let them off the boat to mess around on shore.  Im pretty sure they had more fun on shore than they did fishing.  BG.

 

 

Twas the Day before Thanks giving. Lets Go Fishn!

 

Twas the day before Thanksgiving, sunny and 70 degrees F.  Dad and I decided to go fishing below Ft. Randall Dam, MO River in Pickstown SD.  We met at Beresford SD at 7AM and both ate a greasy breakfast at burger king, smelled it most of the way to.  We were on the water at 9AM and off the water at 2:30PM with the below catch.  Caught lots of sun, sauger and crappie.  We were able to sort through alot of small fish to keep 4 sauger and 1 crappie.  Oh, and one perch that Dad said he wouldn't clean if he was starving.  I cleaned it.  We actually got sun burnt in November.  It was a gorgeous day and worth just being out there for the weather alone.  In the back ground you can see my walleye (sauger) machine.  Dad commented on how spacious it was to fish out of...   I give thanks for getting your boots wet while loading my boat to Dad.  BG.

 

Bard's SD Bow Buck 2012

Today marks the opener of Deer rifle season in SD.  Adam, Tim, Mark and I walked many sloughs, draws, groves to chase after "the big one". 

 

What made this year intersting for me is I purchased non resident bow tag to hunt the buck infested land of Lake County SD, and parts of North Minnehaha County.  After a week and a half and around 5 or 6  trips an hour north this is the end result.  Every morning prior to today I have had close encounters with deer, and at least saw a big buck in the early hours of every morning.  Yesterday morning I even got a shot off at a coyote and missed.(after missing I was pissed b/c lost my arrow and a good broad head)

 

Anyway back to today...Most of the day I felt very "small" with my bow compared to Adam and Tim who both had rifles, Mark was along pheasant hunting and acting as our deer hound. 

Mid afternoon we decided to push the grove across from Bev and Greg bc we saw deer laying in there.  We set up a push and the buck almost ran me over, then he ran across the road into Bev and Gregs grove.  So we move across the road to Bev and Gregs grove, we put Tim and Adam on the end while Mark and I walked through.  I was on the north edge and as we were walking along I heard Mark shout "buck".  The buck and another doe didn't know what way to run and then stopped and was busy looking at Mark (probably amazed that someone could be that short).  Either way, it allowed me just enough time to find a hole to shoot through.  I then arrowed the below buck with my bow at 15 steps.  The buck died just outside of Bev and Gregs cattle yard:)  Not a wall hanger by any means but will make for a good memory and taste very good. 

Thanks Greg, Adam,Virg and Dad for the land to hunt on. BG.

 

Jacobs Limit at the Big MO

I got a wild hair last night and decided to go fishing today with Jacob before school starts in two weeks.  He played games on my phone most of the time until it was time to reel in the fish.  We were on the water at 6:30AM and off the water with four fish at 10AM.  Had a great time.  Cooked them up in butter in a tin foil packet on the grill with some spices...my favorite way to eat fish.

P.S. Im sick of being the only one who posts on this blog anymore.  Come on Guys!  I know there are lots of pics to share.
BG.

Big MO walleye

I went fishing to the big MO with my pastor Sam.  We went bass fishing and managed to catch these really nice walleye.  When we were targeting bass we caught walleye, when we targeted walleye we caught bass.  None the less enought fish to feed the family.  A fun day on the river. BG.

Last minute Ice Fishing post

Hey Guys,

I thought I would quick post this before our spring turkey season starts.

Went fishing on Lake of the woods in the North West Angle of U.S. If you look on the map its the little square that shoots north out of MN. It was really cool b/c we had to cross the border into Canada and then back in to the states. We stopped at a little booth at called the U.S. and checked back in. We traveled 8 miles on the ice to our lodge, which is on an Island. As always, it was the B.S. and fun that made the trip. Me and the rest of the party had good fishing, not great, but good fishing. I had the biggest fish pictured above at 26". It was a thrill getting her through the hole. See you at Turkey Camp. BG.

Decoys and Turkeys

Getting excited about this year’s turkey hunt. I was pouring over the photos from last year and discovered an amazing situation. With the exception of a Tom in full strut on a warm sunny morning, I never particularly thought turkeys were all that beautiful. I have noticed in reviewing the photos that Orlans turkey from last year warrants 1st place in the “Ugliest Turkey Competition”. I also noticed that it bears a disturbing resemblance to one or more of the contestants in last year’s “Ugliest Decoy Competition” (see photos). So I can only conclude that the ugliest decoys do indeed attract the ugliest turkeys! New competition this year! I peed myself during the decoy competition last year….

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.