Beautiful night.

I saw two does 35 yards in front of me tonight. They were grazing in a field very peacefully. They had no idea I was there. I heard some rustling behind me along with some grunting. I was anticipating a big buck and out came a raccoon. The raccoon stood on it's hind legs and stared at me. How annoying, I thought. The little bugger ran pretty fast after I started shooting arrows at him. Luckily for him, I wasn't out for the kill:).

Orwell Dam with the boys!

Brody, Weston and I went to the Orwell Dam yesterday.  It was overcast, 65 degrees and buggy.  I thought the fish would be biting, and was hoping for a walleye or two.  I purchased a box of angle worms, peanut M&Ms and a 12 pack of Coke.  My wonderful father-n-law, Gary, swears by worms; especially for river fishing.  No such luck for the boys and me.  I did switch over to the rubber tube, Gitzit.  We ended up catching two smallies.  The boys had fun reeling them in.

We also met another family while fishing.  We gave them some tips, and I gave them a Gitzit to try.  They also were using the angle worm with no luck.  The Gitzit I gave them produced one smallie for them as well.  We didn't spend long fishing, as the boys were getting bored.  Once they starting running off, I decided to take the line in and let them play at the park. Hopefully one day, the boys will rather fish than swing, slide and spin at the park.

The next time I take them fishing, I am going to tell them that they can not have any M&Ms or Coke until they at least catch five fish each.   Just kidding.  So far, fishing has been fun.  They are certain to take up fishing if they find it a fun experience:)

A shout out to my friend Todd.  We went fishing a month ago on Big Birch Lake and slaughtered them.  I did not blog about it because I was so busy.  The pictures in todays post are from that day, August 21st, I think.  Both Todd and I did well that gorgeous day.  We caught some nice smallies, a fairly large crappie, a very nice Large Mouth Bass, Northern and maybe a sheep head.

Ice fishing is just around the corner.  I am trying to talk the wife into a portable 4man ice house.  There is one on Amazon that is fairly cheap.  I am sure to get more time fishing if I can bring the family, well the boys anyways.

I am hoping to get some time in the deer stand soon, perhaps this week.  I am dreaming of the monster buck.  I have some good literature about bow hunting.  One article indicated that where the does are, there are bucks too.  Lets hope so.


Peace out!

Nada!

First hunt in Breckenridge. Didn't see a thing. I did see deer as I was driving off of the field. My friend AJ assures me that the deer will start moving as it cools off. Today was warm and very windy. On a positive note, I had some good God time:).

A new place to hang the stand.

A gracious coworker offered her families land for me to bow hunt on. They have a farm 8 miles south of Breckenridge.  It is a perfect location and I have it all to myself.   As you can see from the picture below, there is some corn standing adjacent to the grove that I chose to hang my stand in.  I learned today that I have about 11 days until this corn is harvested.  I am certain that a monster buck frequently cuts through the grove to visit this field.

I took Brody with me today as we scouted the area and hung the tree stand.  Brody had a great time, as you can see n the picture below.  He did get a little scared climbing up the latter to the tree stand, not bad for four years of age.  The picture above is of the grove that my stand is in.  I have plans to hunt tomorrow after work.  Wish me luck.

Bow hunting kick off.

 I had a great weekend, and got out to the woods for four hours to kick off bow hunter opener.  The weekend started by attending the MN Baptist Conference Men's retreat at Trout Lake Camp.  What a great weekend to worship God and get a spiritual makeover.  I had a great time with Robert Boyd and company.  We laughed, learned, joked around and rested.  God is good.  Trout Lake Camp is near my old hunting grounds, Pillsbury State Forest, in Brainerd.  It was here that I shot my first dear with a 12 gauge shot gun and earned the nickname, head shot.  Sunday was the last day of the Men's retreat and I decided to stop at Pillsbury State Forest on my way home.  My intentions: to study for my board exam, to see the land and enjoy a quick hunt.

Last year I hunted Pillsbury for four days with my friend Jim.  We did not see or hear a thing, and I was very discouraged.   My main objective was to find a quiet place to study for the board exam.  I was not expecting to see any deer, or signs of deer.  Last year, the loggers had come and destroyed a portion of the forest.  I was glad to see that the loggers are gone, and the forest is making it's come back.

 As I was walking through the woods, I happened upon some deer poop.  Seeing deer poop in the woods is always a nice sign that there are some critters out there.  I was pleased to see signs of pre-rut scrapes and rubs.  The picture on the left is a fresh scrape.  There is a branch hanging over this scrape, deer like to rub their heads on such branches.  I believe they also urinate on the scrapes as to mark their territory.   For those that are wondering: No, I did not rub my head on the branch or urinate on this scrape.  I have learned that it is wise not  to disturb scrapes so that the bucks are not alerted to the presence of deer hunters.  

The picture on the right is a fairly fresh rub.  The rub is towards the bottom of a small tree.  For this reason, I am not sure if it is really a rub.  Some porky pine, beaver or chipmunk may have been fond of this particular small tree.  Because it is early yet, some Bucks still have velvet on their antlers.  So perhaps this rub is from a buck that was attempting to remove some of that velvet.  Usually rubs extend up the trunk of the tree a little ways.  What do you all think, is this an official rub?

As I was walking out to my old stand, I kicked up a deer.  I could not tell the sex, however it was of nice size and it gave me the old White Flag.  Some refer to this as the Flag and Flee, where the deer whips it's white tail into the air as it runs away as the first line of defense.  The picture on the left shows a deer running with it's flag up.  Many hunters see this, it must be the deer version of the one finger salute.


I did not see deer while sitting in my stand.  I did hear some thrashing about, and it was very close to where I was posted.  I grunted and wheezed, however no deer presented itself.  All and all, it was a wonderful hunt, and a great way to kick off bow season.  DEER BE WARNED; a plan is in the works for another Pillsbury State Forest hunt with me and some of my friends, probably at the end of October.  Oops, I probably shouldn't announce that.


A shout out to my Nephew, DJ.  He shot his first deer with a bow on Sunday.  Good job!  It took me three seasons to shoot mine.

Thanks to my lovely wife Jennifer.  It was her birthday on Sunday and she graciously allowed me to hunt.  I love you babe.

A day at the dam.

Today Weston (almost 2), Brody (4) and I (early 30s) went to Orwell Dam near Fergus Falls MN. I had two rules for the boys, stay by me and stay out of the water. I strongly encouraged Weston and Brody to throw rocks into the water. Orwell Dam has millions of rocks, I have fished there once before with Brody and he threw rocks to his hearts content.

The fishing adventure started out great. On the first cast, I hooked a smallie. I knew I would catch lots of fish, and I did. Smallies of all sizes, and one Large Mouth Bass. As I fished, I kept a close eye on my boys. Not only were there numerous rocks to be thrown, there was many things to explore. Weston was all over the place. I kicked him out of my tackle box several times. He kept finding things on the ground and in the rocks to eat. Both boys had fun peeing in the woods. They were having a hoot. They did a pretty good job of following the rules, especially Brody. Weston did wonder off from time to time, and I found him sitting in the river amongst the rocks. Not only did I perfect my cast and fish landing abilities, my vocal chords got a great work out.

The first story I would like to share is that we came upon a mid size snapper turtle. The boys and I had fun as we followed it around. Weston and Brody thought it was fun watching the snapper hiss and bite at the stick that I was jamming into it's face. The snapper got itself lodged between many large rocks. No doubt it would still be stuck there had not the three of us showed up. Needless to say, the snapper did find the river. It probably had it's first flight lesson as it flew through the air and skipped across the water. Don't worry folks, we stood around and made sure the snapper was ok. Old snappy was sticking his head out of the water and swimming around, happy as can be.

The second story is kind of neat. I was catching so many fish, and having a lot of fun. Whenever I caught a small smallie, I would call the boys over and cast the fish back into the water. The boys would have fun reeling in the fish. This one time, I caught a small smallie. I casted it out to the middle of the river and called Brody over. Brody starts reeling in this fish and I was surprised by how difficult of time Brody was having. There was lots of splashing in the water. Here the little smallie had tripled in size and it was jumping out of the water putting on a big show. It must have been 14-15 inches. I was dumbfound. The small fish must have fell off when I casted it to the middle of the lake, and the large fish must have hit the gizzit as Brody was reeling it in (the gizzit was the brand name of the artificial rubber tube I was using to catch the fish). What ever happened, Brody was shocked and had a great time reeling in such a big fish.

This adventure was truly an adventure, one that my boys are certain to remember. They were so worn out when I put them to bed, that they went right to sleep with little smiles on their face. I have no doubt that they are dreaming about fishing! I will make sportsmen out of them yet:)

Happy Birthday to me.

Minnesota opener fell on my birthday this year.  My wife give me the full approval for a half day fish.  Living so close to the Red River, I knew I could not pass up the opportunity to fish the Minnesota opener.  Saturday was cold, blustery and wet.  I woke up to 43 degrees and mist.  My initial plan was to hit the river at 6am.  The alarm went off at 7:20 and I was on the banks of the Red by 8.  


My first cast, bango, right into a tree.  My line broke and I quickly realized how chilly it was as I retied.  Luckily I had a pocket full of jig heads, a fresh bag of Gulp White 3" Slugs and a bucket full of minnows.  I knew I was in the "hot spot," so said a coworker the day before.  Cast after cast, no fish.  An occasional snag, followed by a snapped line and a retie.  No fish!  I worked the banks of the river as the chilly air and wet mist touched my body to the core.  Forty five minutes into my morning, I had enough snags and broken lines and called it quits.  I took my bucket of minnows and wandered home, head hanging low.  

I put the gear back into my garage with intentions of getting back to the Red.  Saturday night, too busy.  Sunday, too busy.  Today (Monday) I thought I would go see if my minnows had expired after work.  They are alive!  After clearing the idea of an evening fish with my wife, I called my buddy Nate who agreed to be my guide.  Nate lives on the Red River and said he would paddle the canoe while I fish.  


The Red River is high, swift, and mighty.  We paddled up stream and found a place to fish along a tree line.  Nate lives near the zoo.  Ambient sounds of Peacock, Turkey, Ducks serenaded us as I fished.  We laughed about old times, talked about work, and I fished.  As the sun set, we paddled back to Nate's house.  I landed this 15" Walleye in Nate's backyard.  Nate was amazed, "I have never seen anybody catch a walleye out of here before,"  he said.  


Kudos to Nate, who broke out his new filet knife and fillet my fish.  Nate did not fish with me, as he did not have a fishing license.  Now that Nate is aware of the Walleyes in the Red, I'm betting that he will rush out first thing tomorrow morning and purchase a fishing license.  

North Dakota Fishing, Not!

As many know, I recently moved three hours Northwest of Minneapolis.  I now reside in Wahpeton, North Dakota.  I often ask myself, why did I move?  After all, there are not many lakes in ND.  Luckily I still have a MN fishing license.  After hearing from a co-worker that the Walleyes are biting on Swan Lake, I headed home to do some research.  I learned that Swan Lake is just outside of Fergus Falls, MN and that is only 25 miles away from me.

When I woke up this morning, it was -4 degrees, and the wind was 16 mph.  A bit too cold for fishing, but my itch to explore a new lake prevailed.  After spending time with the family, I pulled up some handy DNR maps of Swan Lake, and mapped out where I thought the Walleyes would be.  After lunch, I loaded up the truck and headed to Swan.  I was on the ice by 1:30 pm.  Luckily someone plowed a nice little road on the ice.  The road led to the exact location that I thought the Walleyes would be.

 There were less than 10 permanent houses on the lake.  The gas auger fired right up and I was able to find a good place to set up the one-man Clam.  The wind was a major factor, and it was blistering cold.  I had a small heater that, at first, was able to keep my holes from freezing over.  After about an hour, the Vexliar showed a fish near the bottom and my bobber disappeared.  I pulled up my first fish, a hammer handle (small Northern Pike).   After another hour, I pulled up a small perch.  After a few more hours, another small perch.

By 4:30, my body was so cold that I decided to call it.  This was a tough decision for me because I know that Walleyes bite best just after dark.  The Clam was great for an hour or two, however it got to be so windy and cold that my holes began to freeze over.  I also lost feeling in my toes and the Clam was vibrating from my shivering which (no doubt) scared the Walleyes away.

After I packed up my gear, I decided to go over to the adjacent fish house and offer my minnows to some fellow anglers.  They had the nicest, coziest set up.  They invited me in, and I was able to enjoy the Packer/Bear playoff game on a flat screen LCD in HD.  As we socialized, I learned that Swan Lake is indeed a good place to fish.   Walleyes beware!  I will venture out to Swan again after it warms up a bit and the wind dies down.