3 lake day

Well this was the first day I could get out in the past couple of weeks because of rain. I have also been working alot, and I just got my schedule changed from thirds to weekends. I am really looking forward to doing alot of fishing and hunting this year.
Now back to Mon, I went to Max and hooked up a smallie and a largemouth before the wind kicked in. I then trailered up and moved to Bass lake where I trolled up a nice crappie. After trolling for a couple hours with no other hits I gave away my crappie and started home. I stopped on the way at Pike lake and did some more casting, where I hooked up a small walleye. I threw him back and kept casting the point I caught him on to no avail. So I packed up and went home.
So until next week, tight lines.

Wrapped up anotherTurkey season

Well as you know I got drawn for Mississinewa Res. for the first 3 days of Turkey season. As it turns out I only needed the first day.
I got off work at 5 a.m. made the hour drive down, to my surprise no one was in my first spot. So I got out and prepared to take off to the woods, when it happened. Gobbles and lots of them across the road from where I was going to hunt. Playing the odds I started off towards the gobbling, when I thought I was close enough I got set up. All the birds gobbling flew down the opposite side of the woods they were roosted in. 3 hours later all that I had seen was a hen and she came from one end of the field all the way to my decoys.



So I made the deal with myself, I'll move over across the road and set up and wait til 11:30 a.m. Then I'll go home and google where I heard all the turkeys gobbling so I can get on them in the morning. So I pulled all my crap together and off I went. I got to my spot at 10:30, I got my dekes set out and got my chair ready, cut some branches and generally made a huge commotion in the corner of the field I was setting up in. Just when I was getting ready to sit down, I saw a Turkey in the field next to the one I was set up in. So I started with some soft cutting, used sparingly and pushing the sound away from where I thought the birds would come from. Well less than 15 min later I hear something walking through the leaves to the corner of the field. I start straining to see beyond and through the briar patch that is between me and the sound. Finally I see a head and neck walk out to the edge of the field. He never made a sound just came in and looked at all the fine ladies in the field. I started to slowly move the shotgun barrel over for the shot and at 15 yards that's darn near impossible. He didn't really see me move but he did start to smell a rat so when he turned back towards the woods I swung on him put the red dot on his neck and dropped the hammer. All I saw was leaves and brush getting blown to shreds then I heard the "I'm down, death flapping" and I got up and claimed my prize.

A 2 year old Tom weighing in at 23 1/2 #'s, with a 10 1/2" beard, and 3/4 " spurs.

and just like that my seasons' over........ you can uncross your fingers now.

First outing

This year started off great......as far as equipment goes. I ended up going to Max for my first outing this year. I got to the lake in the really dark hours. It was cold, clear, and calm, by the time I left it was just cold and clear. I couldn't hook up on anything casting and since it was a test trip I put on the trolling motor and did some trolling. Only then did I hook up a largemouth bass and a decent walleye.
I was fishing 20' of water trolling at 1.5-1.9 mph and my lures were running between 9-13 ft. The warmest water I found all day was 55.4 degrees brrrrr.
All in all I had a good day until I got blown off the lake. All my equipment started up and ran well and I'm ready for the season to kick into full swing.
I did get drawn for the Turkey hunt this year so this week will be the week of little rest. Hunt, sleep, work and get up and do it again for three days. Well gotta mow some lawns so I can just enjoy the week, and the hunt without yard work looming over my head.
Yeah who am I kidding I couldn't care less if the lawn needs mowed if I get to go Turkey hunting. Anyway wish me luck this week and as always I will post my hunt so watch for it by the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Here's the pic.
MMMMmmmm he was tasty.

The Year in Review

Another year has come and gone. Time to get the hunting stuff put away, and get the fishing stuff out and dusted off. I had a pretty good year both fishing and hunting of course the hunting is alot easier to keep track of.
So here it is:

2009 Hunting Season Breakdown

Species-------Days Afield ---Number of Critters Taken
Turkey---------- 6---------------- 0
Deer------------- 1 ----------------1
Dove------------- 3---------------- 4
Pheasant-------- ½-------------- 0
Coon------------- 3---------------- 3
Coyote/Fox----------- 3---------------- 1
Waterfowl------------ 24----------- 15 ducks/22 geese

Total-------40 1/2-------------46

Well if you compare the totals from last year. My days afield and number of critters are both lower than last year. The reason for this is my work schedule.
I learned being on first shift killed me this year, hopefully that will change next year.
I also learned that field hunting ducks and geese is worth the work.
I learned pelts are worth practically nothing this year. I will probably spend less time chasing coons and yotes next year. I will spend as much time hunting waterfowl as possible. I also learned that senko's really do work and I am looking forward to using them again this year.

So, I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
I'll take the month of March off (no hunting or fishing). I use this month to get the garage cleaned out and get the stuff taken care of that I have neglected all year.
I'll start casting the big lake in April. Of course I have put in for the Turkey hunt again this year, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
So until I have something worth blogging about- take care, and check back the first week of April.

First yote hunt this year

Weed and I got out for a yote hunt last Thurs. Weed came along to run the video of all the yotes I planned on bringin' in. After our first stand I took him back to a tree that I knew had coons in it. I set him up and pointed him at the tree and started the squallerin'. Everything was workin' great except that the coon had a sleep over in the tree right next to his. Now if it was coon season I would've added another pelt to my freezer. However it is not and we not only let the coon live on but Weed didn't even get the video of the coons departure. O.K. here's kinda where it goes stale so we'll just FF in the interest of saving time. Drive,walk,call,walk,call,drive,walk,call. Not sure how many stands we hit that day but it was 4:30ish when Weed had to go do some saving of the USA. Well I breathed a sigh of relief cause I almost had to take him to one of my good spots. Since he left I decided to see if my first good spot was still good. I was walking in to find a spot to sit down when I saw a yote. Right then and there I realized it was Weed's bad Joo Joo that had been keeping me down all day. So I backed out of the spot and went down to call another spot, I saw 7 turkey's walkin' down the path. I got to the next spot and went through the call and had a bald eagle fly over, things are lookin' up. After that I walked back to the car and drove to another spot. I walked in sat down and started the caller. I'm not sure how long it took but I heard something off to my right. I looked over and there she was 50 yards through some briar's and brush. I had shut the caller off but she wasn't stopping so I took the shot. She didn't even really acknowledge it she did however go to her left and up the hill a little, which was enough for me to slam her with the 50 grn V-max. Bang flop game over. Hit the ki-yi's hoping for a double,after a couple mins I shut it off and retrieved my prize.