John's First Fishing Trip

I took my son John fishing for the first time this past Monday. John is 1 1/2 years old, and still too young to really know what is going on. But Dad sure loved it! 

John LOVES being outdoors, and he loves animals. When I get home from work the first thing he does is run up to me and yell "gurkey", which means turkey. We go to the computer and watch videos of turkeys. When he gets bored with that he starts making high pitched squeels, his version of a bugle, which means he wants to watch some elk videos. Every animal with antlers is an elk to him, and he bugles every time he sees one.

I took him to the same lake I caught my first fish at. We started by digging up our own worms, the same way my Dad taught me (he'll learn how to fly fish in a couple of years).

 

He loves getting his hands in the dirt!
 

 

With a bucket full of worms we walk to the lake.


I was fortunate in that my Grandparents ran a large boy scout camp in the mountains. We spent our entire summers at this place, fishing at this lake. It was the best way for a boy to grow up that I know of.

John was just as happy playing with a stick as anything.

He REALLY loved to reel in the fish.

John's excitement totally overwhelmed him, he just couldn't contain it, and right before he would touch the fish he screamed as loud as he could and ran a circle. He had to run about three circles before he was calm enough to actually look at the fish and touch it and examine it.

We caught four fish before we ran out of worms (we didn't dig up too many). But that was about perfect because John was ready to move on to something else.

  

Everybody tells me it keeps getting better. I guess I have to see it to believe it, how can it get much better than this?! I can't wait until we are walking these mountains with bows in our hands, but this is just fine for now.

Southern Hospitality

At the beginning of May, Chris and I were fortunate enough to be the guest of Ben and Linda Graham of Hummingbird Bows. We participated in the North Carolina Traditional Archery Championship. We accepted an invitation to stay at the Graham home and shoot the tournament with Ben and Linda.
What an enjoyable time it was. We met some fine people and shot a great tournament. A retired DNR officer named Blease Martin treated all of us to a stay by the ocean in South Carolina and an evening hog hunt. What more can people like us ask for? There is a reason that there is a term “Southern Hospitality”. It is very real.

Ben Graham has been building Hummingbird Custom Bows since 1991. As many of you know, his bows are among the very finest in the country. With Ben’s long experience and the top notch shop he has set up, I can see why. Ben has a supply of beautiful exotic hardwoods “maturing” in his shed that would make any wood worker salivate. Ben ages his riser woods for 1-3 years, letting the wood slow dry to insure that his risers stay stable and do not check or crack. We hunters do not generally like shiny bows, but for those that do, his high gloss bows are absolutely beautiful. The low gloss finish on my bow is tough and perfect. Ben has a paint booth that rivals many auto body shops. I have a 62” Hummingbird Kingfisher model, Ben’s top of the line recurve, and was able to “put the first notch” on this bow with a hog kill at the Martin homestead. This bow is amazingly smooth, quick, and forgiving of my shooting flaws. Ben has really come up with a bow with a fine balance of all of the attributes of a great recurve. This bow is so beautiful that I have not wanted to expose it to the rigors of being a hunting bow (meaning dents and scratches), but this one is going to have to make the transition from "show" to "go". Ben assured me that he could repair any of my abuses after hunting season.

The country down there in North and South Carolina was awesome to see for this Colorado boy. The Graham residence is surrounded by rolling hills with a wonderful mix of hardwoods and pine. Ben has a 3D range right behind his house, in the woods, that any club would like to have. Ben has a wall full of shooting awards but jokes about being known as Linda Graham’s husband at shooting events. Linda Graham has over 40 state and regional championships and is a two time IBO World Champion (wow!). Watching her shoot is a thing of beauty. Ben and Linda are great teachers of archery, and while there, Ben really helped me clean up my release. I also really learned more from Ben and Linda about the discipline that it takes to be a great archer (attention to detail and slowing down). They never shoot an arrow just to shoot the arrow. Every shot counts, and is practice, and they try to make it perfect practice. Linda had a hand injury last year that has not completely healed, so she did not compete at the tournament. Her presence WAS enjoyed by all of the ladies young and old, and they all benefited by the generous gift of her time and knowledge. Chris definitely has a new good friend, and they share so much in common. It is somewhat rare for women to find other women in the same age group that have the same passion for shooting and traditional archery hunting. While spending time with the Grahams, I got to do a little teaching to Linda though. That is, to speak with a Colorado accent. She whipped it out on me on the way to the airport and we all about died laughing. I wouldn’t want to hear it a lot though, as I love to hear that melodious southern accent coming out of that sweet lady.


Now for the short hunting story. Not much to tell because the wind was swirling. Blease Martin had us put off the hunt for a day to try and get better winds, so we went to the beach. Unfortunately the wind stayed squrilly on the only other evening we had to hunt. The hogs completely circled Chris’s feeder, and circled Ben and I until very very late. Ben and I were watching and listening to the hogs when one finally separated itself from the herd. I put a big old Simmons broadhead right through that hog’s heart and it went only about 40 yards. I told Ben that when shooting his bow, the thing that you are shooting at just gets right in the way of the arrow.

Many many thanks to the Martins and the Grahams for the friendship, fellowship, and commeraderie we enjoyed from our fellow archers. Chris and I got a great big old fashioned helping of SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY.

Idaho Bear Hunt

Danny and I just returned from Idaho for a spring bear hunt. A good friend of ours does very well in this area, and typically sees many bears. He pointed us to the spot on a map, so we packed our stuff and headed up. We had never bear hunted before and had no idea really what we were getting in to. But that is part of the adventure that I enjoy so much.

Well, the bears must have heard we were coming because we only saw two the entire trip (our friend usually sees between 10-15 a day). No matter, I got to spend time in the wilderness with my brother, camp out, view all sorts of wildlife, and see a part of the country that I had not yet seen. We had a great time.

I will definitely plan on going back next year. The temperatures were painfully hot, especially for this time of the year. I would imagine that the bears went totally nocturnal and/or moved to a different elevation. Hopefully next year we will have better luck!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

 

 

 

 

 

We used a raft to cross the river. This enabled us to hunt a lot more country as the road stayed on only one side.



An example of the type of hikes we were doing daily. On this particular hike we spent the night 1/4 of the way up. We did see a very large bear up on this mountain as we were going in. He never did show back up.

A lovely camping spot.

As we were glassing I spotted this elk about to cross the river. The video is really nothing special but it shows the kind of country we were hunting in, and it was very enjoyable for me to watch this elk swim the river that morning. Sights like these are what makes hunting special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent A LOT of time behind our binos. Danny had to take his shoes off and relax after an excruciating hike.
 

 

Danny nearly stepped on a grouse before she jumped up. We left quickly so she could return to her nest.
 

The only bighorn we saw the whole trip. One, lone ewe.
 

A Few More Turkeys

We got out for one more trip to Nebraska. I knew the hunting would be tough as the shotgunners had been after them for a few weeks, but boy...it was TOUGH! It was the first time that I have ever been skunked in Nebraska.

I hid under a thick cedar tree with my leafy shirt on and called in a few jakes. The largest was 25 yards away from me, and had no idea I was in the vicinity until an arrow passed through his feathers. I was livid with myself for missing. 

This set up produced a 7 yard shot. Unfortunately it did not produce a bird. My buddy Paul was set up here, and he gave off a few of the softest yelps he could muster. 15 minutes later a few jakes showed up. Any loud calling would make every gobbling turkey in the country shut up.

 

I was so confident in this set up that I took pictures of it counting on this being the last thing a turkey saw. Unfortunately all the turkeys stayed on some private land about 1/2 mile away.
 

Colorado Turkey Hunting:

Danny had shoulder surgery a few months ago. He cannot shoot his bow but that doesn't stop him from getting out and hunting and scouting new country. Last week Danny made a 10.5 mile hike according to the GPS, and in that hike he turned up two gobbling turkeys. They were on him so fast that both toms busted him.

Yesterday Danny went up with our good friend Andy. They saw a group of about 30 bull elk. A few of them looked like they are going to be dandies!

 

 

Like the previous week, they heard some gobbling but not much. There just aren't many turkeys in this area. Early in the morning they called in a gobbler from at least a 1/2 mile away. He hung up at 50 yards and they weren't able to close the deal.

After a big hike they were heading back to the truck and spotted a group of 5 jakes. The jakes were unresponsive to calling, so they circled wide and ambushed them. Two shots later Danny and Andy doubled up on mountain birds. 

Danny put in over 20 miles of hiking to kill these turkeys.

Danny and I are heading to Idaho in three days for a spot and stalk bear hunt. We have never been up there and are going completely on our own. A good friend pointed out a few drainages on a map and said there are bears there. We'll see! Be sure to check back because at the very least I count on having some great pictures of beautiful country.