Before I knew it, we were off to Florida Cracker Outfitters for our late January Hog hunt.  After getting off the plane, we made the short drive to “camp”.  When the trip particulars were described to me, I was under the impression we would be “roughing it” for the week.  I envisioned a run down camp with the bare necessities.  Upon meeting Courtnay (one of the outfitters), we made the 4.5 mile trip off road back to camp.  As we drove back the grass road, I was surprised and excited we would be staying so far back in the Florida woods.  As we turned into the driveway of “camp”, I was in shock.  Before us was a beautiful house/camp where we would be staying for our hunt.  This place was butted right against a lake which, as I was told, was chalk full of crappies and bass.  It was quite apparent we wouldn’t be “roughing it” this week.

Our “cabin” for the week

View from the back porch

Upon arrival, we were met by a young fellow named Jake who was going to be one of our guides for the week, and Julie our camp cook.  Courtnay gave us the rundown on how the week was going to go:  The hunt was going to be out of blinds in the morning/evening.  In the afternoons, we would try to spot and stalk on any pigs we might see on our travels.  We were hunting on private property but these hogs were unfenced and 100% wild with absolutely no human contact.  We learned from the outfitters, that Florida hadn’t received much rain and the hogs were hanging in the un-huntable “meadows”.  Meadows, by their definition, were practically impenetrable scrub marsh, with saw grass mixed in.  After seeing one of these meadows, I quickly understood why we wouldn’t be archery hunting in those areas.  Even after receiving this information, I was still thinking this is a slam dunk… we’re hunting hogs after all.  Minus my first opportunity, I was proven about as wrong as any individual could be.  My perceptions of hog hunting before the trip couldn’t have been more off base.  Honestly, I figured they were blind dumb animals, and the hunt would be an easy relaxing adventure with the guys.  If I would have handled my first encounter with hogs correctly, I might still believe that.  As I quickly found out, I didn’t give these animals nearly enough credit.
After our brief orientation, we quickly shot our bows to make sure they were on and got showers for our first evening hunt.  Jason and I were going to hunt together for the week, while Mike Switzer and Courtnay (the outfitter) were going to pair up for the week.   On the first evening, Jason decided he would run the camera and I would be the shooter.  Jake and Courtnay set us in a Palmetto blind over looking a small wet field next to a swamp.  After getting settled in, I was trying to figure out how to get a shot out of our set up.  I figured there was a spot in the blind that, if I sat straight up, I could clear the palmetto branches.  After about an hour in the blind, Jason whispered “pigs coming from behind us”.  I turned and saw 3 hogs coming right to the front of our set up.  I readied for the shot and realized the first unexpected problem in trying to take a hog with a bow.  These dog gone things just won’t stay still!  As I was trying to communicate to Jason on which one I was going to “take”, they would move.  The boars were all about the same size with the color variations being orange/black, blonde/black, and all black.  I figured I would shoot the first one that gave me an opportunity.  As one would present a shot by the time both Jason and I were on him, the hog would move.  Before the hogs moved off, I had committed to “taking” each of the three hogs, but we couldn’t get both the camera and the bow on them before they moved.  As the last one moved out of the wet field into the swamp, I was becoming disappointed at our misfortune, but that was short lived.  The orange/black boar came back out and stood at a perfect slight quarter away at 18 yards.  With both the camera and bow settled on him, I released my arrow.  To my disbelief, I saw my Lumenok sail about 1 foot high and 2 feet to the left of its mark.  I couldn’t believe I missed that shot, let alone missing that bad.  I was thinking how did I pull the shot that badly, but after examination from where I was shooting, it was clear I didn’t get over the palmetto.  In other words, I completely blew my first ever “slam dunk” shot at a hog, and in front of the camera at that.  As we made it back to camp we met with the other outfitter Jeremy and his father Glen.  They had already arranged to take us out to some of the blind sites to check trail cams and make a plan for the next morning.  After checking 6 different cams, there was no doubt there were plenty of hogs at this place, but 2 sites looked to be much more active than others.  We had our plan set for the morning hunt.

Our palmetto blind for the evening

View from inside the blind

Jason and I would be hunting a stand called the eagles nest; while Mike and Courtnay would be hunting the same blind I had my miss out of the previous night.  The next morning came, and I made the decision to be behind the camera.  We arrived at our location and Jason offered to install the tree arm (holds the camera) for me.  We only had one light between the two of us, so Jason took it up the tree to install the arm which left me on the ground with no light.  There was a stream about 20 yards on the opposite side of the tree we were about to set up in. I heard splashing and “growling” in the stream.  Without a light, I couldn’t see a thing.  I figured about that time, I would take the opportunity to run up the ladder to see if Jason needed any help with the tree arm.  Jason got a good chuckle out of my availability to help and we finally got settled in our setup just as light was breaking.     This morning was a perfect example of how our hunts went for the next day and a half.  We heard hogs chasing each other and growling around us, but we never saw a hog.  They knew something was up in our area and wouldn’t commit to coming through.  As we were finishing up our hunt, we received a text from Mike.  He had the same 3 hogs I saw the evening before in front of him, and put a good shot on the blond/black one.  We met up shortly after to trail, and hopefully recover this hog.  I was filming the recovery and couldn’t believe the blood trail this hog left.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  After 30 yards Mike recovered his first wild hog, with a perfect shot behind the shoulder.

Mike Switzer with his 1st wild hog

The next 3 hunts were all the same.  We had hogs around us but they just wouldn’t commit to our stand locations.  After our morning hunt on the last day, Jeremy came to get us and we could see how excited he was for our last evening hunt.  The wind finally settled down and the hogs were on their feet.  He was scouting while we were on stand and found a couple areas that were “torn up”.  He saw several hogs and suggested we go back for a quick lunch while he made a blind and hung stands in the two new locations he found.  Since Mike had already had taken a hog, he was on camera duty while I was the shooter for our final evening.  As we were getting into our stand, I received a text from Jason saying they had seen 1 big boar and 4 smaller pigs as they were going in to their blind.  We also had an encounter with a nice hog within a half hour of our sit but I couldn’t get a shot at him before he moved off.  They were definitely up and moving and I was excited to see what the rest of the evening would bring.  About 45 minutes before dark, Mike spotted 4 hogs on the hillside directly across from us heading our way.  The 2 big boars came into the right of us with the 2 decent hogs standing about 15yards in front of us.  I told Mike I wasn’t waiting and I was going to take the boar in front of us.  Mike gave me the go ahead so I drew, settled the pin behind his shoulder, and this time my arrow found the vitals.  The hog moved off slowly to our left and disappeared into a thick patch about 50 yards from us.  The bigger boars circled us and apparently came across my hog because they stopped roughly where we last saw the hit hog and started growling.   Now it was time to wait for our guides and Jason to make it over to our stand, but I felt good about the shot and the hog’s reaction after the hit.  After about 45 minutes the guys came and we made a straightforward recovery.  The blood sign was solid and we found my hog about 70 yards from our stand.  It felt great to finally get my first wild hog on the ground!

Jason and I with my 1st wild hog

Our trip ended that night as we were flying out of Jacksonville early the next morning.  This hog hunt had so much more than I had expected.  The guides and outfitters were some of the best I’ve ever hunted with, and the accommodations were second to none.  Just by being around Courtnay and Jeremy for the week, I feel I’ve become a better hunter.  On many of my experiences, the outfitters and guides job was to put us on our game we were hunting.   When hunting with Florida Cracker Outfitters, the guys taught me everything from how they hunt Florida Hogs, turkeys, deer, and gators, to their heritage and the history of hog hunting in their area. They have great pride in what they do, and will share with you all they have learned through the years.  In general this is just a great group of people to hunt with.  As you can tell, my first wild hog hunt was everything I hoped it would be and more.

This archery season has been a big change for me in many ways.  My 5 year old is now in school and getting him on and off the bus was going to cut my hunting time in half.   I wouldn’t change it for the world, and thoroughly enjoy seeing him off and picking him up from the bus, but it was a change that took some getting used to.  Also through the first 3 weeks of season, I had yet to hunt with my cousin Jason.  In the past, we would usually get together for at least a couple of hunts a week, but with our busy schedules, last week was the first opportunity we would get to hunt together.  Obviously, I was excited to get 4 hunts in a row, hunting 3 of them with my cousin.

My first 3 hunts were uneventful.  No deer were seen by either Jason or me, but after our morning hunt on Wednesday, we found an extremely promising spot for our evening hunt.  In the morning, Jason was hunting a block of woods which led him along the back side of a cornfield.  I was hunting across the road and received a text at the end of the morning hunt to meet him at the cornfield.  I met up with Jason after the morning hunt and quickly realized he was extremely excited about his morning.  Jason had to walk along the edge of a cornfield to get to his stand, and said he jumped several deer going back in.  His exact words were “deer were everywhere”.  After talking a little about the morning, we went along the backside of the cornfield and found more deer sign than I had seen all year including several rubs and scrapes along the tree line.  We cleared a couple of lanes and hung our climbers back in the woods in sight of each corner of the cornfield.  I know after leaving we were both extremely confident, and excited for our evening hunt.

Last Wednesday (Oct 21st) was extremely warm and sunny, which from my experience isn’t good for deer movement.  We were excited about the spot we were hunting, but weren’t overly thrilled about the weather.  Our hopes were still high as we entered our climbing tree stands that afternoon.  We were settled by 3:30 and I had begun seeing deer roughly ½ hour into the hunt.  From about four o’clock on, I was either watching or listening to deer in the cornfield in front of me.  Even though, to this point I had seen no bucks, I was enjoying all the action.  At about 5:30 I was watching a button buck and a doe in front of me feeding, when I heard a loud “crash” behind me.  I turned in time to see a nice eight point scatter a bunch of deer.  As soon as I saw the buck, my focus was entirely on him, so I can’t honestly tell you what the other deer did, but he was standing alone behind me at 40 yards.  I quickly confirmed that the doe and button buck were still on the other side of me.  I was right in between a nice buck that had been chasing deer and a doe on the exact opposite side of me 15 yards away.  I remember thinking as the buck saw the doe “this is too good to be true”.  The buck then began a stiff legged walk toward the doe, but also toward a shooting lane I had cleared out earlier that day.  As he hit my shooting lane 18 yards away, I drew and gave a bleat with my mouth.  He stopped broadside, and as he did, I settled the pin behind his shoulder.  At the shot, the Lumenok showed the shot was true and that this should be a fairly easy recovery.

This buck seemed to have read the script on how this evening should go for me up to this point.  At the hit, the buck took 2 jumps and walked to the corner of the cornfield.  He stood for a few seconds, then laid down and rolled his side immediately.  When he went to his side on the ground and was still, I felt the hunt was over.  I needed to sit down (post shot shakes), and hung my bow on my bow hanger.  As I hung the bow on the hook, a deer behind me snorted.  I turned to look at the snorting deer and caught movement out of the corner of my eye.  My buck was back on his feet limping across the road back into the woods.  All of this transpired in less than a minute, but my elation at a nice buck on the ground less than 30 yards from me, turned into confusion and worry.  I figured I would give the buck until quitting time, to let Jason finish out his hunt and give the buck time to expire.  As light faded, I decided to get down and take the grass road to Jason’s stand which was less than 75 yards away from me.  After discussing options, we decided to quietly recover the arrow and go to the corner of the cornfield where the buck first laid down.  I retrieved my arrow and found bright red blood from tip to nock.  As we approached the area where the buck laid down we found 2 large pools of blood with a nice blood trail going back towards the woods.  We marked the trail and decided to go back and get lights and give him some more time.

Heavy blood trail

After about 1 hr, we picked up my uncle for help and the 3 of us went back to try to recover my buck.  We went to the mark we placed on the trail, and immediately realized this wasn’t going to be a hard tracking job.  The blood on the trail was dense and easy to follow but he went much further than I figured he would.  After about 100 yards from where he first went down, we found him lying against a fallen log expired.  The recovery was pretty straight forward, but I am amazed at the will this animal had to keep going.

Photo after recovery

Archery season this year has again provided with yet another great memory of the PA outdoors.  It is definitely my favorite time to be in the woods, spending time with friends and family.

Jason & I very happy after a great night on stand

Uncle and cousin after recovery (thanks for the help guys)

Nathan (son), Ron (father), and myself

Impressive African Display

Recently, my family and I made a trip to Harrisburg PA to attend the Eastern Outdoor and Sports Show.  I have been at this show for the last 5 years and enjoy all it has to offer.  This was my families’ first year attending, and they were impressed as well, with all aspects of the show.   I had my doubts in taking Nate (my 5 yr old son) to the show but, I soon realized he would have a great time with the many activities the show has for children.

Cabela’s Mountain Lion

Jason, Up Close and Personal with a Cape Buffalo

Nate and I with a huge Brown Bear

Saturday, my wife and kid made plans to visit family in Myerstown PA, while I attended the show.  I hung around the booth, and had the opportunity to visit with many members and sponsors of this site.   Upon arrival at the PSP booth, I was taken back.   Estemerwalt Log Homes did a beautiful job on this booth and after going around the show several times, I believe it was one of the most impressive sets at the show.  It was no surprise, there were several vendors asking about the booth before, during, and after the show.  During the show, the PSP booth was a busy place.  First and foremost, it was great seeing so many people stopping by to sign up and become a member of this site.  I’m excited at the number of people we signed up, and look forward to talking with all of you on the forum boards.  Aside from that, there was a constant flow of outdoor celebrities stopping by for their video cast interviews, and many people stopping to check out the 50 caliber at the booth for the East Coast Gun Sales giveaway.  It was a great way to spend my Saturday and I was looking forward to bringing my family on Sunday.

Some Impressive Sets Of Antlers

Upon arrival Sunday, our first stop was going to be at the PSP booth.  We were early, and I wanted to introduce my wife to the staff manning the booth.  After the introductions, we were off to see as much of the show as we could before it got busy.  As you can see from the pictures, there were many impressive mounts at the show, and both my wife and son seemed to enjoy naming all the animals they saw.  After roaming through many halls of the complex, we found a trout fishing pond.  Nate was excited to try his hand at catching at least one of the many fish in the pool.  After a couple of unsuccessful tries, Nate decided they didn’t have the right bait so we gave up for some paintball shooting.  At the paintball shooting booth, Nate enjoyed taking out several of the Styrofoam targets and was soon ready to move on.  It was soon time to start our long ride home, and we wanted to stop back at the booth to say our “good-bye’s” so we only had time for one more activity.  Nate saw the mechanical bull, and knew the wanted to give it a try.  Though he isn’t destined to be on the PBR, he had a good time and probably did better than his dad would do.  As you could see, the Eastern Outdoor Show has something for everyone, and both my wife and son are looking forward to coming back next year.

Nate Trying Hard To Catch a Fish

Last Saturday, (Oct 18th) I had the opportunity to do an evening hunt. I was hunting deer (buck, doe, whatever) at this point, and I wanted to put myself in a place that would give me the best opportunity of seeing a few. I chose to hunt an area where I was previously busted by a doe coming to apples. There were many trails coming into this small orchard in the middle of nowhere, and I felt I had a good chance of seeing and maybe getting an opportunity at one. After a 15 minute hike I was finally to my stand and shortly after hooked up and ready for my evening hunt. The first thing I noticed after climbing into my stand was 3 new scrapes and a new rub. It was an incredible evening to be on stand, with moderate temperatures and no wind. I had a feeling something was going to happen.

It was getting to the last hour of light and I saw movement below my stand in a thicket below the orchard. As it often does, the movement turned into a doe coming into the orchard. She came to the same exact spot the doe came to in the previous hunt but this time she didn’t suspect a thing out of place. She was working apples between 15 and 20 yards from my stand and finally turned to give me a clean shot. My stand at the beginning of archery season was well concealed because of leaves but now was in the open and not as high as I would have liked. I needed her to turn her head the opposite direction so I could draw. As if on cue, a squirrel or chipmunk made some noise on the opposite side of her making her turn to look. This was my chance to draw and shoot. I just started using Lumenocks this year, and I was impressed with the difference it makes on seeing what happens during the shot. I saw the arrow was on mark and the deer ran across in front of me after the shot. I could see she wasn’t going far and was expecting to see her fall but she made it out of sight. I then listened for the crash but heard none. I was still feeling good about the shot, but slightly confused that she didn’t fall in sight, nor did I hear the crash that we so often hear after a deadly shot. I decided, since I still had plenty of light, I would sit in my stand for an hour. After close to an hour, I got down from my stand and checked my arrow. It definitely wasn’t the classic double lung arrow. It was covered with slime and smelled like paunch. Now I was questioning myself and what exactly happened. I was thinking of getting out of there for the night, but I knew what I saw and decided to take up the track and see what kind of sign she was leaving while she was in sight of my stand. Within 10 yards of the hit, I saw bright blood spraying up high and on the ground. After seeing this I knew she was mine. I trailed her another 35 yards just out of sight from my stand and there she was lying in a bare grassy spot on the opposite side of the orchard.

I love every aspect of the hunt and that includes the processing and packaging of my deer. When the weather cooperates and I have time, I truly enjoy taking the deer from harvest to the plate. With the help of my son Nathan and my brother Shawn, we skinned the deer that night and had it processed by noon on Sunday. My whole family loves venison, so there is a great sense of accomplishment when we all enjoy the first tenderloin dinner from that years harvest.
Good luck the rest of the deer season and congratulations to the successful hunters this far.
Mike

This is my favorite time of the year to be outdoors.  The anticipation for archery season is getting to be too much.  Last month has been busy including a fishing trip with the family, a great weekend get together with many people on this site, and preparing myself for the upcoming archery season.

Early in the month, we decided to take one last fishing trip to Lake Wilhelm before storing the boat for the winter.  The trip was relatively uneventful, but we did manage to catch a few small bluegill and perch.  On a side note, my sons rod and reel are sitting somewhere at the bottom of that lake.  He was reeling in a small panfish and the hook popped out of the fish’s mouth coming back at Nate.  His solution to the problem was to drop the rod and run.  We all had a good laugh and replaced the rod the next day.  Looking back on the spring and summer months, I had a great time fishing the many local lakes with my family and friends.

Nate’s Monster Gill

There has been a lot written about Spring Lane Hunt Club, but I just want to add a few thoughts to the weekend.  This was the first time I had a chance to meet some of the staff and many of the moderators on this site.   I can honestly say there isn’t a better group of people anywhere.  As others have said, Spring Lane Hunt Club is a first class operation.  The lodges were beautiful, the owner and his guides were extremely friendly and helpful, and the dogs were awesome to hunt over.   I’ve had limited experience hunting pheasants or any birds for that matter, and I can honestly say I had a great time.  I now understand why so many people have a passion for bird hunting and their hunting dogs.

My group for the day, AJ Johnson, Me, Rob McCoy, Frank Rodenbaugh and Andy Traister

Our awesome guide for the day and his awesome dogs!

Archery season is almost upon us.  I enjoy the outdoors and all the outdoor sports but hands down, archery is my passion.  I love this time of year, and the anticipation for how the next couple of months might play out.  In this last month, I’ve been busy preparing myself for the upcoming season.  I’ve been shooting every evening and have made the switch from practice heads to my broadheads.  After a couple minor adjustments to my rest, my Slick Tricks are hitting exactly the same as my field points.  Broadhead flight had been a problem in my early archery experiences, but learning how to tune my bow and these low profile heads have made it much easier to get great results.

Slick Trick Broadheads

My Matthews

My BigShot broadhead and field point targets

I had the opportunity to scout several areas we are going to hunt this archery season.  I found some good sign including rubs, a couple of scrapes, and good deer trails.  Though I don’t have any deer patterned, I am confident I will be hunting around deer and hopefully will get an opportunity this archery season.  My fixed stands were hung early this month, and my climber is ready to do some exploring in new areas.  Now it’s time to count down the days until the first archery hunt of the season.

Good luck, be safe, and enjoy the season

Mike

Me with a decent crappie

I hauled my boat to the cabin, hoping we would get the opportunity to fish.  There were six of us and everyone wanted to go out on the lake the first afternoon so we decided to rent a pontoon boat.  I really enjoyed the outing because this was the first opportunity I had to fish with my in-laws.  Paul and Nancy (mother and father in-law) didn’t have fishing licenses so Paul was the captain of our boat, driving us to likely fishing spots and Nancy was enjoying the sun on a picnic table in the front our boat.  Chrissy, Nathan, Poss (grandfather in-law) and I were all going to try our luck at pulling some fish out of this lake.  For only fishing a couple hours, we caught our fair share, and as someone pointed out on the boat, it was great to see 4 generations enjoying time outdoors together.

On the last evening at the cabin, Chrissy, Poss and I decided we would take my boat out to try our luck for the last time on this trip.  We launched in the early evening and fished until dusk.  Fishing with my wife and Poss was a great experience.  Poss was an avid fisherman back in his day, and it was fun to sit back and listen to stories of his experiences through his many years fishing.  He is a great storyteller and kept us laughing throughout the evening. The fishing didn’t end up to bad either.  We were fishing for panfish once again, and boated close to 20 fish, keeping about a dozen nice perch, crappie and bluegill.  There was also the typical story of the one that got away:  Poss hooked a nice fish and as it came up to the side of the boat, I could see it was a very nice walleye.  I don’t know why, but it never occurred to me to get the net and as he tried to pull the walleye into the boat. The hooked popped and the fish lived to swim another day.

Cabin For The Weekend

Although this wasn’t a typical fishing trip, it was a nice opportunity for all of us to enjoy the outdoors as a family.  Below are pictures from our family outing.

Nate helping me clean our catch

Nate with a perch (1st fish of the day), Paul and Poss looking on

Paul our chauffer with Nancy in the background

Poss with a perch

Heading out for the evening

Nate Taking A Dip

Nate looking through his binos

Pony Ride

Huge Reindeer

Deer park feeding deer

Me with My Spring Gobbler In The Woods Where He Was Harvested

For me, the only bad part about spring turkey hunting is the early alarms.  Once I’m up, my favorite time to be in the woods is at first light, but to say I’m a morning person is a far stretch.  The 3:50 am alarm that morning was absolutely brutal, but after a cup of coffee, I was ready to make the trip to the Clarion area.  Jason was already at our meeting place as I arrived, and we quickly made the roughly one mile trip to an area we knew some birds were roosting.  We were hunting a strip mine top, surrounded by pine trees, a steep ridge and hardwoods bottom.  First light was quickly approaching, and we planned to wait until we heard gobbles on the roost before we would set up.  Unfortunately, daylight came and we hadn’t heard a gobble, so I decided to make a few soft tree calls followed by a fly down cackle.  Again we heard nothing close, but we did hear a fairly distant gobble down on the bottom in the hardwoods.  We also heard distant gobbles several hundred yards back from an area we walked through to get to this spot.

It was apparent there was nothing going on up top, so we decided to circle the ridge and hunt the hardwood bottom.  We were walking the long ridge on the bottom in the hardwoods, stopping every 75 to 100 yards to call, but never heard another gobble from that entire area.  I enjoy hunting this way after the morning flurry (which never came this morning) because of the opportunity to see wildlife, new woods, and the possibility of rounding that next bend and hearing a hot gobbler.  It also gave us a chance to catch up on each others lives, as I haven’t seen Jason in quite a while.

Heading Home For Some More Photos

The time was getting to be around 8:30 and we only heard distant gobbles, so we decided to make a change.  We headed back to our vehicles and went to an area about 5 miles down the road.  Our game plan was to walk one of the many logging roads in that area calling along the way, in hopes of finding that one hot gobbler.  We stopped about 100 yards from where we parked and listened to crows going crazy in the woods just ahead of us.  I figured if there were birds in the area, they might shock gobble at this, but we heard nothing.  I called several times and we listened for about 10 minutes and once again… nothing.  We made a few more steps down the road, rounded a bend and a gobbler exploded into the pines at the sight of us (I could see his beard).  I couldn’t say for sure, but I figured he was coming in silent and we destroyed our only chance to put a tag on a bird for the day.  We continued on stopping and calling for several hundred yards on the logging road without an answer.  Again we flushed a big bird except this time it was from a tree about 30 yards to our right.  This may or may not have been a turkey, but Jason said he had a good look at it and felt it was.  I’ve never seen a turkey roosted in a tree, mid morning on a bright and sunny day but I don’t doubt what he saw.  I remember saying if that was a turkey on the roost at mid morning, I can’t imagine it being a good sign for us.

Jason and I With My Spring Gobbler

At this point, even though it was still mid-morning, my confidence was fading.  We continued walking to the top of a large hill with a strip mine in front of us, and Jason stopped dead in his tracks.  He said he heard a gobble and it was close.  I let out a few yelps and Jason looked at me and said he heard it again.  He gobbled on top of my yelps so I still didn’t hear it but Jason said “it’s right there”!  Even though I didn’t hear the gobbles, I could tell by the way Jason was acting we needed to find the base of a tree and fast.   I told Jason to face the bird and set up so he could see and shoot in the only open area between us and the bird.   We quickly readied ourselves and I told Jason I wasn’t going to call for a few minutes.   I waited and after a couple of minutes, I asked Jason if he wanted me to call.  He said “Yes I want you to hear it”, so I gave a soft yelp.  Halfway through, he boomed a gobble and it was close.  I said get ready, he’s coming, and should show up any second.  Just then I heard Jason say “there he is: I see him”.  I couldn’t see the bird as my back was to them but I told Jason to shoot whenever he’s ready.  I heard Jason’s safety go off, and prepared myself for the loud boom that was about to happen.  Then I heard Jason say he couldn’t get on him and that the bird was all mine.  I still couldn’t see the bird and I told Jason to do what he needed to do to get a shot.  Jason’s reply was “I can’t but you should be seeing him any second”.  Just as he finished saying that, I saw the bright white head clear a couple of trees to my far left.  His head was up and he was searching hard for the invisible hen.  I glanced at the beard, lined my sights up and verified:  “Are you sure you can’t shoot”?  Jason’s reply was “yes take him”, so I touched off my shot.  The next thing I see is the flash of his fan and the thrashing that turkeys do after being fatally hit with a shotgun load.

We both jumped up and quickly made our way to the gobbler.  By the time the gobbler was done thrashing, it found its way to the base of a Multiflora Rose bush (the kind with the very large hooked thorns).  I remember Jason saying congratulations on your bird, now have fun going in there to get him out.  After retrieval from the bush, we tagged the bird, took several pictures and rehashed the events of the hunt.  Jason said the bird came out in the opening but never stopped in an open place for him to shoot.  As the bird worked down, the angle he took prevented Jason the ability to swing and get on him.

7/8 inch Spurs

9 3/4″ Beard

We decided we would end our morning by working our way back to the truck, stopping to call every 100 yards.  This proved uneventful and ended our day hunting.  As with many other types of hunting, it’s amazing how in the turkey woods, all it takes is a few minutes to turn a slow day into another great memory.

Good luck and be safe.
Mike

This journal entry is very special to me because it represents many firsts in my families’ lives.  At the beginning of this year, my wife and I decided we would purchase our first new fishing boat.  We talked with several boat dealers, and did a lot of research to decide which style/brand of boat would best suit our needs.  After looking at many different styles of boats, we decided to order the Lowe Fishing Machine 165.  The boat finally arrived after six weeks of waiting, and we were eager to get it out.  Last weekend was the first chance we had to take this boat out, and though we didn’t catch anything over 6 inches, I consider this trip to be one of the best I’ve ever had.

My major concerns for this trip were getting used to trailering and launching this boat.  I have never trailered anything or launched a boat in my life.  Catching fish was a distant second for me but I’m sure if you asked my kid, his ideas were much different.  Upon arrival at Lake Wilhelm, we realized (to my relief) there were very few anglers or boaters, and we launched the boat with no issues.  This was Nate’s first fishing trip and our goal was to find a few willing panfish no matter what the size.  We had our eye on a nearby cove and decided to give this spot a try.  I first rigged my 4 year old’s spider man rod and let him cast out.  While rigging my wife’s rod, I heard Nate yell “I got one!  I got one!”  This was his first fishing trip and his first fish (a 6 inch golden shiner).  I can honestly say he did everything himself in catching that fish.  We were all extremely excited and took many pictures to capture the moment.  This scene played many times over with both my wife and Nate, as they both caught several bluegill’s (or blue gray’s as my son would call them), shiners, and pumpkin seeds.  My main job was to keep everyone’s lines in the water weather it meant baiting, untangling, or taking off fish.

Nate’s First Fish

Nate reaching for my wife’s small bluegill

Nate with another bluegill (or blue gray as he calls them)

We made a couple moves to try to find bigger fish, but I could tell my fishing partners both wanted to go back to the spot where we were catching numbers.  We returned back, but it seemed even the small bite turned off so we decided to pack our stuff up and call it a day.  As we were heading back, another highlight for my son was being able to drive the boat.  I think, as you can tell by the pictures, he is hooked and has been asking about getting back out since we quit that day.  Once again, trailering the boat went without a hitch and soon we were on our way back home.

Nate driving the boat

Nate taking a Cheetos break

Loading the boat to head home

To end this entry I would like to share some of my thoughts on the day.  I was incredibly excited to take my family out on the lake to spend some time together outdoors.  My wife enjoys the outdoors and loves to be outside, but with our busy lives and young child we haven’t taken the time to go fishing together.  Hunting and fishing have always been my activities.  Now, though I don’t believe I would ever get my wife out on a hunting trip, fishing is an activity we all enjoy and can share together.  Fishing with my son also gave me many moments of reflection.  One particular moment came when my son threw a huge birds nest.   I was thinking to myself, “How in the world did he do this”?  This thought brought a huge smile to my face as I remembered the many times my father would fix my setup only to have me tangle it again and again.  My son is just like I was in that I didn’t want dad to do anything for me, so casting for him was not an option.  By the end of the trip he did very well and made his dad very proud. Enjoy the pictures…  Hopefully there will be many more soon.

Good luck and be safe
Mike

Scott and Steve Gearing Up For Steelhead Action

I have fished with Scott several times, and he just flat out knows how to catch fish.  He is one of those outdoorsmen who knows how to get it done whether it’s elk hunting out west, archery hunting for whitetail, turkey hunting, or fishing for any species in PA.  Beyond this, he is just a good guy to be in the outdoors with.

Man, is it cold out!

We met at the access, and decided to fish a section of stream which held many fish earlier this year.  Upon arrival, we were surprised to find we would be the only people fishing this area.  I remember thinking this could either be very good or very bad, and was confused as to why nobody was around.  The weather was bitter cold and windy, but the stream had good color and decent flow.  The first spot we fished was a large slow hole below a train trestle.  It wasn’t long after we got our lines wet, that Steve coaxed a nice hen into hitting his yellow egg sack.  After a relatively short battle, Steve landed his first steelhead!  I took a couple pictures, offered congrats and soon we were back fishing.  Steve no sooner got back into the water and had his second steel in the net.  Things went dead for a while and Scott switched to live minnows.  This proved to be the right move as both Scott and Steve took turns catching fish up until the time we left.  At one point it was a hookup every four casts or less with several doubles.

Steve’s First Steelhead

Scott’s First Steelhead of the Day

My contribution to the trip included one steelhead and a couple suckers.  I tried everything from egg patterns to minnow imitations but the steelhead (with the exception of one) just weren’t interested in my flies.  Although I didn’t have a great day catching fish on a personal level, it was a great time fishing with friends and sharing a first steelhead experience.  Congrats Steve!

My Big Catch of the Day – Sucker!

As the bait shop owner reported, the fish have been in the streams a while, and most had the cuts, sores, and scars to prove it.  Several of the hens caught were full of eggs and a couple were spawned out.  There were a few clean semi bright fish caught, but no chromers.

Train Crossing the Bridge While We Were Fishing

The cold was getting to me after a few hours, so I decided it was time to call it quits.  I went over to Trout Run to see if I could get a few photos of steelhead in this little stream.  Trout run is nursery water that is off limits to fishermen (except at the mouth of the stream in Lake Erie).  In the fall, Trout Run can literally be black with huge fish and can sometimes draw quite a crowd.  The following are a few pictures of my visit to Trout Run.

Trout Run Nursery Water

Enjoy the outdoors and be safe!

All the equipment, packed up and ready to go.

My shelter and all the equipment

This entry actually began the day before my trip to the lake.  My first trip of the year on the ice usually involves trying to gather all my equipment scattered from one end of the garage to the other… heater, ice fishing rods, tackle, auger, lantern, ice scoop, fold up chairs, and finally the ice fishing shelter.  After re-spooling my rods, spending a couple hours gathering my equipment, and making sure everything is in working order, I was finally ready to hit the hard water.

The next afternoon I arrived at the lake ready to lay full assault on the panfish.  My spot would be a trench along an island, in the stumps on Lake Wilhelm.  After drilling a couple trial holes to find the right depth (9 – 10 foot), I was settled in, optimistic for an evening of action.  Within the first hour, a couple of gentlemen came to my shanty to chat.  They had been at the lake all day and their report of so far had been that the action was slow.  This didn’t bother me as my best luck on this lake, usually came within the last two hours of the day.  We talked for about ½ hr about hunting and past ice fishing trips.  During that time, I did not have a bite.  As “prime time” rolled around, I had only caught 1 tiny perch.  As day light was fading the bite started, but unfortunately the fish were small and the bites were few.  As the last light faded, I decided to throw the white flag up and call it a day.  The final tally was 5 small bluegill and 2 baby perch.  It was time to break down and make the long trek back to my truck.

As I arrived back at the parking area, I had the chance to talk with three other fishermen out that night.  It turns out they didn’t do very well either, so I checked the trip up as a slow days fishing.  I would love all of my entry’s to contain big fish, bucks and turkeys, but this is not reality in my outdoors.  Any trip outdoors is a rewarding experience and worth sharing.

The interior of my ice shelter

The first time out on the ice is a special day every year.  The experience is different than any other outdoor venture I take part in.  It is a time to slow down, relax, and enjoy the outdoors… anything else (fish) is an added bonus.  Though I didn’t catch many fish, I got the opportunity to get out and enjoy the outdoors when many people are cooped up inside.  Because of this, there is no such thing as a bad day on the ice.

An entry in the 2008 PSP Ice Fishing Contest

The 2nd part of my journal entry involves the opportunity to participate in the Eastern Outdoor Show.  One of the highlights of the show was meeting the people who make this site possible.  I had the opportunity to meet Andy and though I didn’t get a chance to talk to him at length, I can tell you he is very passionate about this site and the outdoors.  I’ve grown up with Jason and enjoy every chance I get to spend time with him.  I had a great time putting faces with many of the names on this site and would like to welcome the new members.  I also had the chance to meet John Bulgrin of Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures (check out the outfitter directory in the forums on this site).  He is a good guy, and it was nice to put a face with the name I’ve heard so much about. If you get a chance, look through the archives on this site and check out the PSP coverage on the Outdoor Show.  As always, good luck in your outdoor ventures and most important, be safe.