December break

December was a slow month for me heading out into the outdoors.  It was mostly made up of school programs, holiday parties, and Christmas...but most of all spending time with the family.  I was lucky enough to have a week off during Thanksgiving in which I spent some time with the family, and also another week off during Christmas.  It's nice having a break and just hanging out with the kiddos and wife and doing things.  2014 is a new year...hopefully a year I'll be getting out more and doing different things, whether it's on my own or taking some family members in tow.  Hope everyone has a great new year!

November whitetails

Hunting whitetails in November is one of the funnest thing there is to do when they are in the rut.  They weren't quite in it yet when we were hunting as the cold snap hadn't quite come along yet or any snow had hit the ground at the elevation we were hunting.  We had a good time though in the few days that we spent hunting.  At least my daughter got a little look at how hunting whitetails is different then hunting muleys.

We were glassing a little basin and what came out of the brush...my dad coming down over the hill.

She was pretty amused at seeing this cause she was watching for deer.  I'm thinking some blaze orange might be in order with all the crazies out there hunting the rut.

Picture of my daughter and her old man.

Nice view of the Seven Devils off in the distance.

Youth pheasant time

Heading out for a youth pheasant hunt is always exciting.  It's enjoyable to be behind the camera and just be along for the ride rather then being the one in the driver's seat.  As you will see by the pictures we hit a lot of cover but the pheasants were on the run and didn't want to get up and fly.  We had a great time though as usual, just being outside and hunting.

One thing I'm thankful for is a dog that doesn't mind getting into the deep cover to find birds.  I've seen a lot of dogs that are too lazy to get down there and work the heavy stuff.

A month of doves

This month was one of the better months I've had for doves.  I got some decoys last year and had the chance to really put them to use this year, and got some tremendous results.  One of the best things I like about dove hunting is that it is close to home so that makes it easy to run out after work or even in the morning before work.  Another great thing is that my kids love dove hunting, it's warm out, they get to sit, and they can talk and move around a little without fear of scaring everything away.

My oldest daughter was even able to shoot her first dove this season.

I found a cool branch to put my decoys out on, and it seems to me that doves aren't really too picky.  They see a bunch of other doves and they want to hang out with them.  Good for us, bad for them.

Time to hit the woods

It seems like it's been forever but the grouse opener finally came and I found myself heading to the mountains, but not till after I went out and shot some clay's.  Lucky for me my son was more then willing to come help me out.

We made our way up north into the area I had deer hunted last fall.  I had seen a lot of grouse up there while hunting so I figured it was a good place to start.  First we had to make a stop though and my daughter gave this guy some much needed loving.

It wasn't long before we saw one of our quarry on the side of the road, I didn't even notice it till I had already passed it, so I stopped and snapped a picture.  I probably could have walked right up to him...or her I guess, and petted it, crazy things.

We ran into this huge bee nest while we were out and about.  This is about as close as I dared get to it.  When I zoomed in I could see plenty of active bees around it.

My daughter was quite the trooper, I let her pack the gun around for a while.

We ran into this guy while crossing a stream.  It's called a Rubber Boa, and apparently they are rare to see out in the wild, and completely harmless.  I actually started to reach down and grab it because I seriously thought it was a piece of rubber or plastic.

Break time for us, and time for a selfie with my pooch.

As we headed back out that evening we ended up with two birds in the bag.  We also ran into this guy again, but this time he was out of the fence and on the road so I pulled up and gave him some attention.

See ya next time donkey...

Why are you trashing your public lands?

I have a membership at a range but sometimes because of work and family obligations I just don't have the time to be able to make it out there so I use the next best thing...the public land north of where I live.  Recently I went out there with my older girls to shoot some trap.  Out of the many questions that were asked me, the one that really stood out to me was "why doesn't anyone else pick up their shells?"  The question was an easy one to answer, "they were lazy, and have no respect for public lands."

It's a terrible tragedy to watch our public lands get abused by individuals that obviously have no respect for something that belongs to all of us.  Everyone pays to be able to use these lands...they are ours.  So why do people trash them?  Luckily I don't have the answer, because if I did then that would mean I somehow share the same thought pattern as those types of individuals.

So what can I do to try and install some values into my own kids so they don't show the same blatant disregard for our lands that these others have?  The first thing that comes to mind is lets show some responsibility on our part and just pick up the trash.  So that's what we did.  We grabbed some garbage bags and headed out there one night and just started picking it up.  We worked hard for a few hours and we made somewhat of a dent, but with the amount of garbage out there it will take multiple trips.  We focused this time just on shells...and we got a bunch.

This doesn't look like a lot but this pile of shells in my garbage can is about a foot deep.  The kids never complained once.  They've been out here a few times shooting with me and just like me they want to have a clean and safe area to do it.  I'm proud of them, and I know that even though it was a simple thing to do...it taught them a very valuable lesson that more than likely will be a part of who they are, and how they act for the rest of their lives.

Natalie's first catfish

It was hot as hell but my daughter and I were determined to go do some cat fishing.  It was over 100 degrees when we got to the Snake River around 7:30pm and the sweat was dripping off us just standing around.  The water level was down a lot more then the last time I had been in this spot a few weeks previous.  I had caught some cats here last time I was here so I knew they were in here...unlike the previous place I had gone with my dad when he was down for Father's Day.

The first place we set up at didn't yield any strikes.  We were using some herring bait that we had gotten at the store.  It worked ok last time we used it, but for some reason it wasn't being productive this time.  So we decided to move up shore about 25 yards and try it out.

I also decided to try something new...I had bought some bait hooks and some dipping bait the last time I was at Cabela's.  This stuff is some serious nasty, disgusting, sticking, stinky stuff, so in theory it should be exactly what I need!  I was skeptical of course because it was something new, but I'm always willing to give something a chance cause really...you just never know!

We had three poles out, and I only put this stuff on one of them.  It wasn't five minutes before I got a strike on it and hauled in a smaller cat.  I still wasn't a believer, it could have been luck that there was a fish right were I had thrown out.  So I baited back up and threw it out.  Within 15 minutes there was another one on.  This time I let my daughter get it.  This bad boy was really giving her a run for it, and this was her first cat she's ever tried reeling in.  It took her a little while to get it in, but it was worth it.  She was so excited, smiling ear to ear.

We ended up baiting up the rest of the poles and caught some more cats throughout the night.  I can say without a doubt that this bait dipping works!

Father's Day fishing

My dad came down Father's Day weekend so we decided to go try some cat fishing on the Snake River.  We went to a new spot that I hadn't been before...and more then likely won't go again.  I guess you just never know until you try though.

I found a monster crayfish that had washed up on shore.  The kids thought it was pretty cool as they didn't know those were cruising around in the river.

My daughter found a multi-tool on the shore which was pretty cool.  This is the second one I've found in a month.

I wasn't too impressed with this area.  At first I thought it might have been pretty productive as I thought I was getting some tugs on my line but it turned out to be the weeds building up out on the line and when it got to be too heavy it started putting a lot of strain on the line...which imitated the tugging.  It was a good lesson learned, and also disappointing.

Even though we weren't getting any action on the poles we had a good time just hanging out and watching the carp rolling and listening to the bullfrogs grunting.

Till well into the night when the kids starting zonking out.  Not even one fish this night...but that's why they call it fishing, not catching.