June 23rd, 2008
By Arthur

I’m not sure why, but I have been thinking about this lately. Where would I go, if money was no object, for the hunting or fishing trip of my dreams? I have many places that come to mind, but which one would be my top pick if I could only choose one, and I didn’t have to worry about how much it costs. This is a hard one.

I would absolutely love to black bear hunt somewhere. I was thinking maybe up in Ontario, or somewhere in that general vicinity. Heck, I wouldn’t even mind a black bear hunt in Northern Michigan, but since this is about money being no object, I wanted to set my goal a little higher.

I would also love to hunt Elk out in New Mexico, or Colorado maybe. That would be an absolute blast. Jeff and I could take a week off of work and head out west and chase some bugling beasts. I can already see the nice 6 X 6 mounted on my wall. I’m not sure my walls are big enough, but hey we are dreaming here right?

I would also love to hunt grizzly somewhere. I’m not sure where to be honest, but Alaska always seem to come to mind. I would of course be using my bow. That would be so nerve racking and oh so beautiful all at the same time. Can you imagine coming to full draw on a grizzly at a mere 20yds? I think I might need to bring extra underclothes for that trip. That would be a hunt that confirmed I was definitely alive!

Now lets talk about fishing. My ultimate fishing dream trip is to land a salmon in Alaska. Actually, to be honest, I don’t even need to land a fish for this trip to be worthwhile. I just want to be fly fishing in Alaska somewhere. It doesn’t have to be great weather, and I don’t even have to catch a fish, I just want to see my fly line touch the water in an Alaskan stream. We have planned this trip a couple of times, but sometimes life gets in the way and prevents things from happening. With a little one on the way, and getting prepared for that, the Alaskan trip is postponed for now, but it will come back again. Maybe next year? Only time will tell.

So those are a few of my favorite hunting and/or fishing trips that I would love to go on. I would love to hear from all of you what your dream outdoor trip would be. It doesn’t even have to include hunting or fishing, but it does have to involve the outdoors. If you do pick a hunting or fishing trip, I would love to hear what weapon you would use as well. So, if money was no object, where would you go for your ultimate outdoor vacation?

Popularity: 26% [?]

June 15th, 2008
By Arthur

I didn’t get to check the trailcam, but I did manage to have a great outdoor-related weekend.

On Saturday night the wife and I headed over to her step-father’s private pond. A few years back they stocked the pond with bass and bluegill, and we finally decided to check it out and see how the fish were coming along. I had saw a few gills the last couple of years up on the beds, so I knew that they were doing pretty good, but I couldn’t have been more pleased with the fishing results we had.

The fish do need a few more years to grow, but if we pratice catch and release, we will have quite a fun little pond to fish. I didn’t have the line in the water for more than 10 seconds and I already had a bite. A few gills were almost keepers, but the bass still need a couple of years. We did catch one that might have been 8 inches or so, but it is going to take some time before they get big! I’m hear to tell you though, that I honestly didn’t care about the size of fish, what mattered most was that it was an awesome time. It is going to be a great little spot for the kids in our family, just simply because of the instant gratification. There is no waiting for fish to bite and that will keep the kids interested and coming back for more. I was a slacker and didn’t bring the camera with me on Saturday so hopefully I will have some pictures to share of the pond fishing soon. I just have to get the mother-in-law to send them to me this week.

We also found some time to practice with the bows on Father’s Day. My brother’s boys got in on the action as well and they both had bullseyes at 40yds. I know that looks like I’m crazy, but I am so not kidding. It was awesome and just goes to show you how far youth bows have come in the last few years. We would never allow them to shoot that far at a live animal, but for bragging purposes it was a lot of fun. I even got a mug shot of one of the boys after his bullseye, but I was a slacker and didn’t take a picture when the other one got his. Sorry Tyler G.

It was a great weekend all the way around, and we got to do quite a few things outdoors. I’m hoping to get to the trailcam at some point, but for now it will probably do some good to leave it in its current spot undisturbed for awhile. We could not have asked for a more perfect weekend and everybody had a really good time.

Popularity: 26% [?]

May 29th, 2008
By Arthur

Jeff ended up spending Memorial Day the way that I should have spent it…fishing! It was Jeff’s son’s birthday, and every year for his birthday his mom takes him down to Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Indiana. There are a number of these parks throughout the United States, and there are quite a few in Indiana as well. It made for a perfect setting for Jeff and his clan to get some fishing in.

Jeff and his fiance have 4 kids between the two of them, and Jeff managed to get all of them in on the fishing. One of the boys even managed to catch his first fish by himself. Apparently the park has their own private ponds, and they are well stocked with some hybrid bluegills, as well as bass, and an occasional catfish. My two year old niece even got in on the act as well, and even though her Dora pole was left at home, he still managed to talk her into catching a few fish.

I wish that I could say I was involved in this fishing adventure, but I wasn’t. The wife and I were slackers and decided to go to dog obedience instead (plus we weren’t invited like everyone else…haha..I had to get that one in Jeff). Hopefully, sometime in the future, we will have the opportunity to stay at one of these parks. They look like an absolute blast for kids as well as adults.

Man I want to go fishing!

Popularity: 29% [?]

May 23rd, 2008
By Arthur

Kristine posed a challenge to all of us bloggers, on the OBS blog a few days back, and I figure that it is about time that I got around to answering the call to that challenge. I’m going to address these particular issues over a couple of posts. This post will be part 1, and discuss the What Can We Do? portion of the challenge, and I will write a follow-up post next week that discusses the What Should We Do? portion of the challenge.

I think that all of us outdoor bloggers have a definite responsibility to help positively promote the hunting past-time that all of us love so much. I also think, we as outdoor bloggers, have a responsibility to protect all outdoor activities, including, but not limited to, fishing, hiking, canoeing, etc. If it involves being in the outdoors we have a responsibility, not only to promote it, but to protect it.

I wrote an article awhile back, that is posted on Associated Content, that covered a few of these particular issues. And even though I know I am cheating a little bit, I am going to refer back to them. Some might call it lazy, but since I already addressed these issues, it is much easier to reference what I’ve already wrote, rather than re-write them again. Also, by putting these ideas on this blog, they will reach a different audience, and thus help to promote the outdoors to another set of eyes and minds. That, in and of itself, will help to promote the very idea behind Kristine’s challenge.

I think that the first thing we bloggers need to do, in order to help protect our way of life, is to educate. Knowledge is power and by educating, not only ourselves, but also non-hunters, it will go along way to help promote our outdoor activities, and help to erase the negative spotlight put on these activities by groups such as PETA and the HSUS. By simply displaying our love for hunting, and writing about the things associated with it, in a down-to-earth manner, many people will be able to relate to our cause, and even though they may never hunt, they will be more educated about hunting and fishing, and more likely to support those activities.

The next important step that we bloggers can do is to be active. So many of us sit idly by while the anti-groups, such as PETA and the HSUS, defeat us. I can’t tell you how many hunters I have heard say “It doesn’t effect me, so why do I care?”. Well you should care, no matter if you are in California or northern Maine, because sooner or later the issue raised in the state that you didn’t care about, will be heading to your home state. You can guarantee that. Every hunter and fisherman out there needs to be actively involved in protecting their sport. How can you do this you ask? Here are a few ways that I outlined in my article:

It can be as simple as joining an organization that is on the positive side of hunting, or writing a letter to a newspaper explaining the positive things that come from hunting and conservation.

You might think you’re only one voice, but even if only one person reads your words, and it helps them to open their mind a little, the time it took to you to write the letter would be worth it. I think that even though we bloggers write posts on a regular basis about certain issues, that taking the time to write a letter to a newspaper, is a way for us to reach an entirely different audience. That is always a good thing.

The last thing I think us bloggers need to do, and one that Jeff and I take very seriously, is getting kids in the outdoors. We need to help the next generation get involved in the outdoors, and then feature those kids on our blogs. After all the kids our the hunting future, and the earlier we can get them involved in hunting and fishing, the better. To steal from my article again:

We also need to be actively involved in getting kids in the outdoors. This activity alone will go a long way in providing kids with a positive experience and help them to promote that love for the outdoors to future generations.

My words, and not only do I agree with them, I stand behind them, and actively strive to make them true. Jeff has gotten two of his step-kids involved in the outdoors in the last couple of years, and we also have given the bowhunting bug to our cousin Corrin, that many of you have seen featured on the site. Nothing is more pure for a youngster or a teenager than getting outside and appreciating what mother nature has to offer.

I think all of these things are great ways for us bloggers to help promote and protect our way of life, for us, as well as for future generations. I think these only scratch the surface of what we need to do, but I think they are the 3 main factors that I will be focusing on.

I will be writing the Part 2 of this post next week. Hope everyone will come on over and read that as well. This has been a great challenge posed by Kristine. I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s ideas as well.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend. Please do not forget what this weekend is all about!

Popularity: 31% [?]

May 12th, 2008
By Arthur

The weekend was a downer for outdoor plans. I guess it wasn’t a total bust, but my Mother’s day plans really didn’t go quite as well as I would have liked them too. I guess that is the way life works sometimes, and you just have to roll with the punches so to speak.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. It was in the high 60’s and absolutely beautiful outside. I took the dog out to let him run around and enjoy the nice weather. While he did that I sat on the porch and got my fishing poles around for our first fishing trip of the season that was planned for the next day. I put new line on my reels, made sure they were functioning as they should, got the tackle box around, and loaded it up with some new lures I got last year for Christmas, and just overall made sure I had everything ready for the next day’s fishing events.

So the next day comes (Mother’s day), and what does it do? Rain. All day! A little rain normally doesn’t keep me away from fishing, but this was the constant all day, accompanied with 20mph winds, rain. Not something I wanted to venture out in for my first fishing trip of the season.

The day wasn’t completely a bust though. Jeff got a little ingenuitive. We wanted to shoot our bows for the first time this year, and apparently with us not being able to fish, he was desperate. That made him, on the way out to our parents house, devise a plan that would still allow us to shoot the bows without getting wet. My parent’s polebarn has a sliding door at the back corner of it, so we sat a target out in lawn, 20yds in front of us, and shot from inside the pole barn through the door. What a brilliant idea from Jeff. It wasn’t quite like having a gorgeous day to shoot, and it limited the different shots we could take, but it still provided for some outdoor activities without getting drenched. We got all the boys, and Corrin, in on the act as well. It actually was a pretty good time.

So, hopefully we manage to get out fishing some night this week, and hopefully the rain finally holds off as well. If that doesn’t happen I am just going to focus my attention on the wife and I’s first camping trip this weekend.

Hopefully it doesn’t rain for that either!

Popularity: 30% [?]