I’m angry!  And that could be the main reason for this post.  I was going to write it last night, but I wanted to think on it for a night first and see if I still felt the same way in the morning……..and I do.

The long and short of this post is this:  It would be nice if some of our lawmakers, local authority figures, judges, and special interest groups didn’t worry so much about “endangered” wolves, lead in condors, Global Warming, and when and where we can carry a weapon, and maybe focused more on keeping those who break the law in confinement.

If they worried about this real issue, there is a certain possibility that tragedies such as this one wouldn’t happen.  It just makes me sick……and angry.  While all of these particular individuals and organizations are trying to find a way to make law-abiding citizen’s lives difficult by imposing unneeded and unwanted laws against them, monsters like the one connected to this story are still free to do as they please.

I pray for the family of this young girl; and as for her attacker, if he is proven guilty, I hope God has no mercy on his soul.

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This video features some highlights from a hunt that Jeff and his son, Tyler, went on last year.  They definitely have some close encounters, but you’ll have to watch to see if Tyler fills his tag or not.

I just love seeing the kids involved in the outdoors.  It’s too cool!

Click the picture to watch.

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Gas for the trip:  $50

Fishing License that was only good for 2 days:  $15

ORV Sticker that was only good for 2 days (after I lost it):  $16.25

Enduring the stress of driving 3 hours on ice-covered roads:  $0

My wife’s first fish through the ice and her biggest fish ever:  Priceless

This past weekend, the wife and I, along with a few members of the rest of our family, took a trip Up North and tried our luck ice fishing on Houghton Lake.  The drive up on Friday night was insane – we witnessed many cars in the ditch, and endured some treacherous road conditions – but everything cleared up on Saturday and it made for some decent ice fishing weather.

We were a little disheartened, however, when we arrived at the DNR launch and noticed the lot was empty.  In my experience, normally a place like this is empty because of one reason:  no fish.  After going through all the work of loading quads, and enduring the nasty drive on the way up, though, there was absolutely no way we weren’t going to at least try.

With quads and snowmobiles unloaded – all 10 of them – ice shanties hooked up and attached, and gear loaded into sleds, we were off.  The trip across the ice was pretty interesting, but uneventful, and the first spot we fished was uneventful as well.  After a little over an hour of not even feeling a fish, we ate some lunch and debated what to do with the rest of the day.

Finally, we all decided that we would head to an area that produced for us last summer.  After setting up in the area, it didn’t take long until a guy in a shanty near us had his tip-up flag raised.  We felt pretty good about the spot after that, and it wasn’t too long before Justin’s tip-up caught the first fish of the trip – a respectable pike.

I decided that, even though the wife and I were originally targeting bluegills, we would switch it up, put a pike minnow on our teardrops, and see what happens.  We had a few minutes of frustration, because of the lack of fish, but we just enjoyed the time outside and eventually the fish gods smiled down on our shanty.

After hours of waiting, I look over and notice the wife start to move a little bit; and then she – in the calmest voice I’ve ever heard – says, “I think I got something”.  A quick glance at her rod and I knew she definitely had something, but then the line appeared to go slack and I figured whatever it was was gone.  Upon reeling up her slack, however, the tug on the line was proof enough for me that something was, in fact, still there.  She stands up, continues to reel, and I just instinctively grab the line by hand as well, hoping to help pull whatever was on the line through the hole.  I was glad I did, too, because as soon as we got the 21 inch pike above the hole, the line promptly snapped in two and I had to pin him to the ice so that he couldn’t wiggle his way back into the hole.

It was a very cool experience, and provided the wife with, not only her first fish through the ice, but also her biggest fish ever.  We celebrated, screamed from the blind that we were on the board, and proceeded to take pictures.  And, as you can see from her pinky position in the picture, she wasn’t very fond of how slimy pike can be (I know Jody will appreciate the picture).  It sure made for some laughs later, though, when we went through the pictures from the day.

The weekend was awesome, and we all enjoyed our 7 hours on the ice.  A few of us managed to land some fish, all of us enjoyed the time spent outdoors, and getting outside always makes for a great day……….even if I did get out-fished by everyone, including the wife.

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This has been one exciting week here at SimplyOutdoors, and we just want to say thank you to everyone who has visited the blog, watched a video, left a comment, or all of the above.  The work involved to get the site to where it’s at, and the time spent to get the video project off the ground, is completely worth it when we know all of you are watching, reading, and interacting.  It’s awesome.

And, on another note:  If you haven’t heard yet, Elizabeth, from Deer Passion, welcomed her first little one into the world just recently.  If you haven’t been over to her blog to check out the cute little thing, you’re missing out.

Have a great weekend everyone.  And we should have another new video up early next week.

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We know we only unveiled our little project a few days ago, but since we received such enthusiasm from every one, we figured we’d keep right on rolling and put up another video for all of you to enjoy.

Sit back, relax, and watch as Justin and Jeff, finally, after a number of days, outwit a wary Southern Michigan gobbler.

This video is definitley proof that persistence can pay off.

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