$100.00 Richer

That's right $100.00 richer just for shooting a duck! The other day I shot a double banded Mallard Drake one band is to identify where it came from the other is a reward band. You can learn more about it here.

Notice the bands on it legs

In total we shot 19 ducks that day it was a good day of shooting. We should have shot a limit of 21 but time ran out.

11 Mallards 5 Pintail

3 Greenwing Teal

New gun

So over the weekend as we traversed the country side I was able to acquire a new firearm. I bought a nice new Bushmaster Varminter (its an AR-15) from my cousin. Its a sweet gun and was a great deal. I feel as though I should give a little shout out to my sweet wife who though not to sure about me getting a new gun didn't give to hard of a time about it.

You know the thing about guns in my life is I like them, some people like cars some books I myself guns. I have a few probably more than I need but not as many as I want. Once in a class that was way super boring I made two lists the first guns I had shot, probably a longer list than you think the second though was really long and that was a list of guns to own. So far I am doing pretty good I try for at least one new one a year.

Here's the other thing about guns I can still remember the day I got my first gun it was a Harrington & Richards 20gauge we affectionately named the mule kicker, killed my first duck and pheasant with it. The second gun was a Remington 870 the third a Remington Speed master .22lr. I can remember all of them, can tell you were I got them, how I got them, why I got them. And the thing is when I got this gun on Friday night I was just as excited as when I got that 870 for my birthday almost 20yrs ago or the H&R longer ago than that. In my life there is almost, almost nothing better than a new gun.

Another thing that comes to mind is gun control I pay a lot of attention these days to politics. I didn't use to but as I get older and start to realize some of the things that go on in this nation the more it worries me. Anyway there are a lot of people out there that think I don't need my guns and that guns are dangerous, and you know what they are but so is your car. My favorite thing is good old Ted Kennedy, his car has killed more people than my guns! Then there's Larry the Cable Guys nice saying blaming a gun for killing a person is like blaming a pencil for misspelling a word both are an inanimate objects used by people to complete a task if I really want to write some thing down but have no pencil I will find something else like a pen or a marker, get my point? here's another thing to think about we have been counseled to have a food storage. One day I was talking to a friend about that at the time we had no storage room so we didn't have much so he says to me I have the food you have the guns come over we'll make it together. The point is I might not have a food storage but you do, do you have a way to defend it? Again guns are not bad there tools and just like all tools can be used for good or bad.

Anyway enough of the rant I just wanted to share my excitement I am going to take a scope off of a different rifle and put it on this one so I can shoot it tomorrow it will be so much fun! I am going to say 5 shoot group under an inch. It will be awesome!

BowFishing Fun!

So in the past week I have been Bow Fishing 3 times. For those of you not familiar with this wonderfully fun way of fishing here is a small break down of it. First you take a Bow any old bow will do then you attach a reel some how. I personally like The AMS Retriever. Add an arrow and and your ready to go. Next find some place with some shallow water and a lot of carp, and start shooting.

Here's the thing with bow fishing, carp are nasty fish, so you shoot them then throw them back to die. Some times I will admit to feeling a little wasteful I was raised if you kill it you eat it. But also for my whole life that rule never seemed to apply to carp fishing. Also the small guilt I feel goes away pretty quick with the great fun it is.

So here is a small picture of a bow fishing adventure. In this picture are two carp the great thing about these carp is that I shot them both at the same time with one shot it was awesome!

So if you ever get up this way in the heat of the summer bring a bow and get ready to shoot till your arms hurt.

First fishing trip of the year!

Well yesterday myself and a friend went out and tried to catch a keeper Sturgeon. When we left the marina it was rainy and windy and cold. At first we had to battle the wind to keep the boat from swinging back and forth moving our bait all over. But as luck would have it the skies cleared the wind stopped and the sun came out for about 3hrs it was wonderful.

We didn't catch anything not even a bite. But it was still nice to be out on the river fishing. I read an article not to long ago that talked about the different stages a hunter goes through and I think its the same for fishermen. The first is you just want to kill/catch something you don't care what. the second is personal best, trophy/limit. Third would be specific hunting an example of that would be it will only count if I shoot a limit of ducks all drakes and with 10 or less shots. And lastly is your just glad to be out there it doesn't matter what you get how you get it or even if you get anything, its just nice to be out hunt/fishing. I hunt with two guys like this its kinda funny to me but pretty cool to. I think I fall into different categories for different things such as Duck hunting I am to the specific hunting stage. Deer hunting I am at the first stage (been along time since I got a deer).
Fishing I am either third or forth depending on the day. I love being on the river. Taking out the boat putting in my headphones and just fishing along. But I do have a few goals for fishing still. Last year I caught an 8'6" sturgeon fulfilling an old goal to catch a fish bigger than me, now I want a 10+ foot sturgeon. As for bass fishing I want the Oregon small mouth record 8lbs 12oz.
But if I don't get those or shoot anything again for another year well I guess I will just have to settle for having a good time.

Pink Ice

Pink Ice

Well this is from a couple of weeks ago and again it doesn't have to do with hunting or fishing but it is a sporting event which is a manly event and it was for a good cause. We along with the Harpers went to the Tri-city Americans hockey game. It was Breast Cancer Awareness Night, therefor everything was pink even the ice.

It was a pretty cool night it got started off right with some Mongolian BBQ then to the game. At the start of course they have the Canadian and American national anthem, OK you say whats so special about that? Well it was played by a younger girl probably 10-12yrs old. She played both on the violin and it was awesome! She played the songs perfectly, one thing that I liked about it was that she played them the way they are suppose to be played she didn't embellish any or add her own little flair she just played the song and let it speak for its self, beautiful absolutely(said with a Rocky accent) beautiful.

I was all excited to try and get a game jersey they were black and pink and pretty cool looking. So I am thinking well I will bid on one and hope for the best, all the money went to Susan G. Komen so it was for a good cause. Well I didn't even bid opening bid was $250.00, more than this boy has! Closing bids all went for $750.00+, I understand. A quick question who has that kind of money? I was a little conflicted all the money went to a good cause so you would like them to make a lot but man it would be nice to make it so the little guy could get one.

Anyway a good game the Am's lost but the hockey was good and yes there was a couple of fights, which I feel we won.

Nice picture Kim!

Super Bowl party!

So the Superbowl was yesterday the Cardinals vs. the Steelers. It was a good game, at first it looked to be a blow out but the Cards came back and made a good game of it. My opinion the better team won but the Refs got a little to involved for my liking it was starting to look like Super Bowl XL all over again. The officials made some calls that I thought were marginal at best in the Steelers favor. Especially at the very end the fumble by Warner should have been reviewed, it was not a fumble sports fans the arm was moving forward!

But now for the more important part, the party, we had the Gonzalez family, Harris family. and the Harper family over. What a house full, the Harris's have 3 boys plus the Harper's 2 and lastly our 2 made for a lot of crazy kids running around and poor Adina very out numbered! We had a dang good time though and a lot of food I smoked a 16lbs brisket which turned out great and we made famous aunt Cathy BB Que sauce. Others brought lots of good stuff and everyone left stuffed.

So a good Super Bowl Party, good game, good food, and good friends what more could you ask for.

Last minute Suzie!

So the hunting season came to and end! After 4 months of hunting various things its over for another year.

The last day of duck season with about 2-3 minutes left of shooting light I was sitting in a layout blind watching 1,000's of ducks circling the field I was laying in, just out of range! Finally I decide I had to at least shoot one last time before closing time so I jumped out picked out a duck led it pretty far and pulled the trigger! down she came a hen Mallard. That was the last shot I fired for the season as time had ran out. It was a good season, I forgot how much fun duck and goose hunting could be. There was some pretty cold days and some days of not shooting anything but there was also some days of good friends and limits! So to the '08-'09 season I bid thee adieu.

Let the FISHING begin!

I need one of these!

A few weeks ago I was out for a morning hunt at the Umatilla Wildlife Refuge and was the last pick to get a blind. Most of the blinds were taken even my favorite standby blind that no one ever takes! So I am standing there trying to decide where to go and another gentleman shows up and says he wants to go to a blind and asks if I would like to join him, well since I can't decide where to go I say sure why not. We get out to the blind and he busts out a sweet Cabelas game cart on which we put everything we needed. It worked like a charm and was the easiest I had had it all season. So for next year its on my list! Oh and we took 6 ducks and two geese not a great day but a pretty good one none the less.

Me pulling the decoys and Ducks out

Part of the Decoy Spread

So lets go!

Well I figured I would give this blog thing a try. Basically to share all the hunting and fishing adventures myself, Gunnar and friends go on. Should be interesting anyway and in the words of the Zohan "so lets go"