Showing posts with label Daffy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daffy. Show all posts
Monday, August 24, 2009
Shaping up to be a busy fall
I am starting to get really excited about this coming fall. I already have a two day fishing trip set up and a tentative one day small game trip.
If all goes as planned I will be heading up to the north shore area of Lake Superior. I am leaving the Saturday fallowing Memorial weekend for some trout fishing with my Father-in-law George & Brother-in-law Gary. I can’t wait; I haven’t been trout fishing since I lived in Idaho in over ten years. I know they have been doing this for a few years now, but I’m not sure how many. I was going to go last year, but, Wyatt was due to be born around that time.
I am also going to go small game hunting with my buddy Luke. I believe we are going to go mostly for ruffed grouse. I haven’t been out small game hunting since the fall of 2007 again because of the birth of my son. So this will be Daffy’s first official bird hunt. I hope the training I gave her last summer stuck. I guess I’ll find our around the 19th. Maybe I should give her a little refresher in the next couple of weeks. I’m getting butterflies in my stomach just writing about this stuff.
From what I have been reading lately it seems like we are going to have some luck on this hunt. The drum counts were way up this spring. Also when Luke and I were out turkey hunting this spring I couldn’t help but notice the grouse drumming all day long. This looks like a good time to hit up some of our old hunting grounds. We may even stop by my Grandparents house for huge lunch, and take a short nap (just like we use to do every fall). I can’t wait.
Ben G.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Have you ever found a nice place hunt, but can’t?
I have recently discovered a 30 acre plot I would love to hunt but can’t (ok I’ve known about it for a while). My Mom and Step Dad live in a neighborhood that has a 30 acre nature preserve for the residents to enjoy. I had been out on the preserve a few times in the past but just for short walks on the mowed trails. 
The view of the preserve from my Mom & Step Dad's DeckAs of late my Mom has been watching Wyatt and Daffy once every other week which allows Amber to go to work. Amber, Wyatt, and my self usually stay for supper that evening. We usually have to wait for my Step Dad to get home which is great. It gives me an hour or so to go out and explore the nature preserve with Daffy. I think Daffy enjoys the time out in the woods more then I do.
Here is the bummer, after getting this place all scoped out I would love to try and hunt it. There are tons of deer sign, lots of pheasants, and ducks. There is NO Hunting allowed on the Chatham Hills hunting preserve. It makes sense though because at any time someone could go walking out in the preserve just like I do with Daffy.
Proof to Ryan there are Buck out in the preserve
More ProofOne type of hunting they can’t stop me from doing is shed hunting. Even though I haven’t been very successful it’s still fun.
The Beavers have been busy
If you ever run into this scenario just do as I have been doing. Make the best of it and enjoy being outdoors. I guess I just cherish every chance I can get outside, and don’t necessarily need to be hunting, just out in the woods or on a lake. (Some times I even enjoy yard work don’t tell my wife though)
Ben G.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Six Feet High and Rising
Saturday afternoon I took the pup out for a walk at our favorite park. Wow was I surprised to see how high the Mississippi river was. The water came up to the edge of the parking lot. Just last weekend my family and I were at the rivers edge watching the ice chunks float by, and the river looked normal. I know I haven’t seen the river this high since I was a youngster living in Sauk Rapids.
Daffy and I took off through the woods on what was supposed to be a quick half hour to 45 min. walk. Little did the two of us know what was ahead of us? We saw some water here and there and eventually had to side track off of the trail to go around a rather large puddle. Actually, I think Daffy enjoyed the puddle. We made it around with no problems at all.
We kept walking until we came across this giant trail blocking puddle. I decided to go around this one too. To my surprise the water just kept going and going. There was no sign of the water even getting shallow enough to walk through. Daffy and I kept going trying to find a spot to cross. Eventually we ended up with water on three sides of us and no were else to go.
What you can’t see is the boat landing and probably about 6 to 8 foot drop in the shore line.
Daffy and I took off through the woods on what was supposed to be a quick half hour to 45 min. walk. Little did the two of us know what was ahead of us? We saw some water here and there and eventually had to side track off of the trail to go around a rather large puddle. Actually, I think Daffy enjoyed the puddle. We made it around with no problems at all.
We kept walking until we came across this giant trail blocking puddle. I decided to go around this one too. To my surprise the water just kept going and going. There was no sign of the water even getting shallow enough to walk through. Daffy and I kept going trying to find a spot to cross. Eventually we ended up with water on three sides of us and no were else to go.
Where do we go now?
Daffy and I had to back track and go out the woods the way we came in. Our little walk ended up taking us around an hour and a half, but we both enjoyed every minute of it.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Walk, Show, & Feed
Saturday was a busy day for me, but very enjoyable. The morning started out with everyone in a rush to get out the door. Amber and Wyatt were off to get pictures taken with a bunny and a lamb, and I was off with Daffy to get a good long walk in the park. After a nice long walk through the park Daffy and I hurried home so I didn’t miss my ride to the Northwest Sportshow. Lucky for me Luke was a bit behind seclude, so Daffy and I made it home with time to spare.
Luke showed up and we were off the Show. Surprisingly we didn’t have any trouble finding parking. It has been quite a while since I had been to this show and was very excited to get there and see all of the great stuff it had to offer. As we walked through the doors I was at once over whelmed by the amount of booths and people. After the St. Cloud show I guess I had expected something much smaller.
Luke and I wandered back and forth through the Iles and saw tons of resorts, outfitters, game farms, sporting goods stores, and some other miscellaneous stuff. We stopped by some booths, chatted with some of the outfitters, and checked out a couple of guns. There were also lots of impressive Deer, Elk and Moose mounts along with lots and lots of huge Muskie mounts.Time just flew by and three hours later it seemed as though we had just gotten to the show.
When we got to the last booth we both looked at each other and said, “Is that it”. Not saying the show wasn’t huge and didn't have a ton of exhibiters, but we both expected to see some sort of new equipment, something that made us go ”Wow I want one of those”.
We decided to grab one of the maps and see if we had missed any thing, and to our surprise we had miss one very important room. It was the wild turkey room. As most of you know I am going turkey hunting this spring and Luke is going with me. Now very excited we headed toward the turkey room. As we walked trough the doors I was very disappointed there were only about five booths. After that we called it a day and headed home.
When I got home I had about an hour until I was off to a game feed, put on by my brother-in-law Matt’s church and two other churches. I had a wonderful time and eat way too much. The menu was as fallows Bacon Duck Wraps, Cheesy Goose, Deep Fried Fish, Buffalo Sloppy Joe’s, Antelope Chili, Pheasant Chili, Venison Meatballs, Venison Roast, and lots of bars and cookies. Oh there were also some veggies. They raffled off lots of prizes like fishing rods, DVD’s, hats, and Knives. Speaking of knives the featured speaker was Chuck Buck of Buck Knives. He gave a great speech and had the crowd laughing and cheering for him a couple of time. I learned a lot about his company and the charity work they do. The one thing that really stood out to me was that Buck Knives moved from California to Idaho (tax reasons), and with in the next two years they will be making all of their products in the U.S.A., and not in China. Chuck seems like a great person, and he runs a great company.
Luke showed up and we were off the Show. Surprisingly we didn’t have any trouble finding parking. It has been quite a while since I had been to this show and was very excited to get there and see all of the great stuff it had to offer. As we walked through the doors I was at once over whelmed by the amount of booths and people. After the St. Cloud show I guess I had expected something much smaller.
Luke and I wandered back and forth through the Iles and saw tons of resorts, outfitters, game farms, sporting goods stores, and some other miscellaneous stuff. We stopped by some booths, chatted with some of the outfitters, and checked out a couple of guns. There were also lots of impressive Deer, Elk and Moose mounts along with lots and lots of huge Muskie mounts.Time just flew by and three hours later it seemed as though we had just gotten to the show.
When we got to the last booth we both looked at each other and said, “Is that it”. Not saying the show wasn’t huge and didn't have a ton of exhibiters, but we both expected to see some sort of new equipment, something that made us go ”Wow I want one of those”.
We decided to grab one of the maps and see if we had missed any thing, and to our surprise we had miss one very important room. It was the wild turkey room. As most of you know I am going turkey hunting this spring and Luke is going with me. Now very excited we headed toward the turkey room. As we walked trough the doors I was very disappointed there were only about five booths. After that we called it a day and headed home.
When I got home I had about an hour until I was off to a game feed, put on by my brother-in-law Matt’s church and two other churches. I had a wonderful time and eat way too much. The menu was as fallows Bacon Duck Wraps, Cheesy Goose, Deep Fried Fish, Buffalo Sloppy Joe’s, Antelope Chili, Pheasant Chili, Venison Meatballs, Venison Roast, and lots of bars and cookies. Oh there were also some veggies. They raffled off lots of prizes like fishing rods, DVD’s, hats, and Knives. Speaking of knives the featured speaker was Chuck Buck of Buck Knives. He gave a great speech and had the crowd laughing and cheering for him a couple of time. I learned a lot about his company and the charity work they do. The one thing that really stood out to me was that Buck Knives moved from California to Idaho (tax reasons), and with in the next two years they will be making all of their products in the U.S.A., and not in China. Chuck seems like a great person, and he runs a great company.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Scouting for Turkeys
Saturday I went out scouting for my May turkey hunt. It might be a little early, but why not use the snow to my advantage. Daffy and I jumped in the car and headed to the Sand Dunes State Forest to see if we could find any sign of turkeys.
Stop one looked really promising. First of all it had a great parking spot, so we didn’t have to park on the side of the road. All pumped up I got every thing ready to go and got Daffy out of her kennel and we were off to find turkeys. We were only about 300 yards away from the parking lot when I discovered this place was no good. It was a very small portion of the forest and a river was blocking us from going any where else. I decided it was time to go back to the car and find a new spot.
We drove around and found another great spot, a dead end, with a cul de-sac for a parking lot. I was pretty disappointed when I saw a couple of horse trailers, horses and some dogs running around. I decide to move on and find a new spot.
Spot three looked really great. A nice long road to walk on, off road parking, a large field filled with saplings, and a giant forest. Daffy and I were off and determined to find some sign of turkeys. We walked not even 100 yards and I slipped on some Ice and fell. Now I’m thinking great what a crappy day no luck in our first two spots, and I just fell and got all wet. Lucky for me Daffy was eager to continue our search and the look on her face inspired me to keep going. With nothing more then a bit of lost pride, a wet glove and pant leg we went on. After walking down the road for another quarter mile or so we went into the woods. We walked the woods for an hour or so we and didn’t find a thing other then knee deep snow and one fresh deer bed.
Where I fell on the Ice
Daffy is a great helper 
Deer Bed
On the way back to the car we ran into a very nice man named Tom H. (I can’t remember his last name). He lived across the county road from the state forest and walked the forest road we were on just about every day. After chatting for about 20 minutes, Tom gave me some good info. Tom said “He very rarely sees turkeys along the forest road”. Now more bummed then ever, Daffy and I headed for the car, hopped in, and were off to find our next spot.
The forest road where we met Tom
After driving for about a half an hour I finally found the last spot we were going to be able to check out for the day. We walked for no more then 10 minutes and saw a set of turkey tracks (woo hoo!). I thought to my self, “after all of the crap we went through today we did it”. Daffy and I fallowed the tracks for almost an hour. Along the way we found a bunch more tracks, and I had a turkey answer my calls a couple of times. Then we found what looked to be a roosting spot, and couple of promising fields to set up and to shoot a turkey in May. After Daffy and I found the fields we went back to the car and called it a day.
Fist Turkey Track
Turkey tracks every where
Roost?
Droppings under Roost
The most promising of the two fields
Daffy on the way back to the car at the end of the day
Lessons learned Saturday, persistence pays off, get a map, talk to who ever you can they always have some advice, scouting for turkeys is fun, Daffy blends in with the snow really well, snow shoes would have helped out a lot, ice is slippery, I will have to do some more scouting, sometimes dumb luck is the best luck.
Ben G.
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Friday, March 6, 2009
Wonderful Photo
I know this really doesn't have much to do with the outdoors, but I just had to post it. I came up the stairs last night to see My wife Amber, Son Wyatt, and Pup Daffy all sitting just like this. I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo.Enjoy
Ben G.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Long Walks
My Son Wyatt Ryan and Pup Daffodil
Fortunately for me we live only about a half mile from Montissippi a rather large county park. It has very nice paved and unpaved walking/bike paths. They all twist and turn about in a large pine forest and along side the Mississippi river.
Sometimes it’s nice to just go wander through the woods and see what animals Daffy can find. Rabbits, Pheasants, and Deer are the most common animals we run across. When we do run across an animal Daffy usually freezes, straightens up her stubby tail and lifts up one of her front legs like a good Brittany should. Then we both wait to see what the animal will do. I usually make a move first and the Deer or other animals run.
Other days it’s nice to stay on the paved trails so Daffy can meet other dogs and people. I don’t know what it is with her and kids, but she just goes crazy for them. Daffy just loves to meet everyone.
Daffy loves it on a hot summer day when I take her down to the river and let her cool off and get a drink. For some reason I always seem to get just as soaked as she does. I can’t figure that one out.
These walks are great for clearing my head of the every day rigmarole and getting back to nature. They are also great exercise for Daffy and my self.
If you get a chance take a walk in your local county park you might find you enjoy it more then you think.
Ben G.
One of my favorite pass times other then hunting, and spending time with my wife and son is going on long walks with my dog Daffodil (aka Daffy). Weather it’s a brisk winter morning or a warm summer afternoon I always enjoy just being out in the woods.
Fortunately for me we live only about a half mile from Montissippi a rather large county park. It has very nice paved and unpaved walking/bike paths. They all twist and turn about in a large pine forest and along side the Mississippi river.
Sometimes it’s nice to just go wander through the woods and see what animals Daffy can find. Rabbits, Pheasants, and Deer are the most common animals we run across. When we do run across an animal Daffy usually freezes, straightens up her stubby tail and lifts up one of her front legs like a good Brittany should. Then we both wait to see what the animal will do. I usually make a move first and the Deer or other animals run.
Other days it’s nice to stay on the paved trails so Daffy can meet other dogs and people. I don’t know what it is with her and kids, but she just goes crazy for them. Daffy just loves to meet everyone.
Another cool thing to see when we walk the paved trails is the model air planes flying around. It just so happens there is model air plane field (airport) right next to the park.
Daffy loves it on a hot summer day when I take her down to the river and let her cool off and get a drink. For some reason I always seem to get just as soaked as she does. I can’t figure that one out.
These walks are great for clearing my head of the every day rigmarole and getting back to nature. They are also great exercise for Daffy and my self.
If you get a chance take a walk in your local county park you might find you enjoy it more then you think.
Back soon
Ben G.
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