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Well as the season winds down I figured I would take a minute to summarize this years hunt. First off having my boy who is 12 able to hunt with us made my hunt that much better to start with. Watching him shoot his birds was as much fun as bagging them myself. He definently caught the hunting bug big time. As far as bird numbers here in Utah I would say they were average to a little above. The weather didn’t copperate as much as we hoped but that isn’t suprising in our state. The big water we usually hunt froze up right around thanksgiving but some of the other bodies stayed a couple of weeks longer than that. All in all I think we had another great season and I am already looking forward to next season. Until next time don’t forget to lead them.

Travis

Well the season has been a pretty good one so far here in Utah. We have seen good bird numbers and have had some days when the weather was perfect for hunting. I would say so far that last years hunt was a little bit better than this years has been . As long as I see birds though I am happy to be out in the swamp. Most of our lakes have turned to ice in the last couple of weeks so around here that means that you just have to work harder to get where the birds are. I hope all your hunts have been as much fun as mine and I would like to wish every one happy holidays. Until next time don’t forget to lead em.

Travis

Well the waterfowl season finally kicked off in Utah Saturday the 29th with the annual youth hunt. In Utah  the saturday before the opener is a day just for kids 12 to 15 to hunt. My boy has been chomping at the bit to get out on this day and he wasn’t disapointed. It was a perfect waterfowl day with overcast skies and wind keeping the birds off of the main water and jumping the puddles. We set up over an opening we had hunted before. The boy made some great shots and ended up with 1 drake spooney, 1 drake greenwing, 2 hen greenwing, and 1 hen bluewing. Pretty respectable for a kid, we will see how he does when he has to compete for the shooting instead of getting it all himself. I think we will know next week. Until then dont forget to lead em

Travis

Well we made it back up to Strawberry reservoir for the second weekend of the bowhunt. When we hit camp we found that two of our buddies had filled thier tags one with a 4×4 the other a 2×2. Me and the boy set the tent up and hunted a bit but the boy definetly got spoiled because he got an offer to stay in a motorhome friday night and as I was telling him if he wanted to wimp out he could I turned around and he was gone with his sleeping bag. Anyway back to the hunting friday night all we saw were does and fawn and the same was true saturday. Sunday the rain started and didnt let up all day we went out that evening and the deer were all over even in the rain my buddy got a shot at a spike but missed. Then we decided to pack it in on account of thunderstorms. The boy and I went home that night but my friends that stayed said they had some excitement of a black bear roaming the camps that evening not sorry I missed that. We didnt get back out

last weekend because of other commitments but the camp got a spike elk, and another buck. Well until next time

Travis 

Well the hunts have officially started! Last Saturday the Archery deer hunt started in Utah. Me and the boy headed up early Friday we stayed in a friends trailer instead of our usual tent. I think it spoiled the boy. Saturday morning with a thumping head (one to may the night before) we went on the hunt we saw alot of wet does mostly with twin fawns but nothing but skinheads same thing that evening. Sunday morning I was feeling much better and it was a good thing because a couple of miles out of camp my boy spotted a nice little two point(that’s a 2×2 for you guys back east) about 49 yards away according to the rangefinder. I took a shot but it was low and that was the last time I saw that buck. We kept hunting and later found a decent 3 point standing just of the trail. my release got wrapped up on my arm and while I fixed it the buck trotted off. I followed and got a shot but had left my rangefinder and shot over his back into a tree. I’m getting ready to give it another go this weekend Ill let you know what happens.

Travis

 I finally after four long nickel and diming years got my hunting boat in the water. It has been quit the experience building my own hunting boat from almost the ground up. Let me explain, I have a 13 foot jon boat with a 25hp merc on it that I have rebuilt the interior and redesigned quit often(about every two years since I have owned it). After my buddy purchased a 18 foot seaark with a 115hp nissan on it I figured I was ready for a larger boat myself. While at Strawberry reservoir one day fishing we were talking to a friend of ours that runs the place and he mentioned that he had a couple of lowe roughnecks that leaked and he was willing to sell them for a good price. After looking at the boats I decided that this would be a great boat to start my project with. I got the money together and went and picked one up. Time to get to work we started by taking the center seat and the side control out, pulling the rib off of the bottom and rewelding the crack and welding the rib back on. The next step was to make the boat a center console which was easier than expected since I purchased a nice one on ebay so with a little aluminum plating to go under the console and a captain chair mount and a lot of welding later I had a center console boat. It was after this that I lost my job when the local steelmill closed its doors. Needless to say this put a halt to my boatbuilding endeavors. Well the next couple of years were pretty tough but I was able to purchase a 1987 force 85hp and a morse controller and installed them. Next came a new plywood floor with marine carpet, electrical,steering, ect ect. Talk about a labor of love this was tough time and money wise. After four years and more problems than I care to mention I finally got the boat on the lake and was happily surprised with the results. I won’t say it was a flawless voyage, but it was great to see that the engine ran great and the boat didn’t leak. I still have some work to do but I can see alight at the end of a long tunnel. If you are undertaking a boat project my advice to you is make sure you have the time money and patience for an endeavor like this. Until next time

Travis 

We got the boat out on one of the high country reservoirs the other day. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the fish weren’t biting contrary to the local reports. The morning was pretty calm so we tried trolling for cutthroat trout we caught a couple of small fish that we released and by around noon the fish had quit biting but the wind had picked up considerably. We found a protected bay and tried a little bait fishing I kept getting small bites and losing my bait when trying to set the hook. My pole got a hit so i reeled it in slowly and thought it was covered with moss but as I got it to the boat there were two crawdads clamped on my line. After this we were like a couple of kids trying to get crawdads in the boat but had no luck other than the first two. All in all it was a very relaxing day on the lake. Those two crawdads were the biggest ones I have ever caught at this lake.  Make sure to lead them.

Travis

Well it is warming up nicely here in Utah. Summer is just around the corner. Summer is a great time to get out and explore the outdoors with family and friends. It is not quite camping weather the high country still has a good amount of snow until mid June and it still gets very cold up there at night. Fishing has been very good on the local lakes I guess the trout are hungry after another long winter. It’s not even summer yet and I am already itching for the fall hunts (archery deer and waterfowl). I recieved my archery deer tag in the mail the other day guess it is time to get out scouting for the August hunt. Also time to get the boats out and see how the winter changed the local swamps landscape’s. I like to scout out new hunting spots all summer so I am familiar with the terrain once the hunt rolls around. I know alot of hunters who think that nothing changes from year to year and are left with subpar hunting once the season opens because of it. As always dont forget to lead em

Travis

Well last saturday I took my 11 year old boy rabbit hunting. In utah there are deserts on the west side of the state that hold a good share of wild jack rabbits. This wasn’t my sons first hunt, but he has only been on a handful that I have let him carry a weapon on. He was kind of discouraged on the results he was getting  with a 22 rifle so we decided that he could use a 12 gauge shot gun this hunt. I thought that he might be a little slow on the draw and before he knew it the jacks would be out of range. Well lets just say he proved me wrong by the last push on the way back to the truck he had his old man beat 3 jacks to 2 for me luckily he was to tired to carry the shotgun all the way back so I packed it for him and we flushed two more jacks that I proceeded to bag with the shotgun. So luckily I got to save face this way, but I found that that little guy can suprise me with his shooting ability and I am very excited to see how he handles buffleheads buzzing  the spread this fall. Well until next time.

Travis

I don’t consider myself a overly sentimental guy but I had a hunting buddy pass away recently. After the funeral I came home thinking of all the good times we had hunting together. I broke out my older hunting albums to look at the photos of our past hunts. I found myself laughing out loud by the memories that the pictures brought back to me. If I had one item to tell people to add to there hunting pack it would be a camera and to urge them to use it. You have photo memories of the rest of your life why not keep track of your hunt memories also. Until next time.

Travis