Fishing' Time!

For the first time this season I was able to catch up with one of my good friends and hit the water. Everyone has a "honey hole" that is their go to spot and we are no different! So finally on the 20th of June we made it out!

My first decent catch was a 12" Crappie. I was fishing for bluegill to take home and put on the wall and this guy came out of the water instead, not a bad way to start!

The winds finally settled down and I was able to land a couple decent bass, this one being of the 16" variety. It was nice to hear my reel work for the first time in a long time! I was fishing a 6" Pumpkin Seed Power Worm very slowly off the bottom and that proved to be the most effective way to entice bass in the later hours.

All good things must come to an end! As you know, 3 hours in the water often feels like 15 minutes and last night was no different. Zach and I were able to land several Bass, Bluegills, and one nice Crappie. Thankful for the time on the water and looking forward to doing it again soon!

Next week I will be sharing the first pictures off of my game cam. The deer are finally starting to show up! Even while I was in the boat enjoying the fishing my thoughts kept turning to the fall and deer hunting...it will be here soon enough!

Deer Feeder Part 2

Well, we finally moved our deer feeder into place this last weekend and set camera #1 out as well. This weekend we will be setting out a second camera out by our Trophy Rock. FYI, I will NEVER buy anything other than a Trophy Rock moving forward, the Bucks have already started to hammer it!

First things first....the bugs were out in full force so we sprayed down a couple home-made nets and put them on my kids before heading out into the woods and they worked great. No bites!

We picked out a flat spot down in one of the heavier traveled spots on our property by a creek with plenty of cover and water and set it up.

To level it off we set the legs into the holes of 3 bricks and tied them to a tent spike for extra stability.

 The whole process only took about 30 minutes and before we knew it we were testing the sprayer and it worked great. I was a little surprised by how far the corn flew so I cleared a pretty big area, put up the camera, and we were  good to go.

I am looking forward to seeing how the deer respond to the different attractants (shelled corn vs. the trophy rock) and to analyze what deer are moving where. We have already seen 3-4 bucks almost on a nightly basis on the trophy rock, so we will see if they venture down to take advantage of the shelled corn.

I always love seeing what is moving out in the woods and we will keep you posted in the coming weeks. As always, we appreciate your support and would love to have you list your outdoors items no longer being utilized at ourdoorsmanswap.com and tell those in your circles about the site as well!

Until next time, just get out there!

Nebraska Turkey Hunting at it's Finest!!

I had the most enjoyable hunt of my life this past weekend! Don't get me wrong, I've had some wonderful hunting trips: Deer hunting in Southern Iowa, Pheasant Hunting in South Dakota, and a previous Turkey hunting trip to Nebraska, but this one was special! Remember; it's not what your hunting, it's who you are hunting with! Both my sons (Hayden 6 & Hudson 4) were both with me and were able to watch several different birds up close from our blind with me and their grandpa.

We arrived at our cabin on Saturday evening and immediately headed out to the blind with my sons.

Our great host had turned several old water tanks into blinds, a  cheap way to make a very roomy blind. Within 15 minutes we had three Toms' headed our way. I took a long shot because we had two tags and missed, but things would take a turn for the better in the morning.

Towards the right of the picture you can see the "tank" I would be sitting in. There were several birds roosted 50 yards away in some old Cottonwood trees. Right at first light there were gobbles all around and for the first time in my life I was able to watch several birds fly down from the roost.

Around 15 minutes after sun up 6-8 hens went streaming by my blind (around 5 yards away) and I was starting to think this was a girls' only party. But finally a Tom came struttin' by around 10 yards away and as soon as he poked his head from behind the tree it was game over!

My sons (and dad) were pumped! This was their first opportunity to come along for a Turkey hunt and they loved it! It's not just the hunting of-course that makes trips like this memorable.

Playing Monopoly, eating Oreo's for breakfast, tromping' around the woods with their dad and grandpa and seeing a different part of God's creation are all things that make this my favorite hunt of all time and I'm sure theirs as well. Just a little reminder: Don't lose your patience with your young hunters! You want this to be an enjoyable time for them so they will want to go out again! Plain for shorter times in the blind, bring snacks and things for them to do and don't forget to tell them how thankful you are they came with you.

I've already booked our trip for next year and will be counting down the days, starting today. After this trip.....I can honestly say I would rather call in a big Tom that shoot a nice buck with my bow......don't knock it until you try it!

Until next time, get out there and experience first hand that creation really is "declaring the Glory of God" and enjoy it with someone you love!

Dear hunting prep starts now!

Well, it's hard to believe but it has already been almost 5 months since my last bow hunt. While it was memorable, it wasn't something I want to have repeated in 2013. To avoid a "buck skunk" for next fall my prep starts right now. It actually started the day last season ended; checking game cams for movement, shed hunting, talking with local farmers (aka my Grandpa) for movement and ideas for next fall.

This year we are moving two of our semi-permanent stands this spring as well as setting up two deer feeders, the first of which is pictured below.

It's a 200 lb. automatic wild game feeder. Nothing crazy, we purchased it at Wal-Mart (along with several other clearance items) for only $50. As you can see, I had all the help I needed, we just needed to put it together.

It's been said "you get what you pay for" but this really is a slick unit. It is raccoon proof, and is put together really well. There was only one problem and dad and I fixed that: The Tripod legs had no screws/hinge-pins to hold them in place, just gravity.

We just added a few screws and dad even made some home-made pins to secure the legs into place. This feeder is now built to last. We could have added another section of legs, but it will already be a challenge to add corn at this height, so we passed.

Last: Location. The deer had started to take to a different north/south trail last fall, especially during the height of the rut. So we are placing the feeder just a few yards off an east/west fence line and this north/south trail. Unfortunately, we were a little distracted by the rocks and the water and we will have to wait until next week to set it up and put our newest camera in place as well.

Until then, grab your family, friends, and really anyone willing to lend a hand and GET OUT THERE and get a jump start on next years deer hunt!

Good luck with your 2013 Turkey Hunts! Please post pics to our outdoorsmanswap facebook page! We would also appreciate you listing items at outdoorsmanswap.com!

Pella Wildlife Company

Cabin fever had officially gone to the next level with my kids so this past weekend we went to Merle Hay Mall here in Des Moines and visited the Pella Wildlife Company. They have a large space inside the mall on the second level completely devoted to wildlife and my kids really enjoy visiting it and I wanted to let you all know about it as well.

They have wolves, a Mt. Lion, a coyote, two black bears, a Lynx, Bobcat, and a few other animals that are all easily viewed in their wire cages. You can ask them as many questions as you want, and several times a day they bring out some of the animals for pictures and for petting (even the skunk).

These young black bears were small cubs this past year and my kids and I were able to help feed them and pet them, it was great! The other bonus is that it is only $1 per person to get in and you can stay as long as you want.

Trust me, Avlyn enjoyed it more than she is letting on! If you are a trapper they have all kinds of furs for you to look through as well, but my family and I were fascinated with the black bears. If you are looking for a cheap way to see some wild life up close and personal on the cheap, I highly recommend stopping by the Pella Wildlife Company on your next free afternoon. UP next: My hunting group plans our annual spring Turkey hunt to Nebraska! See you then.

My Iowa Deer Classic Experience

Long time no blog! The last two days I have been with outdoorsmanswap at the Iowa Deer Classic and our official launch! We had over 2,000 people stop by our booth and say hello, it was a great experience! I just wanted to give you a re-cap and let you know where we are headed.

It didn't start out looking like much...but here is our booth 10 minutes into the process :)

However, it looked great in about an hour! It was great to have my son Hayden along for the first day!

It didn't take long for people to stop and take notice, the site was very well received.

We even had a Nerf mini-gun for the kids to shoot.....and a few adults as well. I took this picture with my phone, one in a million to get the bullet like that!

Just wanted to say thanks again for all who have stopped by and signed up! Looking forward to seeing what happens in the next couple weeks. I will be doing some shed hunting next week and then before I know it Turkey Hunting in Nebraska! I hope your March is off to a great start, until next time, GET OUT THERE!

Great Indoor Shoot!

This past Christmas my son Hudson opened up one of the best gifts for little bow hunters I have seen in awhile: An undersized compound bow with two battery powered bucks for targets.

I liked it for a couple reasons: One, it keeps my kids (my daughter loves it to as you will see in the next picture) all engaged with bow hunting, even in the off season. And two, it only requires one double a battery per deer. 

If you are looking for this combo, they sell it at the Tractor Supply Store, and I'm sure you could find it online.  If you are looking for other gifts/toys for kids/nieces/nephews we also enjoy the "Next Generation" bows and inflatable targets. You will definitely be the favorite aunt/uncle when your little hunter opens up either one of these toys.

I hope your "off-season" is going well. There are plenty of indoor activities for you and your family to keep you going until the nicer weather arrives. We are looking forward to the Iowa Deer Classic March 1-3, (stop by our outdoorsmanswap.com booth) getting to the Pella Wildlife Co. at Merle Hay Mall here in Des Moines, and doing some camping later on this spring. Spring is almost here!