Archery and Muzzleloader Reports

Wow! Time flies these days. I haven't been very good at keeping up on this thing, so this entry will cover a lot of stuff. The hunts once again brought many new experiences and stories to tell. First, the archery hunt: Z, Farva, and myself didn't make it out until the last week of the archery hunt. This was planned because we wanted to stay away from people as much as possible. We headed down to Enterprise for our second year in the south. Once again the number of big deer we saw blew me away. We chased several nice bucks and flung a few arrows, but unfortunately-none hit their target. We learned once again how difficult the archery hunt is, especially in a desert environment. We had a great time, but I will say that the mid-day heat was nearly unbearable and forced us into heading home a day early. With that, we set our sites on the muzzleloader which was only a couple of weeks away. We arrived late on a Wednesday night and got about 3 hours of sleep before dragging ourselves out of bed. This time Dixon was with us so we split iup into twos. Z and I headed to our normal spotting location and upon reaching the top were immediately seeing deer. We spotted several bucks, but only one kept out attention. He was a decent 4 point that was probably 23 in. wide. We kept our eye on him until our attention was grabbed by a much nicer prize. To our right we spotted several bucks that we believe were the same ones we went after on the archery hunt. Included in the bunch were 3 nice bucks all pushing between 25-27 in. wide. We decided to be very patient and put these deer to bed, but once again things didn't go as planned. Four hunters that had no idea the deer were there, meandered right up the canyon and spooked the large bucks. Needless to say, we weren't happy. We headed down the mountain to get ready for the night hunt. That night we took horses back to death canyon where I killed a decent 4-point last year. The horse ride was fun but took a toll on all of our bodies. We chased a couple deer out of the canyon, but never got close to or saw one worth shooting. The good thing was that despite the bad hunting that night, we had a great ride. The next day I woke up and headed up to the saddle where I saw the bucks the previous day. Upon reaching the saddle, I spotted a nice 4 point on the skyline. I believe that he was one of the bucks that Z and I had seen the day before. I waited for the buck to go over the ridge and began my sneak. It took me about 2 hours to get to my point of destination. When I got there, I saw a couple of deer feeding, but couldn't find the buck. I waited about 30 minutes before determining that he must have slipped out. I walked up the ridge about 100 yards before turning around only to see my buck running out of the draw I had just been sitting in. I raised up and fired a 200 plus yard desperation shot with no results. That was all the action I saw on Friday. Saturday was a different story. We got up and decided to road hunt until we saw something worth going after. On the other side of the mountain we ran into some nice bucks that Zenger had spotted the night before. Phil and I put the sneak on but ended up spooking them down the canyon to Zenger. He was able to get a shot off at what he thought was the 4 X 5. Unfortunately, the deer that he hit was not the big one. It was a decent 22 in. 3 point. The crazy thing about the shot is that it went through the deer's ear and hit the base of its antler. The deer was stunned. We walked right up to it and it just stood there. After taking a couple of pics, we put the deer out of its misery, quartered it, and hauled it out. It was a fun morning hunt, although Zenger was a little disappointed that he had picked the wrong buck out of the crowd. He was also frustrated that the antler fell off while quartering the deer. Anyway, that was the only deer taken this year, but we had a blast! We also learned a lot more about the area and look forward to getting back down their next year. See the bottom of my blog for a full-size picture!

Good-Bye 4-Wheeler, Hello Magic Moment

Well, Kellie and I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a boat. It is a 1990 19 ft. Wellcraft. We are going to use it for both fishing trips and family outings. We are excited and have actually used it several times, including a trip to Strawberry around the middle of August. It was sad to sale the wheeler, but it was the only way that Kellie would let me go through with it.

Provo River Flyfishing

Today Justin and I spent a couple hours flyfishing the Provo River. We arrived at Vivian Park at about 7:30 a.m. and spent 30 minutes trying to find a place to fish. The river is running super high and super fast. We found one hole that was fishable and within 5 minutes I had one on. After a short fight, Justin netted the beautiful brown trout. I was shocked-I never catch anything on the Provo. Justin then took the hole over and caught a smaller brown. We were stoked to be having some success. After hiking around looking for other spots with no success, we ended at the same hole. I caught one more fish and then snapped my line. Overall, we only spent about 30 minutes actually fishing, but it was well worth it. I think that I may have the hang of it. For the record, I was fishing two flies a size 18 small grey fly with a red head and a size 16 hare's ear. Ialso used a zebra midge and another small grey fly (no red). The setup was as follows: size 3x leader-7.5 ft with 4x tippet. It went leader, 2 1/2 ft. tippet to first fly, then 10-12 in. more tippet to the second fly. Indicator was put where the tippet is tied on and sinker placed about 5-6 inches above first fly. That's the scoop. I look forward to getting back there soon. I have to mention that while we were fishing I heard a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot. Shortly after the noise, ambulances began making their way up and down the canyon. We left about 10 minutes after the ambulances went passed. About a mile down the canyon was an accident. It turned out to be fatal with one man dying. It really shook me. Life can end at anytime-kind of a scary thought!

Scouts at Strawberry

Right on the heels of our trip down to the Boulder Mtns. was a trip with the scouts to Strawberry. We left on Friday at 2:00 and set up camp as soon as we got there. We camped on the dirt road just west of the Marina and fished where the old island used to be-off the famous point. I have to be honest, having 6 scouts that had virtually never been REAL fishing, didn't give me much hope for success. After setting up 4 or 5 poles, a few of the boys let her fly. Within 5 minutes Daniel James had a nice fish on and lost it right at shore. I was amazed at how crystal clear the lake was. There were times that I saw fish swim right past us. The fishing was blazing hot to start, with 5 or 6 fish being brought in within 45 minutes (all on powerbait). Colton ended the initial streak with a 21-inch cutt. He was thrilled and didn't stop talking about it the rest of the night. Things slowed down and the boys were enthralled with catching Krodads for the next 2 hours. From about 7:30-8:15 it got hot again and 6-7 more fish were reeled in. We even caught 2 or 3 bows. It turned out to be a fun trip that the boys will never forget. Those present were Daniel, Colton, Austin, Cason, Elijah, D.J., Bro. Keller, and Myself.

Another Trip to the Boulders

It's that time of year again. The time of year when the Utah's Boulder Mountains start calling. It has become almost a tradition-making a June trip with boys down to the sacred Boulder Mountain Lakes. This year we left in the afternoon on Father's Day. We chose a Sunday through Wednesday hoping that the lakes would be free of other people and scouts. We met Tory just outside Loa and decided to head over to the Parker Mountain for some bunny shootin'. Well the bunnies were few and far between. The ones we did see were shot by Phil and Zenger with their newfound babies- Assault Rifles! It is definitely a down year for rabbits. After killing bunnies, we headed into Torrey. My Dad was there; he had stayed the weekend with Chantelle and Tom and their kids. The next morning we woke up and headed to Oak Creek dreaming of large Brookies. We took the wheelers into the lake and it was no more than a ten minute ride. When I pulled up, I realized that the key to my wheeler was missing. This led to some tense moments, but thanks to Zenger's faith, he found the key about half way back down the trail. We fished the lake and cought several fish on Jake's Lures and black wooly buggers. They were all brookies, but suprisingly, they weren't very big. We did see some nice fish taken by a few of the 45 people that just happened to be having a family reunion that day (on a Monday!!!!). It was a good day of fishing!
After debating where to go, we decided that we had better try to find the other way into Blind Lake. We had heard about it, but never had the four-wheelers to try it. While unloading the wheelers- Zenger about died! The Polaris tipped over backwards and was standing straight up with Zenger lying below. Luckily, it didn't tip the rest of the way or he may have been in trouble. Well, we found the other way to the lake. It was much shorter and easier hiking, but the road to the trail was horrible and the trail takes you into the lake across from our favorite point. Anyways, we fished it and caught a few on spinners. Phil caught a few on flies, but nothing spectacular. Overall, the fishing was poor. We headed back down and were exhausted. We watched Boston beat L.A. for the NBA Title, drove around and looked at deer (saw what will be a nice buck and several other deer), shot another bunny or two, watched a flick and went to bed. It wasn't the best fishing trip ever, but we had a good time!

Northern Pike At Yuba Reservoir!

Well, my second fishing trip of the season was beyond successful. On Friday, May 30th (first day of Summer break) Phil, Zenger, Chris, and myself headed down to Yuba. I had seen a report from Reece Stein on Roughin It Outdoors about the reservoir and it's Northern Pike, so we thought we would give it a shot. We launched Chris's new Tracker at about 1:30 and took a short jaunt over to the dam. Phil had a quick hit and I had a follower, but that was it, so we headed further down the reservoir. We fished around weed beds with little success and not a single fish. After thinking back to the show, we recalled that it had looked like they were fishing rocky areas, so we decided to give that a shot. This is what led us to Pike Point. After a few minutes in the new area, Chris had a mammoth hit. Although he missed the fish, it rejuvenated all of us to try a little bit harder. Shortly thereafter Zenger hooked into a monster Pike. After a short battle, he reeled in an 8 pound Northern Pike. We were stoked and would have been happy with just that one fish. We continued to fish around Pike Point. I hooked into one next and was excited, but disappointed to see that it was a baby pike that weighed no more than a pound and a half. It died down after the second fish and we moved on to try other areas. After quite the dry spell and several snags, I hooked onto a monster Pike. It took about 20 seconds before I realized that I had a fish on and not another bush. The large fish came to the boat quite easily, but upon seeing where it was headed it dove hard. This happened several times until
Zenger was finally able to net the 13 pound, 37 in. fish. Biggest fish I have ever caught. I was shaking with excitement. The rest of the night was full of disappointment. Phil had a large Pike break his line and I lost a monster at the boat. Other than that, I caught one more small Pike and Phil caught a nice Walleye. We had a blast and look forward to hitting it again. Who would have thought that Yuba held these nice fish!!! Thanks Reece!

Ice Off at Strawberry!

Well, we missed it. This Spring we thought that we had been watching Strawberry very closely waiting for ice off, but obiously we missed the boat. I found out from my Bro.-in-law Jared that he had been up to the Berry on Monday the 12th and that most of the lake was open water. Although disappointed, I decided to go the next day which was Friday the 16th. Jared and I got up there at about 4:30 p.m. and fished until close to dark. We went to our usual spot-Chicken Creek- and I could tell right off the bat that this was not an ordinary ice-off fishing trip. The lake just felt dead. I put powerbait on one pole and a white tube jig tipped with a crawler on the other and began fishing. I finally had one on my tube jig after about 30 minutes. It was the first hit of the day. Throughout the evening I caught 2 fish off of powerbait and 3 off of tube jigs. One with a white tube and the other two with a glow in the dark tube. Jared had one on with a minnow imitating spinner but failed to land it. It was a good trip-well... better than work. I feel that the unseasonably warm temperatures may have caused the poor fishing.

Ice Fishing at Blind Lake!

I did it! I finally accomplished a goal that I have had for many, many years. To ice fish the majestic Blind Lake! And might I add-it was not easy!!! Without much information about snow level or accessibility, Phil, Zeng, and myself headed down to my Dad's place late Friday night. We woke up the next morning, loaded up, and we were on our way. Our hopes were diminished somewhat by a local fisherman telling us that there was a big tree down on the way to Blind and that nobody had been in this year. Even with the bad news we were not going to be stopped. About half way up the road that leads to the trailhead we unloaded Zenger's snowmobiles and took off. Life was good, the trail was easy to follow, and all was well (other than Z's sled tipping over once) until we reached the parking lot. There were no tracks of any kind headed up to the lake. We were obviously the only fools that had attempted this in 2008. Zenger went out ahead and found a way to the top of intial hill. Phil and I soon found out that we were very unexperienced snowmobilers. The powder was deep and the trail was rocky. If it weren't for Zenger's experience, I have no doubt that we wouldn't have made it! But we pressed forward and after burying the snowmobiles several times and hearing a few choice words from Z- We made it! The view was breathtaking! There is something about being at a lake that no one else has been at for quite some time. Especially in the middle of the Winter. After making our way out to our favorite float tubing spot, I drilled the first hole. About 24 inches of ice was beneath us. This was quite a relief to Phil, who could now relax and put his ice spikes away. My first hole was in 9.6 ft of water. It didn't take long before I had a hit. I calmly waited and set the hook. I secretly prayed that the fish I was reeling in wasn't a rainbow and sure enough my prayers were answered. I pulled a beautiful Brook Trout out of the hole and it was on. To make a long story short, we caught several nice brookies, some small cutts, and a few nice bows. The final was Zenger 10, Myself 7, and Phil 6. But to be honest catching fish was a bonus. It was unreal just being there. After fishing from about 11-3, we decided that we better get out of there, just in case the ride out was as tough as the ride in. It turned out to be much easier and we were to the truck by 4:15. After reaching the truck I looked back up at the Boulder Rim and realized what we had just done- It made us all feel a little more manly (other than the fact that I suck at riding snowmobiles).

Later that night we ventured out to the Parker to shoot a few bunnies. It was nearly dark and bitter cold when we reached the mountain, but we made the best of it. Zenger had a scope on his 22-250 and was plucking rabbits off left and right, including a monster Snowshoe Hare that he destroyed with one shot. The night did not end up on a positive note though. A fox darted across the road in front of us, and perched itself on a rock. This rock was no more than 20 yards ahead of us and I had a perfect shot. I only had my .22 in hand so I let Zenger shoot and unfortunately he missed. All I can say is that that fox had a higher powere looking out for him. That or Zenger had a little fox fever!!! It was a short trip, but one that will always be remembered and never forgotten.

Welcome to my Blog- 1st Entry!

The idea of having a hunting and fishing journal came to me a couple of years ago. I got tired of going on a trip, taking no pictures, and coming home with only memories! I began by keeping track of my trips on Microsoft Word, but that only lasted so long. Basically, I gave up. That is until I found out about this blogging thing from my cousin Chris. He is an avid fisherman that created a blog to keep track of all his many expeditions. (www.duncsfishingadventures.blogspot.com)
Immediately, I knew that I needed to create one so that I had a place to put stories, pictures, and records of all my many journeys into the great outdoors. For my first blog I figured that I ought to explain where I stand in 2008, as far as the outdoors is concerned. I will start with hunting: In 2005, my buddies (Phil and Z) and myself started the Dedicated Hunter Program. This allowed us to hunt all three seasons (archery, muzzleloader, and rifle), as long as we only killed 2 deer in three seasons. In return we provided 24 service hours to the fish and game. For my hours, I taught a wildlife merit badge class and conducted fish surveys up at Spanish Oaks Reservoir. Our first year we weren't able to use our Dedicated tags because we all drew out on the archery-Vernon unit. It was a blast- we learned the area quickly and had many opportunities (1 that I won't write about due to the terrible pain it would cause me). After a grueling hunt and several shots, we all came up short-no kills. In our defense, the area is very difficult to hunt with a bow and the success rate is pretty low. Anyway the following year we mainly hunted up Hobble Creek. Our primary focus was the Muzzleloader Hunt. We spent all our hunting days in the Middle Fork of Bartholomew's Canyon. It was sweet! Everyday we were up there we had the place to ourselves. It paid off on an overcast morning when Z and I stalked a couple of good bucks that were headed into the chicken coop. After missing on several shots, we wandered up the mountain and ran right into the big sucker. Zenger saw him first, turned, and shot like a duck had just flown off the pond, and the large buck rolled right to our feet. Later that year, on my last day of the rifle hunt, after working my butt off for several weeks, Phil and I ran into a nice 4-point off the side of road that heads into Bartholomew's. I shot it, we called Z for a little help hauling it out of there, and the hunt was over. It was a great year of hunting. Last year, 2007, was our last year in the program. We decided that we were ready for something new. I talked Phil and Z into switching to the Southern region so that we could hunt down in Wayne County. We took a scouting trip in July or August and found that there were no deer down there and that we needed a new plan. That's when the Lord stepped in and provided us with an answer. Phil's cousin has been hunting down by Enterprise for many years and he talked Phil into giving it a chance. We had no better plan, so without even scouting we headed down to the unknown area late one night. The next morning was unbelievable! I saw more deer that day than I had seen in the previous 3 years combined. We were stoked! We geared up for the muzzlelaoder hunt. I met Phil and Z down there and we hunted for a few days. The area is sweet, but many people hunt it on the muzzleloader, so we were a little bummed. Things turned out pretty good though. I killed a small 4-point, and an unknown hunter killed another 2 by 3 on the archery hunt that year. The good news is that we saw several really nice bucks and are very exited about the years to come in our new found country!

On to FISHING: This I will keep fairly short. Basically, Strawberry has been my primary target for the last several years. The fishing has been solid and the lake typically produces several 2 -2 1/2 lb. Cutts. Occasionally, one of us will reel in one between 3-5 lbs. but in the fall of '07 Z caught a monster- we used a small scale and it was 6-6 1/2 lbs. It's about time one of us caught a monster. On a good day of drifting with a jig, we would catch 20 plus fish. We have also taken several trips down to the Boulder Mountains and had mixed success. I look forward to posting some good Brookie pictures in the future. My next trip is our first ever ice fishing expedition down to the Boulders. It should be fun!