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!
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