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BREAKING NEWS | Dept. of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to Field Questions from Sportsmen on TUESDAY, FEB. 7

2012-02-06T10:25:24-05:00

[They’ll be taking questions via Twitter so if you don’t have a twitter account, post your questions here and we’ll post them during the session for you!]

You can also join the live session, here: http://www.doi.gov/news/video/live.cfm
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The Interior Department is partnering with the National Wildlife Federation Tuesday, Feb. 7 to hold a live chat between Secretary Ken Salazar and sportsmen and sportswomen from across the country. The hour-long forum is a chance for hunters and anglers to hear from Salazar and ask him questions on such issues as access to public lands, protecting backcountry areas, wildlife habitat and migration corridors, protecting air and water quality, renewable energy development on public lands and the economic benefits of conservation, recreation, hunting and fishing.

When: Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012
1p.m. Eastern Time/ 11a.m. Mountain Time

Where: http://www.doi.gov/news/video/live.cfm

Who: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

What: Live chat between Secretary Salazar with sportsmen/women on public lands and other issues.

How to ask Salazar a question: Via Twitter @Interior
(hashtag: #publiclands, #hunting, or #fishing)

Rabid deer?

2012-02-04T19:02:02-05:00

I have never used gloves while field dressing my deer but after reading this article, its making me wonder if I should carry some. What do you all think? Do you wear them?

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/02/02/outdoors/pennsylvania-hunter-treated-for-rabies-after-dressing-deer/

1800 lb Missouri hog

2012-02-03T11:56:33-05:00

Cute little Missouri pig ....That was killed in the town of Potosi , Mo.
They call them Piney Wood Rooter’s.
There was a documentary on about a month ago about these PIGS
growing up rapidly all accross the US.

Did you ever wonder what happens to those people that just leave home and disappear
but their car is found out on a dirt road?
Between bigfoot and these monsters, I think we know!
This one was killed by a Medical Radiology worker…
What would you do if this beast was coming at you?
Run for dear life? Climb a tree? Or simply get run over?
Over 1,800 lb. wild boar shot and killed in Potosi , Missouri near the
county airport, Hwy 8 east and near the community of Mineral Point.

Best friends

2012-02-03T17:28:44-05:00

Wanna know who your real best friend is? Just lock your wife and your dog in a trunk. After an hour, let them out and see which one is glad to see you.

East Grand Fishing and shoutout to Bigbird.

2012-01-31T08:56:07-05:00

Went ice fishing this past weekend and took my video camera along. It will take me a little time but I will post some of the clips. Please remember that these are not edited for sound so you may be offended by some of the language that comes from six guys ice fishing (and ice drinking lol). Sorry in advance.

Bigbird, this first one is for you! By the way, David (who catches this Landlocked Salmon) is the Treasurer for our local.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG1PE41VM5Q

Firsts

2012-02-03T11:11:23-05:00

Do you enjoy “guiding” someone new as much as fishing/hunting with someone “experienced” in your favorite aspect of either activity. I think I get just as much satisfaction, if not more at times, when I take someone out who doesn’t have the experience or access I may have. Make no mistake, I’m no expert at any activity by any stretch of the imagination. Like everyone else I still learn each time I go out. I don’t think I’d ever make it as an actual guide, I put enough pressure on myself just going out for fun with someone new. I think I’d go broke because I’d feel compelled to return someones hard earned money if they weren’t as successful as I thought they should be. So after the long intro, tell us your favorite or most recent not for profit “guiding” experience.
I tend to spend most of my time rigging and baiting when I take someone new fishing. I took a new firefighter and his six year old out to an artificial reef close to shore to catch grunts just for the action because of his age and he had never been fishing. On the way out he was screaming and I thought the ride was too much for him but his dad said,” I just spent money on a Disney trip and my son was hollering this is better than Disney World.” Once we stopped, I put two rods in the water and each time I’d have a hit I’d make an excuse with him to switch out rods. His dad told me the following shift he had talked to HIS dad and explained that each time he (me) handed him a rod, magically there was a fish on it. It doesn’t seem like much, but it was a blast watching him catch “all” the fish.
A few years ago, I took two cousins out that were friends with one of my boys. We were able to put them on their first Permit, both good sized fish. The older cousin was up first and almost immediately upon hook up he lost his fish. I traded his outfit out for one of mine and with the next hook up, he was successful. When he bought the fish on board, he gave me a great big thank you and a hug. I got the same thing from his younger cousin with the next fish. They went home with two multi meal fish and I went home with the memory of a great day on the water.
I’ve taken a couple people out recently for their first hog. The first was also a newer firefighter, the second was the younger sister of one of my son’s friends.It took three trips for each, even though I was disappointed the first two trips for each, they weren’t and it made it all the better when they finally got their pig.
I can’t find the fishing pictures but below is the firefighter and the friend’s sister with their first. As a bragging bonus the last picture is of my youngest son Christmas afternoon with his 21st birthday gift. His birthday happens to be the day after Christmas and he knew what he was getting, but had to work on his birthday, so I decided to give him his gift a day early if he wanted to take a quick trip to the lease and try for a pig. The result is the first shot he took with the gun at about 15-18 yds. All great days for me and I didn’t harvest anything.

Duck Hunter’s Blues

2012-02-01T21:02:34-05:00

It’s February and waterfowl season is over for most of us. I don’t know about ya’all, but I’m already going thru withdrawls, even though our mild weather patterns made it one of the worst seasons I can remember as far as action goes. With so much slow time on the ponds, in the fields or in the blind, my mind wandered a little. This is what I came up with:

Got a dozen lonely decoys,
just sittin’ on the pond,
I don’t know where the live birds are,
but the sun will soon be gone.

I got my twelve gauge shotgun,
loaded to the max,
I sure hope the birds come in,
‘cause I need to pop some caps.

The season’s almost over,
that really is a shame,
my freezer’s almost empty,
man, I sure could use the game.

They ask me why I do this,
to hunt any given day,
I tell ‘em that it’s how it tastes,
when the bird is on the plate.

I hunt any kinda’ weather,
hard wind, heat or rain,
I’ve dressed for the worst of it,
but still have soaked my brain.

My wife thinks I’m crazy,
and some of my friends too,
it’s kinda’ hard to deny,
that it just might all be true.

Got a dozen lonely decoys,
just sittin’ on the pond,
I don’t know where the live birds are,
but the sun will soon be gone.

By: Clayton “Leghold” Bolton
02/01/2012

Poor man’s lobster

2012-02-02T10:35:11-05:00

got this and I’m going to try it thought Id share it since it seems nice and easy.

Have you ever been in the mood for lobster, but cant afford it? DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! I have a tasty alternative to cooking your fish in the deep fryer… All you need is fish fillets, a pot of water, and some fixin’s! Best enjoyed with a freshly cracked beer, or a nice glass of red wine.

Just follow these quick simple steps, and your well on your way to enjoying dinner!

1. Take your fillet (of whatever your fish of choice might be), and cut it into cubes about 1 inch in size each.

2. In a pot, bring a generous amount of water to a boil.

3. Add a half cup of sugar and quarter cup of lemon juice to the boiling water, let boil for a few moments.

4. Drop your cubes of fish into the boiling water. The cubes will sink to the bottom of the pot.

5. Once the cubes begin to rise, use a slotted spoon, and remove them from the boiling water.

6. Melt some butter or margarine in a sauce pan, adding garlic (I also add Cajun spices), and pour the mixture into a small dish for dipping.

7. Take some tooth picks, and DIG IN!

Its simple, and tastes great!

Prep time - 5 minutes
Cook time - 10 minutes

CRP Returns - Good News for Bird Hunters

2012-02-01T22:44:17-05:00

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its decision to open a general signup for the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a cornerstone of the Farm Bill critical to sustaining privately owned lands and the fish and wildlife resources that rely on them.

This will mark the first opportunity in a year for landowners to participate in the 25-year-old program through which private landowners have restored more than 2 million acres of wetlands and 2 million acres of riparian buffers and conserved 170,000 miles of streams, resulting in the annual production of 13.5 million pheasants nationwide and 2.2 million ducks in the Prairie Pothole region.

http://www dot trcp dot org/issues/agriculture.

Share your thoughts on CRP

Have you enrolled land in CRP? If so, why?

Have you noticed impacts of the CRP program being closed this past year?

Special Youth Waterfowl Hunt in Alabama

2012-01-31T07:47:48-05:00

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) has designated February 11 and 12, 2012, as Special Youth Waterfowl Hunting Days. On those days, youth under age 16 may hunt when accompanied by a licensed adult hunter. Regular waterfowl season shooting hours, bag limits, legal arms and ammunitions apply to the special days.

http://www dot theoutdoorwire dot com/story/13280041104g72bkr9a7r.