Friday, March 30, 2012

640 millions dollars worth of outdoor gear

I just want to know what all the outdoorsmen and women would do with 640 million dollars to expand their outdoor empires.

I would buy a huge plot of land make the prefect hunting and fishing paradise or maybe just buy eagle lakes resort in central Washington.  I would have the best off and on road vehicles.  I would import exotic game to my ranch. That is just some of the simple things I would do if i had that kind of money... What would you do copy a link to the comments.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Methow Steelhead Video




Some friends of mine doing a video on Fly Fishing for Steelhead on The Methow River.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Game cam pics 03-21-12


Got some great game cam pics this week. I decided to switch locations from up in the timber to down in the creek bed, I am so happy I did that. Take a look at this all white snow shoe hair and this bobcat.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Maturing of a growing hunter part 6 (19 Years Old)

 It was October and I just turned 19, I was also living away from home at college. I picked my college because it was in a good hunting and fishing location and had the courses I wanted to take.

At freshman orientation I chose classes that started at 7:30am and got over for the day at 10:30am, This way I had everyday to be in the outdoors hunting or fishing.

SAGE
At first each day I would head out with my gun and scout places to hunt. I looked at private property and public land. Finally I settled into a few good spots that all had ducks, quail and pheasants.

I was in heaven, I was used to only really hunting in September for grouse and October for ducks. Now I was getting to utilize 100% of the hunting seasons.  I started the hunting year when it was 80 degrees out and finished the year at -10 degrees.

Most of the hunting I did was by myself with my first dog Sage a German Wire Haired pointer. I had a lot of frustration with learning how to train a dog while in college. But we taught each other a lot and we were a great team.
Sages first duck.





Part 4 (12 Years Old)

Part 5 (16 Years Old)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Catch a Cougar By its tail.


I was working on a quiet Sunday when I was flagged down by a citizen of the town I work in. He told me that a cougar had been treed by a house just up the road. When I arrived there were a few people around and they pointed the cat out to me. Sure enough there was a cougar laying in the tree. This house had sheep as live stock and some other houses nearby had young children so we knew the cougar had to be dealt with.

I called the Washington State Department of Fish and Game and they said they were on their way. from a town about 60 miles away. Another officer from another neighboring town showed up as well. We sat there and talked and made sure the cougar stayed in the tree. I told him " You just stay up there and we won't have an issue." Finally the WDFW arrived on scene along with a large mammal biologist who specializes in cougars.

They got out their dart gun and a net to catch the cat if it fell out of the tree.

By this time besides me there were two county officers, two WDFW officers and one other city officer there watching everything.

They shot the cougar with the dart and waited till it went to sleep. It got stuck in the tree so the Biologist climbed a ladder and tied a rope to the cougar and got it out of the tree and lowered the cat safely to the ground.

We got the cougar into the net and carried it over to the vehicles. The WDFW and biologists started taking data from the cougar such as teeth size, body length and put a radio collar on it.

This is when things started to get exciting. The cougars started to move his head a bit, then its legs. The wildlife agent gave it another dose of sedative to keep it calmed down. That seemed to perk the cat up even more and it got up and started walking away. The biologist said grabs its' tail..........So I did. Even with sedative this cat was pulling me over a snow bank. All I could think about was "This is a bad idea".... "Even if his ear looks like it is going to turn around at all I am letting go."




That is me in the black.




After what seemed to be forever which in reality was about 20 seconds and he gave up and laid down and went back to sleep.

It was an amazing experience; WDFW did a great job and getting it out of the tree and taking it away so it could range away from humans. They also took this deer kill with them so the cougar could have something to eat on when it woke up.

I have recieved a lot of comments like your crazy and thats amazing. But my favorite question so far was "How come the biologist didnt grabs its tail?" My response was "Because he's smarter than that."


Disclaimer: For everyone who thinks this is being mean to the cat, If I had not caught the cougar by the tail and stopped it from getting away it could of 1. drowned in the near by river or 2. got itself into a situation where it would of had to be put down. But since I did stop it from getting away it was able to be relocated to a safe spot to have a quality recovery.