Dream Hunt

I had to share this hunt.  My dad has long held a dream of shooting a nice bull elk.  He has shot cows and a couple spikes, but he has never shot a nice, big, bull elk.  He has been putting in for a tag for a long time.  He had 14 bonus points built up (one short of the max) and had always come up empty handed.  Well, his health has really deteriorated lately and has some pretty bad health concerns, and this year he finally drew.  He had some limitations on what he could do as he has to use a cane to get around and can't go too far at a time, so he wasn't too hopeful that he'd get the bull he's always desired.  Well, I have to give a shout out to Tom and Kenny for getting my dad on this bull.  It exceeding his expectations and I think the smile on his face will tell you how he feels about it.  Some viewing this bull will say to themselves they've seen bigger.  But to my dad, with what it means to him, it is a trophy in every sense of the word.  Congrats to my dad.  I didn't get to go on this hunt with him unfortunately, but my brother Trav did and it was worth all the effort by everyone.  

My dad is the one who got me involved in hunting and the outdoors and I will be forever grateful for it.  Thanks pops, and congrats!  You still got it old man!  

-Tyson 

Nice Greeny

Took Coot out today for a run and was able to get the first really nice looking green-head of the year.  All of the greenies we'd shot up until this point have been pretty shabby looking and eclipsed.  This one had some nice color.  

-Blake 

Opener AKA The Bandathon

Blake and Brandon went out on the opener after a goose/mallard combo hunt.  The pictures will tell most of the story.  6 geese down, 5 of them banded.  One of them was double banded!  6 geese, 6 bands...unbelievable!  They were able to get into some mallards as well, but had to pass on a ton of flocks because of all the eclipsed drakes that made differentiating them from the hens difficult on the fly.  Felt it was better to be safe than sorry.  

Brandon with his jewelry

Blake with his jewelry
Blake and Coot with the day's final take
And one last shot with all the birds and the bands.

Opener Part 2

A few of us went out for a teal shoot at Ogden Bay.  Trav, Tyler, Tyson, Brett, Kelly, Jake, and Ryan made a formidable teal shoot crew.  When we saw the weather report we were hoping that last year's poor shoot in the rain on the opener would not repeat itself.  We were lucky as the birds were out in numbers.  Because of some major moss on our pond we were not able to set up in our usual location.  It forced us to the north side which meant the wind was in our faces.  Not the ideal situation for duck hunting.  The birds were getting in on us and out quickly as they were mostly coming from behind us.  It was a lot of quick draw action but about as fun as a teal shoot could be.  We shot close to our limit but decided about 10:00 that we'd had enough opportunities for the day and didn't need to stay out any longer just for a few more birds.  Shot a couple gaddies and the rest were teal.  With the wind blowing like it was it sure made for some fast shooting action on those teal bombing us.  Made for a great day.  Thanks boys.  

Had to post up a few pics of basically the same thing to get the whole crew here as the whole group pics we took didn't turn out because of the rain.

Travis and Tyson

Ryan, Brett, Kelly, and Jake

Tyler and Tyson

And one last picture of the day's take.  Great shoot today boys.  Thanks.